Edgy MD

Nice thread title. Matz got in trouble to start each of the first two innings, but pitched his way out of it both times. Mets up 1-0 on hustle by Conforto.

More than a low-drafted longshot, he was an undrafted amateur free agent. Nonetheless, he was my favorite T.J. since they canceled S.W.A.T.

It's really the only choice, though hopefully a better rendering than that one. Mounting it on a real dirt mound with a giant pitching rubber would be cool.

Feel free to let me, Joseph Golia, be an avatar for the extended training staff and policies.

https://www.tradingcarddb.com/Images/Cards/Baseball/79425/79425-28Fr.jpg> https://www.tradingcarddb.com/Images/Cards/Baseball/108739/108739-24772227Fr.jpg> https://www.tradingcarddb.com/Images/Cards/Baseball/70940/70940-26Fr.jpg> https://www.tradingcarddb.com/Images/Cards/Baseball/81569/81569-27Fr.jpg> https://www.tradingcarddb.com/Images/Cards/Baseball/81568/81568-27Fr.jpg> https://www.tradingcarddb.com/Images/Cards/Baseball/81567/81567-26Fr.jpg> https://www.tradingcarddb.com/Images/Cards/Baseball/81566/81566-27Bk.jpg> https://www.tradingcarddb.com/Images/Cards/Baseball/71671/71671-28Fr.jpg> https://www.tradingcarddb.com/Images/Cards/Baseball/71670/71670-29Fr.jpg> https://www.tradingcarddb.com/Images/Cards/Baseball/72831/72831-34Fr.jpg> https://www.tradingcarddb.com/Images/Cards/Baseball/72831/72831-34Bk.jpg> https://www.tradingcarddb.com/Images/Cards/Baseball/94282/94282-9835627Fr.jpg> https://www.tradingcarddb.com/Images/Cards/Baseball/96786/96786-24712367Fr.jpg> https://www.tradingcarddb.com/Images/Cards/Baseball/153809/153809-9921049Fr.jpg> Who cares about assistant trainers? Yo mama, that's who. I'm Joseph Golia. I have the same name as a possibly corrupt judge from Queens, and I've worked my way up. Fourteen years in the system waiting for a call, after peaking with the title of "minor league medical coordinator." That's a lot of sheep to keep your eye on. While others may think Met trainers have BS'd their way into a job, I've earned mine. I'm not sure how you isolate the performance of an assistant trainer, and I AM one of 'em. We've got a head trainer, a director of performance and sports science, a team dietitian, an assistant assistant trainer, and a deep-tissue massage therapist, but I'm dugout personnel, so I'm worth a look. Waddaya see?

He was certainly the best of the lot. He never made an All-Star Game, though he was probably among the top ten pitchers in the league once or twice but didn't make an All-Star team because there were already eight Reds hitters on the team. Lost to the Mets in the post-season, too. Gary Nolan and Jack Billingham also had some brief runs of quality. But the seasons they got high win totals can largely be credited to having the Big Red Machine behind them, and Sparky replacing them with Pedro Bourbon at the first sign of trouble. None of the three of them had a career as good as, say, Ron Darling.

A mysterious woman arrives on Earth in 1994, warning of alien incursion. Nick Fury (a 25-years-younger Samuel L. Jackson) investigates her story. Action happens https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/MlUAAOSwiT1cNkdE/s-l1600.jpg>

Sparky Anderson never really had a quality starter until Seaver.

The other nicknames listed for James Francis "Pud" Galvin are "Gentle Jeems" and "The Little Steam Engine." He's listed at 5'8", but I imagine he was smaller, because he's often described in terms of his underwhelming size. He came up at 18, so maybe he was smaller then. But even in the 19th century, 5'8" is pretty small for a pitcher, especially one who threw 656 1/3 innings in a single season. That included 72 complete games!!

