John From Albany – Mets Breakfast Links 5/11/2020

Good Morning, Happy Birthday Ryder Ryan, Pete Alonso can sniff the season, and MLB and the Players to fight over money.

All the news that’s fit to Link, Mets Links, MLB Links, Minor League Links, Asian Baseball Links, and This Day in Mets History.    

Joel Sherman NY Post: MLB 2020 season threatened by utter compensation nonsense. “They can’t do it. Right? There is no way — regardless of both the historic and current bad blood — that MLB and the Players Association are going to shut down the game this year over player compensation. That would be so shoot-yourself-in-the-brain, assure-the-negative-first-line-in-your obituary stupid that not even these two hostile sides can navigate there.”

Mets Links:

Mike’s Mets talks about the upcoming battle between the clubs and the players this week as MLB looks to potentially start up in July in “The Conflict Begins”.

Mike’s Mets also had “Flash in the Pan, Part 2” talking about Mike Jacobs, Kris Benson, and Doug Mientkiewicz.

Mike Puma NY Post: Steven Matz needs to stay focused as his Mets spotlight grows. “You take the first inning out and his numbers are a lot better, but he’s streaky,” the former team official said. “But he’s a tremendous athlete. Everybody talks about Noah Syndergaard being a hard worker, Steven Matz is right there with him, he works just as hard.”

CBS Sports: Jacob deGrom is on a run that could send him to the Hall of Fame -- but he needs it to continue in 2020. The shorter the 2020 season, the more Jacob deGrom's Hall of Fame candidacy is hindered.

SNY.TV: Mets' Pete Alonso says he 'can almost sniff the season'.

SNY.TV: Mets' Noah Syndergaard on 2021 season: 'I fully intend to be ready for next Opening Day'.

NY Post: Jake Marisnick gives defensive upgrade the Mets sorely need.

Rising Apple: Mets 2020 Draft: Why a five-round draft is bad news for New York. “…picking up some sleeper pick in the later rounds was a key part of New York’s plan for long term success, and unfortunately, now that those rounds have been eliminated this could have a long-lasting effect on the Mets. For example, key players for the Mets last season like Jeff McNeil (12th round), Seth Lugo (34th round), and Robert Gsellman (13th round) were all selected after this years draft cut off was set…”

Elite Sports NY: Mets should keep an eye on Odrisamer Despaigne this season. “While this is just his first season in Korea, Odrisamer Despaigne, 33, will likely attract a ton of attention from many MLB teams in 2020.”

Rising Apple: Can Marcus Stroman really snatch the Cy Young from Jacob deGrom?

Metsmerized Online: I’m Scared For MLB’s Future. “If they have the game’s best interest at heart, then why cut down a draft that we know produces some of the game’s best talent (Jacob deGrom, Jeff McNeil, and Mike Piazza to name a few) in the late rounds, down to only five?”

Metsmerized Online: Metsmerizing Moves: Mets Acquire Keith Hernandez.

Empire Writes Back: Do the New York Mets have the next Ichiro in Jeff McNeil?

Mets Minors: Mets Potential Targets With the No. 19 Pick.

Centerfield Maz: Jim Hickman: The Mets First Regular Centerfielder (1962-1966).

Centerfield Maz: Remembering Mets History: (1965) Jim Hickman Becomes the First Met to Hit Three HRs In A Game & Hit For the Cycle (1963).

Remembering Mets History (1982): Rusty Staub's Walk Off Pinch Hit HR, May 9, 1982.

Centerfield Maz: Walt Terrell: Early Eighties Mets Pitcher (1982-1984). 

MLB LINKS:

CBS Sports: MLB coronavirus antibody study results: Less than 1 percent of participants test positive. MLB employees participated in the large study starting last month.

