5/6/20

John From Albany – Mets Breakfast Links 5/6/2020



Good morning, Happy Birthday Willie Mays, Jeff McNeil  joined GKR in the simulated broadcast booth, and the AP looked at MLB Salaries. 

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:

SNY.TV: 5 Takeaways from Mets' Jeff McNeil's MLB The Show appearance, including how he's staying in shape during hiatus.  On adding power in Triple A and in second half of 2019: "I think it just came. I put on a lot of strength, a lot of size and weight, and I think with that the power numbers jumped. When I went to Double A in 2018, I wanted to hit with some power. I knew that was the one thing kind of lacking in my game. Got off to an extremely hot start, hitting the ball out of the ballpark, and still hit for a high average.”

Mike’s Mets. It's Always About the Money.  Mike talks about Robinson Cano, Edwin Diaz, worrying about the Mets finances, and the COVID-19 epidemic in South Korea. 

Rising Apple: Mets History Rewritten: Robinson Cano, Edwin Diaz trade never happens. Already, many would like to redo this trade. Even if it meant having Jay Bruce whittle away on the bench or made Anthony Swarzak a member of the bullpen for another year, fans would take back the deal.


Brian Joura Mets 360.com: Michael Conforto and the non-pejorative nature of his disappointment.


Centerfield Maz: Willie Mays "The Sey Hey Kid": The Mets Years (1972-1973).


Mets Focus: Who has the Most Stolen Bases in a Mets Game? Vince Coleman and Roger Cedeño have the most stolen bases in a single Mets game. They both stole 4 bases in a game. Coleman did it twice, once in 1992 and again in 1993. Strangely he didn’t get a hit in either game! Cedeño stole 4 bases in a game in 1999.

Mets Insider Blog: Jeff of All Trades.  “We all know Jeff McNeil is an All-Star caliber baseball player, whom could have instead played professional golf, but we found out this week he is a legitimate gamer, too. McNeil found himself just one win away from advancing to the finals of the MLB the Show Players League.”

Baseball Essential: Ready and Waiting. Writer Michael Dittleman explains how Pete Alonso got a Yankee fan cheering for the Mets. 


NY Post: A lighter Jeurys Familia is ready to give Mets what they’ve been missing.

Rising Apple: Mets pitcher Marcus Stroman proving he’s perfect for this club even without baseball. Writer Tim Boyle suggests that you “Stop over on Stroman’s Twitter page at any time of the day and you’ll see what a wonderful leader the man is. This goes for the team and the city he’ll play baseball in once things get back to normal.”

Metsmerized Online: Amazin’ Mistakes: Mets Whiff On J.J. Putz Deal. Author Joe Jackson explains how “The Mets’ trade for Putz was handled poorly from beginning to end.”




MLB LINKS:

The Big Lead.com: Keith Law Throws Cold Water on Baseball Restart Rumor. “There's no proposed date for the MLB season to start. That rumor running around today is false. Sorry.”



AP study: MLB average at around $4.4M for 5th year in row. “Following an offseason when Gerrit Cole, Stephen Strasburg, Anthony Rendon and Christian Yelich all agreed to $200 million-plus deals, the flattened salary curve is evidence of a shrinking portion of the pie for baseball’s middle class. The stagnant stretch is unprecedented since the free-agent era dawned in 1976.”

The Sporting News: MLB payrolls 2020: Five takeaways from reported salary figures. The Mets are spending, too — no, really. Long accused of being cheap or broke or both because of Bernie Madoff, New York's NL club is eighth at an estimated $174.3 million.

ESPN.com: Ranking every World Series in MLB history.  Here’s their top 5: #1. 1975: Reds over Red Sox in seven; #2. 1991: Twins over Braves in seven; #3. 1924: Senators over Giants in seven; #4. 1986: Mets over Red Sox in seven; #5. 2011: Cardinals over Rangers in seven; Others: #18. 1973: A's over Mets in seven; #30. 2015: Royals over Mets in five; #36. 1969: Mets over Orioles in five; #43. 2000: Yankees over Mets in five.

ESPN.com: Pedro Martinez, other MLB players form coalition for coronavirus relief in Dominican Republic.

Yahoo sports: After success of 'The Last Dance,' ESPN moves up premiere of three more documentaries to fill sports void.  “Long Gone Summer,” the story of the 1998 home run chase between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, airing on June 14.

MLB.com: Beginning at 9 a.m. ET and running through 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday, and then replaying from 5 p.m. ET through 1 a.m. ET that night, MLB.com will continuously stream 42 of the most memorable half-innings in modern baseball history -- back-to-back, in succession.  For the Mets this will be Bottom 10, 1986 World Series Game 6: Mookie’s ‘little roller’ caps Mets’ wild comeback; Bottom 8, Sept. 21, 2001: Mike Piazza lifts NYC with post-9/11 homer.

NJ.com: MLB Network’s Bob Costas pitches rules changes for 2020 amid coronavirus.   "Put in a pitch clock with nobody on base, have computerized balls and strikes... short of running the bases clockwise, I think people would accept most anything. Tinker with the postseason format, go ahead! Throw everything against the wall and see what sticks.” 

Minor League links:


MiLB.com: Did you know? International League edition.  Fourteen unique facts about the Triple-A circuit, one for each team.  Syracuse Mets: Syracuse first fielded a Minor League team in 1934…The team changed its name to the Mets prior to the 2019 season, and this marked the first time the team carried the name of its parent club.




An Angels Error. The Angels inked infielder Zack Cozart to a three-year, $38MM contract after the 2017 season, but now he surely counts as one of their least effective big-money signings in recent memory.





Asian Baseball:



Games are underway now in Korea.  Aaron Altherr is the only former Met playing today so far,  He got his first hit of the year and is 1 for 2 (Box Score).






Born on this date:
Died on this date:
Transactions:

New York Mets traded 
Don Zimmer to the Cincinnati Reds for Bob Miller and Cliff Cook on May 6, 1962.

New York Mets traded Jim Marshall to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Vinegar Bend Mizell on May 6, 1962.


1994
The Cubs' 10-1 victory over the Pirates ends Anthony Young's 27-game losing streak as a starter and snaps Chicago's record 14-game drought at home. The hard-luck pitcher, who set a major league record with 27 consecutive losses while pitching for the Mets, 14 in a starting role and 13 as a reliever, had also made 27 consecutive starts without a win, despite 13 quality starts among those game in which his teams posted a 4-23 record.


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3 comments:

Tom Brennan said...

Vince Coleman was incredible with the Cardinals, decent with the Mets. I think Vince averaged over 100 steals his first 4 seasons.

An old Willie Mays still managed 14 homers and a commendable .352 OBP as a Met. He shoulda never left NY.

$4.4 average MLB salary was a great place to stagnate at.

John From Albany said...

Vince stole 110 in 1985, 107 in 86, 109 in 87, 81 in 88, 65 in 89, 77 in 90 with the Cards. Then with the Mets, 37 in 91 (just 72 games - age 29), 24 in 92 (just 71 games), 38 in the fire cracker shortened 93 season (92 games).

Makes a good case for developing your own speed players and letting them go when they approach 30.

Unknown said...

Vince Coleman pulled a hammy running to first early in the 1991 season, and was never quite the same. Classic case of "Mets Disease". Throwing an M80 at Dodgerfans brought an end to his Mets days.

Bob W.