Frayed Knot

David Wright and Zack Wheeler both threw baseballs today. That's something resembling progress I suppose.

Not to speak to the good-ness or dumpy-ness of the field at PSL in particular, but what you need to remember about these ST sites is that they spend most of their time as home stadiums for A-level Fla St Lg teams and sometimes the even lower level Gulf Coast Lg squads, so it shouldn't be surprising if/when they're not up to size and amenity standards of AAA parks. Each league has minimums for both the park size as well as the population base of the area so neither the buildings nor the towns you might visit in the Grapefruit circuit would have a shot of qualifying as host for a higher league in most cases. In the entire state of Florida only the northern cities of Jacksonville and Pensacola -- well removed from the rest of the ST sites -- have an upper level (AA) minor league team.

Edgy MD wrote: Wouldn't Levine, as president of the Yankees, presumably be making well more than a typical astronaut? Of course. The point Levine thinks he's making is that Betances having the gall to compare himself to a closer despite normally working 7th & 8th innings* is as far 'removed from reality' (to paraphrase Levine's own words) as a sports exec would be claiming that, despite outward appearances to the contrary, he is in fact an astronaut. So despite it being only mid-February, I think the contest for bad analogy of the year already has its winner. * even though just a shade under 20% of his innings pitched have come in the 9th inning and he has 22 career saves including 12 in 2016

Frayed Knot wrote: I suspect Law's #3 ranking [of Rosario] will be higher than others (I mean, it can hardly be lower) but not by all that much and at some point you're just splitting hairs when deciding who's 3rd vs who's 8th or 11th, etc. The final tally on Rosario from the four major ranking lists that I follow in addition to Law at ESPN were: 5th (MLB), 5th (Sickels), 8th (BA) & 8th (BP) So while we were wondering whether Law was overly rosy on our guy Rosy, the answer is slightly (if at all) and that if he's wrong on this guy then essentially everyone is wrong.

Edgy MD wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: ... that the player & agent were on a "half-baked" attempt to upset the 40-year history of the arbitration process ... . Upset it, Dellin! Well sure. But even short of the idea of blowing up the whole system, the Yanx here skate right past the fact that the arbitration process bears only a slight resemblance to an open market and instead head right into condemning Betances and his agent as if they're the ones playing dirty for not obeying some set of unwritten rules which dictate further limits on what the player is even permitted to ask for. Yeah, the player who wants his season (three seasons really including two where he was second on the entire team in WAR) compared to all relievers rather than just a subset of them is making a mockery of the system but not the team coming off paying their three-time All-Star minimum wage for three consecutive seasons.

Randy Levine acting like an entitled asshole - Exhibit # 4,592 After making comments about MFY reliever Dellin Betances leading up to their arbitration hearing such as his request (for $5 mil) having "no basis in reality", MFY Prez Randy Levine continued the verbal barrage after the hearing was over and appears to be turning that process from one where bad feelings sometimes linger to virtually guaranteeing that they will. And it's important to remember that this is all occurring after an arb hearing which the Yanx won! This was only the second case where they went to the arb hearing with one of their players this century and the team's attitude seems to be, "How Dare He!?!". Their basic gripe was that Betances wanted closer type money (or at least the arb-eligible version of it) even though nothing more than a lowly set-up man. His three AS appearances, ROY & CY votes, and stellar record all while leading MLB in reliever innings and appearances over the last three seasons [207 G, 247 IP, 14.3 K/9, 0.96 WHIP] apparently only get you so far if you're not working 9th innings. So Betances gets $3 mil instead of the $5 mil he was asking for and was all set to accept the decision calmly - but then Levine has to go around spiking the football in front of every single mic he can find saying, among other things, that the player & agent were on a "half-baked" attempt to upset the 40-year history of the arbitration process and that Betances comparing himself to closers was akin to Levine calling himself an astronaut, all, btw, while referring to him as 'Dylan' in interviews, a 'slip' which can't possibly be unintentional. A year ago at this time, prior to Betances being arb-eligible and therefore the team having all the power, they offered a nominal raise that's pretty standard as players gain an extra year of service time to the then two-time All-Star up to $540K. Nothing unusual about that, the Mets did similar with deGrom as they did with Wright back in his day and the Yanx with Jeter. Also not unusual is that Betances (like deGrom) opted not to sign the contract out of protest even while knowing that they could simply renew him at any number they wanted. In this case though, instead of the $540K he symbolically rejected, they renewed him at the bare ML minimum of $507,500, the same as the last guy on the bench and not even a dime's raise from his previous season. So, not surprisingly, Betances is openly pissed and is talking about innings limits and opting out of games if he feels overworked. He's still three years away from FA-gency so there's not a lot he can do about things as they stand plus, at age 29 by the time the season starts, he could already be exiting his prime if and when he does get there. All the more reason for him to threaten 'Operation Shutdown' when it suits his purpose. This is going to be a fun one to watch.

