Ceetar

you're right, I mixed up which of Niese's starts he started. Thought it was the 11th, not the 5th. He's doing a wee bit better (1 start in about 5 and a half games) than Collins suggested he would. That's still too much.

My analogy holds up just fine. Terry Collins over-playing lesser veterans and not recognizing where his offense really comes from. Bobby Abreu should not be getting starts, except maybe once in a blue moon and he got 3 of them in 6 days. Juan Lagares should not be sitting four of five games, especially after he was only 4/21 with 2 walks. It wasn't like he was hitless in a week. Eric Young should not be starting every day, and he almost definitely should not be leading off. 'fast' is not enough of a reason to give the guy the most AB on the team. And fine, some of these things on their own you can sorta squint and understand a little. See if Abreu has anything he can give you. See if Young's speed can take advantage of a crappy Yankee infield defense, but altogether they lose you games. It's not hard to see in the Yankee series where Juan Lagares would've gotten you the win with EY's poor defense, baserunning blunder, and stranding an army on base.

yes, because Byrd had an OPS of .657 in April after a bad year the year before and Collins continued to play him like he was an All-Star. Maybe religiously playing him is what got him going, or maybe it was simple adjustments he made on his own that could've been made via the bench? Sort of like Collins insinuated Lagares was doing last week? But fine, give credit to Collins for getting him going. But the results with Byrd mean nothing for Abreu, and starting Abreu 3 times in 6 games while sitting Lagares 4/5 is illogical.

Frayed Knot wrote: Ceetar wrote: But it's silly to nitpick Collins' words because he just spouts whatever he feels like saying. Actions speak louder and all the actions seem to suggest Collins doesn't realize Lagares is his best outfielder. The Mets have played 43 games to date and Lagares has played in every one he's been available for (missed 13 while on the DL), starting 25 of those 30 and appearing later in the other 5. Argue if you want that skipping the wonderfulness that is Luan Lagares in even one game is some sort of capital offense, but let's not twist this into a Terry=clueless angle, particularly as he needs to juggle 4 OFers into 3 spots. After years of not having enough real outfielders to fill the three spots, I'm happy with the current excess if you want to call it that. It's not an excess. Granderson's sorta been alright after a slow start, Chris Young had a good week somewhere but hasn't really been good otherwise. I've been pretty much accepting of Collins. I know he's not the best but I don't expect the Mets, or most teams, to sign a really good manager. Backman will be much of the same. But there is literally nothing to back up the way he's managed the outfield. Lagares IS their best outfielder. You wouldn't sit Daniel Murphy four games of five, strictly using him as a pinch hitter and maybe defensive replacement during that stretch. Particularly if you're talking about getting starts for a guy with an OPS of .619 or a 40 year old outfielder who's clearly well past his prime. Collins is trying to work Abreu in like he's going to be Marlon Byrd, but just because you win one scratch off doesn't mean the next one will also net you money. Play the guy that's better, younger, and part of the future. And if you want to work Eric Young in because you've got some crazy notion that who bats leadoff is some sort of special power, fine, the other outfielders aren't exactly lighting it up. Don't sit the best on that often, it's just bad strategy.

Eric Young is hitting worse than he was when we acquired him (granted a few less games in Coors Field) I'd be surprised to get as much as Collin McHugh for him.

Frayed Knot wrote: "You know, it's not like I sat him for seven days. I sat him for two days, for cripes sake." -- Well, four days out of five if we want to be accurate about it Terry, but I get his point. That's still not like Lagares was stuffed in a dungeon with the key thrown away. Close enough. If there's any problem with Lagares, it's his plate discipline. And 'working on his swing' is not going to fix that. He's been the best outfielder on the team this season, and a couple of slow-ish days with the bat is not cause to banish him to work on it and claim both "development" and "prioritizing offense over defense" But it's silly to nitpick Collins' words because he just spouts whatever he feels like saying. Actions speak louder and all the actions seem to suggest Collins doesn't realize Lagares is his best outfielder.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I don't really believe Lagares is what's going to be the thing to help us out of the offensive troubles we've been having, other than his presence tends to assure Eric Young won't be popping out to the shortstop with a man on third and one out after getting ahead 3-0. I'll bet Twitter thinks C Young is the guy who's got to sit, and as said above I'm not down with that, yet. Every little bit helps. You can't just sub guys in and project, but EY made an error costing the run on Wednesday and made out in all the key spots yesterday. Lagares taking those swings and we may win both. But when the offense is struggling you gotta play the better guys, and Abreu in three games out of six is not that. I'd be okay with Lagares sitting this one game,or Chris Young this one game, if it was an excuse to get Abreu a start once in a long while and Niese is a GB guy more so than others. Facing a righty. Fine. Get EY in there against the crappy Yankees defense. fine, that makes sense. But he's taken it way too far.

