Cowtipper

Austin Warren is being promoted. Brandon Waddell sent to rehab in Binghamton. Mets released minor leaguers Anthony Baptist and Willy Fanas. The Mets also released Colin Poche, Junior Fernandez and Julian Merryweather, all players with MLB experience. Fernandez had been in their system for less than a month and had a 0.00 ERA.

They Joey Lucchesi'd him (or perhaps Lucchesi was Butto'd) in that despite him clearly having talent, they didn't use him much for a long time, wasting his abilities. He was a fairly well regarded prospect in the Mets system coming up, but nothing too special, but once he got here he was a very reliable piece that I wish they'd used more.

They should never have even played. Instead of doing what they did, they should have just moved the whole thing the next day. They saw the weather coming—it had been forecast for at least a week—and though at times it was iffy it seemed certain we were going to at least get some rain. I've been to enough outdoor concerts that if there is a hint of delay-worthy weather, they'll delay it. I'm not going for Part II because I went for the spectacle, not to see the Braves and Reds play, per se. I was amped about the whole thing yesterday. I left as early as I did because I wanted to see some of the pre-game festivities (there were multiple concerts). If I want to see major league baseball, I'll drive to Cincinnati and go to an actual good ballpark. I hope the stands are completely empty today just out of protest. In what other ways can I dig the knife in even more...the "shuttling" was actually two parts. I ended up having to park 1.3 miles away, took a shuttle to a stop "near" the speedway, then the next "shuttle" was people taking you on the backs of golf carts the rest of the way. I just walked. To make it even more insulting, as everyone was all bummed and dejected, they did a weak and tepid little three minute fireworks display to wrap it up. Thanks guys! Concessions ran out and from what I heard they were serving bunless hot dogs and cheeseless nachos. Lines were 1-2 hours. The pre-game "fan zones" were apparently all lines, too. Clearly they read my comment on another website or a lot of people complained, because they sent an email THIS MORNING specifying what "Lot SP" actually was. There's actually SIX or so "Lot SPs," mine was #6, still about a mile away, on a back road. Thanks y'all, would love to have known that yesterday! None of that was previously specified. I ended up spending $44 on parking that would've cost me just $10 had I gone to the campground to begin with. I didn't buy my ticket, it was a gift, but for what I got it cost $230 apparently. $230 bucks for what is the upper deck in some ballparks. At the Reds ballpark, seats pretty close to behind home plate will run you about $100, and that is including the all-you-can-eat hot dog and soda package! (I may not have the numbers exactly right, but I think that's what I spent last time I went to Cincinnati). Because the game actually started at 9:40and folks didn't want to wait, the people on the left and right of me had both left, so the row was basically mine. The saddest thing was the guy right behind me. He was with his two sons and when they called it it's like he couldn't get himself to stand up. Like he was just blankly staring ahead. This clearly meant something to him and it all fell apart. And then on the drive home, because the local municipality totally didn't know there'd be 85,000 people coming into town on a single day, there were active construction zones that shrunk some of the highways down to one lane on either side. What a joke. But this is going to go down in history like Disco Demolition Night and I'm sure we'll be talking about it 50 years from now, so at least I can say I was there and that I technically did see the first regular season major league baseball ever played in TN.

Top to bottom this was a boondoggle. Left home at 1:50 PM. Got home at 12:35 AM. Saw 1 1/3 innings of baseball. The star-studded musical lineup of Tim McGraw and Pitbull were on a stage wayyyyyyyyyy far off in the distance, so it was basically background music to anyone in the stands. Parking was not well marked. I pre-bought parking in "Lot SP" which I assumed was the South Parking Lot ... since that's what was on the map on the website ... but it actually referred to "Shuttle Parking," which they didn't specify and I never actually found where the shuttle parking lot was. The drive home was marked by roads being shrunk down to one lane despite there being 85,000 people trying to leave. The rest of the game is set to start at 1:00 PM tomorrow, but if it's going to be anything like I put up with today, I might just call it good enough and forego the rest.

I didn't mention when I actually left home. I left at 1:50 and didn't get to the parking spot until 5:20. It looks like they're going to start it at 9:40 as the tarp is off the field.

And now we're in a rain delay. Well, I might be doing all this again tomorrow.

Traffic is bad when the big races are happening but it still moves. This was stop and go for miles and miles. People park everywhere for the races... locals and businesses open up their lawns and parking lots and there is speedway parking too. I prepaid parking for the game but just ended up parking at a campground anyway, shuttled part of the way to the venue and walked the rest. I've seen Taylor Swift live (don't judge) and this was worse that Taylor Swift chaos.

Y'all I live 1/2 hour away from the Speedway and didn't even get to my parking spot until 5:20. At one point I had to re-center myself due to the chaos so I went to my work, which is just 10 minutes from the place (usually) and just to get from there to my parking spot took probably 1.5 hours. And just to get from my parking to the actual gate took another hour or so. These little tricities cities can't handle all the traffic.