SNY.TV: Mets, Yankees employees among highest positive rates in MLB coronavirus test: report. Of the 5,603 employees tested, only 60 positive cases were found. “According to The Athletic, it was the Angels employees that had the highest rate in this test that is the largest of its kind to date. However, the Mets and Yankees followed, though Bhattacharya said the rates recorded were lower than counties in which they play.”

CBS Sports: MLB plan for 2020 season to include approximately 80 games and expanded playoffs, report says. The DH will be used in both leagues in order to spare pitchers from additional fatigue and wear and tear.

New York Post: Yankees doctor warns MLB restart may bring Tommy John surgery uptick.

AP News: If games resume, athletes will ‘need to know when to peak’. “For players, the difference between merely working out and playing games will be a significant jump and experts say things shouldn’t be rushed.”

AP News: Column: Will the new coronavirus kill spitting in sports?

Yahoo Sports: Cardinals' Andrew Miller: MLB players want 'guaranteed safety' before returning.

Bill Madden: Baseball’s only coronavirus certainty is the destruction of the minor leagues.

Yahoo Sports: ESPN leaks Trevor Bauer's phone number in a 'massive screw up,' but Bauer turns it into something good.

CBS Sports: Michael Jordan's only baseball game at Wrigley Field: A look at his clutch RBI in White Sox-Cubs exhibition.

CBS Sports: Agent rips MLB's deal to cut the draft to five rounds, calls it 'self-inflicted sabotage'. “Jeff Berry, co-head of CAA Baseball: ‘Particularly given the negligible economic impact to what's already a cheap acquisition cost, this approach is grossly shortsighted. To drastically reduce opportunity and talent and talent pools, it stunts growth and diversity at all levels and is really a self-inflicted sabotage of the long-term health and popularity of the game.’”

CBS Sports: Phillies become first MLB team to guarantee employees jobs through 2020 season, report says.

The Charlotte Observer.com: Five-round amateur baseball draft will be game changer for Twins and rest of MLB.

NBC News: Bill Cervenak was a legend on youth baseball fields and in the covert world of the CIA.

The Star.com: Inside the trade of Blue Jays batting champion John Olerud, a deal former GM Gord Ash would like to have back.

NY Post: Former Rockford Peaches pitcher Mary Pratt dies at age 101.

Minor League Links:

Daily Camera.com: Saunders: MLB’s five-round draft is another blow for minor-league baseball. Big-league owners want savings now in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Poughkeepsie Journal: Hudson Valley Renegades release comprehensive safety guidelines for upcoming season.  Cashless payments, Limited tickets sold for each game, Increased sanitation, Temperature checks for all employees and interns, to name a few. 

Baseball Mexico: Former Rockies All-Star Vinny Castilla was formally fired last week as manager of the Mexican Pacific League Naranjeros. Also, “Playing dates for the 2021 Caribbean Series in Mazatlan have been tentatively set Sunday, January 31 and Saturday, February 6 next winter.”

Asian Baseball:

The Korea Herald: For love of the game: with KBO on ESPN, American fans happy to watch live baseball.

Korea Times: Surging Lotte Giants looking to extend undefeated run vs. defending champions in KBO.

LG Twins 10 NC Dinos 8 (Box Score). Aaron Altherr played CF and went 1 for 4.    

Here is the KBO scoreboard for yesterday. No KBO games today.

Also, no games in Taiwan today.  In the CBPL yesterday it was the Uni lions 10 Fubon Guardians 2 (Line Score).

Rakuten Monkeys 5 CTBC Brothers 4 (Line Score).

This Weekend at Mack’s Mets:

Reese Kaplan -- Let's Remember the Costs of Games.

Tom Brennan - THE GREAT JOHN FRANCO, REVISITED.

Mack – Sunday Thoughts: Edgardo Alfonzo, The Outfield, A-Rod/J-Lo, Ike Davis, 5 Round Draft.

Mack – Draft News – Clayton Beeter, Garrett Mitchell, Zach DeLoach, Itchy Burts, Tanner Burns.

