Vic Sage

I am very willing to give Brodie points for choosing prudence over the splash on this one. He didn't choose prudence. He chose to offer Grandal 4/$60m. It was Grandal's agent's bad judgment that prevented that bad move, not Brodie's prudence.

It may be A taxi driver, but it's not THE taxi driver.

I would change its owners.

i can't argue with that result, if it holds up.

if we sign him AND Ramos, along with carrying Cespedes, d'Arnaud, Lagares, Matz and Wheeler, we'll need to keep Marcus Welby MD on speed dial.

Like it more for what we didn't do than for what we did. Now they should sign that defensive catcher, Maldonado, to cover the other 200 ABs.

Rockin' Doc wrote: I like this signing. Familia, Diaz, Gsellman, and Lugo should be a solid contingent to provide relief and close out games for Jake, Thor (surely the Mets aren't stupid enough to trade him), and Wheeler. Now the Mets need to add a reliable lefty to the pen. Zamora was impressive last year in a small sample size, but i don't want to have to count on him as the sole LHP in the pen. We need an established LHP to fill out the staff, along with Rule V guy, Dowdy, unless we put Vargas in the pen and put Lugo in the rotation.

Blackhawks were military heroes, but not SUPERheroes.

and, as i said, i'd rather keep Rosario and sign Grandal. That just costs money, and it doesn't create another hole to fill.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Rosario for Realmuto is just a fucking awful trade, in my opinion. It's not that the numbers don't suggest it would be an "upgrade," it's that the idea of flipping a 23 year-old homegrown guy whose best days are likely to come for a free-agent-to-be coming off a career year is just so distasteful, sorta like trading your top draft pick for a 36 year old Yankee steriod cheat yeah, except for being nothing like that. Realmuto is 27, not 36, with 2 full years of control remaining. He's not coming off a "career year"; his last season was just one more year of increasing productivity, with each year better than the last, resulting in an all-star and silver slugger season. He's just entering his prime and there is no reason to think he can't maintain or even continue to increase his production. Rosario is 23 and, he is all projection with little production so far. Yes, we would have 5 years of control, but if he doesn't live up to his projections, what good are they? Sure, he's got talent, but he wouldn't be the first prospect not to pan out. If you can get a 27-year old all-star catcher for him, i think you do that. I just don't think the Marlins would do that. Even Jeter's not that stupid. We'd have to include some other prospects, at least.

rumors are that he'll go to Oakland because (1) he's from Bay area, (2) is already getting paid by Toronto, so Oak would only have to pay the minimum, and (3) they're a good team that needs a 2bman, which he apparently has already expressed a willingness to be.

but frankly i'd rather just sign Grandal and keep Rosario.

Jordy Mercer just signed with the Tigers. So how about Jose Iglesias?

seawolf17 wrote: Vic Sage wrote: I wouldn't mind Rosario (plus pitching prospect) for Realmuto, because a lot of our top prospects are SSs (Giminez, Mauricio, Newton) and Rosario hasn't proven anything yet in the majors, while Realmuto has established himself as the best catcher in baseball at this point. So we'd be filling one hole, with the depth to fill the other. Or we could just sign Machado! This, absolutely. I'd do Rosario and Lugo for Realmuto, and go back to Cabrera for a year or two at short. But Miami's going to want more than that. Trade Rosario + Wheeler + one of our top remaining pitching prospects (Peterson, Szapucki, Kay, Richardson) for 2 years of Realmuto and a draft pick. Then, we put Lugo back in the rotation and sign some relievers (Miller, Ottavino, Robertson), along with either a stopgap SS (until one of our prospects is ready) or go all in on Machado (who can move to 3b in 2020). Nimmo / Lagares Realmuto / Plawecki Machado Cespedes Cano / Giminez Conforto Alonzo/D.Smith McNeil / Frazier P--

I wouldn't mind Rosario (plus pitching prospect) for Realmuto, because a lot of our top prospects are SSs (Giminez, Mauricio, Newton) and Rosario hasn't proven anything yet in the majors, while Realmuto has established himself as the best catcher in baseball at this point. So we'd be filling one hole, with the depth to fill the other. Or we could just sign Machado!

I'm splitting the difference.

