Frayed Knot

MFS62 wrote: ... I don't think Haywood is the player they really need. Yes he can play centerfield. So can I. But you wouldn't want to see me do it, much less pay me to do it. If they take a run at Upton, I'd be all over that. I don't think there's any basis for this. There may be better/more experienced defensive CFs in baseball than Hayward (and we may have one of them) but there aren't many and most teams would take him as their everyday CF for the next couple of years anyway. And if it's a CF you want, you'd certainly be better off with him over Upton. Argue against Hayward all you want, but I wouldn't go citing defense as the reason.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: You get that pick back when Muffy signs. We'd lose pick #24-ish and get back #40-ish in that exchange. But, in general, if you're signing Desmond (or any other QO guy) instead of Murphy then, yeah, the picks at least come close to canceling each other out. Losing Muffy and signing a non-QO guy allows us to keep our #24 and add the 40th. Signing both would mean neither pick but I can't see a scenario where that happens.

Ceetar wrote: The front office would get just as much flak for not speaking enough. Not from me they wouldn't. The one deal I can think of that happened more or less quietly was Cespedes and I think that's because it happened so quickly on the heels of the aborted Flores/Gomez fiasco, a deal that half of NYC 'knew' about before the freakin' manager did. And I'm not even talking about imposing some sort of Yanqui-style embargo where Brian Cashman denies having even heard of certain players who they've already signed and continues to do so right up until the moment the catered 'Grip-n-Grin' press conference/uniform unveiling/dog and pony show begins. But in this case (and in far too many others) NYM mgmt was apparently letting everyone know (sometimes overtly, sometimes more off the record) that they fully expected to have a deal by the end of the day to the point where Terry is being quoted as to where he'd hit in the lineup (2nd btw). And at least some of this talking was going on after Zobrist had apparently already agreed to a deal with Chicago which just makes them look more stupid in retrospect. They just need to learn to keep it in their pants a little better. Not everything you're thinking needs to be served up via media leaks or pre-completion crowing.

Wonder if this means Murphy comes back. I think it certainly means he's still an option - and a more likely one than he was a day ago. And speaking of a day ago, it appears that the Cubs had a verbal agreement w/Zobrist As Of Monday Night!! and were just waiting for medical info etc. before making an announcement. In the interim they were able to keep a lid on things (remember that the rumors didn't even mention them) while the NYM contingent were running around as if they were rounding the clubhouse turn and heading down the back stretch with a several length lead. And it's not like I'm treating this as a bait-and-switch thing, that the Mets knew all along they were never ZB's top choice but pretended to be anyway. There's simply no upside in that and despite the sizable contingent of Mets fans who seem to take pride in claiming they were lied to, I'm not going to count myself among them. But here is the lesson in the whole ultimately unsuccessful affair d'Zobriste that the NYM front office should heed: SHUT THE FUCK UP!! The upper levels of this team's mgmt has a history of talking too much before the fact and wind up looking worse in the end than they would have had they simply missed out on a player while negotiations flew more under the radar. And while some will blame a more aggressive NYC media for this, it's not like the national media had a whiff of Cubs/Zobrist either, plus the Yanx don't seem to have their every move foretold in the papers/twitter as the subsequent Starlin Castro deal showed or last year's similar Didi Gregarious move. Bottom Line = DMTL: Deal More, Talk Less

Walker's interesting in that he's a local kid up there and is HUGELY popular because of it (and because he's pretty good). Has never played SS so is not even an option there and would take a trade to get him. Will be FA after 2016 I've always liked him - at least while seeing him in small doses.

