Ceetar

spoiler alert: media wasn't in the clubhouse this year. Which is why they threw such a hissy fit when McNeil and Lindor refused to dish dirt to them. You know which other clubhouse they weren't in? the Nationals. or the Dodgers. Maybe they got super nuanced about it, I'm only going off Grimm's recap of Mets Hot Stove, but I doubt it. I'm gonna need at the very least actual quotes from actual people in that clubhouse before I believe that. Did they say McNeil was a bad clubhouse guy? Because if we've gotten any evidence on who's a bad presence, it's him. Also some of Stroman's teammates showed up and volunteered their time to his super cool baseball clinic this summer, something the media mostly failed to talk about.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Anthony DiComo and Jim Duquette were talking about Stroman on Mets Hot Stove. Implied that he may have been a bad influence in the clubhouse and said that Scherzer is an upgrade over Stroman. I don't know about the bad influence thing, but Scherzer/Stroman isn't an either/or, so that spin doesn't make any sense at all. It's the "subtly" racist stuff like this that makes me not care that Stroman gest a little uppity on Twitter. Almost no one says DiComo or Healey should "be quieter on Twitter"

This one hurts. My Scherzer buzz is gone, and now I'm hungover on Marcus to the Cubs (reported first by Marcus Stroman) Stroman was a lot of fun, and hell, he was one of the more reliable and sturdy pitchers the Mets have. Now we're bumping up more injury guys and hoping.

I'm fine with advertising patches, advertise anywhere for all I care. For one ,the uniforms are already rather prominently an advertisement for a clothing brand, and everything else is splattered with ads. It'd be cool if there could be a little bit cleaner of a game entirely, where every shot wasn't sponsored, but not cashing in on the last two or three spots just seems silly at this point. And I'd rather teams focused on the advertising revenue than the ticket/beer revenue.

March 4th, 2022.

I like the idea of the best team that didn't make the playoffs picks first.

I'm not sure what MLBPA's angle is in the revenue sharing bit? Is it the idea that if the Marlins aren't raking in 100 million from other teams, they'd have to spend money to make money? It's absolutely not true that it would be more difficult for small-market clubs to remain competitive and you can't assert that without citing real data (which, we/Feinsand doesn't have access to). The same with the universal DH, there's definitely not "15 everyday jobs" necessarily, as every team doesn't just have a straight DH. It's not quite the "windfall" for the players that it's projected to be. Overtime, perhaps, as NL teams sign an additional hitter and then other teams have to sign an additional hitter to keep up, salaries should rise a bit. But that's going to be market driven and depends on the owners actually spending the money. it's not automatic. It's basically a bullshit promise by the owners "we promise to spend more money!" yeah? well do it. You don't get points for saying it. This entire article actually, is very much owner-favored. I'd like to see some more balanced reporting. He reports a lack of urgency from the player standpoint, but then quotes all the players as pointing out why the deadline is artificial. It's not Spring Training yet, certainly, why should the players back down on their position because of the owners threats? Make 'em follow through on their threat to shut down the sport.

There's really no such thing as a "middle" reliever anymore. You need 3-4 good guys (which was probably always true to some extent) in the bullpen and the strong bullpens seem to be the teams that really succeed, so if you could get someone to bite on a real reliever for Smith? Do it. It's extremely unlikely he's suddenly going to be an All-Star or something, and (unless you're going to make Alonso the DH?) he's blocked at first and is negative in the outfield. McNeil has a longer track record, but that might mean you're more apt to get someone to bite in trade too. I dunno, some of this at least depends on the coaching staff. I really like Davis, they should keep Davis, but it really feels like the Mets don't feel the same. But since 2019, only Nimmo and Alonso (min 200PA) have a higher wRC+ than Davis. Only Alonso has a higher Hard% (via Fangraphs) than Davis. The Mets NEED that power.

One example I can remember is that Willie Mays had a lifetime OBP that was .002 lower than his OBP at age 24, which was odd because Mays had some of his highest OBPs after age 40. I would have expected that his OBP would go up as he aged but it fell a bit. well OBP is gonna factor in batted ball luck. You want to look more at BB%. Mays for his career was 11.7% And most of his seasons were pretty much around there. '71 and '72 saw steep increases though, but perhaps that a late career "stop swinging as much" stance of some sort. But anyway, his "Best" years were '65, '64 '62 and '54, and his BB% there 11.9, 12.3, 11 and 10.3. All pretty much around that 11.7% career mark. Also the elites like May are always going to be outliers. You want to talk about modern guys that have made their OBP/walk rate jump? You want to talk about Starling Marte. Career 5.3 BB%. 2021? 8.2. His BB/K ratio SIGNIFICANTLY better in 2021 than any other year. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/starling-marte-is-not-swinging-like-never-before/https://blogs.fangraphs.com/starling-marte-is-not-swinging-like-never-before/ Some analysis there that suggests that Marte's increase isn't just all smoke and mirrors either. But yeah, for the most part, players don't randomly develop better/different skills. You have a good eye or you don't. The flip side is a guy like Matt Harvey, who has pretty poor control, and once he couldn't fake it with plus velocity, it became very clear he didn't have that additional skill to be elite without it.

