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11/11/18

From The Desk… Peter Alonso, Minority Ownership, Jairo Capellan, 100 photos, HOF



Good morning.


MiLB.com ‘fan favoritePeter Alonso

Ranked seventh in his own system a year ago, the University of Florida product delivered a Minor League-leading 36 homers and 119 RBIs in 132 games split between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Las Vegas. Alonso's 68 extra-base hits were third-most in the Minors, and he ended his season -- and the 51s' tenure at Las Vegas' Cashman Field -- with a no-doubt walk-off blast. The 2016 second-round pick was both the Mets' Minor League Player of the Year and their Defensive Player of the Month for July. About the only thing Alonso didn't do well on his way to being ranked as the Minors' No. 58 overall prospect was steal bases -- he was caught in all three of his 2018 attempts.

Despite his fine campaign, the Mets opted to send Alonso to the Arizona Fall League rather than give him a September big-league callup. In his first 13 games with Scottsdale, he's batting .320/.397/.640 with a league-leading four home runs. Look for him to bring his power bat to Queens early next season.


Baseball’s Minority  Management Problem –

         
     Two explanations are offered by men around major league baseball for this desultory trend. As Ivy League men predominate in front offices, they are said to seek managerial candidates conversant in the analytic revolution that has overrun baseball in the past decade.

Another theory, a cousin to the first, is that these bright and vastly white front-office men seek managerial empty vessels into which they can pour their statistics and equations. The columnist Ken Rosenthal, now with The Athletic, wrote a thoughtful article critiquing this trend a few years back. To hire a baseball lifer, a man who has spent years getting the experience he was told was needed to become a managerial candidate, is to risk he might think an independent thought.


Reds minor league player killed , 2 teammates injured in Dominican Republic crash –
A 19-year-old Cincinnati Reds minor league pitcher was killed and two of his teammates were injured in a vehicle accident in the Dominican Republic Saturday, according to our partners at WCPO.

Jairo Capellan was killed in the morning crash. Pitcher Raul Hernandez, 19, is in “critical but stable” condition and outfielder Emilio Garcia, 19, is “receiving treatment but is alert and conscious,” according to an update from the Reds Sunday.


Exploring Baseball's Cultural Heritage in 100 Photos  -

          
  The first celebrated photographs taken in the United States—among them portraits of former President John Quincy Adams and President James Polk—were shot in the 1840s, which was right about the time that the first organized baseball games, staged in front of audiences and guided by essentially the same rules that guide the game today, were being played. In the years and decades that followed, both photography and baseball blossomed in popularity. Sports Illustrated’s The Story of Baseball in 100 Photographs explores baseball’s cultural heritage and its path to becoming the country’s national pastime through evocative, extraordinary photos, from the days of Babe Ruth to the thrilling championships of today.


10 named to Today's Game Era  ballot for Hall –

        
    The Today's Game Era ballot for the National Baseball Hall of Fame was revealed Monday, comprised of a combination of 10 players, managers and an owner who will receive consideration to be enshrined in baseball's most historic and distinguished place in history.

          Harold Baines, Albert Belle, Joe Carter, Will Clark, Orel Hershiser, Davey Johnson, Charlie Manuel, Lou Piniella, Lee Smith and George Steinbrenner are those receiving consideration for the class of 2019. Baines, Belle, Carter, Clark, Hershiser and Smith are included for their contributions as players, while Johnson, Manuel and Piniella are included for their roles as managers. Steinbrenner, who is the only candidate that is no longer living, is nominated for his role as former Yankees owner.

14 comments:

  1. Although Alonso is mired in a slump in the AFL, with his BA down to the 220s,he seems to be getting faster. He stole his 5th base yesterday, after having only 3 in the entire season in the minors.

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  2. Bill -

    Morning.

    I think that all Peter needs is a few months of sleep late's and home cooking.

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  3. Albert Bella for the Hall of Fame...a truly bad boy who could truly hit.

    Mack has known all along that Alonso's game is predicated on sheer speed :)

    Pete for ROY in 2019.

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  4. Tom -

    Nothing would make me happier if we didn't have to worry about first base for the next 6-8 years, but, down deep, there still is a part of me that doesn't see the complete package.

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  5. Mack I believed you may be right in that Alonso may not be the complete package
    But he may not have to be... if he puts together a few years of Ike Davis years before he was stepped on by D Wright then he could man the position while we address other needs
    That is how we can keep payroll down by having league avg replacements at zero costs

    If he is viewed as DH in 2 years you can trade him then and hopefully build your roster once the dumb Bruce and Frazier signings come off

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  6. Eddie -

    You might be right.

