Edgy MD

Speaking of bringing something else to the table, folks said goodbye recently to Rocky Bridges, an infielder of indifferent production who squeezed out an eleven-year career by always being the goofiest guy in the locker room. Rocky's final season was 1961, which means he retired with the sad final realization that he wasn't good enough for the 1962 Mets.

It is unknown as yet whether it'll be a re-boot. (My guess is no.) It is known that it won't be Andrew Garfield performing the role. Ceetar wrote: Tired of seeing the origin story. First world problems.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: You have to wonder if they could identify guys who could be successful just given the right amount of CAHNfidence and opportunity. After getting productive innings out of a retread like Byrdak and a no-tread like Rice, I think they probably have some high confidence that they're better than the mean at shaking a tree and finding the right monkey for this role.

The thing is, yeah, he's 26, but that's after spending three summers in the DSL for the Phillies, and then three years out of any pro circuit whatsoever (save for a single Venezuelan inning). He's a come-backer. A re-discovery. A lot of good and useful pitchers first sniffed the bigs at 25. Pedro F. Feliciano, for instance.

The Mets have been given a lot flack in this department, for not at least bringing in MLB-grade left-handed relief help, but Carlyle and Edgy certainly delivered when they eventually got called on 2014.

Edgin is a guy who, like Dario �lvarez, perhaps, really climbed fast once they earmarked him.

This might have been even more fun as a "Match the Lefthanded Reliever to his Lefthanded Face" thread.

Amid the devastating news that's come down in the past hour that left-handed hopeful T.J. Chism has signed with Somerset Patriots, I challenge you to pick the two guys you think will carry the most bullpen water from the left side with the 2015 Mets. [fimg=90]http://www.milb.com/images/594750/t505/180x270/594750.jpg[/fimg] [fimg=90]http://www.milb.com/images/597972/generic/180x270/597972.jpg[/fimg] [fimg=90]http://www.milb.com/images/592473/t505/180x270/592473.jpg[/fimg] [fimg=90]http://www.milb.com/images/605414/generic/180x270/605414.jpg[/fimg]

Sony and Marvel strike a deal to bring Spider-Dude into the Marvel Cinematic Uni., with a Spider-Man film produced by Kevin Feige for Sony, among other crossovers. Maybe he'll end up in Star Wars.

I'm not gonna sweat it. Here are the #15 overall picks from 1991�2000: YearDrafting TeamPlayerHiLvBonusWAR1991MILTyrone HillAA??0.01992SLNSean LoweMLB??1.71993TORChris CarpenterMLB$0.6 million34.61994CHNJayson PetersonA+$0.7 million0.01995BOSAndy YountA+$1.0 million0.01996SDNMatt HalloranAA$1.0 million0.01997CHAJason DellaeroMLB$1.1 million-0.91998PITClint JohnstonAA$1.0 million0.01999CHAJason StummAA$1.8 million0.02000PHIChase UtleyMLB$1.8 million61.5 The average number of WAR you're getting from those picks is 9.69. While that may be more than you expect out of Cuddyer over two years (it's more than I expect), that's spread out over a lot more years than two. Beyond that, if you move past the average, you're getting a median return of zero WAR. Beyond that, there are other ways to spend the bonus money that would have gone to Johnny 15.

Dario Alvarez shot through multiple levels of professional baseball in 2014, achieving a 1.32 ERA in 20 games (six starts) for Savannah before pitching 12 unblemished innings for St. Lucie and Binghamton. Knowing they would have to add him to the 40-man roster in the offseason anyhow, the Mets gave him a September call-up, his cup of coffee being almost literal, granting him 1 1/3 innings (over four games!) in which he yielded a pair of runs. Not quite how you draw it up, but reaching the bigs after starting the season in Low A is still remarkable. And yet, as writers outline the left-hand side of the bullpen as a weakness, Dario's name never seems to come up as being a potential answer in fifteen. Listen, man, striking out 114 batters and walking only 17 in 73 1/3 innings is the goods no matter where you're pitching. Kinda looks like a young Pedro Feliciano, too. With dimples. What is your Forecast of Fifteen for Dario Alvarez?

Allan Dykstra has moved on from the Mets, but not from girlfriend Veronica Renteria. No, sir, she is now Mrs. D., following a ballpark wedding. [fimg=400]https://metsinpeace.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/10830709_10100286356830483_3502722350174941647_o.jpg[/fimg]

He also played an inning at short on August 13 the year before. Dark's bench wasn't emptied that day, but maybe his backup shortstop was hurting or something. I don't know if he had any minor league experience at short. I know he played short as a schoolboy. A lot of great center fielders (Mays, Mantle, Yount... Lagares) start out there.