D'Backs deal away the 2015 1/1 draft pick, Dansby Swanson, PLUS OF Ender Inciarte & prospect Aaron Blair to the Braves for RHP Shelby Miller Miller went a wacky 6-17 in 2015 even with purdy dern good peripheral numbers (although much better in first half of season than in second). He had previously been dealt to the Braves for Jason Hayward. He has 3 years worth of team control left. I saw a blurb that called Swanson, a SS out of Vanderbilt, is the 4th #1 overall pick to be dealt away before ever playing for the team that picked him. Not sure who all the others are and I'm sure none have been dealt so quickly (remember the one-year rule was recently waived). I did come up with Adrian Gonzalez: 2000 #1 by Florida, traded three years later (along with two other players) to the Rangers for Ugeth Urbina Swanson, who sounds like a cast member of 'Dowton Abbey', had just 100 PAs last year in Rookie ball so he's a ways off yet even with [crossout:1h3vr085]Atlanta's[/crossout:1h3vr085] [Cobb County's by the time he gets there] history of promoting players aggressively through their minor league system.

Vince Coleman in response to post-Darryl Strawberry

Zvon wrote: Any truth to this business that the Mets offered him 4/$60 and he still went to the Cubs for 4/$56? Kinda don't care at this point. You'd have to think that Joe Maddon was a major factor in BZ's decision.

Straight-up swap: Cards deal Jon Jay to the Padres for Hugo Black OK, just looking to see if anyone was paying attention, it's actually Jay for Jedd Gyorko

The Bosox become the latest team to jump on the trend of building a multiple bullpen attack by dealing away starter Wade Miley just one year after trading for him and signing him to a three-year extension. The main bait coming back is Carson Smith, a 26 y/o side-winding righty who rung up 12 Ks and 6 Hits per/9 in his rookie year for Seattle. This gives the Sox a 1-2-3 punch of Kimbrel, Uehara, and Smith in whichever combo they like.

NYDN: A Mets official told the News Tuesday afternoon that the reported 4-year, $80 million offer for Zobrist did not come from them, and added if he does have that offer from another team, �God bless him if he does.� The $80 million offer was reported by USA Today. "We're going to 5 (years) for 100 (million)," joked another Mets official.

It's a good thing it was Dusty who said that cuz most other managers uttering the same words would no longer be a manager by the end of the day.

Bob Nightengale ?@BNightengale 16m 16 minutes ago Ben Zobrist has a four-year, $80 million offer on the table. The #Mets still considered favorites to ultimately land him. Asked someone who would know if Zobrist has four-year, $80M offer. Answer: �No way.� I tend to believe Rosenthal here over Nightingale -- or, perhaps more accurately, Rosenthal's source over Nightengale's. Zobrist may very well get four but I don't think even a younger version of himself gets $20, and I certainly would bet against him getting both.

[fimg=250:3aeu87lr]http://s6k1p2fwo5d41pace260ird5xg.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/img/webcovers/9781433683312_cvr_web.jpg[/fimg:3aeu87lr] DOUBLE PLAY: Faith and Family First

Rosenthal says it's down to Mets, Giants, & Nats* and speculates that the two NL East teams have the advantage of being closer to his Tennessee home for both the season and spring training, something that's apparently on his list of wants. Sounds like it could be who blinks on the fourth year. Wash GM Mike Rizzo tends to go all out on whoever he's after but also strikes me as the type to put his foot down and say 'three years but not a day longer' if that's how he (or his owners) truly feel. If both clubs concede the 4th year, it may come down to something simple like which org Zobrist thinks is in better shape going forward. A year ago the east choice would have been the Nats, but now they've fallen short of expectations in 3 of the last 4 seasons and are currently minus a SS plus two starting pitchers while both closer candidates are said to be on the market lest they become the target of boo-birds from opening day on. Oh yeah, and the other team reached the World Series. * of course Greinke was supposedly down to just the Dodgers & Giants before winding up in the desert, but we'll gloss over that for now

Lefty Specialist wrote: Dodjas trade for Aroldis Chapman. Kenley Jansen liable to not be happy, but that's a fearsome 8th and 9th inning combo. This not only gives LA two closers but two closers entering the walk year of their contracts where one or both will have their save totals reduced and/or negated which will in turn reduce and/or negate their bargaining power next winter. And, yeah, just save totals alone shouldn't do that to a potential FA but you know it will. Nice dilemma to toss in the lap of a rookie manager. At least it's not like end-of-game closers are known for being volatile hot-heads or anything.

