Frayed Knot

Charlie Morton to the Orioles on a one year deal.

https://twitter.com/BNightengale/status/1873887316873535677 So apparently in order to keep everything on a level playing field, all meetings between teams and Sasaki were held in his agent's office, were limited to two hours, and, yes, no players were to be present. So with Phase One of this process now complete, Sasaki has returned to Japan where he will start to prune his list. But before leaving he gave each team he met with a 'homework assignment'. Each team got the same assignment which was "to show how they can analyze and communicate information with him", says agent Joel Wolfe. The window to sign begins on Jan 15. The Mets have $6.2 million in international pool money with which to form a bonus but $5.2 of that is reportedly committed to a 16 y/o SS, Elian Pena. However the agent has counseled Sasaki not to concentrate on the immediate bonus money as the difference between the ceiling and floor in each is going to make little difference in the grand scheme of things over his career. So things start to get interesting two weeks from tomorrow on this topic. Of course that's assuming that the Mets don't get pink-slipped between now and then. And if they do we can just blame it all on Jeff Wilpon. That won't solve anything but it will make us all feel better. https://nypost.com/2024/12/30/sports/roki-sasaki-to-trim-list-set-potential-free-agent-visits/https://nypost.com/2024/12/30/sports/roki-sasaki-to-trim-list-set-potential-free-agent-visits/

No, those were definitely not uncommon back in the day. As Irish says, 'different times'. One of the more noted examples was Don Larson's WS perfect game. Larson found out he was that day's starter in the way a lot of pitchers found out: if your mitt, rather than being in your locker, was instead sitting on your stool with a new 'game' ball in the pocket, then it was your game. A talk from your manager wasn't even part of it. Basically the whole idea of players having any sort of say in, or advance notice of, when or how often they'd play was an idea not yet standard practice. When Islander coach Al Arbour agreed to the request from his goalie tandem of Billy Smith and Glenn Resch that they always know in advance who was going to start the next game during the season, it was considered a very novel concession at the time. Koufax, btw, was still about 2-1/2 months from turning 30 in that above clip w/Scully. He'd pitch just one more season before retiring, a season consisting of 41 starts, 323 innings, and 317 Ks!. The 1.73 ERA he threw in '66 was the lowest of his career and he led the league in numbers of batters faced in both '65 & '66 All of which kind of clues you in to why he felt it necessary to hang 'em up at the age of 30.

From page one of this very thread [Feb 3rd, 2023]: "Jim Duquette, on Mets Hot Stove, suggested eight years, $240 million." And there were other similar type suggestions, although keep in mind some of them were based on the idea of signing him to a long term deal a season or two ago before he hit FA-gency and thus was younger and therefore more likely to justify a longer deal. This thread is approaching two years old at this point so the topic of Alonso's contract has been an ongoing one here, and also a bit of a moving target as conditions on the ground shift. Also, not a bad defensive player at all. Now an average-ish glove 1B-man doesn't really add a whole lot his overall value, but nor does he hurt you there. Oh, and welcome to the 'pool. I remember your brother Tony. Used to eat his cereal all the time.

Supposedly, the one he's considered closest to, is Darvish. It's the main reason the Padres have been considered, at worst, the co-favorite to land him all along.

