Frayed Knot

WFAN's Steve Somers would always refer to this city as Sacratomato.

Yeah, MLB.TV is really for fans of out of town teams such as NYM fans who aren't in SNY territory. For a non-NY'er who can't get SNY, you can order MLB.tv and either pay for Met games only or for all games. Not sure there'd be an advantage of getting it through Peacock, or some other streaming service you already have, unless there was some sort of price break since MLB.TV is a stand-alone offering that doesn't need another service.

'Extra Innings' is a set of channels carried by (some) cable providers which feeds you the game just like any other channel option. MLB.TV is strictly a streaming service that you buy through MLB.com. You can buy a season full of just one team or all games (blackout restrictions apply) and it works on TVs, lap-tops, phones, etc. It's not really clear to me how this licensing thing is different. Subscribe to NetFlix [or insert other here] and get MLB.TV at a reduced cost, maybe? You certainly don't need anything other than an internet connection to make MLB.TV work so the only benefit I can see would be packaged pricing.

This thread wasn't inspired by CF's ‘What if they all suck' thread (as I've been compiling this for about a week now) but it at least somewhat blends in with it. And I think my only aim here was to point out that, while plenty of busts or simply non-stars come out of the early picks all the time, what the Mets have, since the Gooden/Strawberry duo anyway, lacked is the genuine impact player from among those picks that should be most likely to produce them. So that even the useful players we've gotten out of the top half of the 1st round have either been not very good or haven't been good for very long. So what I've done here is to go back some 40 years and, since what qualifies as a first round pick varies from year to year, I decided to look at Top 20 Picks Only since that is supposedly the cream of the cream of the crop. 1983 — Eddie Williams (4th overall / High School pick) Dealt away a year after being drafted (for Bruce Berenyi) and spent 10 seasons in the majors with six different teams while never getting into 100 games in any season and accumulated about two seasons worth of ABs without much success. 1984 — Shawn Abner (1st / HS) Dealt away in December '86 as part of the Kevin McReynolds deal. Accumulated 900 PAs over parts of six seasons. 11 HRs / .227 BA 1990 — Jeromy Burnitz (17th / HS) Fine 14 year ML career; 1,700 games, 350 as a Met in two different stints. 1991 — Al Shirley (18th / HS) Eight seasons in the minors but never made the majors or even AAA 1992 — Chris Roberts (18th / FLA St U) 8 seasons in the minors including 55 games at AAA but never got the call 1992 — Preston Wilson, OF (9th / HS) A nice 10 yr career elsewhere, but did help net us Piazza
 1993 — Kirk Presley, RHP (8th / HS) Injuries limited him to 30 minor league games across five seasons, all in A-ball, before he left the building. 1994 — Paul Wilson, RHP (1st / FLA St U) 26 games started as a rookie … then didn't see another game for three years and by then it was for Tampa Bay 1995 — Ryan Jaroncyk, SS (18th / HS) Played parts of three Rookie and A-ball seasons in the Mets system … then abruptly quit. Claimed he didn't really like baseball and only played because his father pressured him into it. He later tried a comeback in the LAD system but never even saw AA 1996 — Rob Stratton, OF (13th / HS) This is what happens when your Pete Alonso model slugger (6' 4” / 250) doesn't work. 11 minor lg / six AAA seasons but never in ‘The Show' 1997 — Geoff Goetz, LHP (6th / HS) Seven years in the minors but nothing more. Also part of the Piazza trade. 2000 — Billy Traber (16th / Loyola Marymount U) 96 games/28 starts for four teams across five seasons after being part of the Roberto Alomar trade 18 months after being drafted. 2001 — Aaron Heilman, RHP (18th / Notre Dame) Three very nice seasons as a Met but by then mostly a set-up reliever. Eventually dealt in a multi-team deal that netted us JJ Putz and Sean Green 2002 — Scott Kazmir (15th / HS) Ah yes, this one. Dealt at a trading deadline, at the behest of one or more of Wilpon's ‘braintrust', for a nothing special starter plus a reliever (Victor Zambrano / Rick White) apparently without testing what other teams might offer for him. 2003 — Lastings Milledge (12th / HS) Two seasons as a Met and pieces of four others elsewhere, but little success anywhere. 