Frayed Knot

I know you've all been on the edge of your seats wondering who the Angels and Rockies were going to throw out there on Opening Day. Well wonder no more. And now that you know the identity of their top starters you can probably also cease wondering if those are the two teams likely to meet up in the World Series. TEAM STARTER vs. TEAM STARTER YANX Masahiro Tanaka RAYS Chris Archer GIANTS Madison Bumgarner D’BACKS Zack Greinke CUBS Jon Lester CARDINALS Carlos Martinez MARLINS Edinson Volquez NATIONALS Steven Strasburg BRAVES Julio Teheran METS Noah Syndergaard PIRATES Gerrit Cole RED SOX Rick Porcello ROCKIES Jon Gray BREWERS Junior Guerra BLUE JAYS Marco Estrada ORIOLES Kevin Gaussman TIGERS Justin Verlander WHITE SOX Jose Quintana ROYALS Danny Duffy TWINS Ervin Santana PHILLIES Jeremy Hellickson REDS Scott Feldman PADRES Jhoulys Chacin DODGERS Clayton Kershaw INDIANS Corey Kluber RANGERS Yu Darvish MARINERS Felix Hernandez ASTROS Dallas Keuchel ANGELS =#0000FF]Ricky Nolasco A’s Kendall Graveman

So it appears that the one final roster spot still up for grabs is Lugo vs Montero, the 'Winner' gets a spot in the NYM bullpen (at least until Familia becomes eligible again) while the looser gets to "stretch it out" in Vegas (there's a phrase with several meanings) with an eye towards being groomed for spot starting and/or injury replacement when the need arrives in Queens. In either case the NYM pen will start the year with three LHPs: Blevins, Edgin and Smoker -- not a bad thing with so many NL East games early on: Freddie, Harper, Muffy, Yelich, etc. -- to back what will be an all-RHP starting staff for at least the first month. R - Reed R - Salas R - Robles L - Blevins L - Edgin L - Smoker and the right-handed TBD

These look like paper moves made necessary because I guess they were charging admission for today's NYM vs Las Vegas Mets tilt and all these "new" guys had to be official in order to get them into the game. Racinello went 1 for 2 while batting leadoff and DH'ing. Mier was 0-1 after coming on to relieve Cabrera at SS. And Harol (where's my 'D'?) Gonzalez started and went six innings, ceding 4 runs on 9 hits to the Las Vegaterrians in a 5-4 NYM win. HRs for Bruce (playing for the NYM) and also Flores and TJ Rivera (for LV).

... at least for now anyway. Injuries and/or ebola outbreaks still could change things between now and Monday. Syndergaard - deGrom - Harvey - [u:bviqv08b]Wheeler[/u:bviqv08b] - Gsellman NS, JdG, and MH will take the Braves series in that order. Wheeler is scheduled to start the Friday game vs Miami, followed by Syndergaard's second start on Saturday, then Gsellman's debut on Sunday. Matz officially to the DL, almost certainly out until at least May. Combined sources via mlb.com http://m.mets.mlb.com/news/article/221533686/zack-wheeler-will-begin-2017-in-mets-rotation/ and Puma at the Post http://nypost.com/2017/03/30/zack-wheeler-will-open-season-in-mets-rotation/

10 = Hal Reniff

7 = Greg McMichael

Four = Familia

There's also, at least in theory, an angle that suggests that this sort of symbolic toughness actually works to make the wider problem worse. I mean, if your husband is going to lose a piece of his salary and get a black mark on his record that could turn his career in the wrong direction whether or not abuse actually has occurred, it could make the next potential victim that much more reluctant to reach out. It's tricky stuff and always has been. A victim that reaches out and gets their spouse suspended or fired (a) puts the spouse back in the home with them 24/7, ( gives the spouse motivation to be resentful, and (c) cuts themselves off from a source of income that they are depending on, perhaps for a potential escape from an unhappy marriage. It also (d) outs them as a victim and that's mortifying. It's a desperately hard call for a spouse to make, and if Familia's wife gets an unhappy outcome for making what was ultimately a courageous and proactive and preventative call, it may be harder for the next one to make, even if the situation is far more dire and chronic. That's all speculative, of course. I don't know that the league made the right or wrong call, but I agree that they may have made it for the wrong reason. There's always the NFL move: interview Ray Rice's wife with him in the room and declare that, based on that conversation, you're satisfied that whatever minor problem caused her to be dragged by her feet from the floor of a hotel elevator while unconscious is all resolved and the two game suspension more than enough. Then, after the first half of the security tape becomes public, you blackball him from the league for good.

Matz had MRI on Wednesday. Almost certainly will NOT be on the OD roster.

Odd that the Mets & Braves seem to have backloaded their ST skeds against each other, especially so when you consider that not only do they open up against each other but also meet ten times over the course of the first five weeks of the regular season.

I was thinking 20 so, yeah, reasonably good news.

All I know is that I couldn't stretch my legs into those positions and I don't have either spinal stenosis or fused discs.

