Frayed Knot

Just using them as an example; no other city is being mentioned as often. Another fire sale by the Marlins and they'll have so little credibility left in that town that I don't know how they'll ever drag folks back in even if they did get a nice new stadium ... and this certainly can't help convince the state legislature to fork over more money can it? Looks like Beckett is 2 years from FA-gency so he'll be a BoSock for '06 & '07 at least.

This'll be a biggie -- wonder if Georgie boy will get all flustered. Hanley Ramirez is a Reyes-ish SS prospect - although with a bit more pop and prolly not as good a glove. There was already talk about moving him to CF although part of that was based on being blocked by Renterea. He's also been an occasional discipline problem. P.S. Portland is AA and Wilmington high-A ball, not AAA & AA. Looks like the Fish are in full sellers mode -- although i don't know to what end. Is making them cheaper supposed to make getting a stadium deal any easier? I don't think Loria interested in selling, he seems to like being an owner. Unless MLB has already decided that stadium hassles have soured them on South Florida enough so that they'll look to entice Las Vegas into building them an expensive crib.

"The late MetsOnline.net which was heading by Bryan Hoch and that might be the MOFO that everyone talks about" Yes it was. MOFO was simply a nickname for the forum part of the site: Mets Online FOrum The forum existed in numerous forms and software sites over several years so there wouldn't be just one url for old relics. "Stuff was cleared up, Bryan moved to a site I think was called NYFansOnly.com" Bryan pretty much just abandoned his site after the legal hassles. The forum part was taken over by someone else who has now named it 'New York Sports Day' which is the closest linear successor to the old MoFo. NYFO is a different site.

Vinny Castilla; 1996 Colorado: 40 HRs, 113 RBIs, .304 BA, Vinny Castilla; 1997 Colorado: 40 HRs, 113 RBIs, .304 BA,

Billy Wynne was briefly an unusually popular Met lookup.

"Wait a minute! Prentice and Tike Redman are brothers!" Yup. "Can Hatteberg catch?" Not anymore. He was originally a catcher but blew out his elbow which is what started him on the road to being a cut-rate 1st baseman.

From Jon Heyman's column in Sunday's Newsday: With Kenji Jojima showing no interest in coming to New York, the Mets' main catching choices come down to Bengie Molina and Ramon Hernandez. But to some Mets scouts, there's only one choice: Hernnandez. While Molina looked good in the playoffs, the Mets have surprisingly negative scouting reports on his defense. Those negative reports dove-tail with the opinion from the Hardball Times that opened this thread, and also a on-line report I saw the other day somewhere (Baseball Prospectus?) showing Bengie-boy with the worst passed ball ratio of any catcher in the league. And that body ain't goin' to be gettin' any younger or, most likely, any smaller. I haven't seen a ton of Hernandez but I like the fact that he's 2 years younger than Molina and a bit more athletic. Plus it would be nice if the team wasn't swayed by those over-rating (IMO) Molina based on a handful of playoff appearances and NYY games (cough *Francesa* cough).

I'd say that VORP - or your interpretation of it - heavily credits good part-timers: Seo, Jacobs at the expense of longer term mediocrities: Matsui, Cairo, Benson. That's a pretty hefty rank for Offerman too.

There's also a thought amongst scouting types that kids who get by on "pitchability"; ie. results without overwhelming stuff, tend NOT to get by with that same repetoire as they reach higher levels. Not everyone's sold on this guy. Now as always, individual mileage may vary, but Petit's a nice prospect rather than someone who needs to be protected at any and all costs. IOW, never say never.

Parlayed his good year off the bench into a 2-year deal

And are now 3-0 after beating Nicaragua and advancing to the next round. Milledge HR'd in the win

I think if we were going to trade Glavine & Floyd for prospects we should start by dealing them to the Phils for their promising minor league hurler Gavin Floyd ... just, y'know, for the symmetry of it all.

Main problem with Delgado, of course, is that his contract was so backloaded. 4 yrs at $52mil was one thing but now that it's 3 @ $48 it gets even more expensive. Think of it this way: - if he were a FA this year would he get $16mil/yr just a year after getting essentially $13 per? - and if NO, why would you give up lots of young/cheap/promising players PLUS that kind of money to get him?