=kcmets post_id=82193 time=1638312990 user_id=53] Isn't Cano hurt already? I thought I heard that somewhere.

oh, they definitely need to move some pieces (both around, and away). But that may get more complicated in 30 hours or so. Bryant does work out in that "can quickly shift to LF" way too, so that may be preferable than say Conforto back. Just as things stand now, an OFer might slot in better, and it'd be nice to have a better 4th than Plummer or Smith. Of course, you could count Bryant as that too. Bryant's more coveted though, and it may not be as easy to acquire him.

You could squeeze another OFer in there amongst Canha, Nimmo and Marte. Especially if there's a DH. Guards against injury and potentially have to hope Smith or Plummer can be productive. but on the infield you have McNeil, Davis, Cano and Escobar for two spots. Just feels a little deeper there, and I honestly don't know how you fit Bryant into that. But admittedly, I don't know that much about Bryant's OF prowess, or his desired position. They even had him playing some CF last season. It does seem like he's more of an infielder.

I enjoyed watching him some, but he definitely wasn't a good fit for the 2021 Mets, as they needed more OBP guys (and pitching) But with some of the acquisitions this year, it might've been more a fit for 2022, as it seems like they could use a power bat now, but there are other ways to get that too. Plus you get less value out of Javy playing 2B than SS. He was always going to be a better fit elsewhere if only for that reason.

=Marshmallowmilkshake post_id=82071 time=1638233648 user_id=119] Interesting point on the Jomboy podcast. They think Boras/Scherzer did spend the night trying to get the Westies to bite. They also said that as a union leader, Max wasn't in a position to take a lower offer just to be out west, especially when the Mets were willing to break records.

yaeh, but I was too annoyed to go fetch my tweet, and I didn't always tweet what I wanted earlier. But I guess the lesson is: Tweet stuff first.

the 'good clubhouse' stuff is mostly nonsense. People don't really know. Just like there was plenty of talk that Max didn't want to come to NY, that he wanted to pitch on the west coast, etc. It's all just people guessing for content. Anyhow, here's Max from the Citi Field ASG parade. Or there would be, if this garbage forum software let you upload pictures bigger than the average digital camera from 2002. It's on my Twitter if you want it.

Well all indication is the owners are going to mandate that they can't sign anyone else after Wednesday night, so might have to wait around regardless. But they still desperately NEED Stroman, or someone of that caliber. Even if this Scherzer thing finalizes. They probably still need a Matz type AFTER that too.

Well currently it's Nimmo/Canha/Plummer. Even if you want to charitably put McNeil or Smith out there, he'd still be around. He's a good player. (light years better than Kevin Pillar) He may be on the decline, or maybe he really did figure something out in 2019 and now he's just sorta leveling out as a more patient, OBP guy. Put him and Nimmo up top and then that's where you can perhaps thrive with an over-aggressive masher like a Javy Báez type. Though Pete and Francisco would do just fine too. defense a bit shotty though.

Edgy MD wrote: I would conclude that the Mets do have a functioning communications team. It's just that Stevie don't care. Jesus Christmas, this guy isn't going to be the new Steinbrenner, is he? Until we trade away top prospects for aging has been (see: Cano Trade) at his urging, he is no Steinbrenner. He is loud a4md obnoxious but as lomg as he spends his money and lets the baseball guys make the moves thats fine. He can be Mark Cuban. Lol, he hasn't spent anything yet. Rather Cano and Diaz than Kevin Pillar.

Looks like there might be something there. Worth a flyer at least, and hell, if they're rebuilding he's probably fine to man a corner for a few years.

I'm not so sure on #4. That's what Heyman said, but telling a reporter after the fact that you'd have matched isn't the same thing as being willing to do it. Also he told Sherman that Matz contacted the Mets, not the other way around. I don't know how to read that as anything but "We didn't really want you but are pissed you didn't come here" Like wtf? Either that, that's a fineish number for Matz. they need backend help too, he's not old, and that's not really that much money.

A Boy Named Seo wrote: The only thing shocking is Cohen being shocked by how this whole free agent thing works. maybe he should hire someone(s) to talk to the agents for him.

yeah, no we're agreeing. I'm just intensely dissatisfied with how the Mets have been handling things lately and the decisions they've made and I find their reasoning, even if individual decision like Marte of Castellanos because of the QO make their own kind of sense, suspect overall. Making decisions because it makes your previous bad decisions look more like a plan is not a good look.

the whole "pending physical" thing, and holiday in the middle. If he waits to agree to something and then still needs a physical, he only has until midnight next Wednesday.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Reports say that he may make his decision as soon as today. Because otherwise he might not be able to finalize a deal until like...May?