Frayed Knot

Righties who turned into lefties.

What's the story, Giuseppe Torre? Ah, yes. That jogs the ol' memory. I was down the LF line so not even anywhere in the background of that picture.

My main memory of Lolich as a Met deals not with his performance on the field (for obvious reasons) but the time I was at 'Picture Day' at Shea. Prior to the game the players walked around the infield part of the warning track [foul pole to behind the plate to foul pole] allowing (mostly) youngsters to snap away at their heroes at close range with their Kodak 'Instamatics' or whatever else you had. But not all the players walked. Mickey came around on a motorcycle. He also had a passenger but I forget which teammate that was. Prior to his Metdom one of course associates Lolich with the Tigers and specifically the WS winning '68 team featuring with the 1-2 punch of him and Denny McLain. McLain was the bigger story that year with his 31-6 record and 1.96 ERA in 41 starts / 336 innings., giving him the first of his back-to-back CY awards. Lolich put up a more pedestrian -- particularly considering it was the 'Year of the Pitcher' -- 17-9 / 3.29 / 32 starts (+ 7 relief apps) over 220 IP, but in the World Series (in that final season prior to any prelim playoffs) Lolich tossed three CGs winning: - Game #2 8-1 on October 2nd - Game #5 5-3 on October 7th (with Detroit down three games to one) - Game #7 4-1 on October 10th (that's two days rest for those hard of math) to win the clincher while McLain got bopped around a bit in his three starts (1-2, 3.24) * Lolich is listed in BB-Ref at 6' 1" / 170 which naturally leads to the old joke about what his weight would be if he put the other foot on the scale. * And although Mickey was hardly the picture of fitness for an athlete, neither was McLain, particularly as his career and personal life started spiraling downward by the early '70s. McLain however, several years younger than Lolich, is still going at age 81. * After starting 83 games and hurling 661 innings between 1968 & 1969 (CY both years) at ages 24 & 25, McLain went on to throw less than 400 more innings (for four different clubs) over the remainder of his career. Not all of his problems were physical.

Regarding the title of this thread, if asked prior to this Beltran 'decision' how many NYM caps were in the HoF I would have had no idea. I assume the two are Seaver & Piazza. Or is it Seaver & Carter? I'd definitely guess against it being Nolan & Robbie Alomar. I guess this is a long way of saying that the plaque logo isn't a very important issue to me.

Cool!!

Carlos Santana will spend in 17th ML season in the employment of the Arizona Diamondbacks. One year contract. The Cardinals, following losing seasons in two of the last three years (which makes it like three of the last 25), continue to signal 'Rebuild' as they deal away Brendan Donovan to Seattle as part of a multi-team deal. Donovan joins Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, and Nolan Arenado as veteran 2025 Cardinals who have become ex-Cardinals over the last few months. StL has gone younger and have restocked their minor league system [now have six of the top hundred prospects) with trades like this one and others. But the lineup to start the 2026 season is one that even the 'BFiB' (the self-proclaimed: Best Fans in Baseball) and many hard-core fantasy geeks are going to have trouble identifying. An early season scorecard might consist of: 2B - JJ Wetherholt DH - Iván Herrera LF - Lars Nootbaar 1B - Alec Burleson 3B - Nolan Gorman/Thomas Saggese SS - Masyn Winn RF - Jordan Walker C - Pedro Pages/Jimmy Crooks CF - Victor Scott II All are 27 or under and only Burlson is over 25. But aside from Masyn Wynn, only Jordan Walker (who may be on his last chance at breaking out) and Lars Nootbaar (largely because his name is Lars Nootbaar) are going to be recognizable names to most BB fans.

If Blevins turns out to be a stiff then I don't want him in a two man Or a three man booth. K & R work well together but either is also strong enough to work just with G. iow, I don't want aa three man booth just to have three, nor if its purpose is to cover up for whatever deficiencies exist in one or both of the color men. Even networks, who generally operate under the principle that more talking is never enough talking, have, for the most part, gone away from three man booths. And saving money can't be the only reason as they still think five or six man panels at half-time are needed where everyone gets about 30 seconds each to blurt out whatever genius they have to say about the battle between two 2-7 teams you've been watching. If you don't happen to hit upon a trio that works well together then the competition from each to 'get their two cents in' between each play/pitch often leads to a cacophony of blather full of sound and 'hot takes' but also one which contributes more to cluttering up the broadcast rather than enhancing it.

I actually prefer two man booths most of the time. GKR is, in my mind, the exception because the two analysts know each other so well and are comfortable enough not to feel the need to compete for voice time.

The number that sticks in my head is an even, round one hundred. Assuming that that's correct, 91 is essentially three fewer series over the course of a season. So, slightly less Keith.

Sure. My only objection is the idea that the insignia on the plaque's cap indicates an all or nothing thing, that either he's a NYM in the HoF or he's not. He is a Met in the HoF whether the cap says NYM, HOU, KC, or Chico's Bail Bonds.

