Frayed Knot

With the incorporation of the 2010 composite list into our player rankings, David Wright moves to #7 overall up 7 slots from the end of 2009 - speeding him past Al Leiter, Keith Hernandez, Howard Johnson, Sid Fernandez, Cleon Jones, and Edgardo Alfonzo while becoming the first guy to crack the top ten since Piazza & Franco earlier in the decade. Other active players moving up (or not) as a result of 2010: Reyes from #24 to #17 Beltran -- 23 to 20 Santana -- 72 to 50 Pelfrey -- 120 to 78 Feliciano -- 91 to 80 Angel Pagan -- 203 to 98 Castillo -- 113 to 102 F. Rodriguez -- 222 to 139 Francoeur -- 234 to 170 Thole -- 566 to 275 Parnell -- 414 to 316 Dessens -- 583 to 336 Cora -- 426 to 431 (going the wrong way) Misch -- 483 to 487 Santana’s move knocks George Foster out of the top 50, while Mike Cameron & Roger Cedeno drop out of the top 100 as Pelfrey & Pagan move in. 14 players hit the list for the first time: RA Dickey - 168th place Ike Davis - 177 Jonathon Niese - 214 Hisanori Takahashi - 224 Jason Bay - 237 Rod Barajas - 308 Manny Acosta - 393 Chris Carter - 412 Ruben Tejada - 430 Dillon Gee - 446 Henry Blanco - 465 Raul Valdes - 485 ----------------------- Lucas Duda - 509 Jenrry Mejia - 538 And, for the first time since the invention of this goofy project, the list of players who received at least one vote somewhere is over the 600 mark (605). Sounds like a lot until you realize that nearly 1 in 3 players ever to put on a NYM ML uni didn’t even get that far. But, since we use just the top 500 for our ‘Player Status’ list, the addition of the new players means that we say goodbye to the likes of Pumpsie Green, John Thomson, Tom Sturdivant, Doug Simons, Bill Spiers, John Cangelosi, Jack Heidemann, Mr. Dae Sung Koo, Chuck Taylor, Bill Denehy, Kuan Acevedo & Julio Velera. The current ‘intro guy’ for newcomers (#500) is now the great Greg Harris. Mileposts: #100 - Ken Boswell #200 - Ryan Church #250 - Al Luplow #300 - J.C. Martin #400 - Gene Walter #500 - Greg Harris

RANKPLAYER30D. WRIGHT29A. PAGAN28J. SANTANA27R. A. DICKEY26I. DAVIS25M. PELFREY24J. REYES23J. NIESE22H. TAKAHASHI21J. BAY20F. RODRIGUEZ19C. BELTRAN18J. THOLE17J. FRANCOEUR16R. BARAJAS15P. FELICIANO14E. DESSENS13L. CASTILLO12B. PARNELL11M. ACOSTA10C. CARTER9R. TEJADA8D. GEE7H. BLANCO6R. VALDES5L. DUDA4J. MEJIA3A. CORA2P. MISCH1F. NIEVE

MetBlog -- The Mets have signed free-agent LHP Chris Capuano and RHP Taylor Buchholz to one-year contracts. The team has designated RHP Ryota Igarashi for assignment, to make room on the 40-man roster. Capuano, 32, went 4-4 with a 3.95 ERA in 24 appearances last year with the Brewers, including nine starts. He missed the entire 2009 season recovering from his second Tommy John surgery. Buchholz started 2010 on a rehab assignment, and made his return to the big leagues on July 24. He was eventually put on waivers and claimed by the Blue Jays in early September, and ended the year throwing just two innings, during which he did not allow a run.

Guys who are really, really good at one thing tend to get more support than those who are merely good at everything - so Ozzie's defense & McGwire's HRs tend to trump the overall goodness of say Trammel & Bagwell. Now obviously Bagwell's pct - whatever it may be - is going to be higher than Big Red but, IMO, wouldn't be if not for the whole 'roids deal.

Trading Reyes based on the addition of Hu would still leave us needing a starting SS

The Yanx traditionally seem to drag their feet on these things to the point where not only don't they announce a signing until every i is dotted but they usually don't like to admit that an all-but-done transaction is even in the works. One thing we'll get to see if and when he does sign is the approximate slot of the draft pick we'll pick up. It's probably in the 40s someplace depending on how Pedro stacks up statistically against other ranked FAs changing teams. Which team signs him and when is NOT a factor.

I guess the idea is that, if things go well with Hu, the Mets can let Ruby Tejada germinate for another year in AAA while CLH does the backup SS/2B thing.

Spring training conversation: Man #1 - "That SS over there, who's he?" Man #2 - "No, he's Hu." Hu turns 27 in February so I'm not sure he's going to turn into something that he isn't already - which is kind of Rey Ordonez only not as good a hitter. On the other hand I have no idea who Michael Antonini is so I can't figure I'll miss him.

Edgy DC wrote: He posted the full thingie at his site Isn't that what got Brett Farve into all that hot water?

Brandon Webb to the Rangers for one year. Not quite an adequate replacement for Cliff Lee these days, but maybe a decent gamble.

Yeah, I only got 8 of the MLB Wins leaders, 19 of the HoF pct, but I aced the east-to-west quiz by just sneaking in under the wire.

That 22 IP was with Arizona alone. He threw 78 overall between the DBacks & Pirates.

Rockies acquire Matt Lindstrom from the Astros for two minor league arms, neither of which looks all that young (23 & 24) or all that good.

Double ugh 53 !! I quit with like two minutes still left because I got bored with random guesses which was about all I was left with. Somehow I managed to not guess Vlad Guerrero which alone would have pushed me up into the sixties.

