Edgy MD

Especially for Jesus.

=MFS62 post_id=181396 time=1734641413 user_id=60] Even if you count him, that's 2 or 3 in the last 10-12 years.

I'm still curious about Brooks Raley. What am I forgetting about him?

Somehow, every time I open this thread, Lindor's arms get more jacked.

Edgy MD wrote: I imagine that was said a lot last year also, however. Don't imagine. I think I said it in the season prediction thread, and it worked out just fine. So, I'll say it again and gladly be proven wrong. I agree about your short term/ long term statement, as long as the long term solutions can be found. But they haven't been too good at developing #1 or #2 starting pitching lately, other than Peterson. Later I'm not sure how many starting pitchers anyone can expect to have breakthrough years in a single season. One works fine where I'm concerned.

I imagine that was said a lot last year also, however. But short-term solutions allow for long-term ones to emerge.

"Watchable! Quirky! Engaging!" — Ms. Edgy

... unless you mean it in a good way. Thirty-year-old lefty Brandon Waddell joins the Mets on a minor-league deal. Eleven games as a big leaguer in 2021 and the mystical season of 2020. Mostly a reliever stateside but has spent the last three years starting in the KBO and CPBL. While playing ACC ball back in the Obama era, he completed his UVA degree in three years. #respect [FIMG=600]https://www.taipeitimes.com/images/2023/01/15/p07-230115-331.jpg[/FIMG]

75 is probably better line than 60. Here's a Redddit conversation on where the zero point lies.

=Centerfield post_id=181326 time=1734546166 user_id=65]Similarly no one puts up an OPS+ of 0.

Anthony DiKokomo wrote: After David Wright, which other Mets could have their numbers retired? And there is the problem.

Look at me, voting for another looza.

Documentary visits with record collectors who specialize in finding obscure, niche-y, and occasionally transcendent holiday-themed records. Currently streaming fo' free on Roku. [FIMG=350]https://www.tinymixtapes.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/Article_Half_Width_Film_Poster/1412/film-jingle-bell-rocks.jpg[/FIMG]

Well, unlike Iglesias, he (mostly) sticks to the corners. Plus he has options and scant MLB track record. I agree that he's a good grab, though. Put up some terrific OBPs the last few years. Bonus points for being from Western Canada and being a KBO veteran. [FIMG=600]https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/2022/09/17/64Q7LZQEIJCVVFPO5DLWAAAXQE.jpg[/FIMG]

Seems like a year-long effort leading to the conclusion that ants like picnics. Also, while they reportedly have talked to biomechanics professionals and surgeons, what they seem to be more interesting in collecting is anecdotes and theories. They should (or at least my team should) be looking at this from purely a data standpoint. That said, they've assembled some pretty useful data, and more importantly, they're beginning to look at the data longitudinally, which should point to some obvious red flags. https://a1.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2024%2F1217%2Fr1429167_1500x1203cc.jpg&w=570&format=jpg> https://a3.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2024%2F1217%2Fr1429169_1500x815cc.jpg&w=570&format=jpg> How they will respond to those red flags, I'm less than confident about.

I wouldn't conclude that reports about the Mets inquiring into Alex Bregman means they are ignoring the starting-pitcher market.

Our first look there at 2025 jerseys getting the name-on-back font sizes restored. Unsurprisingly but sadly, however, they still have the uniform plate elements done in decals instead of embroidery.

Frayed Knot wrote: ... and Roy White and Horace Clarke weren't exactly equivalent replacements. I was looking at Roy White the other day. What an impressive stealth career he had. Playing in a low offense (and initially very low offense era), he scarcely put up an offensive number worthy of any notice from 1968 to 1977, but stayed healthy and piled up the WAR — 47.1 over that 10-year stretch. I must admit that I had forgotten that Mantle had reported to spring training in 1969, but yeah, I remember the Ball Four passage now that you mention it.

Well, I'm uncertain about it. As for diminishing, his OPS fell over 100 points last season, he finished the year hurt, and they added perhaps the best corner outfielder on the planet to the lineup. Even had he had a good and healthy season, that nudges everybody aside at least a little.

If there's a DH (be it Marte or somebody else) who can swap with him twice a week, playing outfield and letting him rest his dogs, that might make some difference.

Brandon Nimmo opened the 2024 season losing his defensive spot as the Mets centerfielder, and before the season was 1/3 over, he had lost his offensive role as the Mets leadoff hitter. He had a period in there as the team's most dangerous hitter, but more than one period of utter lostness, and finished the season with a nagging injury that seemingly would have had him on the IL in a less crucial period. His explicit trading. of full deployment of his batting eye for more power seemed to have limited results, probably costing more than it gained, and making his role in the lineup going forward not particularly clear. In summary, it was, in the end, a deceptively poor year for the longest-tenured Met. Despite a career high in RBI and a perfect stolen-base record, he had his lowest OPS since his 32-game rookie year, and his on-base percentage was grossly uncharacteristic, something like 53 points below his career average leading into the season. So what's next? He's unlikely to return to center, and nobody's moving Francisco Lindor out of the leadoff spot. Is there still room for him at the top of the lineup, perhaps in the two-hole, setting up consecutive lefties with Juan Soto? I guess it's had to project lineups of any sort until the Alonso Conundrum is wrapped up, but knowing what you know now, how and where does he profile for you going forward? Such questions occupy my thoughts.

