Frayed Knot

Centerfield wrote: but none have given any indication that they will go any further with the story ... It's really pretty surprising to me that they don't think it's an issue. Not sure it's a lack of interest so much as it is a brick wall in getting any facts. This is a private business so there's no way to know the levels of revenues, debt, expenses (beyond the 40-man roster portion of it). No way to know what SNY makes (or loses), what the team makes (or loses), or what the whole operation costs to run. P.S. SELL THE TEAM NOW!!! was still an asshole.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Centerfield wrote: I don't really know him well. Is the difference between Kipnis and Neil Walker worth giving up talent for him? Looks like Walker is a tick better offensively, but also a year or two older. I was thinking that one key difference is that Kipnis can play center field, and we've heard that the Mets need more versatility because of all the relief pitchers they plan to carry. (I hope that report is false!) I just looked it up, and in his seven-year career, Kipnis has played 11 games in the outfield, all in center field, and all in 2017. In all 11 games, he started in center, but only finished one of them. Kipnis in CF -- or in any of the OF positions for that matter -- was more a matter of necessity than anything to do with it being the best place for him. As mentioned up the thread somewhere, he got injured this year and his replacement turned into a top 3 MVP guy out of nowhere. So much of the OF experiment was just Francona trying to shoehorn him back into the lineup somehow. IOW, I wouldn't count on the OF line on his resume as being much of an asset, particularly as he ages. Good hitter though, likes to get down and dirty, very camera friendly.

Pitchers are supposed to get rotator cuff injuries, not cause them.

Chad Ochoseis wrote: - I think most runs are scored in the first inning in general, since the first inning is the one inning where the top of the order always bats. Correct, at least it was for this past year. More runs were scored in the 1st than in any other single inning*. So it's not clear if the Mets' percentage of 1st inning runs allowed is high relative to the league. Ahh but it is. NL as a whole allowed 13.12% of runs in the 1st inning as a pct of runs given up in innings 1-9 (iow, not including extras as that could vary between different teams) NYM pitchers = 15.41% of runs allowed in inning #1 * followed by the 4th, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 5th, 8th, 2nd, and then 9th in decreasing order - although the 9th is naturally last as frequently only half the inning is played and one-run strategies are often employed even when the bottom half is played

For those who agree that the team needs pitching help from outside but don't want Jake Arrieta, then who do you want? OK there's Otani who, by condition of his availability is young and cheap and (presumably) good and requires only a short-term commitment. But, if Body by Jake here doesn't fit your conditions, who are examples of one which do?

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Centerfield wrote: Which is why I think it helps to have an actual scout as part of the front office. Someone with an eye like Omar Minaya. JP Ricciardi is that guy for us. He was the old-school counterpart to DePodesta's new school. What we don't have anymore is DePo. Yeah, I don't think there's any reason to think that Sandy's crew is light on the scouting end of things. I just pulled a couple of examples out of my head to illustrate where I remembered that the clearly better long-term choice didn't necessarily look that way at the time, but every org. has multiple examples on each side of the ledger. Sandy, or his crew, made the right call on Duda vs Davis, haven't really 'whiffed' on any top draft picks (although some are still pending), and the only significant prospect they gave up recently netted them Cespedes (Steve Phillips would have dealt deGrom for a middle reliever six years ago).

Edgy MD wrote: Doesn't like to conceal his guns, either. Is reportedly an extremely disciplined fitness/nutrition freak - so he's got that going for him. Was mysteriously shaky early in 2017 and, while he'll likely never repeat his monster CY season, it was encouraging the way he bounced back in the second half of the season.

Lefty Specialist wrote: Japanese pitchers burn out early because they get overworked at a young age. They sort of do and they sort of don't. They tend to get thrown in the mix at a younger age and have heavier in-game pitch totals plus throw more between starts. But then they only pitch once a week which tends to reduce the pitches under stress totals.

[youtube:oksqd3xe]1qB6XdAkkAo[/youtube:oksqd3xe] I actually heard this song earlier today over a store's sound system.

