Vic Sage

MIKE PIAZZA LOS ANGELES, N.L. 1992-1998; FLORIDA, N.L. 1998; NEW YORK, N.L. 1998 – 2005; SAN DIEGO, N.L. 2006; OAKLAND, A.L. 2007 62ND ROUND DRAFT PICK BY L.A. DODGERS BECAME 1993 N.L. ROOKIE OF YEAR, 10-TIME SILVER SLUGGER, AND 12-TIME ALL-STAR. HIT RECORD 396 HOME RUNS AS A CATCHER (427 OVERALL), WITH A .308 LIFETIME BATTING AVERAGE, 1048 RUNS, 1335 RBI, AND .922 OPS (ALL-TIME LEADER AMONG CATCHERS WHEN HE RETIRED). LED DODGERS TO 1995 N.L. WESTERN DIVISION TITLE AND 1996 N.L. WILD-CARD; FUELED N.Y. METS’ RUN TO 1999 N.L. EASTERN DIVISION TITLE AND 2000 N.L. PENNANT; FINISHED CAREER BY HELPING S.D. PADRES TO 2006 N.L. WESTERN DIVISION TITLE. HIS POST-9/11 GAME-WINNING HOME RUN AT CITIFIELD PROVED CATHARTIC FOR NEW YORK CITY AND THE NATION. ALSO, A METROXEXUAL HEADBANGER WITH BACNE, DOGGED BY PERSISTANT RUMORS OF HOMOSEXUALITY AND STEROIDS USE… BUT HE NEVER GOT CAUGHT, SO WE GUESS HE DIDN'T DO IT.

Sandy is playing it exactly right. There is no point chasing middle relievers, particularly with the system depth we have in pitching arms. I'd rather see Josh Smoker get a shot than throw $$ down the bullpen rabbit hole.

you don't think Vlad will get in eventually? or just on first ballot? Because he's getting in, and he won't have to wait long. He was one of the most dominant hitters of his era and his rate numbers are better than Griffey's... he just didn't hang around for a decade of declining play.

a LHed bat off the bench isn't a priority? Well, who do we have there now? Assuming a RHed starting pitcher (which is mostly what a team faces), the team will have all its lefties starting, and have Lagares, Tejada, Flores, Plawecki and Cambell (or whatever RHed hitting OFer/1bman they are about to sign to replace him (Pearce, Raburn,etc.). Sure, if a LHP starts, you'll have some lefties on the bench, but mostly we won't. They've replaced Nieuhenheis with DeAza, whose going to split time with Lagares (and give Grandy a blow occasionally), unless Lagares gets off to a hot start or deAza sucks, in which case he'll be the LH on the bench, but if he sucks, why is having him on the bench a good idea? Walker for Murphy is a wash, but Cabrera was a bad idea. Flores and Tejada can give us what Cabrera is going to give us (which is not much), and that money could've contributed toward an impact bat in the OF, while signing Johnson (who can play 1b/2b/3b/LF/RF) would've given us cheap depth and flexibility, with an experienced, McEwing type attitude.

As i recall, the `73 team was a bad team that got hot at the end of the season to push their record up to .500, snuck into the playoffs and then their great pitching carried them to a 7th game. The `15 team was a .500 team that got hot at the end of the season to push their record up to 90 wins and win the division going away. Their great pitching wasn't enough to get them to a game 7. The `73 team was the last gasp of the `69 Championship team. It fell apart, in part, because M.Donald Grant didn't hold with this uppity, new-fangled "free agency" thing erupting on his plantation, and so traded away his best players, rather than paying them. The `15 team is the first gasp of a great new core, but is being abandoned by the Wilpons, who are unwilling or unable to pay the money necessary to surround this core with the kind of talent necessary to take the next step.

RealityChuck wrote: I wouldn't call this his best (that's still Pulp Fiction, but he still hasn't made a bad movie. DEATHPROOF and FOUR ROOMS were both bad. JACKIE BROWN is saved by a great Robert Forster performance. The rest of his stuff is good to great. I'm looking forward to seeing this one this weekend.

i have it Murphy, Cespedes and Duda (25-24-23), because Murphy's post-season puts him over the top, Cespedes' impact turned the team around and Duda, while putting up somewhat superior numbers, was such an extreme hot/cold streak guy, that he often hurt us as much as he helped us. When we were consistently losing low-scoring games in the middle of the season, he could've been the difference but he was an automatic out for long stretches. And anybody who watched the whole season can reasonably come to the same conclusion. A 3-run HR that makes a 6-2 lead into a 9-2 lead is nice, but a 2-run double that turns a 2-1 loss into a 3-2 win is nicer. All hits are not created equal so just looking at season totals doesn't tell the whole story.

