Frayed Knot

There are Always holes in the lineup/rotation/pen that need to be replaced. Every season, every team. But the biggest mistake GMs make (both actual GMs and us amateur ones) is in thinking that someone is irreplaceable and therefore needs to be kept at all costs. Stearns et al have a decision to make with Pete at the end of the year and Pete has a say in how that all goes. But if the choice comes down to signing a 30 y/o 1B/DH, whose best statistical season is still his first and the current one arguably his worst, to an expensive and long term deal it then makes sense to consider options that move forward without him. Vientos's emergence and the possibility of moving him across the diamond while replacing him with someone else (Baty?, Acuna?, trade/FA?) provides them with one additional such option that few if any even considered just four months ago.

"Listen, John, I don't pick out my schedule, I go where I'm told" -- Boool-Shit! Kay picks which road trips he'll skip just like Gary does (only Kay skips more of them). There might be some minor negotiation in deciding but no way is YES telling Kay, 'You're going on the Anaheim trip this year and that's final!!!!!' I think Flaherty is their best color guy but he doesn't have the stature of O'Neill or Cone or (I lose track of how many dozen color guys they use these days) so it's logical that the less desirable trips are the ones that both Kay and one of seconds with more pull skip together. It reminds me of when Francesa would claim that his show's producers were the ones who cut off callers, never him ... except that when the show was simulcast you could see him waving to the producers to cut the guy off. This whole 'I'm no prima-donna / I just work here' stuff from both of those guys is comical.

They're not making it easy on us ... but we're gaining. Last 20 games: NYM 15-5 ATL 13-7 SDP 12-8 ARZ 10-10 Would be nice if just one of them fell apart for a while.

"The Mets are better with Pete than without" -- Sure. But it's not as simple as merely saying: 'Mets w/Pete in 2025 > Mets w/o Pete in 2025'. It's about how long you have to commit to Pete in order to keep him a NYM in 2025. There is a point -- there's ALWAYS is a point -- at which it's smart to say 'No', either because of dollars or length or both, and walk away. "It's almost impossible to replace that type of power." -- Until you look across the diamond where we find a guy who's five years younger, under team control thru 2029, is probably 1/20th of the price right now, and has 75% as many HRs this season compared to Pete in 60% of the plate appearances. I'm not saying it's a case of either/or but replacing P.A. with M.V. is an option that wasn't even on the radar when I started this thread some 20 months ago, and it's one that's worth considering. "The ball is pretty dead this year." -- I have no idea if that's true but, even if so, it's true across the board. "Steve Cohen is 10 billion dollars richer since he bought the Mets." -- Again, no idea if that's accurate but it's largely irrelevant as far as I'm concerned as to what they do with Pete. I'm not trying to save Uncle Steve money here, I'd just like to see them make the best baseball decision for the team in both short and long term. "If winning is a serious goal, there seems to be zero reason to let Alonso get away." -- Nobody is irreplaceable. The Braves thrive without both Freddie Freeman and Dansby Swanson. San Diego is near the top without Soto or Blake Snell. The Cards allowed Albert Pujols to walk and went to the playoffs eight times in eleven years (much better than the team who signed him) despite his departure. The Nats won a WS the year after Harper left. anyway, it's a topic to be revisited in the winter of '24-'25

Snakes lose, Padres leading 3-0 So tied with Atlanta, 1.5 in back of ARZ, and either 2 or 3 behind SDP when the night is done That beats the shit out of 4, 6, and 7 GB just nine days ago.

Not quite as dramatic as his 'Primal Scream' walk-off winner earlier in the year, but pretty damn good.

Braves won DBacks getting one hit in Houston are down 4-Zip in the 6th Sandy Eggo just getting started at home vs San Fran

Top ten for him certainly isn't out of the question.

Edgy MD wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: Edgy MD wrote: Nimmix is our free runner in the bottom of the inning. With Vientos, Pete, and Iglesias coming up vs a LHP I'm getting a warm feeling in my tummy. How's your tummy now? Enjoying a celebratory vodka.

[bIGPURPLE]MOOT[/bIGPURPLE]

Stanek in the pen?!? How do you not go to Butto for a second inning (if necc.) following weak grounder, pop-up, weak grounder and just 14 pitches? How 'bout let's make that decision a moot question.

Edgy MD wrote: Nimmix is our free runner in the bottom of the inning. With Vientos, Pete, and Iglesias coming up vs a LHP I'm getting a warm feeling in my tummy.

Butto for Prez, Lindor for Veep!!

Clown Car Rules Time

Send Taylor in this AB (Nimmo) ... and they do! (quit begging for replays Cincy)

Well, if we lose tonight it's not going to be the pen's fault. Since Manaea's exit: Garrett = K, K, 6-3, K. Diaz = K, K, K

After nine HRs in the preceding ten game span, Aaron Judge has now gone ten straight games without a single HR That stretch drops his pace down below 60 (54.7)

Four runs on three hits for Cincy

An HR to a lefty after starting with an 0-2 count ... and both HRs followed walks.

Gotta send Pete there with two outs but I was sure he was going to be nailed at the plate, particularly when he turned so wide. With a more accurate throw he would have been.

He has cracked the top 10 in OPS, and two of those ahead of him (Betts & Peterson) don't have enough PAs to qualify right now. Still more than 100 points in back of Ozuna and Ohtani though.

The non-strike call on the 2-2 pitch to India hurt.

What's going to hurt Vientos most in the MVP voting is the 200-250 Plate Appearance deficit he'll have compared to most of the everyday players.

While by the standards of seven game win streaks the Mets have seemingly gained little ground lately. But flash back to the loss to Arizona on Aug 28 (the Diaz walk-walk-GS game). At the end of that night the Mets were four games in back of Atlanta, six in back of San Diego, and seven behind Arizona. But in just eight days 4, 6, and 7 game deficits have turned into 0, 3.0, and 2.5 And that ain't nuthin'!

I didn't include him because he never advanced beyond High-A ball and being a star in the Appalachian rookie league only gets you so far.