John From Albany - Breakfast Links 11/21/2019

Lots of Rule 5 related roster moves around MLB last night and Chris Mazza started in a game in the Dominican.  

Winter League results are below.  I will be posting more about the Rule 5 related moves the Mets made at 8AM. 

Needless to say clubs found way to protect their best prospects.

MLB  Trade Rumors broke down the National League Moves.

CBS Sports runs down a number of the moves, including the Yankees releasing Jacoby Ellsbury. 

The NY Post says that the Mets interviewed Hensley Meulens for the Mets Bench Coach position.  Hensley spent the last ten years on Brue Bochey’s coaching staff in San Francisco.

Metsmerized looks at Mets Pitching Coach candidate, Chris Fetter, currently pitching coach at the University of Michigan. 

Mestmerized also has how Jessica Mendoza was denied access to Dodgers clubhouse. The Dodgers don’t like analysts in their clubhouse who work for other clubs.  “Brodie Van Wagenen said that her role with the Mets was not to serve as a spy...” Click for more.

Rising Apple says that Chili Davis can help the Mets win more games by helping Michael Conforto. They have some very telling stats on Conforto’s hitting in Mets wins and Mets loses. 

SNY.TV says the Mets are not among the leading group for Zack Wheeler.

Supposedly the White Sox are one of those teams.

Mets Daddy talks about the need for the Baseball Hall of Fame to change the 5% rule and give players a longer look on the ballot. 

The NY Post has how the Mets are discussing radio return of Wayne Randazzo.

The Mets Police likes the Wayne move. 

The Mets Police weighs in on Robinson Chirinos and other Mets news as only he can.

Empire Sports Media talks about the Robinson Chirinos move as well and makes some great points:   Chirinos is going to be 36-years old in 2020 and is coming off the best season in his career. Those things don’t usually mix well. Chirinos is also a poor defensive catcher, he ranks below average in both pitch framing and pop time. Though, he did put up 3 DRS in 2019, the highest in his career. He put up a staggering -11 DRS in 2018.  They have more facts about his as well.

Empire Sports Media also has the Keon Broxton year in review.

Amazing Avenue looks at Freehold NY native, Brad Brach. 

My take: Brad really helped the Mets Bullpen when he was picked up mid-season, but with the roster currently full at 40, either Brad will need to take a minor league deal or the Mets would need to move someone else off to make room for him.

The politicians are starting to weigh in in on MLB’s proposed contraction of 42 Minor League Teams.

Chuck Schumer urges MLB to pause on this idea. 

Meanwhile NJ.com says that Orlando is looking to add a Major League Team?   Orlando Magic co-founder Pat Williams is leading the charge. “The big question around the idea is … why? Florida is already home to the Miami Marlins and the Tampa Bay Rays, which had the two lowest average attendance numbers in MLB last season.  Moving the Tampa Bay Rays to Orlando “make sense for a couple of reasons -- they have been frustrated in their quest for a new stadium in the Tampa Bay area, according to the Tampa Bay Times, and are reportedly exploring a plan to split future games between Tampa Bay and Montreal, Canada.”

In Winter Ball Last night:

Chris Mazza made his third appearance of the winter, starting a game for the Toros del Este. 

Chris Mazza has pitched two innings, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits, 1 walk, 2 K’s, on the losing side of a 5-3 Toros loss.  

After throwing three scoreless innings in his first two outings in relief, giving up 2 hits with 4 K’s, no walk, Chris’ ERA is now 3.60. 

Sam Haggerty still has not played since last Friday when he had a tough game, going 0 for 4 with three strikeouts.  Sam has just played two games this winter going 1 for 8 with a stolen base for a .125 average. 

UltimateMets has this date in Mets History:

Born on this date:

• Tom McCraw (1941)
• Bill Almon (1952)
• Dick Schofield (1962)
• Dan Murray (1973)

Transactions:

New York Mets signed free agent Tom Hausman of the Milwaukee Brewers on November 21, 1977.

Pittsburgh Pirates signed Andy Hassler of the New York Mets as a free agent on November 21, 1979.

Oakland Athletics signed Dave Telgheder of the New York Mets as a free agent on November 21, 1995.

New York Mets signed free agent Steve Bieser of the Montreal Expos on November 21, 1996.

Mack’s Mets Blast from the Past from 10 years ago.  Mack profiled a keeper by the name of Jeurys Familia.  Wonder what Mack would say today? 

Want more?  Check out https://sportspyder.com/mlb/new-york-mets/news. 

Want something else tracked here each day, let me know in the comments below.