Edgy MD

Something like what Jansen will get, minus a little for the baggage he brings, I think.

I'm OK with that. Middle feeding with guys who you give two years to, but are lucky to get one effective season out of, or none (Bastardo, Carrasco) are the deals I fear. Building bullpens from interior pieces and Hendersons and Evelands and LaTroys is fine with me. If the Valverdes and the Farnsworths don't perform, they are more easily shed. The population of journeymen relievers has a high asshole quotient (Farnsworth), but getting them on one-year deals tends to keep the noxious personality bigness at bay.

I wouldn't be surprised. That era was thick with that sort of insanity (which isn't to say that other eras weren't). Brando's most famous crapped-out scene is the great scene with Rod Steiger in the back of the car in On the Waterfront, in which Steiger gets out, and then they show an outside shot of him exiting on the wrong side, as if Charley got a second idea while opening his door, shut it, and then climbed over Terry and got out on the other side. It just strikes me now that Steiger ends the scene by giving Brando a gun and saying, "You're gonna need it," which parallels him playing Jud in Oklahoma! and menacingly telling Gordon MacRae's Curly not to gamble away his gun, because "You're gonna need it." Steiger was very concerned with people being adequately armed.

Amazin' Avenue is a little more bearish on Dunn, ranking him at #8. They cite stamina and a fastball which they say finishes flat. On the other hand, there's not much scouting you can do in 30 innings. His stock could really crash or soar this year as he moves to full season ball.

The reality is that we got a guy leading the league in RBI, and his pace slowed considerably, suggesting his contract depreciated as an asset in the interim. And, of course, the Mets traded for eight months of him, and are now shopping six months of him. That said, if the Mets have been shrewd, that certainly doesn't mean they can't get more for him than they gave up. It's certainly a challenge, but we'll see. We're talking about the defending executive of the year! (Which will change in about 10 minutes when the 2016 award goes to Theo Epstein.)

And the raising money to build a baseball field in honor of Shannon Forde. It's about that also.

I don't know who AA is bringing at #8 yet, but Baseball America has a top ten out, and they sure are bullish on Justin Dunn. 1. Amed Rosario, ss 2. Dominic Smith, 1b 3. Justin Dunn, rhp 4. Desmond Lindsay, of 5. Brandon Nimmo, of 6. Gavin Cecchini, 2b/ss 7. Robert Gsellman, rhp 8. Thomas Szapucki, lhp 9. Gabriel Ynoa, rhp 10. Tomas Nido, c The also have a lot of good things to say about Paul DePodesta and the ongoing returns from the 2011 draft. http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/new-york-mets-top-10-prospects-2017/#eQjqxsjZhelrc1EZ.99 Did you know Amed Rosario's father was a judge? I didn't!

Maybe not, but, well, it only takes one.

That's surprising. I don't think it's particularly biased to suggest that Johnson's career outshone Pinella's as both a player and a manager. Pinella had a short tenure in the GM career, but I don't recall it being particularly distinguished.

Well, they'd be limited to more or less one of them playing at a time, but sure, why not.

I think a few years ago they thoughtfully put together a panel that included Howie Rose and Gary Cohen and Marty Noble, among others. I don't know if that body has been maintained.

He's certainly not invisible. But they probably look at him more as a member of the second-base depth rather than first.

Belong or not, owners tend to get in Halls of Fame just by owning. Owning for two decades and winning a championship after buying a last place team tend to be seen as points in his ledger, whether he really led that turnaround or not. I root for his induction as a good step toward healing the cultural rifts in the entire Metsosphere. In 2016, nobody should be seriously signing up for Team Nelly vs. Team Freddy. But they do. It may not be the highest priority but the reconciliation it represents would be worth something. Surely, in some cobwebby corner of his mind, Fred must see that blessing his predecessor's legacy invites blessing on his own.

Rube.

Yeah, but announcing veteran transitions in advance is almost always a bad idea. So much un-necessary drama. Those are two big ifs that may never come to pass.

Also, if Duda isn't healthy and adequately performing, and Wright is, I expect the latter might see some time at first. Which doesn't mean the Mets won't sign a big league vet to a minor league deal and stash him Las Vegas, but I'd guess a lefty. Adam Lind? Logan Morrison?

