Frayed Knot

But offering him arb (and him accepting it) would prevent him from ever getting to the FA stage and that's what you want to avoid here! Once he declares for FA he's not under your control anymore so arb doesn't enter into it. I have no problem negotiating a separate deal w/Sheff if he's willing to be reasonable but it can't be at anywhere near what he was making in the final year of the Detroit contract.

You�re getting the entire weekend Dodger series at once here seeing as how I�m out for a while. If someone wants to pick this up project for a while be my guest. Friday, August 22 - Shea Stadium: Mets 5 - Dodgers 3 -- Jerry Koosman vs Bill Singer Out go the Giants - in come the 1st place Dodgers* Mets score four times early - two on a 2nd inning HR by Swoboda - and hang on despite being out-hit by the Dodgers 12-7 as Koosman (6 IP, 3 Runs, 10 hits) and McGraw (3 IP - 2 hits) hold them to 3 runs. All LA hits were singles and neither NYM pitcher issued a walk. Game Time = 2:31 69 - 52; 2nd place; 6.0 games out of 1st, 1.5 games up on 3rd place StL (Cubs lost to Houston 8-2; Cards beat Atlanta 4-2) * If it seems like we�re playing a lot of 1st place clubs during this stretch it�s because we are. The NL West was a real dogfight that year and at the end of play on this date only San Diego was out of it (I mean if you can call 31 games �out of it�). But the other 5 are within 2 games of each other so, as they play the West exclusively during this stretch, each night they�re essentially playing a team which either is in 1st place or could be by the next day. Of course Chicago & StL are doing to same thing at the same time so it all evens out until September when the schedule turns entirely to intra-division clashes (ahhh, the glories of the pre-IL, pre-three division schedule!!) Saturday, August 23 - Shea Stadium: Mets 3 - Dodgers 2 -- Don Cardwell vs Jim Bunning Future HoFer Jim Bunning - making his 2nd start for the Dodgers following a late-season trade - holds the Mets to 2 runs over 7 innings as his new team is being shut-out by Met starter Cardwell. But Willie Davis�s 2-out RBI triple plus scores on an error ties it in the 8th. Ron Taylor holds LA scoreless in top 9 and sets the stage for Jerry Grote�s 1-out RBI double off reliever Jim Brewer to give them the walk-off win. Game Time = 2:37 70 - 52; 2nd place; 6.0 games out of 1st, 2.5 games up on 3rd place StL (Cubs lost to Atlanta 6-2; Cards beat Reds 2-1) I don�t remember Bunning team-hopping at the end of his career but he did go to Pittsburgh in �68 and was dealt to LA just a week prior to this game following his combined 14 years in Detroit & Philly. He then went back to Philly over the winter where he finished up his career in 1970 & �71. And now he�s being forced out by the Republican party who doesn�t think he can win again in Kentucky. They basically told him they weren�t going to fund him if he ran and so he�s �retiring� in favor of another candidate. I don�t think the Democrats will pick him up as a free agent.. Sunday, August 24 - Shea Stadium: Mets 7 - Dodgers 4 -- Gary Gentry vs Don Sutton Another day, another future HoFer faced. That�s 4 this week!! A back-and-forth game that will eventually total 23 hits, the Mets finally go ahead for good with a 4-run 7th. Jones & Shamsky lead off the inning with singles which chases Sutton. Reliever Jim Brewer comes in and promptly gets bombed. Boswell singles to load the bases and Swoboda doubles to un-load them. Grote singles in Swoboda and it�s 7-4 Mets. Cal Koonce - who had come in to pitch the 7th - gets the win and also acts as his own closer, retiring the Dodgers on one hit through the 8th & 9th. Game Time = 2:55 (Ooooh, a long one!) 71 - 52; 2nd place; 5.5 games out of 1st, 3.5 games up on 3rd place StL (Cubs split a pair while the Cardinals lost to Atlanta in extras)