2004 — Philip Humber (3rd / Rice U) That he pitched 9 innings as a Met was one thing. What made it worse was being one pick After Justin Verlander. 2005 — Mike Pelfrey (9th / U of Wichita) Came out of college throwing 96 with sink … and then suddenly he didn't. Wound up with 7 mostly mediocre (or less) season in NY. 2010 — Matt Harvey (7th / U Conn) Exploded on the scene (both on and off the field) in his first full season. Then came TJS plus various other injuries and that success was never duplicated. 2011 — Brandon Nimmo (13th / HS) Didn't come quickly, but has been a solid player for 7+ seasons since. 2012 — Gavin Cecchini (12th / HS) 89 plate appearances for the Mets, and never got back to the majors after that. 2013 — Dom Smith (11th / HS) Two good but partial seasons in '19 & '20, but subpar in every other one. 2014 — Michael Conforto (10th / Oregon St) Four nice seasons from age 24 to 27, and then that one swing seemed to change everything. 2016 — Juston Dunn (19th / Boston College) Traded away in the Diaz deal. Has pieces of four ML seasons but none since 2022 as the now 29 y/o is currently hurling for AAA Charlotte (CHW) 2018 — Jarred Kelenic (6th / HS) Also in the Diaz deal, Coming off his first full (-ish) season w/ATL but with just a 86 OPS+ 2019 — Brett Baty (12th / HS) Still looking for a full time position. 2020 — Pete Crow-Armstrong (19th / HS) Good fielder. His hitting skills at the ML level still TBD 2021 — Kumar Rocker (10th / Vanderbilt U) Never signed. Was redrafted higher the next year. Five ML starts to date 2022 — Jett Williams (11th / HS) 2024 — Carson Benge (19th / Oklahoma St) So what does the non-NYM universe look like with those same picks? I compiled a list of ‘Stars' from top 20 picks by all teams during this same time span, defining 'Star' at 30 career WAR or better. 1983: Roger Clemens (19 / 139) [overall Pick / career WAR] 1984: Jay Bell (8 / 37); Mark McGwire (10 / 62) 1985: BJ Surhoff (1 / 34); Will Clark (2 / 57); Barry Larkin (3 / 71); Barry Bondy (6 / 163) 1986: Greg Swindell (2 / 31); Matt Williams (3 / 47); Kevin Brown (4 / 68); Gary Sheffield (6 / 61) 1987: Ken Griffey Jr (1 / 84); Kevin Appier (9 / 55) 1988: Andy Benes (1 / 32); Robin Ventura (10 / 56); 1989: Frank Thomas (7 / 74) 1990: Chipper Jones (1 / 85); Mike Mussina (20 / 83) 1991: Manny Ramirez: 13 / 69); Shawn Green (16 / 35) 1992: Derek Jeter (6 / 71) 1993: Alex Rodriguez (1 / 117); Derrick Lee (14 / 35); Chris Carpenter (15 / 34); Torii Hunter (20 / 51) 1994: Nomar Garciaparra (12 / 44) 1995: Darin Erstad (1 / 32); Todd Helton (8 / 62); Roy Halladay (17 / 64) 1996: Eric Chavez (10 / 38) 1997: Troy Glaus (3 / 38); Lance Berkman (16 / 52) 1998: JD Drew (5 / 45); CC Sabathia (20 / 62) 1999: Josh Beckett (2 / 36); Barry Zito (9 / 32) 2000: Adrian Gonzalez (1 / 44); Chase Utley (15 / 65) 2001: Joe Mauer (1 / 56); Mark Teixeira (5 / 51) 2002: Zack Greinke (6 / 77); Cole Hamels (17 / 59) 2003: Nick Markakis (7 / 34) 2004: Justin Verlander (2 / 80); Jered Weaver (12 / 35) 2005: Justin Upton (1 / 32); Alex Gordon (2 / 35); Ryan Zimmerman (4 / 40); Ryan Braun (5 / 47); Troy Tulowitski (7 / 45); Andrew McCutcheon (11 / 49) 2006: Evan Longoria (3 / 59); Clayton Kershaw (7 / 79); Max Scherzer (11 / 75) 2007: David Price (1 / 40); Madison Bumgarner (10 / 37); Jason Heyward (14 / 42) 2008: Buster Posey (5 / 45) 2009: Steven Strasburg (1 / 32); Zak Wheeler (6 / 36) 2010: Bryce Harper (1 / 51); Manny Machado (3 / 58); Chris Sale (13/53) 2011: Gerrit Cole (1 / 43); Anthony Rendon (6 / 34) Francisco Lindor (8 / 50); George Springer (11 / 39); Sonny Gray (18 / 32) I cut off the list there since any successful players drafted top-20 since 2012 is likely still playing. But that's 68 'stars' from a 29 year span. 68 of 579 top-2 picks over 29 years (JD Drew was drafted top 20 twice) or a about one player in nine. If you want to get more stringent and raise the threshold to 40 career WAR then it's 48 players, although there are still active players who could still reach either level.

