3/30/20

John From Albany – Mets Breakfast Links 3/30/2020


Good morning.  Alex Rodriguez talks to Pete Alonso, more reactions to the draft reduction, and Mike Francesa looks forward to a Sports Shangri-La.
  
Reactions to MLB’s changes to the Amateur Draft continue to be in the news.

USA Today: Agent Scott Boras believes MLB’s new agreement will greatly damage future draft classes. “It is amazing to me when our nation is in a position of peril,’’ Boras told USA TODAY Sports, “that one of the attack points always continues to be the poor drafted players…You’re sending a message to drafted players you are major league baseball’s step-child. It’s unconscionable to me for that small amount of money…We’re talking about a whopping $6 million savings over the whole damn draft.”

Bill Madden NY Daily News: Future draft prospects get short end of stick in league’s new coronavirus agreement. Those kids are about to find themselves in baseball limbo. If they want to play pro baseball this year, they’ll have to settle for a token $20,000. As one player advisor/rep told me: “The amateur players are being railroaded. They get to be the only Americans who can be paid less than the minimum wage.”

Mack had this take: You know we won't win at this. The Yankees will eat this up. Is this baseball’s equivalent to running to the toilet paper isle when your local store opens?

Mike Vaccaro NY Post: Pete Alonso lifting spirits everywhere during coronavirus crisis.  Mike talked about Pete’s recent video message that he sent to an 82-year-old lifelong Mets fan suffering from small-cell cancer and personalized video to an array of doctors and nurses with this quote from Pete: “I have an awesome platform to do something great,” Alonso says. “I want to be known as a great ball player and a great guy. I want to help as many people as I can. I am in the position to help so many people, it would be a shame if I didn’t use my platform for good.”

SNY.TV: Mets 1B Pete Alonso joined former Yankee and current MLB analyst Alex Rodriguez on the latter's Instagram Live on Sunday to jump into a bunch of different topics. For example - Pete has been kayaking during self-isolation; Alonso is also finding more time for another passion of his: cooking; Pete was a big Piazza fan growing up; Pete knew he made it when... "I think it was the last day of opening weekend. Anthony Rendon said, 'Alright, there's no moon league. You're not going to get a call and go up to Mars. This is it,' "Alonso said.

The Score: Mets' Alonso tells A-Rod he wants to play until 40, be a good dad.

Matthew Cerrone of SNY.TV Mets Mailbag: On a potential Matt Harvey return, prospect Andres Gimenez, and more.  About Matt Harvey he said – “I would love to see Harvey come home, but in no way can he be guaranteed a role. He'll need to earn his way into the rotation (or bullpen). If he could do it, and do it with hunger and focus, it would be an incredible redemption story and something that would captivate baseball and Mets fans.”

Brian Joura Mets 360: More historical comps for Amed Rosario. Brian looked at other shortstops who had at least 1,000 PA in the majors by their age-23 season, played at least 80% of their games at shortstop and produced at least a 90 OPS+ in their career to that age. This included Alan Trammell, Jose Reyes, Troy Tulowitzki, and Starlin Castro.


Metsmerized Online: Michael Wacha Embracing Analytics with Some Help From Dad.


Metsmerized Online: Mets Video Vault: Sept. 8, 2015 at Nationals.  Classic game where Mets came back from 7-1 deficit capped off by Kirk Nieuwenhuis homer off Jonathan Papelbon.




Bill Madden in the NY Daily News: 8 MLB teams that might not mind a coronavirus-canceled season.  Bill goes into detail about the 8 teams listed – Astros, Giants, Orioles, Marlins, Rockies, Red Sox, Padres and Pirates.  About the Orioles he notes: “The GM, Mike Elias, who was Jeff Luhnow’s right-hand man in Houston and right in the middle of the cheating scandal but never charged, is way over his shoes. One of the new minor league coaches he hired reportedly had to be moved to the sidelines in spring training, when he couldn’t hit fungoes and, in attempting to throw batting practice, threw a bunch of pitches in the dirt before hitting the batter in the head. Ah, those analytics guys who never played the game. But at least there was that spirited competition in which the analytical hitting coaches were rewarding the hitters who hit the highest pop-ups. Ah, those uppercut swings.”
  
NBC Sports Chicago: “Two Cubs employees test positive for COVID-19. The two employees attended the same March 8 training session…One is recovering at home; the other hospitalized receiving treatment, the team said.”

USA Today: Longtime Athletics minor league coach, manager Webster Garrison hospitalized with coronavirus.

USA Today: Former MLB All-Star Jim Edmonds hospitalized, tested for coronavirus.

NY Post: Mike Francesa eyes sports utopia when coronavirus abates. “Think of the positives of this, none of these leagues are going away,” Francesa, 66, said in a clip captured by the Big Lead. “Baseball is going to come back, football is hopefully going to start untouched. Basketball and hockey are going to figure out how to finish their seasons… it’s going to happen. The Majors are going to get played in tennis and golf. You’re going to have the Masters, you’re going to have the U.S. Open, you’re going to have the PGA and the British Open. All these events, when we come out of this, whenever the date is we come out of this, all these events are going to get jammed into a couple of months, where we are going to have sports Shangri-La.”

