Frayed Knot

Nothing wrong with a general thread for minor moves such as these. But if we should happen to sign Judge, trade for Arenado, pick up Verlander or other moves such as the dozen or so major happenings last off-season, please, PLEASE, don't bury that news in page 3 of some all-purpose thread. We do this every year with the 'Injuries' thread and it drives me nuts every year. Scherzer hits the IL twice and JdG misses 13 months yet we don't think either is newsworthy enough to deserve its own discussion.

We seem to be avoiding any awards with no potential NYM connection. Thought I might correct that. NL MVP: PAUL GOLDSCHMIDT (22 1st place votes); Manny Machado SDP (7); Nolan Arenado StL (1); Freddie Freeman LAD; Mookie Betts LAD, Austin Riley ATL; JT Realmuto PHI; Pete Alonso NYM; Francisco Lindor NYM; Sandy Alcantara MIA AL MVP: AARON JUDGE NYY (28); Shohei Ohtani LAA (2); Yordan Alvarez HOU; Jose Ramirez CLE; Jose Altuve HOU; Andres Gimenez CLE; Julio Rodriguez SEA; Mike Trout LAA; Xander Bogaerts BOS; Justin Verlander HOU NL CY: SANDY ALCANTARA MIA (30); Max Fried ATL; Julio Urias LAD; Aaron Nola PHI; Zac Gallen ARZ AL CY: JUSTIN VERLANDER HOU (30); Dylan Cease CWS; Alek Manoah TOR; Shohei Ohtani LAA; Framber Valdez HOU NL RoY: MICHAEL HARRIS II ATL (22); Spencer Strider ATL; Brendan Donovan StL; Jake McCarthy ARZ; Alexis Diaz CIN AL RoY: JULIO RODRIGUEZ SEA (29); Adley Rutschman BAL (1); Steven Kwan CLE; Bobby Witt Jr KCR; Jeremy Pena HOU

I don't know that it's clear how much, if any, those celebs [Larry David, Tom Brady, Steph Curry, et al] doing commercials for FTX had personally invested with FTX, although it's likely it was something, but apparently there are lawsuits a-brewing aimed at said celebs by some who followed their advice ('Why, yes, I do take all my investment advice from athletes and comedians'). Don't think that kind of thing will get very far but having stock in a napkin company for all the egg that needs wiping off of faces looks to be a decent investment right about now.

De SAME OL' STORY is marred by use of the capital D And does the POST realize they're calling Marte fat?

So where has NYCFC* been playing their games? My mind associates them with the MFYs * Francesa's total befuddlement upon learning this name during an interview with someone promoting the then soon-to-be-launched team was hilarious. He was expecting to learn this new team's nickname but couldn't get his head around this foreign concept. 'What, the team name is just a bunch of initials?'

"100% privately financed, plus affordable housing, plus hotel..." -- sez NYC's new-(ish) Mayor.

Edgy MD wrote: This deserves a split. A Met winning a major award deserves its very own thread? Are you sure? A close vote btw in a spread out field where five different guys picked up multiple first place votes: Buck 77 points - 8 1st place votes, 10 2nd, 7 3rd Dave Roberts LAD -- 57 pts; 8/4/5 Brian Snitker ATL -- 55 pts, 7/5/5 Oliver Marmol StL -- 44 pts, 5/4/7 Rob Thompson PHI -- 36 pts, 2/7/5 Bob Melvin SDP -- 1 point, 1 3rd place vote First NYM winner (no Gil? no Davey? no Bobby?) leaving only the Brewers without a MoY in the NL (and they spent most of their time not being in the NL) Terry Francona, by a little more decisive margin, was the AL winner Tito CLE -- 112 pts, 17/9/0 Brandon Hyde BAL -- 79 pts, 9//97 Scott Servais SEA -- 43 pts, 1/8/14 Dusty Baker HOU -- 31 pts, 3/3/7 Aaron Boone NYY -- 4 pts, 0/1/1 Kevin Cash TBR -- 1 point, 1 3rd place vote

Business writer Michael Lewis [MONEYBALL, BIG SHORT, etc] has apparently had access to and been following/interviewing this FTX head honcho for months now and this will be the subject of his next book.

So, maybe not a fait accompli then?

Here's how to put more retired numbers back in circulation: stop retiring so many numbers.

Assuming that Bowden's prediction is based on any knowledge of deGrom's mindset is a sizable leap.

The basketball, though not the hockey*, arena in Miami, formerly named for American Airlines, was rebranded as FTX Arena in the summer of 2021. Those naming rights have now been terminated and all signage will be removed during the upcoming Miami Heat road trip. I'm sure THAT seemed like a good idea at the time (said a very small minority of people). * The Florida Panthers hockey team, I just found out, does Not play at the same building or even in the city of Miami but rather in the town of Sunrise, Florida almost 40 miles to the northwest right on the edge of the Everglades. Guess they figured that bringing hockey to Cubans was not a winning strategy.