Scouts tend to be "Tools" kind of guys so they're looking for prospects who either blow people away with pure arm strength, or with a killer breaking pitch, or, in the case of hitters, have tons of speed or power. Gee, if he succeeds, is going to do so without any one outstanding tool but on smarts and location and changing speed, etc. Which isn't to say that you can't succeed that way, only that everything has to go right for that type of guy so he's the type scouts would bet against. Nieuenhuis is a bit in that category as well and why folks are hedging their bets; he's considered good at several things but not outstanding in any one area - so if the hitting plateaus or the power doesn't develop then he won't have the "plus" defense or speed to cover, something which would leave him as just a corner OF with marginal side skills. On the plus side, those are exactly the type of guys who tend to get overlooked a lot. Think Rick Reed for instance.

Ashie62 wrote: The cupboard is bare. According to Goldstein (BP) -- Summary: Neither great, nor awful, the Mets' organization is a middle-of-the-road one that provides more long-term bets than immediate assistance to the big-league squad. Not exactly "bare".

Some places - looks like Hardball Times for instance - use time on the ML roster to eliminate players from being 'prospect eligible' even if they didn't exceed the usual rookie threshold for ABs & IPs. That could explain the absence of Martinez & Mejia on some lists.

Kevin Goldstein at 'Baseball Prospectus' chimes in with his Top Eleven List -- good write-ups on each player, something that's usually only available to paying subscribers (so you might want to read it quick in case they realize it and hide the whole thing. 1. Jenrry Mejia, RHP ***** (Five Star Rating) 2. Matt Harvey, RHP **** 3. Wilmer Flores, SS *** 4. Cesar Puello, OF *** 5. Kirk Nieuwenhuis, OF *** 6. Reese Havens, 2B *** 7. Fernando Martinez, OF *** 8. Aderlin Rodriguez, 3B *** 9. Cory Vaughn, OF *** 10. Lucas Duda, 1B/OF ** 11. Darrell Ceciliani, OF **

Nothing like hi-lighting LaRussa [u:p5c3z34l]TWICE[/u:p5c3z34l] bringing in new pitchers with two outs and no one on specifically to pitch to Luis Castillo. The sad part is I bet he thinks the strategy succeeded as Luis only hit singles both times but not the HRs he might have hit from his "power" side had TLR not turned him around.

Right, he warmed up virtually every inning but could never come in because, after all, it's not important to prevent runs in an extra-inning game on the road when you're tied, only after you take a lead is a shutout inning desirable.

Yeah, LaRussa managed his staff really poorly that night - but almost got away with it because the Mets scored almost accidently against two position players: - 18th inning facing Felipe Lopez: Pop Out (Blanco), infield 1B (Valdes but thrown out trying to advance), Walk (Pagan), FO (Jacobs) - 19th facing Joe Mather Walk (Reyes); Sac Bunt (Castillo ... AArrrgh!!!!); IW (Wright - yeah, couldn't have seen that one coming!); HBP (Bay); RBI Sac Fly (Francoeur - Hey, we're really rolling now); IW (Blanco); GO (Valdes) - Top 20 (after KRod allows the game to tie) still against Mather Infield single (Pagan), Single to RF (Jacobs); RBI Sac Fly (Reyes); Fly Out (Castillo); Foul Out (Wright) So in three innings vs position players -- - they managed 3 hits: all of which were singles; two of which never left the infield including one by the pitcher which resulted in an out. - they were handed five baserunners in addition to the three hits (BBx2, IWx2, HBP) but still only managed two runs - both runs came via outs - four balls left the infield: Jacobs' single, the two SacFlys, and Castillo's fly out described as "to shallow LF" which, we all know for Luis, means deep SS The best part of the game was probably Takahashi wriggling out of 2nd & 3rd no outs in bottom 14 - He started with a 2B, then an error (his own), plus defensive indifference allowing the runner to move to 2nd - He then struck out Schumaker and Ludwick swinging, intentionally walked Albert, and then struck out the pitcher Hawksworth also swinging Met bats were so psyched by that performance that they went down 1-2-3 the next half.

- More multi-year middle-relief madness as Jesse Crain gets a three-year/$13mil deal from the ChiSox - Ricky Nolasco gets an extension with Florida (3/$26.5) In the world of more sane one-year contracts -- - Austin Kearns goes back to the seriously, I just used a racist word when I really meant "Guardians" after soiling himself w/the Yanx over the final eight weeks of last season - Bill Hall to Houston, apparently play 2nd base (you never know where he'll wind up) - Rick Ankiel to Washington presumably as the LF replacement for Willingham

Y'know, despite all his fame, I don't think I would have been able to pick Zach Grienke out of a police lineup without a named uniform. I suppose between playing in baseball Siberia and dealing with anxiety issues the low profile is part a matter of circumstance and part intentional strategy. On the other hand, this is apparently Mrs. Grienke (or Mrs. Grienke to be), the former Miss Daytona Beach/Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Emily Kuchar Who else does a shy boy from Kansas City via Orlando, Florida hook up with?

Figure to keep this open until New Years - so speak soon or forever ...

Benjamin Grimm wrote: "There was talk about a trade to the Yankees... but it's for the best, it's not a good-- he's not a New York kinda guy." -Francesa, on his NBC show last night Francesa has an NBC show??? Half-hour on Sunday nights post-football (11:30 or so). Only on the NYC NBC affiliate AFAIK. Usually serves as a football wrap-up show (he takes the summer off) but will talk other stuff as well.