Good morning.
Here you go baseball
fans, your 2018 turkeys
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8. MICKEY CALLAWAY - It was
indeed a rough first go-around for the Mets manager, who was billed as a “great
communicator,” out-of-the-box choice by upper management given his lack of
managerial experience. There were all sorts of embarrassments for Callaway,
starting with the batting-out-of-order lineup screw-up on May 9 against
Cincinnati, and his stunning admission in July that he knew nothing about
Yoenis Cespedes needing surgery on both his heels. As the promising 11-1 start
to the Mets’ season quickly dissipated, Callaway began to come under heavy
criticism, especially with his handling of the bullpen and not having a grip on
things. Likewise, his relationship with the New York media could best be
described as frosty — never a good thing for a first-time manager. A “low”
point to the season was when Callaway blamed his team’s struggles on the
players putting too much pressure on themselves because it was New York. “This
isn’t Cleveland,” he said in reference to his previous gig as pitching coach of
the Indians. He wasn’t wrong about that. With a new GM in town asserting he
expects the Mets to be in the postseason, Callaway is going to need to get off
to another fast start in ’19 or else he’ll go from this list to “first manager
fired.”
Mack – I don’t think any one person should be blamed
for the 2018 Mets season, but Callaway’s deer in the headlights approach to how
he handled this team immediately after the wonderful start of the season
exposed him to the world. He didn’t have the answers.
The Next Starting
Pitcher To Come From Japan
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For what felt like quite a while, the chatter last offseason
was dominated by the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes. Yusei
Kikuchi isn’t Shohei Ohtani. For one thing, Kikuchi is a few years
older. For a second thing, Kikuchi doesn’t routinely throw his fastball in the
upper 90s. And for a third thing, no one has ever referred to Kikuchi as the
Japanese Babe Ruth. I don’t know much about Kikuchi as a hitter, but I can
assume that he is a bad hitter, because he is a pitcher who hasn’t made waves
with his hitting. Kikuchi appears to have three career hits, now that I check.
One of them was a double.
Mack – I have nothing against Asian pitchers
but, if I’m going to sign one, I want him to be as special as the bonus kids
are in Latin America. And all of those that pitch throw heat.
Neither Machado
Nor Harper Or Cano The Right Answer For
Mets –
Naturally, when a team adds a player the caliber of Bryce
Harper or Manny Machado it changes its culture and dynamics for years. New York
sports-radio is all for the Mets signing Machado, but that would be one of the
worst things the organization could do. Then again, New York sports-talk radio
is for a lot of things that don't make sense.
Mack – I didn’t realize that John Delcos writes for Forbes. Good
for him.
MLB
and
MGM Resorts International strike gaming partnership –
The
partnership designates MGM as the first official gaming and entertainment
partner of MLB. MGM sportsbooks will begin to utilize baseball's official
statistics feed and have access to enhanced stats on an exclusive basis. In
addition, MLB intellectual property, like league and team logos, will appear in
MGM advertising and at the company's sportsbooks. MGM also will have a presence
at the All-Star Game and World Series.
Mack – My guess is more money for the bosses
that will not be translated into players acquisitions.
Job Posting:
Mets Baseball Ops and R&D
Associates -
The New York Mets are seeking individuals
with a background in data analysis to work with the club’s Research and
Development team. This is an entry-level, yearly position in which associates
will analyze baseball data and use their findings to provide insight within the
different areas of Baseball Operations. These may include player development,
amateur and international scouting, and major league advance scouting.
Applicants should be available to start in January.
20 comments:
Callaway will have a REAL team by spring. I read they have their eyes on Grandal.
If I were 40 years younger, that data analytics job would have been quite interesting to think about.
Wow, Mets making trades before the winter meetings and advertising to hire data analysts are two exciting developments. It's certainly more fun to be a Mets fan today than last year, waiting for the market to come to Sandy so he could swoop in and grab Anthony Swarzek and Jason Vargas. Are we going to regret giving up the young prospects in 3 years, maybe but hopefully the Mets haven't endured 73 win seasons waiting for that to happen. I'm sick of seeing Amazin Finishes 2017 for 70 win teams. We saw a glimpse of what a team with dominant starting pitching can do in the final 2 months of last season, now he's added maybe the best closer in the game and a .300 hitter to the lineup. And if there is a way to get McNeil and Alonso on the field that's more pop and hits. If so, in Rosario, Conforto, Nimmo, McNeil, Alonso, Thor, Matz, Diaz there is a core of young players contributing daily that adding a player like Cano makes sense. Plus we already have our July trade sitting somewhere rehabbing 2 heel surgeries, and preparing to add a big bat to the lineup for the stretch run. What's next?
Jeff, at this point, all things are possible - I think Brodie convinced the Wilpons to be as sick of 70 win seasons as we all are. And to be bold and audacious. And the Wilpons, I believe, have bought in. Let's enjoy the ride.
I have always considered rooting for prospects (1st round picks especially) the reward for my sitting through a terrible season. So Kelenic succeeding was my reward for having sat through a season that left the mets with the 6th worst record. I hate this trade.