Some modest proposals for revising process: 1 - Every player who has ever stepped onto a major league field during a game is eligible 5 years after their last appearance (whether in jail or suspended or suspected or dead); 2 - Expand the criteria for BBWAA membership to include more online journalists and purge the roster of BBWAA voting members of anyone who hasn't covered baseball professionally (in print or online) for at least 5 of the past 10 years; 3- The HOF must issue directives to more specifically define what factors may and may not be considered by the writers in their votes (any voter who violates the guidelines can be suspended or removed), but voters can vote for as many or as few players as they choose; 4 - All ballots are made public; 5 - Change the Veterans Committee into the HOF Review Board, to assess players who have fallen off the ballot, or were previously ineligible for some reason, and to consider executives, managers, umps, writers, others, for enshrinement. The Board should consist of 20 members, on a rotating basis, comprised of [5] execs from the HOF office, including its prez (it's their museum), [5] from the MLB office, including commissioner (it's their sport), [5] HOFers (it was their job), and [5] Historians/statisticians (it's their expertise), with no "media" (they had their vote) and no owners (they have direct financial interest in vote). The Board can only consider candidates nominated by the 4 voting blocs. The Board's 75% vote threshold increases to 80% to elect a player who has had at least 10 years on the BBWAA ballot, and is reduced to 60% to restore a player to the BBWAA ballot; 6 - Players go on the ballot for 10 years; they fall off if less than 5% vote in a given year, but can be reinstated by HOF Review Board for up to 5 additional years (15 year total maximum); 7 - The HOF can create tiers or wings within its museum, including the HOF plaque room, for historical purposes (deadball era, WWII, post-expansion, steroids era, etc.) or to identify suspended players, or players voted in by Vet Committee, etc.,

If McNeil keeps hitting anywhere close to what he did last year, Frazier will end up getting the majority of ABs at 1b, unless he's already done and Dom shows some serious improvement. I think its most likely that Alonzo pushes them both aside by the middle of the season.

they've already got JT Rivera for that role. The man can hit. And Frazier could end up in this role, too. You don't expend resources on your 25th man.

Nimmo McNeil (3b) Cano Conforto Frazier (1b) Lagares Plawecki deGrom Rosario I wish we could break up the LHs and the RHs, but the RHs suck, and you don't want to give them more ABs. and Rosario shouldn't bat lead-off until he gets his OB% at least up to .300! I think they're going to sign Grandal, which should help. And when Alonzo comes up and Cespedes comes back, it could look more like this after the all-star break: Nimmo McNeil Cano Cespedes Conforto Grandal Alonzo P- Rosario With our pitching, this is a competitive lineup.

Nymr83 wrote: I took WTF. I would be "neutral" if the Mets actually followed this up with a free agent spending spree to try and win now. I have doubts they will. exactly this. and how often does THAT happen?

i haven't said anything in this thread because i was hoping it was all just a horrible dream. But i just listened to parts of the press conference, so i guess it has happened. I hated Cano when he was a MFY. I hated him as a Mariner. I hate him now. He's a low-effort guy with a history of late nights. He's getting heavier and slower and, without the `roids, his late 30s won't be pretty. And we're now stuck holding the $100m bag for him. Sure, you can look at it as a Bruce+Swarzak/Cano+20m deal, and a Jelenic+Dunn+Bautista/Diaz deal, but both deals suck. I have no faith in Cano being significantly more useful than Bruce + Swarzak over the next 2 years, and then it seems likely he'll be a net negative in years 3-5, at $20m/year. Diaz is young and productive and will be relatively inexpensive overall (even including his arb years) but, as a RP, his production has a great degree of volatility. I am loathe to give up on a CF prospect with all-star potential (not to mention a promising pitching prospect to boot) for anybody except another everyday player that fills a need, much less a guy who is going to throw 60IP/year. Sure, prospects are prospects, not players, but he was a #6 overall pick just last year and every indicator is pointing up on this kid. Considering the number of decent BP arms on the market right now, this is a massive overpay, even to me, the former president of TITTS. BVW has pushed his chips in the middle of the table but he's still a few chips short, so lets see if Jeffie buys him another stack.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: yes: Bonds Clemens Halladay Mussina M.Ramirez Rivera Schilling Sosa Walker [yikes! what a class of A-holes, Roiders and Yankmees!] maybe/borderline: Helton Rolen Wagner probably not: Berkman Jones Kent McGriff Pettitte Sheffield M.Tejada Vizquel no: Ankiel Bay F.Garcia Garland Hafner Lowe Oswalt Pierre polanco V.wells Youklis M.Young Undecided on Martinez? oops. oversight. No, he's definitely on my ballot, no indecision there.

yes: Bonds Clemens Halladay E.Martinez [on edit] Mussina M.Ramirez Rivera Schilling Sosa Walker [yikes! what a class of A-holes, Roiders and Yankmees!] maybe/borderline: Helton Rolen Wagner probably not: Berkman Jones Kent McGriff Pettitte Sheffield M.Tejada Vizquel no: Ankiel Bay F.Garcia Garland Hafner Lowe Oswalt Pierre polanco V.wells Youklis M.Young

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I didn't know that! I thought it was a theatrical release in Australia. yes, it was theatrically released in a few countries, but not in the U.S.