Edgy MD

I've got nothing against Quattlebaum.

Cool that they found a micro-second to include a shot of Willie Randolph as a player, in addition to coming back to him later as a manager. The b/w shot of Lance Johnson is terrific. If I've seen that before, I sure didn't appreciate it. It looks like something out of LIFE.

What do you think the deal is with https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=plumme000nicPlummer? He has a pretty crappy minor league record for a first round draft pick. Then, when so many were coming back from the Covid layoff looking rusty and falling victim to a tighter numbers game, he hit like he never has before, just in time for the Cards to lose him to minor league free agency? The Mets not only gobble him up, but give him a major league deal (which would be great, if it didn't get him locked out). And he makes a handful of these organizational top ten lists, despite his advanced age for a prospect. Mets Roster Central has him at seventh (or second callup) on the team's outfield depth chart, but it's not crazy to think he has a shot at making the team out of camp, depending on how the breaks go.

The ongoing problem with the ranking system is that Khalil Lee (23) and Nick Plummer (25) count toward the Mets rankings, but Juan Soto (also 23) doesn't count toward the rankings of the Nats, because he's been destroying baseballs in the big leagues since he was 19, and is now 100 homers into his career. Ronald Acuña, Jr. is also 23, with 105 homers and 78 steals already notched, despite missing half of 2021.

I was totally on the fence here (no pun intended), thinking from the beginning that my vote could swing the match, and right now, my vote is swinging the match. I may change my position before the day is done.

https://theathletic.com/3074113/2022/01/31/top-100-mlb-prospects-2022-keith-laws-rankings-with-adley-rutschman-at-no-1/?source=emp_shared_articleKeith Law in The Athletic has come out more bullish on the Mets prospects, posting a Top 100 list that includes Alvarez (#8), Baty (#40), and Mauricio (#41!), but also Mark Vientos (#71) and St. Lucie centerfielder Alex Ramirez (#100 — “He was slightly overmatched at the plate, but showed incredible defensive skills IN centerfield with great reads and plus speed, and flashed what should be grade 60 or even 70 power when he fills out”).

Tom Verducci https://www.si.com/mlb/2022/01/31/jeff-innis-obituaryremembers Jeff Innis. Innis was known also for his uncanny imitations of people around the team, including Frank Cashen, the team's irascible general manager. One day near the dugout Cashen said to Innis, “Do you want to see my Jeff Innis imitation?” Innis didn't miss a beat. “I know the Innis imitation,” he said. “Just get on a plane and fly to Tidewater—about 10 times.”

As much as I've written about my preferences against Newsday's layouts, they really seem to saturate with the ink, don't they? The depth of detail reflecting out of the inky dark shadows on FRANTASTIC! seems like something you'd never see in The Daily News of The New York Post.

I think most accounts suggest many different back channels have been tried with the intent to get Pete to agree to terms in exchange for the league being willing to revisit the ban down the line, and they've been rebuffed. Really, to hear Dowd tell it, from the beginning, the whole investigation with Rose was done with the intent go get him to come clean, after which the league could work with him to put his image back together. It's largely forgotten, but Dowd also investigated Lenny Dykstra for high-stakes gambling, and Dowd was able to convince Dykstra to put a halt to it during his playing career and avoid the ugliness that Pete Rose dragged the game through. And when you have less impulse control that Lenny Dykstra, things aren't good. Also, I propose a hard ban on Pete Rose betting cracks for the duration of this thread.

wOw

(Just look at the state of Jay's release. I don't mean to nitpick. Such warm thoughts, but submitted without proofreading, and positively howling with unforced errors, including the word "A," typed as if it's somehow a single sentence.) (I actually do mean to nitpick, but I want Jay to pay me for it.)

Chappy appears to be https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=kelvin+chapman+autograph&_sacat=0&_sop=15attainable. If only just.

Transactions, 7/31/2021 [td90]Direction[/td90][td90]GOING[/td90][td90]Transaction[/td90][td90]Released[/td90][th]Position Group[/th][th]=#FFC2C2] Outfielder[/th][td90][/td90][td90][fimg=90]http://www.milb.com/images/660579/t506/180x270/660579.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]Name[/td90][td90]Ranfy Adon [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Dominican_Republic.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]DoB[/td90][td90]8/2/97[/td90] [td90]B/T[/td90][td90]R/R[/td90][td90]High Level[/td90][td90]A (2021)[/td90] One more guy who was quietly released last summer. And one more guy whose career was more or less moving along OK until COVID. Not much power, but he got his share of hits and walks, until 2021 when he whiffed and whiffed and whiffed. Far too much for a speed guy, anyhow.

Better career ERA than Edwin Diaz. Or Armando Benitez, or Jeurys Familia, or Jesse Orosco, or Tug McGraw, or Roger McDowell, or Neil Allen, or Skip Lockwood, or Randy Myers ... . Never really had a bad season. Had a single meh season and the Mets let him walk.

