The Hot Corner

I'm a little like the tough "Rusian judges" when it comes to Hall of Fame voting. I believe there are far too many enshrined that were good, but far from the greats of the game or their era. It is with that kind of mindset, I would vote for the following: Adrian Beltre Carlos Beltran Todd Helton Joe Mauer I'm on the fence for Billy Wagner. If only Wright could have had a few more injury free years. Put that man in the Mets Hall of Fame.

Well, it would be hard for him not to improve on the Mets dismal draft record of late. I guess that is why the so many of the Mets top prospects are the ones the team traded for before the trade deadline this season.

The Cub fans obviously delusional.

I have always liked Beltran. I hated that he was involved in the sign stealing scandal in Houston. I am glad he has a role with the Mets, but I'm not sure what qualifications or experience he has that would make him a good GM. I think he is a better fit as a hitting instructor. I guess we will see how things unfold in the future.

being a third base coach is a tough, rather thankless job. They are constantly second guessed regarding their in game decisions. I really liked Cora and felt he was very good at making in game decisions. I hate to see him leave.

Alfonso was one of my favorite players during his time with the Mets. I hope he has a wonderful birthday.

I always liked Canha. He seemed a decent guy who gave his all every game. I wish him all the best in Detroit.

DeGrom and Scherzer got a ring, but ultimately they each contributed little to the Rangers title. DeGrom was his usual self, dominating on the rare occasion that he is healthy enough to pitch, then collects a massive salary to be a cheerleader the bulk of the year. He made 6 starts as a Ranger going 2-0 with a 2.67 ERA over 30 innings. He was done for the year before the start of May. Scherzer pitched well for the Rangers after the trade. In 8 regular season starts he went 4-2 with a 3.20 ERA over 45 innings. Then the post season rolled around and he basically disappeared. He made 3 post-season starts and went 0-1 with a 6.52 ERA over 14.1 innings. He did his Roberto Duran impression and declared "no mas" after 5.1 innings of Game 3 of the World Series. DeGrom was signed to carry the rotation, not surprisingly, he didn't. I like DeGrom. He is a generational talent, but the Rangers got about what they (and I) reasonably expected they would from him. Scherzer, is still good, but he is old and unreliable at this point in his career. He was intended to solidify the Rangers rotation for the stretch run and post-season. He did that to some extent, but to a great extent was unable to deliver in the post-season. I guess I sound bitter. They got a World Series ring, but they are far from the reason why the Rangers ended up the champs. Good for them and the fans of the Rangers, but I don't miss or long for the return of either of them.

Frayed Knot wrote: ...The utility award should be instead of a full time position award, not in addition to IMO. I agree. The utility award should be exclusively for those that played 3 (or more) defensive positions with distinction without necessarily be a regular starter at any one of them.

McNeil was very adept at going to the opposite field and exploiting an empty left side of the infield with the shift in 2022. Without that gaping opening to punch balls through he often seemed at a loss. Balls that were hits in 2022 often became 6-3 groundouts in 2023. When he was jammed with the hard stuff it often became a swinging strike, a 4-3 ground out, or a pop up. He did seem to have fond himself in the final 5-6 weeks of the season. He is a very good utility player. He can capably play second base and either corner outfield position. I see no reason that he could not be a capable third baseman as well with some time at the position. Assuming Mauricio can develop into a solid second baseman, as I imagine the Mets hope and envision, I see McNeil as more of a super sub (2nd, 3rd, LF, RF, LH PH, & DH). He should see substantial playing time in such a role. I'm just not sold on his bat, as an everyday corner outfielder.

Bravo. https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fd1ymz67w5raq8g.cloudfront.net%2FPictures%2F1024x536%2F1%2F9%2F6%2F519196_gettyimages1270593514_590256.jpg&tbnid=rq5L7NULs4uCwM&vet=12ahUKEwjr6rGnyoOCAxX3HGIAHc1QDUIQMygDegQIARB4..i&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fedu.rsc.org%2Feveryday-chemistry%2Fwhat-state-of-matter-is-fire%2F4015393.article&docid=g06qW6oc3v5c9M&w=1024&h=536&q=fire&ved=2ahUKEwjr6rGnyoOCAxX3HGIAHc1QDUIQMygDegQIARB4>

I'm not sure, but are the Mets allowed to score in any manner other than the occasional home run?

Wow, this Mets team is epically bad right now. The Braves are showing just how huge the talent gap is between themselves the Mets. Worse yet, the Braves are reasonably young and knowing their history, they will almost assuredly bring up yet another youngster from their farm system that becomes a major contributor and ROY contender in 2024.

=dgwphotography post_id=134686 time=1691864972 user_id=78] I'm actually in a bar watching my hometown play in the softball little league world series

Marte has a groin strain, so he was placed on 10 day IL.

Well, at least we have our "ace" starting this game.

I can see roughly half of them. The others just have a small caricature of a card/page followed by the word image.

=G-Fafif post_id=134186 time=1691335542 user_id=55] Birds check in, they don't check out. We hope. LF Jeff McNeil SS Francisco Lindor 1B Pete Alonso RF DJ Stewart C Omar Narvaez 3B Mark Vientos DH Brett Baty 2B Danny Mendick CF Rafael Ortega — LHP Jose Quintana

=nymr83 post_id=134163 time=1691292185 user_id=54] so the Mets are REALLY incentivized to tank

It is going to be a long rest of the season. It appears that victories will be a rare commodity (even rarer than April to July).

Pitching for the Mets this season, Verlander was accustomed to anemic offensive support. The Astros offense went AWOL. I guess they wanted to make him feel at home.

It's not a strike only when the batted ball comes into contact with anything that isn't a part of the catcher's body before the catcher can control the baseball. That sound about right to me.

I thought Pham was a nice signing. I expected he would provide depth in the outfield. Little did I expect him to surpassMarte and Canha and become our best corner outfielder. He definitely was better than I expected.

I guess time will tell whether or not the Mets will be serious players in the free agent market.

The picture of intensity. Was pretty good in 2022, though he seemed to run out of gas down the stretch. Very inconsistent in 2023. Depending more on guile and sheer determination, rather than great stuff, at this point in his career.