The Hot Corner

I just read through this entire thread start to finish, as I am catching up with posting since being away on vacation the past week. As a long time member (aren't we all?) I would hate to see this place die away. I understand that no one member (or group of members) "owns" this forum, but some have put far more time, effort, and finances towards it's existence over the years. So if Edgy, feels he can no longer devote the time and energy it requires to keep this site running, then it is incumbent upon others of us to either step up and help out in any way possible to keep our community afloat, or failing that, we must accept his decision on how the site continues in the future. I personally, am not computer savvy.* As to my lack of computer knowledge, I had to ask my wife what SEO stood for when it was mentioned several times. Armed with the basic definition she gave me, I can understand why the name CranePoolForum does not appear high on search engine queries for Mets baseball information/sites. Possibly, a name change (or possibly hashtag like links)* to things likes MetsCiti, CitiBaseball or MetsForum may gain more hits and possibly attract new members. Of course, I am speaking out my ignorance, so I not sure if such things are even possible. Is it possible to purchase additional domain names that feed to the same forum site in attempts to attract people searching Mets related content. I am willing to assist financially, if it will help to add exposure, possibly attract new members over time and keep the place alive. Another thought, is there a way to reach out and try to reconnect with former members that have drifted away or left? Just knowing their presence is missed (and that some others are no longer here) may get a few to possibly, consider engaging with the site again. To that last point, it was great to see Johnny Lunchbucket make an appearance in this thread. Pease don't be a stranger. *=I am certainly one of the least technologically savvy posters participating on the forum. So understand, some of what I a propose in this post may not be possible, but I am trying to keep our "family" intact with the limited computer understanding that I possess.

This is pretty much what I was thinking. So many people, myself included, tend to hoard objects for sentimental reasons. Ultimately, the objects are often stashed away out of sight so that no one sees, or stuck on shelves that we pass so often that they are "essentially "hidden in plain sight". Often, it is probably wiser to sell them while they have value so someone else can hoard them away.

I liked Smith. He was pretty effective, when healthy.

Not an unusual position in baseball. There are currently only 2 teams with captains, Aaron Judge for the Yankees and Salvador Perez for the Royals. The only thing that is may be unusual is stating that there will never be a team captain.

I tend to agree with you. Pham was better than I had expected during his time with the Mets. Solid 4th outfielder, but like Tyrone Taylor, not really good enough to be a starter on a regular basis. Lucchessi seemed to pitch well on the limited opportunities that the Mets gave him. I always felt he was doing it with smoke and mirrors, but outs are outs. It is tough for a pitcher to earn time these days if they don't throw 94-95.

Thankfully, mine also.

The Padres are very active at the start of spring training as they have signed Nick Castellanos for league min. of $780,000 (since Phillies are paying him to go away). He is probably worth taking a flyer on as a DH and OF depth at that price, assuming his attitude is good. If not, they can cut him loose without it being a big deal.

Griffin Canning has reportedly signed a 1 year deal for $4.25 mil. with the Padres, pending a physical. I wouldn't have minded the Mets grabbing him for that. You can never have too much starting pitching. With Megill out for the season and the physically fragile Kodai Senga likely to breakdown, the Mets have to hope that Tong (or possibly Scott) is ready for MLB action this season.

In an article discussing Soto's move to left field, Antony DiComo says that Carson Benge, Tyrone Taylor, Brett Baty, and MJ Melendez are the top candidates to man right field for Mets. I think the Mets are heavily counting on Benge to ultimately become the right fielder, whether that is on opening day or later in the season remains to be seen.

You can never have too many relievers, particularly lefties. Anthony Banda signed a new 1 year contract ($1.625 million) with the Dodgers in January. The Dodgers DFAd him this afternoon. Probably worth a look since, if he works out, the Mets would only owe him the league minimum of $740,000. If he doesn't work out, then you cut your losses. I guess the issue would be 40 man roster space.

Cleon and Angela have been community leaders in the Africatown section of Mobile where they grew up, met as youngsters and still reside.. They never "forgot" their roots. Congratulations to them on 61 years.

The first MLB game I attended was at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, MN on Monday, August 7, 1972. My Little League team made a trip down for the afternoon game against the Texas Rangers. My biggest memory of the game was that the first batter of the game, Dave Nelson, drew a walk from Jim Perry. Nelson stole a lot of bases that season (51) and after a few throws over he was picked off for the first out of the game. Two future Hall of Famers played in the game. Harmon Killebrew took the pick off throw at first base and applied the tag. Rod Carew played second base for the Twins. I remember that the Twins won and that someone (BBRef. boxscore shows me it was Bobby Darwin) hit a home run for the Twins. The rest of the game is lost to the fog of time due to youthful inattentiveness from goofing with my teammates.

That is my take. If the Tigers find themselves not doing well in late July, then they could look to move Skubal at the trade deadline to a contending team.

I am assuming the Baseball Prospectus list is for rankings within the Mets system and the ESPN list is for rankings for all of MLB prospects (as is the Athletic rankings by Frayed Knot).

I will always associate Vlad Guerrero with the Expos. He spent the majority of his career with them and accumulated more hits, doubles, triples, HRs, RBIs, higher BA, SBs, WAR than during his time with the Angels. He did win his one MVP award during his first season with the Angels, however. To me, he was and always will be a Montreal Expo in my mind.

