Frayed Knot

So Six potential FAs were given qualifying offers from their 2020 clubs George Springer (HOU) Trevor Bauer (CIN) DJ LeMahieu (NYY) JT Realmuto (PHI) Kevin Gausman (SF) Annnnnd .... Marcos Stroman

Ahh, I'm mixing up my blasts and my pasts.

As Andrew Zimbalist, an economist who has written extensively on sports/business issues, has said numerous times, if owners could make money by building their own stadiums then you couldn't stop them from doing so. And yet none of them ever do. I'll take the Mets still playing at CF in 2030 (and beyond) and gladly give the points.

Oh I just found it funny that this near exact conversation occurred 53 weeks ago and that I accidently stumbled across the old one while looking to add to the current one. Torre was definitely a glove lover, although I'm not sure I see the Morgan/Flynn/Tavares comments as much more than a new manager not wanting to trash existing players prior to even donning the uniform for the first time.

Edgy MD wrote: I tend to think that Joe Girardi has kept Jorge Posada out of the Hall of Fame — or at least any serious consideration — by starting ahead of Posada at the beginning of his career and by relegating Posada to a time-share role in the last years of his career. I was thinking about answering you until I had to use the search function to remember what thread this comment was in. As a result of that search I found that you said this a year and a week ago [10/23/19]: "I always thought that Girardi kept Posada from getting serious Hall of Fame consideration, by playing ahead of him at the front end of Posada's career and by benching him at the end." So instead of writing up an reply, I'll just cut and paste what I said in response back then: "Posada had his only real injury season during Girardi's first year as skipper, but after that still averaged over 400 PAs per year even at ages 37, 38, 39 - so he wasn't exactly being benched. Mainly he didn't like that Girardi started to slot him lower and lower in the lineup including, at least once, 9th at which point Posada refused to play for a couple days. Reportedly things were never real warm and fuzzy between those two when they played either, but Posada was a 24th round draft pick and a converted IF'er trying to learn to catch (some claimed he never did) so it was more than just Girardi's presence that kept him from establishing himself until age 26 or so. And I look forward to talking about his topic in October of next year.

Doesn't look to be too much movement on the manager front this off-season. I guess 60 games isn't long enough to get sick of a guy. Only the Red Sox are currently pilot-less as we enter November and they are quite possibly talking to Alex Cora about a return. The path certainly seems clear for Cora as the two off-season hires so far have both been guys brought back from oblivion: A J Hinch (to Detroit) fresh off his stint on Double Secret Probation and Tony LaRussa (ChiSox) from the land of 4 PM dinners and Bingo nights at the old folks residence. TEAMMANAGERCONTRACT THRUHIRED ANGELSJoe Maddon2022Oct '19 ASTROSDusty Baker2021Jan '202021 Option picked up July ‘20 ATHLETICS Bob Melvin 2021Jun ‘11 BLUE JAYSCharlie Montoyo2021 + 2022 OptionOct ‘18 BRAVESBrian Snitker 2020 + Option for 2021May ‘16 Signed Extension for Feb ‘20 BREWERSCraig Counsel 2023May '15Signed Extension thru '23 in Jan ‘20 CARDINALS Mike Schildt2022 July ‘18 CUBS David Ross2022Oct '19 DBACKS Torey Luvello 2021Nov ‘16 DODGERS Dave Roberts 2022 Nov ‘15 GIANTSGabe Kapler2022Nov '19 INDIANS Terry Francona 2022 Oct ‘12 MARINERS Scott Servais?? Oct ‘15 Signed multi-year extension in July 2018 MARLINS Don Mattingly 2021 + 2022 Option Nov ‘15 METS Luis Rojas2021 plus club optionsJan ‘20 NATIONALS Dave Martinez 2023 Oct ‘17 Sept '20, signed Extension thru 2023 ORIOLES Brandon Hyde ???? Dec ‘18 PADRES Jayce Tingler???Oct '19 PHILLIES Joe Girardi2022 + '23 OptionOct ‘19 PIRATES Derek Shelton2020 Nov ‘19 RANGERS Chris Woodward 2021 + 2022 Option Sep ‘18 RAYS Kevin Cash 2024 + 2025 Option Dec ‘14 RED SOX[CROSSOUT]Ron Roenicke[/CROSSOUT] 2020Feb '20Hired as Interim, Roenicke will not return (Sep '20) REDS David Bell 2021 + 2022 Option Oct ‘18 ROCKIES Bud Black2022Nov ‘16 ROYALSMike Matheny2019Oct ‘19 TIGERSA J Hinch2021 + ???Oct '20Replaces the retiring (9/19/20) Ron Gardenhire TWINSRocco Baldelli ??? Oct ‘18 WHITE SOXTony LaRussa 2021 + ???Oct ‘20Rick Renteria not retained (10/12/20) YANKEES Aaron Boone 2021Dec ‘17

