Frayed Knot

Crystal looked suprisingly good -- even in striking out.

Yeah, I shouldn't have dismissed Kent so quickly. He's the only one there close enough to the end of his career where you can actually talk about the HoF even if he quit today. Beltran, Santana, (and esp) Wright & Reyes are just too early to even discuss.

No maybe no maybe no no no maybe maybe

I think the solution to your problems may be found in the words: Overly, Cumbersome, and Spreadsheet

I didn't know the CPF had agreed-upon favorites. I'm in the five-minutes tops crowd on PotG votes ... even less than that if I'm thinking about it as the game is still going on.

Not only did a rain day push what would have been his first "real" start onto a road trip day but it was one against Boston and I don't think anyone wanted to deal with all that drama.

AG/DC wrote: I'ts not the news of the day, though. It's something somebody threw up in the air. I wonder if there were other sources that 'went public' with this or if much of the talk (ESPN radio, website discussions, etc.) all stemmed from piggybacking off of Eddie C. calling it in as rumor to M&MD?

A problem with the mitochondria (if that's what Baldelli does have) is the same thing that finally knocked biker Greg LeMond out of competition. Seeing as how the mitochondria is the unit within each cell that generates energy at the body's most basic level, a problem there might be something you can live with but, for obvious reasons, it's not condusive to an athletic career.

]That's the same reason Pettitte mysteriously couldn't start yesterday Interesting theory. Hadn't thought of that one.

]Sadly they weren't the only ones, down the dial on 1050 Don LaGreca needed some time to kill so he ran with it for a couple of segments So what? Once it's been brought out into the open they're going to discuss it for the same reasons we were. As long as they are reporting it as speculation (and not pretending that it's their scoop which IS something ESPN tends to do) they'd almost be wrong NOT to talk about it.

btw, both Omar and Theo claim there's nothing to this rumor.

]So when do we stop worrying about Alou being hurt because his backup is Martinez? ]When will Martinez be ready? Do keep in mind that this kid won't turn 20 until after the coming season is over and that he has only 350 ABs above the Low-A at this point. If he's even a semi-regular by mid-'09 we'll be WAY ahead of the game.

Valadius wrote: Plus, you'd think they'd get a lot more for Crisp. I'm not so sure. The Sawx have no place to play him and owe him $10+mil over the next 2 years. *IF* this deal went through they may even have to throw money into just to make it happen.

To be fair to M&MD (and the FAN website) this was never reported as a done deal, they were just reacting to Eddie C calling in while working at the ballpark to say that this rumor "had been gaining steam throughout the day". Their reaction (at least the part I heard) wasn't a whole lot different than mine; not a bad deal on the surface but doesn't really fill a need IMO.

... it's a rumor that's "gaining steam around the ballpark" according to Eddie C on FAN. Not sure I get this one. Criisp (28) is a GREAT glove but doesn't really hit well enough to justify as anything other than a CFer and we kinda already got one of those. Not sure that his 2007 numbers are a whole lot better than what you can get out of Pagan if he were forced (or forced his way) into action: .268/.330/.382 Crisp, like Pagan, switch-hits but has better RH numbers than LH. He did have that real good year in Cleveland (2005: .300/.345/.465) but is getting paid off those stats ($15.5mil over 3 years - 2 remaining) even though Boston has essentially awarded his job to their rookie Ellsbury making Coco not only an expensive spare part but also unhappy about it.

="metsmarathon"]i wonder if shelly duncan's play was a wholly acceptable, customary and appropriate way to play a spring training baseball game... According to the descriptions I head, it wasn't even acceptable in a regular season game.

I suspect this was predictable after the catcher-barrelling from the other day. (working from radio reports) Some NYY scrub starter (Pettitte was skipped w/elbow issues) was in trouble from the very 1st inning and got himself tossed after HBP-ing Evan Longoria (yes, that's his real name) Tampa's young hot-shot 3Bman. Then in the Yankee half, Shelly Duncan was going to be out by several yards thrying to leg out a double so came in spikes-up on his slide into 2nd base. TB's Johnny Gomes then ran in all the way from RF to get at Duncan and a "major brawl" broke out around it.

I'm in favor of continuing to both vote for, and drink, Schefer. As far as the time limit, I don't think it's a big deal and too many threads does clutter up the board if they're not retired in some kind of timely manner. If you miss a game or are unable to get to the board in the time the poll is up than that result will go in without your vote, which, unless you're a 'completionist' who sees this as an all-or-nothing project, shouldn't be a major catastrophe.

... or maybe he was pitching to simulated hitters, or pitching to real hitters in a simulated setting. Whatever it was, Orlando Hernandez threw 60 pitches (42 strikes) with his "new" motion, claiming 'it felt good with no pain'. The plan now is to move him into the rotation next time around and work up towards a full game. Ollie P pitching today in the real game vs the Birds of Baltimore.

