Edgy MD

Tim dishes to Dave and Teri, 1987. [media=youtube]HSG1yBITeBk[/media]

If you're a 17-year-old Venezuelan, and you haven't been signed by the Mets, call your agent. Call your agent and fire them! Transactions, 2/13/2022 [th]Direction[/th][td90]COMING[/td90][th]Transaction [/th][td90]Signed as International Amateur Free Agent out of Venezuela, Projected for DSL Mets[/td90][th]Position Group [/th][th]=#FF0000]Starting Pitcher[/th][th][/th][td90][fimg=90]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2023/02/sotillo-luis-2023.png[/fimg][/td90][th]Name [/th][td90]Luis Sotillo [fimg=50]https://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/venezuelan-flag-small.jpg[/fimg][/td90][th]DoB[/th][td90]circa 2006[/td90][th]B/T[/th][td90]L/L[/td90][th]High Level[/th][td90]Academy (2022)[/td90]

Tim being Tim, circa 1984. Never heard analysis like this before. It's far from standard now. [media=youtube]7OPqBnjGzII[/media]

Yeah, he had a combination of knowledge, style, and insight that's hard to equal. I associate him as much with the revitalization of the Mets brand as Johnson, Cashen, Doublepon, Gorman, etc. When he was announced as the new Mets announcer, my Dad said, "Oh, he got it — good for him." My Dad certainly didn't follow baseball as closely as I did, and I mostly knew McCarver as the guy who hit a grand slam on July 4, 1976, but got called out for passing Garry Maddox on the basepaths. I probably also had some inkling of his longtime association with Steve Carlton, but it surprised me that my Dad knew he was up for the job and I didn't. My Dad explained that McCarver had stayed at his hotel for a week before the interview, and had left behind several books he had read about public speaking, announcing, dialect, diction, and the like. Dad had tracked him down and told him the hotel still had some of his property, and McCarver thanked him and told him he was done with the books and that he could keep them or donate them to a library. Dad was impressed that the guy did all that professional research and came to the city a week early to get a feel for the town. Anyhow, he's always been on my shortlist for Mets Hall of Fame. I imagine most of us learned more about baseball from him than anybody. It always seemed funny that so many great New York baseball voices — McCarver, Bob Murphy, Red Barber, Ernie Harwell, Lindsey Nelson ... — were from the South.

That desperate tone at the end is great.

Certainly qualifies as too-many-eggs-in-one-basket news. End the anti-trust exemption NOW!!!!

Here's a good place to note that Diamond Sports Group, the company that runs the host of Bally Sports regional sports networks, holders of the broadcast rights of 14 teams, is reportedly on the verge of bankruptcy. MLB could be facing opening day scrambling to find outlets to carry their games. Rob Manfred is on fire.

I've seen the scouting report but I recall it from another book and not that one. I'll check in a bit.

Batting glove adjustment crisis!

Let's hear it for Jimmy Yacabonis, paying tribute to the 1973 Mets.

Not with Frankie Montas, though. He went straight from zero to shoulder surgery.

Unassigned Numbers I Spy: 4 5 7 8 16 18 48 61 64 67 68 69 75 88 89 99 00 (to the extent that it's different from 0, and that's both a logical and semantical corner I don't want to paint myself into) That should be just enough to cover the backs of the additional spring training coaches, leaving aside the notion that 8 may now be joined by 5 (and possibly 16 and 18 and 48) in the Hall of the Resevered-but-not-Retired. No special guest celebrity instructors. No Mookie or Mikey. Not even a Teufel. No offense, Miguel Cairo. I don't like 33 on Ruf. I like to see 33 on the back of a big, slow, caucasian, misbegotten-but-likable, righthanded-hitting backup catcher. Give Ruf 4 and hand 33 off to Nick Meyer or Hayden Senger — preferably Meyer.

I think that's rooted in untested assumptions and unintended consequences.

All that is certainly true and I think understood by all, but it still represents the owners and their representatives taking a shallow approach. Their other recent rules — universal DH and the 26th (and sometimes a 27th) player on the roster — all have been game lengtheners, so maybe they might want to look in the mirror. If you want good baseball, switch to 16-player rosters. Bezball would be as fast and action-paced as ice hockey on cocaine. They'd have change the name to "bezball," because it would be so fucking good it would need a rebrand.

Internships are unpaid and for a year only. If we're going to add Wilhelmina as a salaried staffer, we need you to go out and bring us in new members. Sign up twenty new memberships and you win the bicycle!

Get Vic Sage on board and watch sparks fly.

Come on, folks! Size those photos!

Our specters are proliferating. This is great — even though I'm pretty sure I didn't vote for MISERY in any single round. I look forward to expanding my collection of shower curtains.

Well, shrinkflation is designed to benefit the marketer over the consumer, and that's kind of what this is.

Happy Valentine's Day! https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/19839/w768xh576_ellis2.jpg> [media=youtube]F1wsKgMIH1U[/media]

It's somehow worse today than it was yesterday.

In another sense, it was smart. They did something they wanted to do for their own benefit, sold it as a pandemic mitigation scheme, and therefore used the pandemic as a Trojan horse to sneak in what they perhaps wouldn't have gotten through the front door. Lest it not be mentioned, the universal DH was also a fake pandemic-related change that was perpetuated.

Unanimously. Just insane.

It's pretty funny that Todd Zeile's continuing relationship with the Mets world has long been negatively affected by him replacing a smoother, more popular, lefty-swinging firstbaseman who was let walk under bitter circumstances, and folks have been afraid it was happening again 25 years later.

Transactions, 2/6/2022 [th]Direction[/th][td90]GOING[/td90][th]Transaction [/th][td90]Signed away by Monclava (Mexican League)[/td90][th]Position Group [/th][th]=#FF0000]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/543557/headshot/67/current[/fimg][/td90][th]Name [/th][td90]Mike Montgomery [fimg=50]https://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/US-flag.png[/fimg][/td90][th]DoB[/th][td90]7/1/89[/td90][th]B/T[/th][td90]L/L[/td90][th]High Level[/th][td90]MLB (2021)[/td90] Mike Montgomery has a had a solid MLB career as a lefthanded starter but he's been little more than a punching bag the last few years as he has floated among AAA teams, KBO, and indy ball. Last year with Syracuse (6.92 ERA) was no exception. But he has five years-plus of MLB experience, so maybe he's grinding it out, hoping to somehow achieve the magic of six years worth of roster time. Facewise, he kind of reminds me of a thinner version of Brian Schneider. Transactions, 2/10/2022 [th]Direction[/th][td90]COMING[/td90][th]Transaction [/th][td90]Cleared Waivers and Assigned to Syracuse[/td90][th]Position Group [/th][th]=#FFC2C2] Outfielder[/th][th][/th][td90][fimg=90]https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-photos/image/upload/w_213,q_100/v1/people/666137/headshot/67/current[/fimg][/td90][th]Name [/th][td90]Khalil Lee [fimg=50]https://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/US-flag.png[/fimg][/td90][th]DoB[/th][td90]6/26/98[/td90] [th]B/T[/th][td90]L/L[/td90][th]High Level[/th][td90]MLB (2021)[/td90] If you're still inclined to read the tea leaves with regard to Khalil Lee, his clearing waivers and being retained has not come with an invite to MLB camp. It does, however, once again knock Agustin Ruíz below the bottom of the bubble in the stiff competition for Syracuse outfield spots. GOOD LUCK, AGUSTIN!! Agustin is also not invited to camp.