Edgy MD

This is so hamfisted. Is President Trump running MLB as well?

Interesting that there's no co-author listed. He had two previous books were co-written with Mike Bryan, and one that was co-written with Matt Silverman that I figured was just Matt with Keith lending his name.

PS: Anybody adopt Alonso yet? He could be a real comer in 2017.

Yeah, a Major League team could probably do worse than to take the field with the infield that Las Vegas looks to open the season with. And there's a handful of real prospects at the lower levels. Things look a lot thinner on the outfield side.

Welke doesn't seem that old. I check the record and he's 59. (OE: I see whereas he has undergone two knee replacements.) He retires as the last ump to toss a manager from a World Series game (Bobby Cox, 1996).

I sophomore-slumped last year, and while I'm cahnfident I can get my career back on track, I don't have a job anymore, and that hurts my cahnfidence. It's a chicken-and-egg type o' thing. A job could open up tomorrow, and I could seize it like I own it, or I could be on a one-way ticked to Davis Junction. Vail Valley. Those towns filled with batters who debut strong, but lose their way. What's going to become of me? [fimg=348:3i7pz6mb]http://www.reviewjournal.com/sites/default/files/field/media/web1_conforto1_6872987.jpg[/fimg:3i7pz6mb] [fimg=352:3i7pz6mb]http://cdn.fansided.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/3/files/2016/12/9302190-michael-conforto-mlb-milwaukee-brewers-new-york-mets-850x560.jpg[/fimg:3i7pz6mb] [fimg=365:3i7pz6mb]http://www.highlighthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Untitled-8.png[/fimg:3i7pz6mb] [fimg=335:3i7pz6mb]http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2622328.1462235594!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_750/521908774.jpg[/fimg:3i7pz6mb]

I'm always late to these. The good-hittin' pitcher is Livan Hernandez.

Guesswork likeliest assignments for Mets infielders. (MLB Campers in bold.) Lots of talent! New York Asdrubal Cabrera# Neil Walker# Lucas Duda* José Reyes# Wilmer Flores T.J. Rivera Las Vegas (AAA) Ty Kelly# Gavin Cecchini Matt Reynolds Amed Rosario Phillip Evans Dominic Smith* Binghamton (AA) L.J. Mazzilli Dale Burdick Luis Guillorme* Jonathan Johnson* Matt Oberste Jeff McNiel* St. Lucie (A+) David Wright (Rehab) David Thompson Vinny Siena Eudor Garcia* Milton Ramos Jhoan Urena# Dash Winningham Columbia (A) J.C. Rodriguez# Nick Sergakis Peter Alonso Anthony Dimino* Colby Woodmansee Blake Tiberi*

That'll do nicely too, I hope. Meanwhile, over at the failing New York Times, Andrew Keh has caught up with the new owner of third-division Italian soccer club, Reggiana, a foreigner named Mike Piazza. Piazza, still swinging some heavy lumber, manages to take a swing at MLS and the city of St. Louis in one punch. Noting that he had met with groups aiming for expansion franchises in Major League Soccer before buying Reggiana, he said: “I’d rather be poor in Italy than based in St. Louis. You can’t get a good meal there!”

Hope it tops the charts.

Centerfield wrote: He's also going to steal 3 bases. Don't get CRAZY, now.

Webb-related content: Director Bill Webb appears to be looking at part-time work, at best, for 2017.

Randy Tate has to be the most prolific of Mets pitchers who pitched in one season of big league ball and never appeared again, no?

Short-time infield backup and out-of-his-league girlfriender Danny Muno finds his way into the Dodger organization on a minor league contract. Dodgers have, amazingly, also signed free agent Chase Utley. Big league deal and everything. Perhaps he's only joining them for assassination purposes.

1. Harry Chiti.

Well, their two biggest seeming weaknesses anyhow. #jaysonwerth #ryanzimmerman

Ceetar wrote: [tweet]https://twitter.com/RealEly/status/834080734554030086[/tweet] This looks like a They Might Be Giants video is being shot.

I signed for four years—the only $100 million contract of the offseason. And since then, I've been working out like a monster. I'm goofy, I'm funky, but I'm scary as hell and you know it. Baseballs lay awake at night terrified that I am coming. And coming I am. But how many baseballs will have their nightmares come true this season? Because the future is an obscured country. [fimg=460:34bkj0s5]http://www.bloggingmets.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/cespedes.jpg[/fimg:34bkj0s5] [fimg=240:34bkj0s5]https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/files/2015/12/Cespedes8.jpg[/fimg:34bkj0s5] [fimg=368:34bkj0s5]https://usatftw.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/ap_mets_horsin_around_baseball_80131736.jpg?w=1000&h=600&crop=1[/fimg:34bkj0s5] [fimg=332:34bkj0s5]http://az616578.vo.msecnd.net/files/2016/01/22/6358908103573091321685674835_YC.jpg[/fimg:34bkj0s5]

It would be self-flattery even if it were true. It's more than that. It's self-delusion.

What a nightmare. Here's hoping if he can't find a home with the Cardinals, the Mets or any number of teams make a space.

Long live purple. A fitting tribute to Prince.

God, that was about as fun as a game could be without winning.

Agreed. Best I can come up with is that it'll allow them to defer some money from the 2017 obligations. If they go, say, three years for $13.5 per, it pulls $3.7 million out of their 2017 salary sheet. That's not nothing, especially for a team that has been looking for a way to shed Jay Bruce, but is it worth committing at the position for two more years? I guess that comes with the "We can always trade him" out, but that's part of the reasoning that got them in this spot.

I'm not sure, but it appears to me to be about tacking two years onto the current one.

Stories of Neil Walker talking extension get more legs every day, with independent reports at first, followed by quotes of confirmation from Walker, followed by quotes of confirmation by Sandy Alderson, saying he's talked with Walker's agents and will be talking with Walker soon. When, I ask you, does Sandy ever confirm anything in plain English like that? Yet I sit here and I have some pause. On the one hand spending good money on good players is a good thing. On the other hand, he’s coming off a career year combined with a season ending injury. That doesn’t scream “Time to invest!” On the one hand, three-year contracts cost you less in annual value than the big whoomp of a single year. On the other hand, that might have been more effective logic had they signed him to a three year deal before committing to his one-year burst of a free-agency-qualifying offer. That gives him the big leverage of negotiating with the whoomp year already guaranteed. On the one hand, he gave you more offense than you possibly expected. On the other, how much can you really expect that, and will the defense fade quickly now that he’s in his 30s and playing in the middle of the diamond? On the one hand, with a lot of question marks and transitions going on around the diamond, it’d be nice to have second base locked up for a few years. On the other hand, one place the Mets are rich in prospects seems to be in the middle of the infield. Wouldn’t it be smarter to invest that money in a spot where they are seemingly more impoverished? Well, on the one hand, he’s expressed his willingness to move, not only giving you an occasional alternative at first, but giving some serious insurance at third against David Wright not bouncing back following serious surgery. Yabbut, on the other hand, isn’t Flores long-term insurance against a fading Wright? Isn’t Cecchini? Don’t they already have Walker locked in for 2017, giving them Wright insurance for this one year, and allowing them to return to the market next off-season with a real picture of where they are with Wright, allowed to consider what they have in their in-house-options with one more year of information available to them, and allowed to consider from a free agent field that will include, among others … Neil Walker! Why commit now?