Frayed Knot

I get that you don't like the Cabrera signing -- I wasn't crazy about it myself. But the point is that they don't see Kelly Johnson as a substitute for Cabrera because they were specifically looking for a full-time (or mostly so) shortstop, all of which means that their reply to the point you started this part of the discussion with, namely that they could have had Kelly Johnson if they didn't sign Cabrera, would be: True, but irrelevant.

Well now you're going backwards and undoing things that are already done. I was talking about why not Kelly Johnson NOW!!!! And the reasoning -- or at least their reasoning -- as to why Cabrera is that they obviously aren't too thrilled with the two SS they've got going forward - at least not as shortstops, and particularly not as both are coming off broken ankles.

And now the Dodger deal with the Japanese pitcher ^^^ is on hold. Seems like most of the deals the Dodgers have made this winter go on hold for one reason or another: Chapman, Iwakuma, Maeda In other NL West news: Denard Span to the Giants for 3 years

With the infield pretty much covered [Wright / Tejada / Flores / Cabrera / Walker / Duda - and possibly even the odd appearance from which of Plawecki/d'Arnaud isn't donning the tools that day] any bat they'd be looking for would be in the OF where Lagares is the only RH among them. Thus, even though K. Johnson can play a corner spot, I think they would been more likely to consider him there if he weren't strictly a LH hitter.

Recently, both Greg Maddux & Tony LaRussa had their HoF plaques made which showed them mostly in profile and so had no visible insignia on the cap. Others have also had the same, including Yogi.

It is surprising how close those career stats are -- although Griffey did so across 3,300+ more PAs (some five extra season's worth) and a better peak part of his career. But, yeah, Edmonds was a heckuva ballplayer even if he was also the biggest hotdog in the outfield aside from those race-running mascots in Milwaukee.

And the most overlooked aspect of Piazza's election: The HoF now has its first gay member!!!!

Piazza hit at a better rate as a Dodger [51 points of OPS] but was a Met for longer [3,941 PAs vs 3,017]. In cases like that where it's pretty much a toss-up as to what fans remember his as I think they should pretty much leave it up to the player. As I've said before, I treat this whole 'what you go in as' argument to be boring. Too many fans act as if going in as one means he's there to the exclusion of all others but that's nonsense. He's a NYM in the HoF no matter if there's an NY on his cap on the plaque, or an LA, or no insignia at all. As for the number retirement thing: it's fine with me if they do it but it's also fine if they don't.

Thought there'd be more than two, but they got the best two anyway. Bagwell (71.6%) is now close enough to where he looks likely soon; Raines (69.8) is almost sure to get enough of a final year push to get him over the top next time; and a strong first year from Trevor Hoffman (67.3).

Like his co-pick-up Uribe, he didn't have great stats as a Met (K'd in nearly 1/3 of his ABs!!) but got some big hits and some timely ones -- between the two, nearly half their hits (26 of 60) went for XBs That's nice production and certainly helped during the great Aug/Sept run, but it's not a great thing to count on repeating and his lack of SS ability didn't make him a priority in the 2016 infield nor does his LH bat make him a great bench fit.

This was unexpected as the winter began, at least according to most of the chatter. Good for the Royals though. Gordon grew up in nearby Nebraska, starred at U-Nebraska, came through the KC system including at AAA Omaha, NE, and now looks to be taking his place as a lifelong KC Royal not all that long after it was assumed that no one would want to play in KC if given the choice or that the team could afford to keep even those who wanted to stay. He'll likely never be 'the next George Brett' as he was billed at after being drafted as a 3rd baseman 2nd overall (2005), but is carving out a real nice career for himself otherwise. Is also a good lesson about not labeling highly drafted guys as a "bust" too early. Came up as a 23 y/o but really didn't hit his stride until age 27, the year which (perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not) they moved him off of 3B and further away from the George Brett comparisons.

Just turned 30 (I would have guessed older) so going to a second year shouldn't be a great risk. And, yeah, his career splits are barely splits at all as his .211/.308/.332 vs RHB barely differs from his .188/.277/.319 (v-L). He's faced RHBs nearly 2/3 of the time

After which Spike Owen and Derrick Lee follow.

I've long thought that the biggest dilemma with this project is how to rank the full-year guys vs short-termers with better stats. Cespedes was clearly the best hitter on the team but was only around for 1/3 of the season. Matz (just 35 IP) & Wright (barely 150 ABs) are in similar positions. All were better contributors than the likes of Lagares, Niese, etc. but how much weight can you put on just six starts or barely one month of ABs? and FWIW, both Duda & Murphy are ahead of Cespedes among the consensus of votes so far. I'm one of those who has him above Lucas (though not Murph) but I could possibly be talked into reshuffling things.

WAR is an estimate. No one is claiming that it's an absolute predictor or a sub for the games themselves (and if someone does then please pick up the nearest blunt object and drop it on his head). As to the notion of winning 87.3 games without Familia, remember that you're not measuring (estimating really) the team suddenly minus Jeurys, it's estimating the gap between what he gives you over and above what you'd get from a run of the mill replacement for him. Said replacement likely gives up more runs and hits - and exactly when and how those runs show up (Kase's point) will of course matter, maybe most especially with a closer. But since you can't predict when and how (maybe the replacement gives up more runs but only when we're leading by even more and so he never blows a game) you take historical standards of how many extra runs scored/prevented relate to how many extra wins over the long haul. So while WAR doesn't prove anything, it can act as a pretty good counter to a fan's dream that adding Player X "would be worth 15 wins to us next year!!!!" Cuz even if Mr. X is Babe Ruth come back to life, that's probably more than a bit of wishful thinking. And, yeah, that second half did feel like a 120 win team. But that doesn't mean that simply assembling the same crew again would mean they'd win at the same rate.

