John From Albany – Mets Breakfast Links 1/8/2020

Games were postponed in Puerto Rico, and no games in the Domincan last night.  Here are the baseball stories we looked at this morning: 

The NY Post says that “Carlos Beltran likely to avoid major discipline in MLB sign-stealing probe. Carlos Beltran appears more likely than not to avoid hard discipline and begin his new job as Mets manager without any hiccups…Houston president of baseball operations Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch rank as the most obvious candidates to be sidelined, and Alex Cora, Hinch’s bench coach that season who left afterward to manage the Red Sox, also appears in danger”

The Runner Sports said that “MLB Reportedly Set To Announce Houston Astros’ Punishments By End of January. Announcement of expected discipline by the league is said to be “within the next two weeks,” or by the end of January. Some reports have suggested the announcement could come as soon as “next week,” or the week of January 13.”

Yahoo Sports and NBC Sports Boston had how MLB is now also investigating the Red Sox over stealing signs in 2018.  “Several members of the 2018 Red Sox used a video replay room to illegally relay signs to hitters during the regular season, The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich reported Tuesday, citing people who were with the team that year.”

Yahoo Sports and NBC Sports Boston also said “If MLB can prove Red Sox stole signs illegally, it must drop hammer for good of game. They sum up the story with this: If that means making an example of the Red Sox, so be it. What I definitely don't want to hear is that everyone else does it. Everyone else didn't get busted. You did. And you should pay a price.”

Metsblog’s Matt Cerrone talked to other MLB Execs on how much the Mets have improved. "They're strong on paper," a front office talent evaluator told (Matt). "They do have more question marks than most teams, though, including Pete Alonso. I expect he'll be fine, but a lot can throw off a second season…Without Wheeler, and not knowing how to project Porcello, Noah Syndergaard will dictate a lot of their success..I've always liked Steven Matz, but he can be very hit or miss. I just think Syndergaard tips their scale one way or the other."

Mets 360 did a 2020 projection for Pete Alonso. As always, Mets 360 does a detailed analysis and refers to other projections like ZIPS, etc.  They also compare other hitters that had great Rookie Seasons like Aaron Judge, Mark McGwire, Frank Robinson and more. Click the link for the full details but they are looking at 38 HR and 115 RBIs for Pete next year.  I’ll take that. 

213 Miles from Shea compared their 2019 projection to the 2019 outcome for Yoenis Cespedes.

Amazing Avenue continued with their top Mets 25 prospects.  #18 Daison Acosta.

Rising Apple had some bold predictions for 2020: “Yoenis Cespedes is the 2020 NL Comeback Player of the Year; Amed Rosario gets close to 200 hits and steals over 20 bases; Jed Lowrie gets over 450 plate appearances and hits around 30 doubles; At least four Mets offensive players will have WARs above 3.8 in 2020;”  I think the Amed Rosario prediction is the best bet but if the others come try as well – WOW.

Elite Sports NY asked: Do the Mets hire too many of their former players? 

Reflections on Baseball says it’s the Yankees that are the cheap ones! “While the data clearly show that most major league teams spend almost or more than half of their revenue on player payroll, the Yankees spend less than thirty percent of theirs on the payroll….The Yankees cross-town rival Mets sit in the middle of the pack, spending 47.1% or $130 million to pay their players from revenue equaling half of the Yankees take.” 

Metsmerized looked at the lost 1996 season: The article talks about great offensive seasons from Lance Johnson, Todd Hundley, and Bernard Gilkey while talking about the problems and possible misuse of the young pitchers.

MLB.com had 7 unexpected moves this offseason: Here are the top 3 - #1 - Reds sign Moustakas … as a second baseman; #2 - Padres give Pomeranz four years; #3 - Odorizzi accepts Twins' qualifying offer.

Yesterday Cooperstown Cred looked at the Hall of Fame credentials of Bobby Abreu.  The Author, Chris Bodig, makes a detailed case for and against Abreu and had this interesting note: “If you add up all times players reached base (hits, BB, HBP) during their careers, Abreu ranks 49th with 3,979 times reached. There are 11 players with more “Times On Base” (TOB) that are not yet in the Hall: Jeter (a mortal lock for election in 2020), Rose, four not yet eligible players (Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols, Adrian Beltre and Miguel Cabrera), four PED linked players (Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro, Gary Sheffield, Manny Ramirez), and Rusty Staub.  Staub, beloved by fans of the Montreal Expos and New York Mets, is one of those players from the 1970’s that some people feel deserved a closer look at the Hall. However, compared to Bobby Abreu in a sentence? Abreu had 83 more extra base hits despite 1,148 fewer plate appearances.”

Syracuse.com had 20 questions for Syracuse Sports in the 2020’s: Syracuse Mets related questions include – “6. Will the Syracuse Mets host a Triple-A All-Star game at NBT Bank Stadium? 7. Will Tim Tebow still be chasing his baseball dream in Syracuse while occupying the basement of every statistical category in the International League? 8. Will the Syracuse Mets still be here in 2030?” 

MLB Trade Rumors reported that the Orioles designated Eric Hanhold for assignment. “Hanhold never made it into an O’s uniform before he lost his 40-man spot, though it’s still possible he’ll end up with the organization if he clears waivers…Hanhold pitched to a 3.84 ERA with 7.7 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9 in 63 1/3 upper-minors innings for the Mets in 2019.” Syracuse Mets fans know Eric all too well as he was the losing pitcher in the season ending tie braking game against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Rail-riders as part of an 8 run 8^th inning that saw the Rail-riders come back from an 13-6 deficit to beat the Syracuse Mets 14-13.

Also from MLB Trade Rumors: Rangers To Sign Robinson Chirinos

MLB Trade Rumors had the Angels sign Jason Castro.

Finally, MLB Trade Rumors had that the White Sox will sign Steve Cishek.

Mack’s Blast From The Past comes from January 2012: Mack had a Q&A session MetsBlog’s Michael G. Baron and discussed players like Zack Wheeler, Matt Harvey, Jeurys Familia, and Jenrry Mejia.

UltimateMets has the date in Mets History:

Born on this date:

• Chuck Cottier (1936)
• John DeMerit (1936)
• Mike Cameron (1973)
• Geremi Gonzalez (1975)
• Jeff Francoeur (1984)
• Corey Taylor (1993)
• Patrick Causa (1997)

Died on this date:

• Don Heffner (1989)
• Harvey Haddix (1994)

Transactions:
New York Mets traded Ray Searage to the Cleveland Indians for Tom Veryzer on January 8, 1982.

New York Mets signed free agent Tim Spehr of the Atlanta Braves on January 8, 1998.

New York Mets released Joe Crawford on January 8, 1998.

New York Mets signed free agent Dae-Sung Koo on January 8, 2005.

Atlanta Braves signed Kelly Johnson of the New York Mets as a free agent on January 8, 2016.

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

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