Centerfield wrote: I don't understand. So because he's young, would he be cheap? Yes, because he doesn't have enough JPL time to be a FA so MLB int'l rules cap his earnings. In one way that's good (for MLB teams, that is, not for him) in that all teams will pay roughly the same amount. There is some wiggle room based on international bonus pool money which can be traded between clubs like with frozen orange juice concentrate futures. The Rangers apparently can sign him to the most money, slightly ahead of the Yanx, who are slightly again ahead of the pack. Don't ask me to explain it, but that's how it is. I suspect DH clubs will have an advantage as well.

Probably the toughest part of the GM's job is knowing **In Advance** which prospects to bet on and which to deal away. - I remember Yanqui fans having more faith in Gerald Williams than in Bernie Williams, but ultimately team mgmt made the right call on that one rather than acting on fan polling. - In the late '90s/early '00s Houston had the roughly the same aged/OFs Richard Hidalgo & Lance Berkman coming up through their system and the eyeball test favored Hidalgo at every turn. He ran better, he threw much better, had more raw power, and was a sculpted figure especially next to Berkman who had the build of a duffle bag. And it's not like Hidalgo's career was a flop, but he was out of the game by age 30 with 171 HRs and a career OBA of .345. But Berkman went on to last 16 seasons with more than double the HR output and a .400+ on-base Calls like those often seem obvious after the fact but rarely are at the time.

Mex17 wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: Well, several posts in this thread have talked about either dealing Smith away based on the idea that Alonso is maybe just a year away, and/or that Alsono's very presence should at least figure into the team's willingness to deal Smith. I think both of those scenarios are jumping the gun. I would be right with you on this were it not for the actual reports that I am seeing which are stating/speculating that they might be in on the likes of Morrison and Yonder Alonso (and, to a less likely extent, Hosmer and Santana). Again, I'm NOT saying you can't deal Smith, only that if you do you better have a better fall back plan than counting on the prospect who's not as good or as advanced as the one you're dealing away. If they're going to trade Smith in favor of outside help it's got to be because they want to be better for at least the near future but NOT because Peter Alsonso's existence has made him redundant.

Centerfield wrote: I don't think anyone has advocated that we be impatient with Smith. And I don't think anyone has suggested we dump him based upon his small sample struggle in 2017. Well, several posts in this thread have talked about either dealing Smith away based on the idea that Alonso is maybe just a year away, and/or that Alsono's very presence should at least figure into the team's willingness to deal Smith. I think both of those scenarios are jumping the gun. Not that any of that means you CAN'T deal him, only that you need to have a better backup plan than hoping that the next prospect will be better than the current one you've decided is expendable even though the new one has less of a pedigree, is older, and is further away from the majors now than Dom was a year ago. The Mets should feel free to sign a first baseman if it makes sense, even if it means blocking Smith for a few years, because Smith is only 22 years old. For a year or so? maybe. But signing an exclusive 1B-man to a three or more year deal with the idea of simply warehousing Dom in the minors while he ages and waits for the injury which may never occur? No.

Yeah, Peter Alonso was a 2nd round pick out of a strong college program just a year and a half ago, all of which may make him the type to move through a minor league system quickly. But that route also means he's six months older than Smith yet has just barely gotten his feet wet in AA at this point - so maybe we all need to be at least a little bit patient with Smith before we all go pulling the prospect version of declaring the grass to be greener over yonder. If and when Alonso starts to show he's a real challenge to Smith then it may force a team decision on the two as neither seems like a candidate for a different position. But we're not near that point yet.

The case for Trammell

One year, maybe a one-plus-one. Two years tops if he finds the right situation but I don't think the Mets are that situation. I'd prefer to find a RH-hitting 1B to ease in with Smith rather than Duda-redux. And, as I've said before, if you want to go the 1B FA route then go all in and deal Smith but I'd hope that would be as a result of the right guy at the right time rather than just someone who they think will be better in 2018, or because they've already decided that Smith won't make it rather than based merely on being impatient following his 150 ABs since the call-up.

The only negative in Halladay's HoF credentials is his low-ish career stats: starts (390), IP (2,749), Wins (203) Among regular ballot HoF'ers only Koufax falls short of those numbers [314 / 2,324 / 165] with Pedro kind of in the neighborhood [409 / 2,827 / 219] -- but of course those two are the poster boys for dominant peak periods. Halladay himself had a helluva prime and likely deserves to go in, but I don't see his induction as on the level of a Gehrig / Clemente / Gretzky type of no-brainer where you move up the timetable. oe: crossed w/GWreck

I doubt Duda is going to get offered anything but a one-year deal. Hitting .175 during his time with Tampa and just .188 vs LHP all season isn't likely to create a bidding war for a slow, mediocre-defensive, 32 y/o 1B-man

Most people already know how to rove, you wouldn't figure they'd need an instructor for that.