Today's guest on 'Best Shape of My Life' is our maybe future 1st sacker Dom Smith. Hey, he wasn't out of shape, round is a shape!! Anyway, this here BSoML episode involves a reported 24 pound weight loss for the now-reformed (or so he claims) self-admitted junk food junkie -- from 258 down to "in the neighborhood of" 234 since the end of last season. Still not 'slim' for a 6-footer, but a step in the right direction courtesy of a month in Michigan with Mike Barwis then two months of additional training and diet alteration back in California.

#1 = Randy Jones

Yeah the talk of the Walker extension (however tentative and exploratory) kind of surprised me, especially seeing as how there are other options at 2B. And while Cecchini is maybe not an everyday SS on an upper level team -- plus with Rosario on the brink it's tough to figure him as one on this team at all -- that doesn't mean he hasn't got an ML future in front of him in some capacity whether it's a as a part-timer, or at another IF position, or as trade bait for another team. As always, it'll all get determined by how this year goes, for Cecchini, for Walker, for the team, and at least a half-dozen other what-ifs.

Best NYM Asdrubal ever!! The team does have an option on him for 2018: $8.5 mil with a $2 mil buyout (iow, an additional $6.5 mil to keep him) one that possibly could get picked up for a variety of reasons. Rosario could stall or maybe they'd want to keep a vet SS on the roster while breaking him in; or Cabrera could switch to 2B or 3B and play alongside Rosario depending on what the needs as those spots are by '18

Those points probably would have been enough to pop him ahead of d'Arnaud on the yearly ballot, so Travis thanks your oversight too.

I probably assumed that was intentional, especially given the debate on the board over the proper credit (or not) merited by James Loney for this past season.

Max Scherzer is looking unlikely to be ready for the opening day duties that would otherwise fall logically to him on account of a lingering injury to a knuckle on his pitching hand.

The award for best injury of the spring may already have been won as Royals LH reliever Brian Flynn (of course he's left-handed) was working on the roof of his barn when he fell through it. The fall resulted in him knocking himself out temporarily, breaking a rib, and sustaining "three non-displaced fractures in his vertebrae". As a result, he'll be about eight weeks behind the rest of the children in the lessons for the spring semester.

There's been a certain percentage of Met fans who have been seeing a Wright-to-1st move as a "solution" (to something or other, I've never quite been sure what) and have been advocating for it since about his 2nd year. Now there's at least the issue that his throwing will be the last thing to come around (if it does at all) but, as already said, unless he is going to play every game and out hit Duda in the process, or a trade comes up where we ransom big Lucas for a Chris Sale-like package of prospects, even this doesn't justify the rush. "What the heck are they waiting for?" Oh I dunno, maybe a good reason!

And now that I write all that I see that the story has just changed to where the Cards ARE confirming that TJ is necessary. See you in mid-2018 Alex (if things go well). A line from the mlb.com story says "Reyes has been pitching with a compromised ligament in his right elbow since at least 2013, when he was diagnosed with an elbow strain" and that he didn't make his season debut on June 20 of that year.

Nobody from the StL side has confirmed those rumors of TJ surgery ... Yet! The official word right now is that they're waiting for the results from Tuesday's MRI. I also don't read anything about him undergoing that operation before. Hell he's still only 22 and his minor league record looks to be unbroken since being signed as an 18 y/o back in the tail end of 2012, so it he did it was as a real young'un, like 15 or 16 - although I suppose that's not unheard of these days. But even if this is still not a done deal, it's never a good sign when a pitcher is being pulled out of the first day of camp for an MRI on his moneymaker and there are certainly enough rumors flying around since yesterday TJ is inevitable. And that's especially not good when that guy is the consensus top pitching prospect in all of baseball this year (top prospect at any position acc to BP). On a semi-related note, I wish Noah Syndergaard would stop seeming so obsessed with his velocity. Both a recent SI piece and some of the quotes to the early bird reporters down in Florida over the last week or so have him dropping hints about how he's beefed up and able to throw even harder now. Ummm, not sure that should be your goal there Noah.

Ron Darling, Darryl Strawberry, Bobby & Ellis Valentine, John & Jose Valentin, Howie Rose, and Wilmer Flores all join the Mets in wishing their fans a Happy Valentine's Day.

btw, check out the prospects originally signed and/or drafted by the BoSox - 5 of the top 20, 7 of the top 31 Andrew Benintendi - #1 7th overall pick - 2015, U Arkansas Yoan Moncada - #4 Cuban FA signing ($31.5 mil/3 yrs) - dealt to CWS in Chris Sale deal Raphael Devers - #12 Int’l signing from Dom Rep ($1.5 mil) Michael Kopech - #18 1st round (33rd overall) draft pick in 2014 out of HS - dealt to White Sox in Chris Sale deal Anderson Espinoza - #20 Int’l signing from Venz ($1.8 mil) - dealt to SDP for Drew Pomeranz Manual Margot - #21 Int’l signing from Dom Rep (800K) - dealt to SD for Craig Kimbrel Jason Groome - #31 1st round (12th overall) draft pick 2016 out of HS in NJ The best way to make trading top prospects not as painful is to have plenty of them in reserve.

