Frayed Knot

#23 on Keith Law's top 100 prospects list: Mejia entered 2009 with no experience above short-season leagues, but finished it in Double-A despite missing time in the middle of the year with a strained finger on his pitching hand. He has top-of-the-rotation stuff, but is just 20 with the command you'd expect to see in a live-armed teenager with barely 200 innings in pro ball. His fastball sits at 93-96 and will tick higher, and the ball sometimes shows natural cutting action toward left-handed hitters. His changeup is his best off-speed pitch and, at 85-87 mph with good tail, looks like a soft two-seamer. His curveball is very inconsistent, but at its best, it's plus with good two-plane break and depth in the upper 70s. He's thick but not tall, and his slot is just below 3/4 -- so he has to work on staying on top of the ball, and the finger injury reduced his already below-average command. That said, he's 20 and has shown he can get advanced hitters in Double-A out. If the Mets slow him down a little and let him spend all of 2010 (and maybe some of 2011) in the minors to improve his command and the consistency of his changeup and curve, they have a chance for a No. 1 or No. 2 starter.

#61 on Keith Law's Top 100 Prospects list: Davis' mediocre debut in 2008 turned out to be a red herring, as he finished his first full season in 2009 in Double-A and isn't far from reaching the majors. He has raw power, especially dead pull power, and showed that he can murder a fastball and lay off a lot of pitches out of the zone against right-handed pitchers. On the downside, Davis doesn't hit left-handed pitching at all, and even against right-handers struggles to recognize off-speed stuff. He's a reasonably good athlete who can handle first base and actually has a plus arm -- he was 92-94 mph as a reliever in college -- although that's less relevant at the position. A full year in Double-A/Triple-A to work on pitch recognition and on improving his approach against left-handers is probably critical for his future as an everyday player, but he has a chance to be an above-average one if he can shed the "platoon player" tag with more reps

Most of his 2ndbase-ing was years ago - although I suspect that's where many fans are going to envision him. Mostly corner OF and DH in recent years.

A guy I know claims to have coached him in some youth league ball out on L.I. a whole buncha years ago. Goes without saying that he was real good back then.

I could personally do with 162 games without the standard canned noise, but one would be nice.

Same here ... only it's pertinent. Yes, it is pertinent. But at the same time is seems that the source of whatever is being thrown up there as "proof" -- proof that either Omar is in fact the 'decision maker' (as GWB would say) or that he's nothing more than a stuttering dummy with Jeffie's hand up his back -- actually has little proof other than a vague feeling and an already made-up mind as to who's to blame and simply cherry-picks whatever tidbits support that predetermined conclusion. So, until someone actually goes on record with something more concrete than "I hear sources are saying", I remain bored with the topic.

Didn't see this kwiz until it was all set in concrete, but my first notion upon reading the question was Brady Anderson. Turns out he was close but not quite: he hit 50 once, never again hit over 40, and finished with 210 lifetime. Almost certainly would have come with with Davey, but those other couple were much tougher.

This whole era doesn't remind me even a little bit of the Grant's tomb years.

I'm bored with this topic.

At his original restaurant (the one on 73rd St) Rusty had a sequential display of what I thought were all 20-whatever years worth of his bb cards on one wall - although I suppose it's possible there were a few missing. He was one of the earlier leaders in those nascent days of the player's union so there may have been some battles with the Topps folks and their monopoly at the time.

The biggest problem with Tatis was that he was needed* at the plate nearly 700 times over the last two seasons. Cut that in half and we're in much better shape. * OK, I guess one could argue that his late '09 appearances at 1B instead of Evans weren't needed but you get the picture.

and Pedro's still out there too.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: Fman99 wrote: I remember as a kid trying to figure out what the letters JL had to do with Montreal or Expos. Stupid logo. That's funny. I always saw it as "elb" Same here -- exactly. I had even decided to myself that the "elb" logo stood for Expos League de Baseball. That's French for Americans. I didn't figure out that the logo was an "M" until adulthood. That Expos logo was never explained to me when I was young -- not by the Mets announcers, The Sporting News, Baseball Digest or anything. If anybody ever did, I would've caught it because I devoured baseball as a kid. I'm in the ELB crowd too - but at one point I had heard that that wasn't really a coincidence, that the logo was designed to do double-duty as both an M and as an abbreviation for 'Expos League de Baseball' (or something similar) so as to work in the French culture of the city. I guess calling them the 'Les Expos de la Ile du Mont Real' took up too much room.

Well, with Greinke there is which is where the comparison was being made.

Also, if Sheets, as I've read in places, is looking specifically for a one-year deal so as to cash in big for next off-season, that alone reduces the risk.

btw, at the moment it's pick #56 in next year's draft that we gave up to sign Bay. That could still move a slot or two higher as some supplemental kick in but nothing more than that.

This has to be a first in our years of doing this as a consensus year-end ranking, that 11 different players were simultaneously ranked in the top half by some folks and off the chart completely by others: - Stokes as high as 23 points (8th overall) by Transmonk not ranked at all by LWFS - Livan H. 20 points (11th) by LWFS & PotY unranked by Edgy - Parnell 17 points from Irish & 86-Dreamer unranked by Nymr83 - Cora 21 points from 86-Dreamer unranked by Nymr83 - Nieve 18 from Transmonk unranked by Vic Sage - Church 17 from Edgy & Grimm unranked by Irish - Sean Green 16 from Grimm unranked by LWFS - Redding 15 from Frayed Knot and Nymr83 (also 17 from PotY) unranked by Irish & Edgy - Misch as high as 16 from Nymr & Transmonk no score from 86-Dreamer - Niese 15 from LWFS numerous zeros elsewhere - Dessens 15 from Grimm numerous zeros

Miggy Tejada returns to Bal'mer, only this time as a 3rd baseman.

An extra outfielder who allows them to keep Fernando starting everyday in Buffalo for at least a half-season is a good thing.

metirish wrote: Bedard is only 30 and in 15 starts for Seattle last seaon sported a 2.82 ERA, so what's wrong with him? Injuries both above and below the neck. He was a big-time prospect with the O's but they dealt him for OFer Adam Jones and others in what was probably the only good move during the Peter Angelos era for at least the last decade. Bedard not only wound up oft-injured in Seattle but also got tagged as a head-case and a discipline problem.

The parts about his defense are disturbing. Other than that, all it's essentially saying is that he's no longer anywhere near being a starting outfielder - which is fine seeing as that's not how we're planning on using him - only 3/5 of the way through what might qualify as the worst FA contract of the decade. As far as the alternates mentioned there: - Winn has been discussed here before, but can in part call his own shots and is he going to agree to take a job where he'd be battling for a 4th/5th spot? - Reed ... been there, done that, no thanks - Endy ... much better defense but BTDT too, plus he's recovering from a pretty severe leg injury

Sickels gave him a 'B' grade (only a few dozen got higher) and had him ranked 4th in a very deep Oakland system. This guy sounds like he was not just a minor leaguer but also a good to seriously-good prospect.