Ceetar wrote: Manziel was drafted by the Padres so no go there. Hmmm, 28th round in 2014 as a SS ... I had no idea. Did he even play baseball in college?? Anyway, the Padres would no longer hold his draft rights and I'm sure the Browns would LOVE to swap him for DePo if that what was needed to complete the hire. And, hey, he might be worth a shot. He has a good enough arm - or at least we know he can throw a good party!!! amarite folks?

Oh I realize that it's hardly a dream job among football insiders. But of course if it was it probably wouldn't be available to him, so he jumps on this opportunity hopefully with some promises of autonomy. Sherman NY Post: The Browns began pursuing [DePodesta] shortly after the Mets lost the World Series. “Cleveland and football have always held a special place in my heart,” DePodesta said in a statement issued by the team. “It was 20 years ago this month, after pursing my first love of football and looking at every possible job in the NFL, that I got the biggest break I could imagine – a job offer from the American League Champion Cleveland Indians. As excited as I was then, I am even more excited now to return to Cleveland and to try to help the Browns".

Centerfield wrote: If the Mets had done nothing but return the October team, I think we would be looking at a 100+ win juggernaut. Instead, we have a team that can win 90 games and the division, but with very little margin of error. Let's assume for the moment that Walker for Murph was essentially a neutral swap and take the pessimistic view that the additions of deAza + Cabrera add nothing that you wouldn't get from Kirk and/or Kelly Johnson; the only real loss from October '15 is Cespedes to whom you're assigning a 10+ win gap. That's not very likely under the best of circumstances.

Well, DePodesta did play college football (he isn't really built like Jonah Hill) and I suppose sports management is sports management. The fact that the Browns are such a dysfunctional outfit means there's probably nowhere to go but up.

Of course some of Pedro's opinion of Piazza was formed back in their Dodger days together so the one year of NYM stats aren't the only story. Basically he just mentioned how his FA contract w/the Mets brought him back with Piazza though he preferred pitching to Castro even while he recognized Randolph's need to get Piazza in the lineup as often as possible. In his one full year with the Mets Pedro's starts were divided almost exactly between the two catchers. There were rumors during his NYM time (mostly flogged at the time by Mad Dog, IIRC) that Piazza & Pedro's brother Ramon had clashed during their LA days and that Pedro was anti-Mike because of that. If so the book doesn't mention it.

Well, unless you're from the camp who prefers not to see a movie made from a book you really like, I think you should make time to see it regardless of whether or not you read the source material. I mean I'm sure the flick has a fraction of the details, explanations, or backstory as compared to the book, plus it certainly takes some unconventional routes towards filling in some of the details (the aforementioned 'guest stars' popping in to break down the fourth wall and speak directly to the audience), but I think it all works and works quite well quirks and all.

btw, on the question of Piazza's defense, have just been reading Pedro's recent autobio -- and while he doesn't quite trash Mike and his catching abilities (maybe being honest, maybe being polite) it's clear he didn't think much of them. The lack of throwing skills was obviously part of it but he also thought MP's long & bulky body gave away far too many pitch locations ahead of time as he was clanking around back there. He much preferred Ramon Castro while w/the NYM. [fimg=150:2fy3z9y0]https://lifetimetopps.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/pedro-book-cover.jpg[/fimg:2fy3z9y0]

Davidoff opts for the camp that tosses PED questions aside and goes all Bonds, Clemens, Bagwell & Piazza on his ballot. Also casts for Griffey, Edgar, Schilling, Mussina, Trammell, Larry Walker. "... here are my parameters regarding illegal performance-enhancing drugs: If Major League Baseball suspended a player for an on-field transgression, I consider that damaging, although not disqualifying, to his candidacy. Barring such discipline, it’s irrelevant ... [and] I’m not going to penalize Bonds for making the decisions he did — the same decisions that countless of his contemporaries made — during a time when he mostly faced no real danger of consequences. He is arguably the greatest hitter in the game’s history." Results tomorrow.

I don't even look at this as 'new' policy. Not that it was ever chiseled on a stone tablet into the forum bylaws or anything but not reprinting outside material in whole was generally considered to be the way to do things around here and I think we've just gotten lazy over the years of sticking to that habit and/or reminding others to do the same. Also, like I said earlier, I think it's boring and lazy to boot and I tend not to read those kind of posts particularly when the originator doesn't at least make an attempt at stating his purpose.

'Clever' is a good word for it. I didn't read the book in this case but, as with 'Moneyball', it's not a topic I would have thought of as something that lent itself to a movie treatment - probably even more so in this case. But it manages to translate the dense and arcane into something relatively easy to follow, and the serene Pitt, the very angry Carrell, the smarmy Gosling, and the oddest of oddballs Bale make for some great and contrasting characters.