Frayed Knot

Captain America has a "stiff back" and is sitting out tonight's game. "If this is April I'd be in there" says Dabid. 1-1 in the 4th. DR run came via a shot by Hanley off of Dickey in the 2nd inning which is expected to land any minute now.

Sept 2014 for 1st call-up with early 2015 as a permanent one would be a good schedule for Syndergaard, Gee is a guy who needs his control. Today he only gave up a couple of hits but walked 4 in a brief outing. Fortunately that's not his usual MO.

A composite list of best overall prospects headed into this season based on five different ones I followed this winter: BA, BP, MLB.com (J. Mayo), ESPN (K. Law), Sickels 1 - Jurickson Profar - SS, Rangers -- Saw ML action late last year and will probably be starting SS from opening day 2 - Oscar Tavares - OF, Cardinals -- Played in AA in 2012; will probably see the big club before the year is out even though he doesn't turn 21 until June. 3 - Dylan Bundy - RHP, Orioles -- 4th overall draft pick in 2011 out of HS in Oklahoma, pitched in low-A, high-A, AA last season plus 5 late season innings for the O's 4 - Wil Myers - OF, Rays -- 3rd round pick (as a catcher) by KC in 2009. Strictly an OF now, was dealt to the Rays over the winter after being briefly linked in rumors to Dickey deals. Either starts the year in Tampa or gets there as soon as they can delay his arb & FA 5 - Gerrit Cole - RHP, Pirates -- #1 overall pick out of UCLA in 2011 (3 years after spurning the Yanx' late 1st-round pick out of HS), will probably start the year in AAA 6 - Jose Fernandez - RHP, Marlins -- 14th overall pick in 2011 (1 slot after B. Nimmo) out of a Tampa-area HS, reached high-A last season and won't turn 21 until late in the year 7 - Xander Bogaerts - SS, Red Sox -- Signed out of Aruba, reached AA as a 19 y/o in 2012 8 - Zack Wheeler - RHP, Mets 9 - Taijuan Walker - RHP, Mariners -- 1st round Supp (43rd overall) pick in 2010 out of Calif HS; played in AA at age 19 and then was fake traded this winter before Justin Upton nixed the deal. 10 - Miguel Sano - 3B, Twins -- 19 y/o (20 in May) Dominican prospect with big power projections. Probably slated for high-A to start 2013 11 - Tyler Scaggs - LHP, DBacks -- No, not a country music star, but the 1st round supp pick (#40) in 2009 by the Angels who was then dealt to Arizona for Dan Haren just a year later. Made six ML starts at the end of 2012 and one would assume he's there for good now 12 - Christian Yelich, OF, Marlins -- 21 y/o; 1st round HS pick in 2010 (23rd); looks to be headed to AA this year 13 - Travis d'Arnaud - C, Mets 14 - Shelby Miller - RHP, Cards -- 1st round HS pick in 2009, got two ML starts at the end of last season 15 - Jameson Taillon - RHP, Pirates -- 2nd overall pick out of HS in 2010; pitched most of last season in high-A at age 20 16 - Billy Hamilton - OF, Reds -- Record-breaking speedster is being converted from 2B to CF. Split 2012 between high-A & AA 17 - Francisco Lindor - SS, Indians -- 8th overall pick from Florida HS in 2011; pitched in low-A last season 18 - Trevor Bauer - RHP, Indians -- 3rd overall pick in 2011 by Arizona out of UCLA, was (to the surprise of many) dealt away this winter to Cleveland where he could start the season 19 - Byron Buxton - OF, Twins -- #2 overall pick just last June, then got 165 ABs in Rookie ball (GCL & Appy) 20 - Mike Zunino - C, Mariners -- 3rd round pick from U-Florida last June. Looks to begin 2013 in AA ------------------------------ 21 - Javier Baez - SS, Cubs 22 - Carlos Correa - SS, Astros 23 - Kevin Gausman - RHP, Orioles 24 - Archie Bradley - RHP, DBacks 25 - Anthony Rendon - 3B, Nationals 26 - Addison Russell - SS, A's 27 - Albert Almora - OF, Cubs 28 - Jonathan Singleton - 1B, Astros 29 - Kyle Zimmer - RHP, Royals 30 - Carlos Martinez - RHP, Cardinals 31 - Jackie Bradley - OF, Red Sox 32 - Mike Olt - 3B, Rangers 33 - Jorge Soler - OF, Cubs 34 - Nick Castellanos - 3B, Tigers 35 - Julio Teheran - RHP, Braves 36 - Danny Hultzen - LHP, Mariners 37 - Aaron Sanchez - RHP, Blue Jays 38 - Chris Archer - RHP, Rays 39 - Gary Sanchez - C, Yankees 40 - Noah Syndergaard - RHP, Mets

