Ceetar

Edgy MD wrote: Ceetar wrote: he'll bounce back. I think Nieuwenhuis would've too. these platoon bench guys work in such limited samples. Most everybody young enough is gonna produce eventually. (Look at Ollie!) The question is how much damage you can afford to let them do while waiting and working. And is another guy a better bet to come around faster? Not a lot of easy math available to make such calculations. Well I mean, Barring information we're not privy to about work ethic or injury, I don't know how much the previous 2 months means towards the likelihood Mayberry Jr gets a hit as compared to say the last 3 years. You're gambling on what's going to happen next, and Mayberry's failure to actually do much does not contribute to whether or not Muno or Tovar will contribute going forward. Sometimes the best thing you can do is stick with a guy. I think dropping Nieuwenhuis fell a little into the "look busy" mode (though his career sample isn't as supportive as say JMJR) but I also think you'd liked to have kept Kirk because Lagares is sorta hurt and isn't hitting and you get a defensive boost with Kirk that Granderson doesn't give you in center. But this isn't the Nieworry thread so whatever on him. Just speaking towards bench value over 2015, I trust Mayberry to have a good time going forward more than I do any of the other bench options the Mets have is what I'm saying. He's got the track history to suggest he's got the ability. I'd bet I could find you 62 PA stretches where Babe Ruth wouldn't look like a valid bench option.

he'll bounce back. I think Nieuwenhuis would've too. these platoon bench guys work in such limited samples.

The Brewers should grow Hop Bines up the outfield walls.

Frayed Knot wrote: Wouldn't it be cool if you could find video of every catch made running up that hill during the 15 years it's been in existence? Of course it would!! It was probably a stupid quirk for quirks sake to start with, but I think it'd surpassed that by this point in part due to some of these clips. It was a throw back in a way to an era when you didn't hit them out to center. (Babe Ruth never did) It was far enough away that It was only the true blasts that brought the hill into play, so it's not like CFers were tripping over it making routine catches of fly balls. You'd probably have to run some queries or ask an Astros fan for this, but did that hill lead to a lot of triples? were there inside the park home runs because it hit the hill and took a strange bounce?

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Ceetar wrote: actually he's exactly average at a 100 wRC+ Which puts him behind Duda, Tejada, Cuddyer,and Murphy on the team. Just glancing at that without really scrutininzing those numbers, that's a disaster. Not that I really need to study numbers to know that the Mets offense isn't very good right now. Half the starters are at or below average according to your numbers. And more importantly, ideally -- if everyone can't be above average, you wanna be above average at the positions that are expected to generate more of the offense, and below average at the traditionally weaker hitting positions. Tejada and Murph are middle infielders, and not of the Sandberg/Ripken/A-Rod variety. The Mets offense is not playoff quality right now, no matter how you spin it. right now as in the 8* (9?) guys you're running out there, or right now as in the past week the way it looks or what? I mean, if Granderson has another hot streak and Lagares starts driving the ball more effectively, well, suddenly yes they are a playoff team. (nevermind that the numbers say they ARE right now) Actually it's exactly half. 4 are above (counting Tejada's small sample size, but he's the one in the lineup right now) Granderson is average, and 4 are below. (and that's counting the pitcher.) And that's league average, not average for the position. As you pointed out, RF is a stronger position and the leaguewide RFer has a 109 wRC+. But flip that with the leaguewide SS wRC+ of 81 and suddenly Flores is above average. "power positions" are silly anyway. it doesn't matter what position they play in the batting order. That plays into overall team construction, sure, but on a day to day basic it doesn't matter in the least bit. In fact, you'd rather the guys at the weak hit ting positions to be doing well. so d'Arnaud back and Flores outhitting his defense is valuable, because even if you have a crappy RFer hitting only wRC+ at 100, that's much much better than if you had a crappy SS. It's almost 20 percent better. AND it's easier to find a slight improvement to merely good in RF than it is at SS. Of course, it's sorta unfair to pick the valleys and proclaim Granderson as a waste, because in two weeks he could have his numbers back up to good.

mainly because they're moving the fences like 30 feet. Stupid Wilpons.

Lefty Specialist wrote: Well he won the Beltran rental/Wheeler deal and the Dickey/TdA/Thor deal. As for McHugh, he was behind the Jeremy Hefners of the world on the depth chart, so no one saw that coming. His deals are probably a net positive; the signings, eh, not so much. (Frank Francisco says hello.) Signings had their value. Chris Young still was sound decision in my eye, and Cuddyer is a good player. I read somewhere that what the Astros did to 'fix' McHugh was say "Your curveball spins as much as anyone's in the game. Maybe throw that more?"

Centerfield wrote: TransMonk wrote: I respect Sandy's GM abilities, especially in working with what ownership gives him, but I could go the rest of my life without listening to him utter another word of double-talk to the media. #meaninglessbabble To that end, I would say Sandy's GM abilities have been greatly exaggerated. His track record with free agents is inconsistent to poor. The majority of his good trades involve trading prime assets left to him by the Minaya administration. And the Mets "resurgence" has much more to do with Minaya prospects coming into their own than anything done by Alderson. To that end, his best trait may be avoiding dumb trades. Which I guess is something. he traded Angel Pagan for crap and Collin McHugh for Eric Young Jr. Lost those both hard. Of course, he's won some others pretty hard too, regardless of where the assets came from.