Pelfrey - 3.2 Feliciano - 0.3 Stokes - 0.5 Rodriguez - 0.5 Francoeur - 2.1 Castillo - 1.0 Pagan - 1.0 Tatis - 1.4

I was doing some Frankie figuring earlier (before tonight's game). I took his last 4 complete seasons and boiled down what his "average" stats from those seasons would look like over 56 innings - which is what he's thrown this year. Hits: Proj = 41; Actual 2009 = 40 BB: Proj = 26; Actual = 32 Ks: Proj = 72; Actual = 56 Earned Runs: Proj = 15; Actual = 20 HRs: Proj = 4; Actual = 6 So in other words, his hits are about the same but his walks (always high to start with for a closer) are up a bit while his strike-outs significantly down. And, not unexpectedly when batters are making contact more often and doing it with more guys on base, the runs & HRs rates are up as well. Walks & HRs going up while Ks are headed down are a sign of a pitcher in decline rather than one who is just being unlucky. On the other hand it could be the result of a small sample that he can get back to "normal" over the next 2-1/4 seasons. He's still in his prime years and is healthy as far as we know.

Frankie chases Utley.

="Fman99":2z1flu0k]Anderson Hernandez is not a major league hitter. He looks lost at the dish.[/quote:2z1flu0k] And he's still considerably better than either Argenis Reyes or Wilson Valdez. Frankie needs to save this one .. for my sanity if for no other reason. John Cougar Lunchbucket Aug 21 2009 09:09 PM fucketyfuckshit. Hmmmm. LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 21 2009 09:09 PM Tying runs on. Fucktastic! Fman99 Aug 21 2009 09:10 PM Hey, Frankie, I hear you have a great big cock. Can I see it? John Cougar Lunchbucket Aug 21 2009 09:10 PM If only we had a lefthanded closer... Frayed Knot Aug 21 2009 09:12 PM Frankie chases Utley. PiggiesTomatoes Aug 21 2009 09:16 PM Finally, a happy recap. Fman99 Aug 21 2009 09:16 PM CSB shines down on Phillies losses. LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 21 2009 09:17 PM ="Fman99"] Hey, Frankie, I hear you have a great big cock. Can I see it? Why, THANK YOU, Frankie. John Cougar Lunchbucket Aug 21 2009 09:18 PM "I like your game. It's really cool." bmfc1 Aug 21 2009 09:19 PM Nice win. Way to go. I love seeing Francoeur beam the way he did after the game. themetfairy Aug 21 2009 09:20 PM OK - I can breathe again....