Well, when one takes a step back and earnestly considers the broader picture — not just the obvious elements on the surface but also the more subtle, intangible, often-overlooked aspects that constitute the entirety of a person’s performance or presence or overall vibe, if you will — it becomes apparent, or at least somewhat apparent, depending on one's perspective and internal criteria for evaluation, that while there was certainly something there, something that can’t and shouldn’t be dismissed outright, something that perhaps even had flashes of potential or, at the very least, instances of competence or adequacy (and adequacy, mind you, is far too often undervalued in today’s climate of relentless excellence), one must also contend with the fact — or rather, the impression, which can sometimes feel like a fact, depending on how it's framed and received — that in this particular instance, when placed alongside the other party in question, whose own merits deserve a separate and equally nuanced discussion in their own right, the original subject did not quite evoke the same response, or ignite the same resonance, or occupy the same energetic bandwidth, as it were, and while it would be patently unfair — and frankly a little reductive — to say that he was somehow lacking, or that he failed in any categorical or empirical sense, there remains, floating gently but persistently in the atmosphere, a vague yet undeniable sense that, despite his efforts (and they were, by all indications, earnest and respectable efforts), the other individual simply landed in a way that he did not, not because of any glaring fault or deficiency on his part, but more as a matter of alignment, chemistry, timing, or some ineffable quality that resists easy articulation but is felt nonetheless — a kind of quiet gravity, if you will, drawing attention just a bit more forcefully, and thus, in the grand constellation of performances or impressions or however one wishes to define such things, it’s not that he failed, but rather that someone else, in that same shared space, will succeed just a little more.

By his face alone he looked chromosomally challenged, that's my memory.

He is a what-could-have-been who has yet to be.

My spongy tissue can only expand so much. To David Stearns:

I love it. 12/10. And we still have a couple days left 'til the deadline!

Name doesn't ring a bell. But it sounds Cuban, and Randy Arozarena is a decent Cuban ballplayer who might help. I'd give up former top prospects Mark Vientos and Brett Baty for him.

? I think it's pretty tame. People are in disagreement, but we erudites have reasonably and cogently defended our points well in this intellectual exercise of Socratic dialecticism.

He inspires the short-season hope in me Tyler Clippard did (before Clippard fell apart). It was bringing on late-season relief help that helped catapult the Mets in 2015; I hope it happens here.

I use Pressureze and also a thing called Eustachi.

Are you new to the Internet?

So an injured player doesn't have it, because health is part of 'it.' Every player ever has it if you make excuses for why they're not good.

Whatever it does, it helps clear up the prospect backlog. I was getting worried the Verlander trade was going to be a dud, as Gilbert—the big name in the deal—hasn't wowed in the minors these past two years and he's pushing 25 and out of prospect territory. Tidwell on feel alone gives me Thomas Szapucki vibes—a reasonably high pick who gets mentioned as a prospect, but really doesn't quite have it. So really, all we gave up of any true value right now is Butto, but even he's not been stellar (106 ERA+) this year.

An actually truly good pitching move. This ain't no Huascar Brazoban, this is a David Robertson. He's really good. If he pitches as well as Chad Bradford, I'll give him three thumbs up. Only one I don't like to see go is Butto. The others, adios!

No, what I'm saying is a team doesn't go into a trade to lose on it. They want to get more and spend less. Which translates to, whether in the short term or long term...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................getting the better of the other team.

Well, when is it time to throw in the towel? When they're 26 and struggling and worth less on the trade market? Or 27 and worth even less? Or 28 and worth even less? Right now they could still get something meaningful in a a deal. It's a matter of weighing how much it costs to keep them around, what they've cost us and what we could possibly get in return. They're still young enough to kind of have a prospect feel to them. But next year two of them will be 27 years old or close to it and should be entering their primes—and neither of them look anywhere close to having a good prime. I don't think you understand trades. The goal is to get the better of the other team. So no, optimally, we wouldn't be getting other duds in return. The goal is to get better players in return, while shedding duds, and there are no doubt teams out there who think they can fix them or who will suffer less from having a .220-.230 hitter in their lineup (eg the currently struggling clubs). For those teams, Vientos, Baty etc. would fill the role of "holding down the fort," not the role of "holding up the potential of winning more games," which they're currently doing for New York. All three have spent time in the minors this year, so clearly the Mets are also kind of wishy washy on them still. Time to stop being wishy washy and start making final decisions. Limbo is not a good place to be with three of what are supposed to have been solid contributors to a team that was anticipated to, and is trying to, be a playoff team. And it's not that they're just struggling this year, it's that—outside of flashes of potential—they have consistently struggled since joining the Mets.

Did I say that?

Harper has actually matured A LOT over the past few years.