Frayed Knot

Avi wuz here

So the (not yet official) signing of Asdrubal Cabrera by Tampa Bay has the tongues of NYM watchers a-wagging about the availability of either Yunel Escobar and/or Ben Zobrist. It's not quite clear what TB is going to do with Cabrera, he was the longtime SS for Cleveland but has lost some range and was strictly used as a 2B in his half season in Washington. Escobar has been a more or less full-time SS for eight seasons including the last two with TB [career 162 avg = .276/.347/.381 10 HRs/28 2Bs]. Recently turned 32 and is signed for 1 year at $7mil plus an option for another at the same price w/$1mil buyout. Zobrist has been the swiss army knife of ballplayers for nine seasons now - getting 600+ PAs every year for the last six while rarely playing 100 games or more in any one position. He's seen action almost equally at 2B, SS & RF while also seeing time in RF, CF, 3B, 1B, & DH. And no matter where he plays hIs hitting stats have been almost absurdly consistent: BAs (last four seasons) = .269, .270, .275, .272. OBAs = .353, .377, .354, .354. And he switch-hits. Slight dip in power recently (but then, the whole league has), turns 34 in May. Also on a one-year deal for the same money as Escobar. Not sure that the Mets are interested in Escobar, and I'm not sure I'd want Zobrist as the primary SS. I'd see him more as a complement to Flores rather than instead of. Meanwhile he'd back up everyone everywhere except probably d'Arnaud and maybe even him in a pinch. TB was rumored to be wanting to move him even before the Asdrubal signing so I suspect the Zobrist rumors are going to pick up.

metirish wrote: I was on Twitter last night when this was going down, apparently a lot of the #Mets fans were abusing the daughter . Amazing how brave folks suddenly get under the anonymity of the internet.

d'Kong76 wrote: I was just looking at Jeff's Wiki page for a minute and it says they have a kid, Bradley, who was drafted by the Red Sox this year. If I knew that, I didn't remember it. http://www.greenwichtime.com/sports/article/Brunswick-graduate-Bradley-Wilpon-drafted-by-Red-5602040.php 29th round - although there's no record of him playing this summer and I'm guessing that he probably opted for college over signing. http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=wilpon000bra on edit: and now that I actually read the previous link it appears that he's going to Penn, where I suspect that a Greenwich, Ct kid listed at 5' 10"/175 is a more likely bet to star at Wharton than on the diamond.

They certainly seem to be embracing the concept of at least trying to get younger, and maybe even ... GASP! ... cheaper.

Padres continue to make deals and the Yanx continue to 'sell high' (or at least they hope so) on some of the no-name pitchers that helped keep them afloat in 2014 - as Shawn Kelley goes to SD in exchange for 22 y/o minor league hurler Johnny Barbato. Gone from the Yanx 2014 staff and/or pen so far are: David Robertson Shawn Kelley Preston Clairborne Vidal Nuno & Brandon McCarthy (who were traded for each other at mid-season) Hiroki Kuroda David Phelps Shane Green David Huff

Edgy MD wrote: I had assumed two or three wives. Not five. Four according to the NYTimes obit. He divorced #s 1, 2, and 4. Outlived #3 #4 died just shortly after he did and it's her estate that's selling the Florida place.

I'm sure the Phils are going to give him at least the opportunity to nab a starters job -- particularly if a Hamels trade goes down -- which is something he wouldn't get in Queens.

Mets Guy in Michigan wrote: Castro seems like nothing but trouble. That's what south Florida keeps saying.

The update to that link specifically says that Castro was not detained, but that's also coming from within his camp so who knows. Perhaps the more disturbing part is where it mentions that this was the second time this month that Castro was in the vicinity of a shooting.

Hiroki Kuroda is apparently going to leave the MFYs and MLB in order to take his talents to Japan Beach for 2015. Not really sure if this is a good thing or bad. - On the one hand he'll turn 40 before the season opens and isn't exactly a CY contender. - On the other he's been reasonably solid for them this past year when, unlike in 2013, he was good down the stretch which helped to team stay on the fringes of a playoff spot, and he's been reasonably reliable and steady for them over three seasons now [33, 32, 32 starts - 600+ IPs of mid-3.00s ERA over that time]. IOW, he kind of filled the Bartolo Colon role for them by being the older guy who could be depended on to take the ball every time out and be decent more often than not. The biggest difference is that he was more expensive [$16 mil/yr*] and also more important to them than BC is to us on account of having few if any better/younger guys as a logical replacement. * more evidence that BC is not overpaid for his role in this market

Dan Uggla is a minor league Nat

I think that, like ugly Xmas sweaters, Xmas PJs have taken on a 'Can you top this?' type of trend.

Frayed Knot wrote: And speaking of aging relievers, 38 y/o Jason Grilli inks a two-year deal with the Braves And now add 37 y/o AJ Pierzynski on a one-year deal

Well if he hasn't been dealt already then we have to do so soon because once this picture gets around we'd probably be lucky to get a single-A hopeful for him. [fimg=500:2xcjyf7p]http://mlb.mlb.com/assets/images/6/9/2/104807692/cuts/Noah_qkvz9h30_r6vym98l.JPG[/fimg:2xcjyf7p]

Not exactly a Met reference, but Keith Olbermann's year-end wrap show where he showed highlights of past holiday week games featured some hot Lindsay Nelson voice action during clips from the 1979 Cotton Bowl

And speaking of aging relievers, 38 y/o Jason Grilli inks a two-year deal with the Braves

He got nearly 600 PAs this year (in essentially April-Aug leagues) and over 300 in his short-season stint in '13 so he certainly didn't miss any time. It's possible that word leaked out about a possible positive test before this one but even then there wouldn't have been any suspension time involved because this doesn't appear to involve PEDs

I think for 'drugs of abuse' (read: recreational rather than performance enhancing) the initial slip-up is kept quiet so the player can 'seek help for his problem' without the surrounding noise.

Hope for Flores Only if the other team is willing to eat a bunch of Hope's contract, otherwise no way.

If you plot the odds on a typical bell shaped curve, it might look something like this: As long as it doesn't resemble a Heath Bell curve - cuz man that would be one odd looking graph!

That's because the Yanx odds are at 6%

d'Kong76 wrote: Looks like Kang is a Pirate according Hey Man. Well the Pirates are the bid winner but they still need to reach a contract agreement, so he's not a Pittsburgher yet.

Big-butted Heath Bell gets a minor league deal/camp invite from ... the Washington Nationals

First flick was silly entertainment if you were in the right mood for it. Little to no desire to see a sequel unless and until it turns up on cable at the exact moment I find myself with two hours to kill.