Look at it this way, that's two fewer relievers we have to go look for this winter ... or two extra we can use as trade bait.

Edgy MD wrote: It's really interesting that a guy who spent his career as a heavy hitter but a defensive liability at three different positions went for defense over offense almost every chance he got. One of the first moves Torre advocated for as Yanqui manager was swapping out the fan favorite and offensively-minded [OPS's of 151, 144, 118 in '93-'95] catcher Mike Stanley for Joe Girardi. Fans tended to hate the move (why is Torre bringing in all these 'Nashional Leagahs'?!?!) but Torre claimed to know how much a defensive catcher was worth to a team. Then Posada showed up and the team began doing what they did with him: taking every minor league slugger they could find and try to teach him to catch. Jesus Montero was the next model though he was eventually traded to Seattle in a huge challenge deal for Michael Pineda (both teams wound up losers in that one). Gary Sanchez was essentially the next Jesus Montero and there were others of that same type in between, just none who made it.

I heard he has a big set of balls ... although I can not personally confirm that claim.

Ryan Braun has his option declined by the only team that's ever employed him. The Brews opted to pay the $4mil buyout fee rather than keep him for one more season at $15 I think he might be done and he's apparently already been hinting that this past year might be it for him. 2016 was his last real good year [135 OPS+] and his last full one. Turning 37 in a few weeks, mediocre-hitting corner OFs w/declining legs and gloves aren't a very sought after commodity. And it's not like he brings a ton of good will to the table either.

He was spending the money right up until the rug got pulled out from underneath him by the Madoff thing. He more or less was. The Mets were almost always top five in payroll back around the turn of the century era and sometimes high up towrds the top. But they still weren't spending like the Yanquis (or earning like them) so that comparison got them criticized for not spending even when they were. Then came the 2008-2010 recession, the one that came right as they were opening the new stadium which they assumed (as did the Yanx, Jets, & Giants with their new cribs) was going to be a cash spigot but wasn't quite as much as expected. On the heels of that came Madoff and the huge slashing which dropped them into the middle of the pack, an area that they are just recently starting to climb out of. But to focus strictly on the specific payroll amount, which many NYM fans did with the zeal of an overly-caffeinated accountant, and the whole "Freddie Coupons" image largely misses the point IMO. Fred's biggest problem was that he lacked imagination, he lacked it with the on-field part of things but also, oddly enough, on the business end. - they lacked Yanqui revenue in part because they couldn't sell NYY history, but also because they lacked daring. Locked into an aging TV contract that was of Doubleday's doing, Fred got caught disbelieving the reports when the Yanx sold their rights to MSG network (early '90s). He didn't think such deals were possible because he never imagined they could be which had left him content with the good, but hardly great, revenue he was getting. The Mets then wound up late to the team network game and had to first spend money to buy out Doubleday and later Cablevision in order to be not even later to the party. - on the field they were late to embrace sabermetrics or target up and coming innovative managers and GMs because he and Jeff were reluctant to leave their comfort zone, preferring to hire those they already knew or at least types they already knew. Guys they could control? Yeah partly, but I think it was just as much a fear of the unknown. I think they also got gun-shy when big bucks deals didn't work out as well as hoped [bonilla, Pedro, Santana, Wright, Bay, Vaughn, even Beltran to a certain degree] which in turn made them more reluctant in the future especially if it came to thinking about signing more than one at a time. - and of course we could talk all day about their shortcomings in areas like marketing, fan relations, and team history. And, again, they weren't any good at it because I don't think they thought much about that kind of stuff and certainly didn't think about new ways to go about things. They wanted the glory of steering their own boat but rarely at even a slightly dangerous speed and virtually never towards uncharted waters. The currents are much calmer and safer when you stay close to the protected harbor.

