Frayed Knot

Well yeah, I don't expect to start on a regular basis anywhere. I just meant that I have a vague opinion that he brings good defensive traits to the party and that he has played a decent amount of CF over the years, although it's possible that I may just be conflating him and Dom Brown* to the point where I'm mixing up which skills go with what guy. * All those tall, black, OFs in Philly unis look alike to me

Sean Gilmartin - 24 y/o (25 in May), former 1st round pick (28th overall) of the Braves out of Fla St Univ in 2011. 6' 2" / 190; split 2014 between AA New Britain [7-3, 12 starts, 3.12, 1.28] and AAA Rochester [2-4 in 14 starts, 4.28, 1.32]

With the 14th overall pick, Mets snatch LHP Sean Gilmartin from Twins Orioles then take RHP Logan Verrett from Mets with 28th

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Marlins get Mat Latos. He seems like a Marlin. I already hatted Mat Latos so now that he's in the division I can hat him even more.

JMJ plays a decent defensive OF too, IIRC, so could fill in at any of the three positions -- or am I, like Andy Pettitte, misremembering here?

Well that was quick (especially seeing as how it's only 6AM in Sandy Eggo). Reportedly a five player deal with the Padres getting Kemp and catcher Tim Federowicz -- in exchange for C Yasmani Grandal, P Joe Wieland and a minor League pitcher believed to be Zach Eflin.

Ken Davidoff in the Post does some detective work on Kang the Conquerer His various observations: - he can hit: career .298/.382/.502 with 138 homers in nine seasons, and a career-best .354/.457/.733 with 39 homers in 116 games/497 PA in 2014 - says that the Mets have scouted him via video and in person and have met with his agent - A's & Giants may also be interested - players from Korea work via the old posting system that used to be in effect for Japanese players: teams bid for his rights and only the winner gets to negotiate with him He then talks to Brandon Knight whose brief ML career finished with the Mets in 2008 (I have ABSOLUTELY ZERO MEMORY of this guy) but has since played four seasons with Kang in Korea, and he describes a good news/bad news situation: - �He is the best overall position-player prospect in that league,� says Knight. �He certainly doesn�t see the same sort of fastballs that he sees in the big leagues � it�s more often in the low-90s � but I�ve seen him get after guys who are throwing in the mid-to-upper 90s ... I think the biggest thing that�s changed with Kang is his approach, he�s more patient now and better hitting the breaking ball than he used to be. He likes hitting sliders.� but then he says: - �I�m just not sure if he�s what you would look for as a big-league level shortstop ... He definitely has the arm [but] the actual effort level he has to play the position is the only concern there. There were times when balls were definitely a ball that a good shortstop would dive for, and he just doesn�t. With his arm, he can make those plays if he dives. I�ve certainly seen him make good plays when he does decide to dive, but not on a consistent enough basis.� before adding: - �He�s a fantastic kid [who] constantly does want to get better. It could be that the whole diving thing is that he�s kind of saving himself. He could be better if someone got to him and said, �We need more effort defensively.� He�s certainly a well-rounded player.�

The one side note to all this is that McCarthy was inexplicably good for the Yanx following his mid-season trade from Arizona and was a factor in allowing them to hang in the pennant race far beyond all reason. 2014 w/ARZ: 18 starts; 3-10; 5.01 ERA; 1.38 WHiP 2014 w/NYY: 14 starts; 7-5; 2.89 ERA; 1.15 WHiP ... so this signing w/LA leaves one more hole in the MFY rotation.

Just so I have this all straight: - the Dodgers, in what looks to be an intent to get younger & cheaper, traded Dan Haren (who they just signed as a FA one year ago) & Dee Gordon away in a seven player to the Marlins for all young players, part of which will have to get re-worked if Haren follows through on his threat to retire if he's not pitching in either LA or Anaheim next year - they then reversed that trend by flipping the biggest piece from that haul, pitching prospect Andrew Haney (#9 overall pick 2012 draft), to Anaheim for 2B Howie Kendrick to replace Gordon - they then continued that youth movement by signing Jimmy Rollins - they then (reportedly) are replacing Haren by signing 31 y/o Brandon McCarthy [32-41, 3.81, 1.25 over the last four seasons] to a 4-yr deal at $12 mil per (Haren was slated to make $11) - and there are rumors that a Matt Kemp swap to SD is getting close, possibly for catcher Yasmani Grandal Amazing how much retooling is needed for a 94-win team with a 1/4 billion dollar payroll.

Yeah, ya gotta like comments like these in response to Puma claiming the Mets don't consider Andrus or Profar a possibility: but they do consider Tejada. Guessing I won't be buying tickets this year again -- love to see this guy's comments if/when the price turns out to be Syndergarrd plus. He'll probably claim that because the Mets are trading away their young prospects that he won't be buying tickets again this year I'm guessing I won't spend my money if they won't spend there's! -- I think we can let this one stand without comment

While a .326 OBA is hardly great for a leadoff hitter, in this current era it's hardly bad and it's up from .280 in 2012 and .314 in '13 My bigger concern is what kind of a SS he is. He has played there some in the past but was exclusively a 2B last season while the Dodgers went with five different SSs headed by the 235 pound Juan Uribe (98 starts) backed by Justin Turner (45) If we're going to trade for a SS then trade for a real SS. We've already got makeshift ones.

Now we're cooking with gas! I'll leave this open through the holidays for either late entries or further adjustments and/or discussion. (Mole, are you sure you just want to duplicate my order exactly?) After the 1st of the year we'll consider it official at which point I'll have to get together with Grimm as we never updated the order for the posting levels after last year's rankings (my fault, not his).

DBacks catcher Miguel Montero heads to Wrigley in exchange for two minor leaguers (nothing special ones as far as I can see).