Yeah, the NY Post moved Mushnick's column, and those of several others, behind a paywall recently. I've been a mostly regular reader of his column for a while now (guess I won't be going forward though). Liked his stuff more often than not and have exchanged occasional emails with him about what he's written, mostly positive, sometimes not. Is he a curmudgeon yelling at clouds and at kids to get off his lawn? Oh hell yes. But with the obvious caveat that I haven't/can't read what he wrote about Rickey here, I essentially know what it says because Mushnick tends to hammer the same points so often. So I'm going with the assumption that just because Rickey is the most prolific base stealer of all time Mushnick is saying that doesn't make him the best base runner of all time. Because while Pete Rose made a career of turning singles into doubles and doubles into triples, Rickey, through his styling and sometimes just plain lack of hustle, would occasionally do the opposite. The primo example that most of us here should remember was his final hit as a Met, a ball he smoked to deep left. Rickey was sure it was out jogged to 1st with his head down the entire time only to find out when he got there that the ball didn't even reach the warning track (too much topspin) meaning the 'best baserunner ever' had just singled off the LF wall. He didn't help his cause after the game when he denied that he needed to be on 2nd base there since he hit the ball hard enough to go out therefore it wasn't his fault that it failed to clear the fence. It's just one example but it was hardly the only one. Lou Piniella, one of his Yanqui managers, accused him of not hustling on multiple occasions ("jaking it" was the term he used). Also, how does someone with all that speed wind up with just 66 career triples, a mere 19 more than Rusty Staub* despite 2,000 more plate appearances? Rickey out-SB'd Rusty by 1,300+ but only out-3B'd him by 19? Anyway, I'm sure examples like those are at the heart of Phil's point. And while I suspect he likely overstates things, it doesn't make him wrong. Nor do I think bringing this all up is in poor taste. The death of someone in the public eye is a time for a review of their life. That doesn't mean the summary needs to be whitewashed. * Staub's and Henderson's offensive stats are remarkably similar except for the obvious areas of SBs and Rickey's prodigious walk rate. OPS+ 127 v 124; XBH: 873 v 838; HRs: 297 v 292; 2Bs: 510 v 499

Corbin Burnes, 30, to the Diamondbacks, six years.

It could very well end up as his final contract, even if it's one of five years or less. 1B/DH guys have to hit to keep a job so it doesn't take too much of a slip to have the phone stop ringing. Lucas Duda had a better OPS season at age 29 than did Pete [838 OPS/130 OPS+ vs 788/123 (less power but a higher OBA)] Lucas then slid the next year but was hitting even better in 2017/age 31 (879 OPS) when the Mets dealt him at mid-season. Over the next two years he'd be granted FA-gency twice and released three times all while amassing < 500 PAs for his post-NYM career. Exactly two years after the trade he played his final ML game. He was 33 Now, not saying this is a predictor of how things will go for Pete but when more one dimensional sluggers falter it sometimes goes quickly. Keeping the possibility of that type of scenario in mind was pretty much the reason for starting this thread just a couple weeks shy of two years ago.

Yeah, I don't think you have to limit it to three years less. I was mainly hoping they didn't get bluffed into five and up. I mean, it sounds odd considering that we're coming off being giddy that they just locked Soto up for the net decade and a half. And while that is a ridiculous length of time, at least he's 26 years old and a unicorn. Don't have to get crazy twice in one winter.

I'm not suggesting it's dollars per year that the Mets won't match but some combo of dollars And yearS combined. So if the Mets offer 4 x $30 he may go elsewhere for 5 x $30, or 6 x $27, or some similar set-up that the Mets will opt not match/top. And it's the $200 mil total (in whatever form) that I can't see happening no matter how much Boras wants to trumpet it.

And, as if on cue, Puma in the Post lists the ... - Giants, where a combo of Wilmer Flores and Lamont Wade Jr platooned last year. Was their (too?) heavy investment in Willy Adames a $ign of thing$ to come? - Rangers, coming off a down post-WS year but still in 'win-now' mode with deGrom, Seager, and Semien as their core. Also need to replace just-traded Nathaniel Lowe - Mariners, who have good pitching but need pop/runs and also had no set 1B-man last year - Cardinals, need to replace Goldschmidt but don't seem keen to spend a lot - Angels, who always seem to spend on 'name' players as a way to get to respectability rather than only doing so once they get there ... as potential landing spots for a hungry polar bear. https://nypost.com/2024/12/24/sports/pete-alonsos-possible-landing-spots-aside-from-mets-as-options-dwindle/

I think it's entirely possible that some team swoops in and offers Pete more $$/yrs than the Mets are willing to match. I don't have a specific team in mind but there may be one or two out there. But it's hard to see how such a team is going to have to go near $200 mil in order to pull it off.