Same here Robb...
Then the memory of salivating over how a prospective Milledge-Cargo-FMart outfield went and I resign myself to root for whomever's on the field.
Hobbie, I have a hard time rooting for guys who hit their wives/gfs and people who cheat. Other than that I do too. I prefer rooting for guys who came up through the farm usually. So the Degrom's, Syndergaards and Wilmer Flores are much easier to enjoy then the Bobby Bonnila's of the world. Btw the Mets made the right call in non tendering Flores (the wrong was in not trading him last year). I want a team that understands that there should always be players on the roster that i would feel comfortable buying a jersey with their name on, bc they might not be the best, but they will still be here for a few more years and not be suspended.
This team could be drastically better than last season's, when all is said and done. I hate losing top prospects, too, but the journey has begun, and the end of it might be a 95 win team. We were lucky to win as man as 77 last season. I just finished binge-watching Season 8 of the show "24", which reinforced me not to pre-judge an outcome.
They know it is a risk to do this - the risk of losing the fan base. The owners and Brodie are doing their best Bronx Bombers imitation right now...may the be wildly successful.
I sat thru the Nets' Russian owner's attempt to be bold - what a colossal mess up that was - but hope this turns out far better.
I still have hope for Mickey Callaway......last season was a train wreck and he certainly played a large role in the outcome. However, there were also tons of injuries and underperforming veterans that were just as responsible.
With the lessons learned from this past year (hopefully) and the addition of a veteran bench coach, I think things are going
to be much different this season (or it may not matter for the Mick).
It's not time to Terry Collins Mickey Callaway, benching him because he had a rough stretch as a rookie. Just as we saw players improve with time and opportunities (Rosario, Nimmo, Lugo) the same holds true of managers. It's different when you have someone with a long track record of mediocrity and expect that person to suddenly succeed and then you're surprised when he doesn't. There are players and the one aforementioned manager who fit that bill.
Anybody notice all of the Syndergaard to the Padres reports dried up after the Padres stated that Tatis Jr. Would not be included?
Maybe a sign he was the Mets main target?
Bob, Thor could easily win 20 next year. Tatis or no deal for Thor.
As for the trade, I’m not opposed to getting Cano or would I have been opposed to giving up Kelenic for the right reasons. What I’m opposed to is making the Mariners give up $20MM which gives them the right to Kelenic. The Mets had the 7th most revenue in MLB. These aren’t the Indians. They have many revenue streams. But, they’re shortsighted losers, that always look at today.
When the Yankees got Stanton, they asked for no money and so they gave up little prospect haul. The Mets need the handout, of course. Shame on them for hurting their farm system over $20MM, when they were just granted $50MM in new TV money.
Bone spurs?
Even if benign, let's use this with due diligence to wrangle Kelenic back.
I don’t like this trade, primarily because I am
convinced that based on what they’re paying him, they (ownership) will insist on trotting the decaying carcass of 37-41 yr old Cano out there every day, while talented kids sit behind him. This trade smells a lot like Brody playing right to Fred Wilpon’s weaknesses -“Hey Fred, Robinson Cano is a star! People pay to see stars! And he’s a former Yankee and the Yankees made a mistake not paying him the (obscene) money that i negotiated for him, so you’ll get to one-up the Yankees! Plus, he won’t really cost much for the next two years because we’re dumping two contracts. Plus, he was really good the last time you were sentiment and could follow the game. Plus, you’ll probably be dead before those kids make the bigs!”
If they trade Syndergaard I really could be out. If you had to name five SP’s in the NL with the best shot of being a top 5 CY candidate every year for the next five years, Thor is on that list. Coming off multiple (non-elbow or shoulder) injuries, he finally looked back to normal (more like back to superhero) at the end of last season. The guy’s got maybe the best power/stuff/control combo in all of baseball. No matter who you got for him right now, you’d be selling low. And we’ve all waited so long to see the dominant starting staff that we all assumed he had Brewing. Maybe it’s 3 instead of 5, but three is the magic number to dominate a playoff or World Series. Trading Syndergaard now will haunt this team (and its fans) for a generation.
That word above should be “sentient” not sentiment.
Adam, I think the playing deadwood days are over - hence their dismissal of Swarzak and Bruce. If/when Cano declines he will be dealt with accordingly.
I hope you’re right, Thomas. It just feels like this deal reflects ownership’s valuing money now over production, especially production later. So while Brody may be able to get them to move on some stuff, their nature won’t change, and they’re likely to cringe at the thought of sitting that much money on the bench. We shall see.
Mets could have just cut Swarzak if they didnt think he'd rebound and eat the 8 mm. Red Sox do this all the time. They cut bait on busts. Mets forced to include a top prospect. I really cant think of a time Ive been more down on this franchise in terms of strategy. Someone above compared the bk nets trade. It has taken them 5 years to even clear the damage and they still have the 5th worst record in basketball. Bold is stupid almost always. Smart bold was the dodgers taking all that money from the red sox.
Robb, just keep Swarzak as the last man in the pen. Why cut him? This is just a terrible deal no matter what angle you look at.
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