Edgy MD

Transactions, 10/23/2023 [th]Direction[/th][td90]GOING[/td90][th]Transaction [/th][td90]Unretired and Signed away by Dubai Monarchs (Basseball United)[/td90][th]Position Group [/th][th]Starting Pitcher[/th][th][/th][td90][fimg=90]https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-photos/image/upload/d_people:generic:headshot:67:current.png/w_213,q_auto:best/v1/people/112526/headshot/67/current[/fimg][/td90][th]Name [/th][td90]Bartolo Colón [fimg=50]https://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Dominican_Republic.jpg[/fimg][/td90][th]DoB[/th][td90]5/24/73[/td90][th]B/T[/th][td90]R/R[/td90][th]High Level[/th][td90]MLB (2018)[/td90] Old news, sure, but we failed to post it in this thread, and we should have. The guy retired from a Mets contract, and then un-retired. That's leaving the fold, man! We should get compensation!! Transactions, 10/23/2023 [th]Direction[/th][td90]GOING[/td90][th]Transaction [/th][td90]Signed away by BAL[/td90][th]Position Group [/th][th]=#00BF00] Catcher[/th][th][/th][td90][fimg=90]https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-photos/image/upload/d_people:generic:headshot:67:current.png/w_213,q_auto:best/v1/people/605421/headshot/67/current[/fimg][/td90][th]Name [/th][td90]Michael Perez [fimg=50]https://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Puerto_Rico.png[/fimg][/td90][th]DoB[/th][td90]8/7/92[/td90][th]B/T[/th][td90]L/R[/td90][th]High Level[/th][td90]MLB (2018)[/td90] Hey!! Last transaction of 2023!!

Not hard to guess which one is the good cop. Man, this is really playing out.

Excellent photo and perfect composition easily gives my vote to the first cover, but the photo leads with the defense and the subtitle leads with the pitching, and that's less than ideal for Stockholm's finest museums to feature. We're trying to bring in the tourists here, Daily News!

A Bhutanese schoolteacher, disenchanted by his career, plans to move abroad, to try to make a go of it as a singer in Australia. But he still owes the govenment one more term on his contract, and they assign him to the "most remote school in the world" — a village of a few dozen Yak herders, high up the Himalayan slopes. [FIMG=400]https://images-worker.bonanzastatic.com/afu/images/2058/4404/c8d6_11131649302/F_403_.jpg[/FIMG]

FanGraphs DC predicts Vaughn Grissom (aka Mo Marquis) for 2.3 WAR this season at 23. Steamer predicts 2.1 WAR from him. FanGraphs DC predicts Brett Baty for 1.7 WAR this season at 24. Steamer predicts 1.5 WAR from him. They probably have predictive math about where they are likely to be at their ceilings, but not available to me. Nonetheless, more-expected-at-a-younger-age seemingly suggests that Grissom's rights are a more valuable asset than Baty's at the moment.

Edwin already https://phpbb3.leaptoad.com/mets/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=32252passed from the Mets back in August, to much memorializing.

Pretty lightweight for a catcher. Part of the team's increasingly ascendant Puerto Rican contingent in the Age of Lindor. Pretty telling that he got a deal before Nido. OE: I forget, but Nido isn't actually a free-agent for some reason.

Number 4 is Rod Gaspar, though Ellie Hendricks didn't throw the ball away.

Look at those names Billy Wagner is out-pacing. I see seven or eight guys whose career I'd rather have than his. Even trying to take away the roids, there are three or four candidacies I find it hard to place behind his.

I think it's going to be mostly money that'll determine if he'll be satisfied in his contract. He's a northern California guy who grew up a Giants/J.T. Snow fan. The Giants have been coming up short in recent offseasons, and they may have better luck pursuing a guy who maybe wants to be there. They kind of mix and match with three players (Lamont Wade, J.D. Davis, and Wilmer Flores) at first and DH. He's a hard object lesson in that his case suggests that repairing a torn ACL takes a full season of recovery for a baseball-player.

And let's congratulate Isiah Kiner-Falefa on ditching his Yankee address for the friendly confines of the Rogers Center.

