Frayed Knot

Ichiro Suzuki called to insist that he will NOT be appearing in this thread (oops) as he says he has every intention of playing in 2015. Of course that's not entirely up to him as, having turned 41 a few weeks ago, even the Yanx have apparently decided that he's too old for them and so he now needs to convince some other team to give him a job. Ichiro appeared in 143 games in 2014, starting 95 of them. He hit a decent .284 but 86 of his 102 hits were singles and nearly 1/3 of those (26) never left the infield

Yeah, the whole fan voting thing to decide an award among award winners is a really bad idea. Silver Sluggers - 2014: American League 1B - Jose Abreu, White Sox 2B - Jose Altuve, Astros SS - Alexei Ramirez, White Sox 3B - Adrian Beltre, Rangers OF - Mike Trout, Angels OF - Jose Bautista, Blue Jays OF - Michael Brantley, Indians C - Yan Gomes, Indians DH - Victor Martinez, Tigers ******************************** National League 1B - Adrian Gonzalez, Dodgers 2B - Neil Walker, Pirates SS - Ian Desmond, Nationals 3B - Anthony Rendon, Nationals OF - Andrew McCutchen, Pirates OF - Justin Upton, Braves OF - Giancarlo Stanton, Marlins C - Buster Posey, Giants P - Madison Bumgarner, Giants

My reluctance to putting Buddy C so high is based on: only 31 innings and most of them were of the low leverage variety. He didn't even place in the top 30, for instance, in the final PotG tallies despite the good overall numbers. And speaking of relievers, you're pretty high on most of them but left off Torres completely. Recker also isn't mentioned, either in your top 30 or in the 'negative' section you list which makes it seem like both were oversights rather than disses.

Ceetar wrote: you got a deadline for this? I haven't gotten to it yet. Not yet. We'll stick a close-out date on it eventually after entries and/or debate winds down, but nothing imminent.

Centerfield wrote: But it bothers me because it's symbolic of how this Wilpon regime runs things. They are always ones to follow. Other teams have black uniforms? Let's do that too! Wow, Boston loves Sweet Caroline. Let's try that here. Wow, look at those Padres uniforms. Let's get one of those. Nationals had a garden gnome give-away in 2014 for their long-haired star (Jayson Werth) - and now lookie what's on the sked for 2015 at CitiField!!

JJ Putz stays on with the DBacks - but will do so in the front office as a "special assistant" to the team Pres/CEO Derrick Hall. He was with the Snakes in 2014 but hadn't pitched since mid-June. Wound up pitching 11 seasons in the majors, eight of which were quite good. His three bad ones?: his first season, his last season, and his Mets season.

Ashie62 wrote: Alexi Ramirez? Upside: - More pop (52 XBHs), more speed, and MUCH more glove than anything we've got right now. - One year deal plus an option is the right amount of commitment - plays everyday: 155+ games for five seasons running Downside: - Just turned 33 - even with a partial bounce-back this year the power is waning [17 HRs/yr for first 4 seasons; 10/per for 2012-14] and that's before you bring the stadium/league switch into consideration - he's going to make more outs that what we've got now: .302 OBA for most recent three seasons

