John From Albany – Mets Breakfast Links 3/23/2020

Good morning.  Baseball is coming back to…South Korea and Vince Scully has a message of hope. 

12UP.com: American Players Are Flying Back to Korea to Resume Baseball Season in Rare Positive News for Global Sports. Recently, the KBO has resumed scrimmages, in anticipation of restarting a season originally set to begin on March 28 at some point in April.

CBS Sports: MLB coronavirus shutdown: Four weeks needed for second spring training, Blue Jays president says.

Yahoo Sports Vin Scully gives a message of hope and optimism:  “From depths of [the] depression we fought our way through World War II, and if we can do that, we can certainly fight through this. I remember how happy and relieved and thrilled everybody was … when they signed the treaty with Japan, and the country just danced from one way or another. It’s the life of the world, the ups and downs, this is a down, we’re going to have to realistically accept it at what it is and we’ll get out of it, that’s all there is to it, we will definitely get out of it.”

Pete Caldera of USA Today brings ups some great points of what baseball will need to do when it comes back including:

First, all MLB clubs must play the same number of games: In the second half of that season, the Montreal Expos (30-23) won the NL East by playing - and winning - one more game than St. Louis (29-23);

Home-Road Splits - If the season begins on June 15, the New York Mets schedule has them playing nine more road games than home games, including three separate West Coast trips;

Eliminate all divisions and create more playoff teams by stacking the leagues and creating an NBA-style playoff bracket with 16 teams — eight in each league — making the tournament. (might be tough with 30 and not 32teams);

Allow teams to carry up to 15 pitchers for the potential extra workload;

Or, let’s just start that new playoff system now. In this system, MLB’s six divisions are still intact, adding two additional wild card teams in each league — making for 14 total playoff teams, seven in each league.

Buster Olney ESPN+: MLB, union must work together in face of financial challenges. Quietly, Major League Baseball officials and the MLB Players Association are working through a laundry list of pending process questions tied to the calendar..It's a good thing that it's all being done out of sight, because there is little appetite for a public debate about how to resolve service-time questions, arbitration and free-agent eligibility. (Subscription required to read the balance).

MLB Trade Rumors: Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have agreed to issue 45 days of termination pay to those players on non-guaranteed contracts who do not make their team’s 40-man roster, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports (Twitter link).  The dollar amount of this payment is yet unknown…Teams will have until the day before the beginning of the season to finalize those roster decisions.  Under normal circumstances, we would be approaching the five-day deadline prior to the original March 26th Opening Day for teams to decide on options for Article XX(B) free agents, who make up a big portion of the list of players on non-guaranteed deals.

Brian Joura of Mets 360.com looked at The Mets’ center field draft history of top 100 picks including Lee Mazzilli, Mookie Wilson, Billy Beane, Terry Blocker, John Christensen and more including #1 overall pick Shawn Abner.   

Also on Mets 360.com Dalton Allison had Learning from, and eventually rooting for, Matt Harvey stating [Harvey] may very well be receiving a call from those same Yankees that he rooted for as a kid.

Jack Hendon Metsmerized Online had NL East Positional Rankings: Catcher.  They ranked the Mets #4 in the NL East in this department saying: “Take into account the fact that [Wilson] Ramos turns 33 in August and had appeared in over 130 games just once in his career prior to 2019, the Mets’ entire value from behind the dish hinges on one aging bat doing enough to cover his tracks as a poor defender. They’re about three years away from rising prospect Francisco Alvarez and one injury away from personal catcher Rene Rivera garnering regular reps.

NY Post: Mets’ Marcus Stroman, Dominic Smith teaming up for celebrity beer pong tournament.

Kevin Kernan NY Post: It’s long past time for Gil Hodges to be in the Hall of Fame. That oversight can be fixed by the Golden Era committee, which meets in December for the Class of 2021. This might be Hodges’ last best shot. The Brooklyn Dodgers first baseman is the only player to have received 60 percent or higher of the BBWAA’s vote three times and not have made it into the Hall.

I still am holding out hope for Keith and Rusty.

Empire Sports Media: Mets ask fans to hold onto their tickets for now.

Rising Apple: Mets with 30 home run seasons we completely forget about. Bobby Bonilla in 1993; Mike Cameron in 2004; Lucas Duda in 2014;

Metsmerized Online: MMO Top 30 Prospects: No. 6 Brett Baty, 3B.