Among NL position players, Strawberry would be 11th, and Jack Clark 15th. If you count pitchers, Straw would be 15th, and Clark 22nd. I think lack of competition among catchers is a big part of Carter's ranking. As much as he was dropping off, no catcher had sustained success during that period, and a lot weren't even playing regularly enough. Carter stayed healthy. In 1985, only five catchers qualified for the batting title. Here's how they ranked that year. RankNameTeamGPAOffDefWAR1Gary CarterMets14963327.416.36.72Mike SciosciaDodgers14152623.012.95.53Terry KennedyPadres143565-9.419.12.94Tony PenaPirates147587-16.621.72.55Jody DavisCubs142536-7.713.72.46Mark BaileyAstros11440211.4-2.02.47Ozzie VirgilPhillies1314835.40.12.28Darrell PorterCardinals842843.77.22.19Alan AshbyAstros652168.4-2.81.410Bo DiazPhillies/Reds77263-3.85.01.011Bob BrenlyGiants133505-1.6-6.90.912Bruce BochyPadres481201.3-0.20.513Darren DaultonPhillies36119-0.51.60.514Alex TreviñoGiants571790.5-3.10.415Junior OrtízPirates2376-0.91.20.3 But, hey, if it's 1985, I pick Dwight Gooden first, every time. 1985!

Well, better money than he can likely get for the third-string firstbaseman job the Mets need to fill.

#10. Wuilmer Becerra, rf: Becerra did everything you can hope for in St. Lucie in 2016, except hit for power, which he didn't do at all. This is a major step backwards. It's at least partially due to a torn labrum, so the optimist can say he proved he can still be useful while playing hurt, which is no small thing. The pessimist will say this isn't really much of a prospect. #9: Tomás Nido, c: The previously unheralded Nido had a breakout season in St. Lucie, so obviously the trick is to do it again. But the fact that he cut his strikeout rate in half suggests that it wasn't all some BABiP illusion, so there's that. Also a strong defender. Guess who #8 will be NOW!!!!

As might have been suspected, Pedro López, manager of the Binghamton Mets for the last five years, has been promoted (such as it is) to take Wally Backman's place as manager of the Las Vegas 51s. For his years of service, López will be spared the indignity of being a Rumble Pony.

Here you go. NL fWAR Leaders, 1983–1987 1) Tim Raines, MON: 32.6 2) Mike Schmidt, PHI: 31.2 3) Dale Murphy, ATL: 26.4 4) Gary Carter, MON/NYM: 25.9 5) Tony Gwynn, SDP: 25.6 6) Keith Hernandez, STL/NYM: 25.5 7) Ozzie Smith, STL 24.1 8) Ryne Sandberg, CHI: 21.6 9) Pedro Guerrero, LAD: 20.8 10) Bill Doran, HOU: 20.3 If you go league-wide, three American Leaguers finish ahead of him: Wade Boggs, Cal Ripken, and (naturally) Ricky Henderson. But that still suggests he's one of the top five players in either league, and the best in the National League, over a meaningful period of time. I could also include pitchers in there. The leading pitcher, as far as fWAR, over that period is Dwight Gooden, with 26.5

I'm not sure that top-fiveyness should be the standard. In the game? Well, I certainly have no problem making the argument that he was one of the top five players in the National League at any point between 1983 and 1987. I mean, he may have occasionally fallen to seventh during a given month in that period. But I'd bet, over those five years overall, he accumulated as many fWARs as anybody. He may well have been the second-best leadoff hitter of all time, a lofty claim to fame which is obscured by the reality that the best was virtually his exact contemporary, and didn't spend the second half of his career fighting lupus.

Yeah, Flores is the next guy into the slot, which suggests that the AAA backup doesn't necessarily have to be a righty.

Yeah, I think Sandy might look into buying his kids some new Welingtons this Christmas

The Mets say they aren't looking to add an upgrade at catcher. But maybe that was before the non-tender list revealed the availability of ... Welington Castillo. Hmmm? Not so smug and satisfied now, are you, Mets?