John From Albany – Mets Breakfast Links 4/20/2020

Good morning.  Pete Alonso and SportsCenter team up for an Amazing video, a beanball brawl in Taiwan, and Mike’s Mets remembers Dae-sung Koo.

If you have not seen this yet, you should:

12UP.com: Pete Alonso's Heartfelt Message to Mets Fans Amid Coronavirus Pandemic Was Brought to Life by SportsCenter.  Here is the Video from Twitter.

Some sad news,

Former Mets Catcher Ronn Reynolds suffered a stroke. Here's a link to the Go Fund Me page started by his brother.  

NY Post: Nick Giampietro, the popular staple at Shea Stadium and Citi Field for his pin-adorned Mets jersey and cap, was diagnosed this week with the coronavirus after his mother lost her life earlier this month to COVID-19.

Mets Links:

Another pick me up, Metsmerized Online: Top 10 Gary Cohen Calls.  Lots of great clips.  Gary’s call of the Endy Chavez catch is not to be missed. 

Mike’s Mets: “We Can Be Heroes, Just For One Day”, Mike remembers Dae-sung Koo and his game against Randy Johnson and the Yankees in May 2005.

Newsday: Mets position analysis: Amed Rosario has made steady improvement. “In 2017, during his two-month rookie year, Rosario’s OPS+ was 76. In 2018, his first full major-league season, that rose to 88. Last year, it was 102 — a tick better than average and another big jump forward.”

Faith and Fear in Flushing: Arrhythmic April.  Greg Prince talks about no baseball so far and asks SNY “Maybe find another game to show? Definitely find another game to show. We are hungry like the wolf to watch something besides the same dozen games in a loop.”

YouTube: New York Mets Videos - Jeff McNeil Answers Questions.

Dalton Allison Mets 360.com: Cookies crumble as chemistry grows.  Dalton talked about the Mets 2019 chemistry started as early as April 16th, 2015 when the St. Lucie Mets defeated the Brevard County Manatees 14-6 in a game that featured Jeff McNeil, Dominic Smith, Michael Conforto, Amed Rosario and Manager Luis Rojas.

Brian Joura Mets 360.com: Comparing the defensive results of Jerry Grote and Duffy Dyer.

Centerfield Maz: Remembering Mets History: (1976) The Dave Kingman- Keith Hernandez Brawl Tuesday April 20th, 1976.

Centerfield Maz: Remembering Mets History (2004-2006) Kaz Matsui Becomes Only Player to Lead Off 1st Three Seasons With HRs. April 20, 2006.

Centerfield Maz: Remembering Mets History: (1971) Gary Gentry Tosses A One Hitter, Sunday April 18th 1971.

Rising Apple: Mets History: George Foster was better in New York than we remember. “When it came to an end, George Foster had played in 655 games with the Mets. He slashed .262/.307/.422 and knocked 99 home runs.”

Metsmerized Online: MMO 2020 Top 30 Prospects: No. 1 Ronny Mauricio, SS.

Metsmerized Online: Mets Video Vault: ’86 Mets Brawl with Reds. The classic Mets game were a brawl led to the ejections of Ray Knight, Kevin Mitchell and Darryl Strawberry and forced Davey Johnson to have Roger McDowell and Jesse Orosco shuttle between the mound and right field, depending on who was batting.

Elite Sports NY: Understanding how thoracic outlet syndrome forced Matt Harvey into an early decline. “Historically, pitchers who undergo TOS surgery are rarely able to perform the same way after the procedure. This was no different with [Matt] Harvey, as his three most effective pitches were affected.

Rising Apple: Will the Mets feel more pressure to extend Marcus Stroman because of shortened season?

LoHud: NY Mets: Steven Matz searches for consistency in crucial 2020.

Mets Police: Best Mets By Number: 19 Bob Ojeda.

Mets Police: Best Mets By Number: 20 Howard Johnson.  I myself always liked Tommie Agee.

Rising Apple: Mets won’t have the usual benefit of a second half to surge.

Rising Apple: Mets playoff chances hurt by proposed realignment in 2020. The Mets would be in a division with the Houston Astros, Washington Nationals, St. Louis Cardinals, and the Miami Marlins.

Metsmerized Online: Never Underestimate the Value of Solid Middle Relief.

Call to the Pen: Bring back the shenanigans of Turk Wendell.  “When baseball finally returns, the game will be exciting enough, though how fun would it be if there were a few characters like former New York Mets reliever Turk Wendell to add to the entertainment.”

Deehsa Thosar NY Daily News: Howie Rose on baseball's future, joining Twitter & growing a beard - New York Daily News.  About playing the season in Arizona Howie says: “Well, the challenges of 30 teams being sequestered within a 50-mile radius, with all of the other potential nuances that need to be examined, are a daunting enough task.  But if they pull it off I really wouldn’t care what the number of games would be.  Fans would be so excited to have it back that my opinion is, anything’s better than nothing.“

MLB LINKS:

CBS Sports: MLB teams will be allowed to furlough employees or reduce their pay starting in May, report says.

CBS Sports: MLB's 'Arizona plan' remains likeliest path to 2020 season; players may be asked to take pay cut, report says. CBS Sports provided these details from reporting by Ken Rosenthal:

• "[Players] have already agreed to take pro-rated salaries based upon a shortened season, but the owners would be asking them to take even less than that due to no gate, parking, concession revenue.
• They would have to be away from their families for however long this goes. Four months without their families so they can entertain us? Mike Trout mentioned this would mean missing the birth of his first child.
• It sounds like the players would be social distancing by sitting at least six feet apart in the stands. That's not really so much a concession as it's ... weird?"