#DavidStearns has been in charge of Mets since the 1986 offseason! #Stearns traided @KevinMitchell!!

There's a tradeoff that's part of the equation. Teams with DHs who can't play the field tend to more frequently end up using backup infielders in the outfield. Or perhaps, like the Mets, they use a starting infielder like Jeff McNeil in the outfield, and end up giving more time than might be ideal to Zack Short and Joey Wendle in the infield. It may certainly be a worthwhile tradeoff, but it's a factor. The other part of the tradeoff is that if there's a big series and Starling Marte or somebody is nursing a tight quad or sore hip flexor, but is hitting and needed, you can't as easily use the DH position to keep him in the lineup.

Go, FOX, go!

That would be interesting. He was rumored to be close to signing with the Cubbieholes, but that was seemingly three weeks ago. There's been some bad blood between him and the Mets.

Righthanded hitter. Pretty much a DH at this point in his career. Has been mostly pretty good after 30, so maybe growing into old-guy skills has suited him. Slugs 30 homers with a lot of doubles thrown in. Strikes out 150 times, and while he could walk more, but he could also walk less. He supposedly is somebody the Mets have been taking a look at. He may or may not be Jason Bay but you've got to love his saucy presence on the bases. [FIMG=600]https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/licensed-image?q=tbn:ANd9GcRd28_s3wQJmaZhk2P1_Lc1lbNlfa_RUKkkfXFZRaDDh65LB41HVJnB7gGI4v6uneXixLaDkEyWi-qpNHw[/FIMG] Could nicely fill up the scratchy-beard void left by the departure of Justin Verlander.

Wagner is on fire.

Four Gold Gloves.

Its very much of a piece with any number of British — and not a few Irish — films from the 90s (and some earlier). Suit from the big city is taken by business to a colorful backwater. Despite initial cynicism, he is taken by the decency and pure-heartedness of locals, and romance + personal transformation draw him into their fight, which is a microcosm of a larger counter-modernist struggle across British or Irish (or Scottish or Welsh) or global society. Despite the Hallmark-iness of such themes, what makes or breaks such films is usually the tone. The leading man, in this case, is the guy who played the roadie in Yesterday.

[fimg=600]https://media.bizj.us/view/img/279931/angelos-medical-pavilion-saint-agnes.jpg[/fimg] https://women4womenobgyn.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/katz.jpg> [fimg=600]https://www.newcomb-boyd.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Tidelands-Ambulatory-Center-Twilight-Exterior-Low-Res-1024x576.jpg[/fimg]

Is there really a hospitals-vs.-athletes conundrum?