="metsmarathon":23bdu89e]if we offer him arbitration, the lower limit on that is based on the contract he's signed with the mets, right, and not what he's still making from teh tiggers?[/quote:23bdu89e] No, he'd have to be offered 80% of his current per/year amount, not just the NYM portion of it. There's no reason to offer Sheffield arbitration. If you want to keep him next year you simply need to negotiate a deal. LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 21 2009 09:47 PM ="Frayed Knot"]="metsmarathon"]if we offer him arbitration, the lower limit on that is based on the contract he's signed with the mets, right, and not what he's still making from teh tiggers? No, he'd have to be offered 80% of his current per/year amount, not just the NYM portion of it. There's no reason to offer Sheffield arbitration. If you want to keep him next year you simply need to negotiate a deal. He wouldn't have to be offered 80% of his current per annum, since he's a free agent. The salary floor only applies to those under team control. It's another reason the arb offer for Country Time makes sense. Frayed Knot Aug 21 2009 09:52 PM But offering him arb (and him accepting it) would prevent him from ever getting to the FA stage and that's what you want to avoid here! Once he declares for FA he's not under your control anymore so arb doesn't enter into it. I have no problem negotiating a separate deal w/Sheff if he's willing to be reasonable but it can't be at anywhere near what he was making in the final year of the Detroit contract. PiggiesTomatoes Aug 21 2009 10:03 PM Wouldn't touch him with a pole. Like Tatis last year, I appreciate his contribution during this mess of a season but I wouldn't bring him back. metsmarathon Aug 22 2009 06:48 AM ="Frayed Knot":2g03z1lv]="metsmarathon":2g03z1lv]if we offer him arbitration, the lower limit on that is based on the contract he's signed with the mets, right, and not what he's still making from teh tiggers?[/quote:2g03z1lv] No, he'd have to be offered 80% of his current per/year amount, not just the NYM portion of it. There's no reason to offer Sheffield arbitration. If you want to keep him next year you simply need to negotiate a deal.[/quote:2g03z1lv] well, if that's the case, then surely i wouldn't think of offering him arbitration. if the 80% rule was based off his current contract (what he signed with NYM after being released from DET), then i would consider offering him arbitration. i guess then there's the risk of what he could actually make if it ever reached arbitration, but i would figure he'd surely refuse it. really im just trying to make sense of why the mets would want to keep him around this season. if they don't bring him back next year or offer him arbitration, tehn they lose him for nothing. which is the same thing as if they lose him through waivers. so maybe they're planning on keeping him around for the Class B draft pick compensation LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 22 2009 03:35 PM Considering that he's in the group with the gaudiest stat pool (1B/OF/DH), I'm pretty sure that Sheff won't anywhere near Type B (20-40 percentile) on the Elias ratings. I think it's as simple as (A) their not loving the claimant's prospect offer/the claimant not really making a serious offer and ( their wanting to remain "respectable" for the remainder of the season. (Yeah, I don't really get it, either.) EDIT: Just checked the MLBTR-linked Elias projections[/url:114fboc1] (painstakingly calculated/assembled by a guy from Detroit Tigers Thoughts after he reverse-engineered last year's rankings), and they've got Sheffield as a borderline type-B among NL 1B/OF. My surprise... and my bad. Ashie62 Aug 22 2009 06:41 PM I don't see Sheff has any future with the Mets beyond this year. Wouldn't it be easiest to trade him or let him go?? might lose a draft pick, but Sheff did well..cut the old man a break, and loose Edgy DC Aug 22 2009 07:51 PM Do we know that the claiming team (reportedly the Giants) made any offer at all? If not, they may well have claimed him just to block another team from getting him. Ashie62 Aug 22 2009 08:25 PM ="Edgy DC":30mcayco]Do we know that the claiming team (reportedly the Giants) made any offer at all? If not, they may well have claimed him just to block another team from getting him.[/quote:30mcayco] Could very well be the case. It seems kind of petty to hold him up smg58 Aug 22 2009 10:29 PM Why didn't we just trade Sheffield at the deadline? If the commish OKed the Peavy deal, he'd have approved a deal involving somebody who was coming off the DL on August 1.

Just for kicks I looked up a couple of guys who I knew were college draftees to see what age they were when playing in High-A ball. No real method here, just the first few guys that jumped into my head: Teixeira - was 21 y/o the whole season playing at A+ ball, or just about 1/2 season younger than Nieuwenhuis Pedroia - turned 21 during his year, or almost a full year younger Chase Utley was 22 the entire season, ~ 1/2 year older Jacoby Ellsbury - turned 23 mid-year ~ 1 year older Ryan Howard - 23 the whole season, ~ 1-1/2 years older Kevin Youkilis - 23 also, ~ 1-1/2 years older than Nieuwenhuis Three of those guys were 1st round picks: Teixeira (5th overall), Utley (15th), and Ellsbury (23rd). One was 2nd round - Pedroia Nieuwenhuis was 3rd round Howard was 5th - Youkilis was 8th

IF the ump's going to blow tag calls I think it'd be nice if he'd at least choose one where the fielder [u:wnlk7pvc]tries[/u:wnlk7pvc] to tag the runner. Rollins never even swiped his arm.

