Frayed Knot

It's so good being reminded that Syndergaard passed on the WBC, he could have gotten injured and missed time in the regular season if he had.

HahnSolo wrote: I think Miller deserves a plaque, though I'd prefer to see him up against other execs/groundbreakers rather than players. They keep rewriting the rules about how they handle the non-current ballot to the point where I can't keep track of exactly how things work anymore. One of the reasons Miller isn't in already is due to a lack of votes from HoF players who were part of the process. Many of them seemed unsure at the time about whether it was their place to be passing judgement on anyone other than former players and so failed to realize that their act of kicking the can on Miller was the equivalent of a 'No' vote and that there wasn't a backup plan to pick up their slack. I agree that he deserves recognition but, yeah, you start getting into an apples and oranges thing when it comes to deciding which previously bypassed players he should be ahead of or behind.

Who sets the market Maybe this guy [fimg=400]https://res.cloudinary.com/jerrick/image/upload/c_fit,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_auto,w_1140/dvmjxqrdu1dyqfbbrsgr[/fimg]

The agreement from the last CBA was ratified almost a year ago but, as far as FA compensation goes, this is the first winter in which the changes will be put into effect. http://www.baseballamerica.com/draft/new-cba-changes-draft/ (Dec 2016) 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.

Valadius wrote: ... and we all know Gil deserves to be in the Hall. I don't know that.

Tim Salmon was the ultimate Angel and a key piece in their lone 2002 championship - but how quickly we forget. The other Angel, who snuck onto the list with the bare minimum requirements, was reliever Scot (yes, that's how he spelled it) Shields PLAYERTEAMYEARSDEBUTJEFF BAGWELLASTROS154/8/91BERNIE WILLIAMSYANX167/7/91TIM SALMONANGELS148/21/92CHIPPER JONESBRAVES199/11/93 -- BOBBY HIGGINSON -- TIGERS114/26/95BRAD RADKETWINS124/29/95MARIANO RIVERAYANX195/23/95DEREK JETERYANX205/29/95JORGE POSADAYANX179/24/95TODD HELTONROCKIES178/2/97JASON VARITEK-- RED SOX --159/24/97SCOT SHIELDSANGELS105/26/01RYAN HOWARDPHILLIES139/1/04MATT CAINGIANTS138/29/05

Plusses: 3rd base, former #2 overall draft pick (2007), Power, just turned 29, reasonably good fielder as far as I can remember (although I could be wrong there), and is the nephew of one time NYM hitting coach Tom Robson. Negatives: Doesn't walk much so his middling career BA (.251) becomes a less than middling OBA (.305) which equals a whole lotta out making, and his power in 2017 was far beyond anything he'd shown before: 38 HRs in 555 ABs this season vs 81 combined in his previous 2,500 ABs/six seasons (approx 18 per every 555 ABs)

Trammell is the only player I'd make an argument for. I believe all the others fall short. So Miller & Trammell

Varitek was drafted by Seattle but never on the big club PLAYERTEAMYEARSDEBUTJEFF BAGWELLASTROS154/8/91BERNIE WILLIAMSYANX167/7/91148/21/92CHIPPER JONESBRAVES199/11/93BOBBY HIGGINSONTIGERS114/26/95BRAD RADKETWINS124/29/95MARIANO RIVERAYANX195/23/95DEREK JETERYANX205/29/95JORGE POSADAYANX179/24/95TODD HELTONROCKIES178/2/97JASON VARITEKRED SOX159/24/97105/26/01RYAN HOWARDPHILLIES139/1/04— MATT CAIN ---- GIANTS —138/29/05 Pedroia is quite evidently still active, even if increasingly oft-injured.