If it is three years I suspect it might be his last. He'll be turning 75 just as the deal is ending.

Seaver always had good stuff. Ralph, Bob and Lindsey always told us so.

So if she wants you there for protection then tell her to get her own ****in' drink next time. Although you my want to word it differently

Couple of things about Ichiro: I don't want to call him a 'compiler' because that has a more negative connotation than what I'm trying to say here, but a large part of the stats he put up was a result of playing just about every game/every year from the time he was 20 until he was 38. Ichiro averaged 159.3 G/yr over his first 12 MLB seasons (ages 27 to 38 from 2001 to 2012). That's what helps get the counting stats so high, not only the 3,089 hits in MLB but 1,728 in the JPL before ever coming to this side of the Pacific. Staying on the field regularly helped Pete Rose too. Now for the somewhat negative side: - he rarely walked. Look at the difference between his BA & OBA: 44 points where 70 is about league average so barely 60% as often as the typical player. Some guys just like to hit so much (and are good enough at it) that their walk rates are lower for it. Gwynn (50) and Arraez (46) also fall into this category. Nothing wrong with it really but it does temper their OBA even with often league leading BAs - lack of power: of all the hitters on the 3,000 hit club Ichiro is 33rd of 33 in percentage of hits going for extra bases (81.3% singles). That's behind even dead-ball-era players Eddie Collins (next at 79.3%) and Cap Anson, as well as the more recent 'contact' hitters such as Carew, Gwynn, Rose, Jeter, Boggs and Brock (those are the bottom 9). All that helps to explain the relative lower WAR rates for Ichiro: 25 points of career OBA behind Gwynn, 38 in back of Carew, and 60 behind Boggs, plus less slugging than all of them. Arraez is kind of in the same camp except worse because he brings little defensive value or speed (31 of 48 SB or 65% success rate). So that when his BA dropped below .300 in 2025, even to a still good .292, his OPS+ fell to a below average level. OK, just below at 99, but when you pair that with no positional value or speed I think it's safe to say that it's not like contact skills aren't valued in today's game, it's just that much less hangs on that one stat (BA) compared to the way it was perceived back when most of us were kids (and the way it still exists in Keith's head). So, following his first four seasons in Minnesota, Arraez will now be on his third team in four seasons since, and maybe more before the season is done depending on how the Giants are doing and who needs what when the 2026 trading deadline approaches. * this took me a while to write so somewhat redundant with above posts

Luis Arraez continues his 'round the league tour by signing a one year deal with the SF Giants, presumably to be their everyday 2nd baseman. SFG will be the fourth ML club for Arraez (previously MIN, MIA, SDP) as he goes into his eighth season and the 3rd since 2023 despite having won batting titles in 2022, '23 & '24

This looks like as good a place as any to tack-on this: Will Sammon, at 'The Athletic', with a take on some of the thinking, timing, and process to the NYM off-season. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7007520/2026/01/30/mets-mlb-offseason-overhaul-bo-bichette/?campaign=16695546&source=athletic_targeted_email&userId=30063869

Ummmm, his name may be Grae, but that doesn't mean he's going Gray quite yet. DOB = 1997-08-25

And Wilmer had a lot of decent years in San Fran; he even learned to take walks as he aged. But after averaging [267/328/458 - 113 OPS+] from '16 thru '23, the last two seasons have seen a dive to 229/296/359 (88 OPS+) and a sub-.300 OBA from a 1B/DH who gives you neither speed nor defense and will turn 35 y/o in August doesn't sound like something that would be on the Stearns agenda.

His brother Exxon had a lousy personal rep as well. Guess it runs in the family.

I'm more surprised that someone agreed to give him two years. Yeah he's still only 31 y/o (32 in June) but doesn't seem like the type you'd have to commit to more than one. Since spending his first five seasons with the Cardinals he's played for six teams in four seasons since: StL/NYY in 2022, NYY/CIN in '23, Mets in '24, then MIN/PHI in 2025 And now the Giants make seven. One could probably find someone to take a prop bet about whether he's still around San Fran at the end of the first season much less both.

Keith Law (The Athletic) goes: Nolan McLean - #15 Carson Benge - 18 Jett Williams - 45 Jonah Tong - 72 Brandon Sproat - 75 A. J. Ewing - 98

mlb.com says Peacock & NBC So having O.D. be a network game rather than SNY/G, K & R certainly suxx ... but it doesn't look like a game that'll be blacked out to anyone.

Williams played just a handful of games in Rookie ball in 2022, but that's nothing unusual for a June draftee right out of HS He missed significant time in 2024 but played mostly full seasons in '23 & '25 and 284 minor league games in three years is not quite "largely unavailable". And whenever he has played it's been enough to earn him top-50 prospect status. So it's fine if Sproat is your choice but, yes, it is a legit question. Sproat had two minor league seasons totaling 50 games followed by four ML starts so is closer to ready. But he also came out of the college ranks and is three years older so those are factors too.

#51 -- unless we're talking about different lists (or a different Williams)

KIMBREL!!