-LHP Jerry Blevins
-OF Austin Jackson
-C Jose Lobaton
-C Devin Mesoraco
-RHP A.J. Ramos
-SS Jose Reyes
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18 comments:
Jackson would be a serviceable fifth outfielder until Cespedes comes back. Figure a starting lineup of Conforto-Nimmo-Bruce, with Lagares and Jackson to play against certain lefties. Then, when Lagares inevitably goes down for the season yet again, Jackson could remain on the roster when Cespedes comes back.
Remember when Reyes couldn't buy a hit in 2017 and then turned it on? Jackson did the opposite and proved to me why he was released. Move on.
How many of the 6 were on the 40?
I don't really see anyone on that list that is a "must sign", really.
MAYBE, Blevins? Or, perhaps Jackson as our 5th OF'er, but that will be crowded already with everyone back and healthy (fingers crossed).
The rest? Meh.....we can upgrade the roster, IMO.
Given the team's needs, it might be interesting to offer Ramos a minimum contract to see if he can come back. Really nothing to lose
Norm -
I'd offer a limited 1-year deal to Blevens.
Let's try new, better players in 2019 than these 6. Would the Red Sox sign any of these 6? Neither should the Mets.
Blevins, as Mack said, is worth a 1-year deal.
Elsewhere, the Pirates today bought out Josh Harrison, making him a FA. He's worth a look as #5 OFer/backup IFer.
Josh Harrison - who the Pirates wanted Brandon Nimmo for at this time last year!
I like Josh Harrison as a utility type on our bench.......he would take Wilmer's place, I think (so it would come at a bit of a cost, unless Wilmer gets traded).
And whom Sandy wanted to trade for, but not for Nimmo.
Good Threads
Did you hear that Rafael Montero chose to leave. Now what do we do? Hopefully not re-sign AJ Ramos. We are not that desperate, are we?
On the outfield...
I'm sort of hoping that the 2019 NY Mets outfield is something like this: LF Cespedes (with the new feet and all), CF Nimmo (sans the inside low off the plate swing and miss thing), RF Conforto. With Juan "No Around 2 Long" Lagares and Tim Tebow as the four and five outfielders.
I think Tebow would serve better as the fifth outfielder over Jackson, mainly because Tim would bring more power to the later inning pinch hitter role. You have to remember here, that all three starting outfielders above can play multiple positions in the outfield too (including CF), which makes injury situations during the season more easy to fill.
If Jay Bruce cannot somehow be moved, then he could vie with Tim Tebow for the fifth slot.
Reading some of the Blogs recently...
Several are saying, to my own total disbelief, that the Mets are seriously looking at Manny Machado. Personally, I find this very hard to believe that Manny would consider here for his next destination, only because he has stated already that he wants to go back to the American League mainly because he knows the pitching there already after five years in Baltimore. I can understand that some, but I think that the right contract could possibly change this too.
Think about that a minute.
Manny prefers the AL.
Where does your mind go with this? Mine goes directly to the Bronx. I think SS Didi Gregorious is a Free Agent too and the Yankees have expressed (over the past season) that they would be interested in Machado.
Manny himself prefers playing shortstop over third base. Third base in the Bronx is owned by Miguel Andujar, probably the "Rookie of the AL Year" in 2018. But if somehow the stars and moon all align just so, and the Mets got him, he would probably play third base and not shortstop. Just a hunch because I think Amed Rosario showed very well in his own rookie campaign in Flushing Meadows.
Will definitely be very interesting to watch this off season.
The AFL All Star Game
I watched the AFL All Star Game Saturday on MLB. Peter Alonso hit a homerun blast in his very first at bat. He was one for two on the day, with two probably intentional walks. Peter is like the MiLB leader in homeruns for 2018. The two things that impressed me even as much about Alonso as that homerun, was the fifth inning screaming one hop down the line smash that he dove at to stop. You had to have seen this play to understand how sensational a play that was he made.
Normally, Mets first baseman (in 2018) would not have been able to get to that smash sure thing double hit. It was a screamer hit. It was smashed down the line, but Alonso with very quick reflexes dove to get it with the ball one hopping so that Peter had to catch the ball two feet above the ground. It was almost an impossible play to make for any first baseman. But Peter made the play look easy.
The other thing that impressed me about Alonso is an intangible thing that quite frankly I have not seen with this NY Mets team since David Wright came up back in the early 2000's. Peter and David share this intangible element to their respective games. It is the unusually high level amount that they both share of these four things: 1. Hustle 2. Determination 3. Desire 4. And "It".
I cannot aptly define "It" and no it has nothing to do with Stephen King's famous novel by a similar name either, but the best I can do here is tell you that only the very best of team players and leaders have "It". It's something along the line of playing all out at 110% every game, putting it all on the table, and going for the "team" victory over personal accolades.
You can laugh and doubt me here, I understand, but both David Wright and now this new kid Peter Alonso have all that going on. Very few athletes in any sport come up as rookies with all of these intangibles.
In the NFL, Dan Marino of the Dolphins did too. You could see "it" the very first preseason game that he played.
