Frayed Knot

That 15 teams per 'league' thing would be a significant obstacle to overcome, particularly so because you'd have an idle team every day exactly when you're trying to make up for lost time. The only way around it would be goofy ideas like split DH's where the home team plays one team in the day portion and a different team in the nightcap*. And you'd need to have one of those several times per week at at least one of the parks which turns traveling and scheduling into a nightmare. * A sadly underused and almost archaic term in today's era

It would be cool. But then again position players who think they can pitch includes about 90% of them. The ones who actually can includes about .09% of them.

Let's just say that there are a ton of logistical details to work out before this even has a chance at being implemented. fwiw, MLB says this is merely one of numerous ideas that they're contemplating and that it (at least at the time it was being leaked) had yet to be discussed with the players. But they gotta plan ahead for what might happen before rather than do nothing and then try and figure it out on the run later. iow, MLB is trying to be the anti-White House

Even giving weight to positional importance, Rey's 'defensive prime' was just too short to compare for overall impact. And not just that his career was a fraction to that of Keith's but even within that short-ish career he was only a top-notch glove-man for part of it. To me this question can be seen as somewhat analogous to Gooden-v-Seaver, because while one could make the argument that Seaver never had a season as stunning as DG-'85, neither did Gooden and the totality of GTS's career makes it a no-brainer for me. So, yeah, for one season I might take RO-'99 over any single KH year (talking strictly defense of course), but best NYM defender ever? ... I'm looking towards Sag Harbor (although not at the moment as far as this year is concerned).

Now if one wanted to make the case of who else never played minor league OR college ball then it would be a smaller list and you'd probably have to go back to the front half of the 20th century to find candidates. - Kaline made his ML debut in June of 1953 at 18 yrs - 188 days, or presumably just after his HS graduation (no idea if he actually graduated or not). He got only 30 PA that season so I guess he just sat around a lot as there don't seem to be any injury holes in his game log for that year. - By 1954/age-19 season he was a full-time player [535 PA] finishing 3rd in ROY [bob Grim -- P, NYY; Jim Finigan -- 3B, Philly A's] - By '55/21 he was the batting champ [Three - Fuckin' - Forty] while leading the league in hits [200] and Total Bases [321]. He finished 2nd to Yogi in the MVP vote despite out-OBP'ing him by 72 points [421 to 349] and out-WAR'ing him nearly 2-1 [8.3 - 4.5]. Mantle [9.5] out-WAR'd them both that year but finished 5th [Al Smith, Ted Williams]. - He went on the finish 3rd in the 1956 MVP and racked up nine Top-10's overall although never winning one. Not a bad resume when your career almost perfectly overlaps with the Mantle-era NYY dynasty.

Edgy MD wrote: Al Kaline never played a day in the minors. I don't know who else can make such a claim. Did Ichiro Suzuki bypass the Japanese minors? Oh there have been others. My first thought was John Olerud but since he played during the era of injury rehab assignments it would depend on how literally one wants to take 'never'. JO went straight to the majors from college and played 16 seasons before getting 10 minor league ABs (12 PA, naturally he walked twice) as he prepared to start his 17th and final season in Boston. Those PA appear to have come at the beginning of the year so either it was an injury rehab left over from the winter or an extended warmup while the BoSox sorted out a roster slot. P.S. Dave Winfield, 22 seasons ... never got a minor league dinner!

Edgy MD wrote: You never see people mount a dickmeter on their walls anymore. Once upon a time, they were everywhere. Then suddenly, they were all gone! It's this damn political correctness era we live in!!!

Although it was later in his career, Kent also pretty much admitted to not being that big a fan of baseball. To him it was just something he was good enough at and therefore a great way to make a living but the whole drama/history/devotion to the sport was lost on him. He was like the anti-ARod. Nothing wrong with that actually and it's probably a more common attitude than many fans think ... they just don't like hearing it all that much. From a player's standpoint, he also wasn't a 'one of the guys' type. He'd say that his best friend was his wife so that tends to steer you away from beers after the game with the fellas. Again, that alone doesn't make him a bad guy but probably not all that popular in the clubhouse. Shortly after his in-dugout scuffle with Bonds, Mad Dog, a long-time Giants fan, said that sources around that club told him that if the fight had been allowed to go on that most of the dugout would have been in Barry's corner ... and that's saying a lot.

=HahnSolo post_id=34571 time=1585854380 user_id=63] I would bet more HS kids will go the college route without the certainty of a signing bonus.

Willets Point wrote: Who was the enormously large bat boy? Jim

Not politics (at least not yet) but I just learned recently that Billy Bob Thorton once tried out for the Royals (born in 1955 so we're probably talking early '70s) but was released due to an injury. This surprised me mainly because I get the impression there are baseball bats built thicker than BBT. He remains a St Louis Cardinals fan to this day (from Arkansas which is big StL territory) to the point where he gets it put into TV/movie contracts that he have access to their TV games if shooting on location during the season.

