Frayed Knot

When Heyward caught that ball I'm thinking that not only did the substitute CFer catch it, but one who happened to be 6' 5" and left-handed. You never know where a different CF might have been on that play, but if Heyward is neither that tall nor playing with a glove on his right hand he doesn't snag it. Then again, in those type of one-run games you can drive yourself nuts doing what-if.

Do you suppose they'll have the guts to try him out at 3rd base?

Matt Garza heads from the Cubs to Texas for a quartet of minor leaguers - the biggest prize being 3B Mike Olt who was rumored to be part of a possible Dickey deal last winter. Also RHP Justin Grimm (Ben's brother?); RHP CJ Edwards (Low-A) and our old friend PtbNL. BA on Olt -- Don�t read too much into Olt�s overall batting line at Triple-A [.213/.317/.422]. He entered the season ranked as the No. 22 prospect in the game, but after struggling out of the gate with vision problems, he redeemed himself by batting .247/.353/.506 with 10 homers in 158 at-bats since returning to Round Rock on June 3. Strikeouts will be a permanent fixture of Olt�s game, but that will be an acceptable tradeoff for his plus power production. He led the Texas League in home runs (28) and slugging (.579) in 2012, but he�s more than just a one-trick pony. Scouts rave about his agility, sure-handedness and arm strength at third base, and he forces pitchers to throw him strikes with a disciplined hitting approach�his strikeout-to-walk ratio was about 2-to-1 since June. Olt represents a good buy-low option for the Cubs.

Mejia has pitched all of 24 innings this season, spread out between the GCL, St Lucie, and Binghamton. Am I to assume that these were all recent innings and that he is now pitching in regular rotation? He has started twice at Bingo for a total of 11 IP btw, Gary mentioned last night the possibility of moving Wheeler back to Friday and getting [the mystery man] up here for Thursday's game.

So with the future of the NYM outfield filled with many questions -- will Puello be ready?, can either Lagares or Nieuwenhuis hit enough to maintain a full-time job?, could Flores handle an OF spot?, and whither Lucas Duda? -- it�s reasonable to ponder whether either of the YoungByrds (no, they�re not an aging supergroup of �60s folkies) might be a good idea for a holdover for 2014. �Guys� even brought it up a few days ago during Gary & Keith�s discussion on the subject of trading Marlon Byrd: �couldn�t you just keep him and pencil him in for next year?� he wondered So today�s hypothetical question is: If you had to keep just one out of Eric Young Jr or Marlon Byrd for the 2014 season, which one would it be? Both are imports brought it to plug a hole, but both have responded with better than expected performance although each possesses a very different set of skills. . A little background to help you decide whether this year represents a mirage unlikely to be repeated (aka the Scott Hairston factor): The charts below show what each has done in a typical season prior to becoming a Met and then how each is doing this season. In each case the stats have been projected to show the results based on a fulll (600 plate appearance) season. In Byrd�s case I used just his most recent (2007-2012) seasons for the pre-Mets career so as to keep the stats most telling; in Young�s case I used his entire career to date. The NYM stats are current through Sunday's game. ----H2BHRTBBAOBASLGBYRD/600 PA1573313237.286.340.433 BYRD - 2013/6001512832283.277.321.519 ----H2BHRTBBAOBASLG YOUNG Per 600 PAs128184171.238.304.319 YOUNG - 2013/600152360197.288.366.373 Young is ... well, younger (not 29 until next May while Byrd turns 36 in August) and faster and more versatile although, based on what we've seen during his short stint here, I think Byrd is the better outfielder and certainly has the better arm. Young fills the lead-off role (assuming this hitting is for real) while Byrd provides needed power. And do note that there�s no �Both� or �Neither� choices in the poll. Just, as John McEnroe once (loudly) said, ANSWER THE QUESTION!!

Swannie is right now in his upgraded seats saying; "Again with the outs in the wrong order!!"

One-inning/one-run saves are about 80% converted. One-inning/TWO-run saves are about [u:1tr80cxv]90%[/u:1tr80cxv] converted. IOW, another run here would be HUGE

Gwreck wrote: I would imagine that despite the lengthier suspension, Braun gets classified as a first-time offender rather than a second-time offender. Maybe, but the fact that Braun, and by extension the union, accepted the 70+ games without a fight when the rules call for just 50 indicates to me that he's essentially admitting that he has "priors" on this subject. I guess we'll find out if the dope gets caught again.

Always nice seeing Casey the way he was meant to be seen - behind a logo for Five Hour Energy Drink

I thought that non-catch of Freeman stealing (which would have made it two outs and none one) was going to come back and haunt us. But Gee thought otherwise.

The Braves now have as many hits as the Yanx so far tonight.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I might be wrong but I believe the immortal Jeff Duncan was a Stetson Man. edit -- I am wrong. Lenny DiNardo - 3rd round pick in 2001, lost to Boston via Rule 5 draft following the 2003 season. Pitched parts of six seasons in MLB thru 2009 and still pitching in Independent ball as we speak (type).

