Edgy MD

Frayed Knot wrote: Atlanta's back-pedaling as fast as they can away from those string of long-term deals they made two years ago. Upton - Gone!; Upton - Gone!; Gattis - Gone!; Kimbrel - Gone!; Johnson - Gone! Heyward � GONE!

I'm officially ready to file memories now that he's officially a member of the Chicago White Sox. Um.... Well he wore 44 and hit like Jay Bell did in the same number. Anyhow, his attempting to Sox his way back to productivity puts me in mind of the bad precedents of fellow righthand hitting left fielders Cleon Jones and George Foster, who tacked unimpressive runs of 12 and 15 games respectively with the Whiteys onto the end of their Mets tenures.

I tend to the think of the Braves and the Indians as regular trading partners.

Michael Bourne: The Bullet the Mets Never Stop Dodging.

Ruben Tejada: kiln explosion. Eric Campbell was nearby, but strangely unharmed.

You're standing by your prediction that he won't return?

Frayed Knot wrote: Not having a game tonight should qualify under the 'cruel and unusual punishment' clause. We also lost a half-game off our lead in the interim. Gained a half a game in the Wild Card race, as Chicago displaces San Francisco in slot two, if anybody cares about the fallback plan.

Logan Forsythe isn't just the handsome but ruthless industrialist from Days of Our Nights, but he's also the Rays second baseman and best hitter, leading the regulars in OPS and batting cleanup with 13 homers. It's a huge breakthrough year for the ex-Padre in a career that typically saw him put up OPS numbers 150 beans lower. He's got rusty red hair and a beard but doesn't wear it all crazy like some other infielders. His wife is babyfaced fellow Razorback Ally Atkins, who just looks like trouble. But hey! He got married and started hitting like an all-star, so ... .

So, we may have a shortstop in this system after all.

Third Jake-on-Jake matchup since July 2. It's like he only faces Jakes and Rosses.

Attacked by one. While taking this photo.

Shit. Reports that Parnell just went down. Puffer fish.

"Did Your Team Blow It at the Trade Deadline?" Neil Paine and Nate Silver at fivethirtyeight.com look closely at the math behind when a team should muscle up at the deadline, when they should sell, ultimately concluding. A team should virtually never stand pat. The Mets were a borderline better-to-sell-than-buy team. The Mets were dithery. The Mets, once deciding to buy, should have gone further, maybe buying a star second baseman as well. Now in fairness, the authors were looking at the math, more than the particulars of any team, but they are alleged baseball fans, so they shouldn't fear calculating in situational nuances, either by working them into the math, or arbitrarily noting exceptional situations. Because I kind of disagree on all parts. With regard to standing pat, what if what you have a mediocre team is primarily (or entirely!) populated by talented pre-free agency or pre-arbitration players? You may not think it's your year, and you may not want to flip some of your talent on the small chance that it can make it your year, but you may still want to keep that unit together for future seasons. Think of the 1983 Mets. And even then, you may see the Rusty Staubs that you may be able to sell of as guys you want to keep around to help shepherd your future juggernaut into maturity. With regard to borderline teams, consideration has to be given to whether a team can reasonably expect to get better. Younger teams might be expected to get better in the second half compared to older teams. Teams with high-profile players returning from injury might be expected to get better as compared to teams that have been relatively healthy. The Mets were not dithery. By all reports, even as they walked away from the Brewers, they were aggressively pursuing other deals. They walked away from Milwaukee not because their faith flagged with regard to buying, but because it flagged with regard to buying Carlos Gomez. With regard to the Mets buying a star second baseman, didn't they kind of do that by buying two halves of one in Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe? Anyhow, I think the math is an important measure, though I'm sure many teams use a similar formula and likely re-calculate from day to day throughout July. And then make a gut call anyway.

Great to have BG back by the way.

Steve Gelbs wrote: The New York Mets today announced that lefthanded pitcher Jerry Blevins will likely undergo surgery in Boston next week on the distal radius bone in his left arm. The bone was originally fractured by a line drive during a game at Citi Field on April 19. Blevins had recently resumed throwing, but on Monday evening, August 3, he slipped while stepping off a curb and re-fractured the same bone. It is unlikely that Blevins will return to play with the Mets this season.