I'm on board with that. And I know that their aim is to get in as much season as possible prior to getting the same amount (if not more) post-season action. But I wouldn't mind seeing it go the other way: Get more regular season in before going to an abbreviated playoff. Either go right to the LCS & WS or I wouldn't even mind going straight to the WS; scrap the divisions for this year only and then match up each league's best for a last week in October seven game special, and if you can cut out the 'travel days' so as to make it seven in a row then even better. None of that will happen because the sport wants the money and the networks are starved to get their programming back at this point. Shyeet, they were showing 15 year old basketball games and six y/o golf tourneys on network TV on a March Sunday afternoon fer crissakes.

The NCAA preemptively canceled ALL spring sports seasons right around the time the hoops tourney was nixed. HS were/are being handled on an individual/state basis but most of those seasons likely never started either.

And they won!!!! Next on MLBN: Game 6, first a 90 minute panel show about it and then they've got 5 hours blocked out to show the game itself. And, no, I don't plan on planting myself in a chair for the next 6-1/2 hours.

Not an SNY replay, but MLBN is currently in the top of the 11th inning of Game 5 - 1986 NLCS I feel good about this one.

And of course a lot of this is just the arbitrary result of falling within a specific 'decade'. - Wright is 2nd overall, but earned more than half his total CPF points prior to 2010 and was done earning any big points by 2014 - Reyes IS a Top-10 NYM overall (7th) but not a Top-10 2010's Met since he earned close to 65% of his points in 2009 or earlier - Niese is the kind of case that always stirs up debate about the CPF Rankings Project. He debuted in 2010 (aside from cuppa-coffee innings in '08-'09) so his timing was good, and then averaged nearly 30 starts/year for six straight years which means he took the mound almost exactly the same number of times this decade as did JdG (169 vs 171). Now he's not nearly as good as deGrom of course but his time still earned him five Top-10 placements in those six seasons: 8th, 10th, 3rd, 6th, 6th, 12th [vs JdG's 2nd, 1st, 4th, 1st, 1st, 1st] and those kind of points add up. The only guys with as many years in the decade but behind Niese in points are guys like Familia, Tejeda, and Lagares who, through injuries or the loss of starting jobs, have too many seasons where they snagged only back of the pack points which barely budge one's overall score. To compare, G-FaFiF's [url=http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2019/12/25/the-top-100-mets-of-the-2010s/]much more subjective list[/url] moves down the likes of longer-term workhorses in favor of guys with more 'impact' even if only during short spans such as the likes of Dickey, Cespedes, Harvey, etc.

Safeco is NOT an air-tight/air-controlled stadium. For the most part Seattle never gets cold-cold but that doesn't mean it'll be pleasant. You get a lot of damp and chilly in winter, 40s & 50s mostly and weeks without seeing the sun. This is opposed to the summer where it's damp and drizzly but the temp often rockets up into the 60s

Yeah, I'm not sure how reducing the draft fits in to all this.