I imagine that, each time a member of a storied group like the 1969 team passes, it causes a small upsurge in solicitations to the surviving members, as collectors with dreams of completionism step up their games hoping to garner the rest of the roster while they are on the planet. I know specialization then was hardly what it is now, and DiLauro didn't see a whole lot of use in competitive situations, but as the second lefty out of the pen, had he put up that 1969 performance for, say, the 1999 Mets, he would be highly celebrated. And if you get a chance to manage the 1969 team in a computer simulation, and use him as something of a specialist, there's a good chance that he'll reward you.

I like how Whitey Herzog put him and Andy Van Slyke in the lineup more often than not, but in a different position every day. Worry about finding a way to make your bat work in the majors, and then we'll find a regular spot for you on defense. It's a pretty good principle.

L.A.'s given name is "Albert." "L.A." stands for "Little Albert."

Transactions, 5/15/2021 [td90]Direction[/td90][td90]GOING[/td90][td90]Transaction[/td90][td90]Released[/td90][th]Position Group[/th][th]=#BF80FF] Infielder[/th][td90][/td90][td90][fimg=90]https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-photos/image/upload/w_180,g_auto,c_fill/v1/people/681899/headshot/milb/current[/fimg][/td90][td90]Name[/td90][td90]L.A. Woodard [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/US-flag.png[/fimg][/td90][td90]DoB[/td90][td90]6/3/97[/td90][td90]B/T[/td90][td90]S/R[/td90][td90]High Level[/td90][td90]A (2021)[/td90] Transactions, 5/24/2021 [td90]Direction[/td90][td90]GOING[/td90][td90]Transaction[/td90][td90]Signed Away to Minor League Contract by Colorado[/td90][th]Position Group[/th][th]=#BF80FF] Infielder[/th][td90][/td90][td90][fimg=90]https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-photos/image/upload/w_180,g_auto,c_fill/v1/people/681899/headshot/milb/current[/fimg][/td90][td90]Name[/td90][td90]L.A. Woodard [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/US-flag.png[/fimg][/td90][td90]DoB[/td90][td90]6/3/97[/td90] [td90]B/T[/td90][td90]S/R[/td90][td90]High Level[/td90][td90]A (2021)[/td90] We offer our apologies for being so very late with news of shortstop/utility player L.A. Woodward's release and subsequent acquisition by Colorady. Unsuprisingly, he has since been released by Colorado as well. The former 16th-rounder is, again, a dude for whom the Covid lockdowns could not havve come at a worse time. He's absolutely a noodle batter, hitting .223 with a blink-and-you'll-miss-it .268 slugging percentage. But he walked like nobody's business, compiling a .369 OBP, and stole like a bandit, sliding in safely 16 times in 17 tries as a pro, after stealing 24 in 26 attempts in the NCAA. That still leaves him a weak hitter, but good scores on those rate stats are hard to come by. A little more development time might have been nice.

I like how THAT'S ALMORA!'s design left open plenty o' real estate for the final four brass seal. That's a layout editor who know he or she had some hardware coming.

There's no stadium in the league that'll help a guy's game shine if he can't stay on the field. I'm more inclined to blame Fred Wilpon for hiring a jive-ass reality TV weight training guru. But I like Wright and I know he thinks about me a lot, so he's got a slot in my Hall of Fame, whatever the BBWAA and Cooperstown says.

I'm very much a Lou Whitaker proponent, and I think he had the better career to any fair observation, but he won't be on the ballot with Utley. But this ballot sure tells me that the BBWAA is not of a romantic mindset about Charlie Manuel's Phils. Pat Burrell also got Hubie'd on his lone appearance on the ballot.

Transactions, 8/1/2021 [td90]Direction[/td90][td90]GOING[/td90][td90]Transaction[/td90][td90]Released[/td90][th]Position Group[/th][th]=#BF80FF] Infielder[/th][td90][/td90][td90][fimg=90]http://www.milb.com/images/664987/t453/180x270/664987.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]Name[/td90][td90]Joe Genord [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/US-flag.png[/fimg][/td90][td90]DoB[/td90][td90]8/17/96[/td90][td90]B/T[/td90][td90]R/R[/td90][td90]High Level[/td90][td90]A (2021)[/td90] Joe was a corner infielder and catcher from South Florida U. with prodigious power who probably would have had more of a run at the majors had he not graduated during a pandemic. While he hit his share of homers, his .204 batting average in 2019 was followed by a .203 in 2021. Points for consistency but little else provided an argument for a continuing roster spot for the ninth-rounder from 2019.

He was Barry Bonds' hitting coach through his considerable prime (1995–2002). I don't know what he necessarily contributed to the overall product, but that's a heckuva stamp for any passport. I miss Met Hunter.

I tend to think he should be in the Mets Hall of Fame for signing a massive contract, going into the tank, and then dragging the best Phillies team ever down with him.

=Marshmallowmilkshake post_id=85176 time=1643235349 user_id=119]It's a shame Howard fell off so quickly. Seems like he got lost in the shuffle and deserved a little longer look.