John Sickels pre-season prospects list. d'Arnaud = 13th Wheeler = 15 Syndergaard = 22 Fulmer = 86 Flores = 118

G-Fafif wrote: Just being in the presence of Derek Jeter makes a good guy a better man -- and, perhaps, a more dangerous hitter. And now that he's out with an injury, it's obvious that even the presence of Jeter's absence has made Wright a better hitter.

Edgy MD wrote: Five RBI. [angryNYMfan]"How come he never has games like that for us?"[/angryNYMfan]

Hey, Chipper was one of those guys whose father was a Mickey Mantle worshiper (see also: half the white guys in America at mid-century) so he could have come to the Bronx and made the standard Stepford speech: "I AL-WAYS-WANT-ED-TO-BE-A-YAN-KEE-AND-WEAR-THE-PIN-STRIPES" and maybe even mean it. Giambi did the same thing and wanted his number, he settled on 25, to add up to Mantle's 7 as a tribute to his father's idol. But it's all kind of funny in that Cashman was insisting that the Yanx weren't going to make any move but this Teixeira injury seems to have changed his mind. In addition to Chipper he's reportedly contacting, or floating the idea of contacting, the oft-injured and currently un-connected Scott Rolen, as well as Derrek Lee who hasn't played since 2011. No mention so far of FA Carlos Lee or singer Peggy Lee. Meanwhile, Johnny Damon, who has some Yanqui past and has played some 1B in his career*, was publicly begging the Yanx for a contract last week but was turned down. That Cashman is looking around for someone might indicate that they're afraid that Teixeira's wrist injury is going to be more than the stated eight weeks or whatever the original estimate was, or just a general concern of the effectiveness of hitters coming off wrist problems. Either that or he's on too many pain meds from his own busted joint. * on edit: 8 times for a total of 12 innings, I thought it was a little more than that.

Do you suppose the time when the kid was filling in as a return man and tried to blow the punt out of bounds will hurt his draft status?

Jordany's junk aside, Met bats smacked Verlander's Tiggers around to the tune of 11-Zip 4.2 innings of 1-hit ball from Niese (although 4 BBs thrown in). Burke, Mejia (apparently healthy), Familia, and Laffey threw the remaining 4.1 IPs (0.1, 1.0, 1.0, & 2.0) of 4-hit shutout ball. The only pitching oddity was just 1 K by the combined staff. On the hitting side: two Buck 2Bs; HRs from the dynamic trio of Valdespin, Hicks (also off Verlander) & Bixler; and 15 hits overall including 4-fer-5 from the catching duo of Buck & Recker (Recker, I hardly know her!)

Was this the movie where William Hurt mumbles a lot? Oh wait, he does that in every movie.

Well, yeah, that's why the opponent manager has to agree, and why (if it's still on the books), it hasn't been used in decades. If there's a sniff of a competitive advantage, the opposing manager has to walk away. That link of yours states that it hasn't been allowed since 1950 and specifically say that the umps shouldn't have allowed it in 1952 the one time it was used since then (presumably opposing manager approved or not). The general softball rule is "last batted out" is the sub runner, based on the idea that he is the least likely player to come up anytime soon so you hopefully avoid the situation where his time at bat comes around while he's still on base CR-ing for his teammate. Some squads try to circumvent the rule where they try to get the youngest/fastest guy to CR each time one is needed in effect dividing their roster into three categories: guys who need runners, those who serve as C-runners, and then those who don't need CRs but they don't want them to be CRs if they should happen to be the last batted out when an injured (see also: fat, lame, old, lazy, hung-over) guy gets on base. Such practices are both frowned upon and not legal but, since few teams generally keep the book on the other side, sometimes you can get away with it. Definitely need more guys named 'Oyster' in MLB.

