Edgy MD

Thirty years ago today. For what it's worth, it was only Game One, and the Orioles ended up losing the series, 4-1.

Well, that would be breathin'. Bad perception by me. I suspectorize that it would also inevitably lead to six-man rotations and pitchers getting assigned to the same day each week.

Time-travel films from 1980 I was able to get through: The Final Countdown Time After Time (actually 1979, but I saw it in 1980!) The Day Time Ended (but only if watching the Mystery Science Theater version of a film counts as being "able to get through" it)

"Funny—but one scene made me mad. A truly funny scene if the 3 gals had played getting drunk but no they had to get stoned on pot. It was an endorsement of Pot smoking for any young person who sees the picture." — Ronald Reagan, to his personal diary February 14, 1981

In this adaptation of the Jane Austen novel of the same name, when the composed, circumspect daughter of a jackass of a baronet finds her ridiculous family's fortune in decline, she is thrown back into association with the seafaring man who was the subject of her disappointing young love many years before. As the action moves from Somerset to Lyme to Bath, hijinks cannot help but ensue!

Bigotry doesn't need to be disproven.

There is virtually nothing the president claims or suggests there that is true. The commissioner has not kept Roger Clemens out of The Hall of Fame. Roger Clemens' peer players have not kept him out of The Hall of Fame. Roger Clemens is not the MLB career leader in hit batsmen. He is not particularly close to being the career leader in hit batsmen. He is 15th all time in career hit batsmen. Hitting batsmen does not keep a player out of the Hall of Fame. Seven of the 14 pitchers in front of Clemens in that category are in the Hall. Hitting batsmen — and the president implies that Clemens did so with intent — is not something to be celebrated, but a regrettable and dangerous part of the game that is to be generally avoided and lamented. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is not the equivalent of The Congressional Medal of Honor. It never has been, and its status has plummeted fast since this president first entered office.

The schedule will almost certainly do less breathing and more contracting. It'll be just less baseball.

For most teams, even many contenders, the games they lose will presumably be low-return playing-out-the-string games, and it makes room for another level of playoffs/longer playoff serieses, which is a pot everybody gets to share in. It's further diminishment of the regular season in deference to the post season, and further assault on the idea of baseball as a sixth-month round-robin tournament in deference to the idea of baseball as a two-month elimination tournament, and therefore I am ag'in' it. To the extent that they are offering most of the union ten days less labor, they will be asking a LOT in concessions, and the concessions they will ask will mostly be of the nature of MLB players throwing minor-league and amateur players overboard. Owners and union win. Fans and unempowered players lose.

Weird.

As someone who virtually never sees the Rays play, I have to ask — how awesome a fielder is their shortstop, Taylor Walls? Because he somehow put up 3.5 bWAR with a .607 OPS and did it while appearing in only 124 games. Those are, like, Juan Lagares numbers.

That dropped popout is going to be a tough brand for Mauricio Dubon to wear into free agency. A small-time team will probably try to buy low on him.

If anybody would like to ask Mike Piazza his opinion on the matter, I would be curious.

Even just reducing that call to a double is meaningful. Too late for Armando Benitez and Tony Tarasco and Davey Johnson, sadly.

Announced at last night's rally in Texas, Roger Clemens is to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