="bmfc1":1nvfprvg]LWFS: that is a scary picture.[/quote:1nvfprvg] What's really scary is that's one from his personal collection, not the web. John Cougar Lunchbucket Aug 21 2009 07:32 PM That was a rotten turn by Hernandy. LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 21 2009 07:33 PM Judge me if you will. I KNOW I look good. I mean, that beautiful, non-lady-man lady looks good. The bottom of the order? Not so. John Cougar Lunchbucket Aug 21 2009 07:42 PM ="John Cougar Lunchbucket":1rtrue7l]That was a rotten turn by Hernandy.[/quote:1rtrue7l] OTOH, pretty sweet style in the field. I think I heard Reyes ain't coming back at all, so style it up, Andy. Make us remember you. LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 21 2009 07:49 PM Veteran ground ball! Give that man an extension immediately! LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 21 2009 08:00 PM Frenchy loves to hit, and it shows. Fman99 Aug 21 2009 08:01 PM Wow, maybe the worst blown call this year. A foot wide air gap between the mitt and Frenchy's helmet. John Cougar Lunchbucket Aug 21 2009 08:02 PM We've seen some shitty calls this year but that one could be the worst. LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 21 2009 08:02 PM Yeesh, what an ump fail. Jerry tossed arguing-- who's going to give the bunt signs now? Frayed Knot Aug 21 2009 08:07 PM IF the ump's going to blow tag calls I think it'd be nice if he'd at least choose one where the fielder [u:wnlk7pvc]tries[/u:wnlk7pvc] to tag the runner. Rollins never even swiped his arm. LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 21 2009 08:08 PM Ugh. Two more baserunners with none out. This doesn't bode so well. Think angry, Mikey! LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 21 2009 08:11 PM Yeah, AndyNandy's not so gloveworthy, either. Fman99 Aug 21 2009 08:13 PM Boobery on the infield. LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 21 2009 08:14 PM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Aug 21 2009 08:15 PM ="Fman99":20xasxja]Boobery on the infield.[/quote:20xasxja] And not the fun, Morgana kind. Oy. OY. John Cougar Lunchbucket Aug 21 2009 08:14 PM Just get the batter Mike. Fman99 Aug 21 2009 08:16 PM Nice work by Pelf to not get rattled, induce a couple of infield pop flies. LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 21 2009 08:17 PM John Cougar Lunchbucket Aug 21 2009 08:18 PM Yeah for the guys in black! LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 21 2009 08:22 PM Cue: three perfect innings from Mr. Parking Lot. LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 21 2009 08:31 PM Sharp Utley grounder hits Feliciano in the chest and bounds to the first-base line. Odds that Feliciano's sternum is now cracked: Off the board. LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 21 2009 08:37 PM Stokes! LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 21 2009 08:45 PM Thanks, Sheff, for your professionalism! Good news: the Frenching of Phils pitching continues apace. PiggiesTomatoes Aug 21 2009 08:47 PM Is it me? Seems like Sheff's heart is just not in it. LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 21 2009 08:51 PM ="PiggiesTomatoes"]Is it me? Seems like Sheff's heart is just not in it. "Oh, you think so, Doctor?" Fman99 Aug 21 2009 08:51 PM Great DP! bmfc1 Aug 21 2009 08:52 PM Is Sheff in the "I want to get out of Milwaukee so I'll throw the ball into the stands" phase of his Mets career? John Cougar Lunchbucket Aug 21 2009 08:53 PM ="PiggiesTomatoes":3bmk2pu0]Is it me? Seems like Sheff's heart is just not in it.[/quote:3bmk2pu0] I'm sure he assumed he'd be defensed for anyway and was jawing over the first time he took a close pitch for a strike tonight. Not that Sheff has ever watched a strike that he thought wasn't one. LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 21 2009 08:54 PM Stokes, Wagner, Feliciano... and Putz coming back, ostensibly healthy, by weekend's end. Somehow, this makes me sadder than it makes me happy. PiggiesTomatoes Aug 21 2009 08:54 PM I'll take that out call at first for the poor call on Francoeur's bad call on the SB. John Cougar Lunchbucket Aug 21 2009 08:55 PM ="LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr":3g4vzhox]Stokes, Wagner, Feliciano... and Putz coming back, ostensibly healthy, by weekend's end. Somehow, this makes me sadder than it makes me happy.[/quote:3g4vzhox] That's only because you don't think we can finish 33-8. Hater. Fman99 Aug 21 2009 08:57 PM ="LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr"]="PiggiesTomatoes"]Is it me? Seems like Sheff's heart is just not in it. "Oh, you think so, Doctor?" Ya gotta love the Colonel. He's the perverted version of Creepy Sun Baby. Fman99 Aug 21 2009 09:01 PM Anderson Hernandez is not a major league hitter. He looks lost at the dish. LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 21 2009 09:06 PM 1 pitch, 1 out? Who the hell is this? This isn't Frankie. Frayed Knot Aug 21 2009 09:06 PM ="Fman99":2z1flu0k]Anderson Hernandez is not a major league hitter. He looks lost at the dish.[/quote:2z1flu0k] And he's still considerably better than either Argenis Reyes or Wilson Valdez. Frankie needs to save this one .. for my sanity if for no other reason. John Cougar Lunchbucket Aug 21 2009 09:09 PM fucketyfuckshit. Hmmmm. LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 21 2009 09:09 PM Tying runs on. Fucktastic! Fman99 Aug 21 2009 09:10 PM Hey, Frankie, I hear you have a great big cock. Can I see it? John Cougar Lunchbucket Aug 21 2009 09:10 PM If only we had a lefthanded closer... Frayed Knot Aug 21 2009 09:12 PM Frankie chases Utley. PiggiesTomatoes Aug 21 2009 09:16 PM Finally, a happy recap. Fman99 Aug 21 2009 09:16 PM CSB shines down on Phillies losses. LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 21 2009 09:17 PM ="Fman99"] Hey, Frankie, I hear you have a great big cock. Can I see it? Why, THANK YOU, Frankie. John Cougar Lunchbucket Aug 21 2009 09:18 PM "I like your game. It's really cool." bmfc1 Aug 21 2009 09:19 PM Nice win. Way to go. I love seeing Francoeur beam the way he did after the game. themetfairy Aug 21 2009 09:20 PM OK - I can breathe again....