A few stragglers still listed as TBD TEAM STARTER vs. TEAM STARTER YANX Masahiro Tanaka RAYS Chris Archer GIANTS Madison Bumgarner D’BACKS Zack Greinke CUBS Jon Lester CARDINALS Carlos Martinez MARLINS Edinson Volquez NATIONALS Steven Strasburg BRAVES Julio Teheran METS Noah Syndergaard PIRATES Gerrit Cole RED SOX Rick Porcello ROCKIES =#0040FF]???? BREWERS Junior Guerra BLUE JAYS Marco Estrada ORIOLES Kevin Gaussman TIGERS Justin Verlander WHITE SOX Jose Quintana ROYALS Danny Duffy TWINS Ervin Santana PHILLIES Jeremy Hellickson REDS Scott Feldman PADRES Jhoulys Chacin DODGERS Clayton Kershaw INDIANS Corey Kluber RANGERS Yu Darvish MARINERS Felix Hernandez ASTROS Dallas Keuchel ANGELS =#0000FF]???? A’s Kendall Graveman

Gets traded at some point for a guy named Taylor Corey.

Results of Lagares's MRI "better than we hoped" sez Terry (as relayed by Anthony DiComo @mlb.com) Lagares adds that he's "almost 100%" while the Mets pronounce themselves to be "a bit more optimistic" that he'll be healthy enough to make the OD roster

Mostly it's just that I haven't seen any confirmation of those guys anywhere and I didn't want to list someone's idea of projected starters as if those were a done deal. There have been lists like that floating around since mid-February but reality tends to get in the way of such stuff. Bumgarner started yesterday in what was described as his last spring tune-up so it's definitely not an injury in his case, but the article also didn't say specifically when his next one would be although it would certainly be shocking if it wasn't OD. TEAM STARTER vs. TEAM STARTER YANX Masahiro Tanaka RAYS Chris Archer GIANTS D’BACKS Zack Greinke CUBS Jon Lester CARDINALS Carlos Martinez MARLINS Edinson Volquez NATIONALS Steven Strasburg BRAVES Julio Teheran METS Noah Syndergaard PIRATES Gerrit Cole RED SOX Rick Porcello ROCKIES BREWERS Junior Guerra BLUE JAYS Marco Estrada ORIOLES Kevin Gaussman TIGERS Justin Verlander WHITE SOX Jose Quintana ROYALS Danny Duffy TWINS PHILLIES Jeremy Hellickson REDS Scott Feldman PADRES DODGERS INDIANS Corey Kluber RANGERS Yu Darvish MARINERS ASTROS Dallas Keuchel ANGELS A’s Kendall Graveman

TEAM STARTER vs. TEAM STARTER YANX Masahiro Tanaka RAYS Chris Archer GIANTS D’BACKS Zack Greinke CUBS Jon Lester CARDINALS Carlos Martinez MARLINS Edinson Volquez NATIONALS Steven Strasburg BRAVES Julio Teheran METS Noah Syndergaard PIRATES Gerrit Cole RED SOX Rick Porcello ROCKIES BREWERS Junior Guerra BLUE JAYS Marco Estrada ORIOLES TIGERS =#0040FF]Justin Verlander WHITE SOX Jose Quintana ROYALS Danny Duffy TWINS PHILLIES Jeremy Hellickson REDS Scott Feldman PADRES DODGERS INDIANS Corey Kluber RANGERS Yu Darvish MARINERS ASTROS Dallas Keuchel ANGELS A’s Kendall Graveman

I don't think I can come up with a good enough gimmick this year so will probably have to start voting under my own name.

Needless to say that critics almost universally loved this movie. Audiences were a bit more divided. I saw it in the theater shortly after it first came out. As the movie ends and it's still quiet just before everyone starts getting up and filing out, I hear a guy a few rows in back of me say to the person next to him, "I want my money back". I thought it was very well done even if it's hard to say that it's an enjoyable flick. A couple of bits of humor mixed in here and there but a bunch of real rough scenes as well. I went with 3 stars - would have gone 3-1/2 if that were an option.

It's not like we haven't been 2-hit (or worse) by Scherzer before. 4 runs on 8 hits (incl. 5 for XB) over 4.1 not good for Lugo's chances at displacing someone in the rotation.

Matz claims his elbow "felt good" after throwing today -- 55 long-tosses off flat ground. Next test will be to get back on a mound but no word yet on when that will be.

The oddity of Walker's season last year was the cratering of his usual number of doubles, from an average of just under 30/year down to [u:39znidmf]NINE[/u:39znidmf]! Some of those obviously turned into HRs [23 even in a shortened season instead of his usual ~15/yr] which is certainly a plus in our favor. But one does wonder if the HRs will seek his previous level while the other stuff doesn't make up for it.

With Harvey, deGrom, Syndergaard in front of him, and Lugo, Gsellman and Wheeler on his heels, there's simply no upside to Matz faking anything at this point. You can only pull that sort of thing off if you know the job will be held for you when you're ready to return. But that ain't the case here, even with the novelty of being the only lefty in the crew.

TEAM STARTER vs. TEAM STARTER YANX Masahiro Tanaka RAYS GIANTS D’BACKS Zack Greinke CUBS Jon Lester CARDINALS Carlos Martinez MARLINS Edinson Volquez NATIONALS Steven Strasburg BRAVES Julio Teheran METS Noah Syndergaard PIRATES Gerrit Cole RED SOX Rick Porcello ROCKIES BREWERS Junior Guerra BLUE JAYS Marco Estrada ORIOLES TIGERS Michael Fulmer WHITE SOX Jose Quintana ROYALS Danny Duffy TWINS PHILLIES Jeremy Hellickson REDS Scott Feldman PADRES DODGERS INDIANS Corey Kluber RANGERS Yu Darvish MARINERS ASTROS Dallas Keuchel ANGELS A’s Kendall Graveman

I think Duane Below would have a better shot at a ML job had it not been for that recent incident where he was apparently run over by a road paver.