I speculate that Sherly was moved to the less prestigious side of the diamond to focus more on his other duties as catching instructor.

https://cdn.elitesportsny.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/GettyImages-653282814-1021x580.jpg> I'm a big shot shortstop prospect in an organization that seems to get a little log-jammed with big shot shortstop prospects. Behind me will be Mark Vientos, and debuting shortly before me was Amed Rosario, who debuted after Luis Guillorme, who debuted after Gavin Cecchini, who debuted after Wilmer Flores, who probably shouldn't have debuted at shortstop. That's part of the problem. Most prospects come from one of four positions: centerfield, shortstop, catcher, or first base. As they go through the pipeline, the bulk of the centerfielders become corner outfielders, the shortstops with the wanting arms become secondbasemen and the ones with the wanting feet become thirdbasemen. Excess catchers become firstbasemen if they can hit. Excess firstbasemen become bouncers and football coaches. But the Mets, they push us all through at shortstop, and if any of us stick — and that's no guarantee when you consider the names I just listed — we have to learn new positions at the big league level. There's also the problem of the aggressive filtering of top prospects through the pipeline, so not only have we not yet learned an alternative position, we haven't really refined our offensive game. You ever hear the guys in the booth talk about a shortstop prospect swinging at garbage sliders at eye level or curveballs a foot off the plate and below the knees, and say something stupid like, "Well, you don't want to take away his aggressiveness." You do! You do want to take away their aggressiveness! I don't care if he's a rookie. You deserve a player up there in the big leagues who plays like a big leaguer. I aims to be that guy. That's why I've established some plate discipline even at the budding and blushing age of 20. I've got a .290 career batting average and another 85 points of OBP on top of that. I've gotten very high marks for my defense, I've played a little second, and I've swiped my share of bags. I've got time, only having 37 games above St. Lucie. The Mets have stocked up on veteran infielders, so there's a good chance I'll be returning to Bingo, but I can come soon. I've got game, my game has refinements, and the Mets can be a little pushy with guys like me, even though they already have a shortstop. So what's my 2019 going to look like, Smarty Pants?

WAR stands for Wins Above Replacement. The idea is that a team with Tim Keefe wins 21 games more than the same team with (say) Chris Flexen (or the equivalent) taking his role. Anybody who reaches double digits has had an incredible season. Dwight Gooden in 1985 had what is still the most valuable season (13.3 WAR) since the world became color. And he didn't win the MVP. And he didn't even come particularly close.

That's the great Pud Galvin. I assumed that #1 must be Old Hoss Radbourn, but I assumed wrong. He's #2. The best single-season WAR total belongs to Tim Keefe. In 1883, playing for the original New York Metropolitans, he earned 21.1 WAR — 19.8 on the mound and 1.3 otherwise.

http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Drew+Gagnon+Philadelphia+Phillies+vs+New+York+8QPDgH-vSx1l.jpg> I'm 28 and on my third organization with only 12 big league innings to show for myself, but I had me a pretty solid year in Vegas last year, so rest assured that I ain't fooling around. It's pretty much brought me to camp as the #6 starting pitcher (depending on if you believe that Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman truly are done starting), and that's not a position I intend to lose. That's the catbird seat. Not Lockett or Lee or Kilome or Flexy. Me. I'm a Cal State Dirtbag, and we've sort of positioned ourselves as the Brooklyn Dodgers of the contemporary NCAA. To know us is to root for us, so I won't make you sorry rooting for me. My mother ran track for LBS a generation before me. So I'm like a Dirtbag legacy. You know what a team's big shot pitcher is known as in the NCAA? The "Friday Night Starter." That was me at State and that's going to be me in Syracuse, if only symbolically. Mentally, I'm locked in. Because being one injury among five different guys away from joining a big league rotation is pretty cool. And I'm pretty cool. But I'm not pretty clairvoyant, so if you can, please tell me how my season is going to go.

Mets All-Time Todds Hundley Zeile Pratt Frazier Haney Jackson

Looking at the thumbnail photos for all the single-season WAR leaders. All but one are in black-and-white. Most are from before the war, and by "the war," I mean "The Spanish-American War." But again, one is not. https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/screen-shot-2019-03-07-at-9.45.07-pm.png>

Gomez signing finally announced today. Rajai Davis and Gregor Blanco share a deep sigh.

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: I dunno if anyone was listening to the first radio broadcast from ST this year but SHaMsky in a guest spot went on at length as to Tom's condition. Missing anything related to the Hall of Fame is a sure sign he wasn't Terrific as I don't know if there was anyone who took more of a special pride in belonging. Hats off to the Seav TS also released a statement congratulating Johan Santana on his no-hitter, saying something like "I've never met Johan, but he seems like a fine young ..." and a bunch of folks scratched their heads and said, "Yeah you have, publicly, and more than once." I think the issues with Lyme Disease went public shortly after that, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was more happening than the family was letting on even then.

