Edgy MD

If you're Corey Oswalt, you've appeared in 23 games over parts of the last season, with only occasional bouts of success. But you also have an almost uninterrupted record of success in the minors. if you're Corey Oswalt, you started 14 games two years ago, and the team seems not only committed to avoiding any return to that precedent, giving you only one start over the last two seasons, but has really knocked you down the depth chart — not only calling up other guys before you, but rarely calling your number when you are up. Nonetheless the team hasn't removed you from the roster and tried to slip your Oswaltian ass through waivers, so they still see some value there, if only some. This may change as the Rule V draft approaches, but the team has so many players on their roster becoming free agents, they probably won't have to clear a lot of room to add fifth-year prospects to the roster. If you're Corey Oswalt, do you have any future with this ballclub? The numbers game seems to be working against him as a Met, but he probably has a chance waiting on him somewhere. The minor league figures alone seemingly put him a lot higher on the depth chart than the organization's callup decisions seem to.

Yeah, Dream Season works. The Gamer, with a different co-writer, totally doesn't.

Just the fact that it's called The Captain puts me off my smoothie. Being the Mets captain may be a seemingly marketable part of his brand, but it's a pretty meaningless summation of his story, since his tenure as captain was almost completely defined by extended absences. That tells me it's more about brand projection than telling a story. I didn't get very far in Gary Carter's The Gamer, and I want to like Wright more than Carter, so I'm so far staying away from this one. I'll gather it up sometime, of course. I did get lucky this weekend, however, and I picked up a first edition copy of Tug McGraw and Joseph Durso's Screwball. https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/418Ytzcsp7L._SX313_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg> Then I realized on the way home that a truely complete Mets library would include the bound collections of Tug's Scroogie strips, and I got sad again. https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51TmWSfUVXL._SX302_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg> https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51SNjStxwIL.jpg>

Izzy the Jewish Poopwagon was my favorite off-brand knockoff of Herbie the Lovebug. Fun Fact: Though they were box office rivals, Izzy and Herbie were really close offscreen, even taking their families on vacation together.

Frayed Knot wrote: I like Smoltz. I mean, sure he talks a lot, but so would anyone in that slot because network bosses abhor what they consider to be dead air (aka: no one talking). Not that I agree with that philosophy -- see the hockey/Mike Emerick thread-- but at least Smoltz isn't just spewing empty calories into the mic when he's filling the space ... although, as always, your mileage may vary. This is fair.

I could be wrong, but I never got the idea that Dwight and Darryl partied together. Beyond that, I didn't think either of them had time for freakin' Bromley.

I was doing that shit before Bellinger was born.

Josh Oller, older brother of Mets prospect Adam Oller.

Noted for a ridiculous feud in the early 80's with George Steinbrenner that led to George being fined for insinuating that Cousins' integrity was compromised. Steinbrenner hadn't learned much, as this was months after Big George received a big ($50,000?) fine for ripping the work of umpires during a spring training game. A SPRING TRAINING GAME!

We know MFS hates the Dodgers. We know few people think about the Rays often enough to hate them. What do you think? [FIMG=750]https://a4.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2020%2F1018%2Fmlb_ws_preview3_1296x729.jpg[/FIMG]

=Gwreck post_id=48720 time=1603078308 user_id=56]I was surprised to see Game 1 of the 2015 NLCS so low; I recall the Mets went into that game having never beaten the Cubs before that year, and perhaps even as the underdog. By contrast, Game 4 of the NLCS that year seems very high. Yeah, it was the pennant clincher but it wasn't close and coming in 3-0 it lacked the drama of most other games.

That's an incredible likeness of Lou Brock.

MLB seemingly made only modest changes in rookie eligibility, https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-rookie-status-for-2020-amendedannounced in late September, to account for the fraction of a season they played in 2020. Usually, a player exceeds his rookie eligibility when they reach 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues; or accumulated more than 45 days of active roster time, excluding September Thissy time, the only adaptation they made was to remove the September exclusion, since (a) there was no September roster expansion period, and ( September was half the season. But this means that a player could have played in more than half his team's games, end up finishing high up in the Rookie of the Year race, and still not spent his rookie eligibility. This affects the Mets. Andres Gimenez finished with under 130 at-bats (and the measurement really should be in plate appearances), but he was with the team the whole foreshortened season, so he certainly exceeded the roster time limit. I don't know how he'll do in RoY voting, but it's his only chance. But David Peterson's usage was masterly managed, seemingly with foreknowledge of what the eligibility rules would be. With the innings limit remaining at 50, Peterson clocked 49 2/3 innings exactly. And having started the season without the team, and spent some time on the DL, I don't believe (I can't find where to confirm it), that Peterson exceeded the roster time limit. That means DP gets two really solid shots at the Rookie of the Year Award. Fortunately, for fans of the "spirit of the award," but unfortunately for fans of novelty, the league also put in a rule saying, no repeat winners, so 2020 winners would be ineligible in 2021, but Peterson could conceivably come in second in 2020, make the Topps All-Rookie Team, and still be eligible to come in first next year, and (depending how the bubble gum people handle these things) return as a two-time Topps Teamer! https://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/1.48097830.1597359608!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_1280/image.jpg>

I love putting the positions in the balloons, especially for Valdy. Also love that you used a vertical orientation for his signature shot. OE: Did you try to make the balloons proportional to relative appearances the player made at the positions? Because if so, that's pretty brilliant.

