Ceetar

hey, so, anyone feel like being an alternate for running the draft? (3/22, 9pm) This just means clicking the 'start draft' button on time once everyone has shown up (or grace period), and pausing if there are issues. My second child is due on 3/15. There's a reasonable chance that I'm not super available on any given day in March with no warning whatsoever.

41Forever wrote: Supposedly this is the Yankees' new spring training cap. Not even St. Derek could make this better. Though if you placed the cap on the ground between third and second if would have more range than Jeter did. That said, I haven't seen the Mets new spring cap. Hopefully it's not this bad. I'm sad that Mr. Met is being removed from the blue jerseys. I wanna see this thing on someone. I feel like that brim would be almost camo on a real person.

41Forever wrote: Hello, I've been reading that the Mets plan on keeping Jay Bruce. I think this is posturing. Acting too desperate to move a player would seem to drive down his value. Hello, I agree.

I mostly like it actually.

Frayed Knot wrote: btw, Lin-Manual Miranda is up for the song "How Far I'll Go" from MOANA, which is significant in that, if he wins, it'll make him part of the exclusive 'EGOT' club designating those who have won an EMMY, a GRAMMY (2 in his case), an OSCAR, and a TONY (3). He also has a Pulitzer (PEGOT?). But don't feel too bad, it will have taken him nearly nine years to accomplish all that so he's practically a slacker. I believe he'd be the youngest to achieve it.

Answered that up above I think. Infield is Duda, Walker, Cabrera everyday with Wright and Reyes basically 'splitting' Third. probably a 2:1 ratio.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I figured they'd prefer to have Conforto play every day so he can come up ready to take Grandy or Bruce's job when they get hurt or traded, or better yet, force the issue of his assignment by setting fire to PCL pitching. Edit -- besides I'm asking you guys what you think is gonna happen. Who are your 13 guys? maybe, that'd reinforce the "we're definitely going to play Bruce, we're not desperate to trade him" angle. Who are my guys, or who are Terry's guys? Terry's roster: Wright Reyes Flores Cabrera Walker Duda d'Arnaud Plawecki Bruce Granderson Lagares Conforto Cespedes

I don't know what we get from Wright, but given what his condition actually is, I'd more expect him to get 20 games right off the bat than show up randomly in the summer. It's the wear and tear and fatigue stuff that might keep him out. Regardless, they don't really need to do much to account for this. if he can't go, Reyes, and Flores against lefties, and you get one of those typical middle infield bench type guys to round out the roster and fit in call-ups as needed. anyway, in my 'ideal' it's Cespedes, Lagares, Granderson left to right with liberal use of Conforto unless he falls off a cliff again, something hopefully we can judge in spring training, but obviously we're not going to limit Bruce to maybe 1 start a week and heavy pinch-hitting duties. I don't really know how you work Bruce into that scenario though. I suspect he gets four of every six games in right field. Conforto gets the other two right field games and Lagares gets one of Granderson's day off in Center with the very occasional Cespedes day off to Conforto or Lagares depending on handedness.

as stated earlier the '11th heaven' headline is dumb. Ces Boom Bah isn't great but it seems to tie better into the narrative woven by the two pictures. There's more of a story there, it's more than 'cool photo, quick think of a headline, go'. Even the 'Cespedes saves Mets' tells a deeper story than simply 'Cabrera wins in walkoff'

Seeds I think is hands down the best photo we've seen. Most of the credit to the photographer here, but this was one of the few I actually liked.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I'm kind of worried about the Mets well, i mean, perpetually. But the Mets should be good.

I'm not worried about anyone but the Nationals, The Marlins are trash.

Revised: swapped Cespedes up above Walker. Moved d'Arnaud and Bruce down a bit more. 30 - Noah Syndergaard 29 - Yoenis Cespedes 28 - Neil Walker 27 - Jacob deGrom 26 - Asdrubal Cabrera 25 - Curtis Granderson 24 - Bartolo Colon 23 - Steven Matz 22 - Addison Reed 21 - Jeurys Familia 20 - Robert Gsellman 19 - Kelly Johnson 18 - Michael Conforto 17 - Jose Reyes 16 - Matt Harvey 15 - Seth Lugo 14 - Wilmer Flores 13 - Hansel Robles 12 - Juan Lagares 11 - David Wright 10 - Alejandro De Aza 09 - Jerry Blevins 08 - T.J. Rivera 07 - Lucas Duda 06 - Travis d'Arnaud 05 - Rene Rivera 04 - Brandon Nimmo 03 - Jay Bruce 02 - Fernando Salas 01 - Jim Henderson

Frayed Knot wrote: Centerfield wrote: Well, for me it was more that even guys that were on the team would have been more effective And, like I said, I think sticking him below the likes of Johnson, Flores, Conforto, and some others is perfectly justifiable. I just couldn't see off the list entirely or at the very bottom down below the guys who barely hit AND barely played. Barely hit and barely played is better than didn't hit and played. Thinking of the overall value of his total contribution. I'm not going to count those 26 XBH without docking him for the 340 non-XBH. I just ran a list of Win Probability Added for 2016 Mets. Loney is 39th. Though he does bump up to 18th if I remove the pitchers (But that's sorta my point) All the guys below him except Bruce provided defensive value at least.