Charley Smith was the first Mets batter after Mays moved to short, and he grounded a single to left. I don't know if history has recorded whether a regular shortstop would have made the play, but I'm working from the assumption that Mays is breaking for Smith's hit in this shot.

Mets and Giants, in the second game of a doubleheader at Shea, go 23 innings, before the Mets fall. Galen Cisco coughs up the loss in his ninth inning of relief. Tough luck, Galen! Mostly a game known about, at least dimly, in Mets' circles. Little remarked upon is the circumstances that led to the photo below. That's Willie Mays (who went 1-10 in the game and STILL finished the day with a .364 batting average). In the top of the 10th, Matty Alou pinch-hit for Jim Ray Hart. Not wanting to send his last semi-qualified infielder into the game and use two players to replace one in a war of attrition, Alvin Dark sent Alou out to center, and brought Mays in to play shortstop, sending Jim Davenport over to third to replace Hart. Mays played the 10th to 12th, handling no chances, before Cap Peterson entered the game and Mays went back to center.

[crossout:2tqgt2ar]Use the "CROSSOUT" button.[/crossout:2tqgt2ar]

And since dozens (or more) of outlets have covered this story, and apparently 0% have seriously pursued the (very obvious) angle of investigating the practices of other teams and comparing them to those of the Mets, I'm happy to go with "just another thing to negatively write about the Mets."

With James Shields signing, the last compensation-attached free agent is off the board, which sets the final 2015 draft order. Mets pick an un-inspiring 53rd and 88th in the top 100 of the 2015 draft. The old way of making up for that would be to try and drop in the foreign market the money you would've spent in the early rounds of the draft, but spending on foreign bonuses has grown more restricted as well. The third way has seemingly been grabbing young, recently drafted talent in the dumpoffs off veteran talent (Davis, Buck, Byrd, Dickey), sometimes by sending a little unspent bonus $$ along. I guess another back door is using later rounds to grab early round talent who slipped back due to presumed college commitments, and seducing them out of school with bonuses well over slot.

Well, in fairness, that' Neil Allen's mistake, not the writer's, but the writer should've put a parenthetical. Whitey was up to his neck in building his running attack. And his position was that Neil Allen and John Stearns was the hardest battery at the time to run on. Allen had a tight little motion out of the stretch, and his curve came in hard and tightly wrapped, easier for Stearns to handle than the better to hit. His frustration with beating them confounded him and probably caused him to see them both in an outsized light. I also wonder if Whitey liked him because he was a schoolboy star in the Kansas City area when White was managing the Royals. Allen was a good pitcher. He was effective as a starter and he was effective as a reliever. In any role. Once with the Yankees, he entered the game when a starter was injured before a single out was recorded. The Yankees pen had otherwise been gassed going into the game, and Allen pitched the remaining nine innings, getting credited with the win and � amazingly � the complete game. The rules at the time allowed a reliever to earn a CG in just such a circumstance. They don't anymore, and � I don't know � maybe Allen is the last guy to ever earn one is such a manner. Anyhow, he was a good pitcher, but he never made an All Star team. Maybe with a break or two, or a single adjustment, he might've become the pitcher Whitey hoped he was getting. How ironic that, in the trade that ran Keith Hernandez out of town, Whitey ended up getting a guy with a growing addiction problem.

Danny Espinosa has decided to give up on switch hitting before the Nats give up on him.

The Padres had already declared themselves offseason winners. Let's see if one of their Western opponents goes trawling for the elusive Geefish now.

Am I misremembering, or was Whitey Herzog the de facto GM, and McDonald just his hatchet guy?

Rockford, Illinois is experimenting with changing their tagline from "The Forest City" to "The Midwest Capitol of Specious Analogies."

Nate Schierholtz to Texas. Or perhaps more likely to Round Rock, as it's a minor league deal. Man did he shovel a lot of crap for the Cubs last year. Did alright after moving to Washington, though. Got some hits down the stretch against the Mets. I'm ashamed at how much I enjoy seeing guys fail for the Cubs.

Yes and no. Some browsers won't support a Facebook URL outside of Facebook. I just stuck it in my blog's media folder.