Young Tom Seaver, looking over his shoulder like a badass, wearing a batting helmet and still carrying himself like he's the man to beat, even at the plate. A sidebar box on his shoulder, but no header or footer text floating over him. Hard. To. Beat. https://i.pinimg.com/236x/e0/27/0d/e0270d6a2cd3d58796046ddfc7edf357--sports-art-sports-illustrated.jpg>

Edgy MD wrote: Piazza was a regular at Baseball Weekly. [TABLE][TR][TD]https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/9ZAAAOSwNuxXXxT8/s-l300.jpg>[/TD][TD]https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/EW0AAOSwHIlZ1Rrq/s-l300.jpg>[/TD][TD]https://i.ebayimg.com/thumbs/images/g/7HwAAOSw44BYb8yH/s-l225.jpg>[/TD][/TR][TR][TD]https://i.ebayimg.com/thumbs/images/g/c14AAOSwxN5WaEFV/s-l225.jpg>[/TD][TD]https://i.ebayimg.com/thumbs/images/g/OjUAAOSwnipWaD~X/s-l225.jpg>[/TD][TD]https://i.ebayimg.com/thumbs/images/g/pMkAAOSwW9dZxRZY/s-l225.jpg>[/TD][/TR][/TABLE] Do I guess correctly that BBWeekly, as a pulp rather than a glossy, won't be participating?

July, '76. https://d1w8cc2yygc27j.cloudfront.net/-7325257006572852611/-1643656226094574266.jpg>

It's terrible. I've seen good folks go down this road, including my dad and mother-in-law. Seeing the weight that falls on the spouses can be the hardest. But if my mind is going to fade, I'd want it to fade while I'm working a vineyard. And if I was to drift from the present and get lost in memories, I'd love to have Tom Seaver's memories to get lost in. If the Mets don't honor him with a statue, like now, the city should. It would make a reunion of surviving 69ers that much more poignant.

Piazza was a regular at Baseball Weekly. [TABLE][TR][TD]https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/9ZAAAOSwNuxXXxT8/s-l300.jpg>[/TD][TD]https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/EW0AAOSwHIlZ1Rrq/s-l300.jpg>[/TD][TD]https://i.ebayimg.com/thumbs/images/g/7HwAAOSw44BYb8yH/s-l225.jpg>[/TD][/TR][TR][TD]https://i.ebayimg.com/thumbs/images/g/c14AAOSwxN5WaEFV/s-l225.jpg>[/TD][TD]https://i.ebayimg.com/thumbs/images/g/OjUAAOSwnipWaD~X/s-l225.jpg>[/TD][TD]https://i.ebayimg.com/thumbs/images/g/pMkAAOSwW9dZxRZY/s-l225.jpg>[/TD][/TR][/TABLE]

https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/rey-todd.jpg> I'm hurt. I was hurt last year. They've already recruited a replacement for me, and he's hurt too. Plus, there's a strawberry on the side of my head. I'm Todd Frazier. It's like the old Steven Wright joke. It's not that I've lost my job. I know where it is. But when I get there, there's another guy doing it. There's a lot of history of big name dudes brought in from outside the organization, being a disappointment in year one, and then taking off in year two: Carlos Beltran, Jay Bruce, Jeromy Burnitz, and, um ... Carlos Beltran. But there's a lot of cases where the second-year bounceback was nothing but an unfulfilled wish: Mo Vaughn, Roberto Alomar, Michael Cuddyer, Jason Bay, and ... a whole bunch of other dudes. So, yeah, the second group is larger. But that's a script I've got to flip, even as the Mets have OD'd on players who play my positions, while I'm in the tub looking after my oblique. I've got to find a role to re-assert myself: third base, first base, DH, pinch-hitter, a little outfield, assistant traveling secretary. I dunno. But I'm still here. I'm on the payroll, I'm on the roster, and I've got a uniform. So there still seems to be a season ahead of me. What's it gonna look like?

Good call on d'Arnaud. Pretty much right enough about deGrom, too. It's hard to know for sure, but you were probably pretty close with Tebow.