Frayed Knot

The Cruz question comes up as a contrast to the Giants choosing NOT to re-employ Melky Cabrera when his suspension ran out. The Giants, of course, won the WS without him. The Indians started using Jhonny Peralta about a week ago (although not usually at SS) and presumably will do so in however long their playoff run lasts.

Now that Terry has signed his extension, the current landscape shows only the Nationals, Cubs, and Mariners looking for pilots although that could certainly change as others are coming up on the end of deals and/or have options that need to be picked up. - The Cubs, yesterday, fired Dale Sveum with a year left on his deal, a move thought by some to clear the way for a run at Illinois native/Northwestern alum and soon-to-be FA Joe Girardi. Girardi has talked about wanting to solidify his status sooner rather than later. - Eric Wedge, citing various unspecified differences with the front office, chose to walk away rather than even talk about a new deal. Not that the front office had offered him one but he claims that he was uninterested even if they had. - and Davey Johnson had agreed prior to the season starting, that 2013 would be his final one for the Nationals. Or maybe he didn't and the expiration date was forced on him; Davey seems to alternate between saying this was his idea and implying that it wasn't. - Other semi-recent updates include Buck Showalter being extended through 2018 in Baltimore, Ron Gardenhire getting a two-year extension from the Twins, and Ryne Sandberg having the interim tag removed in Philly TEAM MANAGERSIGNED THRUSTATUSMETSTerry Collins2013New two-year deal thru 2015 + optionBRAVESFredi Gonzalez2013Has 2014 OptionPHILLIESRyne SandbergInterimGiven permanent job thru 2016NATIONALSDavey Johnson2013Will not returnMARLINSMike Redmond2015CARDINALSMike Matheny2013Has option for 2014PIRATESClint Hurdle2014 CUBSDale Sveum2014Fired - Sept '13REDSDusty Baker2014BREWERSRon Roenicke2014DODGERS Don Mattingly2013Has option for 2014GIANTS Bruce Bochy2016PADRES Bud Black2013Has options for 2014 & 15DBACKSKirk Gibson2014ROCKIESWalt Weiss2013RED SOXJohn Farrell2016YANKEESJoe Girardi2013ORIOLESBuck Showalter2018BLUE JAYSJohn Gibbons2014RAYSJoe Maddon2015TIGERSJim Leyland2013INDIANSTerry Francona2016ROYALSNed Yost2013TWINSRon Gardenhire2013Extended thru 2015WHITE SOXRobin Ventura2014ANGELSMike Scioscia2018RANGERSRon Washington2014MARINERSEric Wedge2013Will not returnASTROSBo Porter2013ATHLETICSBob Melvin2016

Gee - 1.5 Byrdak - 0.5 Aardsma - 0.5 Francisco - 0.5 Young - 0.7 Turner - 0.8 Satin - 1.0 d'Arnaud - 0.7

If this thing does indeed get off the ground I'll take the Cardinals. And the only problem with taking the Pirates is that they're not assured of getting beyond the one game. Whoever wants them should be prepared to take the Reds if they win the WC game.

Yes they did - long enough at least for the Mets to get in a Double-Header in Wrigley Field on Sunday, September 30th Game 1: Mets lose 1-0 on a Ron Santo 2-out RBI single in the 8th. Arrrrgh! Jon Matlack wound up going all the way and got hung with the loss. Rick Reuschel started for the Cubs, relieved by Bob Locker after Reuschel walked Matlack leading off the 8th. Garrett successfully sac-bunted but then Matlack was thrown out at 3rd on a Millan grounder and Staub struck out to end the inning. Mets got the leadoff runner on in the 9th too on a Milner single but the rally died on another sac bunt, then a K, a Walk, and a Kranepool ground out. Game 2: Mets romp 9-2 as Koosman shines but Fergie Jenkins doesn�t. Kooz winds up going all the way and both Chicago runs were unearned. Meanwhile ... - The Pirates romped over visiting Montreal - The Cardinals, behind four scoreless/hitless innings of relief from Rick Wise (so, y'know, the Carlton trade wasn't ALL bad) beat Philly 3-1 So the situation is this: - the Mets lead the East by one full game over the Cards but still have two games remaining in Chicago - the Cardinals are the only one of these contenders who managed to finish their regular season on time, so they can only hope the Cubs do a sweep job which will get them into a play-in situation. - and it could be a three-way tie as the Pirates, though a game and a half back, have a make up game from earlier in the season. They need not only the Cubs sweep but a win of their own to force a three-way tie. And here's the kicker: the Piitsburgh makeup is against the Padres, a team that had finished their season a day earlier (on Saturday - there was no scheduled game on Sunday in SD, I can only assume because of football and stadium issues). So the lowly (59-102 at this point) Pads had to be yanked out of their off-season plans and flown across the country to western PA, all for a game that means absolutely nothing to them and has only a sliver of hope for the team they're playing. Bet they liked that!