]For now, I'm OK with any Pagan/Chavez reduncancy As am I - particularly during the Alou outage. It's just that, for the longer term, when your bench is comprised of lefty-heavy, lowish-power OFers (Angel & Endy) plus a gaggle of 2B-types (Marlon, Damion, Anderson, Ruben) it would be nice if the only RH bat capable of putting a scare into the opposing manager wasn't the one you're most reluctant to use (Ramon). Redundancy isn't bad, but variety has its merits too.

]I think it's redundant to have both Chavez and Pagan on the same 25 man roster (whether Alou is available or not). I think that's the main point - if not immediately (due to Alou's hernia) then eventually. Pagan switch-hits although, like most of ours, is better from the left side. Endy brings superior defense and speed tho Pagan is reported to be good at both as well (haven't seen enough myself to know how close). Met fans have a thing for Endy - based mostly on his unexpectedly good numbers in 2006 and one stunning catch - but need to realize that 2006 represented the exception for him rather than the norm and that he's not all that young (30 last month) so it's unlikely that we're catching him on the brink of an upswing. Suggestions for the RH / bit o' power / corner OF-1B spot: Marcus Thames: 31 (as of last week) One good season (2006) -- 26 HRs in 348 ABs (.256/.333/.549) fell off to .242/.278/.498 in 2007 (269 ABs) Basically a good-power, High-K, low-BB type .. not sure about speed/defense. A partial starter for Detroit, they reportedly want a lot for him. Kevin Millar: 37 in September '08 Brings medium power, good OBP, lousy defense and "veteren leadership" (if you buy that sort of thing) Probably available, probably wouldn't take much to fetch Xavier Nady - 29 y/o We all know pretty much what to expect from X. I do hope fans remember that, for all the complaints about Green's 'D' last season that X wasn't a whole lot better. The problem - as mentioned above - is that he's a starter for the Pirates and just because WE want him as a fill-in/platoon/PH doesn't mean that's what he gets priced at. I suspect it would take *At Minimum* Heilman-plus, and the asking price would probably start at Pelfrey. Justin Huber - 26 at mid-season Limited ML time (100 ABs) and almost no success, but has some real good high-minors numbers (.293/.395/.520 over the last 4 seasons & 1,300+ ABs ... that's more than 40% of his hits for Xtra bases). Has played both corner OF & 1B (although reportedly not well) and could also serve as that rarely needed but occasionally useful emergency catcher that would free up Castro's bat for occasional PH duty. He's out of options and KC seems to have a glut of corner/DH types with nowhere else to go (Teahen, Billy Butler). He might get waived (although we'd have a late shot at him if he were) or maybe a low-level prospect/reliever might be able to steal him first. Brandon Inge: 31 in May Another Detroit guy, got pushed out of his 3B spot by the Cabrera trade. A GREAT glove at 3rd (not that that's our primary need), came up as a catcher (that emergency thing again) and has played all three OF spots. .236/.312/.376 last year -- hit 27 HRs in 2006 although 16 or less every other time. Probably doesn't want to sit as much as the role we're looking for would entail and. like Nady, would probably cost more than he might be worth to us.

SPRINGER (short-timers Steve & Dennis) is a legal word. Somehow I think I should have come up with that one earlier

Wright is coming off a season which netted him 7,920 points in our system as the top ranked player in an 88 win season: 30 pts squared x 88 wins, then divide the whole thing by 10 (just to make the numbers more managable) ((30^2*88)/10). A 98 win season would have made it worth 8,820 while a playoff bound team where the multiplier would often go above 100 (reg season wins + various post-season bonus points) a top-ranked player's score could top 10,000 points for that season. But Wright is still more than 52,000 points behind Seaver, meaning that even 5 in a row of those best-case scenario seasons would still almost certainly leave him short which is what led me to guesstimate that 6 would be the minimum needed before GTS could be caught. The fact that we're even discussing the possibility that Wright, after 9 or 10 seasons as a Met, could even be near what it took Seaver 12 seasons to reach is optimistic enough. At approx 8K pts/yr (Wright's avg over the last 3 seasons) it would take another 7 for him to grab the top slot. Reyes is only slightly behind Wright (5 slots and about 1,200 pts) so is essentially in the same boat although is averaging closer to 7K/yr recently.

soupcan wrote: Do. Not. Waste. Your. Time. Was. Not. Planning. On. It. Cool looking computer graphics aside, I had this one pegged as a turkey just from the ads.

Both in the lineup (DHing & 1Bing) for this afternoon's tilt vs BoSox. Easley playing too. Santana v Lester in PSL