With all the big lists now out, here's this year's consensus top twenty via a combined mash-up of five of the major ones (MLB, ESPN, BP, BA, Sickels) #1 Andrew Benintendi - OF Boston - Highest Level Played thru 2016 = MLB Would have passed his rookie status last year if not for a late season knee injury #2 Dansby Swanson - SS Braves - MLB #3 Alex Reyes - RHP Cardinals - MLB #4 Yoan Moncada - 2B? - White Sox - MLB #5 - Amed Rosario - SS NYM - AA #6 - Gleyber Torres - SS NYY - High A Biggest prize from the Cubs in the late season Aroldis Chapman deal #7 - Austin Meadows - OF Pirates - AAA #8 - J.P. Crawford - SS Phillies - AAA #9 - Victor Robles - OF Nationals - High A #10 - Eloy Jimenez - OF Cubs - Low A #11 - Cody Bellinger - 1B Dodgers - AAA Son of short-term (1999-2002) MFY pitcher Clay #12 - Rafael Devers - 3B Red Sox - High A #13 - Lucas Giolito - RHP White Sox - MLB #14 - Tyler Glasnow - RHP Pirates - MLB #15 - Brendan Rodgers - SS Rockies - Low A #16 - Ozzie Albies - SS Braves - AAA Another Braves teenager (just turned 20) out of Curacao #17 - Nick Senzel - 3B Reds - Low A #18 - Michael Kopech - RHP White Sox - High A #19 - Willy Adames - SS Rays - AA Lotsa shortstops up high this year #20 - Anderson Espinoza - RHP Padres - Low A Gsellman = 57 Dom Smith = 70 Thomas Szapucky = 94

[fimg=300:3uwwepzc]https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/yopose3.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&strip=all[/fimg:3uwwepzc] Sandra Quesada with Yoenis on his ranch conveniently located near Port Saint Lucie Just a GF, for the moment anyway.

Edgy MD wrote: Does Baseball America consider Gsellman graduated or just not good enough? Well pretty much all these ratings sites use the standard rookie classification as their cut-off and, if you flip back to page 1 of this here thread, you'll see that BA had Gsellman as their #7 among NYM prospects. They just don't have him making their overall Top-100, nor did Mayo at MLB.com, nor did Law/ESPN. John Sickels however did (list also out today) although, at #59, he was so not quite so bullish as BP despite adding in his comments section that he believed that "what we saw late in the year was not a fluke" and that this higher than most rating here "may prove too pessimistic."

In an effort to get a jump on next year's top prospects, BA identified potential 'Breakout' stars who, while not yet on this year's Top-100, could be the ones shooting up next year's lists. They name two players per position, one each from the upper minors (High-A, AA, AAA) and from the lower minors (Low-A + Rookie/Short-season/Summer). Two Mets included in that group. [u:2mvn2ndq]First base - lower minors: Pete Alonso (Mets)[/u:2mvn2ndq] The lower minors are thin on first base prospects because typically the future first basemen of the major leagues begin their careers at other positions. Injuries slowed Alonso in college, but the Mets’ second-round pick has the combination of power and hitting ability that should lead to success at higher levels. [u:2mvn2ndq]Shortstop - lower minors: Andres Gimenez (Mets)[/u:2mvn2ndq] Our top three prospects on the 2015 international market were Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Blue Jays), Gimenez and Leody Taveras (Rangers). Guerrero and Taveras are both top 50 prospects and rank No. 1 in their organizations. Gimenez hasn’t received the same attention because he’s yet to debut in the United States, but his talent is on par with his fellow elite 2015 signings. Gimenez had a terrific Dominican Summer League season and should shoot up prospect rankings next year with an exciting blend of tools and baseball skills.

BP whips out their 2017 list, slotting Rosario at #8 and LHP Thomas Szapucki at 69th while leaving off Smith entirely. But then they really buck the trend on the previously thought of as 'low-ceiling' Robert Gsellman by tabbing him as their #17 prospect. Specifically on Gsellman: "... the stuff has jumped this year. The fastball looks plus-plus now, a sinker with hard, late movement in the mid-90s, the slider is a potential plus pitch and the curve has tightened up as he's thrown the hard slider more. That's a 70 FB / 60 SL / 55 CU from a guy that is already in the majors. The proximity, floor, and still remaining upside if the command and change find another half grade makes him one of the best pitching prospects in baseball for us." Only 3 pitchers are higher on their list (#1 Alex Reyes of StL, #10 Tyler Glasnow w/Pitt, #14 Lucas Giolito now w/the ChiSox) all of whom also pitched in MLB for short stints during 2016 so it's not like Gsellman has an experience jump on any of them and none can compete with him on the hair.

Need a breakdown of Thomas Nido's leap forward offensively last season? Sure, go ahead and give it to me If he keeps this up in AA then none of us will be heartbroken.