Frayed Knot

Have we fingered the culprit responsible for the errant report? If so we should give his reporting a thumbs down and make him pinky swear never to do it again.

GNARLY!!!! [FIMG=400]https://media.vanityfair.com/photos/598dab6338291d36bb48bd9f/7:3/w_1056,h_452,c_limit/spicoli.png[/FIMG]

Or perhaps, rosters wouldn't need to expand to accommodate substitute position players needed because of this new DH. This new proposed DH might encourage longer starts, and thus, less relievers needed - opening up already existing roster spots for position players. I suspect that's part of the thinking behind it, that at worst it might cut down on starters being pulled mid-inning in those cases where that team's DH is due up in the next half-inning - ergo one or possibly two fewer mid-inning pitching changes per game. But overall I think managers are still going to make pitching changes based on what they think/see/feel about their pitcher so I don't think this returns us to an era where the starters are going an additional inning or two or three. And, yeah, I still prefer an elimination of it all together but I don't think that is even a remote possibility at this point particularly since so many look at the rule from the angle of whether or not they see it benefitting their team this season. I still remember NYM fans lobbying for the NL to adopt the rule nearly 40 years ago on account of the presence of Rusty. If you think baseball is a better game with the rule then argue for it, if you don't then argue against it. But looking at it from a hyper-local/short-term viewpoint is how an "experimental" rule which haa long out-lived the original reasons for its adoption persist for going on half a century. It's like those who rail against pork barrel spending and the near 100% reelection rates in Congress but continually vote for their local rep because he/she "brings home the bacon".

I'd still prefer no DH at all, but This DH is certainly better than the total DH as has existed in the AL for going on 50 years now. It probably needs to come with an more permanently expanded roster (likely to happen anyway) seeing as how it would increase the number of 'half-game' position players since, the way I understand it anyway, you don't have to lose the guy in the DH slot but rather you'd lose him OR he can be inserted into the field which of course results in losing the guy he replaces so there'd be that element of strategy as well. What this mostly sounds like is a shot across the bow at those who employ 'The Opener' as a pitching strategy. On a maybe related note, Theo Epstein is taking a job within MLB with at least part of his duties being to look at and revamp rules, particularly with regard to pace of play and 'action' issues.

Almora is a stellar defensive player and is still not yet 27 y/o ... but if one is going to play in the OF one has to hit at least a little bit and Almora, following some early promise in Chi-Town, has steadily declined to the point where he's in danger of falling off a cliff.

Wonder if her sister Merlot is to be the Maid of Honor?

Come to our stadium and enjoy the game ... just try not to eat or piss.

So all [8, 12, 15?] million "New Yorkers are welcome" and they can serve 5 to 7 thousand per day. How are they choosing who gets their dose? Lottery? Age? Rock/Paper/Scissors? Concert style wrist bands? Tent cities? ... or just the usual method of who has the best inside connections?

Hit it to left field

That's pretty much S.O.P. for most players, that if things don't get done before or during ST then he goes the FA-gency next winter. Not that everyone who states that sticks with it. Betts signed w/the Dodgers in late July after barely two weeks into the season. But then last year was an unusual year.

Yeah, I was just about to add that the Nats have a set-enough OF to keep Schwarger off the grass and restricted to the dirt areas around 1B and the batter's box. With Howie Kendrick gone and Ryan Zimmerman (going, going?) gone, they had a need there.

Hope he's not a blockhead.

I remember how much my MFY friends (back when I had such things) hated Lasorda during those late '70s & 1981 WS thy played, and I was more of the mind that Tommy was just this harmless dude who talked too much but certainly not worth hating. Then came the '88 NLCS and I started thinking, y'know, he kind of is a fat, annoying, loudmouth, isn't he?

OK, so this is, like, big news and stuff. Chad ochoseis wrote: I'm suspicious that Lindor's 2020 wasn't a fluke. Not sure why that would be the case but, after 5 seasons of 850-ish OPS's right out of the box [835, 794, 842, 871, 854], his age 26 season did suddenly take a hundred point drop. His walk rate, about average [.064, .079, .051] over the previous three seasons (which alone puts him light years ahead of Rosario), stayed on course [.079] in 2020 Mainly it looks like the power was down: IsoP for his first five seasons = 169, 134, 232, 242, 234, then this season dropped back more to his early days which was still a very respectable 157, about league average and better still for a middle IF. His BA and BA-bip were down in 2020 but not dramatically: .258 vs .285 career; .280 vs .298 career Bottom line is that, given a lack of age & injury factors, I'd tend to believe the larger sample over the smaller and the non-fucked-up seasons over the fucked-up one 'twould be a shame if he went all Robbie Alomar on us at the ripe old age of 27 -- Alomar had OPS's of 853 & 956 in his pre-trade seasons then cratered to 708 & 683 but RA was 33 & 34 during his NYM tenure. And the one caveat being that he's here for only one season until further notice.

