From The Desk… Bahama Baseball, David Wright, Willie Mays, Brady Singer, Rob Whalen

  

Good morning.

Baseball in the Bahamas on the rise -

Baseball in the Bahamas is on the rise and while it may never rival countries like the Dominican Republic and Venezuela in terms of quantity, there's an argument to be made that the quality of talent coming from there is on par with other international baseball hotbeds. In all, there have been six players from the Bahamas to play in the Major Leagues, with Richardson, who made his debut in 2011 and retired in 2016, as the most recent. There were an estimated 30 Minor League players from the Bahamas from 1960s to the '80s.

            Mack – a Mets scouting job in the Bahamas… could you handle that?

5 Stars That Said Goodbye In 2019 –

            David Wright - Number to know: 133 career OPS+

PC - Mack

If Wright had been able to do anything close to what Beltre did in his 30s, he would have gone down as one of the best third basemen who ever played. Unfortunately, serious back injuries interfered, and Wright played in only 211 games from age 31 on, including two at the end of 2018 as he said farewell to the Citi Field faithful to cap a career spent entirely with the Mets. While he had his health, however, Wright was on a Hall of Fame trajectory. His 47.2 WAR through 30 ranks in the top 10 at his position. But even though physical issues kept him off the field for much of the past five years, Wright finished with a career .296/.376/.491 line. Among third basemen with at least 5,000 plate appearances since 1920, only Mike Schmidt, Eddie Mathews, Chipper Jones and George Brett have produced a higher OPS+.

            Mack – Let’s not forget what we lost here.

The 10 Best Players  To Ever Suit Up For The New York Mets –

           

 1) Willie Mays

Full Career: .302 avg., 660 HR, 156 OPS-plus

Mets (1972-73): .238 avg., 14 HR, 112 OPS-plus

Despite fading skills, reached base at a .350 clip as a Met and helped 1973 pennant winner.

2) Rickey Henderson

Full Career: .279 avg., 297 HR, 127-OPS plus, 1,406 SB

Mets (1999-2000): .298 avg., 12 HR, 117 OPS-plus, 42 SB

An offensive force at age 40 for the 1999 Mets club that just missed the World Series.

3) Tom Seaver

Full career: 311-205, 2.86 ERA, 3,640 Ks, 1.121 WHIP

Mets (1967-77, ’83): 198-124, 2.57 ERA, 2,541 Ks, 1.076 WHIP

“The Franchise” is the only player on this list the Mets can boast as primarily theirs.

            Mack – Interesting list. No Wright. Yes Cano.

US baseball player   surprises parents by paying off family debt for Christmas in touching video –

                  

      A first-round American baseball draft pick has surprised his parents with a big Christmas gift - using the money from his new job to pay off all of their debt.

Brady Singer, a 22-year-old player with the Kansas City Royals, posted a video on Tuesday of his parents as they read a note from him announcing the gift, and the video has been watched more than 3.4 million times since then.

"Today is very special to my heart. To give back to the two people who have given up everything to support my brother and I”, the pitcher wrote on Twitter. “I can't thank them enough. Love you Mom and Dad”.

            Mack – And you wonder why I loved this guy on draft day.

Rob Whalen   on His Career-Threatening Battle with Anxiety –

                  

     A conversation I had with Rob Whalen on Wednesday took an unexpected, and coincidental, turn. The 24-year-old right-hander brought up the first of the two starts he made for the Seattle Mariners, a game in which he was out-pitched by Boston’s Brian Johnson. A few years earlier, the Red Sox left-hander had taken a leave of absence from baseball to get treated for anxiety and depression.

It turns out that Whalen did the same thing last July — and he should have done it sooner. His mental health had been slowly crumbling, and it finally reached the point where he could no longer function normally — either on or off the field. When Whalen finally walked away from Seattle’s Triple-A affiliate, he did so knowing that he was in serious need of help.

            Mack – We wish Rob well. He was a good friend to Mack’s Mets.