So there were 143 different Mets who played during the 2010's and also placed at least once in one of our ten Top-30 lists covering the seasons from 2010 to 2019. For the #1 slot of the decade the race wasn't even close to being close. With appearances in six of the ten seasons, deGrom landed four 1st place slots, one second place finish, and one fourth, and by doing so racked up a score more than 40% higher than the next highest man. After that things proceeded at fairly close intervals all the way down the list. [table][tr][td] 1 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]JACOB deGROM[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 2 [/td][td] DAVID WRIGHT [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 3 [/td][td] DANIEL MURPHY [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 4 [/td][td] LUCAS DUDA [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 5 [/td][td] JONATHON NIESE [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 6 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]NOAH SYNDERGAARD[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 7 [/td][td] CURTIS GRANDERSON [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 8 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]MICHAEL CONFORTO[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 9 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]ZACK WHEELER[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 10 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]YOENIS CESPEDES[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 11 [/td][td] R.A. DICKEY [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 12 [/td][td] JOSE REYES [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 13 [/td][td] MATT HARVEY [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 14 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]JEURYS FAMILIA[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 15 [/td][td] ASDRUBAL CABRERA [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 16 [/td][td] WILMER FLORES [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 17 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]JUAN LAGARES[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 18 [/td][td] BARTOLO COLON [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 19 [/td][td] DILLON GEE [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 20 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]STEVEN MATZ[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 21 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]RUBEN TEJADA[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 22 [/td][td] IKE DAVIS [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 23 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]SETH LUGO[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 24 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]TRAVIS d'ARNAUD[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 25 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]JEFF McNEIL[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 26 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]BRANDON NIMMO[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 27 [/td][td] JOHAN SANTANA [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 28 [/td][td] ANGEL PAGAN [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 29 [/td][td] BOBBY PARNELL [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 30 [/td][td] CARLOS BELTRAN [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 31 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]AMED ROSARIO[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 32 [/td][td] ADDISON REED [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 33 [/td][td] JASON BAY [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 34 [/td][td] NEIL WALKER [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 35 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]ROBERT GSELLMAN[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 36 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]PETE ALONSO[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 37 [/td][td] MIKE PELFREY [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 38 [/td][td] JAY BRUCE [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 39 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]TODD FRAZIER[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 40 [/td][td] MARLON BYRD [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 41 [/td][td] FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 42 [/td][td] JOSH THOLE [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 43 [/td][td] JERRY BLEVINS [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 44 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]J. D. DAVIS[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 45 [/td][td] SCOTT HAIRSTON [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 46 [/td][td] ERIC JR. YOUNG [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 47 [/td][td] CHRIS CAPUANO [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 48 [/td][td] JUSTIN TURNER [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 49 [/td][td] HISANORI TAKAHASHI [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 50 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]WILSON RAMOS[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 51 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]JASON VARGAS[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 52 [/td][td] CARLOS TORRES [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 53 [/td][td] HANSEL ROBLES [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 54 [/td][td] KIRK NIEUWENHUIS [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 55 [/td][td] KEVIN PLAWECKI [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 56 [/td][td] JENRRY MEJIA [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 57 [/td][td] JEREMY HEFNER [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 58 [/td][td] MANNY ACOSTA [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 59 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]ROBINSON CANO[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 60 [/td][td] CHRIS YOUNG [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 61 [/td][td] T.J. RIVERA [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 62 [/td][td] LATROY HAWKINS [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 63 [/td][td] JEFF FRANCOEUR [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 64 [/td][td] JOHN BUCK [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 65 [/td][td] JON RAUCH [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 66 [/td][td] KELLY JOHNSON [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 67 [/td][td] ROD BARAJAS [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 68 [/td][td] JOSE BAUTISTA [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 69 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]DOM SMITH[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 70 [/td][td] JOSH SATIN [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 71 [/td][td] MICHAEL CUDDYER [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 72 [/td][td] PEDRO FELICIANO [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 73 [/td][td] MIKE BAXTER [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 74 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]MARCUS STROMAN[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 75 [/td][td] TIM BYRDAK [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 76 [/td][td] SCOTT RICE [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 77 [/td][td] ELMER DESSENS [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 78 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]JUSTIN WILSON[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 79 [/td][td] ANDRES TORRES [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 80 [/td][td] JOSH EDGIN [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 81 [/td][td] LUIS CASTILLO [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 82 [/td][td] VIC BLACK [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 83 [/td][td] DEVIN MESORACO [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 84 [/td][td] SEAN GILMARTIN [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 85 [/td][td] JAMES LONEY [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 86 [/td][td] JORDANY VALDESPIN [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 87 [/td][td] ANTHONY RECKER [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 88 [/td][td] JASON ISRINGHAUSEN [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 89 [/td][td] OMAR QUINTANILLA [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 90 [/td][td] JUAN URIBE [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 91 [/td][td] RONNIE CEDENO [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 92 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]RENE RIVERA[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 93 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]BRAD BRACH[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 94 [/td][td] RAFAEL MONTERO [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 95 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]JOE PANIK[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 96 [/td][td] ERIC CAMPBELL [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 97 [/td][td] CHRIS CARTER [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 98 [/td][td] DREW SMITH [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 99 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]PAUL SEWALD[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 100 [/td][td] ANDREW BROWN [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 101 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]EDWIN DIAZ[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 102 [/td][td] TYLER CLIPPARD [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 103 [/td][td] PEDRO BEATO [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 104 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]LUIS AVILAN[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 105 [/td][td] BUDDY CARLYLE [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 106 [/td][td] WILLIE HARRIS [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 107 [/td][td] SCOTT ATCHISON [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 108 [/td][td] RAMON RAMIREZ [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 109 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]LUIS GUILLORME[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 110 [/td][td] HENRY BLANCO [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 111 [/td][td] MATT den DEKKER [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 112 [/td][td] LOGAN VERRETT [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 113 [/td][td] AUSTIN JACKSON [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 114 [/td][td] NICK EVANS [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 115 [/td][td] GONZALEZ GERMEN [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 116 [/td][td] RAUL VALDES [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 117 [/td][td] CHRIS YOUNG [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 118 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]DANIEL ZAMORA[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 119 [/td][td] ERIK GOEDDEL [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 120 [/td][td] DAVID AARDSMA [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 121 [/td][td] FRANK FRANCISCO [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 122 [/td][td] CHASEN BRADFORD [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 123 [/td][td] DAISUKE MATSUZAKA [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 124 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]TYLER BASHLOR[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 125 [/td][td] RONNY PAULINO [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 126 [/td][td] ALEJANDRO DE AZA [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 127 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]WILMER FONT[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 128 [/td][td] DANA EVELAND [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 129 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]COREY OSWALT[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 130 [/td][td] JASON PRIDIE [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 131 [/td][td] NORI AOKI [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 132 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]ADEINY HECHAVARRIA[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 133 [/td][td] ALEX CORA [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 134 [/td][td] DILSON HERRERA [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 135 [/td][td] ADRIAN GONZALEZ [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 136 [/td][td] JIM HENDERSON [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 137 [/td][td] [color=#FF0000]CHRIS MAZZA[/color] [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 138 [/td][td] PAT MISCH [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 139 [/td][td] MIGUEL BATISTA [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 140 [/td][td] FERNANDO NIEVE [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 141 [/td][td] BOBBY ABREU [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 142 [/td][td] RYOTA IGARASHI [/td][/tr] [tr][td] 143 [/td][td] SHAWN MARCUM [/td][/tr][/table]

