Good
morning.
That $50 million contract
bought out Gordon’s final three years of arbitration plus two years of free
agency and a potential third as a team option. It came with a signing bonus of
$1.5 million and a salary of $3 million this season, which means Gordon will
lose $1.3 million as a result of his suspension. And when he returns, the
Marlins will still owe roughly $45 million to Gordon. That extension money is
where the current controversy lies.
Earlier this week, Ken Rosenthal talked with multiple players about the
current system for suspending PED users, covering a wide range of issues: the
efficacy of the system (in light of players who’d been caught outside of
testing), the penalty and whether it was too lax, and the possibility of
tiering suspensions if a player knowingly took a banned substance. These are
thorny issues.
Mack – what you
doubters here have to realize that Gordon’s extension easily could have been
negotiated while he was under the influence of performance enhancing drugs. And
you think that extension shouldn’t be taken away from him?
Yusuf : Hey Jeff, Michael Conforto is off to a great start–tops the
league in exit velocity, getting on base, etc. After roughly a half-season of
major league plate appearances who would you say is an accurate comp for him?
Jeff Sullivan: This
one took me a few minutes because my mind went blank but then it kept trying to
say Alex Gordon? It’s not a perfect comp,
because Gordon has better defense and Conforto might have more power, but that
seems like the right general area
Mack – Wow.
Conforto and Gordon in the same sentence. I don’t want to jinx the kid. I hope
the press leaves him alone and lets him build on the beginning of a great
season.
Here’s the latest spin by the Mets on them not caring whether Dominic Smith develops power right now
Mets minor-league hitting
coordinator Lamar Johnson: - “The focus is just
being consistent. You’ve got to have a consistent approach and a consistent
swing. As he matures everything is going to get better for him. Right now, we
just want him to be consistent with everything he does because he’s got a nice
swing. And when they start talking about power, he hits 30-something doubles
per year. That’s pretty productive, I think, when you talk about power numbers.
Home runs, that’s something that’s going to happen way down the road for him.”
Mack – My question… how long is
this road?
St. Lucie 5 - Palm Beach 4 - The
St. Lucie Mets avoided a sweep by clipping the Palm Beach Cardinals 5-4 on
Sunday afternoon at Tradition Field.
The game was exciting with the
Mets jumping out to a four-run lead in the sixth then having to hang on for the
victory.
Former Independent Baseball
players Casey Delgado and Kevin Taylor played huge roles in the victory.
Delgado improved to 4-0 in his fourth start. He allowed three runs in six
innings. Taylor went 3 for 4 with a home run and three RBI.
Taylor served a two-out,
two-run single to right filed off of Jack Flaherty in the third that put the
Mets up 2-1. Taylor’s second homer of the year, a solo shot in the sixth, made
it 3-1 and chased Flaherty from the game.
Later in the sixth Jhoan Urena
drove in Wuilmer Becerra with a base hit. Jonathan Johnson’s two out single to
center moved John Mora to third base and Mora scored on an errant throw home by
center field Blake Drake. The Mets left the sixth with a 5-1 lead.
The Cardinals roared back with
three runs in the seventh. Robby Coles threw a wild pitch that let in a run to
make it 5-4 and moved the tying run to third base. Coles recovered by striking
out Brian O’Keefe.
In the eighth the Cardinals got
back-to-back two out hits but Coles coaxed a ground out to short to keep the
Mets on top.
Tim Peterson struck out two in
the ninth and worked around a two-out single to notch his first save.
Becerra went 3 for 4 and raised
his average to .371. Mora was 2 for 4.
The Mets snapped their three-game losing
streak and moved back into a first place tie with Palm Beach at 14-10.
New Hampshire 3 -
Binghamton 1 - The New Hampshire Fisher Cats scored three
times in the first inning and defeated the Binghamton Mets, 3-1, on a rainy
Sunday afternoon at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium. The B-Mets were limited to
four hits and watched their season-best six-game winning streak come to an end.