One thing Mantle had going against him (besides his knees and his habits) is that his decline appeared sharper than it was, as the league moved into a pitching-dominant era. He packed it in, explicitly embarrassed that he hit .237 in 1968, probably aware but not quite wrapping his head around what a historic year it was for pitchers, when the entire league still batted seven points lower than him, slugged 59 points lower, and reached base 88 points lower. If he stuck around for the lowering of the mound, he might have made a run at 600 homers. Probably wouldn't have made it, but I can't imagine the Yankees were in a hurry to go all-in on Joe Pepitone at first.

I think they could match up well. In Nimmo and McNeil they have two seasoned players under multi-year contracts who plug in at more than one position, but have diminishing and/or uncertain roles with the Mets going forward. If a team is working on the cheap, Baty and Mauricio still have their pedigree and potential to contribute over a career, but have been overtaken on the Mets by prospects coming up alongside them or behind them. Somewhere between those two differing types of expendability is Tylor Megill, a little of one, a little of another, and just wishing a team could give him 30 starts to show what he can do over the long haul. As always, I'm not advocatin', just observin'.

Junior Tilien, by the way, had his bad self a three-homer game back in 2022 with St. Lucie when he was just 19 and had only just recently been promoted to that level. [FIMG=500]https://img.mlbstatic.com/milb-images/image/private/t_16x9/t_w1024/milb/c1xugc7ayhzkfnu5tw4n[/FIMG]

Yes, the Hobie dream is but one of the phantasms that died far too unceremoniously on Rule V Day. Unfortunately, the dinner hour had struck before Mets Roster Central staff could reflect on the stunning loss of talent that day wrought. Landon Marceaux missed all of 2024 due injury represents something of a crossroads, as he was one of two pitchers obtained from the Angels for Eduardo Escobar, launching the Mets' Great Selloff of 2023. It really was a watermark both ways, as Escobar had the proven vet status for the Angels as they were desperately trying to stay in the playoff hunt as part of their plan to retain Shohei Otahni. Escobar skidded toward the end of his career with sub-replacement production, there was no playoffs and no retention, so the Mets ended up on top of this deal pretty early. The other arm coming from the Angels was Coleman Crow, and before the 2024 season, he was somehow turned into two established major leaguers in Adrian Houser and Tyrone Taylor, so despite none of the deal's principals — Marceaux, Crow, and Escobar — appearing in 2024, the Mets are still garnering productivity from the deal in centerfield. Jawilme Ramirez had a strong 2024 season, climbing from St. Lucie to Brooklyn and even throwing one (shutout) inning for Syracuse. Part of that ascent was the Mets transitioning him from starting toward relieving over the year, and his success was rewarded with a coveted assignment to the Arizona Fall League, so the cursed Cardinals not only rob the Mets of the player and the development they have invested in him, but the Mets also end up wasting one of the few AFL slots they get every fall. Boo. Mike Vasil is not here for your "Vaseline" cracks. He’s heard them all before and it hasn’t stopped him getting to the threshold of being an MLB pitcher. He just reminds everybody that his name is one letter off of being the same as that of an all-time Met great. Unfortunately, he’s kind of been stuck on that threshold, putting up a 5.30 ERA in 73 AAA innings in 2023 and a 6.04 figure in 2024 in 134 innings. Control had never been much of a problem for him before, but it’s really been catching up with him at Syracuse. It makes him a perfect candidate for the Phillies' pen, though. Nolan Clenney came to the Mets out of indy ball back in 2021. He had hoped to be the first Nolan on the team since Nolan Ryan was traded back in 1971. (Were not counting the brief tenure of 1973 reserve catcher Joe Nolan.) Dreams, however, are not something the Cubs particularly care about, and so they stole him away from the Mets, breaking his heart. Hobie Harris had even higher aspirations, hoping to become the team’s first Hobie since their very first acquisition, having taken catcher Hobie Landrith with their maiden pick in the expansion draft. That was among the shorter-lived dreams, as Harris had only joined the organization two weeks earlier, getting a minor-league contract along with a camp invite. We are curious if the Red Sox have any professional obligation to honor that invitation, because we know from their thieving ways that honor does not come naturally to them. Anyhow, the guy has consistently given up a large share o’ walks, so his potential for anything more than fleeting appearances seemed limited. Nathan Lavender, a spring training star last season, is the biggest loss here, looking like a likely 2024 Met before an injury ended his season. He's also a punch in the gut because the Mets are thin on left-handed relief, and finally, because he and Zebulon Vermillion had a chance to add a lot of color to future Mets bullpens. It remains to be seen how creative the Rays get with parking him on injured lists to keep from having to use him in 2024, but I hope he cries out in horror if they try to keep him from playing for a second straight year. Joseph Yabbour (follow him at “@Yabbour_Dabbour_Doo“) only has two seasons (64 innings) as a pro behind him, but this is already his third MLB organization, a title the White Sox barely qualify to hold, but unfortunately, they qualified enough to pick a sexy young Venezuelan prospect right out of the Mets' pocket. Drake Osborn, rather than be a heavy-metal/Canadian hip-hop crossover, was a low-average/decent-power catcher who may or may not have taken a step forward with an improved season at high-A and AA in 2024. His potential seemed limited, but the Mets are thin at catching at the upper levels, so they’ll probably have to bring in one more free agent backstop this spring. Junior Tilien is a low-average/solid-fielding utility infielder with a little bit of pop but not much base path speed. He knew how to turn on a pitch and could have been productive with maturity, but the first team to find that out will be the Tigers, it seems. Alas. And finally, we get to the one guy the Mets get in exchange for the nine (NINE!) guys they lost. Michael Hobbs should open up the season as one of the top relievers in Bingo, and holy smokes, he’s trying to out Sean Reid-Foley Sean Reid-Foley, trying to develop a full Rollie Fingers mustache waxing game. His 'stache might make it to the bigs before he does!