Ceetar

Gwreck wrote: 2017 opening date means that baseball will have gone 5 full years between opening new parks. Last time that happened was 1982 (Metrodome) to 1989 (SkyDome). barring something sudden. Team moving, Rays getting a real place, etc.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: How awful of them. Just for the record, Turner Field is an ugly mallpark but at least it was in the city limits of Atlanta. Another Olympic white elephant. I'm so glad Citi Field didn't end up being part of the Olympics build.

Frayed Knot wrote: NY Times Sunday Crossword: 18-Down -- First Mets manager _ _ _ _ _ _ _ I won't give away the answer in case anyone hasn't finished the puzzle yet and wants to do it all on their own. I never came close to finishing Sunday's anyway. Actually, I miss doing crosswords. The times app is only for iPhone for some reason, and the app I used doesn't get Newsday's anymore. I'm not attached to any others..recommendations?

Edgy MD wrote: It's probably not about affording. The Mets are likely to go big on somebody. But do you really want it to be this guy? I don't know. I think they need to go big on someone, after only going for the "right deals" in the past and often missing out, but I'm not sure about Curtis. Particularly directly from the Yankees. Can we just pretend he was injured the last couple of years and is coming from the Tigers 100% healthy? On the other hand, I have no problem with them considering and maybe driving up the price for the Yankees. Looking at the numbers, he missed parts of last season and the year before was bad despite the extra home runs. Does that warrant a discount? Going into his age 33 season.. He's a high strikeout guy, but that's not horrible. He's fast and is good on defense. I think he might from a skills standpoint be a good fit though. Perhaps Hudgens gets him to be a little more 'wait for your pitch' and he takes a few more walks to make up for the HRs he'll lose. Mets maximized baserunning value and his speed gives him more value to maximize.. If the Mets do choose to carry no-bat-at-this-time Lagares, you could probably play Duda's bat in LF to make up for it, knowing that the other two CF will take away some of the ground he needs to cover. And this is mostly worthless, but I think he's a pretty good guy too.

trying to find more on the Wright-Beers wedding (Because it's 5oclock somewhere?) Besides 12/26 in SoCal, not finding much. I imagine rich people don't register at like..Macy's the same way the fringy roster guys do?

Edgy MD wrote: Yeah, everybody has seen that Choo is an intriguing investment but comes with few guarantees. But that "spend like it's 1998," line... yeesh. Set the team up to disappoint, whydon'tcha? 1998 payroll: $58,660,665

metsmarathon wrote: would duda for cuddyer or aoki be a possibility? at this point, though, i don't really knwo which of those guys i have more confidence/hope in. Duda's a good hitter. His bat in the lineup makes the Mets much better. What's the problem is if his defense offsets that. Some defensive metrics seem to negate ALL the value of him playing LF (But on the same token, Lagares gains extra value) but if you're putting him at first, it's not as big a deal. But other teams might prefer that known quantity in Duda rather than the extremely volatile Davis. I don't have any clue how other teams view Ike though. Ike's clearly got the higher actual talent level. But he's a first baseman getting expensive and his lows have been devastating. I think I'd take Cuddyer over Aoki, but he just won a batting title and will be 35. I'm neither sure Duda or Davis is enough to nab him on their own, nor if it's the right move for the Mets. Could be the guy that signs his last contract and just flat out disappears.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I wonder if they won't deal Davis+ for Cuddyer. He is also a RH hitting OF with some power, plus he's David Wright's drinking buddy, which is important since we'd be losing one of our top drinkers in Ike. when's Wright's wedding? I'm sure we can get some rumors out of over-analyzing his guest list. In fact, if there are actually pictures, I might write up a whole post analyzing which Wright-Beers guests would be the best fit.

Frayed Knot wrote: Related to this topic, Joel Sherman suggests dealing Davis to Milwaukee for OF Nori Aoki -- something which could be instead of a Corey F. Hart signing or in addition to. There's only two seasons worth of ML data on Aoki (32 next spring) but what there is adds up to a better leadoff man than EYII [.287/.355/.399 - 50 steals in 70 attempts] and has been consistent across the two season suggesting that he's no one-year wonder who then can't adjust to the adjustments of MLB pitchers. In his eight seasons in the Japanese league he was .329/.402/.454 Has played all three OF positions although mostly RF. My gut tells me he's good enough defensively although that could be just be via brief glimpses. Aoki's much better than Young. It's probably the type of deal you'd get for Davis. Though given the Mets state I think I'd rather sacrifice a little of that for the power of Hart, especially with the no-bat Lagares in center? (or re-up on the Davis gamble, but I'm not sure that's wise either. Maybe if you start Davis's season now, he'll have his first half slump in the winter and be the awesome second half guy all year?) Fangraphs has him slightly subpar defensively. Also has him a bit down on baserunning, but if you believe this year for the Mets that was so good on the bases was a result of some sort of coaching focus, that'd be hidden value in Aoki.

