Frayed Knot

6/13: Mets third baseman Shawn Bowman, who established himself as a prospect last season by hitting .255-18-66 at low Class A Capital City, is recovering from a miserable start at high Class A St. Lucie that saw his batting average sitting at just .145 on May 26th. A 2002 12th-round pick out of a Canadian high school, Bowman has come alive of late, going 16-for-36 with five home runs in his last 10 games, raising to .209/.277/.381 in 215 at-bats. * Mets RHP (2004 1st round pick) Philip Humber picked up his first professional win on Saturday, allowing one unearned run on four hits over seven innings in St. Lucie’s 6-1 win against Jupiter on Saturday.

All-purpose thread for tracking the High-A [u:0593b4b84e]St. Lucie Mets[/u:0593b4b84e] in the Florida State League

Not that it probably would have mattered in the long run ... but I really questioned the use of DeJean when he was brought in. Anyone hear an explanation as to why Heilman was yanked? The only thing I could think of was that he sat an awful long time while we had our one good half-inning and maybe Willie thought he'd stiffen or lose his effectiveness (he'd given up 2 hits the inning before). But DeJean came off as fairly gutless by sailing 4 pitches well wide of the plate while pitching to Sexson after first getting up 0-2. If he doesn't trust his stuff enough to get one even close to the zone to tempt a long-armed, free-swinger like Sexson why should we - or Willie for that matter? Of course it didn't help when Ring & Bell shit the bed right afterward.

2004 3rd round draft pick Gaby Hernandez pitched a no-hitter (2 BBs) to lead Hagerstown to a 1-0 decision over West Virginia.The win also clinched the 1st-half pennant in the South Atlantic League for the 42-28 Suns.Hernandez is now 5-1, 2.32 in 14 starts.

The all-purpose thread for tracking the progress of 'The Suns', the Mets' South Atlantic (Low-A) League affiliate in Hagerstown, Maryland.

I remember it was a big deal when the Mets first beat Juan Marichal. Prior to that he had won his [u:302c553d35]first 19 decisions[/u:302c553d35] against them (w/a couple of NDs - *Plus a Save!!!* - throw in).They beat him up a few times over the remaining years as his career wound down and the NYM got better - but for a time he was at least as tough on them as Koufax and was doing it for far longer.

]So I plugged in what I thought a typical situation where a team would get one run in the first from bunting: Inning: 1 -- Outs: 2 -- Runners on: 0 -- Score: +1 The winning % for games like that is 66.2%. Now obviously what this reenforces is that you are much more likely to win if you score the first run, but it seems to indicate to me that bunting to get that first run across in the first inning is good baseball. Where am I going wrong on this?You're going wrong because you've made a couple of assumptions (and when you assume ... )first, you're assuming that your sac bunt is successful (not always the case), then you're assuming that the bunt will lead to a run (not always the case),and finally you're assuming that the team would not have scored at least as many or more runs had you not bunted (certainly not the case).What you've done here is outline a specific scenario where a successful sac bunt does lead to an edge. The mistake is in thinking that this is the one and only outcome of your strategy and that it's opposite can't also be as good or better.

So tonight was the (stereotype) Met fan's dream:* Piazza out from behind the plate - and there was a passed ball and the Mariners ran wild anyway* Matsui off of 2nd - and there was a botched grounder and dropped pop fly anyway* Diaz in for Cameron - and he never got the ball out of the infieldAny other suggestions geniuses??

Nice inning by DeJean - but is there a reason why Heilman couldn't have thrown a 2nd inning?Daubach gets beaned on the knee by one of those Nelson sliders -- not sure yet if the ump called it a strike

Tongiht's AFLAC quiz: How long will it take Edgy to realize he's posting in the wrong thread?

Anderson called out - bases loaded/2 outs - on 2 pitches that he couldn't have reached with a canoe paddle: one low & outside, the other low & inside.Got tossed right after for offering the ump his instant assessment.Prolly the last best chance to get back in the game (not that we weren't doing a fine job of fucking this up on our own)!

]I know that bunting increases the chances of scoring exactly one runOnly sometimes (depending on the personnel involved) and just barely even when it does.In the meantime, the big innings you'll help to defuse will more than makeup for the occasional time you do "steal" that early run -- hence the reduction in run expectation.

If Benito Santiago makes the club he'll join Claudell Washington & Miguel Cairo on the 'All-Met World Capital' team.Jose Lima will be the honorary opponent.

Met batters have this pop-up thing down pat tonight.