    We have an opportunity next year to have a 'team controlled infield'... Alonso, McNeil, Gimenez, Rosario, and Mazeika.

    We then could spend the big bucks on the outfield and pitching.

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  7. What outfielders are you going to spend on?

    Harper is the only big bucks outfielder this year.

    If wait till next year.....the Mets sacrifice another year for hope of better possible maybe could be acquisitions in the future. That I might add, if you dont get, your plan just collapsed and another plan has to begin with that much more time for implementation...

    No thanks. That is what has been happening. See where it has led the team?

    Have to learn from mistakes and commit to right now
    Or
    Commit to selling the pitchers and plan on acquiring a treasure if early 20 year old high achievers to plan for.

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  8. Why would we spend on the OF? Even if we knew for sure (we DON'T) that Yo will not be returning, we're covered with Bruce/Nimmo/4to/Lagares.

    Spending on another OFer would mean dumping TWO of these once Yo returns.

    Why do that

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  9. Three pen arms and a catcher - then let's compete

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  10. The Mets writeup on MLBTR:

    https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/11/offseason-outlook-new-york-mets-9.html

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  11. Gimenez with a come from behind, game winning 2 run double last night. That had to be quite a relief, as I believe he was something like 5 for 44 going into that AB.

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  12. Regarding Peter Alonso

    I saw Peter in one game, the MiLB AAA All Star Game. And I liked what I saw then, a lot. Homerun power for certain, and a play at first base that I feel comfortable saying that no other current NY Mets first baseman could have made on this club.

    As I stated back when that game took place, it isn't just the sheer homerun power, the fabulously quick reaction play on a brutal one hopper down the line that Jay Bruce and Dominic Smith wouldn't even have come close to stopping, it's Peter Alonso's list of intangibles that he brings along with him to the games.

    A fan knows talent when they see it. We all do. A touchdown pass, a great reception, a strikeout or more per inning, a homerun swing, speed in the outfield...But there is more to the great ones than just that, and you see that if you pay close enough attention.

    Peter Alonso has that. That something extra feature.
    Something beyond just the skills of the game. It's an attitude and a desire for winning. You can see it when he is in the dugout around the other players. You can see it on the field. All I can say here is this, "Patience and time, patience and time."

    I'd build such a strong field team around guys like Peter Alonso, Jeff McNeil, Brandon Nimmo, Michael Conforto, Amed Rosario (these five) that neither heaven nor earth could derail it.

    These are your five Mets fans. And all are homegrown prouducts of GM Sandy Alderson and crew. It is just simply in need of two more everyday starting fielders with that something extra.

    Can we do that? I for one think and hope so.

    (The two more I like right now: C JT Realmuto, 3B Michael Chavis)



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  13. In the example above

    I forgot to mention above LF Yoenis Cespedes, he's the 8th man. I think he can make it back 100% for ST. But time will tell.

    Michael Chavis should be easy to get, he's behind Dalbec and Devers now for third base in Beantown. But the kid has power and was rated as Boston's No.1 prospect. Dalbec may be even better though. And neither will move Rafael Devers off of Boston's third base in their first season.

    Might not have to give up much to obtain him.

    Now JT Realmuto

    This mwon't be be easy. Miami will want big name kid players in return. Maybe a package of something like: Andres Gimenez, Justin Dunn, Anthony Kay, and someone else too. Likelihood is not in the Mets favor with this type of trade, but maybe not yet impossible either.

    I would not give up Peter Alonso or any of the top three Mets starters. And I would keep the Alonso, McNeil, Rosario, Nimmo, and Conforto train intact as well. They know each other and played well second half of 2018.

    Why also keep these five intact?

    Because JT Realmuto is definitely a really good hitting catcher in a player market without too many others as good. But he is not a Gary Carter or a Mike Piazza topflight hitting catcher, no way. The Mets could probably go after someone else to start at the catcher position. But that catcher would have to be able to hit well, leaving out catchers line Rene Rivera and Martin Maldonado for certain. And then too, if courageous enough, maybe the Mets good after a Gary Sanchez from the Yankees, or a hopeful kid like a Danny Jansen.

    The Yankees need some more pitching to be able to better compete again with Boston. Matz, Dunn, and Lugo might answer that request for Sanchez? Or maybe the Mets could go after starter James Paxton hard for here, with a similar type of package.

    Time and patience, time and patience.

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