Frayed Knot

Sure, but when you consider that the last time an MLB team abandoned a U.S. city was during Nixon's first term, I tend to write this exercise off less as depressing and more as a matter of theoretical speculation.

Centerfield wrote: In theory, I'd love to say goodbye to the Mets too. But I think I'd find it very hard if I turned on the TV and saw Wright and Harvey wearing orange and blue. Except that they most likely wouldn't be wearing blue & orange as I think the new-city/new-identity trend will remain the rule of the future. Also, within a dozen or so years (and likely even sooner than that) just about every single player you associate with the NY Mets would be gone, either from the Vegas Whatevers or from baseball entirely.

MFS62 wrote: Mariano Rivera - AL Comeback Player of the Year. I suspect that vote was taken around May sometime.

I'd pick another team to root for. I have no particular candidate(s) in mind so whoever it was probably wouldn't be immediate; the only thing I'm sure of is that it would NOT be the yanx. But it would be a hard thing to do and while my interest in the game wouldn't die the day-to-day following of it would shirley wane. That said there'd almost certainly be an NL team in NYC before long so that would probably be the new choice. The whole thing with the Pelican/Hornets name change is a trend which started, IIRC, with the Cleveland Browns move to Baltimore based on the reasoning that a fresh start was preferable to just appropriating the old team's entire history. When the Irsay family bought the Baltimore Colts and almost immediately left for Indiana, for instance, they took with them not just the name and logo but acted as if Johnny Unitas and all that Colts history was now theirs. The clean slate idea is, I believe, the right way to go so I suspect if you were to see the Mets leave for Vegas or for wherever they'd no longer be the Mets and so cutting ties wouldn't be nearly as tough as it was for Dodger fans, Giants fans, Colts fans, Milwaukee Braves fans, etc.

Maybe it was intentional, but your gut produced a Duda-less list.

It's just that these columns are so predictable. - Every year some team wins the World Series - Most years it's a different team with its own, if not unique, approach then at least one with an individual variation on a particular strategy - What most if not all of those winners had in common is that a shit-load of stuff went right for them; some of it planned, some of it out of the blue. And then after the conclusion of the season multiple writers will lecture about how this is the model to copy. In this case they're being written as if signing an oft-injured Napoli, an oft-injured Drew, an aging Victorino, re-signing a really aging Ortiz, relying on a catching tandem of Saltalamacchia & Ross, hoping for a bounce back from Lackey (the most hated man in New England a year ago at this time) or continued luck with Lester & Buchholz all couldn't have gone incredibly wrong and thus be held up as a model of what NOT to do with a team coming off a 90+ loss season.

GO! Top 30 to be chosen from these following stellar candidates: Hitters (sorted by ABs) MURPHY - WRIGHT - BYRD - LAGARES - YOUNG BUCK - DUDA - DAVIS - QUINTANILLA - TEJADA SATIN - TURNER - BROWN - BAXTER - RECKER VALDESPIN - d�ARNAUD - NIEUWENHUIS - FLORES - ANKIEL den DEKKER - COWGILL - LUTZ - TOVAR Pitchers as ranked by IPs GEE - HARVEY - NIESE - HEFNER - WHEELER TORRES - MARCUM - HAWKINS - RICE - PARNELL ATCHISON - AARDSMA - MATSUZAKA - GERMEN - LYON BURKE - EDGIN - MEJIA - HARANG - CARSON BLACK - FELICIANO - FAMILIA - McHUGH - FRANCISCO BYRDAK - HENN - LAFFEY

Most recent World Series without an American-born black player: 1950 ... 2013

TEAM MANAGERSIGNED THRUSTATUSMETSTerry Collins2013New two-year deal thru 2015 + optionBRAVESFredi Gonzalez2013Has 2014 OptionPHILLIESRyne SandbergInterimGiven permanent job thru 2016NATIONALSDavey Johnson2013Will not return -- Matt Williams hired, length unknownMARLINSMike Redmond2015CARDINALSMike Matheny2013Has option for 2014PIRATESClint Hurdle2014 CUBSDale Sveum2014Fired - Sept '13REDSDusty Baker2014Fired 1-yr into a 2-yr ext. -- Hired Bryan Price on 2-yr dealBREWERSRon Roenicke2014DODGERSDon Mattingly2013Has option for 2014GIANTS Bruce Bochy2016PADRES Bud Black2013Has options for 2014 & 15DBACKSKirk Gibson2014ROCKIESWalt Weiss2013RED SOXJohn Farrell2016YANKEESJoe Girardi2013Re-signed thru 2017ORIOLESBuck Showalter2018BLUE JAYSJohn Gibbons2014RAYSJoe Maddon2015TIGERSJim Leyland2013Will not return / Brad Ausmus is reported replacementINDIANSTerry Francona2016ROYALSNed Yost2013TWINSRon Gardenhire2013Extended thru 2015WHITE SOXRobin Ventura2014ANGELSMike Scioscia2018RANGERSRon Washington2014MARINERSEric Wedge2013Will not returnASTROSBo Porter2013ATHLETICSBob Melvin2016

Best chance of a 5th starter type contract and/or a ST invite from the NYM: Santana, Matsuzaka, or Harang? I'd say Matsuzaka, Santana, then Harang in that order. (not that those are the only three choices)

Yeah, BA leaves Puello off the Mets Top-10 list then puts him in their list of [u:4pfow1yz]Players to Watch at Winter Ball[/u:4pfow1yz] Cesar Puello, OF, Mets -- Puello made real adjustments to his generate more loft with his swing, but he was also suspended 50 games for his involvement with Biogenesis, putting questions around how much of his performance was chemically enhanced. From a practical standpoint, playing for the Toros in the Dominican League will help him make up for some of the time he lost at the end of the season, although given how many games he�s missed it wouldn�t be a surprise if he struggled to find his timing.