So the (somewhat) successful 2019 season includes seven players who are (at least for the moment) Top-100 Mets, plus another one who just misses. * Jacob deGrom - Now stands at the 14th best Met ever (up from 22 last year) passing two announcers and [CROSSOUT]his manager[/CROSSOUT] along the way. JdG's points this year saw him leap over Darling, Muffy, Grote McGraw, Mookie, Leiter, Keith, and Mr. Beltran * Noah Syndergaard - 40 (up from 56, but not moving up from there anytime soon) * Michael Conforto - 48 (74) * Zack Wheeler - 52 (75) * Jeurys Familia - 72 (70) he drops two slots on account of passing no one while being passed by Conforto & Wheeler * Juan Lagares - 82 (stayed right where he was) * Steven Matz - 98 (129) Seth Lugo - 103 (144) Jeff McNeil - 114 (216) - sneaking one slot ahead of Eddie Murray for best ever two-year Met Brandon Nimmo - 129 (146) Amed Rosario - 147 (248) Robert Gsellman - 160 (180) Pete Alonso - debuts at 164 making him the second highest rated one-year player (Mike Hampton @ #149) Todd Frazier - 181 (299) JD Davis - debuts at 218 Wilson Ramos - debuts at 263 Jason Vargas - 264 (458) Robinson Cano - debuts at 329 Dom Smith - didn't get any points for 2018 so he debuts on our list this year at 364 Marcus Stroman - debuts at 387 Justin Wilson - debuts at 403 Brad Brach - debuts at 449 Joe Panik - debuts at 477 Paul Sewald - 489 (526) Edwin Diaz - debuts at 502 Luis Avilan - debuts at 520 Luis Guillorme - debuts at 546 Wilmer Font - debuts at 632 Adeiny Hechavarria - debuts at 661 Chris Mazza - debuts at 681 (out of 716 ranked players)

And the final tally for the 2019 season is ... RANKPLAYER 30JACOB deGROM 29PETE ALONSO 28JEFF McNEIL 27MICHAEL CONFORTO 26ZACK WHEELER 25NOAH SYNDERGAARD 24JD DAVIS 23AMED ROSARIO 22SETH LUGO 21WILSON RAMOS 20TODD FRAZIER 19STEVEN MATZ 18JASON VARGAS 17ROBINSON CANO 16BRANDON NIMMO 15DOM SMITH 14MARCUS STROMAN 13JUSTIN WILSON 12ROBERT GSELLMAN 11BRAD BRACH 10JOE PANIK 9EDWIN DIAZ 8LUIS AVILAN 7LUIS GUILLORME 6PAUL SEWALD 5JUAN LAGARES 4WILMER FONT 3ADEINY HECHAVARRIA 2CHRIS MAZZA 1JEURYS FAMILIA

[FIMG=400]https://www.nydailynews.com/resizer/qS91FG_3yTaEE7iKP_zogrkCjQw=/fit-in/800x533/smart/filters:fill(black)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/public/TXJIKQGKYNB35HLH6MP5OX3PYQ.jpg[/FIMG]

The thought crossed my mind today that maybe Covid-19 is god's punishment for Nike swooshes on the uniforms.

Put it this way: Do you want a rebuilt Thor for a potential 2021 playoff run or would you prefer RA Dickey?

=ashie62 post_id=34056 time=1585101375 user_id=90]That Toronto Mets trade pretty much went down in flames