Frayed Knot

A small splash of cold water on the Rainy for HoF campaign from writer Matt Eddy at BA Mets RHP Rainy Lara has a 1.17 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 9-1 K-BB ratio for Low-A Savannah this season, but scouts are concerned that he’s getting results primarily with a low-90s sinker and a funky arm action. Questions about the secondary stuff and that arm action suggest to many that he may be headed to the bullpen. Keep in mind also that Savannah is probably the No. 1 pitcher’s park in the minors.

seawolf17 wrote: Okay, so "pass" is a bit strong. But that's a lot of money for a guy who's on the wrong side of 30, even though he'd obviously outhit our entire outfield. Sure, the money will be one of the major factors.

He's the guy who bumped Hank Aaron off the first entry in the Baseball Encyclopedia. That was just plain un-American.

seawolf17 wrote: Pass. A lot depends on a lot of things that go on (or don't) between now and FA season, but a blanket 'Pass' is the one option I would take off the table right now. He's an outfielder (and a good one) which we don't have a lot of at the major or minor league levels, plus he's got bat.

Swan Swan H wrote: Daric Barton DFAed, eh? If they could get him for a reasonable package I'd put him in Las Vegas for two weeks and see what he's got. He was a big time bat prospect after being drafted in the 1st round by the Cards, but that was back in 2003; turns 28 in August. Hits lefty too so it wouldn't be practical to think of him in a platoon with Ike. Also not a lot to feel good about concerning his last three seasons with Oakland [.205/.323/.276] except for his ability to draw walks.

Been over 18 months since we've had an update on this guy: From today's BA: -- Cesar Puello, rf, Mets: Puello has been a frustrating prospect. He’ll show flashes of brilliance, plus raw power, an above-average arm and the speed that helped him steal 45 bases in 109 games there years ago. Yet he’s never been able to have that breakthrough that some scouts had expected from him. Until, perhaps, this year. Early in his career, Puello struggled with his hitting approach and to generate loft in his swing to be able to tap into his raw power. This year he’s shown a more selective hitting approach and his swing plane has continued to evolve to help him drive the ball out of the park, which is why he’s hitting .305/.369/.508 with five home runs in 33 games at Double-A Binghamton. This might just be the breakout the Mets have been waiting for.

One interesting bench player for the Reds is Donald Lutz So you're thinking, a 24 y/o rookie born in Watertown, NY isn't all that interesting, nor is getting 9 without a walk in the first 31 ABs of his career. But that born in Watertown is misleading to the overall story. Father was a military man (hence Watertown - that's Fort Drum, right?) but his parents divorced shortly after his birth at which point his mom takes the kid back to her native Germany to live. And while numerous players born in Germany (Ron Gardenhire for instance) have become ML baseball players, Lutz became, upon his late April debut, the first player to reach the major leagues having come through a German program. A fine example for Kai Gronauer if you ask me. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/sports/baseball/reds-donald-lutz-makes-majors-from-germany.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Two-step solution to a wild boar infestation 1) Gun 2) Book of recipes You'll not only save your yard and dog but it'll also slash your food bill for the next month or two.

How about super-reliable Bobby Pee? Certainly had a better weekend than a couple other closers: - Baltimore's previously pristine Jim Johnson has made a mess of his last two appearances, coughing up 7 runs on 7 hits + 2 walks while getting just four outs. O's lost both after handing Johnson leads in each. - and Cincy's Aroldis Chapman was handed a one-run lead today in Philly but gave up back-to-back 2-out HRs to those well-known sluggers Erik Krantz & Freddy Galvis The funny part about this game (not to Reds fans of course) was that Chapman walked Delmon Young leading off the inning. The Phils then ran for Young with Cliff Lee but Lee promptly got picked off!!. If you're a Philly Phan you gotta figure that whatever chances you had were dead, especially after Chapman quickly got the 2nd out and the bottom of the lineup was due up.

A SERIES WIN!!!!

Edgy MD wrote: Quick, name the Mets' defensive alignment in the outfield for the bottom of the ninth. Well Baxter for Duda was a no-brainer. No need to change the others. No Ike for Turner though.

