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6/5/20

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


Good Morning 19 Years ago today the Mets drafted David Wright, 6 years ago they drafted Michael Conforto, and MLB Players respond to the owners rejection of their 114 game schedule.




Mets Links:  

Forbes.com: New York Mets’ Citi Field Debt Is Downgraded To Below Investment Grade. “The Mets are losing money and have a mountain of debt: $350 million on the team and perhaps another $450 million on SNY, their 65%-owned regional sports network. According to my sources, it is likely the team has added to its leverage by borrowing from the league’s expanded credit facility to deal with the lack of ballpark revenue during the sport’s shutdown this season.”

Rising Apple: Mets the Kids Should Know: Felix Millan, the longtime franchise hits leader.

SNY.TV: Stay or Go: Examining if Mets should retain Wilson Ramos for 2021 season. Mets could target J.T. Realmuto via free agency after 2020.





Elite Sports NY: New York Mets prospect Brett Baty impressing talent evaluators. “He has lost 15 pounds and he looks better and moves better and that stuff impresses me,” one Mets evaluator said, per Mike Puma of the New York Post. “Good-looking bat, very good swing and he’s another guy, you have to let him go play. He is going to catch up, he’s got good skills, great presence”.

Rising Apple: Brandon Nimmo is fine in CF but the Mets can do better in the future. “The names we’re going to hear about often over the next few months are Mookie Betts, George Springer, Joc Pederson, and Marcell Ozuna. Each offers something different. Some are more true center fielders than others. All would be an upgrade in some regard over Brandon Nimmo.”


LoHud.com: Analyzing the NY Mets' Top 10 prospects: No. 6 David Peterson. “In 2019, [David Peterson] started 24 Double A games, finishing with a 4.19 ERA. Fielder independent pitching (FIP) isolates the outcomes a pitcher can control. Simple terms: It does not account for outcomes that involve luck (balls in play). Peterson's FIP in 2018 was 2.98. A year later, it was 3.19. Those indicate he might have pitched better than his ERA shows.”

YouTube: New York Mets Videos - David Wright’s Final Game plus the speech from David afterwards.



MLB LINKS:

Joel Sherman NY Post: Stupidity is only thing standing in baseball’s way of saving season. “Not playing when MLB could be a unifying force in time of racial strife, a monetary boon amid financial disaster (don’t forget how many subsidiary jobs in travel, hospitality, transportation, media, etc, benefit from the game) and a symbol that some form of normality will rise with all the sickness and death is so short-term, blinders-on stupid for both sides that they are not going to get any benefit of the doubt by playing less not more.”

SNY.TV: Latest on negotiations for 2020 MLB season: Scott Boras slams league's refusal to play in November. "The NFL and college football -- contact sports -- could be playing in November, let alone December," Boras told The Athletic about Major League Baseball's refusal to play past October. "MLB, a social distancing sport, says it can't play playoffs in November. Apparently the NFL and NCAA medical experts think differently."





MLB.com: Best power-hitting prospects in 2020 Draft. Spencer Torkelson, 1B, Arizona State leads the list.


MLB.com: How three HS teammates became MLB stars. That's Jack Flaherty, Lucas Giolito and Max Fried -- three teammates at Harvard-Westlake who all went on to be first-round Draft picks and all had breakout seasons in 2019 for their respective big league clubs, the Cardinals, White Sox and Braves.

Mike Lupica MLB.com: Dennis Eckersley should be known for more than HR he gave up. 'I can live with it. I'm in the Hall of Fame. I'm cool.'

MLB.com: Most hyped LHP prospects of the past 20 years. For the Mets: “Scott Kazmir - Scouts viewed Kazmir as one of the country’s top prep pitching prospects before the Mets made him the 15th-overall pick in the 2002 Draft and was ranked by MLB as baseball’s No. 8 prospect going into the 2004 season. Though he reached Double-A as a 20-year-old that year, the Mets, with their sights set on a playoff berth, dealt the young lefty to the Rays in the widely panned August 2009 Victor Zambrano trade. He went on to make a trio of All-Star teams, compiling a 4.01 ERA and 108 wins over 12 seasons.”

MLB.com: Remembering Jackie's first black MLB teammate. “The next African American to play for the Dodgers was a right-hander named Dan Bankhead, the first African American pitcher to play Major League Baseball…Bankhead played parts of three seasons with Brooklyn without much success in 1947, ‘50 and ’51…9-5 with a 6.52 ERA during his big league career.”

NY Post: David Cone offers solution to save the baseball season. “I would say a fair number would be somewhere in the 82-game region,” David Cone said. “If I was the commissioner that’s where I would try to start the conversation.”


Minor League Links:

A certain Blogger from Albany had the same idea last month.







Asian Baseball:



NC Dinos 10 SK Wizards 0 (Box score). Aaron Altherr was 1 for 3 with a HR, 2 runs scored, and an RBI. 