Shortstop Phillip Evans’
fielding error to start the first opened the door for the Fisher Cats. Rowdy
Tellez skipped an RBI single up the middle and Matt Dean followed by lacing a
run-producing double into the right-field alley. Jorge Saez ripped an RBI
single into left to cap the big frame. Gsellman faced eight batters and needed
35 pitches to survive the first.
Gsellman settled down after the
rocky start and answered back with four scoreless innings. After the Fisher
Cats opened the game 4-for-8 at the plate, Gsellman held them hitless in their
next 11 at-bats. The righty set down the final 10 batters he faced as he
battled through the fifth inning.
Fisher Cat starter Luis Santos
held the B-Mets to one run over six innings in his fourth career Double-A
start. The righty put down six straight before Xorge Carrillo started the third
with a double to the left-field gap. Jared King put the B-Mets on the board,
and earned his first RBI of the season, by slicing a double down the left-field
line. Santos capped his day, and preserved the New Hampshire lead, by setting
down 12 of the final 14 batters he faced.
Danny Barnes mowed down all six
B-Mets he faced after taking over in the seventh. Wil Browning worked a perfect
ninth to earn his second save. The Fisher Cats pitching staff retired the final
12 B-Met batters in order and prevented any runner from getting past first base
after the third inning.
Gsellman (1-1) allowed three
runs, all unearned, on four hits over five innings in his first loss of the
season. Santos (2-0) struck out seven and issued no walks to pick up the win.
The B-Mets (11-10) continue
their road trip and start a four-game series against the Portland Sea Dogs on
Monday night at 6:00 PM. LHP Andrew Barbosa takes the mound against RHP Teddy
Stankiewicz.
POSTGAME NOTES: The B-Mets took
two of three from the Fisher Cats during the weekend series and earned their
third series win…Jared King went 2-for-3 and registered his second consecutive
multiple-hit game…Binghamton’s two through six hitters combined to go 0-for-18
Kannapolis 5 -
Columbia 4 - The Fireflies endured their first
rain-shortened game at Spirit Communications Park and fell to the Intimidators
Sunday afternoon, 5-4. The rain delay lasted 35 minutes and the game was called
after seven innings. In his Fireflies debut, outfielder Enmanuel Zabala
scorched two doubles and scored a pair of runs.
The two teams traded runs
during the game's early stages. Columbia (13-11) got on the board first when
David Thompson's ground ball brought J.C. Rodriguez home. Kannapolis (10-14)
knotted the score up at 1-1 in the third. Dante Flores grounded a single off
the first-base bag that allowed Tyler Sullivan to score from second base.
The home team turned to the
newest addition to its roster in the bottom of the third. Zabala stroked a
double down the left-field line off of lefty Tanner Banks (W, 5-0). Fellow
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, native Rodriguez followed suit by ripping a
two-bagger to right field that scored Zabala and gave the Fireflies a 2-1
advantage.
The Intimidators wasted no time
to even the score again. In the top of the fourth, Daniel Gonzalez plated Brad
Strong. It was the only earned run Columbia's Joe Shaw allowed in his five
innings of work.
With the game tied, 2-2, going
into the sixth, Johnny Magliozzi (L, 1-1) replaced Shaw. After Magliozzi
allowed consecutive hits to the visitors, the right-hander then let up a
three-run home run to Micker Adolfo.
The Fireflies rallied for a run
in the sixth and seventh innings to pull within one score. That included Dash
Winningham driving in his 11th run of the season with a single.
8 comments:
Time for the resident Dom Smith lover to chime in in 3.....2.......1..........
Think of it this way: remember when Duda hit for average early in professional career? Remember how his power blossomed and his avwrage died in the years since?
Dom is the anti Duda. Dom not only makes more contact consistently than Duda but he OFTEN goes opposite field, both on the ground and in the air.
You sure as hell won't see a shift be put on by opposing teams when he's up because he can hit it ANYWHERE on the field. Thats a good thing.
i echo Ernest, because Smith does not turn 21 until mid-June...but this is the year, if I were him, I would show that there are the equivalent of 40 doubles and 20 homers in that bat - or it might add a year to his upwards journey.