Check out the season to date for Anderson Hernandez - the swag from Detroit in the Vance Wilson deal: .314/.345/.455 -- 11 2Bs, 1 3B, 7 HRs in 242 ABsKnown as a defensive SS before the deal, this kind of offense could make him a future ML backup or, even more likely, a trading chip since the starting job is pretty much spoken for in the foreseeable future.He'll turn 23 at the end of this season.

He went in the deal for Benitez???On edit: Right team, wrong deal -- it was in the Bordick deal.

Jaime Moyer - aka: The Ancient MarinerHe basically has 3 speeds: slow, slower, & slowestAdrian Beltre - coming off his MVP year w/the Dodgers: .244/.279/.344 w/5 HRsI wonder if anyone's blaming it on the pressures of adjusting to the harsh Seattle media?Bret Boone - .231/.298/..372 w/5 HRsLack of youth, or lack of 'roids??

Hey it could be worse, it could actually be accurate.I just recently found out that Jeff Wilpon was once a 5th (I believe) round pick by the Seattle Mariners.

A quick list of FAQs for newbies concerning the player status levels next to your posts and about this whole Rankings Forum in general:(updated 3/15/17)Why does it say 'Jim the Monstrously Huge Batboy' next to my post?* Because that's the 'status level' that all newbies getHow long will I have it?* Stick around and find outBut everyone else has a real player!* But everyone else has a real player ... oh quit whiningSo just who was 'Jim the Monstrously Huge Batboy'?* Back sometime in the mid/late '90s there was a Met batboy with the name 'Jim' on the back of his uniform who, even though he looked to be only around 14-15 years old, was at least the size of Dallas GreenSo I get assigned a different Met player after a set number of posts?* That's the ideaAre all Mets included?* No. More than half of the over 1,000 Mets were deemed to have contributions to the team so insignificant that they didn't even make the cut.How many levels are there?* 500How many posts between levels?* It gets steeper as you go. Attaining quality is never easy young Grasshopper.So the players get better as my post level increases?* Yes, at least theoreticallyHow was the order decided?* Well, that's a bit of a long story:A discussion after the 2001 season about which players contributed the most and/or least to that season led to a challenge to do the same to all 40 seasons. So, after much discussion, arguing, name-calling and hair-pulling, each season had 30 players ranked as to their contribution. Points were assigned for each rank and then multiplied by the weighted success of the team that season. The results were added up and a score was reached so that the best and longest lasting Mets garnered the total most points and therefore best overall rank. (OK, so it wasn't so long afterall)Who was #1?* Still 'The Franchise' but that might not hold out forever.Can I see the list?* Yes, but then we'd have to kill you.Actually, go to the end of this thread for the most recent version of the list. Two lists actually, one displayed in alphabetical order, the other in numeric order.The list gets updated each year and we're sometimes even up to date on the updates.If I hate the player I'm assigned can I do anything about it?* Well you can get mad, leave in a huff and never comeback. Or you could continue to put up more (hopefully intelligent) posts until you're someone else.You mean at some point I'll be Vince Coleman?!?!* 'Fraid soReally?* Yes, really!.What if I think someone is ranked too high or too low?* Well, if you're really a masochist you can dig through the thread for each year that said player played, see what the final result was and then argue that he should have been higher or lower in those yearsWill anyone listen?* If you make a decent argument they might. Depending on your angle the reactions could vary anywhere from;"Excellent point young lad, we never thought about it that way!"to "If you think we're rehashing this crap again you got another think coming!"... or anywhere in between depending on the quality of your argument and the mood and/or sobriety of the person who reads it.Is the list up to date?* Yup! (c). All results from the 2016 season are now included so the list is set until we need to consider 2017.When it's time to analyze 2017 can I join in the discussion?* Sure

Upon further review (I just saw it again) it was a bit dirtier than I first thought. Looks like he did catch him w/his spikes up on the inside of Kaz's knee which - when you consider the fact that Kaz was somewhat airborne at the time - means the spikes were higher than necc.

Ken Doll's footsies were slightly high, but not maliciously so.Mostly it appeared to be a knee-on-knee (or shin) collision and didn't look to me like KazMat got spiked.

Benson - 2Beltran - 2.5Castro - 2.5Daubach - 1Piazza - 1Matsui - 0.5Looper - 0.5

Way to bust out the freaking whoopin' stick Carlos.There's still a lot of game left and Benson doesn't seem all that sharp this afternoon. We def could use a few more runs and this could be a step-up and show 'em day for Heilman before this thing is over.

KazMat double + Reyes single to lead off the 5th and we're actually threatening.

I bet it'll taste like chicken.