Milledge is playing with the Olympic qualifying team right now, having just finished up with the AFL. Not sure if he's going to follow all that up by playing in some Winter league. One guy who IS going to be playing in Puerto Rico is Alay Soler.

I'm in front with the yellow slicker and blue hat

Yeah this list is only for 6-year FAs - those guys who can declare themselves to be free. Ishii hasn't got his 6 years yet and can only be a FA if we release him and by doing that we *by definition* wouldn't rate any compensation. I could see offereing arb to Loopy. SD might not to Hoffman for the same reason we won't to Piazza - you'd get stuck with an expensive 1 year deal. The rest of this stuff will shake out by early December when the arb-offering deadline hits.

The Elias Sports Bureau compiles rankings of all major leaguers by position based on their performance over the previous two seasons. If teams offer arbitration to a free agent and lose him to another club, they'll receive compensation if he's classified as a Type C or better. Type A FAs -- top 30 percent at his position, the compensation is the signing team's first-round pick plus a supplemental first-rounder. Wilson Alvarez (LAD), Brad Ausmus (Hou), A.J. Burnett (Fla), Jeromy Burnitz (ChC), Royce Clayton (Ari), Roger Clemens (Hou), Jeff Conine (Fla), Johnny Damon (Bos), Octavio Dotel (Oak), Erubiel Durazo (Oak), Scott Eyre (SF), Kyle Farnsworth (Atl), Rafael Furcal (Atl), Brian Giles (SD), Tom Gordon (NYY), Mark Grudzielanek (StL), Ramon Hernandez (SD), Trevor Hoffman (SD), Bob Howry (Cle), Todd Jones (Fla), Paul Konerko (CWS), Matt Lawton (NYY), Braden Looper (NYM), Kevin Millar (Bos), Bengie Molina (LAA), Matt Morris (StL), Bill Mueller (Bos), Mike Piazza (NYM), Joe Randa (SD), Al Reyes (StL), Kenny Rogers (Tex), B.J. Ryan (Bal), Rudy Seanez (SD), Julian Tavarez (StL), Ugueth Urbina (Phi), Billy Wagner (Phi), Larry Walker (StL), Jeff Weaver (LAD), Rondell White (Det), Bob Wickman (Cle), Tim Worrell (Ari). Type B -- Top 31-50 percent, receive signing team's 1st round pick Antonio Alfonseca (Fla), Rich Aurilia (Cin), Paul Byrd (LAA), Hector Carrasco (Was), Elmer Dessens (LAD), Cal Eldred (StL), Juan Encarnacion (Fla), Shawn Estes (Ari), Carl Everett (CWS), Julio Franco (Atl), Nomar Garciaparra (ChC), Alex Gonzalez (Fla), Todd Greene (Col), Chris Hammond (SD), Scott Hatteberg (Oak), Rick Helling (Mil), Roberto Hernandez (NYM), Jason Johnson (Det), Jacque Jones (Min), Al Leiter (NYY), Esteban Loaiza (Was), Kenny Lofton (Phi), Brian Meadows (Pit), Jim Mecir (Fla), Jose Mesa (Pit), Dan Miceli (Col), Kevin Millwood (Cle), Jamie Moyer (Sea), Mike Myers (Bos), Rafael Palmeiro (Bal), Todd Pratt (Phi), Felix Rodriguez (NYY), Reggie Sanders (StL), J.T. Snow (SF), Sammy Sosa (Bal), Russ Springer (Hou), Frank Thomas (CWS), Brett Tomko (SF), Michael Tucker (Phi), Daryle Ward (Pit), Jarrod Washburn (LAA), Bernie Williams (NYY), Preston Wilson (Was), Eric Young (SD). Type C (first-time free agents only) -- Top 51-60 percent at position, receive a supplemental second-rounder. Joey Eischen (Was), Scott Elarton (Cle), Abraham Nunez (StL).