I think that if a guy gets hit with a PED violation and has signed a big contract, it should not be all on the team. The Players Association (good luck) should agree that after a player returns from his suspension, the rest of the contract get a 20% haircut. So, in Dee's case, he'd lose $8.5 MM due to the suspension, and since he'd still stand to make about $41MM for the rest of his contract, 20% off would be another $8.2 MM off.
I write this way about Smith so I can get at least two comments every morning :)
The PED/contract stuff is enormously complicated, and I resist the simple solutions.
Here's a question:
If the Marlins' GM was alone in a room, after all is said and done, would he still want Dee Gordon locked up for the next 4-5 years or not?
I don't know the answer to that, but I certainly don't assume that the Marlins would be better off without him.
Folks have pointed out that this all comes back to the CBA and the Player's Union. We would all like to live in a world where "cheaters never prosper," but, um.
Marlon Byrd was released by the Red Sox in 2012 at age 34. Suspended for PEDS. He played in Mexico. Signed as a minor league free agent with the Mets, resurrected his career, and subsequently earned more than $16 million dollars. PEDS work! Were we all rooting against him when he played for the Mets? I don't recall it. Are we hating on Bartolo?
Do I think Byrd talks to other players? Do I think he ever whispered to, say, Justin Turner, "I know a guy . . ."
Do you guys remember the JT that played in NY for three seasons, slugging .356, .392, .and .385? He went over to LA and slugged .493 and .491 and nearly came away at the NLDS MVP? A transformed player. He's making $5 million this year and will be a free agent.
I can't say with certainty that he took PEDS. This isn't a legal statement. But do I suspect he did? Sure, yes, absolutely. I don't understand how anyone wouldn't suspect it. This is the world we live in, and millions upon millions of dollars are at stake.
If DW went down late in the season, I could imagine a lot of folks calling for the Mets to trade for him. And if he came here and hit like he's done the past two years, we'd stand and cheer.
Lastly, nothing in Sandy Alderson's past suggests that he cares in the least. He enjoyed a nice run with the Bash Brothers in Oakland, looking the other way and winning championships. The team benefitted too.
It's a mess.
Oh, and btw, just to annoy some of you (and for full disclosure), I also suspect that Piazza might have dabbled during his career. It's certainly possible. He's still one of my all-time favorite Mets. Complicated times.
James Preller
James -
You and I are on the same side of the page on this issue. It is everywhere and it doesn't look like it's going away; however, that doesn't mean baseball shouldn't address it with a uniform penalty for usage.
Me? The least I would do is suspend a player for the remainder of the season they are playing in, or 80 games if there are less than 80 games left in a season.
If... and let me stress the word IF.....
Dom Smith, for whatever reason does not pan out as a prospect......
Combined with Nimmo and Cecchini as early first round draft picks over the past few years......
That is not a good track record.
Conforto does help to bring the average of success look better....
but still 25% success rate while dealing with the horror show the Mets were during those years....Tough...
Thank goodness things have changed on the Major league level so positively.
Bob -
All four of those picks were high in the first round and should have been no brainers
You win some, you lose some -- Reese Havens, anyone?
It's so hard to predict what a player will do 4+ years down the road when the level of hitting, pitching, fielding and baserunning is so much better than what they have seen thus far in their careers.
Football player Dave Meggyesy wrote a book called "Out of Their League" in which he raised an interesting point. He reminds you when you criticize how a player is doing that all of us know one guy who was the best on the block at his sport. Then there was another guy who was the best in the neighborhood. Then there was another guy who was the best on his team once you moved into organized sports. Then one guy who was the best in his school. And one guy who was the best in the district/region. Then one guy who was the best in the state. Then that guy maybe goes to college where he finds out that everyone on the team was also the best in his state, too. And maybe he continues to develop and succeed until he's best on his college team...and so forth. So when you see a player developing in the minors or struggling in the majors you have to realize the odds he's already overcome and the level of competition he's facing.
No wonder PEDs are so rampant.
Post a Comment