John From Albany – Mets Breakfast Links 5/4/2020

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

Mets Links:

Deesha Thosar NY Daily News: We desperately need a ‘Last Dance’ with the World Series champion 1986 Mets. “As much as we know about the 1986 Mets, there’s still so much we don’t. Picture Hernandez or Darling sitting in the comfort of their homes, with a glass of whiskey idling on a table nearby, recounting their memories of that ‘86 season — totally unfiltered and unafraid of the social-media backlash that will likely follow. It’s the type of content that’s begging to be produced — now more than ever.”

12Up.com: The One Contract Holding Back the New York Mets. “To the dismay of Mets fans and delight of their opposition, Cano is on the books until the end of the 2023 season, when he turns 40. Good luck trying to build a contender with that deal, Mets.”

Mike’s Mets: Maybe There's Another Way. Mike looks at pitching velocity, Tommy John surgeries, and defense. 

Mike’s Mets: Mike looks back at Steve Trachsel in Stealing Wins. 

Mike Puma NY Post: Jacob deGrom’s Cy Young quest gets harder with coronavirus break.

Centerfield Maz: Remembering Mets History (1991) : Hojo's Walk Off HR & Two Mets Pinch Hitters Hit Back To Back HRs For 1st Time In Team History. Mackey Sasser and Mark Carreon hit back to back pinch hit home runs to tie the game in the ninth.

Centerfield Maz: Chris Cannizzaro: Italian / American Mets Catcher (1962-1965).

Scott Ferguson Mets 360: The 1962 Mets: What George Weiss should have done. “Houston lost 96 games, but also laid the groundwork for what it hoped would be a decent group of players that could be boosted by spending money on the farm system. The Mets did the opposite. Their team president, George Weiss, decided to acquire “name players” to help get people to the stadium.”

Brian Joura Mets 360.com: The Mets and the first five years of free agency.

NY Post: Mets still searching for right position in field for J.D. Davis.

Joel Sherman NY Post: The biggest Mets losers with MLB on hold. “That is why when it comes to the Mets, I see Van Wagenen losing the most of anyone in the organization with games not being played — except, of course, for the Wilpons, who might be losing millions (or billions) in franchise value.”

Elite Sports NY: New York Mets SS Amed Rosario needs to improve against offspeed pitches in 2020. “Rosario’s issues to create fly balls and hard contact against changeups and splitters worsened in 2019. If these struggles continue, he’ll likely face even more offspeed pitches this season.”

Metsmerized Online: 2021 Mets Free Agent Targets: Starting Pitchers.  1) Trevor Bauer; 2) Marcus Stroman; 3) Anibal Sanchez; 4) Rick Porcello and/or Michael Wacha. 

MLB LINKS:

CBS Sports: MLB prefers to have teams play as many games as possible in home parks for 2020 season, report says.  “According to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, MLB's "preferred plan" is to play as many games in each team's home big-league ballpark as possible. Other plans, including the hub plan and holding the season entirely in Arizona, are reportedly becoming less and less likely.”

NBC Sports: How baseball games might be impacted if they’re played without fans.

CBS Sports: Who has MLB's best curveball? Ranking baseball's best curves with two Tampa Bay aces cracking the list.  R.J. Anderson has 1. Charlie Morton, Tampa Bay Rays; 2. Sonny Gray, Cincinnati Reds; 3. Tyler Glasnow, Tampa Bay Rays; The best-kept secret James Karinchak, Cleveland. Who's next? Deivi Garcia, New York Yankees.  No mention of Seth Lugo. 

ESPN.com: Tim Kurkjian Baseball Fix: The history of the sacrifice fly is fascinating.  Not sure I’d day fascinating but he did include this…” In 1954, the first year sacrifice flies were counted continuously, the Dodgers' Gil Hodges had 19 sac flies, which, 66 years later, remains the record.”

Yahoo Sports: Mitch McConnell says he pressured MLB commissioner Rob Manfred to start baseball season.