Citing "a source" (Ceetar would refer to that as 'making it up') the NYDN https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/ny-mets-george-springer-20201230-golgieaw35gajm2en7ppg6kp5u-story.htmlsays it's down to the Mets or Jays for a January signing.

So it seems that, unlike domestic FAs, the terms of the posting gives Sugano up to a 5PM (I assume EST) January 7th deadline in which to sign (aka: next Tuesday). And since that means a signed contract by that time the final language, physicals etc. will all need to be done before then which means this thing probably needs to find a conclusion by this weekend. I'm not sure how far talks have progressed from the Mets or from anyone for that matter. https://nypost.com/2020/12/29/mets-free-agency-target-tomoyuki-sugano-must-soon-decide-fate/https://nypost.com/2020/12/29/mets-free-agency-target-tomoyuki-sugano-must-soon-decide-fate/ Yomiuri's manager, Tatsunori Hara (who is Sugano's uncle), has told associates that Sugano in ability is probably somewhere between Masahiro Tanaka, before he tore an elbow ligament, and Kenta Maeda. That translates into Sugano projecting as a middle-of-the-rotation arm. "At the National League level, against the top National League teams, I don't think he's a shut-them-down kind of pitcher,” said a talent evaluator who has tracked Sugano's career. “But I think he's the kind of pitcher that will get you to your good arms in the bullpen. He will find a way, because he's not going to hurt himself with walks. [1.8/9 for his career] He can really field his position, one of those guys. I wouldn't mind him going out there."

At least SD is making this all-out effort to take the division from the Dodgers at a time when they seem prepared to actually follow through on it. They did a spending spree a couple (5?) years back but at the time they were muddling along near the bottom of the pack and those attempts to go from zero to sixty in one swoop rarely work. They and the ChiSox tried the get-good-quick thing at the same time and neither worked. Now both changed courses and are now getting good at similar times so are properly looking to spend big so as to fill in the missing pieces.

The presence of JD Davis shouldn't be considered a hindrance to pursuing LeMahieu ... hey, we'd be swapping out JD for DJ

I'm pretty sure the kid spent a good chunk of his early life in upper class prep schools in either Westchester or nearby Jersey, iow, pretty much a breeding grounds for lacrosse players. I kind of like it when a kid opts for a different sport from his father.

The kids call him Jimmy the Saint Plus a little https://nypost.com/2020/12/19/mets-james-mccann-has-amazing-rags-to-riches-tale/James McCann history for ya.

Maybe he'll have a few good games for us then we can name him Special Opp. Or if Cohen goes through with some of his uniform ideas Cam will be a Black Opp

Benjamin Grimm wrote: ... they'll be the Something Elses beginning in 2022. That's a terrible name.

And you'd always want to factor in the Coors factor as a factor in your decision: OPS H=985, R=793 I mean the road number is still good, but we're unlikely to see the home figure and will instead get something south of his overall humber of 890 Turns 30 in April, signed thru 2026 (age 35) but with an opt-out following 2021 (iow: only one season guaranteed) at north of $30mi/yr

There was a good piece on HBOs REAL SPORTS a month or two back about a guy who has, for years, been compiling Negro LG stats to the point where the old argument about how non-inclusion being based on NNL & NAL records being incomplete or sketchy was becoming tougher to defend. Not surprisingly, black oriented newspapers turned out to be among the best sources.

As I suspected was most likely, timing was the major factor in the McCann signing. We had "great conversations" [with Realmuto's agents] Alderson said on Monday's Zoom call to introduce new GM Jared Porter ... “more than anything else, this was a timing issue for us,'' “We have a number of needs. We can afford to wait to fill some of them. We can't afford to wait to fill all of them.” https://nypost.com/2020/12/14/this-is-what-derailed-mets-pursuit-of-j-t-realmuto/https://nypost.com/2020/12/14/this-is-what-derailed-mets-pursuit-of-j-t-realmuto/