Position players: Duda - Wouldn’t have been among the logical guesses to top this list at the beginning of the year, but when you’ve got the highest OBA, SLG, RC/G among the regulars it’s the logical choice Murphy — Good BA, more (if still not a lot of) walks, and his usual slew of doubles. Granderson — Much maligned and ridiculously streaky, but 49 XBHs and a ton of walks makes up for at least some sins even if it doesn’t make the contract look much better. Lagares — About the same offense as Wright in 130 fewer PAs as he went missing for three different stints, but gets defensive points Wright — Bad year for him obviously. d’Arnaud — If we could ignore the 1st half he’d be a lot higher Tejada - Best year from among the semi-regulars, mainly for his position and his .342 OBA Flores — Played his way into some kind of role going forward … just not sure what that is yet and it would be nice if it comes with an OBP above .286 E Young — Did seem to fill that stereotyped role of ‘catalyst’ better than his stats suggest Nieuwenhuis — 18 of his 29 hits for XBs, but still only 112 ABs Campbell CYoung den Dekker Recker - A high pct of XBHs when he played (16 of his 35 hits) and often seemed like they came in big spots Abreu — Gave us a bunch of professional ABs early on, but fewer and fewer as time went on Herrera - Showed us something for the future Brown, Satin, Centeno, Quintanilla, Davis, Teagarden, Tovar ... out of the money Pitchers: deGrom - Best ERA & WHiP among the starters. Also best K/9 and lowest HR/9. 8 more starts and he’d have been a CY candidate Niese - Toss-up with Wheeler. Fewer great games than ZW but also fewer turkeys Wheeler - If he could reduce his walks by half (or even by 1/3) he’d be a solid #2 starter Familia - Was the best of the three full-time pitchers out of the pen and it wasn’t really all that close: most appearances, best ERA, fewest HRs/9, lowest WHiP Colon - Unspectacular but mostly solid and made every start Gee - Was going great until his seemingly minor mid-season injury turned into an extended absence followed by lots of mediocrity Torres - All purpose man out of the pen performed well (3.06 ERA, 1.31 WHiP) in just about any role he was asked to fill Mejia - Led in the glamour stat of saves, but lots of base-runners (1.48 WHiP) led by nearly 4 BB/9. Some of that was from his 7 early season starts, but he also got more shaky out of the pen as the season wore on. Edgin - Excelled quite nicely (.95 WHiP) in his niche role Black - Promising future, but too few IP and too many walks to rate any higher Carlyle - Some good work (1.45 ERA, 0.90 WHiP) in mostly low leverage spots Matsuzaka - Gave them some decent work early in the season. Then not so much. Eveland - Performed well for a short span as the 2nd LHP out of the pen Montero - So far is a control pitcher without his control at the ML level Germen, Valverde, Farnsworth, Rice, Goeddel, Lannan, Alvarez, Parnell ... no soup for any of you Combined: 30 - DUDA 29 - deGROM 28 - MURPHY 27 - NIESE 26 - WHEELER 25 - GRANDERSON 24 - LAGARES 23 - WRIGHT 22 - FAMILIA 21 - COLON 20 - d’ARNAUD 19 - GEE 18 - TEJADA 17 - TORRES 16 - MEJIA 15 - FLORES 14 - E YOUNG 13- NIEUWENHUIS 12 - EDGIN 11 - BLACK 10 - CAMPBELL 9 - C YOUNG 8 - den DEKKER 7 - RECKER 6 - CARLYLE 5 - ABREU 4 - HERRERA 3 - MATSUZAKA 2 - MONTERO 1 - EVELAND

metsmarathon wrote: ... you could even have velcro patches and the like. Then, when changing a pitcher who was getting bombed or removing a guy who just made a costly error in the field, instead of just sending a replacement out, the manager could march out there and rip the team logo insignias right off the jersey and send the player off the field in disgrace. Or maybe make the player wait out there for his substitute at which point he'd have to rip his own patches off and place them on the shoulder of his replacement in a changing of the guards type of situation. Needless to say, trades and demotions would now have their own video-worthy moments as patches, numbers, logos, etc. are removed from the fallen soldier. I think you may be onto something here.

Ceetar wrote: I want a Lucas Duda growth chart. That one should be for kids. For the parents of those kids there'll be a Bartolo Colon growth chart night. So what if deGrom decides to go with a buzz-cut in Spring Training? What do they do with the Garden Gnome then? Much as is the case with some TV actresses, the team is going to have a clause put in deGrom's contract giving them a say in all his hair styling decisions lest it affect any future marketing campaigns.

Dunn, Konerko, and Soriano make it three 400+ HR guys retiring in the same off-season. Bet that's a first. Dunn & Konerko played their final game on the same day, Sept 28th (Dunn didn't get into the WC play-in game for Oakland despite it being the only post-season "appearance" of his career). Soriano's last game came on July 5th; the Yanx released him the next day.

"Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez confirmed in government testimony he took Biogenesis-supplied performance-enhancing drugs over a period from 2010 to 2012, according to a report in the Miami Herald." So wait, this means that all that screaming on Francesa's show last year wasn't truthful? I feel so used.