AL: C: Martin Maldonado, Angels (1st career Gold Glove) 1B: Eric Hosmer, Royals (4th) 2B: Brian Dozier, Twins (1st) 3B: Evan Longoria, Rays (3rd) SS: Andrelton Simmons, Angels (3rd) LF: Alex Gordon, Royals (5th career) CF: Byron Buxton, Twins (1st) RF: Mookie Betts, Red Sox (2nd) P: Marcus Stroman, Blue Jays (1st) NL: C: Tucker Barnhart, Reds (1st) 1B: Paul Goldschmidt, D-backs (3rd) 2B: DJ LeMahieu, Rockies (2nd) 3B: Nolan Arenado, Rockies (5th) SS: Brandon Crawford, Giants (3rd) LF: Marcell Ozuna, Marlins (1st) CF: Ender Inciarte, Braves (2nd) RF: Jason Heyward, Cubs (5th) P: Zack Greinke, D-backs (4th) Of those spots I have an opinion on, it's tough to argue with any of the selections. You know that CF in the AL is so ridiculously stacked when neither Kevin Kiermeir nor Kevin Pillar can score a win.

No, you're obviously confusing 'qualifying offer' with 'minimum sentencing'. It's an understandable error as many athletes experience both at some point during their careers.

Murphy & Mattingly are in the same boat to me: HoF careers for the front part of their careers but not so much in the back half.

Lefty Specialist wrote: How long do players have to accept or reject their QO's? 10 days

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I assume that the Mets fall into this category: All other teams will forfeit their second-highest remaining pick and will have their international bonus pool reduced by $500,000. So if, hypothetically, they were to sign two of these guys, they'd lose their second- and third-round picks and get $1 million less to spend on international bonuses? That's the way I read it, yes.

The rules in last year's CBA agreement* have tampered down the importance of this mechanism in the free agency process, but yesterday was the deadline for QOs. $17.4 million is the number for this year and a total of nine players received one from their 2017 teams. Jake Arrieta - Cubs Lorenzo Cain - Royals Alex Cobb - Rays Wade Davis - Cubs Greg Holland - Rockies Eric Hosmer - Royals Lance Lynn - Cardinals Mike Moustakas - Royals Carlos Santana - Indians Among the more significant players who did not receive offers were Zack Cozart (Reds), Andrew Cashner (Rangers), Logan Morrison (Rays) The nine offers ties a low mark in the brief history of the QO (with 2012, the first year the QO was in effect) and is less than half of the 20 QOs that were offered in 2015. Whether that's due to just the circumstances as to which players were eligible this year or is the result of a more cautious approach from clubs caused by players actually accepting offers more readily in recent years is unclear. * Draft Pick Compensation The system of draft pick compensation will change drastically. Under the previous agreement, teams signing players who had rejected qualifying offers from their previous team would forfeit their highest unprotected pick. Now, a team signing a QO free agent will be subject to the following rules: • A non-market disqualified Revenue Sharing Payee team (i.e. a team that receives revenue sharing money) will forfeit its third highest remaining selection. • A Competitive Balance Tax paying team (i.e. a team whose payroll exceeds the luxury tax threshold) will forfeit its second-highest and fifth-highest remaining picks—in addition to having its international signing bonus pool reduced by $1 million in the next full signing period. • All other teams will forfeit their second-highest remaining pick and will have their international bonus pool reduced by $500,000. Teams that lose free agents who rejected qualifying offers are subject to the following rules: • A non-market disqualified Revenue Sharing Payee team will receive a pick immediately following the first round if the player signs a contract with a total guarantee of $50 million or more. • A Competitive Balance Tax paying team will receive a pick immediately following the fourth round. • All other teams will receive a pick immediately after the Competitive Balance Round B. http://www.baseballamerica.com/draft/ne ... ges-draft/ (Dec 2016)