Ceetar

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Say goodbye to Muffy, Ceets. Anyone think he could accept a role as this year's Bobby Abreu? well no, cause he'll probably be good. I'm not particularly attached to Murphy beyond the 8 years a Met thing or whatever it's been. I'm just not sold on the idea that the Mets are desperately shopping him. Include him in a big deal that makes the team better, sure. Just dump him to free up space? perhaps not so much.

Lefty Specialist wrote: Well, Flores and Herrera are pretty decent options to have. Murphy's good but not great offensively, and defensively he's scary. Flores has nothing left to prove at AAA. I understand the Murphy love, but I just can't see how signing him to a long-term deal is in the Mets' best interests. Because if you DON'T trade him this winter, and DON'T sign him to a longer-term deal, it's just a waste. What he gives you this year is not a waste, nor is he 'scary' defensively. He's not great, but he's certainly held his own. Plus even if you don't trade him or sign him to a long deal, you still very possibly get a comp pick for qualifying offer. Which it's unlikely he'd accept because chances are he wants more than a 1 year deal.

Lefty Specialist wrote: Murphy's a guy you trade even if you don't have cheap-ass owners. Replacements are available in-house, he's approaching free-agency, and he has some value to potentially bring back a piece you need. I don't hate him, I respect that he's a hard worker and a grinder that made himself into a second baseman by sheer force of will, but he's not getting a long-term deal and they need to move on. Well, replacements available in house is up for much debate. And at best are much more volatile. No matter what you think of Herrera and Flores, et al, they're prospects that could flame out. You're pretty confident in what you're going to get for Murphy, and that can't really be understated. I don't think the Mets are necessarily looking for a "if we hit on your guesses, we're gonna be good" type of team. At least, I think they're trying to minimize that volatility.

Edgy MD wrote: Ceetar wrote: He's worthy. And he's also a good defender and won't lose as much value as say A-Rod, via defense, at the tail end of that contract. somewhat stationary/aging outfielders aren't as big an impediment as stationary SS or even 3B. I'll disagree here. A poor fielding shortstop has as much value as a solid fielding first baseman or left fielder --- and much more than a poor-fielding one --- and can certainly slide to another position. well, this gets into nitty gritty stuff, but I still think WAR and various defensive measures are overvaluing defense in general and the difference between SS and OF specifically. Only 2 SS had lower DEF (which is adjusted to position) on fangraphs than Stanton last year. So that agrees with you, i'm just a little skeptical. It's why I'm skeptical of using Flores at SS (though if you're going to give me the likely much better hitter Hanley Ramirez there, I'm much more convinceable) But that's not quite what I meant, I mean that I think the defensive tools needed to play the outfield degrade less and slower than those at SS. That Stanton's defensive value is a more stable commodity than A-Rod's was. And yes, moving is always possible, particularly for these types of guys. A-Rod, Stanton, etc are all excellent athletes that you'd expect to prevail wherever you put them. John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I also think Stanton hasta be on the juice. Well hell, he's passing the tests, so good for him. It'd be nice to know what type of long term damage the juice might or might not be doing though, in terms of valuation.

Stanton doesn't finish the season on the DL, he's the MVP this year. I had him above Kershaw in the IBWAA awards (with McCutchen first) He's worthy. And he's also a good defender and won't lose as much value as say A-Rod, via defense, at the tail end of that contract. somewhat stationary/aging outfielders aren't as big an impediment as stationary SS or even 3B. That sorta thing can be a drain on the wrong franchise though, but I'd put the odds at 85% that Stanton opts out and signs a new, more crippling contract.

The back 10 is very like A-Rod's except for Stanton being 3 years older.

Frayed Knot wrote: Ceetar wrote: I wonder how they treat A-Rod passing Mays? Well, to start with they'll cut him a check for Six Million Dollars - cuz it's in the contract that they have to. Not sure that they'll be much in a celebratory mood after that. see I was figuring the opposite "crap, we better market this enough to make back at least 7 mill"

Mets Guy in Michigan wrote: The fences in those photos. They're temporary, right? Just there to illustrate the changes? I assume they're getting padding.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I am certain Muffy and Gee are out of there. They need the $$ they are making just to pay for Cuddy, plus they both are sort of superfluous at this point and might return something we could use (bullpen, SS, prospect we lost). Almost certain the talk of retaining Flores at SS is just talk, but worst-case scenario, a plan. I'm not certain on that at all. I think if it might help if they're really pushing for someone really expensive, type-A, etc, but I don't think a simple 2-year deal for Cuddyer pushes the limits much. I mean, you can't believe anything the guy says but Sandy has suggested in the past that any perceived payroll caps are soft ones based on the deal. Which I mean, duh. Money has a weight in the decision making process but hardly the only one. Plan or not with Flores you gotta at least pretend you're serious about it for leverage purposes. Just to pick a guy, you can't tell Stephen Drew you don't think he'll outperform Flores if you've publicly stated you're not going to play Flores.

