Elite
Sports NY posted video of Carlos
Correa calling BS on Carlos
Beltran ‘bullying’ clubhouse.
The article goes on to say: “This was already ridiculous for a number of
reasons. The biggest being that the plan to cheat began before Beltran arrived
in Houston and continued after he left. Still, the narrative that Beltran was
the main culprit continues to fester. Astros shortstop Carlos Correa pushed
back against that report.” (Thanks to Texas Gus for the link.)
NY
Post had this quote from Carolos Correa on Beltran: “The thing I
have a problem with is when I read that report is that we are scared of him, or
that we feel intimidated,’’ Correa said of Beltran at the ballpark of the Palm
Beaches during the Astros’ apology tour. “We didn’t feel scared of Beltran or
intimidated. He was the nicest guy, the best teammate that we ever had. Beltran
was a leader of the clubhouse, but we all had a say in everything that we were
doing in there. Whatever he said and whatever we were doing, we had the chance
to stop it as a team. Everybody. Everybody had the chance to say something and
we didn’t.”
Also,
per the Wall Street Journal the famous “Codebreaker” letter was sent to the
Astros GM on September 22, 2016.
Per
Baseball Reference, Carlos Beltran signed with the Astros December 5, 2016.
Per
the NY Times: The Astros Offer Apologies, but Draw the Line at Their Title.
Astros Owner Jim Crane was quoted in the article: “Our opinion is that this
didn’t impact the game,” Crane said. “We had a good team. We won the World
Series and we’ll leave it at that.”
Per
Yahoo Sports: “Crane and players denied that Astros hitters used buzzers to
get information about pitches.”
Per
12up.com: Carlos Correa is Only Astros Player Who Deserves Your Respect
After Sham Media Session. The article
went on to say: “While most Astros players offered weak apologies they were
basically forced to say to the media, Correa admitted that the sign-stealing
gave them an unfair advantage. Other members of the Astros avoided that topic.
Astros owner Jim Crane even went as far as saying that their cheating did not
impact the game, which is absurd.”
Also
per 12up.com: “Kurt Suzuki Says Nationals Could Hear the Astros Cheating
During the 2019 World Series.”
Per
the NY Post: Joe Girardi, Didi
Gregorious weigh in on Astros cheating scandal.
From
12up.com: Astros' Lack of Real Remorse is Latest Proof Rob Manfred Isn't
Fit to Be MLB Commissioner. “The Astros' cheating scandal did not just taint a
World Series; It perhaps threw an entire MLB season into question, deprived
dozens of players from fair competition and devalued the product that baseball
fans pay to see...If the interest is in
deterrence against future cheating, the mission was a failure.”
In Manfred’s defense, some reports say that Manfred gave out
the maximum punishment. Here
is the initial penalty announcement from NJ.com which includes: “A fine of
$5 million, the maximum allowed under MLB’s constitution.”
Per
Elite Sports NY: “New York Mets’ Seth Lugo
claims to have been a victim of the Astros’ cheating ways.”
Per
SNY.TV: “On Thursday, the MLB Network put out their list of the Top 100
players in baseball right now. Coming in at No. 8 overall is Mets star pitcher Jacob
deGrom. Joining deGrom in the Top 100 list are three Mets: Michael
Conforto (No. 79), Jeff McNeil
(No. 49), and Pete Alonso
(No. 24).”
Marcus
Stroman took front and center at Spring Training yesterday.
Per
SNY.TV (video included) Marcus said: "I'm excited for this
year. I think I should be good, really good," Stroman said. "I think
I should be dominant. I put in a lot of work in the offseason and my stuff is
moving all over the place. I'm excited to go out and compete with the team we
have, which is pretty incredible."
Per
MLB.com Stroman said: “To be honest with you, my confidence never
wavers, ever. I think I’m the best on the field whenever I’m out there,
always…I think I have the best core in the league…I also have the best sinker
in the league…I’m excited to strike more guys out this year.”
Per
the NY Post Marcus said: “I’m not scared of any moment,” Stroman
said. “I fear nobody. I am excited to rock.”
About Marcus’ off season workouts, the post also had this: “To improve
his offseason workouts, Stroman hired Nikki Huffman, who formerly worked for
the Blue Jays, as his personal trainer and strength coach. Stroman credits
Huffman for improving the core strength he says is so central to his success.
Stroman’s exercises include the “bear crawl,” during which he places a glass of
wine on his back. Stroman, with his weight on his hands and feet, crawls without
spilling the wine.”
Also
from the NY Post: “Marcus Stroman may have strong feelings about the
Astros’ illegal sign-stealing, but he’s finished discussing it. ‘I spoke on it
already,’ the Mets right-hander said Thursday. ‘I am not addressing it any
more. I spoke of it on Twitter, said exactly what I had to and meant every
word. That’s where I am going to leave it.’”