Tom Brennan - Nellie Fox Just Never Struck Out.

Mack’s Blast From The Past May 11, 2012: Baseball America Mock Draft v1.0.  Baseball America had the Mets picking GAVIN CECCHINI at #12.  Pretty good guess. 

Today in Mets History Per Ultimatemets.com:

Born May 10:

• Jim Hickman (1937)
• Pete Schourek (1969)
• Craig Brazell (1980)
• Adonis Uceta (1994)

Transactions:

New York Mets signed free agent Tom Sturdivant on May 10, 1964.

New York Mets traded Larry Elliot to the Kansas City Athletics for Ed Charles on May 10, 1967.

New York Mets purchased Bob Johnson and John Miller from the Baltimore Orioles on May 10, 1967.

New York Mets traded Jason Felice to the Minnesota Twins for Bill Latham on May 10, 1987.

Minnesota Twins claimed Adam Wilk of the New York Mets on waivers on May 10, 2017.

Born today May 11:

• Jerry Martin (1949)
• Walt Terrell (1958)
• Ryder Ryan (1995)

Transactions:

New York Mets purchased Chuck Hiller from the San Francisco Giants on May 11, 1965.

New York Mets traded Charlie Williams to the San Francisco Giants for Willie Mays on May 11, 1972.

New York Mets traded Ricky Nelson to the Cleveland Indians for Don Schulze on May 11, 1987.

Pittsburgh Pirates claimed Mark Dewey of the New York Mets on waivers on May 11, 1993.

New York Mets traded Mike Remlinger to the Cincinnati Reds for Cobi Cradle on May 11, 1995. 

National Pastime.com:  

1972

The cash-strapped Giants, after promising the club would never trade him, send Willie Mays to New York, the city where he began his Hall of Fame career in 1951, for right-hander Charlie Williams and $50,000 cash. San Francisco owner Horace Stoneham, who could not guarantee his aging superstar an income after the outfielder retired, extracts a promise from the Mets that they will pay the 'Say Hey Kid' $50,000 a year for the ten years after the future Hall of Famer stops playing.

1996

On 'John Franco Day,' the New York veteran reliever is ejected from the game, along with eight other players, as the result of participating in a fifth-inning bench-clearing brawl at Shea Stadium. Prior to the game the Mets celebrated their closer's recent 300th career save, but his unavailability in the ninth leads to three hurlers combining to give up the tying runs in the team's eventual 7-6 walk-off victory over Chicago.

1998	Striking out 13 Diamondbacks, Cubs' Kerry Wood sets a major league record for strikeouts in consecutive games with 33 in two games. The previous record for strikeouts (32) in two starts was held by Luis Tiant (1968 - Indians), Nolan Ryan (1974 - Angels), Dwight Gooden (1984 - Mets), and Randy Johnson (1997 - Mariners).
1999	For the first time this century, two starting major league pitchers share the same name as the Rockies southpaw Bobby M. Jones bests right hander Bobby J. Jones and the Mets.

2008	At Shea Stadium, a 13-minute delay occurs in the beginning of the ninth of the Mets' 8-3 victory over the Reds, when David Ross bats out of order, making an out in Corey Patterson's place in the lineup. The very confused umpires eventually make the correct call, telling Ross to bat again, now with one out, without his teammate having an opportunity to come to the plate.
2012	The Mets play their 8,000th game in franchise history, dropping a 6-5 decision in Miami when closer Frank Francisco allows the tying and winning runs to score in the bottom of the ninth inning. During the thousand game span, the Amazins have compiled a 515-485 record, with third baseman David Wright being the team's top home run hitter and run producer with 143 round-trippers and 595 RBIs.

Baseball Reference:

1972 - Tom Seaver wins his 100th game in a 2 - 1 New York Mets victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Mets also acquire veteran outfielder Willie Mays from the San Francisco Giants for pitcher Charlie Williams and $50,000.

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