THAT is why Tejada is still in Nevada.

Fish gotta swim, Byrd's gotta fly. Upton gotta sit and wonder why?, why?, why?.

Ashie62 wrote: smg58 wrote: I'm kind of surprised Turner wasn't sent down in favor of Tejada, who's been swinging the bat very well lately. That last spot in the pen is very much up for grabs, and I don't have a problem with Germen getting an extended look here. I believe Tejada is kinda on the shitlist.... I think it's more a case of him not being the best SS right now and that Turner is better suited as an all-around backup. Turner should play every day or stay in Las Vegas ... and right now Vegas is the better option (IMO of course).

Also, MLB was meeting with the 'List' guys one by one, Braun may have been one of the first. There also might be negotiations going on (what MLB wants, what each player is willing to accept without a fight) that this may just have been the first one to be settled. The one thing MLB does NOT want to do in these cases is shoot too high and risk seeing one or more of these guys getting off on a technicality. The negotiations may be key to that.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: So who knows what MLB has on Braun. Well, my guess (having read nothing beyond the headlines so far) is that MLB feels it has enough of a solid paper trail that the previously combative Braun chose not to fight it. And not only is he not fighting it but he agreed to a penalty above and beyond the 1st-timers 50-game standard which suggests to me that he probably confessed that his denials two off-seasons ago were bunk and that he only escaped suspension due to loopholes. MLB probably offered not to pursue a 100-game (2nd timer's) penalty and cause a legal fight if Braun agreed to the 70-plus games that he's getting. The other thing it does is bring the idea that maybe the latest ARod injury isn't an injury at all. Why reinstate in tonight (as was the plan) only to be forced to shelve him in a couple of days as word of the Biogenesis case started to leak and the implication that MLB feels their case is strong enough to proceed even without positive tests?

What I know of the Braves lately is that all three of their OFs got hurt at virtually the same time just prior to the ASB BJ Upton was DL'd Justin was not and is already back playing Heyward was not DL'd but still wasn't back playing as of yesterday And McCann has been hot lately, IOW hitting more like his old self as opposed to what had been looking like his older self. Chipper is still retired So is Bobby Cox

The other thing about Murph is how his walk rate is falling. It was never high to begin with, but in the minors his walk rate (OBA - BA) over 1,100+ PAs was .061 - just slightly below the norm of around .065-.070 In the majors prior to this year through 1,700+ PAs it fell to .047 - below average for sure but not absurdly so This season that gap is just .032 (a rate that's below the career pace for the notoriously free-swinging Pudge Rodriguez) so that, even if he were to hit .300 or more, he'd still have a mediocre at best OBA with not a lot of power.

The weird thing about Murphy is that conventional wisdom from a couple years ago was that if he could ever prove to be able to handle 2nd base defensively he would, at worst, be an above average player for a decent amount of time. The hang-up was that many (including me) assumed that the required defensive skill would never appear. And now it turns out that, while the defense is good enough, it's the offense that isn't.

At least back in 2004 when they were all doing the hairy dirtbag look there was some individual style going on whether it be Damon's caveman look, Manny dreads, Pedro's jeri-curl, Arroyo's cornrows, designer facial hair, etc. This present team just looks like a bunch of guys just sprung from the joint with the beard-longer-than-hair look being the dominant "fashion" (Pedroia, Gomes, Napoli). And I know, only one game but they also play like shit and I'm predicting Tampa and/or Baltimore finish ahead of them. They (the Sox) are starting to have mounting pitching injuries too. That's why Tampa's sweep of Toronto and their 17 wins in their last 19 games has been so key. Of the non-East AL teams, only Texas is ahead of the Yanx in the WC race (and only two games) so it could be that we'll need two East teams to stay above the Yanx all year.

Harvey - 4.4 Atchison - 0.8 Lagares - 2.2 Wright - 1.4 Byrd - 1.2

Mike Napoli, who had HR'd (see above) GiDP'd and K'd thrice, hits a solo HR in the 11th to finally put an end to this game at 8-7 Sawx ... and it didn't even take a full five hours to complete. Napoli, btw, looks like he's on work release from the local state pen. If I see him walking down the sidewalk I'm crossing to the other side of the street.

Edgy MD wrote: Special request to the Marlins, however, to stop playing terribly (against everybody but the Mets). Marlin bats vs three games of Milwaukee pitching this weekend: 15 hits over 31 innings Marlin bats vs three games of Matt Harvey pitching this season: 23 hits over 17 innings

And Baltimore completes the sweep of Texas to go along with Tampa's sweep of Toronto. Now all we need is for the Sawx to hold onto tonight's game and it'll be a very hurtful week in Yanqui-land.