Mack – FWIW – Coronavirus Edition - Daily Thoughts 4-16

Good morning.

Mack’s Mets welcomes ex-Mets pitcher, Rob Carson, to its family of readers.

From Daily Perk –

            How Israel Plans to Restart Its Economy

Listen, we're like you—we'll read anything that provides a blueprint for getting life back to 10% of normal. One interesting guide comes from Israel, where the country's National Security Council has reportedly finalized a plan to slowly lift stay-at-home restrictions.

The plan consists of four phases and focuses on opening more lucrative sectors first, Haaretz reports:

Phase 1: Tech and finance, plus slices of trade-oriented industries. These sectors employ more than 10% of the population.

Phase 2: Commerce and retail stores.

Phase 3: Restaurants and hotels. The NSC expects most of the education system will be back at this point, too.

Phase 4: Recreational sectors like sports, air travel, and entertainment.

Mack – If we were to use this plan in America… and the process begins on May 1^st… well, you can figure out how long it is going to be before phase 4 begins.

Bob Nightengale - @BNightengale

The SFcGiants are the latest team to inform their employees they will be paid through at least May 31. Meanwhile, Commissioner Rob Manfred told his staff they would be paid through May 31, according to Jeff Passan, but senior staff members will take average paycut of 35% in 2020.

Greg Prince - @greg_prince

Frey was the Mets hitting coach in 1982 and 1983, mentoring Darryl Strawberry en route to his NL Rookie of the Year campaign.

Bob Nightengale - @BNightengale

RIP Jim Frey, who led the Royals to the 1980 World Series and the Cubs to the 1984 NL East title as manager. He later was the Cubs GM and architect of their 1989 NL East division championship team.

BA - Top Minor League Season -

          #1 - Dwight Gooden, 1983 - 300 strikeouts

While 300-strikeout seasons are rare in the major leagues, they are all but nonexistent in the minors.

Nolan Ryan, the all-time and single-season major league strikeout king, struck out 307 batters in 1966, mostly at Class A in his first full year out of the draft. Only one minor league pitcher has reached 300 since.

That pitcher was Dwight Gooden, who as an 18-year-old righthander in 1983 struck out a minor league-leading 300 Carolina League batters in 191 innings. The typical minor league leader during this period finished north of 200 strikeouts—but well short of 300.

Since Gooden reached 300, no other minor league pitcher has topped 250 strikeouts. Tom Gordon's 234 in 1988 is the highest total since Gooden's feat. No minor league pitcher has topped even 200 since Matt Moore struck out 208 in 2010.

Gooden, drafted fifth overall by the Mets in 1982, went 19-4, 2.50 in 27 starts for high Class A Lynchburg in 1983 and claimed the BA Minor League Player of the Year award. One of the more interesting aspects of Gooden’s epic season was that he completed 10 games and walked 112 batters—5.3 per nine innings—which is a reminder of how player development standards have changed for pitchers through the years.

Gooden was lauded in scouting reports at the time for his 90-95 mph fastball and outstanding curveball, which proved to be accurate. Early in his big league career, Gooden had one of the best fastballs and best curveballs in the National League. He won Rookie of the Year at age 19 and the Cy Young Award at age 20, leading the majors in strikeouts both years.

Daily Snark -

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert and one of the members of the White House Taskforce assigned to fight the coronavirus has outlined a plan where professional sports can return this summer.

Fauci told Snapchat’s Peter Hamby:

“There’s a way of doing that. Nobody comes to the stadium. Put [the players] in big hotels, wherever you want to play, keep them very well surveilled. … Have them tested every single week and make sure they don’t wind up infecting each other or their family, and just let them play the season out.”

Jared Diamond - @jareddiamond

The first pick of the sixth round of the MLB draft is usually worth $318,200. This year, in a potential five-round format, that player would be forced to sign for $20,000 and no more.

That's just one way the shortened draft will impact baseball.