Edgy MD

Hack Wilson, man! I mean, I know he probably only wore a number a few years, but there's your first Cub legend of the number-wearing era.

I don't want to diminish Bruce Sutter's work as a Cardinal. He won a World Series with them, and closed out Game Seven, but Sutter the Cub was a force of nature. It was with them that he won the Cy Young Award. He didn't even flee as a free agent, but was traded for Leon Durham plus. Did he leave bad blood behind?

Looking high and low for thumbnail photos, but the Mets appear to have signed (reports differ) 10 guys to open the international period. In a departure from the usual strategy, the Mets went big in the outfield, with the their top three signees — Simon Juan, Willy Fañas, and Jeffrey Rosa — all jardineros. Juan is considered the five-tool prize (on the day he was born, Tom Glavine of the Mets locked up in a pitchers duel against John Smoltz of the Braves), but Fañas has that switch-hitting thing going for him. Stay tuned.

Good one.

Bruce Sutter.

Nolan Ryan.

Every time he started I thought that the Mets were gonna lose. He felt like someone who was worse than a zero WAR SP. Like Jared Eickhoff perhaps? That was damn near true about Jerad Eickhoff. The Mets did win a single game he started, but it was after he got battered around and the defense booted the ball for 3 2/3 innings, but the Mets fought back and won https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN202107190.shtml15-11 in extra innings. Say what you will about Corey Glory, but he was no Jerad Eickhoff.

Transactions, 1/13/2022 [td90]Direction[/td90][td90]GOING[/td90] [td90]Transaction[/td90][td90]Signed Away by U of Minnesota as Student Assistant Coach[/td90] [th]Position Group[/th][th]=#FF8000]Relief Pitcher[/th] [td90][/td90][td90][fimg=90]http://www.milb.com/images/592874/generic/180x270/592874.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]Name[/td90][td90]Tom Windle [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/US-flag.png[/fimg][/td90][td90]DoB[/td90][td90]1/20/97[/td90][td90]B/T[/td90][td90]R/R[/td90][td90]High Level[/td90][td90]AAA (2021)[/td90] It was no great press release for the Mets, but it was stop-the-presses stuff in the Gopher State last fall. Tom Windle, coming off a not-much-of-a-show season in AAA, the same level he's been grinding away at since 2018, elected to return to his alma mater to finish his degree. In doing so, it looks like he's working off the tuition as a "student assistant coach." Tom is still a BMoC despite not having played for the Golden Gophs since 2013, as he is still the last player to throw a no-hitter on behalf of the school. Transactions, 1/13/2022 [td90]Direction[/td90][td90]GOING[/td90][td90]GOING[/td90][td90]Transaction[/td90][td90]Signed Away by SFG to Minor League Contract[/td90][td90]Signed Away by KCR to Minor League Contract[/td90][th]Position Group[/th][th]=#FF8000]Relief Pitcher[/th][th]=#FF8000]Relief Pitcher[/th][td90][/td90][td90][fimg=90]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Oswalt-Corey-2019.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90][fimg=90]https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-photos/image/upload/w_213,q_100/v1/people/527055/headshot/67/current[/fimg][/td90][td90]Name[/td90][td90]Corey Oswalt [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/US-flag.png[/fimg][/td90][td90]Arodys Vizcaino [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Dominican_Republic.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]DoB[/td90][td90]9/3/93[/td90][td90][PTEXT=8]11/13/90[/PTEXT][/td90][td90]B/T[/td90][td90]R/R[/td90][td90]R/R[/td90][td90]High Level[/td90][td90]MLB (2021)[/td90][td90]AAA (2021)[/td90] Arod threw only 7 2/3 innings for the Syracuse Mets last season, but in striking out 14 batters, he made something like the best of them. He's got a lot of experience, including 50 major league saves. He'll be looking to collect #51 as a Royal.

Successful sacrifices in his only two plate appearances in 2021. HEY-YO!

I guess my idea would be to get his toaster gif giffing.

The first three 55's in team history were a coach (Sheriff Robinson), a manager (Joe Frazier), and a coach-manager (Frank Howard). It was an untouchable number for players until Orel Hershiser pulled it on in 1999, and now it's a red-hot commodity, with seven players donning it in the 21st century — including two who've worn it twice — plus four more coaches. I'd like to make the argument that he was the best of them, but that would take some real mental gymnastics.

