John From Albany – Mets Breakfast Links 3/19/2020

Good Morning.  Happy Birthday to Original Met Richie Ashburn.  Pete Alonso, Luis Rojas surprise lifelong Mets fan following cancer diagnosis and a Doctor has an idea how Baseball can help lead the fight against the deadly coronavirus.

First, we have our daily Mets posting of videos on YouTube.  Today, David Wright’s Firsts.  David Wright’s first big league hit to his first World Series home run in 2015. In Case You Missed it: Monday they posted every Mets Pennant Clinch on YouTube; Tuesday they posted 10 Amazin’ Mets World Series Moments.

More video, Brian Wright on Metsmerized.com had video of Tom Seaver’s 1983 Opening Day return start.  The Mets had Dave Kingman at first base and Mike Howard in right field.  The Phillies featured Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Gary Matthews, Mike Schmidt, and Tony Perez backing up Steve Carlton.

AP News: Reds’ employee in Arizona tests positive for coronavirus.

AP News: Major League Baseball is considering skipping its amateur draft this year and putting off the next international signing period as a way to preserve cash while games are affected by the new coronavirus, people familiar with the discussions told The Associated Press.

MLB must be reading Mack’s posts as Mack suggested postponing the draft yesterday as well.

CBS Sports had some questions too: These nine lingering questions must be answered before baseball returns - 1. How many games will they play? 2. What's a fair postseason format? 3. How long will spring training 2.0 last? 4. Is there going to be an All-Star Game? 5. When will the trade deadline be? 6. Are players going to get paid? 7. What happens with service time? 8. Will free agency be affected next offseason? 9. What's going on with the draft?

MLB Trade Rumors talked about the prospect of canceling the June Draft and brought this up: “Clubs have been scouting both this year’s high school and college players for years already. And while the lack of a spring season doesn’t give those teams the most recent looks to evaluate the class, it avoids many of the logistical difficulties that come with postponing or canceling the 2020 draft.”

Bob Nightengale USA Today: Dr. Lawrence Rocks is calling for the mass production of activated-carbon masks in this country to stop the deadly coronavirus. Rocks believes activated-carbon masks would greatly diminish the coronavirus, return normalcy to the world within weeks, and resurrect the sports world. Rocks insists the masks wouldn’t cost more than $1 to manufacture, and it would take less than a month to mass produce.

“If we don’t,’’ Rocks tells USA TODAY Sports, “I don’t see how baseball can possibly be played this year. Baseball can be the sparkplug and lead the way now. Baseball can demand this from the government to mass produce these masks and distribute. If we do this, we can get back to normal in three weeks.”

NY Post: Pete Alonso makes ill Mets fan’s day in heartwarming video.

Matt Mancuso Mets Minors: Keith Law Ranks Top 30 MLB Draft Prospects. Matt noted how On Day 1, the Mets hold the 19th, 53th, and 70th slots. Pete Crow-Armstrong, a high-school outfielder, was ranked 19^th on Law’s list. Crow-Armstrong played for Team USA in the U-18 Baseball World Cup in 2019, slashing .364/.405/.606 over nine contests.

Brian Joura Mets 360: Examining the Mets’ infield defense with the new DRS numbers. Brian explains how defensive placement and “the shift” have now been factored into the Defensive Runs Saves stat.  The result is that Mets 2019 infielders went “a combined (-34) to a (-29), meaning on a team level for the infield, the more robust evaluation did not move the needle very much.”

Elite Sports NY: Remember the New York Met: Reliever José Valverde.

Mike Puma NY Post: Mets’ biggest strength was halted by coronavirus. Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Marcus Stroman, Steven Matz, Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha looked every bit the part of a big-time rotation capable of keeping the team in NL East title contention. “I was really impressed with their starting pitchers,” a National League scout said. “They looked ready for the season.”

Kevin Kernan NY Post: October Hall of Fame induction would be perfect Derek Jeter sendoff.

ESPN.com: Tigers left-handed pitching prospect Joey Wentz has elbow surgery.

MLB Trade Rumors:

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks pitching prospect Carter Stewart will face NPB hitters for the first time in a practice game.

Giants Sign Prospect 16 year old Dominican Shortstop Javier Alexander Francisco.

Chris Sale Begins Throwing Program.

Miles Mikolas Resumes Throwing.

Yesterday at Mack’s Mets:

Reese Kaplan -- Yes, We All Miss Baseball, But Life Goes On.

Mack – 2021.

Blast From The Past - 2010 Projection at First base.

Syracuse Mets Postpone Meet the Syracuse Mets Preseason Fundraiser.

PRESS RELEASE: Rumble Ponies Set For Home Opener On April 9th - YES REALLY (on MLB The Show 20 that is).

Mack’s Blast From The Past comes from 3-19-13 – Reese Kaplan - Handicapping the Las Vegas Position Players.  Reese talked about Josh Satin, Wilmer Flores, Travis D’Arnaud, Landon Powell, and Matt den Dekker.

Today in Mets History Per Ultimatemets.com:

Born on this date:

• Richie Ashburn (1927)
• Don Rose (1947)
• Tim Corcoran (1953)
• Jose Butto (1998)

This Date in History comes from Baseball Reference:

1999 - The career of New York Mets pitcher Paul Wilson is derailed again when he suffers a partially torn ligament in his pitching elbow while warming up before a three-inning stint in a minor league game. An MRI will show a partial tear of a ligament in his elbow, and on March 30th he will undergo Tommy John surgery which will sideline him for the year.

2012 - New York Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, facing a $300 million lawsuit, agree to pay $162 million into a trust fund for victims of Bernard Madoff's fraudulent investment scheme, thus averting a trial. The payoff is because the Mets were among the few investors who made money out of their investments in Madoff's fund, while thousands of smaller investors lost everything when the whole house of cards collapsed in 2009. Wilpon and Katz will put up $29 million of their own money in the settlement.

Here is what Mack and Company said about the settlement on March 19, 2012.

And this was Dave Rubin’s take.

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