NJ.com: ESPN’s Michael Kay rips agent Scott Boras for wanting players paid in full for empty-ballpark MLB season.

CBS Sports: Dodgers star Clayton Kershaw voices concern about MLB's Arizona plan: 'I don't think that's doable'.

Boston Globe: A closer look at the economics of sports in a post-pandemic world. Professional sports in the US confront a stormy financial future.

CBS Sports: Joe Kelly claims title-winning 2018 Red Sox 'should have not even lost an inning' if they cheated.

NY Daily News: Sites like FanGraphs, Baseball Prospectus, Baseball Reference feel weight of coronavirus-caused shutdown of sports.

Yahoo Sports: Nationals GM says World Series banner raising will be delayed until fans are allowed back.

Yahoo Sports: Angels to distribute $1.2 million to stadium workers per agreement with MLB.

AP News: Bobby Winkles, former Arizona St baseball coach, dies at 90.

MLB Trade Rumors:

Which Pitchers Should Fear Robot Umpires? Check out this exert: “Roughly a quarter of all called third strikes in 2019 were on pitches that landed outside the zone. Home plate umpires made an average of 14 incorrect calls per game in 2019, which tracks with this Boston University study that looked at umpire accuracy going back more than ten seasons.”

Yasiel Puig Says Multiple Teams Have Made Offers.

Rob Wooten Announces Retirement.

The Mariners Might Have Found A Core Piece For The Future.  Catcher Tom Murphy hit .273/.324/.535 (126 wRC+) with 18 home runs in 281 plate appearances.

2019-20 Offseason In Review Series.  This was their review of the Mets Offseason.

Korea Baseball Organization Preparing To Begin Regular Season In Early May.

Asian Baseball:

Yesterday in Taiwan’s CBPL –

Uni Lions 7, Chinatrust Brothers 4 (Line Score).

CBPL Twitter Highlight: K! K! K! 2019 Annual saves leader, Chen Yun-Wen, pitches a perfect inning of relief.

Rakuten Monkeys 3, Fubon Guardians 1 (Line Score).

You can see the entire game here in English from Elevan Sports Taiwan.

Twitter Highlight: Video of great 2B play. Twice winner of Gold Glove Award. Kuo Yen-Wen shows off his routine day in the office.

Twitter Highlight: 2020/4/19 #FubonGuardians vs #RakutenMonkeys AMAZING catch by former Red Sox prospect Lin Che Hsuan.

Twitter: Highlight of final out with bases loaded.

Yonhap News: Eased social distancing guidelines open door for pro sports to begin in May.

Yonhap News: No spitting: [Korean] Baseball league releases manual on coronavirus.

CBS Sports: Benches clear in CPBL game as tempers flare after hit by pitch.

Deesha Thosar NY Daily News: Brawl in Chinese Baseball League foreshadows another hurdle for MLB to consider. “If a brawl was to break out during an MLB game, it could lead to another dangerous outbreak that could inflict further challenges on the league and the city hosting the season.”

Dan Clark The Big Leagues Daily: CPBL Brings Hope Amid COVID-19 Crisis.

KYODO News: Shohei Ohtani goes to bat in fight against coronavirus.

Fangraphs: Half a World Away, the Korea Baseball Organization Looks to Play.  

This weekend at Mack’s Mets:

Mack – FWIW – Coronavirus Edition - Daily Thoughts 4-19.

Mack – Draft News – Spencer Torkelson, Thoughts on the Next Draft, Cam Shepherd, Jeff Criswell, Hayden Cantrelle.

Tom Brennan: Re-Run of My Top Prospects. Today? 6-10.

Reese Kaplan -- Some Folks Worth Not Seeing Daily.

Mack’s Blast From The Past comes from April 20, 2013.  In his Morning report, Mack had Omar Minaya’s reason why he drafted Matt Harvey: “The thing that impressed me most about Harvey was the way he sustained velocity. He was throwing 96, 97 late in the game. He’s doing that now, and he had that when I saw him in college. That’s what impressed me.” 

Today in Mets History Per Ultimatemets.com:

Born April 19:

• Frank Viola (1960)
• Brent Mayne (1968)
• Ambiorix Burgos (1984)

Transactions:

New York Mets traded Tim Foli and Greg Field to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Frank Taveras on April 19, 1979.

Born April 20:

• Masato Yoshii (1965)
• Jason Roach (1976)
• Sean Green (1979)

National Pastime.com:

1967	Tom Seaver, a right-hander the Mets obtained in a lottery drawing that included the Braves, Phillies, and Indians, gets his first major-league win when the team beat the Cubs, 6-1. The 22 year-old rookie, who will become known as the 'Franchise,' goes 7.2 innings, giving up eight hits and one run in the Shea Stadium contest.
1997	In the second game of a doubleheader, the Cubs stop their season-opening losing skid at 14 games, beating the Mets, 4-3. By losing the opener, Chicago set a National League record (0-14) for the most consecutive losses to start a season and has the second-worst record behind the Orioles, who lost 21 decisions before winning a game in 1988.

2006	At Petco Park in his first at-bat of the season, Kaz Matsui hits an inside-the-park round-tripper, making it the third successive season in which the Mets second baseman has hit a home run in his initial plate appearance of the year. Ken Griffey Jr. also accomplished the feat starting in 1997 with the Mariners but had walked before going deep.
2006	Appearing as a pinch hitter at Petco Park, Julio Franco becomes the oldest major leaguer to hit a home run. The 47 years, 240 days old's eighth-inning blast, which put the Mets ahead in their 7-2 victory over the Padres, surpasses Jack Quinn, who accomplished the feat as a pitcher for the Philadelphia A's at the age of 46 years, 357 days.

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

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