I'm in favor of lead-off HRs. Oh yeah, and Brad Penny suxx

Santana - 2.8 Wagner - 0.6 Rodriguez - 0.3 Castillo - 1.0 Sullivan - 0.8 Francoeur - 1.0

Murphy - 2.5 Castillo - 1.0 Pagan - 1.0 AGreen - 0.25 Tatis - 0.25

Nieu is probably Dutch and essentially pronounced New (and means 'New' I believe) So I'm going with NEW-en-Hice Or we can just gringo it and call him Newhouse And, yes, he is a legit CF from what I understand.

Not a lot older - maybe on the high side of average. The FSL (and other High-A leagues) are frequent stops off for 1st year college draftees and 2nd year non-elite ones. Plus - as they mention - he just turned 22 and so this season would be counted as his 'age 21' year in a lot of places (a July 1st cut-off is often used). Also remember that the FSL is a notorious pitcher-friendly league, so maybe that tweaks the numbers slightly more in his favor.

I can't see how releasing him is even a choice at this point. So it's either work out a deal with the mystery team and get a player/prospect in return, let the other team just take him and save the money, or hang onto him and deal with the other set of questions over the winter: pick-up the option, decline and offer arb, decline and don't offer arb

A 2008 3rd round pick, Kirk shows up as #2 on this week 'Hot Sheet' feature in BA. Weeks with 9 XBHs and 13 RBIs do tend to make folks sit up and take notice: Team: high Class A St. Lucie (Florida State) Age: 22 Why He's Here: .355/.444/1.000 (11-for-31), 5 HR, 3 2B, 1 3B, 13 RBIs, 8 R, 5 BB, 6 SO, 0-for-1 SB The Scoop: Sorry Kirk, but we just blew the lid off your stealth campaign in the Florida State League. Only a five-homer showing by Brett Wallace in Triple-A stood in the way of a No. 1 ranking. Batting .259/.346/.441 with 15 homers, 27 doubles, 64 RBIs and 16 steals (in 20 attempts), Nieuwenhuis leads the FSL in home runs, extra-base hits (46) and runs scored (81). And he's just four off the leaders for RBIs and doubles. Don't be fooled by that age; the physical, lefty-swinging Nieuwenhuis celebrated a birthday two weeks ago and actually spent most of the season as a 21-year-old. An '08 third-round pick, he skipped right over low Class A on his way from NAIA Azusa Pacific (Calif.) to the FSL this season. It's hard to argue with the results.