Brian Joura of Mets 360 had
his 2020 projection for Marcus Stroman. As always, Brian does a great analysis. His projection for Marcus: IP – 180; ERA –
3.05; Ks – 144; BB – 54; HR – 15.
213
Miles from Shea said get to know Non-Roster Invitee: Pedro
Payano. About Pedro Elliot Teichman said: “Overall in the minors he
has a 3.68 ERA over 686.1 innings…Key points: he has a fastball that sits in
the low 90’s with a low 80’s changeup and a fall off the table curve. He spent
3 years in the DOSL after being signed for 650k, then rocketed through the
system in one year before he hit another wall that he couldn’t get over… The
Mets signed him for starting depth.”
Per
SNY.TV: Former Met Rajai Davis
will play in Mexican League in 2020. Story includes video of his three run home
run against the Nationals in his first Mets at-bat.
Amazing
Avenue had a Season Preview for: Thomas
Szapucki. “Szapucki should start the year with Double-A Binghamton. The
most important thing for him is to stay healthy and build up his innings load,
and he’s on track for a 2021 debut as an interesting-but-not great arm if he
keeps chugging along.”
Metsmerized
had the top nine Mets Players that turned Managers. Gil Hodges, Yogi, Roger Craig, Dallas Green, and
Bobby Valentine lead the list.
ESPN.com
had one key stat for every major league team. For the Mets - “The number: minus-93. The
Mets ranked next to last in the majors with minus-93 defensive runs saved,
ahead of only the Orioles (minus-105) and a whopping 229 runs worse than the
Dodgers, the best defensive team in the majors according to DRS.” Well said.
From
Kyodo News.net: Baseball: Former big leaguers heap praise on flame-throwing
teen. Thirteen days into spring training, 18-year-old Roki Sasaki threw 25
pitches on Thursday in his first bullpen session since turning pro this year
with the Lotte Marines of Japan's Pacific League. Sasaki's fastball as a high
school senior repeatedly exceeded 160 kilometers (99.4 miles) per hour last
summer in competition... Pitching coach Masato Yoshii, who pitched five years
in the majors, has had the lanky 1.9-meter right-hander on a slow progression
since the start of camp.
The
NY Post’s Phil Mushnick has come out against the new MLB’s new expanded Playoff
suggestion and offered this: “Baseball is not football, not
basketball. The worst teams in MLB can, have and will beat the best teams in
two-, three- and four-game regular season stops. That has happened every season
since the Dead Sea was just sick.”
Per
the NY Post: Zack
Wheeler heard ‘crickets’ from Mets before Phillies signing.
Per
NBC Sports Boston: Dave Dombrowski nearly traded Mookie
Betts to the Dodgers last season. “Dodgers president of baseball operations
Andrew Friedman says the Red Sox
stopped discussions with the Dodgers after they went on to win a number of games
in a row.”
From
atlallday: Atlanta Braves Re-Sign Veteran Josh Tomlin.
From
Fox 5 Atlanta: "King Félix" excited for fresh start with the
Braves.
Mack’s
Blast From the Past comes from February 14, 2013 – Mack had 5
questions with Rob Zloto, a writer for Kinerskorner.com.
Born on this date:
- Kelly Stinnett (1970)
- Tyler Clippard (1985)
- Joel Huertas (1996)
- Nick Conti (1997)
Died on this date:
- Jim Fregosi (2014)
Transactions:
New York Mets signed free agent Jose Lima on February 14, 2006.
New York Mets signed free agent Jose Lima on February 14, 2006.
Baltimore Orioles signed Steve Trachsel of the New York
Mets as a free agent on February 14, 2007.
New York Mets signed free agent Livan Hernandez of the Colorado Rockies on February 14,
2009.
Want more?
Check out https://sportspyder.com/mlb/new-york-mets/news.
5 comments:
Thank you John. It’s comforting to see someone in the Astros organization tell it like it is. I reached out to Joe DeCaro of MMO yesterday, and he told me that when the report came out in the Athletic, he emailed them as an editor and asked how a player that is on the team only a few months can bully the GM and manager that were there for years but received no response.
On Szapucki, Lukas makes a good point how his lack of a third pitch will ultimately knock him out of starting, but can’t he learn a circle change-up to compliment the curve and heater? I’m surprised to see he only had 62 innings pitched last year. I recall when 300 was the minimum minor league inning workload to be ready for the majors, and at 145 over five years Szapucki isn’t even halfway there!
Texas Gus, thanks again for your help and thanks for the great point about Szapucki. 145 innings over 5 years is an amazing stat.
It was interesting looking back and seeing that Rob and I didn't even consider Jake as an option for the 2015 rotation.
Mack, Nobody had Jake. His minor league numbers were not good. Kudos to the scout that insisted on keeping him when Sandy wanted to trade him to Boston for Kelly Shopwich as Bob W noted a few days ago.
Whaaaaaaaaaaat??????
I have never heard that! Oh my..... can you even imagine?
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