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1/22/20

John From Albany – Mets Breakfast Links 1/22/2020


Rene Rivera is back!  More on that in a minute. 

Congratulations to Derek Jeter and Larry Walker on being elected to the Baseball Hall Of Fame.  They will join Marvin Miller and Ted Simmons in the induction ceremony in Cooperstown this July. 


Ken Davidoff of the NY Post says the “Derek Jeter voting debacle is peak Hall of Fame stupidity.” Derek received 396 of 397 votes.  “So who is Voter 397? For now, he or she remains private, under no obligation to disclose…And look, should this person declare, there will be some uncivil discourse, and that won’t be right. The low stakes don’t merit such fury… The Griffey result felt like the last call for such silliness, writers deciding that no one was worthy of a first-time election or acting on some personal feud with the player or, a more recent wrinkle, opting for “strategic voting,” the principle that Player A will easily surpass the required 75 percent threshold without my backing, so let me go ahead and vote for Player B because he needs it more.”





The one and only Metstradamus weighs in on Robinson Cano being involved in picking the next Mets manager: “The inmates are truly running this asylum. Brodie trades for his CAA client, gives away a top prospect in the process, and rather than have his role reduced because he’s getting older he’s being allowed to pick the manager like he’s LeBron. Well his first choice lasted three months, let’s see if his next choice lasts to Opening Day.”



Faith and Fear in Flushing weighed in on the sign stealing controversy. Greg Prince includes this piece of history: “The first time I remember a specific mention of stealing signs was sometime after August of 1984, the month the Mets went into Wrigley Field and were swept four games, basically settling the National League East for the year. Sometime later I read an assertion by a Met that the Cubs had stolen the Mets’ signs, something that fell in the darkest gray area of baseball’s do’s and don’ts.”  

Brian Joura of Mets 360 looks at the 2020 projection of Robinson Cano. Here is his prediction: “440 PA; .265/.320/.440; 19 HR; 70 RBIs.”  I’ll take it. 









Mets sign Rene Rivera to a minor league contract. “The well-traveled 36-year-old…smacked 25 home runs in 396 plate appearances” for the Syracuse Mets last year.


The SF Giants Sign catcher Rob Brantly To Minor League Deal. “Last season, Brantly threw out 35 percent of runners who attempted to steal against him in the minors — up from his career mark of 32 percent. He has a lifetime 27 percent caught-stealing rate in the Majors”.


Last night in the Dominican Republic, the Final Series got underway with Phil Regan’s Toros Del Este beating the Tigres del Licey 6-3 in 11 innings (box). 

Jordany Valdespin played right field and went 0 for 4 with 2 walks and 2 Ks.

Tim Peterson got the win going one scoreless inning with one strikeout.

Ramon E. Ramirez got the save going one inning giving up a hit and a walk without allowing a run.

No Games last night in Puerto Rico.
 

UltimateMets has the date in Mets History:
Born on this date:
Died on this date:
Transactions:
New York Mets traded 
Mark Carreon and Tony Castillo to the Detroit Tigers for Paul Gibson and Randy Marshall on January 22, 1992.

New York Mets traded Yudith OzarioErik Hiljus and Eric Ludwick to the St. Louis Cardinals for Bernard Gilkey on January 22, 1996.

New York Mets signed free agent Alex Cora of the Boston Red Sox on January 22, 2009.

New York Mets traded Brian Stokes to the Los Angeles Angels for Gary Matthews on January 22, 2010.

New York Mets signed free agent Antonio Bastardo of the Pittsburgh Pirates on January 22, 2016.


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6 comments:

  1. Good morning John.

    R.I.P. Tommie Agee. My favorite Met when I first became a fan in 1971.

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  2. Strategic voting in the HOF balloting, where for the past few years and for the forseeable future there are more worthy candidates than slots available on the ballot, is an intelligent solution to a problem that shouldn't exist.

    It shouldn't exist because there are clowns among the electorate who vote for three guys when there are 14 or so that one can make a solid case for induction. And they'll say something like, "I'm a small Hall guy." And then turn around and vote for someone who's not even close to the top 7 or 8 eligible. Or they'll turn in a ballot with their hero and no one else.

    The writers are morons but the real problem in the HOF itself. When this problem became predictable a decade or so ago, they could have moved decisively. They made a rule that anyone on MLB's ineligible list was not eligible for the Hall. They made that rule - which is not what I would have done but at least it was decisive and fixed the problem - for one person.

    Now we have all of the guys caught up in the steroids thing and the HOF needed to make a similarly decisive move. But they did nothing. They could have said that no one who failed a drug test is eligible but otherwise no steroid penalty should be evoked. Anything that would have given clarity to the issue. Instead they've let a bunch of morons become retroactive judge and jury. If they didn't want to wade into that hornet's nest, they could have expanded the ballot to help deal with the backload of candidates. They didn't do that, either.

    But the bottom line is that the HOF doesn't really care who gets in and who gets screwed. All they want is the publicity of the vote. And if there's controversy and people continue to talk about it - all the much better for the HOF.

    Jeter is a deserving member of the HOF. That it wasn't unanimous doesn't mean a hill of beans. It's manufactured controversy so don't fall for it. Lou Whitaker falling off the ballot is a million times more important than the fact that one clown didn't vote for Jeter.

    And if a writer strategically voted so that same Whitaker fate didn't happen to another player, I'll give a tip of my proverbial hat to that guy.

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  3. Tremendous Brian. Well said. Thank you.

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  4. Brian, agreed - excellent thoughts.

    For instance, Billy Wagner?

    16 years, 853 games, 2.31 ERA, 1196 Ks in 903 IP, a career WHIP under 1.00. Absolutely should be in the Hall of Fame. They're idiots.

    Larry Walker on the other hand hit .334 in his 10 years in hitter paradise Colorado, and just .282 in his other 8 seasons. He hit .348 at home and just .278 away over his career. He hit a ridiculous .381 in Coors Field over 597 games, and just .282 everywhere else!

    Given Walker's Colorado stats inflation, I think Wagner deserves to be in the Hall as much, or more, than Walker.

    Jeter had a negative fielding stat in terms of runs allowed of nearly -200 in his career. Still think he should have been unanimous - he beat the Mets so many times.

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  5. The Rne Rivera signing is good insurance.

    Sanchez will not be ready on opening day to rise to the parent club. Rivera can fight out Nido in camp and the loser joins Ali in Syracuse.

    Good move.

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