TBR declines Charlie Morton's option, making him a FA He a guy who seemed to find himself in the latter part of his career. The downside to that is that he's in the latter part of his career (37 in 2 weeks)

Even if only for the wealth of Spicoli jokes.

My old friend who I've known for over 35 years, but haven't seen for a while, is a fervent White Sox fan. His screen name on the old FASTBALL.com site was Shoeless Don (for Shoeless Joe Jackson). He must be fuming. He loathed LaRussa and called him "Tony The punk". He never forgave him for (an unnecessary wise-ass move to show how smart he was) pinch-running Jerry Dybzinski in the ninth inning of game 5 of the 1983 ALCS. The guy got picked off, costing the Sox the game and the pennant. Not quite. Dybzinski started and played that whole game. Looks like he was the regular starter that year vs lefties [165 of his 255 ABs that year came vs LHPs] so got the nod vs the O's Mike Flanagan. In a 0-0 tie in the 7th inning of Game 4 [sox down 2 games to 1] TLR put on the Sac Bunt play w/runners on 1st & 2nd, no outs, and Dybzinski at the plate ... he bunted into a force play. The next batter hit the third single of the inning but lead runner Vance Law was held at 3rd. Dybzinski, not realizing that the runner was held, was caught between 2nd & 3rd. That forced Law to try to make it home but he was tagged out. A subsequent balk sent the runners to 2nd & 3rd but the batter flied out to end the inning. The Orioles went on to score 3 runs in the top of the 10th to win the game and the series. The ChiSox were outscored 19-3 in that series winning only the first game 2-1 behind a CG 5-hitter by that year's CY Winner Lamarr Hoyt. Your friend may have plenty of legit reasons to dislike LaRussa, but losing that series based on his strategy 'blunder' with Dybzinski doesn't seem like it should rank very high on the list, or even be on the list at all if you ask me. Bad bunt followed by bad base-running on the part of Dybzinski, but it's not like LaRussa inserted him into the lineup for the specific purpose of doing either.

Zack Britton's option picked up by the Yanx; Brett Gardner's, not.

Then there was "The Faction", a self-appellation of a group within a Cardinals on-line forum that despised LaRussa when he was in StL and basically blamed him for everything that went wrong. When the Mets met the Cards in the (must have been 2000) playoffs, this board (actually it would have been the predecessor of this one) attracted a brief appearance by a Cardinal fan from that board loudly proclaiming his team's inevitable superiority. When the Mets went on to win the series 4-1 his explanation for why his pronouncements didn't pan out was simple: his team was still vastly superior -- anyone could see that! -- but LaRussa's incompetence was a drawback they couldn't overcome. Point being, once you decide that the head coach/manager is the source of all your problems, it absolves everyone else of blame. Pickoffs are his fault, HRs allowed are his fault, etc. Met fans certainly heard (or started) their fair share of that during the Bobby V days.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Or is this a situation where the more games played under covid conditions, the more money they lose? The position of the owners and the commissioner during the negotiations last summer, was the more they play, the more they lose. That's why the season only had 60 games while the players were proposing 114. There is https://nypost.com/2020/10/28/dodgers-world-series-title-not-enough-to-keep-team-from-losing-money/an article in today's NYP stating that the Dodgers, despite their WS run, will lose something like $125 Million this year and the average MLB team around $97mil each. Somebody is going to need to square this with those articles that Forbes runs each year, and are in turn re-quoted by many others, claiming that ALL teams rake in huge profits each and every year (including this one!!) regardless of how poorly the franchise performs on the field or in the front office. The truth has got to lie somewhere in the middle but I have no clue as to which figures to believe.