I had no idea that this practice was legal at one time - and am particularly surprised it ran to as late as 1950. One could only imagine the "injuries" or other circumstances that would occur today which would warrant a courtesy runner if still legal; every slow guy who ever got on base during a game within five runs would suddenly require medical and/or equipment attention.

Pujols gets "courtesy" runners. The Angels have asked, and opposing managers so far have agreed, to allow Albert Pujols to stay in the game even after being replaced by a runner if and when he reaches base. The tactic, well known to those who play in weekend softball leagues, has been in effect in each of the three games AP has appeared in to date this spring although only was put into use in the 3rd game due to Albert's lone hit in the first two being an HR (I presume he was made to jog out the tater although the article doesn't specifically mention that).

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Because you can't spell "Den Dekker" without a LOT of D... Unfortunately the spelling also requires a lot of Ks.

The Second Spitter wrote: What are your memories of this pivotal day in Mets history? None. I mean, I remember it happening and all but saw it as little more than a player getting into a beef with a writer. BFD. I had no recollection, for instance, that it was a spring training event. Not exactly what I think of as a "pivotal" day in NYM history.

NAFTA NEIGHBORS gettin' NASTY Meanwhile, Wright goes deep on some Eye-Talian hurler (probably one born in Ohio) and it's 6-2 USA in the 5th

Vic Sage wrote: actually, i did see IDENTITY, now that i recall. It was pretty good, and its exactly the kind of movie i'm talking about. although Amanda Peet didn't show her boobies, and she should have. They're very nice. I believe that had Seth McFarland chosen to include Amanda in his recent boobies song he would have several entries from which to choose.

Vic Sage wrote: i don't know anything about IDENTITY. What's the deal there? Well if I told you it would ruin the whole surprise. Buncha people (John Cusack & Amanda Peet among them) are forced to stop at a seedy Nevada motel in a pouring rainstorm and stuff starts happening in a 'Ten Little Indians' kinda way. Or does it?

Between ... - Rick Sutciffe in 1984: CY Winner at 16-1; 2.69; 1.08 WHiP for the Cubs following the June 13th trade from Cleveland (where he had been 4-5; 5.15; 1.66) - John Tudor with the 1985 Cardinals: 2nd in CY; 21-8; 1.93; 0.94 and the above-mentioned shutouts - Mike Scott with the 1986 Astros: CY; 18-10; 2.22; 0.92 plus the whole 1 run over 18 innings thing during the NLCS - Orel Hershiser with the 1988 Dodgers: CY; 23-8; 2.26; 1.05 (and do I even have to mention the post-season?) ... the Mets of that era kept running into pitchers with the annoying habit of having their career seasons either as division or playoff rivals.

Fern-Anne-D'oh Vuvuzuela

IDENTITY - 2003

TransMonk wrote: Matt Harvey: 4 IP, 0 H, 5 Ks, 46 pitches. Impressive - as is the combined two-hitter. I'll take en where I can get em.

TJ surgery for Cardinal SS Raphael Furcal - out for season

Harvey & Tejada look like they could be out of 1964 in those shots. Kirk's hair is too long and Dickey with his beard don't look as authentic LBJ-era holdovers.

Fman99 wrote: And the hits just keep on coming! Mark Teixeira shut down for two weeks after hearing a "pop" in his wrist, team very concerned, back to NY for tests. And when they say two weeks they mean eight to ten. Between the injuries and the FA losses, the Yanx OPening Day lineup will be missing 179* HRs from last year's squad ... although, based on what I've been hearing from Yanx fans much of the winter, this will be a positive thing since it'll allow them to fill the order with bunters and stealers which will shirley net them more runs. * Most teams don't even hit 179 HRs in a season much less lose that amount from their final game one year to OD the following. R Martin = 21, Teixeira = 24; ARod = 18; Ibanez = 19; Granderson = 43; Swisher = 24; Eric Chavez = 16; Andruw Jones = 14 ... and that's assuming that Jeter and his 15 HRs make it back by April 1 On the other hand, at least some of these guys are getting a chunk of their DL time out of the way during the winter & exhibition season so much of the DL lengths don't really add up to as much as they sound.