NY Daily News: Canceling Baseball Hall of Fame induction weekend deals an ‘earth shattering’ blow to Cooperstown. 

Minor League links:

The Virginia Pilot: Whatever Happened To ... former major leaguer and NFL running back D.J. Dozier? “D.J. Dozier…played five seasons in the NFL, and on May 6, 1992, he made his Major League Baseball debut with the New York Mets.”

Baseball Mexico Blog: VERACRUZ TO RETURN TO MEXICAN LEAGUE IN 2021?

Asian Baseball:

CBS Sports: 10 players to know from KBO and CPBL, including potential future MLB stars and a Wade Boggs-like slugger.  #1 on the list: Yu-Hsien Chu, OF/1B, Rakuten Monkeys (CPBL). “Chu won the CPBL's Most Valuable Player Award last season, homering 30 times and batting .347/.394/.605…Chu is on his way to earning more hardware this year, with a .514 average and eight homers in nine games.”

Yahoo Sports: A KBO primer: Here's what you need to know to enjoy the return of baseball in South Korea.  Baseball returns in South Korea tomorrow May 5^th. 

Yahoo Sports: MLB will be watching as KBO tries to bring back baseball amid coronavirus recovery. “The KBO will play its games in empty stadiums… players and staff will enter and exit facilities through one door, where their temperatures will be taken; all personnel not in baseball uniforms are required to wear masks and gloves; a player who shows symptoms will be quarantined and the stadium where he last played will be closed; a positive test would lead to contact tracing, more quarantines if necessary and a possible league-wide shutdown for three weeks or longer; no spitting; no high-fives.”

ESPN.com: Photo Journal of how the KBO prepared for the season through COVID-19. 

YonHap News: Starting this season, when umpires in South Korean baseball put on their headsets to connect with the league replay center, fans will be able to watch the same feed as officials in the video room.

FANGRAPHS: Get to Know the KBO, Part One. Doosan Bears Chris Flexen: “He’ll look to get back to what worked for him in the minors, a mix of sinkers and an upper-80s slider, with the Bears.”  Kia Tigers: Drew Gagnon: “The newly de-juiced KBO baseball should fit his style much better; if the fastballs aren’t leaving the yard, the changeup will work nicely.”

FANGRAPHS: Get to Know the KBO, Part Two. NC Dinos Aaron Altherr. “The Altherr who played in 2019 was a mess; he may still have been struggling with a ligament tear in his big toe, which he suffered in late 2018, but he also looked lost at the plate. Even in a small sample, a 17.5% swinging strike rate is ghastly. We’ll have to see how the signing turns out, but it’s a boom/bust gamble.”

Yonhap News: Ex-major league pitcher Dan Straily announced as Opening Day starter for KBO club.

ESPN.com: When the rest of the world stopped, Josh Roenicke and baseball played on in Taiwan. 

Yesterday in The CPBL –

Rakuten Monkeys 9 Chinatrust Brothers 3 (Line Score)

Chu, Yu-Hsien hits record-breaking 10th home run in the first 13 games!

Chu, Yu-Hsien hits record-breaking 10th home run in the first 13 games! Unbelievable night!😍

Get an account and watch #TAIWAN baseball on #CPBLTV ⚾https://t.co/MhisEVKoPa⚾#StayHome and watch #CPBL@CTBC_Brothers@RakutenMonkeys pic.twitter.com/HgRYkm28xC

— CPBL 中華職棒 (@CPBL) May 3, 2020

Fubon Guardians 12 Uni Lions 7 (Line Score)

Grand Slam. 

Definitely the most stimulating moment in a #baseball game! Base loaded & #BOOM!

Get an account and watch #TAIWAN baseball on #CPBLTV ⚾https://t.co/MhisEVKoPa⚾#StayHome and watch #CPBL#Unilions@FubonGuardians pic.twitter.com/U6rjoJJBJd

— CPBL 中華職棒 (@CPBL) May 3, 2020

This weekend at Mack’s Mets:

Reese Kaplan -- The 2021 Mets Look Shaky At Best.