The Mets will pick [u:32pn7vnq]10th[/u:32pn7vnq] in next June's amateur draft - and therefore [u:32pn7vnq]will[/u:32pn7vnq] be protected from losing their 1st round pick if they should happen to sign a qualifying Free Agent. They would lose their 2nd round pick instead which, once the compensation picks are tossed in, will probably be in the low 50s somewhere.

And on Saturday the 29th ... the Mets are again rained out, making it the 3rd day in a row with no NYM game. In Pittsburgh, the Expos scored 5 in the 2nd off Nelson Briles and held on to win 6-4 In St Louis, Bob Gibson was good, Steve Carlton was not as a 7-1 StL win allowed the Cards to leap over the Pirates in the standings. METS --- (4 games left) CARDS -1.5 (1 game left) PIRATES -2.0 (2 games left)

Tampa hangs on. Cleveland wins so they are in and the 3-way tie possibility is out. Texas, currently leading by a run in the 7th, can tie TB for the final spot or lose and go home.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: So the best the Mets can finish is tied for 20th place overall. And they could end in a two-, three-, or four-way tie for 21st. If I understand correctly, they've finished poorly enough that they won't lose a draft pick if they sign a type A free agent. Do I have that right? Not sure how ties are broken in these deals. It may revert back to the previous year: IOW, the better draft slot among the theoretical four teams tied would be given to the team that finished worst in the previous season and so on. And it's not that those teams finishing in 21st to 30th place among the entire MLB don't lose a draft pick it's that they'll have their 1st round pick protected and would instead lose their 2nd round pick if/when they signed one of the most elite variety of FA

Rays trying REALLY hard to blow this game and their season. Up 6-0 before the Blue Jays even came to bat and later 7-0, it's 7-6 heading for the 9th and that's only with Tampa pitchers dancing out of bases-loaded deals in both the 7th & 8th with GiDPs.

Zvon wrote: Edgy MD wrote: Yeah, me too. Working off the radio feed. Is Valentine really absent? This is SNY's doing and they can suckMahBalls. It's not that SNY is embargoing their stuff from MLB.TV, it's that MLB.TV (and the MLB 'Extra Innings' package) are contracted for games only, not for pre-game shows, no post-game stuff, etc. IOW, this is not something that SNY just arbitrarily chose to withhold.

Rays say that the rumors of their demise are greatly exaggerated - and emphasize that by scoring SIX in the top of the 1st. Pressure now shifts to the stRangers.

MFS62 wrote: TDA's average is .202. Adam Rubin ? @ AdamRubinESPN 4m My gut about why Travis d'Arnaud is sitting is that his average is at .202. No sense an 0-for-3 dropping it to a number that looks bad. Plus, look at how having a sub-.200 rookie year BA (in over 400 PAs) ruined Mike Schmidt's career.

NOW it's official (as the result of Oakland's loss today) that the BoSox have the #1 seed throughout the AL playoffs. Elsewhere, though, it's chaos as it's suddenly crunch time in the Tampa/St Pete area on the heels of two straight losses to Toronto. Eight possibilities remain with the three teams still fighting for the two WC spots. - In seven of those scenarios, Cleveland gets in and the worst they can do is win a spot in the play-in game to get to the play-in game. ONE of those eight (12.5% chance assuming all outcomes are 50/50) puts the AL WC into a three-way tie Half of the possible outcomes result in some kind of tie. CLETEXTBOUTCOMEWWWCL = IN; TX & TB = TIEWWLTB = OUTWLWTEX = OUTLWW3 WAY TIEWLLCLE = IN; TX & TB = TIELWLTB = OUTLLWTX = OUTLLLCLE = IN; TX & TB = TIE Should be a fun afternoon.

