Edgy MD

So, not one of the very pop-uppiest, but meaningfully pop-uppier than the average bear. I'll take it. Go, Chayce McDermott!

It's just not fair. But Chayce is an experienced, big league dude! The Mets did this a couple years ago with Texas — trading a largely forgotten catcher stashed at AAA, that a contending team wanted as emergency insurance and getting value where few knew value could be had. That one took place after the trade deadline, iffin I correctly recall. A little googling suggests the guy I'm thinking of is Nevin Ashley.

He had two last names and not a lot of speed, but a soft sweeper set up by an up-and-in fastball got folks to chase over and over and over. Really strong down the stretch in 2025, when not a lot of people in Mets uniforms could say the same. It was a brief appearance, but he saved the season a week before the team lost it, when he came on with the bases loaded against Atlanta and got Eli White to ground out to second. That was that crazy period when there were no roles and they were just throwing pitchers out there like they were spilling out of a piñata. I suspect he'll pitch until he's 44.

I imagine most are ready to pitch, no matter what the role. It's just that they are loathe to change roles until they get to the fourth or fifth guy on the totem pole. He was that guy. To his credit, he prospered. If they hadn't pitched him yesterday, he could have gone out a winner, taking the victory as he did in his previous outing, throwing a perfect seventh against the Braves in Game One of the doubleheader — getting Riley, Yastrzemski, and Bart on three consecutive pop-ups. I'd bet he was one of the pop-uppiest guys in the league.

Right you are. I don't know what I was thinking. Oh, right. Cionel Perez was the second Cuban on the team.

Spikerman was not one of Jack Kirby's finest hours.

Great name, great slider. Was a Met for three seasons and got better each year. Joined the team at the trade deadline in 2024. It wasn't immediate help he had to offer, but help he did, and it makes for some symmetry that he should leave at the trade deadline. The player the Mets sent to Miami was at high A, and is still there now, so this looks like a trade the Mets are winning well. I'm disappointed the Mets never sent him out for a save — he was generally the one good reliever they had available on the days they were resting Raley, Weaver, and Williams — but I'm generally disappointed how stubbornly the 2026 Mets (and most teams, by extension) have stuck with one designated guy for ninth-inning save situations. Really cool locks. Focused, business-like demeanor. Ends our rare run of having a two-Cuban team, and in fact leaves Mexican Daniel Duarte as the only Latin American-born pitcher on the staff.

For an opening day starter, he didn't leave much of a mark. His personality — at least the one that came across — wasn't much stronger than his stat line. And a guy named Freddy with really impressive teeth should not lack for personality. He should have showed up to camp driving The Mystery Machine. The Mets always seemed to think handling him a little different would lead to a profound turning of the corner. That seven inning start against Miami back in May sticks with me. He struck out seven, but the Mets just kept falling further and further behind, and Miami was off to the races, turning their season around, while the Mets were jumping from the frying pan into the fire. He had shiny Jeri Curl-type locks when he was in Milwaukee. Maybe he should have stuck with that look. Maybe it's a Sampson kind of deal.

They are building for the present as well as the future.

If you think that's embarrassing, I keep getting DFA'd, but returning after nobody claims me on waivers.

Besides Carter, Frank Cashen, Davey Johnson, Mel Stottlemyer, and Buddy Harrelson have passed since the last major reunion. Bill Robinson and Vern Hoscheit both passed back in 2007, which I guess leaves bullpen coach/assistant pitching coach Greg Pavlick the last surviving official member of Johnson's staff.

And that's what I'm saying.

Great, and I didn't advocate sending him.

This I like. Gwreck and smg are on opposite sides. It makes it more interesting if they both get dealt.

Because the idea is to run 20 feet past third, downshifting as you come through the bag, rather than braking hard coming into the bag. This forces the defense to make quicker decisions in a heightened state and execute with precision in doing so. The point isn't necessarily to try to score at all, but to put pressure on the defense and provide coverage to the runner. Because when a ball is hit deep enough to left center to allow a firstbaseman who sprints at 27.7 ft./second to leg out a double, starting at a standstill running toward that point left center when the throw is coming from 150 feet away, then a centerfielder, who sprints at 29.1 ft./second (second-best on the team), who is 20 feet away from second running at a gallop when the ball is struck — should he be waived home — will not be out at home by 45 feet on a throw from that leftfielder who failed to get the batter-runner at second, throwing from that 150-foot-away point to second, at which point the second baseman is forced to rotate and make a second 127-foot throw, even as the runner downshifted for 20 feet coming around third. Those are all important mathematical factors that suggest nobody is getting thrown out by 45 feet. But the real purpose is not necessarily to break for home at all, but to put pressure on the defense and make them make plays. Making the turn and forcing the outfielder to throw through is just good baseball, and how good third base coaches work. If the outfielder is turning toward home to make a throw, the third-base coach can then put up the stop sign, affording the runner plenty of time to retreat. The trailing runner is in at second, and maybe the throw is airmailed to Kenya and your lead runner jogs home. If there is no play at third, the third base coach needs to get down the line so he can make the run/stop call as late in the play as possible without getting his player caught off base. Tim Leiper did not do that, positioning himself at third to stop the player coming into the bag, taking his runner out of the play while the play was still unfolding. As for there being no outs, the 2026 Mets ability to score runners from third with less than two outs speaks for itself. The bottom of the batting order coming up is also a factor. And sadly, the ultimate outcome was a retroactive testimony on behalf of forcing the matter.

No, that isn't what would happen.

Amick 2-for-3 with a homer and two RBI in his Bingo debut.

Make the turn, draw the throw. It's a fundie.

No, I'd be awesome. The throw was behind the runner.

Bad hold by Tim Leiper again. If he got down the line, he could have had Robert make the turn. If the ball goes into second, Robert scores. If the throw comes home, Young jogs into second.

Win it for Stock!

Mets inundated with Robert Stock trade inquiries!

Gene Walter dealt to Seattle for Ed Núñez!

The Stock Magic has been broken.

The punishment doesn't fit the crime. Give the batter a ball, maybe. Treating like a balk is ass. And let's make differentiation between game-delaying lobs over to first and actual pickoff attempts, which are an actual baseball play.