Phil Mushnick NY Post: TV bills are the same even without games. MLB and DirectTV, knowing they have no games to provide, have nonetheless sent notices to last season’s subscribers informing them they they’ve been unilaterally renewed and billed — in the neighborhood of $125 for this season, same as last season — for this season’s unknown but abridged out-of-market package.

Bob Raissman NY Daily News: Will baseball limit who can broadcast the games when and if the season starts? For safety sake, and as a precaution, Major League Baseball may want to limit the broadcast crews working games. Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network Bombers analyst Ken Singleton, on a recent edition of WFAN’s “Moose & Maggie Show,” said several scenarios have been discussed, including one where fans in the visiting team market would only get the hometown feed of baseball games. For example, YES voices would not travel to Chicago to work a Yankees-White Sox game. They would work the game from the YES studio.

NBC Sports Chicago: Baseball America names Cubs’ Miguel Amaya as breakthrough catching prospect.






Mack’s Blast From The Past comes from 3-29-18Gary McDonald – Goodbye Rusty.


Belated Birthdays for 3/29:
Died on this date:
Transactions:

New York Mets traded J. C. Martin to the Chicago Cubs for Randy Bobb on March 29, 1970.

New York Mets traded Leo Foster to the Boston Red Sox for Jim Burton on March 29, 1978.

New York Mets released Lenny Randle on March 29, 1979.

New York Mets traded Jody Johnston and Steve Walker to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Mark Bradley on March 29, 1983.

New York Mets traded Juan Acevedo to the St. Louis Cardinals for Rigo Beltran on March 29, 1998.

New York Mets released Joe Orsulak on March 29, 1998.

New York Mets released Rich Rodriguez on March 29, 2001.

New York Mets signed free agent Kelly Stinnett on March 29, 2005.

New York Mets traded Eddie Kunz to the San Diego Padres for Allan Dykstra on March 29, 2011.

Born 3/30:
Transactions:

New York Mets traded Bill Denehy and Dean Chance to the Detroit Tigers for Jerry Robertson on March 30, 1971.

New York Mets released Jesus Alou on March 30, 1976.

New York Mets traded Benny Ayala to the St. Louis Cardinals for Doug Clarey on March 30, 1977.

New York Mets traded Ken Reed and Gene Autry to the Chicago White Sox for Randy Niemann on March 30, 1985.

New York Mets traded Terry Bross to the San Diego Padres for Craig Bullock on March 30, 1992.

New York Mets traded Steve Long to the Florida Marlins for Robert Person on March 30, 1994.

New York Mets traded Anthony Young and Ottis Smith to the Chicago Cubs for Jose Vizcaino on March 30, 1994.

New York Mets traded Endy Chavez to the Kansas City Royals for Mike Curry on March 30, 2001.

New York Mets claimed Wilson Valdez on waivers from the Chicago White Sox on March 30, 2005.

New York Mets signed free agent Ken Takahashi on March 30, 2009.

New York Mets claimed Manny Acosta on waivers from the Atlanta Braves on March 30, 2010.

New York Mets released Danny Herrera on March 30, 2013.

New York Mets traded Cory Mazzoni to the San Diego Padres for Alex Torres on March 30, 2015.

New York Mets traded Matt den Dekker to the Washington Nationals for Jerry Blevins on March 30, 2015.


2001
Choosing to end his career as a member of a World Champion team, 36 year-old Dwight Gooden announces his retirement from baseball. 'Doc,' who compiles a 194-112 record in 16 seasons playing for the Mets, Yankees, Indians, Astros, and Devil Rays, will remain on the Bronx Bombers' payroll and will have a position within the organization.
2003
Major League baseball returns to Brooklyn for a day when the Mets appear at KeySpan Park, the Coney Island home of the short-season single-A Cyclones, for the team's final preseason workout. Although the practice session is rained out, fans enjoy meeting the players and collecting autographs, with the profits made from beverage and other sales being donated to charities in the NYC area serving children.


2000 - At the Tokyo Dome, the New York Mets defeat the Chicago Cubs in 11 innings, 5 - 1, on Benny Agbayani's pinch-hit grand slam. Rey Ordóñez commits an error in the game, ending his major league record streak of 101 consecutive errorless games at shortstop. With a swipe of second base, Rickey Henderson joins Ted Williams as the only major league players to steal a base in four different decades.

2001 - The New York Mets' #3 prospect, Brian Cole, aged 22, is killed when the SUV he is driving home to Mississippi from spring training flips over. Cole, who stole 69 bases the previous year, was voted the organization's player of the year in 2000.




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3 comments:

Mack Ade said...

Wow.

Brian Cole was killed today.

Was it really 19 years ago?

He would have been it all.

Raw said...

I think MLB & MLBPA should agree that they will play baseball in front of empty stadiums or will we never see baseball in 2020 or maybe even 2021 depending o how fast they can come up with a vaccine. Even with a vaccine people will die just a lot less hopefully. People die every year from the flu now.

I read an article that said if all the baseball players were to come down with the flu they would do very well because they are young and very healthy. The only ones you would need to protect is the managers, coaches and trainers. Use social distancing in these cases.

Sports in the USA has to start up again for the mental health of the public

Mack Ade said...

Raw

I would love you to add this comment to the FWIW post I just put up.