Hang onto this new guy Peter Alonso. And maybe too consider David Wright for one of the coaching openings. Players will listen to him because everyone likes and respects him.
Also on the AFL All Star Game
Remember about a month or so back, I proposed looking at a trade with Boston involving getting 3B Michael Chavis and SP Darwinzon Hernandez?
Well, Hernandez came into the AFL game on Saturday, pitched two inning, and struck out (I believe it was) four batters. This kid is amazing and not just good. He throws 98/99 mph and is a LEFTY starter. This is exceedingly unusual for a lefty pitcher, to throw that hard.
The Red Sox have a kid third baseman already, a very good one with nothing but upside in Rafael Devers. Rafael is all upside. They also had another third baseman in that AFL All Star Game, Bobby Dalbec. Bobby is 23, started 2018 in A Ball and advanced quickly to AA Ball. He had 32 homeruns on the year in 2018 and over 100 RBI's combined.
But Michael Chavis plays third base too and has put up equally good numbers batting. However, I believe that he ran a foul with PED's and played just an abbreviated 2018 because of this. But both these two young Red Sox third basemen are above average skill level and both have serious homerun ability too.
Well worth a look by an GM, especially by a team that needs to shore up their third base position at their top two levels.
The 2019 NY Mets Bullpen
The Mets Bullpen under both managers Mickey Callaway and Terry Collins were maybe sort of best described as "Punt, Pass, and Kick" I'd like to think anyway.
A MLB team simply cannot win any World Series without an above average bullpen. Yes, maybe it has been done once or twice before in the annals of MLB History. Maybe the SF Giants with Madison Bumgarner a few seasons ago. Who knows.
Anyway, Jamie Callahan aborted ship recently and will not be back with his repaired arm. Rafael Montero and his plastic non-sinking fastball pitch is gone too. But the NY Mets do have other decent young relievers they should probably first look at and consider before going outside their organization. As I have stated here too often already, Bautista, Bashlor, Lugo, Gsellman, and Drew Smith all stand out as such possibilities.
However I probably would not be too determined to re-sign Mets relievers like Blevins, Ramos, or any of the other relievers from last season, beyond the five I just listed above.
I might also consider going the trade route (as opposed to only the Free Agent route) for that perfect late inning reliever to make this all work out smoothly in 2019. Unless there was a really good later inning reliever (like "Spider Man" that could come in here and make a huge difference for this ball club right away.
Sometimes one right veteran acquisition can do this. We'll see.
On Wilson Ramos
Just have a hunch (especially now with Yasmani Grandal re-signed by the Dodgers for whatever reason) that the NY Mets will at least be taking a look at Wilson Ramos.
I think that Wilson Ramos would be an upgrade over what the Mets have here now, obviously. I read that the Mets recently added Travis d'arnaud (of "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" fame) to the 40-man roster. But I do have some reservation with Wilson in respect to his knee injuries of prior seasons. Playing the catcher position is exceptionally rough on the body, knees, back, and arm.
I would also avoid Jonathon LuCroy entirely because of his numbers decline.
The smartest move here, might be to again go the trade route and get a good young catcher from another MLB team ready to come up, or someone like I have mentioned prior a Danny Jansen young catcher with some MLB experience.
There have been rumors that other MLB teams are inquiring about NYY catcher Gary Sanchez. Maybe the Mets should be involved in that too. Not sure. Sanchez is sort of subject to interpretation. We have seen how good he can be and we have seen how bad he can be as well. So which guy is he really, is anyone's choice.
Health and Fitness
Alzheimers:
Lookup and see what you think online regarding Alzheimers (Adult and Child) and the household product called Febreze. This was on a cable station about six or seven weeks ago that I saw. This common product is said to have an ingredient within it that purportedly can slow down the progression of Alzheimers. That ingredient, according to this program, has been laboratory isolated and used in treatment.
Worth a look.
Bipolar Disorder:
May want to research how the gut biome plays potentially a very significant role in origin with this disease. In the gut biome, proteins and bacterium play a significant role in this disorder. Bipolar Disorder can have several different points of origin. Namely genetic inheritance, environmental exposure, and stress. Stress can be a trigger point for someone with an existent predisposition for this disorder. Bipolar Disorder also has a very distinct hormonal aspect to it as well. As a person ages the hormone level drops off.
Many human diseases, from various cancers to even these brain disorders, could also begin within the gut biome. Bipolar Disorder, Alzheimers, MS, Autism, and Parkinsons Disease may be included within this list. Check online.
Simply put, there are good and bad bacterium in the human gut biome. It's how they then interact with protein there and once travelled throughout the body's bloodstream, can have a significant effect anywhere it reaches.
In some circles, Alzheimers is now considered to be a sort of Diabetes Type 2 of the brain. It's effects are, in other words, quite similar to the destruction of Diabetes Type 2 on the lower extremities region of our body. There is no cure that I know of (yet) for Alzheimers Disease. However, there are a few things that are now being reported to slow down its progression rate. Go online and find out what.
(These are now the times to do a lot of research. What a wonderful research tool we have in the laptop. It sits quietly on our kitchen table, beckoning, waiting for us.)
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