Metsmerized Online: Mets Video Vault: 1969 World Series Game 3.

Michelle Ioannou Metsmerized Online: When Baseball Starts Again, Let’s Not Take It For Granted.

213 Miles from Shea: Mets Baseball Card of the Day: Josh Satin (2012 Topps).

MLB.com: Freddie Freeman hits backyard dinger off 3-year-old son. Little Charlie's reaction was priceless.

NBC Sports Philadelphia: Vince Velasquez and why the NL shouldn’t adopt the DH rule.  Love this line from the article: “I’m sorry. Your arguments for bringing the DH to the National League are very good. Sensible, even. But you can pry my pitchers hitting home runs and pitchers playing the field out of my cold, dead hands.”

Yahoo Sports: A’s Closer Liam Hendriks, other players want 162-game MLB season post-coronavirus.

CBS Sports: Why the 2020 MLB season should start with an All-Star Game on Opening Day. “A grand event to celebrate the return of baseball seems appropriate at a time like this, and I think an All-Star Opening Day would create more excitement than 15 games scattered across the country.”

12UP.com: MLB Should Absolutely Recreate Old-Time 'Home Run Derby' Show During Coronavirus Stoppage.

Altoona Mirror: Eastern League Schedule will stay the same. Altoona Curve general manager Derek Martin said no final decision has been made by the Eastern League about how the schedule will look when play does resume. But Martin suggested it would be easier to just keep the current schedule, rather than try to change things for teams at a later date. “Say you start mid-May or the beginning of June, the rest of that season, all the travel is booked, all the hotels are booked,” Martin said.

This past weekend at Mack’s Mets:

Mack - GOAT: #50 1B John Olerud.

Mack – Draft News – Emerson Hancock, Tanner Burns, Heston Kjerstad, Brandon Pfaadt.

Mack – FWIW – Resale of Mets, Stephen Matz, Will We Play in 2020?, Top Ranked Relief Pitchers.

John From Albany - Two ideas to play more MLB games this year.

Mack – The Top 50 Mets Of All Time.

Reese Kaplan -- Your New-Found Time W/O Baseball.

Mack’s Blast From The Past comes from 3-23-13 – Mack listed BLF - top 100 Draft Prospects.  Some notables: Clint Frazier was #1; Dominic Smith was #11; Stephen Gonsalves #29; Aaron Judge #43.

Today in Mets History Per Ultimatemets.com:

Belated Birthdays for 3/22:

• Matt Galante (1944)
• Danny Boitano (1953)
• Cory Lidle (1972)
• Jeremy Griffiths (1978)
• Juan Uribe (1979)
• Joe Smith (1984)
• Ike Davis (1987)
• Edwin Diaz (1994)

Died on 3/22:

• Dallas Green (2017)

3/22 Transactions:

New York Mets purchased Carl Willey from the Milwaukee Braves on March 22, 1963.

New York Mets traded Ike Hampton to the California Angels for Ken Sanders on March 22, 1975.

New York Mets traded Hector Ramirez to the Baltimore Orioles for Manny Alexander and Scott McClain on March 22, 1997.

New York Mets traded Jerson Perez to the Toronto Blue Jays for Jim Mann on March 22, 2000.

New York Mets released Tom Martin on March 22, 2009.

Born on 3/23:

• Mike Remlinger (1966)

Died on 3/23:

• Dennis Bennett (2012)

Transactions:

New York Mets traded Jonathan Guzman to the Kansas City Royals for Shane Halter on March 23, 1999.

New York Mets signed free agent Fernando Tatis on March 23, 2007.

New York Mets signed free agent Ruben Tejada of the Baltimore Orioles on March 23, 2019.

National Pastime.com:

1973	The Cardinals play three Cruz brothers, Cirilo, Hector, and Jose, all nine innings in the outfield during the team’s 9-2 spring training victory over New York at Al Lang Field. The trio Puerto Rican siblings, who personally outscore the Mets, bat first, second, and third in the Redbird’s lineup, making all three outs in the first and eighth frames.
1978	The Mets deal 34 year-old Bud Harrelson to Philadelphia for cash and minor league call-up Freddie Andrews, an infielder who will never play another game in the major leagues. The popular shortstop, as a 12-year veteran, could have vetoed the trade but chose to go Philadelphia to play for a contending team.

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