Yes, defense is a large part of it and, like James, I haven't gone under the hood of WAR to suss out how I feel about the accuracy of it all nor I have read up on what James is specifically objecting to. But even without all that it's still just an estimate. It might be a good one (or more than one actually since different methods produce different results) and a useful tool, it just shouldn't be treated as a stone cold fact.

Yeah, spare me from the 'Whatever it Takes' line of thinking. I sometimes think it's more like the 'Whatever it takes to get you to read my column' strategy as opposed to moves they believe in.

One of the columnists was in the paper this morning suggesting Syndergaard for J Upton - but the problem with that is that Upton's only signed for one year and, at age 27, I can't see him forfeiting his first shot at FA-gency by talking contract during the season. If I'm moving Syndergaard it's going to be for someone who'll be here for more than 162 games.

Puig is signed for another five years and, because the Dodgers paid him a big bonus up front, his salaries are actually quite low going forward. On the other hand, while he apparently does NOT have the Cepedes-like deal where he can't be offered arbitration (effectively making him a FA before the standard six years), he can opt [u:tnxz66oa]into salary arbitration[/u:tnxz66oa] after year three (aka 2015) so those low salaries effectively get wiped out by market-driven corrections. The only red flag with him -- y'know, except for the self-destructive part, and the part about not listening to coaches, and where he often runs until he's tagged out regardless of the situation -- is the power outage he had in the 2nd half of 2014. I was looking for the 2nd year slump from him as the league adjusted (similar to what Cepedes has gone through) and it looked like I was wrong until after the ASB when he hit all of 4 HRs in 215 ABs Maybe that's a sign that pitchers are adjusting to him or maybe it's just a SSS variation. In all, year 2 saw a 23 point drop in BA compared to his 2013, a drop of 9 points in OBA (unlike the stereotyped Latin slugger, he does take his walks), and 54 in Slugging, most of that due to the 2nd half power slump: SLG 1st half = .522, 2nd half = .414

They've been doing it for the GG awards for the last 2 years or so but this year is the first time I remember seeing it for RoY, CY, MoY & MVP. I don't like it. Not that it's a huge deal or anything since all they're really doing is telling you the top three finishers in advance, I just don't see the point of it all. I guess they think it somehow builds intrigue but I don't agree.

Alfonso Soriano - 38 16 seasons, 412 HRs, 481 2Bs, .270/.319/.500 3rd RoY, 7 ASG, 2 Silver Sluggers, twice top-10 MVP (3rd in 2002 w/MFY; 6th in 2006 w/Nats)

Not to steer this thread away from the topic too far, but one problem with WAR is that it's an estimate (well thought-out or otherwise) that's too often treated as if stone-cold fact. (it's not as bad a QB-ratings, but along those same lines). That doesn't mean it should be ignored, only that I think it should be looked at more as a piece of an argument rather than as the end of one. As far as things go for our annual rankings deal here, while there aren't any rules as to how one comes up with a list, it's traditionally been one where the choices were yours that you could defend if challenged and/or be willing to change if convinced otherwise. Not sure if GWreck meant that WAR-iffic list as one he wants to submit as is or if it was included for informational/comparison purposes only, but it would seem counter to the spirit of this now 12 or 13 year long project if all folks did was look up certain stats and consider that as the final answer.

G-Fafif wrote: Though R.A. Dickey accepting the Cy Young news was less than two years ago, seeing Jacob deGrom smiling and offering thanks for the Players Choice felt like the first time in a long time I'd seen a Met win a merit-based award. Maybe it was because R.A. was gone not long after the Cy. In any event, it was fun. I hope there's more fun next week. And for that matter, tonight Gold Glove-wise. Yeah, at least we know deGrom will be here for a while ... or at least until he gets shipped to Anaheim in the Trout trade.