Edgy MD wrote: Who should he have gotten? Getting replacement players who are better than replacement players is nice, but they aren't always in the shop when you come calling. Perhaps the real sin was not having anybody better than Marc Krauss parked in Vegas. they're literally a dime a dozen. Michael Morse? There are probably a billion guys wallowing away in AAA that could've been add for cash considerations or something similar as well. They could've tried calling up the AAA scrub they were playing in Vegas. Krauss? I forget his name. It's a little foolhardy to assume all replacement guys are the same, though granted it can be equally foolhardy to just randomly plug a new guy in as soon as it looks like the last one failed. But hell, Loney was really bad and definitely not a top 30 2016 Met.

Edgy MD wrote: Ceetar wrote: he was a net negative. I did more to help the Mets win last year. I don't think that's what a negative WAR really means. As much as I'm enchanted by fWAR on the offensive side, I don't think they really get defense right, philosophically, although if they did, it probably wouldn't help Loney much, and perhaps would be more likely to hurt him. Well, he gets knocked for the positional adjustment cause 1B is not quite evaluated properly as it applies to the whole field, but most seem to think he played worse than an average 1Bman anyway, so he's actually getting credit. plus his wRC+ was puny and pathetic, on the offense side. 200th of 268 players with at least 300 AB. There were probably a dozen other guys on the scrap heap the Mets could've gotten instead of Loney that would've performed better. It ended up being a bad choice by Alderson. He was literally the R in WAR and still managed to underperform it.

Of 42 1B guys with at least 300 AB, Loney is 36th by fWAR and 34th by wRC+. he was a net negative. I did more to help the Mets win last year. They would've been better off playing Bruce there and not dealing with the outfield logjam. They would've been better off playing a broken-backed Duda there, and should've in the playoffs. James Loney is indicative of everything that went wrong in 2016. THEY SHOULD'VE PLAYED KELLY JOHNSON THERE. Johnson was so much better than Loney. Maybe it was a lot of small sample stuff, but it was 201 PA to Loney's 366. I'd put Thor on the list again as a batter ahead of Loney. I'd put Ruggiano ahead of him and he got like 4 games.

meh.

14. 10 of the latest 14 though.

The ridicule has reached a level that I expect a minor league team to have an 'alternative facts' promotion.

meh. You sometimes sign relievers on March 28th (or April 28th, or later) that end up being big parts of the team. I don't worry much, especially about 25 inning guys.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Yeah, he isn't a BAD player where you just want him off the team. either the trade market will sort itself out with an injury elsewhere or the playing time will sort itself out with an injury here. its ok to sit on a redundant asset if nobody is paying fair price. Well, he's not a toxic presence, or bitchy, even. But he IS, like, a pretty minor further performance decline away from being useless. Like, if his power ebbs by, like, 25-30 percent going forward (see: 2014-2015), he's unsaleable as week-old shrimp. with the tails still on.

Fman99 wrote: I was thinking 1B would be a good place to slot Bruce in, here and there, until I looked up his career numbers at that position (3 games, 2 errors in 2014). Uh, sucky. well he hits lefty and Duda is better so..no, not really, unless Duda gets hurt.

Centerfield wrote: I'm not a Bruce fan at all, and I was against the trade that got him, but I have to admit I am surprised by the absolute lack of interest. I mean, the guy does hit 30 HR's. That's gotta be worth something. Who wouldn't want to slot 30 HR's in the 7 hole. Maybe you just keep him. Put Conforto in CF and just roll the dice. That's probably what I'd do, with liberal use of Lagares too.

bmfc1 wrote: The Orioles are close to resigning Trumbo so another door is about to close. Sandy's going to have to lower his expectations or Conforto might be in Las Vegas this April. Bruce, Granderson, Cespedes, Lagares, Conforto. Anyone else will be in Vegas. I mean, in that scenario I play Cespedes, Lagares, Granderson and work Conforto in liberally. But I didn't want Bruce in the first place. It seems unlikely Collins won't do Ces, Grand, Jay most days, though he did seem to start to 'rest' Bruce more last season.