Corey Edward Oswalt, following four partial seasons with the Mets — including 14 starts and four wins — has been signed away in the dead of night to a minor league deal with San Francisco. Surely he's left dozens of indelible memories! [fimg=650]https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91y1zY5rf8L._AC_SL1500_.jpg[/fimg]

Transactions, 1/13/2022 [td90]Direction[/td90][td90]COMING[/td90][td90]COMING[/td90] [td90]Transaction[/td90][td90]Signed Away from BOS to Minor League Contract[/td90][td90] Re-Signed to Minor League Contract[/td90][th]Position Group[/th][th]=#FF8000]Relief Pitcher[/th][th]=#FF8000]Relief Pitcher[/th][td90][/td90][td90][fimg=90]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/claudio-alex-2022.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90][fimg=90]http://www.milb.com/images/668665/generic/180x270/668665.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]Name[/td90][td90]Álex Claudio [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Puerto_Rico.png[/fimg][/td90][td90]Stephen Nogosek [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/US-flag.png[/fimg][/td90][td90]DoB[/td90][td90]1/31/92[/td90][td90]1/11/95[/td90][td90]B/T[/td90][td90]L/L[/td90][td90]R/R[/td90][td90]High Level[/td90][td90]=#000000]MLB (2021)[/td90][td90]=#000000]MLB (2021)[/td90] I don't rightly say I know why bad seasons happen to good pitchers, but Álex Claudio used to be a good pitcher. He was right up until he led the league in appearances with the Brewers in 2019. Last year he was bad, and bad in a couple of different uniforms. I wish I could say with confidence that he still had something left, but barring further changes, he comes to camp (and be assured, he will be invited to camp) not only as the team's highest ranking lefty, but really with a stronger résumé than any but the Mets top relievers — Castro, Diaz, Lugo, May, and Trevor Williams. He also is one of those guys who pitches winter ball every season, even if he already led the league in appearances, and he hasn't really made a mark in Puerto Rico the last few years. So there's good reason to be optimistic, and good reason to be pessimistic, and If he's not with the team by May, they'll probably conclude he's finished and move on. If he does make the team, however, he has a great opportunity to be the top lefthanded-relieving Álex with an accent over the A in Mets history, needing to catch Álex Torres — the guy who would take the mound in head armor — and his 34 1/3 solid innings in 2015.

Keeps that Addison Reed legacy alive.

Everything you've written there is both untrue and malicious. I'm a moderator. I'm asking you to please moderate your tone.

That's pretty much right. It was the longest home run drought of his career. I think the stock market was affected.

Carter had that two-homer game in Game Four of the 1986 series that evened the series up, and then he had the hit and scored in the last-inning comeback in Game Six. This should not obscure the fact that Conforto had a terrific 2015 World Series and was, by most measures, the stronger post-season performer. I guess that can be emblematic of the reality of Carter's Mets career. His successes were memorable enough that some seemingly need to be reminded just how many opportunities — and failures — it took to compile them. I had a friend who was a baseball fan but not a Mets fan. He nonetheless lived in New York in the eighties and couldn't not turn them on from time to time. He said that, for years, every time he tuned in, somebody was going on about how Carter was finally working his way out of that long slump he was in.

Yeah, that one wasn't even particularly close.

Edgy MD wrote: I don't think that was an unreasonable inquiry. Which makes you a very unreasonable person. Thanks so much for affirming that suspicion. We're trying to have a discussion. Can you please stop?

MOFo vets Old Original JB and Hillbilly in the same thread.

Am I looking at twin models here?

=kcmets post_id=84498 time=1642025198 user_id=53] I'm pleased as punch that #17 is being retired. I'm asking Edgy to explain his post. He won't, he doesn't like direct questions.

Continuing to Spitball: How about naming the Complex League Mets "The Kids"? That sounds like something that would make the Florida-based family proud, make the team a more attractive ticket to retired Mets fans, perpetuate the legacy of his defining nickname, and be Carter-specific in memorializing the 2005 Gulf Coast Mets team skippered to a lofty .698 winning percentage and GCL championship. Carter gets a distinctive honor, and you hopefully never have to hear again about how not retiring his number is a passive or active insult to him.

And it's worth saying, because often enough it isn't considered, but there are plenty of ways to honor a player, and continue to acknowledge him as long as the franchise lasts, without retiring a number. Name a seating section after him, name a minor league stadium after him, name an award after him, name a spring training workout field after him, name the bullpen after him, name a road within the stadium complex after him, etc. Build a statue, start a scholarship fund, donate a building to his college or high school, support and sponsor and promote a foundation the family may have started in his name. It's really do-able and it adds distinction and meaning to an honor where retired numbers have been a black-or-white thing.

It certainly shouldn't be a disqualfier, but it kind of works against the case for retiring a number when it was re-assigned shortly after the player shed it, and has been worn by several other players in the interim. I tend to think there should be a soft retirement for every player's number, and the digits should remain mothballed at least while the player is active, readily available for him to reclaim should he return to the Mets. And then, as available sub-three-digit numbers start to wane, these non-retired-but-set-aside numbers start to get re-integrated in the reverse order of the impact on the franchise of the last player to wear them. When a guy has been off the team retired and/or retired for 15 or more years, and his number hasn't been re-assigned under these terms, the official retirement of his number ultimately becomes a fait accompli.