Rosario wouldn't be the first low-level/high-skillz guy BA put relatively high on a prospect list. Critics accuse them of over-doing exactly that, but your mileage may vary. Here's the full BA article although they hide the players' individual scouting reports and even the Q&A session that follows this list behind their subscription wall.

And, of course, the whole baseball-is-dying narrative gets written by those who view things solely through the prism of national TV ratings. But baseball's strength isn't now, and never has been, network TV ratings. Sure, MLB would love to have what the NFL has: a huge flock who'll velcro themselves to their couch in front of any game--meaningful or not, involving the local team or not; if it's on TV they're watching it, no questions asked. But in a lot of ways the NFL would like to have what MLB has: loyal audiences in more than two dozen cities (and many spots in between) where the audiences, smaller and more local they may be, tune in 162 times and where the teams themselves collect the revenues. Having network TV as your lifeblood has certainly worked out well for football, but it also makes them a slave to that source and some less-than-promising side-effects are starting to be felt as a result of that alliance: declining attendance, local TV blackouts, sky-box dependancy, last-minute game time switching solely at the whim of the networks, nighttime January playoff games, etc.

Silver Sluggers - Nov 6 RoY(s) - Nov 11 MoY - Nov 12 CY - Nov 13 MVP - Nov 14

Ashie62 wrote: They have largely lost African America... To some extent, sure. And, in keeping with the theme of this whole thread, compared to the spot baseball occupied in the first half of the 20th century, they've "lost" (a word we can debate the meaning of) fans across various demographics, something o one is disputing. But controlling a smaller portion of the pro sports pie in this country is a far cry from saying that the sport is dying, a statement that gets repeated practically on a daily basis based on faulty or limited information by people who don't like the sport in the first place and are paid to promote others.

Clemente - '71?

metirish wrote: Cherington had some big boots to fill and has done an amazing job. Seriously I look at that roster and go wow, they won the World Series. After last year's finish and the big trade-off of last summer, lots of folks were underwhelmed with their roster and picked them to finish at or near the bottom of the AL East. And while Cherrington et al have to get the credit for the results, anytime a team leads most of the season and winds up as the last one standing it means a helluva lot went right for them. You don't want to dismiss it as luck but good teams are usually good AND they're lucky. Every one of the starting eight--starting ten really since they platooned in LF and at 3B--missed little or no time. Including: - Napoli, whose 3-year deal was canceled when he failed his physical. They settled instead on a one-year deal for smaller bucks and he both played every day and adapted to 1B well. When injured deals like that don't work out (Moises Alou) the GM is derided as stupid. - Peroia never missed a game. - Drew at SS was another guy available because of past injuries. This year he got 500 PAs - For 2008-2010 Papi (at age 32-34) averaged .257/.356/.498 -- So the Sox signed the 35 y/o to an extension and he goes .311/.401/.571 for 2011-2013 at ages 35, 36 & 37 It's easy to say deals like that are no-brainers after they work but supposing those years were the beginning of the end rather than a temporary lull? - Ellsbury was on the field for twice as many ABs this season compared to last - Iglesies was an all-glove SS hitting .202 in the minors when he was called up, he then hit .330/.376/.409 in Boston while filling in at two positions before getting dealt for Jake Peavy - Four starters made 27 or more starts including Lackey who had missed all of 2012, Only Buchholz among the regulars missed significant time (he made 16 starts) - And the only place where they were really injured bit was in the pen where their 38 y/o fourth choice turned out to be the best closer in MLB once he got the job.

Anyone catch the Doc Ellis reference?

Dancin' in the streets of Hyannis

Even in the Game 7 2004/ALCS blowout in Yanqui Stadium, the Sox still managed to get themselves into a mini-dicey situation around the 7th inning (IIRC, it was when they brought Pedro in for an honorary inning of relief). What saved them here is that Lackey got two quick outs to start the inning so that even the five consecutive hits & walk could only dent the lead so much ... but one more timely hit there and it was about to be nut-crunching time. The thing that sustained the Cardinals offense all year--ridonculous RiSP numbers--has deserted them in this series, but that's the nature of those sort of specialized stats especially in small samples.

1st Otiz K in 10 post-season games ... Wow!!

Zvon wrote: Too bad the best fans in baseball are stuck watching some pretty pathetic play from their team. I wonder if they'll blame it all on Matheny the way they used to blame it all on LaRussa.

SteveJRogers wrote: All well and good, but again, it is still declining in important youthful demographics, and basketball apparently is charging right behind in those all important young demos. If baseball were losing the youth at the rate I keep hearing that they're losing the youth for as long as I've been told they've been losing the youth ... then every baseball fan would already be dead.

Signs Representing Perhaps a Renewed Strategic Engagement by Fans or Maybe the Birth of Strat-O-Matic(?) One of Bill Veeck's teams encouraged fans to dictate strategy with their signs. Hit & Run?; Bunt?; etc. Mark McGwire(?) Pretty sure that's Pujols

I had an inkling Wacha's bubble was going to burst tonight. Not that I expected him to get trashed or anything, just that his near-perfect stretch was due to come to an end.