The final blank on the board I don't think anyone is getting because he manages to hit all the marks for remaining obscure despite a decade long career: - he just made it to the minimum 10 years - a pitcher but never started a single game - AL West so we rarely if ever saw him since his appearances usually came about 1AM our time (y'know, when Omar likes to fire managers) But one of the others was from the same team ('92 to '06 - so a partial overlap of careers), was a good if not great player (never an All-Star yet two Top-10 MVPs) and should be a guy you associate with one club. The other is an AL East guy often in the thick of the MFY rivalry.

Lefty Specialist wrote: And in 2002 they went out and got Moe Vaughn, ... It all crashed and burned horribly Should have gone for Curly Vaughn instead. Or even Shemp.

Edgar fits the one team requirement but, alas, he made his ML debut way back in 1987. He, along with Tom Pagnozzi ('88), Chris Hoiles ('89), the previously guessed Craig Biggio ('88), and the inspiration for this quiz Gary DiSarcina ('89), were the final players debuting in the '80s who were one-team/ten-year gents.

BOOM like that. PLAYERTEAMYEARSDEBUTJEFF BAGWELLASTROS154/8/91BERNIE WILLIAMSYANX167/7/91148/21/92CHIPPER JONESBRAVES199/11/93BOBBY HIGGINSONTIGERS114/26/95BRAD RADKETWINS124/29/95MARIANO RIVERAYANX195/23/95DEREK JETERYANX205/29/95JORGE POSADAYANX179/24/95TODD HELTONROCKIES178/2/97159/24/97105/26/01RYAN HOWARDPHILLIES139/1/04— MATT CAIN ---- GIANTS —138/29/05 Edgy +5 (Ryan Howard) +3 (Higginson) Two of the remaining three are from the same team (but not from a team already on the board).

The problem with the Coleman signing is that it was done largely as a pr move in reaction to losing Strawberry - 'Hey, let's replace a name with a name' to take away any bad pub. Well, as usual, when you do something for pr reasons you usually wind up with worse pr than you would have had you done nothing. FWIW, Jim Duquette for MLB.com looks at the 'Top-25' FAs this winter and has the Mets "interested in" 12* of them. Now whether that's based on any kind of inside information or just speculation that the Mets may be looking at these positions and therefore we'll call them interested in anyone who fill it. I'm guessing it's the latter. * Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Jay Bruce, Lorenzo Cain, Yonder Alonso, Logan Morrison, Carlos Santana, Addison Reed, Brandon Morrow, Anthony Swarzak, Eduardo Nunez, Todd Frazier,

Here's the thing about Ryan Howard: he's correct, but wasn't on the list that I cribbed this quiz from. Maybe they thought he's not really retired (he's still claiming he wants to play even after being cut by Atlanta last year when they refused to call him up even after Freeman went down with a broken hand) But, seeing as how he hasn't suited up in an ML uni since 2016, I'm counting it and will have to add him to the grid. So 'Yes', but still four answers out there. PLAYERTEAMYEARSDEBUTJEFF BAGWELLASTROS154/8/91BERNIE WILLIAMSYANX167/7/91148/21/92CHIPPER JONESBRAVES199/11/93114/26/95BRAD RADKETWINS124/29/95MARIANO RIVERAYANX195/23/95DEREK JETERYANX205/29/95JORGE POSADAYANX179/24/95TODD HELTONROCKIES178/2/97159/24/97105/26/01RYAN HOWARDPHILLIES139/1/04— MATT CAIN ---- GIANTS —138/29/05 Edgy +5

Very much so (hit .304 this year) although next season is the final year in the longterm deal he signed with the Twins to keep the local boy away from Free agency back in 2010 or '11 Not sure what the market will be for him after that, he turns 35 next April, hasn't been behind the plate since 2013, and doesn't really have 1B power.