Breaking news. Looks like the Mets will be shorthanded tomorrow: [list:17brfxbz][*:17brfxbz]Jon Niese: Lost an ear in a knife fight over a parking space. [/*:m:17brfxbz] [*:17brfxbz]Juan Uribe: swallowed a yo-yo. [/*:m:17brfxbz] [*:17brfxbz]Brandon Nimmo: Massive sunburn.[/*:m:17brfxbz][/list:u:17brfxbz]

What self-respecting hockey player would use ice as an excuse? John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Edgy MD wrote: Cuddy due back on Friday. Speculation says that Conforto goes down, but all my sense says it should be Campbell. Apart from the everybody-hates-him factor, it keeps the lefty/righty balance, and Campbell's not getting infield appearances anymore. He's limited to leftfield cameos against lefties and very limited walk-ons at first. That's pretty much what Cuddy will be looking at, no? Yeah, and I'm of the mind that Campy has finally turned a corner. More interesting will be who goes when Wright returns, assuming* everything else remains the same. I suppose they would demote Flores although it could come down to Muffy/Johnson! *-Wood, knocked Edgy MD wrote: Fell off a curb Monday night. You must have left out "Got shitfaced, then..." Or maybe "fell off a curb" is a euphamism for "bar fight?" With regard to the curb, I was going to go with something along the lines of "It's unclear whether he hit the curb going out or coming in, or if he continued to party on like a champ." Total David Wells of an injury. I'm sure TMZ will have an eyewitness account within the hour possibly with grainy cellphone video. With regard to Wright, I'm guessing there won't be more than a week or so to go before rosters expand at that point, so it's probably not a big whoop. It'll be whoever has options (Conforto!), or whoever falls off a curb between now and then (smart money? Murphy!).

Fell off a curb Monday night.

First baseman is former Dodger with the lanky, loopy swing James Loney. That middling power that always seemed to be more than it was has finally been realized. Oh, wait, check that. It's done whatever THE OPPOSITE of being realized isn't. His power has all but disappeared, leaving the Rays with a .265 / .320 / .345 // .665 line, not really what you want at first, or most anywhere. But really at first. But James is an old pro, and he grinds it out, getting the winning hit last week against Boston, but he's been sitting against lefties in recent weeks. James is married to Nadia Loney, who I'm sure is a lovely person, but glammy engagement photos tend to put me off. Coming prospect Richie Shaffer plays both corners and may be in the process of stealing the job from him outright. You'll certainly see him against lefties. He's a former first-rounder who's having a breakthrough year at AA and AAA.

Two scoreless innings yesterday from a clearly Terryfied Montero.

I was all over that and hit submit and realized I got scooped. Their number one catcher is former Mariner Ren� Rivera, and apart from having ears like a boxer, is having just about the worst hitting season of any major league regular in recent memory: .183 / .215 / .290 // .505. It is hard to hit like that into August and still call yourself a big leaguer, much less a regular. Which doesn't mean you can take him for granted. Ichiro Suzuki has been terrible this season but he's certainly hurt the Mets. You may remember Ren� from his 2009 minor league contract with the Mets. He spent the whole year in Buffalo, and hit like... somebody who spends the whole year in Buffalo, waiting for an opportunity to play for the 2009 Mets that never comes. He is nonetheless a minor cult hero among defensive metric geeks.

Johan's still pitchin', man. His agents says so, anyhows.

Cuddy due back on Friday. Speculation says that Conforto goes down, but all my sense says it should be Campbell. Apart from the everybody-hates-him factor, it keeps the lefty/righty balance, and Campbell's not getting infield appearances anymore. He's limited to leftfield cameos against lefties and very limited walk-ons at first. That's pretty much what Cuddy will be looking at, no?

I missed the Uribe homer while using the bathroom. The bathroom has been good to me this week.

RK Team R/G 1 Colorado Rockies 4.59 2 Arizona Diamondbacks 4.45 3 San Francisco Giants 4.41 4 Los Angeles Dodgers 4.13 5 Washington Nationals 4.12 6 Pittsburgh Pirates 4.11 >> Average 4.00 7 Cincinnati Reds 3.96 8 San Diego Padres 3.95 9 Milwaukee Brewers 3.927 10 St. Louis Cardinals 3.925 11 Chicago Cubs 3.87 T12 Atlanta Braves 3.69 T12 New York Mets 3.69 14 Philadelphia Phillies 3.68 15 Miami Marlins 3.55