dislike. I think Cabrera is actually a step down offensively from Flores at this point based on their respective career trajectories, and Cabrera's defensive edge seems slight, based on Flores' second half defensive improvement. Sure, Walker is a defensive upgrade at 2b, but not a huge one, given his limited range. And offensively, they're practically a wash (Walker with more SLG and Murphy more OB). Then throw in the $6m for DeAza, $7.25m for Colon and $4m for Blevins and one has to wonder whether a significant chunk of the money we're spending for all these guys couldn't have been put to better use by acquiring an impact hitter, given our incredibly limited resources, and using younger and cheaper players to fill those backup positions. For example, i'd rather have gone into the season with Flores and Herrera up the middle (or Tejada/Flores), Niese as the 5th starter and Heyward in CF rather than what we've ended up with. In other words, the Mets have spent over $25m for next season (while dumping Niese's $10m contract), and we've picked up a situational LHRP, a 5th starter (until Wheeler comes back; then Colon is a long man), a 4th OFer (who'll get starter's minutes because Lagares sucks), and a mediocre DP combo that isn't significantly better than what we already had last year. And the only other move they are likely to move is to pick up a RH OFer/1bman for depth, like Pearce or Raburn. The only thing that is keeping me from "hate" is that there's still time to fix this... not that i expect them, too, but i can wait.

that's not true actually. That IS true, actually, and i would have absolutely no problem proving a copyright violation here. In fact, it's one of the things i do for a living. As to the unlikelihood of anybody wanting to prosecute, or even issue a take down notice, yes, i agree. It's extremely unlikely. But that's not really the point, is it?

damn, i missed all the good stuff.

fair use has criteria. Reprinting the whole article doesn't fall within it.

Totally agree -- the reposting of other's work en toto is not cool.

cleverly told and terrifying, with some great performances.

A "return to form" is one thing; the regurgitation of the same story mechanics and plot points is another. I think it was a reasonable expectation for the movie to continue the adventure, not repeat it. And i won't defend the prequels, but (1) the third one wasn't bad, and the 2nd one is not terrible, (2) the problems were more in the scripting and acting than the plots per se*, and (3) they were judged by the standards set by the original trilogy, which were impossibly high, and this one is being judged by the standards of the prequel trilogy, which are ridiculously low. * (with the exception of "midi-chlorians", which were a terrible idea.)

with all the time and money at their disposal, remaking the original was the best idea Disney and JJ could come up with? Say what you want about Lucas, but he had the vision to see the story unfold... this didn't unfold, it folded back on itself, regurgitating every single trope of the original. Sure, it was well executed, but that's a pretty low bar. feh.

30 - Granderson 29 - deGrom 28 - Harvey 27 - Syndergaard 26 - Familia 25 - Murphy 24 - Cespedes 23 - Duda 22 - Colon 21 - d’Arnaud 20 - Flores 19 - Conforto 18 - Niese 17 - Tejada 16 - Lagares 15 - Wright 14 - Matz 13 - Robles 12 - Cuddyer 11 - Gilmartin 10 - Verrett 9 - Goeddel 8 - Clippard 7 - Uribe 6 - Johnson 5 - Reed 4 - Plawecki 3 - C Torres 2 - Nieuwenhuis 1 - Campbell

whatever other guy happens to be left after the real teams sign their FAs.

the winner? some other guy!

Also, CF, need you be reminded (again) that Conforto+dArnaud+ Wright on full seasons, not to mention a likely power upgrade at SS would indeed go a long way toward "replacing" the production of 1 player. Can you count on all that happening? Maybe not, but Shirley you must see there's been a conscious effort to spread the production around. Why do you think Wright and d'Arnaud will play full seasons? d'Arnaud has done it only once, at AA, and, probably because of that, they're looking to get him ABs at other positions (likely 1B, which would take ABs away from Duda). And Wright has played a full season in only 1 of his last 5 seasons. He's 33, with a serious and chronic back issue, and there is NO reason to think that, even with a full season, he'll be as productive as he needs to be to carry this offense. Conforto? He's 22 and, while he looked like the real deal last year, it was not a huge sample. He's given no indication that he can hit LHPs yet. I think he will, eventually, but counting on him as a full-time offensive force this early in his career may be premature. More power at SS? How? Flores hit as many HRs as Cabrera did, and he's likely to improve while Cabrera is in decline. I wouldn't trade Flores straight up for Cabrera... would you? So how is this an upgrade? And Walker/Murphy is a wash. Granderson? At 35, he's as likely to reproduce his 2014 season as he is the 2015 one. So, unless Lagares is prepared to give us Cespedes-like numbers, this is an offense that is more likely (or at least AS likely) to replicate the league-worst offense it put on the field until August, rather than the league-leading one they fielded thereafter. I would take the under, if i were a betting man. And replacing Nieuhenheis or Campbell with deAza is hardly the upgrade (if it is) that will make up the difference.

question: Cespedes or Upton? answer: de Aza Ladies and gentlemen, your New York Mets. Little did i know that my prediction of Parra was OPTIMISTIC. Fuck you, too, Fred. Is it too late to abort Jeffy?

i'd be more upset about this, and Cabrera, if i thought for a second that they were spending this money instead of pursuing Cespedes or Upton, but since i don't think they'd do that anyway, they might as well go with El Colonoscopy.

Fuck Pete and the horse he rode in (and bet) on.

oh yeah, Johhny. say it again... slowly. That's it. Right there. yeah...

and that is why i'm not even going to bother, unless i catch on cable at some point.

i'm morally opposed to spending money on middle inning guys and situational lefties. They fall out of trees. We've got enough on the 40 to fill the slots adequately. Sign Cespedes.