Another day with no game for the Mets - rained out in Chicago. So going into what should have been the final day of the season, the Mets still have four games on the schedule. But there was some help coming from elsewhere. In Pittsburgh the Expos scored 3 unearned runs in the 6th inning off Doc Ellis to come from behind and beat the Pirates 3-2. Another win (his 14th) on 3-2/3 innings of scoreless relief for Montreal�s Mike Marshall. In St Loius, Diego (father of David) Segui picked up a win for the Cards with FIVE innings of 0 run/2-hit relief All hail multiple inning relief pitchers. Standings at the end of the day: METS --- with 4 games to play PITT -1.5 back with 3 to play StL -2.0 back with 2 to play

Ron Darling: 'I want that accent'

I agree that the Mets neither bunt early nor often. The Sac Bunts in particular have mainly been late and in close games when one should, it could be argued, be playing for one run--I recall several of our walk-off wins this year were set up by Sac Bs. And those bunts which do come early are usually from those with the ability to bunt for hits (Young, Lagares) and I suspect are doing so on their own (albeit with permission). Glad to see this wasn't announced at 3 in the morning. Not sure the scribes in this town could take another one of those.

Mets � Willets Point wrote: Maybe we can do a Postseason Participant Profile series to prepare to watch the playoffs? I know I usually suck at doing these things, but I could probably throw something up for the Red Sox this weekend. If anyone who did a KTE for the other playoff contenders wants to update them that would be cool too. I'll take a team (doesn't really matter which) if we can get enough participation for someone to take others. We'll need ten - or we can wait until the WC play-in games are done and just do the final eight. Skipping the one-game series will also give you, me, and whoever a few extra days to come up with something. Maybe you should compose a fresh thread (while this one gets un-stickied and is allowed to die) in order to get your idea more notice.

Isn't having Mariano Rivera pitching with a Mariano Rivera patch on his sleeve, a Mariano Rivera patch on his hat, and a retired number plaque already in the outfield just a wee bit strange? I mean, he's not dead is he and that's just some cloned version of him pitching in his place? I figure it's either that or he enjoys getting all adorned in order to pitch in honor of himself.

Gwreck wrote: With the Red Sox win and the Tigers loss, the pairings are set for the first round: Wild Card at Red Sox Tigers at Athletics Is this correct? ... because if the A's win out and Boston loses both, the two teams would tie for the best record (97-63) and be even in their season series (3-3), but the A's would be one game better in intra-division which is (I believe) the first tie-breaker for determining home-field in such cases. In the meantime, I figure the results of last night's games kicks the three-way tie scenario up to nearly a 10% shot (9.375%) Tampa & Cleveland are currently tied so they have to match each other over the remaining two games at either 0-2 or 1-1 while Texas plays one game better (going 1-1 while the others are losing out or winning twice as the others are splitting).

The 'Fun' scenario for this weekend involves a three-way tie at the end of Sunday and a Monday-Wednesday play-in game orgy. To achieve that Tampa has to play one game worse than Cleveland who has to play one worse than Texas. Ex: Tampa at 0-3; Cleveland at 1-2; Texas at 2-1 or the same teams at: 1-2; 2-1; 3-0 Assuming that each individual game outcome is a 50/50 proposition (not entirely accurate but much easier math) I put the three-way tie scenario at about a 3.5% chance. Tampa is at Toronto this weekend - and are currently losing Indians are winning in Minnesota Texas is hosting the Angels and are currently winning.

No Mets game today (Thurs, Sept 27th) but the only two NL games that were played that day both involved the teams remaining alive in the NL East race. 1) The Phillies outlasted the Pirates in a 13 inning tilt in Pittsburgh The two clubs traded 2R HRs in the 1st inning - Del Unser off Bruce Kison in the top of the 1st - Al Oliver off Barry Lersch in the bottom half. And that was it for the scoring until Greg Luzinski lumbered home on a passed ball (I�m assuming he lumbered. Did the Bull ever do anything but lumber?) with two outs in the top of the 13th with what stood up as the winning run. The Pirates wound up with 11 hits and 5 walks in the game but just the two 1st inning runs. Phillies 3 - Pirates 2 2) In St Louis, Reggie Cleveland shut out the Cubs on a complete game 1-hitter as Lou Brock�s 2R HR in the 6th provided all the runs. Cardinals 2 - Cubs 0 Going into the final weekend of the regular season the top of the East looked like this" METS --- (4 games remaining) PITT -1.0 (4 games) StL -2.5 (3 games)

The other thing is that only a handful of FAs these days even qualify for compensation -- five or six last year maybe? -- so some folks are talking about tanking the end of a season in order to solve a "problem" that may not even exist. It's not like the old rules when every situational reliever (Feliciano) would net his old team a draft pick and sometimes several.

This game, like this thread, is being conducted with all the urgency of two teams being out of it in the final week.

Mets getting beaned by Hellweg and his angry 81 inches.