I don't see why Colon should be such a tough sell - even though that phrase seems to be stated as a given by most sources. For all his age and size questions, he's also started 111 games, won 51 of them (vs 38 losses) and racked up a 3.54 ERA & 1.22 WHiP over the last four seasons. Pitchers a decade younger get multi-year deals with off those numbers at seven figures per* and Bartolo comes with just a one year commitment making both his age and the $11mil price tag not that big a risk. * Jason Hammel, 31 y/o but with much worse stats [99 GS, 32-38, 4.17. 1.31], just got 2 x $9

Lindor or (a healthy) Profar are exactly the kind type of deals that they should be looking at. Met fans have been hearing about Syndergaard for a while now and he is a legit Top-10 kind of prospect, but other teams have top prospects too and if you build your guy up to be an untouchable you're going to shut out a lot of possibilities. The fact is that top prospects get traded all the time; the key is to pick the right ones to keep and trade and the right ones to go after.

I'm surprised here at all the Gee votes even given his injured and rocky second half. To me, the one I'm most willing to part with has to be Colon as his lifespan here has one year left on it even if everything goes well. That doesn't mean I'd balk at trading either of the other two (or anyone else for that matter) in the right deal, but given the younger/cheaper/controllable status I'd prefer to trade Big Bartolo.

Meanwhile, in addition to Robertson, the White Sox have apparently have also landed Jeff Samardzija from the A's in a trade for three young players.

Or they slide Betances to the closer spot and have Miller set-up for him - something that would mean reducing the innings of their best pitcher from last year (Betances, who threw 90 in 2013) and upping Miller's who has averaged just 46/yr since 2010. Either way they figure to have themselves a good one-two punch without the expense of Robertson and adding a much-needed pick, although I'm sure someone will bring up the caveat that both guys are still suspect as neither one has proven themselves as 'CLOSER'.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Hel' me out, guysh... am I drunk, or ish dat, ish dat... well, daaaaas jus' a lotta outfeelers dey got out dere, innit? And they've just added another one, signing 25 y/o Cuban OF Dian Toscano to a major league contract.

Edgy MD wrote: Luis Sardinas, #7 prospect for the Texas Rangers. Some reports say the Rangers might be interested in one of the Mets' excess pitchers. [fimg=450]http://rangersblog.dallasnews.com/files/2013/11/C25I5690_30259028.jpg[/fimg]. Below is a John Sickels report on Sardinas from April 2014 so it doesn't include anything from this past year. Sickels has the Rangers report up next on his docket (with the Mets to follow) so we'll probably have a (briefer) update by the end of the week. ** Sardinas was a big-dollar signing, earning $1,200,000 out of Venezuela in 2009. He was considered a very advanced defensive player for his age with a chance to hit once he matured physically. Injuries struck almost immediately: a broken finger limited him to just 26 games in the Arizona Rookie League in 2010, and a more severe shoulder dislocation kept him to just 14 more contests in '11. He hit well both years (.311/.363/.350 and .308/.367/.385), showing contact hitting skills and good speed with 10 steals combined, but obviously needing to prove his durability. Shoulder problems continued to nag him in '12 but he played 96 games for Low-A Hickory, hitting .291/.346/.356 with 32 steals, 29 walks, and 52 strikeouts in 374 at-bats. He finally played a full season in '13, seeing 128 games between High-A Myrtle Beach (.298/.358/.360 in 383 at-bats) and Double-A Frisco (.258/.286/.311 in 135 at-bats) w/32 steals. Listed at 6-1, 170, Sardinas is a switch-hitter (b: 5/16/93). His best offensive tool is speed: he could steal 20 or more bases per season if he gets on base enough. Alas, that could be a problem, at least in the short run. Although he was an effective contact hitter at lower levels, his complete lack of power has been a serious issue in Double-A and his production at that level has been inadequate. He is young enough to gain some strength and improve a great deal, but it hasn't happened yet. His defense is well ahead of his offense at this point. His arm is very strong, his range is above average, and he has quick hands. He'll botch routine plays occasionally but he also reaches balls most infielders can't touch. With more experience he should be an excellent defender. It is likely that Sardinas will have a long major league career, but the shape of that career is uncertain. If he maxes out his hitting skills, he could be an All-Star. If his hitting improves somewhat but not to the maximal projection, he could still be a long-term regular due to his glovework and speed contributions. If the bat remains inadequate, he could still be a useful utility player. **

Jason Hammel, the other pitcher sent to the A's w/Jeff Samardzjia in last summer's blockbuster deal, returns to the Cubs on a 2-year deal.

Brandon Moss from Oakland to Cleveland for infield prospect Joe Wendle.

Some fans also get the idea into their heads that the conclusion of the winter meetings signals the end of the off-season to the point that whatever your team looks like come Friday is the one you're stuck with throughout 2015. Now I'm sure lots of chess pieces will get moved around this week but there'll still be lots of stuff going on afterward too.

Well if we're going to do away with various sources of the business's income then we can propose dropping 90 seconds out of the between innings time and cut out a half-hour or more. But ... - the length of games is only part of the problem as game times have been increasing despite the fact that the commercial time hasn't increased in recent years. The pace of games during the non-commercial time is at least as big a problem as merely the length and it's something they need to address even if they were of a mind to cut commercial time. I shouldn't be able to go in the kitchen as mix a drink between pitches - unilaterally cutting the commercial time is not something the league could simply decide to do on their own as those times are written into the contracts they have with the various broadcasters. At best they'd have to wait until the current contracts end and those tend to be longer than their deals with the players union. - I still don't understand why they think they need player union approval to enforce those pitch and batters box rules that are already on the books.

Cubs announce that they will NOT be trading Starlin Castro this winter. Met fans can (and, I'm sure, will) view that as positive or negative news depending on their POV.