Frayed Knot

Well now it's almost 4 hours after the scheduled starting time and they're in the top of the 3rd. 1-0 Nats although with the Braves threatening.

BP sticks him at #2 in their newly released mid-season Top-50 Rankings, behind only BoSox-turned-ChiSox 2B Yoan Moncada (no 2017 draft picks or guys currently in the majors are eligible) Their take: Why He’ll Succeed -- Rosario is a plus shortstop glove with plus-plus speed, and the bat has continued to develop. He’s a potential five-tool shortstop and only slots in behind Moncada because of varying reports on the ultimate power projection. Why He Might Fail -- The Mets may never call him up? Well, they will call him up eventually, where his unusual hand path—though it’s less unorthodox than it used to be—and aggressive approach may struggle against major league stuff and sequencing. The glove and speed should keep him in the lineup regardless though. I think that's the first time I've heard his speed referred to as 'Plus-Plus' (basically scout speak for 'well above average') Boy that would be nice to have on this team.

Between the morning game on Tuesday, the Wednesday rain-out, the off-day Thursday, and then the ASB next week, we've got ourselves a bunch of NYM-free nights over a week and a half span. Personally, I've got the ten episodes of 'Game of Thrones - Season Six' on the DVR all set for reviewing between now and next Sunday's (16th) season 7 kick off. Pass the popcorn.

MFS62 wrote: I has read somewhere (forget where) that these lists are not showing the amounts for which Venezuelan players sign because they are fearful of kidnapping and ransom requests. Not showing bonus money seems to be true with some Venezuelan players but not with others so there's not a blanket prohibition. And while you can understand the caution, it doesn't seem like it would make much of a difference. Someone bent on pulling off a kidnapping isn't going to do it or not based on a specific dollar amount and even if he were he could pretty much ballpark the figure. Mauricio and Hernandez, ranked above as 3rd & 16th by BA, are listed as #10 & #18 by 'MLB Pipeline' Nice also to see that Mauricio is a "batter in both hands"

Except that, if you have a "less than athletic" 1st baseman who can none-the-less both hit and field (reports on his glove work have long been excellent) how exactly does this lack of athleticism hurt you? Is it that he can't run? Well neither do most 1st sackers, so sign me up.

Not sure how hard it's raining in DC, but given the unfavorable (for them) pitching matchup (see above) plus the fact that the fate of the game is in the hands of the home team until the game begins (at which point it transfers to the umpires) a cynical person might suspect that the Nats don't want this one to even start.

Most recent four games: deGrom: 0.84 ERA; Roark: 11.78 ERA

July 2nd is the day they shoot off the gun signaling the rush to sign this year's crop of teenage international talent. BA lists the Mets as having so far inked deals with a SS and two OFs who rate as the 3rd, 16th, and 40th best prospects available [seinfeld]although who knows how official any of these rankings really are[/seinfeld] And now seeing as how these guys are all still just 12 years old (actually 16) it'll be several years before we hear their names* again and several more after that before they start to have an idea if it was money (over $3.5 million for those top two guys alone) well spent. But at least it's good to know that they're not sitting out this process. * Ronny Mauricio; Adrian Hernandez; Stanly Consuegra -- all of the DR Int'l money is controlled these days via an overall budget cap similar to how the domestic draft is structured. Teams that go over the limit in one signing period are then limited in the next as to how much they can spend so there's no way for a handful of teams to scoop up all the top players as some thought was the case for a few years a while back. A quick look at the linked list shows the top players going to: #1 Tampa #2 & #7 Red Sox #3 Mets #4 Yanx #5 Indians #6 Mariners #8 Brewers #9 DBacks

Frayed Knot wrote: Edgy MD wrote: The Loney deal is a fait accompli. He had been released about 10 days prior by Detroit, with whom he'd been laboring in AAA. I wonder if he had a similar deal as last year, where he'd sign a minor league contract with the stipulation that he'd get a release if anybody came sniffing. And the Braves go out today and deal for Matt Adams from the Cards (for a minor league IF + cash). So Freddie came back today from his broken hand. But seeing as how Matt Adams is OPS'ing 923 as a Brave as FFF's replacement (769 over parts of 6 seasons w/StL) Freddie is returning as a 3rd baseman. That was supposedly his position in HS plus in a handful of games in the lowest minors but not since. There seems to be some question as to whether this was suggested by Freeman or by the club but I applaud their efforts to keep both bats in the lineup. The worst that can happen is that it fails and they'll be forced to make the same decision they're be facing now if they didn't want to try the switch. Braves are getting smoked 10-0 by Houston as I type, but that has little or nothing to do with Freddie's position switch as far as I know.

Centerfield wrote: You know, if Colorado falls back to the pack... That's the key here, that at least one of those three West teams had to fall back. And while I'm not saying I saw this Rox skid coming, the fact that I've barely heard of any of their pitchers made me suspect they would be the logical one to not be able to keep it up over the full season.

Standings as of June 30, [u:1ttv2e9g]1973[/u:1ttv2e9g] NYM: 32-39; last place 11 games out of 1st in the NL East Cincy Reds: 39-37; 4th place 11 games out of 1st in the West The Reds would go on to win 99 that year and we all know which teams met in the NLCS Both teams had negative run differentials as the month of June ended. Just sayin'

MFS62 wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: 4 Philly CY winners? Carlton, [crossout]Bunning[/crossout], Bedrosian and John Denny & Roy Halladay I was thinking Jim Konstanty (1950). But the reliever won the MVP, not the Cy Young award. Mainly because the CY award didn't exist until the late '50s - and even then there was only one combined for both leagues until a decade after that.