To make room for David Price, the Red Sox DFA Garin Cecchini. We're gettin' the family back together. Despite being the lower draft pick (4th round 2010) Garin had been considered the better prospect coming through the minors. But he's also the older one and hasn't done well recently in either his (very) brief ML time or in his latest minor league season [.213/.286/.299 over 422 ABs at AAA Pawtucket] so the perceived futures market in Ga_in Cecchini prospects could well be in the process of reversing itself.

Oh, I thought he had injured something again.

Davidoff makes the 'Go For It!' case. Winter Meetings start today in Nashville, TN -- conveniently near Zobrist's hometown -- and he could very well make a decision by the time things break up on Thursday. Is also meeting with the Giants & Nats amongst others.

Two of the big relievers available this off-season have signed. Darren O'Day is returning to the Orioles - which is nice considering how some sources had him all but signed by the Nats. 4 years - $31 mil is the reported price and one-time Phil Ryan Madson, who revived his career this past season after three missed years, heads to Oakland. 3 yrs/$22

Not that I'm trying to critique the Darling book before I even see it, but the 'Biggest Game of My Life' subtitle reminds me that when I do a quickie review of his career I tend to see three games of his life (maybe even four if you count his famous college matchup) and that maybe a cool thing to do would have been to contrast the bunch. Oct 1, 1985 in St Louis Game 1 of a three game series where the Mets come in three games behind the Cards in the penultimate series of the season. The buzz on the street and in the papers, in that just-before all-sports talk-radio era, was that the Mets should move Gooden up and pitch him on short rest rather than "sacrifice" the game by pitching Darling against StL ace John Tudor in a series where a sweep was virtually mandatory. IIRC, even Ronnie's then-teammate and current broadcast partner revealed in his 'IF AT FIRST' book on the '85 season that that would have been his strategy as well. But Davey stuck with the rotation, backed Darling, and Ronnie responded with a 9-inning, 4-hit shutout gem. And even though he ultimately wound up with a 'ND' when Strawberry's 'off-the-clock' HR won the game in the 11th, it was certainly the game of his then 24 y/o, 3rd ML-season life. The one they're apparently focusing on - Game 7 1986 WS It's counterintuitive to say that 'Game 7 - World Series' isn't the biggest of your career. But seeing as how he didn't even last through the 4th inning it's probably the game from this list that's least about him. I see that one more as the Sid game, or about Keith's 2-RBI single, or Knight's tie-breaking HR. And then there's the one which he himself admits is the one he thinks about more than all the good ones: Game 7 NLCS 1988 6 runs allowed on 6 hits (plus an error) in just 10 batters faced in a deciding game is about as bad as it gets. Maybe his self-described 'black-out' after the game (he tells some story about forgetting to meet his family afterward or something along those lines) means he doesn't have enough memories of the day to put anything in writing.

Obviously a smaller risk with the Samardzija deal even if it does come with a considerably smaller upside. There have been high expectations for Sdzja ever since he was able to parlay his TE career at Notre Dame into a bigger than normal singing bonus for a 5th round draft pick, but he's yet to come within smelling distance of the kind of year Greinke had in 2015 and has had several of to date. Also not as big of an age gap as I would have guessed; Greinke is just 15 months older. This all leaves the obviously guess that Cueto winds up with LA lest the Dodgers be left without a chair when all the music stops.

Zvon wrote: I think the Mets have more important things to work out than this. I think this is exactly what they should be doing. Not to find positions for either of these guys instead of catching. But if either/or could be comfortable enough to just play once in a while at 1B while Duda sits vs a LHP, or for Grandy or Conforto in one of the corner OF spots, or to give David a breather at 3rd then it opens up the bench to all kinds of possibilities.

Not $33/per, $34.33 Jeff Samardzija to the Giants for 5/$90

The COKE CONCOURSE Or, if we run into a stretch where our power hitters disappear, the COKE ZERO CONCOURSE