Frayed Knot wrote: Don't be absurd, Ceets. Argue for more gun regulations if you want, or for fewer. But being against more is hardly a "blatant endorsement of senseless violence" any more than being against martial law is a blatant endorsement for anarchy in the streets. And Deadpan can spare me the "real world" stuff. It's a dumb phrase, sure. but he's not saying being against 'more' but being against 'any'. i.e. "If you don't think there should be controls set in place on guns, you're basically advocating a world of guns everywhere and violence will ensue." He's saying that everyone should be on the same page as far as "Let's be responsible with these dangerous things." aside from the politics of it. Just like supporting the idea of Police and the NYPD at a softball game yesterday is not akin to supporting the murder of unarmed minorities.

Deadpan: "In the real world, opposition to gun control is blatant endorsement of senseless gun violence, whether Dillon Gee is aware of it or not." Umm, no it's not. And while you're free to believe that it is, it doesn't mean those who don't join you aren't in the "real" part of the world. semantically, sure it does. The opposite of 'control'.. "determine the behavior or supervise the running of." While the violence isn't quite a given, It's not really a stretch that strictly speaking, the opposite of control is a world where guns are completely unregulated and as available as a pack of gum.

d'Kong76 wrote: "The world is upside down,'' Mets general manager Sandy Alderson, who still has a home in San Diegofrom when he was president of the Padres, told USA TODAY Sports. "We definitely are taking two different approaches. Their approach is unique for this market. And our approach is different for our market. "Because of that, the difference in direction from what had been normal, atrophied a bit.'' Those are certainly words. Put together in groups so technically sentences.

actually he's exactly average at a 100 wRC+ Which puts him behind Duda, Tejada, Cuddyer,and Murphy on the team. It's kind of nice that at least 3-4 guys are hitting above average though.

if you want to pound the stupid Wilpons angle in the offseason, fine. But if you stretch to work it into unrelated pieces, I'm not going to read it. I legitimately don't care who owns the team right now. I don't really care about the draft, or who's doing well in single A ball. I care about the 25 man roster and the fringes beyond that. the team on the field, the actual game being played. All that ancillary stuff is to kill time when baseball's not being played. You got all you needed to know from Tweets last night. Wright's on a week to week schedule, surgery is not currently on the table. When/if he feels better, he starts doing baseball things and hopes it doesn't start hurting again. No one knows much more.

Frayed Knot wrote: Well somebody needs to go down prior to game time in order to allow them to activate Gee and they've already said it's not going to be a reliever. So Castellanos, along with Campbell and Muno, are stepping lightly right about now. It's Muno.

Edgy MD wrote: And really, does it matter who plays where on defense for either team here in the midst of the strikiest-outiest series ever? Has anyone checked to make sure the plate at PetCo is regulation? i feel like it might be an inch wider on each side with all these Ks.

Fman99 wrote: Damn these West coast swings. I have to juggle several items every day on my way from the house to the vehicle -- my laptop/backpack, my lunch, and my gym bag. And my coffee. I'm also taking out any trash and recyclables on my way through the garage. Today I put down my coffee mug to get the other stuff into my Jeep. And left my 32 oz of freshly brewed coffee, that I brew at home each morning and then drink when I get to work, sitting on the railing in my garage. I had to drink the work coffee. THE WORK COFFEE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. wrote this a few months ago: I can�t stop thinking about the coffee in my travel mug. Still warm and drinkable, but cooling quickly as it sits forgotten on my kitchen counter. That delicious caffeinated nectar from the Dominican Republic slowly going to waste in my 76 degree house while the cats wander by ignoring it. I was looking forward to sipping the tasty java while driving to work this morning, and I was subconsciously reaching towards my cup holder only to find nothing. That repetitive disappointment is a poor way to begin one�s day. So here�s to you, my delectable coffee left behind. I will shed a tear for you tonight slowly funneling down the drain while I rinse out my travel mug. May we meet again tomorrow. I'm still running like it's West Coast games all the time. Last week I forgot to put the garbage out Thursday and the recycling out Friday.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I think we already have two superhero nicknames too many. so 1 is okay? I disagree, never too many.

Ashie62 wrote: Not understanding why deGrom didn't get a chance at the shutout. If there's anything I took out of yesterday it's that Collins is still paranoid over letting Santana complete the no-hitter.

TransMonk wrote: Ace of the staff so far this season? For my money, he's been every bit as good as Harvelous (which is not knocking what Matt has been doing in any way). His last few starts have been works of art. I think it's a matter of arguing which suit is trump with the Mets aces. He had a few missteps earlier and Harvey just hit his. Do we need to come up with a Super Hero for him? I mean, it's the Dark Knight, Thor, and...

only 4 Ks to start the game today. deGrom is slipping.

I might fall asleep happy on this one!

Edgy MD wrote: Murphy passing on two (hardly anything like certain) chances to take an extra base this trip around the diamond. but takes the extra one when it matters.

It was good. I can do without trying to force-feed the dumb "high pitch count in that game cost him his career" nonsense. Especially without even mentioning Reed Johnson.

The Mets righthander has not allowed an extra-base hit in his last 25.1 innings...DeGrom has 20 strikeouts over his last two starts. Mets are 229-234 against the Padres. can get to .500 this season with some good work. STRIKEOUTS: DeGrom�s 207 strikeouts are the third-most for a Mets pitcher after their first 32 games...Dwight Gooden (282) and Matt Harvey (242) are the only pitchers in team history with more strikeouts through their first 32 games...