=kcmets post_id=112831 time=1668294632 user_id=53] Nipping in the bud, I was just being silly and joking around.

It was a poor choice and a bad look from the beginning. But I don't think the sponsorship itself presented additional avenues for corruption.

They offered both Dusty and the GM one year deals only. Dusty accepted. The GM, James Click, didn't.

I thought you were going to tell us we had signed Shin-Soo Choo

The bottom line is that the Yanx could turn to other 3B options but Rodriguez had no ability to engage other teams. That represents a total imbalance in power that robbed ARod of virtually all leverage to swing a position change (we have no idea if he even tried) and makes his case completely non-analogous to this current crop of FA SSs. And now back to my original original point on the topic: Jon Hey Man chimes in on the lack of logic and likelihood of a Trea Turner signing: https://nypost.com/2022/11/08/a-mets-trea-turner-mlb-free-agency-splash-makes-little-sense/https://nypost.com/2022/11/08/a-mets-trea-turner-mlb-free-agency-splash-makes-little-sense/

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=112649 time=1667958021 user_id=68] A-Rod agreed to switch over to third base before the trade was made. If he didn't agree beforehand, and Jeter didn't agree to play third base (which Jeter didn't), the Yankees would not have made the trade in the first place.

Certainly not a lot of those seem to be batter caused, or even invited.

=roger_that post_id=112635 time=1667948563 user_id=128] nothing is logical to an owner determined to break the bank. If Cohen wants Turner to play 3B and is willing to pay him SS wages, what's to prevent it? What's to prevent Turner from signing such a contract?

Frayed Knot wrote: It would be like A-Rod changing positions because the incumbent is very good and well liked. ARod moved via a trade. He didn't have the same kind of say in the matter. Yes. But when he got here, A-Rod could have said "Move that other guy off short- I'm better". But he didn't.(to our knowledge) And that was my point. But, again, ARod had no power to make that switch happen. He was acquired via trade with an already existing contract. He could stomp his feet and say 'Move the other guy' all he wanted but unless the Mgr and front office agreed he was S.O.L. As SMG said in one of the above posts, a decent chunk of value in these FA short-stops is in the fact that they're a SS. It doesn't make them worthless elsewhere on the field but it generally does make them worth less. So either Turner et al are going to agree to come here at a lower rate for the less prestigious role or Uncle Steve is going to have to decide to out-bid all the other SS offers for a guy who's not going to play SS. Neither, IMO, is likely. Or logical for that matter.

=MFS62 post_id=112606 time=1667928570 user_id=60] It would be like A-Rod changing positions because the incumbent is very good and well liked.

Which means the Mets would have to think that Player X is worth more to them to play 2B (or maybe as a totally untested CF) than every other team would to play SS. Not a likely scenario IMO

All of those guys will get SS offers. I don't see what the advantage is for them to accept a non-SS offer.

Watching Atlanta sign all their early career players and then seeing the Phillies with the NL Pennant brought a name to mind that some of you might not even remember. Scott Kingery rode a 2nd round draft pick status (2015 U - Arizona) and a good 2017 AA/AAA season to see Top-30-ish prospect rankings in the winter of 2017/18 Slated to be the opening day SS, the Phils were confident enough in his future to sign him to a nine year deal worth as much as $56 million a week prior to his first ever ML AB. And while a 605 OPS for the 24 y/o in his rookie year was surely disappointing, he did follow it with 788 in 2019 (101 OPS+) and 57 XBHs over 500 PA so things weren't looking too bad. And then he cratered. In 36 games during the Covid 2020 season Kingery hit .159 (OPS+ = 37) and has had 19 ML ABs since with just one hit. His minor league season in '22 was a little kinder, but .230/.348/.370 for a 28 y/o in AAA isn't getting him any closer to being back in the big leagues. He appeared in one game for the Phils this past year, as a 9th inning double switch on defense. On the plus side for the Phils, Kingery will never see most of that money as the deal is back-loaded and tied up in options. 2023 is his final guaranteed year ($8.25 mil) following salaries of $1, $1.5, $1.75, $4.25, and $6.25 for '18 thru '22. After that it's a $1 mil buyout vs options of $13, $14, & $15 for '24-'26 and I think we know which was the Phils are going to go with that choice staring them in the face. I don't know specifically what happened to him as he dropped off the radar so quickly that, although I could remember the existence of him and the deal, I had to look it all up just to remember his name and find out whether he was even still playing. Injuries? Attitude? Ceiling? Some combo of all of them? I dunno. I don't really have a point here as there's no one on the current Mets that seems to fall into this same category, nor has any version of their front office shown a tendency to go this route although maybe we'll see one in the future (Alvarez?). The lesson, of course, is that if you're going to take those kinds of chances on young players you've got to pick the right ones. The Braves at least waited until Michael Harris had shown something at the ML level before going all in but even there it was only about two months and he's three years younger than Kingery was when the Phils pulled the trigger on him so this year's success brings no assurance that it'll all be smooth sailing from here on out.