Mack – Sunday Thoughts: Cape Cod League, Re-Opening, Steve Dalkowski, The 2020 Draft, Endorsement Money.

Mack – Draft News – Austin Wells, Brett Auerbach, Zavier Warren, Kyle Nicolas, Nick Bitsko.

Mack’s Blast From The Past May 4, 2009, UPDATE: 2009 MLB Draft - Top RHP.  Noted names on the list: 1. Steven Strasburg; 5. Zach Wheeler; 6. Shelby Miller; 18. Drew Storen; 32. Trevor Cahill; 35. Brooks Pounders. 

Today in Mets History Per Ultimatemets.com:

Born May 3:

• Red Ruffing (1904)
• Chris Cannizzaro (1938)
• Jack DiLauro (1943)
• Walker Lockett (1994)

Died on this date:

• Darrell Johnson (2004)

Transactions:

New York Mets purchased Mike Phillips from the San Francisco Giants on May 3, 1975.

New York Mets released Travis d'Arnaud on May 3, 2019.

Born May 4:

• Ken Oberkfell (1956)
• Manny Aybar (1972)
• Miguel Cairo (1974)
• Robinson Cancel (1976)
• Kevin Torres (1999)
• Johan Armado (2001)

Transactions:

Toronto Blue Jays claimed Pete Walker of the New York Mets on waivers on May 4, 2002.

New York Mets purchased Logan Verrett from the Texas Rangers on May 4, 2015.

National Pastime.com:

1963	The first reported use of the familiar refrain "Let's Go Mets" is heard at the Polo Grounds in the bottom of the ninth inning during a rout by San Francisco. With the Amazins' trailing by 13 runs and down to their last out with no one on base, the rallying cry begins to be chanted by some of the 'New Breed,' the affectionate name given the fans of the National League expansion team.
1991	At Shea Stadium, Mackey Sasser and Mark Carreon, the first two batters in the ninth inning, both go deep as pinch-hitters off Jeff Brantley to knot the score at two runs apiece in the Mets' eventual 4-2 victory over San Francisco in 12 innings. It is the first time in the 30-year history of the franchise that two pinch-hitters have hit back-to-back round-trippers.

2007

The second inning Chase Field matchup of Mets first baseman Julio Franco against Diamondback fireballer Randy Johnson marks the oldest hitter-pitcher confrontation in big league history. With a mere 92+ years of age between them, the nearly 49 year-old goes deep off the southpaw, who is four months shy of 44, to extend his record as the oldest player to homer, and with his ninth-inning swipe of second, he continues to be the oldest to steal a base.

2012

An anonymous bidder pays $418,250 for the baseball hit by Mookie Wilson that rolled through the legs of Bill Buckner, allowing the Mets to cap a two-out rally with a 6-5 walk-off victory in the tenth inning in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. The historic horsehide was the centerpiece of memorabilia being offered by Heritage Auctions from the collection of Los Angeles songwriter Seth Swirsky, which also included Reggie Jackson's third home run ball from Game 6 of the 1977 Fall Classic ($65,725), the Ranger cap that Jose Canseco was wearing in 1993 when a ball bounced off his head over the wall for a homer ($11,950), and a 1965 baseball signed by the Beatles from the Shea Stadium concert ($65,725).

Baseball Reference:

2011: Tim Lincecum has a good night in shutting out the Mets, 2 - 0, at Citi Field. He fans 12 batters in 7 innings for the 29th double-digit strikeout game of his career. That total is the most ever by a Giants pitcher, overtaking Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson who set the previous mark back in the days the franchise played in New York.

2019 - The longest game in the history of Miller Park goes 18 innings before Ryan Braun ends it by driving the winning run with his 6th hit of the night. A two-run single with one out in the 18th gives the Brewers and 4 - 3 win over the Mets. Braun outhits all of his teammates, given Milwaukee only tallies 11 safeties as a team; in the winning rally, the Mets' Chris Flexen walks the bases loaded before facing Braun.

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