=MFS62 post_id=49225 time=1603973696 user_id=60] Exactly who does this benefit?

OK so DiBlasio either is, or isn't, https://nypost.com/2020/10/28/bill-de-blasio-is-trying-to-kill-mets-sale-to-steve-cohen/going all out to scuttle the Cohen deal On the one hand, numerous legal beagles looked into this prior to the sale agreement and concluded that the city has no grounds. On the other, DeBlasio has his 'Watch me stick to Billionaires' image to upkeep and may try to do just that whether he's ultimately successful or not. That tactics and logic, as well as some of the city politicians lined up with him, are similar to the pulling out of the Amazon deal. And, yes, this all seems to be geared towards killing the Cohen deal in favor of the J-Rod group so someone has friends in high places. From the same paper, https://nypost.com/2020/10/28/de-blasios-shameful-steve-cohen-mets-ploy-is-about-a-rod/Mike Vaccarro fires back

Yeah, there's a difference between using analytics and being a slave to them. The stats show that Snell's effectively is diminished once the third time around the batting order starts but: a) as SMG and others point out, that's based on not just a fairly small sample size but in many ways on an intentionally small one that tendency, even to the extent that you consider it "true", doesn't necessarily describe last night's version of Snell. I suspect that there have been few games where he's entered the 6th allowing just one hit while notching nine K's on just 69 pitches. It's really been the pitch count that has most often tripped him up so when that lineup is coming around for the third time he's often at or closing in on the century mark already. Eight times this (reg) season he pitched five or more innings -- and "five or more" means 5.0, 5.1, or 5.2 as he never saw the 7th inning even once in 11 starts -- and in only two of those did he have a (just barely) lower than average number of pitches [70 thru 5.0; 73 in 5.1]. Everything else was over the 15 p/IP threshold including three times up over 100 which means he had essentially done seven innings of work just to get to a 6th inning which he was never allowed to finish. Last night he was masterful but that didn't seem to be taken into consideration when the decision was made to remove. That decision was likely made well ahead of time and no one was willing or able to change course on the fly or even slightly alter it. Then throw in the fact that his replacement, Nick Anderson, had been good most of the year but not this week and they pretty much got what they bargained for. All that said, the pitching change only goes so far when your offense scores once on the 4th pitch of the game then takes the rest of the night off. In the 1st inning they had a run in, two on, and still just one out but didn't score, then got two more on in the 2nd and left them there. After that, the TBR offense consisted of a two-out single in the 5th and a two-out single in the 7th. iow, the Rays, in a game where they had the dominant starter, were ironically beaten by a team playing a bullpen game. The 'closer', Urias, wound up going the longest (2.1) of any of LAD's seven pitchers.

And now with the season over, we might not get to find out if other Dodgers or Rays caught covid. I think if Blake Snell "got the 'rona" we'd probably hear about it.

So La-La Land finally won for real, eh?

And that's a different array than the one I saw just an hour ago, so it looks like everyone on the team is going to get his [CROSSOUT]day[/CROSSOUT] 30 minutes(?) in the sun today.

FF this morning features a complete array showing only current Dodgers. Nice touch.

Dave Roberts becomes the first Dodger manager not named Alston or Lasorda to win a WS But of course it's a tainted title this year (that's my story and I'm sticking to it)