The Morning Report – 1-24 – Dave Cameron, Paul Swydan, Maury Brown, Michael Salfino, Brian Mangan

Here’s the abbreviated Saturday report, featuring links to five of the top Mets writers in the business.

Fangraphs  –

Comment From Colin - Change in Citi Field dimensions: do you predict a large effect, small effect, or no effect?

Dave Cameron: Small.  http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/dave-cameron-fangraphs-chat-12115/

Comment From Optimetstic - Will Dillon Gee be considered a fallback option via trade for teams that don’t land Shields? What kind of return will the Mets get?

Paul Swydan: If the Mets were going to be able to get anything good for Gee, he’d have been traded a month ago. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/fangraphs-after-dark-chat-12015/

Maury Brown/Forbes –

            The Mets ranked 21st in paid attendance last season with a total of 2,148,808 or an average of 26,860. That average was 64.3% of Citi Field’s capacity. So, maybe the Wilpons think the video board will not only inflate Citi Field’s valuation, maybe they think it will draw fans through the gate. http://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2015/01/20/new-york-mets-investing-in-massive-video-display-over-investment-in-players/?utm_campaign=Forbes&utm_source=TWITTER&utm_medium=social&utm_channel=Business&linkId=11850839

Michael Salfino/Wall Street Journal –

            The Mets’ plan to return to prominence on the strength of their young starting pitchers took a hit this week when the division-rival Nationals signed Max Scherzer, winner of the 2013 American League Cy Young Award.

Based on last year’s numbers, the Mets have little chance of competing with Washington for the National League East title. And they don’t fare much better in a composite of the best projection systems used by fantasy baseball enthusiasts.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-loaded-mets-are-suddenly-losing-the-arms-race-1421801474

Brian Mangan/The Read Zone –

Apparently we are turning into Fire Joe Morgan. My apologies, but certain information must be disseminated to the public, and certain misinformation must be debunked. Let’s start with one that has bothered me all offseason, perhaps the most problematic theme of them all: the idea that the Marlins are going to be really good in 2015. They aren’t.

Let walk that back slightly in the interest of accuracy: it would be a big surprise if the Marlins were much better than a .500 team next year. They would need a lot of luck, and then some, in order to present a real challenge to the Nationals. If Giancarlo Stanton comes back healthy and as good as ever, if Mat Latos pitches a full season at a high level, if Christian Yelich emerges as a star, and if Michael Morse can rewind to 2011 and hit 30 home runs … then maybe we’re on to something. But even then, the Marlins would, in all likelihood, still be looking up at the Nationals.

http://thereadzone.com/2015/01/22/the-marlins-are-nowhere-near-the-nationals-or-the-mets/