Carlos played for so many teams during the course of his long and accomplished career. I wondered how they could determine the team that best represented his career. However, after looking at his career stats there were really only 2 reasonable options. Carlos spent 7 seasons* with both the Kansas City Royals and the New York Mets. During his time with the Mets, he appeared in more games and amassed more at bats, walks, doubles, HRs, RBIs & WAR. Many of his stats were similar during his time as a Royal where he accumulated more hits, triples, and SBs. A reasonable case could be made for his entering Cooperstown representing either organization. I'm pleased that he will go in representing the Mets. *Parts of seven seasons.

Eugenio Saurez returns to the Cincinnati Reds on a 1 year/$15 Mil. deal with a mutual option for 2027.

The recent free agent signing of Luis Arraez sparked my interest. As a 3 time batting champion with a career .317 batting average there seemed to be very little interest in him. In this age of "launch angle" and emphasis on home runs and little concern for high strike out rates, it seems that guys that consistently makes contact and piles up singles and doubles just doesn't have much of a market. I decided to compare Arraez to 4 great contact hitters of the modern era. I know that Arraez is not in the elite company of Rod Carew, Wade Boggs, Tony Gwynn, and Ichiro Suzuki, but I wanted to see how closely his numbers aligned to theirs through his 7 year career. I used the average production over a 162 game season for the career of each of the great hitters as provided by Baseball Reference. -----------------------------AVG. / OBP / SLG. / OPS / OPS+/WAR Rod Carew . (19 seasons) .328 / .393 / .429 / .822 / 131 / 5.3 Wade Boggs (18 seasons) .328 / .415 / .443 / .858 / 131 / 6.1 Tony Gwynn (20 seasons) .338 / .388 / .459/ .847 / 132 / 4.6 Ichiro Suzuki (19 seasons) .311/ .355 / .402/ .757 / 107 / 3.7 Luis Arraez ....(7 seasons) .317/ .363 /.413/ .777 / 115 / 3.2 First for clarification, I do not view Arraez as having the same value as the 4 Hall of Fame greats I am comparing him with. They are simply similar type of hitters, in that they consistently made contact with low strike out rates and hit for high averages. What I find interesting, is how closely at this point in his career Arraez offensive numbers match up with Ichiro's career. Ichiro's ceiling was certainly much higher and his career numbers, as did all of the HOF stars, tailed of at the end of his long careers. Ichiro also won 10 Gold Gloves inn Right Field while Tony Gwynn 5 Gold Gloves as an outfielder. Carew, Gwynn, and Ichiro also stole bases and brought speed on the base paths. These are additional skills that Arraez does not possess. The closest match to Arraez that I could come up with off the top my head was Brett Butler. Butler had was a good player and had a solid career. Brett Butler (17 seasons) .290 / .377 / .376 / .753 / 110 / 3.6 Butler again brought the stolen base and speed on the base paths. Lastly, I was rather surprised to see how Ichiro's career offensive averages lagged behind those of his HOF brethren and how closely Brett Butler's numbers compare to those of Suzuki.

Plus also Marcus Semien! If that guy brings nothing else, gold glove-caliber defense on the Mets is something we haven’t seen a lot of recently. Oops! I did not mean to overlook Semien. He should provide stellar defense at second base. He and Lindor should give the Mets a very good double-play combo. It is said that teams need to be defensively strong up the middle. With Lindor, Semien, Robert, and Alvarez/Torrens the Mets should be very solid defensively up the middle (particularly when Torrens is behind the plate. With Taylor as the 4th outfielder, he can cover left field, in late innings to further solidify the defense when protecting a lead.

I liked him. He brought defensive versatility and seem provided very good defense wherever that positioned him. He was an offensive weapon as a pinch runner. I liked his energy and versatility. He will likely have more opportunity to get significant playing time with the White Sox. I wish him well in the future.

If Polanco can be near average at first base, then the defense should be improved. I expect Bichette to be at least league average at thrd base. Which would be a vast improvement over Vientos and as good or possibly a little better than Baty. Robert is still a very good defensive center fielder. Left field will be interesting part of the new defensive alignment, but like Alonso at first base, Nimmo was far below average defensively and had an absolute rag arm. Benge would, by all reports, would be a vast improvement over Nimmo. Baty, should he be in LF has the athleticism to be adequate which also would be a big improvement. Should Baty spend some time at first base, I expect he would be better than Alonso. So there she be improved defensively over what we trotted out most days last season.

Good for Bo and good for the Mets.

Reports have The Giants signing CF Harrison Bader (2 years/$20.5 mil.) Seems like a reasonably good pick up for the Giants who definitely needed to improve their outfield defense from last season. Bader should help immensely in that department.

Nice low risk signing, with potential for significant upside. Hopefully, he can regain some of his old form and give the Mets some solid innings. If not, he could potentially be a good influence (hopefully) on the Mets young pitchers.

I will miss Jett. Aside from the fact he was my adoptee, he packed a lot of talent into his small frame. Defensive versatility, very good speed, good plate discipline and surprising power for a short* guy. I think he has a chance to be a solid MLB player. *As a 5'6" 172 lb. lead off hitter, my high school coach once told a scouting college coach who commented on my stature, "He's short, but I don't consider him small."