Edgy MD wrote: Ceetar wrote: You don't have to try something new just because you've soured on the option you have. No, but it beats doing pornos. depends who I'm co-staring with.

Edgy MD wrote: Ceetar wrote: I want to see Flores more but I'm also not convinced he's going to be better than Tejada. You don't have to be convinced to try something new. Curiosity, competitiveness and trust in your own wisdom should be enough. If you had to be convinced before making a change, things would rarely ever change. yes, but right this moment Tejada is contributing. You don't have to try something new just because you've soured on the option you have. Oh, and another one. Terry needs to stop over-platooning Lucas Duda. And when he does, he absolutely needs to get Duda back in there as soon as the lefty starter is out. He's one of the best hitters on the team.

I want to see Flores more but I'm also not convinced he's going to be better than Tejada. I'm fine with Ruben, for now, if he's going to OBP 330+. Don't make out. that's fine. Give Flores PH opportunities and DH him at YS..wait, missed that opportunity. and start him once a week, maybe twice, at SS and maybe it's time to give David a breather day? It's the EYJr stuff that bothers me. He has his uses. Just not as a starter. EVERYTHING we've seen this year has Lagares as the better hitter, a much much better fielder, and besides stolen bases, which you need to get on to do, he's not far off in terms of speed/baserunning either. I'd almost excuse these last two games as Tanaka and just bad luck if there weren't so many other offensive ineptitudes.

Edgy MD wrote: This is the guy that pronounces it "ROW-ark," right? descended from the guys Noah used to get his ark to go.

The Mets need 22 wins to get to 41 on the season and 4000 as a franchise. Let's get back on track.

seawolf17 wrote: DON'T YOU DARE CALL YOSHI UGLY (I'm still a little upset that my daughter lost one of our Yoshi's legs.) I bought a second because of that actually, the legs break way too easily. (this one's actually glued) Benjamin Grimm wrote: Wait... you guys actually buy these ugly little things? I only bought it to take pictures of it with Yoshi, and I really did intend to get the David Wright one.

Yoshi shows bunt Btw, the hands on the OYO figures are smaller than normal legos so they can't even hold the same objects. Yoshi's only bunting because his hands were too big to hold the bat. (I think Yoshi is a normal lego at least, could be wrong there)

also, wtf Terry. Juan Lagares. Your best outfielder. play him.

That person apparently being my email. Young, Jr.-7 Murphy-4 Wright-5 Granderson-9 CYoung-8 Duda-3 Tejada-6 Centeno-2 deGrom-1

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Travis, if he goes on the DL, would likely go on the special seven-day "concussion" DL. That's correct. I think someone tweeted Centeno is starting tonight.

Edgy MD wrote: The idea that he feels compelled to announce who the closer is before a game is at least a little silly. Well, they asked.. But all it does is reflect what he's thinking at the moment. come the 9th he may decide something else. Or we'll have an 189 run lead and it won't matter.

Me. Cause I'm awesome and will focus on making baseball as digitally available as possible including killing blackouts, allowing the embedding of videos, and hosting team podcasts on the team websites.

although most of the public information also confirms that they're not hemorrhaging money anyway.

ahh. fair points. I like the elbows/knees bit for baseball players though. this way you can blow out a UCL.

Edgy MD wrote: Ah, the "second lefty." In previous years, it had been Jerry's answer to Jerry's "eighth-inning guy" --- his white whale, his b�te noire. Haven't heard the cry for a second lefty much of late. I think that's because they've all more or less sucked, but I'd have to look it up.

Edgy MD wrote: What and I missing here? Montero and deGrom replace Gee and Germen, so who is replacing Specs? Edgin likely. Reported to be on the Taxi Squad.

Chase Coleman (C.C. ) Whitley makes his debut for the Yankees taking C.C. Sabathia's start against Jacob Anthony deGrom who makes his debut for the Mets and went to C.C. (Calvary Christian) Academy. Mets drafted deGrom in 2010, 9th round. Yankees took Whitley in the 15th round of the same draft. Whitley has been primarily a starter in the minors, though he's started 6/7 this year. I went back tosee if they ever faced each other, but they didn't spend time in the eastern league at the same time. Whitley has been in AAA the last two years. deGrom is 6/34 as a batter with 1 HR in the minors. Whitley is unsure of which end of the bat is up. deGrom has make 2 errors, Whitley has made none.

we're getting really close to Mets 1000. Nimmo?