As the annual reshuffling of the Mets coaching deck occurs, gleaning meaning from the moves is tempting, but it can be harder than reading Bigelow Tea leaves. We watch a lot of baseball, and some of us watch a LOT of baseball, but we don't see too much coaching, and if we're honest, we can glean little insight into the coach/player dynamic. But pay attention long enough, and patterns emerge. Or delusions. That happens too. Transactions, 10/6/2026 GOING GOING GOING NEUTRAL Non-Tendered Non-Tendered Non-Tendered Projected to Transfer from Hitting Coach Hitting Coord. Strategy Coach Bat'g Pract. Pitcher Hitting Coord. Jeff Albert Danny Barnes Kevin Mahoney Troy Snitker R/R DoB: 1992-08-16 High Level: MLB (2026) L/R DoB: 1989-10021 High Level: MLB (2026) L/R DoB: 1987-05-11 High Level: MLB (2026) R/R DoB: 1988-12-05 High Level: MLB (2026) COMING COMING COMING Projected to Be Promoted from Syracuse Projected to Transfer from Director of Defense, Baserunning, & Gameplay Projected to Be Promoted from St. Lucie Bench/Assistant Hitting Coach Hitting Coach Strategy Coach Bat'g Pract. Pitcher Nate Irving Tucker Frawley Jonathon Cramman R/R DoB: 1992-10-17 High Level: MLB (2024) S/R DoB: 1984-05-08 High Level: Development (2026) R/R DoB: 1991-03-23 High Level: A (2026) The highest-profile Met coachie to not get asked back is Jeff Albert. While repeating the caveat that we don't know what's going down, this comes as something of a surprise at Met Roster Central, as much of the 2026 offensive failure came from veterans — presumably more set in their ways and less sensitive one way or the other to the whims of coaching — while rookies Carson Benge (after needing an April mulligan) and AJ Ewing prospered. Maybe it was the struggles of mid-career-types like Brett Baty and Mark Vientos that did him in. Francisco Alvarez, too. That's our theory. That Mets previous hitting coordinator Eric Chavez, rather than finding new MLB work like many of his fellow 2025 veterans, spent much of 2026 telling everyone who would listen that the Mets (a) generally had their heads up their butts as an organization, and (b) that splitting the hitting coach role was counterproductive. Now that his successor has followed him into the "ex-" column among Met coaches, we can expect him to double down. Anyhow, we're putting our kranepools down on junior hitting coach Troy Snitker elevating to senior status. Troy has not only the name-brand Snitker pedigree, but he has the track record, having been co-hitting coach (with Alex Cintron) for the 106-game/World Championship-winning 2022 Astros. Who gets his junior chair is more likely to come from outside the organization, but Nate Irving is an organizational guy on the rise, having coached the superb 2025 Binghamton squad, who were near the league lead in pretty much all offensive categories, and then moved up to Syracuse in 2026. He's coached Ewing and Benge in the minors as well as many of the prospects who will hopefully follow them. Danny Barnes is a tough loss, as the former Princeton Tiger represented an organizational commitment to brains over brawn and the good old boy hiring network. Danny, 36, had started with the ambigous title of "coaching assistant," and the team continuously re-worked the role to suit the man. He spent five years with the big-league team in multiple roles under four different managers. He was even put in charge of organizing the team's MLB spring training camp. With the manager coming out of the development staff, it is certainly easy to see the new strategy coach guy (assuming there is one) coming from there. Among other things, Tucker Frawley has also had a broad portfolio that could serve him well at helping implement organizational strategy at the big league level, and was praised for his work with Mitch Voit, Who knows how a batting practice pitcher gets fired, other than losing the strike zone, and figuring who his most likely replacement might be is clearly a shot in the dark, but we stayed within the organization, and our arrow struck St. Lucie bench coach/assistant hitting coach Jonathon Cramman. You have to go pretty low in the chain to find somebody who will take such a narrow role. The Haringey, London, UK-born Crammy managed the Under-23 squad for Great Britain, so having had that sort of authority over young men, along with a smart British accent, could bring some authority to keep him from being a mere lackey. He could also bring some reverse-Ted Lasso fun to the clubhouse, along with an appearance of the Union Jack on our roster grids. Mets Roster Central looks forward to updates involving players, but it'd b good to see Andy Green's braintrust in early in the offseason, even if they fail to bring back Antoan Richardson.