Manny was the better young hitter than Sammy no question, although Sammy could at least field and run & throw at one point. Thing is, you can make the argument that by their early 30's Sammy was having better seasons ... right up until he fell into the abyss. And no, I'm not expecting Manny to fall that hard that fast. Some - Sheffield, Palmiero, Bonds - have survived quite nicely into baseball "old age". Still others (yeah I'm looking at you Robbie Alomar) decline much faster and only rarely does the fan - or even the expert - see it coming. Until it happens of course at which point legions will come out of the woodwork claiming they absolutely knew all along. Many of whom will be the same ones claiming Omar should "do whatever it takes" to get him.

MFS62 wrote: FK, where did you hear/read that? Later WFAN radio Earlier

Jojima returns to Japan "for personal reasons" and will not meet with the Mets as scheduled. No word on any return engagements.

To be fair about this folks, Ryan has been a closer for all of one year now and has had a above-league-avg ERA for all of 3, while Wagner has been at or near the top for nearly a decade. So while age, price - or at least perceived price - etc, may make Ryan a better risk in some opinions, let's not go overboard and declare these two to already be equals.

Maybe that's a factor, and maybe not. At this point we've got no evidence that Sammy was juicing any more or less than Manny - of all the guys caught so far as "public consensus" picked any of them in advance? - or to what extent they helped even if he was. Of several known or strongly suspected users: Palmeiro, Bonds, Sheffield, Giambi, most are performing well as they age and Giambi bounced back quite nicely.

ABH2BHRRBIBBKBAOBASLGMANNY564174374212685112309399598SAMMY5791813054135103155312416648SAMMY45811619307652120254330499 OK, so what is this nonsense? Well, line 1 is the average Manny Ramirez season over the last 3 years, the years he'd played at ages 31, 32 & 33. - Line 2 is Lord Sammy of Sosa's 3 seasons at the same age - Line 3 is the same Sammy but over the next 3 years - his age 34, 35 & 36 years ('03 - '05). In other words, his seasons at the same age that Manny will be for whoever picks up the remainder of his current deal. So what does this prove? Well nothing really, except to the extent that it points out what COULD happen. The same-age years are remarkably similar ... and then the bottom fell out of Sammy's career. Just a cautionary note, in other words, at those - and lord I'm hearing a lot of them lately - who are acting as if the possibility of a downturn from Manny has never even entered their minds; "you can write in 140 RBIs every year"

]Nady is one step up from a bench player. Or maybe he's a top-notch college & minor league player who's at the right age (27 as of the other day) to fufill his promise if given regular ABs. Funny how many fans are in love with the idea of handing Jacobs and/or Hernandez/Keppinger starting jobs but leery about doing the same for the much more highly touted Nady. Yeah, Jacobs is 2 years younger, got a great first 100 ABs under his belt, and at least holds a promise of catching now and then -- but I'm not sure that all makes him any less likely to fall on his face than the X-man.

If you were Chris Carpenter and I were Xavier Nady would you pitch to me anyway or would you walk me baby? Sorry, I heard that song earlier tonight ... it was in my head. ]Is Nady even arb-eligible yet? I don't think so but I'm not positive. He had mostly full seasons in '03 & '05 (so call that 2 complete) but only 1 AB in '02 (Sept call-up) & just 77 ABs in '04. So as long as he spent the rest of '04 de-moted to the minors rather than "de-elled" from the majors than he gets little service credit and would just be a '2-year +' guy and not arb eligible until next year. Nady's seen time at all 3 OF positions so far, plus 1st & 3rd (his college position) so it sounds like we can get him enough playing time. At 1st platooning w/Jacobs, in RF with Diaz, as a righty to give Cliff a day off, plus prolly the only legit backup CF. Looking through some old 'Baseball Prospectus' handbooks, I see they loved him in '03 but were ready to re-evaluate in '04. Hadn't progressed enough to fill his promise once beyond the lower minors they thought ... not an uncommon thing with prospects. The bit I've heard from WFAN land is just what I suspected. Met fans are great at saying 'trade 'em all for prospects' or 'play the kids' ... until it actually happens when they say; 'not THAT prospect!' Most callers seem to think Cammy was going to net us Manny or Soriano -- and the rest are already inventing trades packaging Nady for someone else. Mad Dog was adamant that we should have gotten Osutka, mainly because he's under the impression that; a) our bullpen is a mess (it isn't) and that Osutka would be a major upgrade (selective reasoning)