Some guyz who slipped away, mostly un-noticed in the past several months. Transactions, 5/6/2023 [th]Direction[/th][td90]GOING[/td90][th]Transaction [/th][td90]Signed away by Aguascalientes (Mexican League).[/td90][th]Position Group [/th][th]Starting Pitcher[/th][th][/th][td90][fimg=90]https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-photos/image/upload/c_fill,g_auto/w_180/v1/people/656083/headshot/milb/current[/fimg][/td90][th]Name [/th][td90]Harol Gonzalez [fimg=50]https://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Dominican_Republic.jpg[/fimg][/td90][th]DoB[/th][td90]1993-04-15[/td90][th]B/T[/th][td90]R/R[/td90][th]High Level[/th][td90]AAA (2022)[/td90] Harol had just a terrific year between AA and AAA in 2019, going 12-4 with a 3.01 ERA. He got a camp invite going into 2020 and was really looking like a guy to watch. But then the canceled season happened, and he didn't get to be part of the team's extended roster thingie of 2020, got hurt in camp in 2021, and never made it all the way back, or even particularly close, judging from the terrible numbers he's put up in his sporadic reappearances since. His chance in The Mexican League was brief and he got hit hard there too. Transactions, 6/4/2023 [th]Direction[/th][td90]GOING[/td90][th]Transaction [/th][td90]Released[/td90][th]Position Group [/th][th]=#FF8000]Relief Pitcher[/th][th][/th][td90][fimg=90]https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-photos/image/upload/c_fill,g_auto/w_180/v1/people/657745/headshot/milb/current[/fimg][/td90][th]Name [/th][td90]Bubby Rossman [fimg=50]https://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/US-flag.png[/fimg][/td90][th]DoB[/th][td90]1996-04-12[/td90] [th]B/T[/th][td90]R/R[/td90][th]High Level[/th][td90]MLB (2022)[/td90] Team Israel vet Bubby Rossman is wintering in the Mexican Pacific League and doing pretty well. Time is running out at 31, and if he doesn't make it back to The Show, he can console himself that his one big-league inning, with the 2022 Phils, was a shutout one. He has also close to achieving the journeyman ballplayer's version of the EGOT, having done time in The Atlantic League, The American Association, and The Can-Am League. Among the top indy circuits, only The Frontier League remains. Transactions, 8/27/2023 [th]Direction[/th][td90]GOING[/td90][th]Transaction [/th][td90]Released[/td90][th]Position Group [/th][th]=#BF80FF] Infielder[/th][th][/th][td90][fimg=90]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2023/12/silhouette-2003.png[/fimg][/td90][th]Name [/th][td90]Luis De La Cruz [fimg=50]https://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Dominican_Republic.jpg[/fimg][/td90][th]DoB[/th][td90]2002-10-15[/td90][th]B/T[/th][td90]L/R[/td90][th]High Level[/th][td90]AA (2023)[/td90] It's a same seeing Luis leave having not yet earned the right to a face. Luis had come from Baltimore as the player-to-be-named-later in the James McCann trade in December of 2022, but never actually took the field for the Mets, so, you know, that one didn't pan out. Transactions, 12/26/2023 [th]Direction[/th][td90]GOING[/td90][th]Transaction [/th][td90]Signed away by LAD[/td90][th]Position Group [/th][th]=#BF80FF] Infielder[/th][th][/th][td90][fimg=90]https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-photos/image/upload/d_people:generic:headshot:67:current.png/w_213,q_auto:best/v1/people/660620/headshot/67/current[/fimg][/td90][th]Name [/th][td90]Jonathan Araúz [fimg=50]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/panamanian-flag-small.jpg[/fimg][/td90][th]DoB[/th][td90]1998-08-03[/td90][th]B/T[/th][td90]R/R[/td90][th]High Level[/th][td90]MLB (2023)[/td90] Araúz is the second player in this post to have been a participant in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, representing Panama, so when The Ultimate Mets Database tells you that he's from Nicaragua, please know: The Ultimate Mets Database LIES.

Figgie taking a troll turn.

I like that they're similarly close, so there'll be a lot to see. And we'll hopefully get to watch the development of Álvarez/Baty/Vientos/Mauricio in the meantime. I voted for Jett. I like that the Mets were crazy enough to take a 5'6" guy (a full foot shorter than Lucas Giolito!) 14th overall in the draft, and he nonetheless has torn through the minors. I like that he might be the rare American-born guy to make his debut at 20. And I like that I thought that Jett was a lady suffragette. [FIMG=250]https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/fSIAAOSwOc5kMIET/s-l1600.png[/FIMG] He has a kinda non-descript country-boy face, though, and I suspect he may be generated by AI. https://metsmerizedonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/jett-williams-1.jpg>

Then he posted a bunch of crying people GIFs when people were critical. I get that Twitter is just a nest of hate speech. But he's the California Opinion Editor for McClatchy Newspapers. He's posting as a professional and needs to act like a professional. If I was his editor, I'm be disappointed in his behavior more than his ballot. The behaviour is worthy of discipline. The ballot is justifiable if your stance is "no proven steroid guys" and Beltre/Beltran are pretty arguably the two best guys left. The ballot is justifiable. Most are. Being a Twitter dick, not so much. But the platform pretty much rewards dicktitiousness. Sports journalists who write public opinions without actually feeling obliged to get their facts right, unfortunately, is legion, and often enough has been rewarded by the Hall of Fame itself.