As the annual reshuffling of the Mets coaching deck occurs, gleaning meaning from the moves is tempting, but it can be harder than reading Bigelow Tea leaves. We watch a lot of baseball, and some of us watch a LOT of baseball, but we don't see too much coaching, and if we're honest, we can glean little insight into the coach/player dynamic. But pay attention long enough, and patterns emerge. Or delusions. That happens too. Transactions, 10/6/2026 GOING GOING GOING NEUTRAL Non-Tendered Non-Tendered Non-Tendered Projected to Transfer from Hitting Coach Hitting Coord. Strategy Coach Bat'g Pract. Pitcher Hitting Coord. Jeff Albert Danny Barnes Kevin Mahoney Troy Snitker R/R DoB: 1992-08-16 High Level: MLB (2026) L/R DoB: 1989-10021 High Level: MLB (2026) L/R DoB: 1987-05-11 High Level: MLB (2026) R/R DoB: 1988-12-05 High Level: MLB (2026) COMING COMING COMING Projected to Be Promoted from Syracuse Projected to Transfer from Director of Defense, Baserunning, & Gameplay Projected to Be Promoted from St. Lucie Bench/Assistant Hitting Coach Hitting Coach Strategy Coach Bat'g Pract. Pitcher Nate Irving Tucker Frawley Jonathon Cramman R/R DoB: 1992-10-17 High Level: MLB (2024) S/R DoB: 1984-05-08 High Level: Development (2026) R/R DoB: 1991-03-23 High Level: A (2026) The highest-profile Met coachie to not get asked back is Jeff Albert. While repeating the caveat that we don't know what's going down, this comes as something of a surprise at Met Roster Central, as much of the 2026 offensive failure came from veterans — presumably more set in their ways and less sensitive one way or the other to the whims of coaching — while rookies Carson Benge (after needing an April mulligan) and AJ Ewing prospered. Maybe it was the struggles of mid-career-types like Brett Baty and Mark Vientos that did him in. Francisco Alvarez, too. That's our theory. That Mets previous hitting coordinator Eric Chavez, rather than finding new MLB work like many of his fellow 2025 veterans, spent much of 2026 telling everyone who would listen that the Mets (a) generally had their heads up their butts as an organization, and (b) that splitting the hitting coach role was counterproductive. Now that his successor has followed him into the "ex-" column among Met coaches, we can expect him to double down. Anyhow, we're putting our kranepools down on junior hitting coach Troy Snitker elevating to senior status. Troy has not only the name-brand Snitker pedigree, but he has the track record, having been co-hitting coach (with Alex Cintron) for the 106-game/World Championship-winning 2022 Astros. Who gets his junior chair is more likely to come from outside the organization, but Nate Irving is an organizational guy on the rise, having coached the superb 2025 Binghamton squad, who were near the league lead in pretty much all offensive categories, and then moved up to Syracuse in 2026. He's coached Ewing and Benge in the minors as well as many of the prospects who will hopefully follow them. Danny Barnes is a tough loss, as the former Princeton Tiger represented an organizational commitment to brains over brawn and the good old boy hiring network. Danny, 36, had started with the ambigous title of "coaching assistant," and the team continuously re-worked the role to suit the man. He spent five years with the big-league team in multiple roles under four different managers. He was even put in charge of organizing the team's MLB spring training camp. With the manager coming out of the development staff, it is certainly easy to see the new strategy coach guy (assuming there is one) coming from there. Among other things, Tucker Frawley has also had a broad portfolio that could serve him well at helping implement organizational strategy at the big league level, and was praised for his work with Mitch Voit, Who knows how a batting practice pitcher gets fired, other than losing the strike zone, and figuring who his most likely replacement might be is clearly a shot in the dark, but we stayed within the organization, and our arrow struck St. Lucie bench coach/assistant hitting coach Jonathon Cramman. You have to go pretty low in the chain to find somebody who will take such a narrow role. The Haringey, London, UK-born Crammy managed the Under-23 squad for Great Britain, so having had that sort of authority over young men, along with a smart British accent, could bring some authority to keep him from being a mere lackey. He could also bring some reverse-Ted Lasso fun