I'd work harder but I actually have an assignment today, and I don't want to hijack your initiative. Here are the two sources I used: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/cc/7a/d3/cc7ad3d3ba4e80853304bee2dc3015da.pnghttps://i.pinimg.com/originals/cc/7a/d3/cc7ad3d3ba4e80853304bee2dc3015da.png https://www.logaster.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/the-3rd-logo.pnghttps://www.logaster.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/the-3rd-logo.png And you're probably already deep in here, but here's a collection: https://www.logaster.com/blog/pepsi-logo/https://www.logaster.com/blog/pepsi-logo/

Please feel free to run with it.

You can use the two halves of Pepsi circular swoosh (in its various incarnations) as your frame. https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/matz-card.png> https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/castro-pepsi.png> Please forgive my sloppy work and lack of text, but you get the idea of what I'm getting at.

Feel free to add your own. Now I'm really missing Zvon. Had he been here, he'd have a shot of Seaver and Valdespin hanging out together in about five minutes.

Seaver Benedictions Gary Carter [FIMG=400]https://ansel.frgimages.com/new-york-mets/tom-seaver-and-gary-carter-new-york-mets-autographed-16-x-20-photograph-with-multiple-inscriptions-jsa_ss2_p-11323728+u-i4w84omken1yu5qa0chv+v-636ff565a1ca42398a71707834be5d3a.jpg?_hv=1&w=600[/FIMG] Ron Darling [FIMG=400]https://i.redd.it/6rxr928c71l51.jpg[/FIMG] John Franco [FIMG=400]https://editorial01.shutterstock.com/wm-preview-450/6272427e/52d26630/angels-mets-baseball-new-york-usa-shutterstock-editorial-6272427e.jpg[/FIMG] Tom Glavine [FIMG=400]https://s.hdnux.com/photos/01/13/73/25/19903816/3/940x0.jpg[/FIMG] Dwight Gooden [FIMG=400]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e6/72/7b/e6727b6ff589f7c8d33ba1c761596a81.jpg[/FIMG] [FIMG=400]https://i0.wp.com/thescorecrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/seaver.jpg?resize=594%2C423&ssl=1[/FIMG] Al Leiter [FIMG=400]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eg9TaK3WAAANYhA.jpg[/FIMG] [FIMG=400]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eg9TaN8WoAEpEMu.jpg[/FIMG] Johan Santana (and Darling redux) [FIMG=400]https://not.fangraphs.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2012/06/Seaver-Johan.jpg[/FIMG] [FIMG=400]https://i1.wp.com/thenyextra.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/061812mets16nm-2.jpg?resize=924%2C716&ssl=1[/FIMG] Darryl Strawberry [FIMG=400]https://i0.wp.com/www.metspolice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/20120624-145938.jpg?ssl=1[/FIMG] Craig Swan [FIMG=400]https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/tom-seaver-and-craig-swan-pitchers-for-the-new-york-yankees-are-shown-picture-id517441444[/FIMG] David Wright [FIMG=400]https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/tom-seaver-mets-obit-david-wright-all-star.jpg?quality=80&strip=all&w=1024[/FIMG]

Mariano Rivera and Johnny Damon are each Yankees for Trump.

Hey, look! Berenyi's number was originally supposed to go to his manager, hired this day in 1983! https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/johnson-31.jpg>

I had faith in a MoFo-era Internet discovery that suggested Bruce had been starring in a competitive Miami-area gay softball league. I never found evidence of a wife, and I had that filed under "true things you find on the Internet." When there was a 1986 Mets Meetup at Darryl's place, Bruce made a rare showing and was interviewed, quietly admitting that he usually avoids such outings, but it was nice to catch up with old friends. I guess I'm guilty of confirmation bias, because I interpreted that as "gay, urbane, and too sophisticated for a whole lot of hanging with conservative old ballplayers." Boy, did I misread that. Is Ed Lynch a Trumpeter as well?

It's almost a cliche that any report of bad shit happening to an athlete off the field contains the phrase "outside a strip club."

And that may well have been before he had baseball's greatest booster in Tommy Lasorda.

The truth is that many or most retrospective looks at contemporary assessments of Steve Garvey could include the sentence "What a mistake that was." He was a really interesting player, and Hernandez seems to think of him as his superior, but he totally had observers flim-flammed into thinking he was something he wasn't.