I wonder if they expected a little more carry from the ball with the original dimensions and the orientation of the park. I remember reading they factored in the ability to move the walls originally. Maybe they figured the ball would carry better and often carry over those walls? So power guys would blast it and it'd go, but the line drive hitters (Admittedly, David Wright) would be more of the guys wracking up doubles and triples (Reyes). Everyone forgets the benefits to Reyes in the park design, like tailoring a park to one or two guys that will get maybe 10% of the total (home) AB at the place is a good idea anyway. Plus it was almost impossible to get the ball over the Mo's Zone fence anyway, high or low, because of the porch. Either the drive was higher and hit the porch, or lower and wouldn't clear any fence.

you can't handle the plan! Sandy's never shared the plan, because he's full of lies and double-speak. Any 'plan' has mostly been narrative.

I dunno, Stanton's contract seems primed for the Yankees to do a similar doubled-downing with him in say 7 or so years as he's getting creaky. I wonder how they treat A-Rod passing Mays? I suspect since 6 HR may take most of April, or longer, they'll have time to start transitioning to a redemption story. Here's how I see it going: 1. A-Rod looks healthy and mobile in spring. 2. Yankees start 10-9, with A-Rod OPSing .920 with 4 HR. 3. Yankees realize he's still awesome (more importantly, he's keeping them relevant) and start publicly praising him. He's a changed man! 4. Passes Mays. Promotional items for sale instantly. Someone knocks the current World Champs here somehow. 5. A-Rod continues to do well, though not MVP well except in the eyes of Yankees hacks. He's main reason they hover near .500 and "in it". 6. Compelled by this story, Yankees brass and hack-writers start campaigning for him as the 'comeback player of the year' and this is all the precursor towards a forgiveness of the steroid era in general by those writers you otherwise are voting against Bonds, et al. 7. Piazza, Bonds, Clemens get into the Hall of Fame. 8. Yankees, desperate for relevancy after a 77-85 4th place season forgive Clemens and want to claim a new Hall of Famer as their own. 9. OF ALL THE MOST DRAMATIC THINGS celebration at the Mall at Yankee Stadium III next season.

Farmer Ted wrote: Sandy says the dimensions are nearly identical to Shea, blah, blah blah. Shea was an open air horseshoe. I'm not a meteorologist or a wind expert (insert pun here, folks) but I'd be willing to bet $1 that the winds blew in more than out (more pun opportunities, ladies and gentlemen) and the shape of Shea and location probably created more swirling conditions. That's not as big a factor with the enclosed Citi. Suckers are going to pop out of there this year, yessir. a handful more homeruns. whatever. Citi swirls like crazy. worse than Shea, particularly in April.

ClickHole is a satirical website from The Onion that parodies websites such as Upworthy and BuzzFeed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ClickHole

onion. http://www.clickhole.com/article/goodnight-sweet-prince-beloved-baseball-monster-mr-1419

having a beer?

I prefer to do my murdering with a scythe myself, so I'm definitely not an axe murderer.

Mets Guy in Michigan wrote: The Franchise turns 70 today! How are you celebrating Tom Seaver Day? by buying Mets tickets! Or I would, but I forgot to ask people if they wanted to go to Opening Day.

Gwreck wrote: Another offseason of smearing our players. Remember that RA Dickey, Cy Young Award winner, was too ego-centric? Remember Justin Turner didn't hustle enough? Maybe the Mets will finally get wise to the fact that this sort of childish tactic only makes the fans dislike the organization more. As if such a thing were possible. And what? stop speaking to the media? ban all coaches, players and executives from speaking?

HahnSolo wrote: RealityChuck wrote: Wow, a baseball player gets pissed off at his manager and swears at him. This is certainly the first time this had happened, and I'm sure Terry will need years of therapy to get over hearing such an offensive word, especially since he undoubtedly never heard anyone use it before, or ever had a player curse at him. This will probably scar him for life! Or longer! Why on Earth is this news? We've seen stuff like this before...someone from the team leaked this "story" to Harper. Why, who knows? But it leaves the appearance that someone in the organization wanted to smear Niese, whether that was the intention or not. Harper wrote it to have that appearance. All he references are "players and coaches who were in the dugout" He could be referencing stuff he overheard in the clubhouse that day. Or he could've asked someone "What did Terry say to Jon there?" No one spoke out against Niese. But yes, we see this every offseason. Not just with the Mets.

I heard it's gonna be a sex movie.

Edgy MD wrote: Yeah, I'm not sure what "Terry's 'play the right way'" is. (A reference to "Just play the game right" as reported in the News article, i guess.) Openly dismissing a marching order and going your own way is going to get you in trouble, no matter who your skipper is. I would imagine that's the right way in every dugout. well, unless you get the hit.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Telling Terry to go eff himself is probably not a big deal, but ignoring his command to lay down the sacky is, I would think. oh, yeah. I happen to agree with Jon as per that strategy though. Also, besides deGrom Niese is their best hitting pitcher, drew more walks than the rest of the staff combined, and has been at least passable with the bat in his career. Otherwise the Mets pitchers as a group are a perfect poster child for DH in the NL and Terry's "play the right way" isn't working.

Sounds to me like a simple case of heated tempers and that Collins understands as "He's been there"