Three year deal. Pending physical yadda yadda. Sean Manaea is staying in Queens. He is signing a three-year deal worth $75 million to return to the Mets, The Post's Jon Heyman reported early Monday morning. Manaea, 32, enjoyed a career year this past season in his first campaign with the Mets, recording a 12-6 record and 3.47 ERA in the regular season and a 4.74 ERA in the postseason as the team reached the NLCS. https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/rickey-henderson.jpg?resize=744,496&quality=75&strip=allhttps://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/rickey-henderson.jpg?resize=744,496&quality=75&strip=all

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=181608 time=1734895492 user_id=68] He was named after Rickey Nelson.

BB-Ref mentions his (somewhat obscure) record of Most Times Reaching Base of any RH Hitter

[FIMG=300]https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/rickey-henderson.jpg?resize=744,496&quality=75&strip=all[/FIMG] If anyone decides to 'statue-ize' the Rickster they could do worse than using the above NYY pic of him with his iconic low-to-the-ground power stride style of running as their model. Only, y'know, without the pinstripes.

At the same time, many of the non-NYM 1B options for Pete are being erased daily as they're filled by someone else. And then there's the internal 1B option for the Mets: Mark Vientos This option becomes less attractive and less likely, IMO, as it looks increasingly apparent that Pete isn't going to see an offer north of five years that he (and we for that matter - read some of the early posts on this thread) thought, just a year or two ago, was likely heading his way.

Yeah. To call him the greatest leadoff hitter of all time is almost to damn him with faint praise.

Goldy (no word if they've also signed Tevye) cratered from '22 to '24, going from the best season of his career [177 OPS+, MVP] to the worst [98 OPS+, first ever under 120] There's a decent chance the Yanx will get a dead cat bounce out of him but he'll also turn 38 before the season is over so that bounce might not be too high.

I remember a Marty Noble story from Rickey's first NYM spring training. It was check-in/physical day and Noble, who had been around locker rooms from before the days of weight lifting (and steroids) relayed a series of stories about players who turned the heads of other players because, even amongst professional athletes, most had never seen a body like ______. He named several from across the years, Stevie Henderson being one I remember. So in bringing the story up to date he was sure that none of his new NYM teammates had EVER seen a body like that when Rickey first made an appearance in his new locker room. Probably not more than 5' 10", but just sculpted.

One of the most unique talents ever. Could be a problem child now and then but I think most of his teammates liked him (as per the Piazza post). A Christmas Day baby, he would have turned 66 on Wednesday. Pneumonia doesn't only speak to vaccines (or lack thereof). It often sets in when one is sedentary for long periods which may indicate an ongoing or lengthy illness. It was long known as 'the old man's friend' meaning that you died from it and that relieved your suffering from whatever was really ailing you: cancer, etc. I even had a bout of it during a ten day hospital stay. It's more treatable now than during 'the old man's friend' days but it still kills its fair share. Was the last active ML older than me.

=G-Fafif post_id=181455 time=1734718173 user_id=55] Christian Walker agrees to terms with Astros.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: There's one fewer first base option for the Mets. And one fewer suitor for Pete (unless that move just brought Arizona into the mix).

The story is light on any specifics, but https://nypost.com/2024/12/19/sports/mets-take-mlbs-first-meeting-with-japanese-star-roki-sasaki/ the Mets apparently had the first meeting with Sasaki yesterday.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Those are three significant years. As in, the three year age difference between the two is a significant gap, ... or, that the removal of the three years from the previously claimed six year gap is significant? Never mind, both are significant in their own way. Just remember though that Arenado comes locked into a three year contract (expensive, but at decreasing rates and quite possibly with StL kicking in part of the freight). Any deal involving Bregman, OTOH, will be as a FA and at a length TBD but almost certainly longer than three years and probably at least five. So in wanting to avoid Arenado at ages 34 thru 36 you may wind up with Bregman thru age 36 as well, or at least real close to it.