Now HERE is a guy where the batters should be working the count. Marmol has always had real low H/IP ratios but high BB/IP oe: and so he comes in and throws six straight strikes

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I like that Terry is getting a second inning from Rice. I think Terry would have swapped him out in a minute if Cubby mgr Sveum had PH'd with a righty but he stuck with the starters which played right into keeping Rice in there.

Huge props to Rice. Hang on here and he'll grab his 2nd ML win.

I never realized until today that Marlon Byrd is one of those guys with what looks like half a chapter of a book tatted onto his arm (or maybe both arms, I couldn't tell). I have no idea what he says but, whatever it is, I doubt that it's so profound so as to cause me to re-think my life.

Two things I know about this Fujikawa guy 1) Murph just took him DEEP 2) He's not grabbing any of Shinjo's leftover modeling jobs after his career is over. Let's just say that the dude isn't exactly the Japanese Anthony Recker

Except that then you've spent your catcher with three (and maybe more) innings to go.

Edgy MD wrote: Sending Valdy up against a lefty? I figure the whole bench is LHBs today except for Buck - and once the game was tied better to save that bullet for later on.

Lefty Specialist wrote: Dillon Gee would be awesome if games were four innings long. And, even then, only occasionally.

'specially if he's going to serve up 2R HRs to opposing pitchers.

Amazing that Tejada's only non pop/fly-out in his last 97* consecutive ABs resulted in an inning-killing GiDP * I may be off by a few on this one Dillon's not going to get away with this lead-off doubles parade forever.

Scheduled against Sabathia today ... except that the game is washed out.

Incredible lineup!! Leading off is the incredibly hot Daniel Murphy Catching is the incredibly handsome Anthony Recker and sitting is the incredibly inept Ike Davis

Probably only a few folks here are old enough to have received a 'Greetings' letter from the U.S. Gov't back in the day, but at least for them it'll bring back some (not so warm) memories. But anyway, the MLB amateur draft is coming up on June 6th - 8th Mets have #11 pick (the one they did NOT surrender for Michael Bourne) plus choices 48, 76, 84, and then pick #116 and every 30 picks after that. Baseball America starts things off by looking back as they examine the Top 100 draft picks for Position Players only over a 20 year span (1989-2008) and checked how things worked out. http://www.baseballamerica.com/draft/top-100-draft-flashback-naming-names/ What they did was to take those drafted players and divide them into essentially three categories 1) Those who either failed to reach the majors and/or only appeared in fewer than 100 games 2) Those who had played in more than 100 ML games 3) Those termed �Impact� players, defined by 10 career WAR or better They admit that there are still some folks out there, particularly from the more recent drafts, who could change categories still (the Reese Havens of the world for instance) but, now that they've gone five drafts back, there shouldn't be too many. Overall Sample: 917 players drafted: 513 (56%) from High School; 404 (44%) from College >100 Games Played: 350 players or 38% (30% of the HS players, 49% of the college) Impact: 112 or 12.2% - 10.5% from HS; 14.4% college So basically for every Eight players drafted in the Top-100 you can expect five to either never put on a ML uniform or to top out at being a cuppa-coffee guy; three to hang around the majors long enough to get at least 100 games in; and, on average, ONE of those three will become an �impact� player. Of course those odds would vary a lot in small samples and those picks towards the top of the 100 should fare a lot better than those at the bottom. Broken down by Position - although note that this is their position at the time they were drafted and not necessarily where they wound up: Catchers: 146 Drafted (16% of the total) >100 Games = 41% >10 WAR = 12% SS: 205 Drafted (22%) >100 games = 39% >10 WAR = 10% 2B: 29 Drafted (just 3% of the total and almost all of them - 22 - from college) >100 Games = 31% >10 WAR = 10% 3B: 108 Drafted (12%) >100 Games = 41% >10 WAR = 15% 1B: 82 Drafted (9%) >100 Games = 38% >10 WAR = 16% OF: 347 Drafted (38%) >100 Games = 37% >10 WAR = 12%

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I like our chances vs. this Feldman felow. It's like there's a Billy Crystal routine in there somewhere. Feldman? That's not the name of a guy who'll pitch you a great ballgame, that's the name of the guy who does your taxes. You can't say; "oooh chuck it in there now, Feldman; give him the high hard one, Feldman. It just doesn't fit"