Frayed Knot wrote: 4 Philly CY winners? Carlton, [crossout]Bunning[/crossout], Bedrosian and John Denny & Roy Halladay

Or it's possible that he's playing to see if he's capable of succeeding at it.

4 Philly CY winners? Carlton, Bunning, Bedrosian and ???

seawolf17 wrote: I don't know how difficult it was to research this but I heard on WFAN yesterday that deGrom's career ERA in games that start before 5 PM is the lowest in baseball over the past 100 years. It is around 1.60. Its around 6:30 PM, too late to call MLB and have the game moved up. But for future reference ... Later Hot damn. Good catch, MFS. Career, as per b-r: Night: 20-21, 4.88 in 58 starts Day: 17-4, 1.69 in 33 starts That difference is... night and day. Gary mentions this every time deGrom starts a day game. Calls him the 'Sunshine Superman' oox_aGmoltg

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Yeah but we probably should have knocked him out in the 2nd. I have a bad feeling suddenly Yup! This is going to be a battle of the bullpens over the last 2-1/2 and that's probably the one place where the Phils match up well vs us.

That lost ball screwed up a lot. Not just the no-hitter and obviously the run, but it also cost deGrom another 8 pitches to get through the inning and prevented him from leading off the 6th with the 8 & 9 hitters instead of the top of the order.

Lefty Specialist wrote: Annoying SNY trick: that little box that shows the baserunners on the whole diamond which blocks a quarter of the screen. Please stop. Don't mind seeing it once if there's an unusual shift going on, but show it then remove it. I think they're starting to get the hang of their new toy, but in the first couple of uses they were leaving up there too long.

Nice that they finally got a run across, but this Lively guy is 50-some pitches in and has retired [u:2aw52ahw]4 of the 11 batters he's faced[/u:2aw52ahw]. With a stretch like that he should already be in the shower with at least a 5-spot attached to him.

Has anyone ever tracked the Mets record based on who the announced 'State Farm Agent of the Day' is? I certainly think that sort of information is vital to know. Maybe Elias can tell me.

Earlier in this thread we tossed around the projected windfall from a Tebow signing, well here Baseball America examines The Tebow effect Per/game Sally League attendance for the 28 road games Tebow played prior to his promotion = 5,821 Per/game attendance for the 277 Sally League games not involving Tim Tebow = 3,230 Put another way, basically one in four people who walked through the gate for a Sally League game this year through his promotion on June 25 did so to watch a game involving Tim Tebow

I'd be unhappy too if my "situation" involved getting blown out 9 times in 13 outings. He signed there because they'd promise him starts for his attempt at the all-time Dominican wins record while he knew he'd be no better than 7th on the starter depth chart had he stayed here. Of course no one knew at the time that our starter depth chart, like Nigel's amp, would go to eleven, buuuuuuut shit happens. btw, his final four starts for Atlanta: 30 runs (23 Earned) on 32 hits, 9 walks & 9 Ks in a total of 15 innings

For the moment that kid is in a Moonlight Graham type of situation, he gets credit for appearing in a game but never got to bat. The injury occurred in the bottom of the 1st and he was due to lead off in top 2. Now he's supposedly a decent prospect so you figure he'll get another chance down the road (though almost certainly not this year) but of course nothing is guaranteed. The Yanx also changed their minds on Chris Carter and have re-picked him up just days after releasing him.

So if there's one thing good about this season going forward it's that we still have 13 games vs Philly We took 4 of 6 from them in the opening weeks of the season but now haven't seen them since mid-April. So what they been up to since we last crossed paths? Basically losing. After a surprisingly "good" 11-12 April they've gone 15-39 since and they had to sweep a two-game series in Seattle on Tues & Wed this week just to get the record to look that good. Injuries: 2B Cesar Hernandez went down so they pulled LF Howie Kendrick in to play 2B but now he's going to be DL'd On the pitching side, Vince Velasquez, Jerad Eickhoff, Casey Fein, Clay Buchholz will be MIA for this series The usual cast of characters: C -- Cameron Rupp (75 OPS+) and rookie Andrew Knapp (93) pretty much alternate behind the plate as apparently the team has a minimum 'P' requirement to play back there 1B - 2nd year man Tommy Joseph (99) 2B -- currently a combo of vet Andres Blanco (35) and ex-NYM Ty Kelly (56) in the absence of both Hernandez & Kendrick. Obviously neither one is hitting SS -- Freddie Galvis (87) has started every single game this season, just not all that impressively 3B - Maikel Franco (73) is not quite turning into the star projected for him LF - ex Red Sox Daniel Nava (112) is currently replacing Kendrick along with recent call-up Cameron Perkins because apparently they decided you can't have too many Camerons on your squad CF - Odubel Herrera (81) is probably one of those guys who's convinced that his stalling tactics at the plate are a key ingredient to making him successful. The facts suggest otherwise. RF -- the German born Aaron Altherr is the only regular keeping his OPS+ (130) in triple digits this season which, by definition, makes him the tallest midget in this year's Philly circus Pitching Matchups: Friday 7:10 deGrom vs Ben (not to be confused with Blake) Lively This will be the rookie Lively's 5th ML start [1-2; 5.90] Saturday 4:10 -- Wheeler vs Jeremy Hellickson We somehow managed to miss Hellickson in both early series. He ended April 4-0, 1.90 in five starts ... so the fact that he's now 5-5, 4.40 tells you about how his recent outings have gone Sunday 1:10 -- Montero vs Nick Pivetta Pivetta is another rookie, one they snagged from Washington in the Papelbon deal two years ago. This will be his 10th ML start [1-4; 5.40]