to the clubhouse, along with an appearance of the Union Jack on our roster grids. Mets Roster Central looks forward to updates involving players, but it'd b good to see Andy Green's braintrust in early in the offseason, even if they fail to bring back Antoan Richardson. Your Projected 2027 New York Mets Starting Pitchers Sean Manaea Nolan McLean Christian Scott Zach Thornton Jonah Tong R/L DoB: 1992-02-01 R/R DoB: 2001-07-24 R/R DoB: 1999-06-15 L/L DoB: 2002-01-17 R/R DoB: 2003-06-19 Relief Pitchers Chayce McDermott Tobias Myers Cionel Pérez Kodai Senga Robert Stock Austin Warren Devin Williams L/R DoB: 1998-08-22 R/R DoB: 1998-08-05 R/L DoB: 1996-04-21 L/R DoB: 1993-01-30 L/R DoB: 1989-11-21 R/R DoB: 1996-02-05 R/R DoB: 1994-09-21 Relief Pitchers Catchers Infielders Jefry Yan Francisco Alvarez Luís Torrens Bo Bichette Francisco Lindor Ronny Mauricio Jorge Polanco L/L DoB: 1996-08-17 R/R DoB: 2001-11-01 R/R DoB: 1996-05-02 R/R DoB: 1998-03-05 S/R DoB: 1993-11-14 S/R DoB: 2001-04-04 S/R DoB: 1999-11-13 Infielders Outfielders Marcus Semien Mark Vientos Jared Young Brett Baty Carson Benge A.J. Ewing Juan Soto R/R DoB: 1990-09-17 R/R DoB: 1993-12-11 L/R DoB: 1995-07-09 L/R DoB: 1999-11-13 L/R DoB: 2003-01-20 L/R DoB: 2004-08-10 L/L DoB: 1998-10-25 Also on 40-Player Roster Starting Pitchers Relief Pitchers Tylor Megill Philip Abner Daniel Duarte Reed Garrett Justin Hagenman Nathan Lavender Dedniel Núñez Jonathan Pintaro Dylan Ross R/R DoB: 1995-07-28 L/L DoB: 2002-05-04 R/R DoB: 1996-12-04 R/R DoB: 1993-01-02 R/R DoB: 1996-10-07 L/L DoB: 2000-01-20 R/R DoB: 1996-06-05 R/R DoB: 1997-11-07 R/R DoB: 2000-09-01 Relief Pitchers Catchers Infielders Outfielders Jack Weisen- berger Cameron Weston Hayden Senger Christian Cairo Christopher Morel Eric Wagaman Nick Morabito "Cristian Pache " R/R DoB: 1997-10-08 R/R DoB: 2000-08-27 R/R DoB: 1997-04-03 R/R DoB: 2001-06-11 R/R DoB: 1999-06-24 R/R DoB: 1997-08-14 R/R DoB: 2003-05-07 R/R DoB: 2020-08-21 Your Projected Mets Coaching Staff Manager Bench Coach Pitching Coach Hitting Coord. Third Base Coach First Base Coach Bullpen Coach Ass't Pitch. Coach Andy Green Kai Correa Justin Willard Troy Snitker Tim Leiper Gilbert Gomez José Rosado Dan McKinney DoB: 1977-07-07 DoB: 1989-07-14 DoB: 1990-09-09 DoB: 1988-12-05 DoB: 1996-07-19 DoB: 1992-03-08 DoB: 1974-11-09 DoB: 1989-06-06 Hitting Coach Strategy Coach Catching Coach Coaching Assistant Bat'g Pract. Pitcher Equip. Manager Bullpen Catchers Bullpen Catchers Nate Irving Tucker Frawley J.P. Arencibia Rafael Fernandez Jonathon Cramman Kevin Kierst Eric Langill Dave Racaniello DoB: 33894 DoB: 1984-05-08 DoB: 1986-01-05 DoB: 1988-08-03 DoB: 1991-03-23 DoB: 1964-07-09 DoB: 1979-04-09 DoB: 1978-06-03 Your Projected Mets Training Staff Director of Player Health Head Athletic Trainer Assistant Athletic Trainer Recond. Coordinator Recond. Therapist Head Performance Coach Assistant Performance Coach Performance Coordinator Soft Tissue Specialist Brian Chicklo Joseph Golia Bryan Baca Sean Bardanett Josh Bickel Dustin Clarke Tanner Miracle Jeremy Chiang Hiroto Kawamura DoB:1972-07-17 DoB:1978-??-?? DoB:Circa 1980 DoB:1988-06-23 DoB:1996-??-?? DoB:1987-??-?? DoB:1991-??-?? DoB:????-??-?? DoB:1962-07-19 View full article

If opening day was today, and I went to work with a healthy version of the above roster, we probably open the season with Vientos being the firstbaseman against some or all lefties, and Baty playing left against some or all righties (alternating with Polanco, as Soto swung between DH and left). Probably. Also, that probably wouldn't last. We at Mets Roster Central are just saying narrower roles allow for strategic deployment and new talent to emerge. At least until health breaks down and folks get over-exposed.

I can't merge these two topics, but we already have a thread on this.

It may not be what you want. And nothing says either or both must be deployed at first base.

I am also about the notion of keeping declining vets around and forcing young players to take their jobs.

Well, let's not let a fan using that logic manage the team.

PA BA OBP SLG OPS Brett Baty vs. Righties (2026) 382 .250 .318 .406 .723 Mark Vientos vs. Lefties (2026) 125 .252 .296 .513 .809 Combined 507 .250 .313 .432 .745 National League (2026) 92,354 .246 .321 .405 .726 It may not be what you want, but hey, even in a lousy year, it's there.

Yeah, bad copy-and-paste error by me. We are looking for a pitcher. My apologies to you and your family.