Nope. Slower tonight than it was this afternoon and than it's been in a while (for me anyway).

It would be even better if Jesse Winker hit triples and played the field.

Lousy ending to the first homestead of the year, but tough to complain about 5-1 overall.

Pedro Martinez says he has "unaccounted for family members" still not found in the rubble. He didn't specify who or how many.

The 7th inning starts with the ever popular Kranick to Stanek handoff, so no need to panic.

Ummmm, a hit would be a nice start. Tough to score with only two walks on the ledger thru 5

That Holmes pitched better than his stat line was Zeile's main post-game point. Keith's too. The two runs in the first inning were (wind-blown) BLOOP - WALK - WALK - BLOOP. So the walks are on him but also some bad luck and conditions. In the 6th he got jobbed on a 3-2 pitch for a one-out walk, then a legit double ended his day. An RBI GO followed by a 2R HR off Brazoban then all went on Holmes record. Overall he struck out 10 with 5 hits (at least three of which were soft) and the 3 walks. In-game thought: Shouldn't Clay Holmes play for a team called the Pueblo Indians?

Reports saying that brief MLB player https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/blancto01.shtmlTony Blanco is also among the dead.

Hey Marlins, we can do that RBI dunker stuff too!

One of those weird moments where I find myself sad that Dotel was a victim of this tragedy, then realizing it's such a strange thought to think "Oh man, it's so sad that the guy I used to watch on TV died rather than a bunch of Dominicans I don't know either". I was 13 y/o when Clemente's plane went down (it was New Year's Day and my mom told me when I woke up). And my first reaction was to think, 'Oh man, he didn't get to finish his career'. Y'know, as if it would somehow be less tragic if this occurred a couple years after his career ended rather than two to three years before (Clemente was 38). It hit me a few seconds later that that kind of thinking is selfish and stupid even for a 13y/o but, yeah, his baseball life was my first thought. And I still remember all this 52+ years later.

You can't stop Hayden Senger, you can only hope to contain him.

Metro Atlanta is known for its traffic issues, but the area where the new stadium is located is hardly any better. It's an area with a mix of office, commercial, and residential spaces so it's got to be a nightmare for anyone who needs to be there for reasons other than a ballgame in or around game time.

Dunker - Walk - Walk - Dunker net two runs for the Fish in Top 1

I've never heard of any of this until just now. And now I've heard of it but still have Zero idea what any of youse are talking about.

=stevejrogers post_id=189106 time=1744135674 user_id=57] His passing during transport hasn't been reported on ESPN yet

Who's Pete's backup? Ringo

A quick, drama-free, and efficient save with Stanek picking corners left and right. What a concept!

That CF was REALLY shallow there. I wasn't sure Siri was going to be able to score on that.

=Gwreck post_id=189030 time=1744075496 user_id=56] Soto is…not that fast. Not Vientos-slow, but not that fast.

Dammmit, we got another leadoff batter on base. We're doomed, DOOMED I tells ya!

That's what now tonight, two GiDPs, one CS, plus a pickoff? Pitching gets easier when you only need to retire 17 hitters to get 21 outs.