It's Ranking time!! List your top 30 players for the 2014 season from among the 45 who appeared in a NYM uniform this past year. Position players by AB: GRANDERSON - MURPHY - DUDA - WRIGHT - LAGARES d’ARNAUD - TEJADA - E. YOUNG - C. YOUNG - FLORES CAMPBELL - RECKER - den DEKKER - ABREU - NIEUWENHUIS HERRERA - BROWN - SATIN - CENTENO - QUINTANILLA DAVIS - TEAGARDEN - TOVAR Pitchers by IP: COLON - NIESE - WHEELER - deGROM - GEE TORRES - MEJIA - MATSUZAKA - FAMILIA - MONTERO BLACK - CARLYLE - GERMEN - EDGIN - EVELAND VALVERDE - FARNSWORTH - RICE - GOEDDEL - LANNAN ALVAREZ - PARNELL

Only the Tampa job remains open. Maybe they'll hire Rich Renteria? TEAMMANAGERSIGNED THRUSTATUSMETSTerry Collins2015 + option for '16BRAVESFredi Gonzalez2015PHILLIESRyne Sandberg2016 + option for '17NATIONALSMatt Williams2015 + options for �16 + �17MARLINSMike Redmond2015Extended through 2017CARDINALSMike Matheny2017PIRATESClint Hurdle2017 + option for �18CUBS[crossout]Rick Renteria[/crossout]Fired Oct 31Hired Joe Maddon for 2015 - 2019REDSBryan Price2016BREWERSRon Roenicke2015 + option for �16DODGERSDon Mattingly2016GIANTSBruce Bochy2016PADRESBud Black2015DBACKS[crossout]Kirk Gibson[/crossout]2014 -- Fired, Sept 2014Chip Hale hired for 2015-16ROCKIESWalt Weiss2016RED SOXJohn Farrell2016YANKEESJoe Girardi2017ORIOLESBuck Showalter2018BLUE JAYSJohn Gibbons2015 + option for �16RAYS[crossout]Joe Maddon[/crossout]Mgr Opted out of contract's final year????TIGERSBrad Ausmus2016 + option for �17INDIANSTerry Francona2016Extended thru 2018 w/options for '19 + '20ROYALSNed Yost2015TWINS[crossout]Ron Gardenhire[/crossout]Fired - Sept '14Hired Paul Molitor - 2015-2017WHITE SOXRobin Ventura2014ANGELSMike Scioscia2018RANGERS[crossout]Ron Washington[/crossout]Resigned Sept 2014Hired Jeff Banister - 2015-17 + '18 optionMARINERSLloyd McClendon201?ASTROS[crossout]Bo Porter[/crossout]Fired Sept 2014AJ Hinch - Hired Sept 2014ATHLETICSBob Melvin2016

Anyone up for a challenge trade? The Angels are said to be looking for pitching: Pick a young pitcher and send him for young OFer Kole Calhoun Just turned 27, 3rd season but just his first full(ish) one, not even arg-eligible till 2017, L/L, 51 XBHs in < 500 ABs in 2014, plays RF (have no idea how well) Look, I've barely seen the guy and have no idea if the Angels would be willing/looking to move him, but I think this is the type of trade that will probably fill one of the lineup holes we're looking to plug this winter, and it's something that will take pitching but < Syndergaard to pull off.

Those receiving qualifying offers: James Shields (Royals) Michael Cuddyer (Rockies) Max Scherzer (Tigers) Victor Martinez (Tigers) Ervin Santana (Braves) Hanley Ramirez (Dodgers) Pablo Sandoval (Giants) Melky Cabrera (Blue Jays) Francisco Liriano (Pirates) Russell Martin (Pirates) David Robertson (Yankees) Nelson Cruz (Orioles)

Edgy MD wrote: Cuddyer gets a qualifying offer. Whoa, I didn't see that one coming! This is either good news or bad for NYM fans depending on whether they wanted Cuddyer or not as I suspect this takes him out of the Mets' plans. He was at the end of the three-year deal he signed with the Rox following the 2012 season which was paying him $10.5/per and if I were him, coming off a mostly lost season (< 200 ABs) and getting to stay in Coors, I'd jump all over that offer. On the other hand, maybe he's thinking that, at age 36 (in March), this is his last best chance for a multi-year deal.