Very little is worse than non-baseball writers (talking heads, "opinion makers", etc.) opining about baseball. They either seem to hate the sport and rail against whatever attention it gets (and takes away from football) or simply don't know it very well but feel obligated to sound off anyway. I recently stumbled across some televised round-table chat-fest not long after Randy Johnson's 300th win. When the topic turned to whether there'd ever be another one of the heads started squawking about how it would never happen because there's too much money in the game now and so today's players all retire early because they're too rich to care. That opinion is obviously so stupid and so wrong that it's not even worth debating, but boy whoever this guy was he was very loud and very sure about what he was saying.

This headline could be set to music: Chipper Jones killed a Mexican guy Chipper Jones killed a Mexican guy On his ranch and without a car he was out too late, he strayed too far ...

The game he had against Houston a few weeks back where he looked horrible in the first frame (3 runs I think) to the point where it looked like he'd be run out of there, but then kept them in it until the late innings with shout-out ball after that was the typical walk-on-the-edge game he was good at. Unfortunately instead of that being the prototype going forward it was essentially his last good game as bad first innings starting leading to bad second innings, bad third innings ...

Problem with Duncan (aside from the fact that he's a meathead) is that he's the left-handed hitting brother and therefore wouldn't make a very good Murphy platoon. Could be a consideration for a bench/part-timer role in 2010 but that's hardly a problem we need to start solving now.

Joel Sherman, on the other hand, seems to get it. "The Mets rejected his bizarre request for a contract extension. So Sheffield, according to sources, initially became verbally abusive, then demanded he be released or traded to the Marlins, then threatened to return home to Florida, and finally just pulled himself from the starting lineup. He struck out as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning and then ignored reporters' interview attempts after the game." Not quite the innocent "victim" Smith portrays him to be.

Thursday, August 21 - Shea Stadium: Giants 7 - Mets 6 -- Tom Seaver vs Ron Bryant The post-Houston disaster six-game winning streak ends as a result of a 2-out RBI triple by Ken Henderson in the 11th inning off Ron Taylor. - Mets jump out to an early lead via a 1st inning HR by Tommie Agee (hitting 3rd behind Harrelson & Pfeil - OBP be damned) . - But Seaver is done in by 2 un-earned runs in the 3rd and also by two Bobby Bonds HRs (playing CF in place of Mays) the second of which was a 3R job in the 7th making it 6-2 Giants. - Mets fight back by netting 3 in their half of the 7th (Weis singles, Charles singles, Pfeil doubles, Agee singles) and then get the tying run with 2 outs in the 9th as Swoboda singles in Jones. - Reliever Don McMahon comes in to get Dyer with the winning runs on - and then pitches a perfect 10th & 11th to make the SF 11th inning run stand up. Game Time = 3:34 68 - 52; 2nd place; 7.0 games out of 1st, 1.5 games up on 3rd place StL (Cubs lost to Atlanta 3-1; Cards lost to Reds 5-3)

]Now Tim smith chimes in on the Mets holding Sheffield "hostage" - WTF? Idiotic Smith: Since the Mets blocked him from moving to another team, Sheffield logically deduced that he was a part of the team's future plans. Logically? To make sure, he went in and asked the Mets Thursday to extend his contract. They refused, a clear indication that he's not part of the picture for 2010. And the hostage crisis began. Right, refusing to extend a contract in mid-season to a 40 y/o still is akin to being held hostage. I could parse this thing some more but it's not worth it. Suffice to say he uses the word "hostage" about six more times.