No on Karros although that one was close (debuted in '91 but finished up with brief runs at CHC & OAK) but a very big no on Clayton who played for 11 different clubs over 17 seasons (-2)

Biggio also debuted in 1988 so missed the cutoff for this quiz. But Hahn hits on Brad Radke PLAYERTEAMYEARSDEBUTJEFF BAGWELLASTROS154/8/91BERNIE WILLIAMSYANX167/7/91148/21/92CHIPPER JONESBRAVES199/11/93114/26/95BRAD RADKETWINS124/29/95MARIANO RIVERAYANX195/23/95DEREK JETERYANX205/29/95JORGE POSADAYANX179/24/95TODD HELTONROCKIES178/2/97159/24/97105/26/01— MATT CAIN ---- GIANTS —138/29/05 Seawolf +5 GWreck +5 +3 (Williams) 41Forever +3 (for the right guy - Chipper) Hahn Solo +2 (for the right slot - Chipper) +3 (Helton) +3 (Rivera) - 1 (Anderson) +3 (Radke) CF -1 d'KONG +3

-1 point for Hahn on G. Anderson

PLAYERTEAMYEARSDEBUTJEFF BAGWELLASTROS154/8/91BERNIE WILLIAMSYANX167/7/91148/21/92CHIPPER JONESBRAVES199/11/93114/26/95124/29/95MARIANO RIVERAYANX195/23/95DEREK JETERYANX205/29/95JORGE POSADAYANX179/24/95TODD HELTONROCKIES178/2/97159/24/97105/26/01— MATT CAIN ---- GIANTS —138/29/05 Seawolf +5 GWreck +5 +3 (Williams) 41Forever +3 (for the right guy) Hahn Solo +2 (for the right slot) +3 (Helton) +3 (Rivera) d'KONG +3 ... and NOW it starts to get tougher!! Additional hint: All five remaining are AL'ers

PLAYERTEAMYEARSDEBUTJEFF BAGWELLASTROS154/8/91167/7/91148/21/92CHIPPER JONESBRAVES199/11/93114/26/95124/29/95195/23/95DEREK JETERYANX205/29/95JORGE POSADAYANX179/24/95178/2/97159/24/97105/26/01— MATT CAIN ---- GIANTS —138/29/05 Seawolf +5 GWreck +5 41Forever +3 (for the right guy) Hahn Solo +2 (for the right slot) d'KONG +3

PLAYERTEAMYEARSDEBUT154/8/91167/7/91148/21/92199/11/93114/26/95124/29/95195/23/95DEREK JETERYANX205/29/95179/24/95178/2/97159/24/97105/26/01— MATT CAIN ---- GIANTS —138/29/05 Seawolf +5

As referenced in the ‘Coaches’ thread, new bench coach Gary DiSarcina is one of 170 players in ML history who played a career of 10 or more seasons exclusively with one ML club, a list which begins with Hall of Famer Bid McPhee (Reds: 1882-1899) and ends with this year’s retirement of Matt Cain (Giants: 2005-2017). DiSarcina played 12 ML seasons, all of them with the (Anaheim/California/Los Angeles/SoCal) Angels. But can you name the remaining 12 players fitting this category who started their careers since 1990? All players must be retired so one-teamers like Ryan Zimmerman don't count, nor does David Wright even if you spend your spare time cooking up schemes where he'll retire before opening day 2018. The players are sorted from earliest debut to most recent so those and the length of career numbers are hints; not sure if they're good hints, but they're something. PLAYERTEAMYEARSDEBUT154/8/91167/7/91148/21/92199/11/93114/26/95124/29/95195/23/95205/29/95179/24/95178/2/97159/24/97105/26/01— MATT CAIN ---- GIANTS —138/29/05

Gary DiSarcina, 50 in a couple weeks, leaves his hometown team -- from Malden, Mass and later U. Mass-Amherst -- for the Mets job. Drafted in the 6th round 1988 by the Angels, DiSarcina went on to play 12 seasons of SS with the Angels making him one of 170 ML players to have playing careers of at least 10 seasons and play his entire career with one team. Ron Hodges and Ed Kranepool are the only NYMs on that list. Matt Cain retiring at the end of this year made him player #170

MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATRE 3000 (or simply MST3K to his friends)