MFS62 wrote: Waitaminit. The work that goes into this is greatly appreciated. But if this IS the General All Purpose Baseball Card Thread, then why are there baseball card pictures in all those other threads? Later to make sure no thread loads too quickly.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Ceetar wrote: Brewers didn't make him the qualifying offer, suggesting they at least don't think he'll get something big. It really only means that they don't want to pay him $14 million next year. AND they don't think it's a sure thing he gets a multi-year deal or anything comparable. i.e. they think he might _accept_ the qualifying offer. If there was demand for him and surely they've fielded calls about him over the years and have a decent sense of it, you make that offer so you get the first or second round pick.

Brewers didn't make him the qualifying offer, suggesting they at least don't think he'll get something big. weak on defense but seems to clearly be able to hit. More of a slugger than an on base guy, which I hope doesn't mean he sucks at Citi. Defense seems to be passably bad. I don't think I'd do much more than 2 years at $12ish. Especially early on in free agency when there are presumably more and better options.

was high on him, seemed to have tinkered with some things, delivery, and had a good yet for AAA in Baltimore. didn't quite work out that way.

Can I toss in a Gorilla Wrench? What if the move to Vegas was also a move to the American League?

I suspect I'd be a Yankees fan.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I suppose you could interpret a move like this as "lighting a fire" beneath Tejada, but I can't imagine that's Plan A for the Mets wrt the shortstop position. I can't imagine Rafael Furcal is either though.

Edgy MD wrote: It's anybody's guess whether he's coming at all. ceetar wrote: Furcal is better than Quintanilla or Turner as a backup. I'd say that's in the territory of conjecture. We have no idea if he's healthy enough to take the field in competition. Thirty-six-year-old shortstops are rare enough, even just counting the ones with intact elbows. fine, he's more talented than Omar or Justin. but yes, his health is why signing Furcal could probably be construed as confidence in Ruben Tejada, because sooner or later he's going to the one playing.

..the Mets have contacted the veteran [Rafael] Furcal, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. The person requested anonymity to speak freely on the matter." Yes, do elaborate. The Mets contacted an agent! They made a phone call! wait, that's it? Furcal is better than Quintanilla or Turner as a backup.

keep rooting. The extra couple of bucks it costs to watch via extra innings or mlb.tv would be mitigated by the fewer games I went to. The time difference would be annoying, but whatever. That'd really be the biggest difference, not going to Citi Field and games starting on pacific time. On the plus side, It's another excuse for regular trips to Vegas.

Mets � Willets Point wrote: But he makes everyone around him better! Well yeah, but that's because he's their supplier.

The 2014 Yankee season is about Derek Jeter and a farewell tour (although I suspect he may do the Pettitte retire/unretire thing a lot), not about winning.

David Wright has more fWAR than any other NL 3B.

G-Fafif wrote: Dickey took some heat over talking contract at a party geared to helping children affected by Sandy. Yet Jeff Wilpon gets a pass as he gabs about business at a Boys & Girls Club event intended to help victims of the storm. Clearly he's Teflon in the eyes of the fawning Wilponian press. I believe Fred got criticized a couple of years ago for NOT discussing business during a UConn/SNY conference or something.

Edgy MD wrote: With regards to the day of the week, I'm not sure how that speaks to the World Series. They can start it on any day. I think you miss my point with regards to minor league ball, or at least don't speak to it --- that affiliation damages your desire to maintain an investment and interest. The greatest player in the history of the Binghamton Mets spent three months there. didn't speak to it. I disagree, but we disagree on the business end of this player valuation and movement and the whole system and I didn't have anything new to add in that regard. As to the turnover, I agree that hurts a little, but plenty of people get into college sports and while that's a little longer, it's very similar. If you invest the time to root for a team it'll stick. Well the World Series is 4-7 nights and they're weekday nights. There are things you can't avoid. getting kids to bed, making dinner, getting enough sleep, daily chores like taking out trash or watering the grass.. it's a hell of a lot easier to block out 4-8 hours on Sunday by getting a lot of that stuff done the day before, or that night. That's why football appears to be more popular. But more eyeballs watched the WS for more time than watched say the NFC championship game. events just don't happen over a week. maybe it's our attentionspan, I dunno. There's just too much other stuff going on in that time.

Edgy MD wrote: I disagree that the World Series can't be turned into an event. I think it can and they will try very hard very soon. I disagree, on the other hand, that you can get just as into a minor league team. Affiliated ball saps your year-to-year commitment right out of you. I think affiliation did as much damage to the game's standing as anything. too much time. Sunday afternoon is just such a 'free time' and a perfect excuse to relax, or get together with friends. Thursday Night football certainly isn't a much watch, and it's not because of the matchups. It's a culture thing. And you know what, as awesome as baseball is, if you got a group of friends together to really really care about Croquet and got into it and followed the Swindon Mallets and invested the time together as a group and trash talked some of the opponents and all that, you'd be pretty into that as well.