Aaron is back in CF for today’s game (Box score).









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

New York Mets selected Randy Sterling in first round (fourth pick overall) of free agent draft on June 5, 1969.

New York Mets selected Lute Barnes in 21st round of free agent draft on June 5, 1969.

New York Mets selected George Theodore in 31st round of free agent draft on June 5, 1969.

New York Mets selected Buzz Capra in 27th round of free agent draft on June 5, 1969.

New York Mets selected Jackson Todd in second round of free agent draft on June 5, 1973.

New York Mets selected Lee Mazzilli in first round (14th pick overall) of free agent draft on June 5, 1973.

New York Mets selected Mardie Cornejo in 21st round of free agent draft on June 5, 1973.

New York Mets selected John Pacella in fourth round of free agent draft on June 5, 1974.

New York Mets selected Dwight Bernard in second round of free agent draft on June 5, 1974.

New York Mets selected Bob Myrick in 20th round of free agent draft on June 5, 1974.

New York Mets selected Ron Gardenhire in sixth round of free agent draft on June 5, 1979.

New York Mets selected Tim Leary in first round (second pick overall) of free agent draft on June 5, 1979.

New York Mets selected Dave Telgheder in 31st round of free agent draft on June 5, 1989.

New York Mets selected Joe Vitko in 24th round of free agent draft on June 5, 1989.

New York Mets selected Butch Huskey in seventh round of free agent draft on June 5, 1989.

New York Mets selected Brook Fordyce in third round of free agent draft on June 5, 1989.

New York Mets selected Jeff Duncan in seventh round of free agent draft on June 5, 2000.

New York Mets selected Aaron Heilman in first round (18th pick overall) of free agent draft on June 5, 2001.

New York Mets selected Joe Hietpas in 16th round of free agent draft on June 5, 2001.

New York Mets selected Danny Garcia in fifth round of free agent draft on June 5, 2001.

New York Mets selected David Wright in first round (38th pick overall) of free agent draft on June 5, 2001.

New York Mets selected Eric Campbell in eighth round of free agent draft on June 5, 2008.

New York Mets selected Collin McHugh in 18th round of free agent draft on June 5, 2008.

New York Mets selected Kirk Nieuwenhuis in third round of free agent draft on June 5, 2008.

New York Mets selected Josh Satin in sixth round of free agent draft on June 5, 2008.

New York Mets selected Chris Schwinden in 22nd round of free agent draft on June 5, 2008.

New York Mets selected Ike Davis in first round (18th pick overall) of free agent draft on June 5, 2008.

New York Mets claimed Pat Misch on waivers from the San Francisco Giants on June 5, 2009.

New York Mets selected Matt Reynolds in second round of free agent draft on June 5, 2012.

New York Mets selected Paul Sewald in 10th round of free agent draft on June 5, 2012.

New York Mets selected Tomas Nido in eighth round of free agent draft on June 5, 2012.

New York Mets selected Chris Flexen in 14th round of free agent draft on June 5, 2012.

New York Mets selected Michael Conforto in first round (10th pick overall) of free agent draft on June 5, 2014.



1987
Before the Mets-Pirates game at Shea Stadium, SpiderMan marries Mary Jane Watson. In attendance at the wedding ceremony, presided over by Marvel Comics president Stan Lee, are Spidey's friends Captain America and the Hulk, as well as his enemies, Doctor Doom and the Green Goblin.
1989
Alan Zinter, a product of the University of Arizona, is selected by the Mets in the first round of the amateur draft, 24th pick overall. The collegiate catcher will not play his first major league until 13 years later when he makes his debut with Houston as a 34 year-old pinch-hitter in 2002.

1992
At Three Rivers Stadium, Mets first baseman Eddie Murray drives in two runs, passing Yankee legend Mickey Mantle [1,509] as the all-time RBI leader among switch-hitters.
2001
The Mets draft Hickory High School (Chesapeake, VA) standout David Wright in the first round of the amateur draft, the 38th pick overall. The 18 year-old infielder, who will become the face of the franchise, signs with New York a week later.

2003
In the second game of a double-header loss to the Brewers, Mets southpaw John Franco pitches an inning of relief to become the eighth pitcher to make a thousand career appearances. The last time Milwaukee swept a doubleheader on the road occurred eleven seasons ago when the Brewers of the American League beat the Royals twice on July 5, 2002, 8-7 and 5-3.
2003
Tony Clark changes his number from 00 to 52. The Mets' reserve player wanted to give the team's mascot, Mr. Met, his identity back, as he and the congenial baseball-headed character shared double-digit ought.

2012
On the 11th anniversary of being drafted by the Mets, David Wright becomes the franchise's all-time run scorer when he crosses the plate for the 736th time after homering in the team's 7-6 loss in Washington. New York's 29 year-old third baseman is already the franchise career leader in doubles, total bases, RBIs, and extra-base hits.


1981 - Houston Astros pitcher Nolan Ryan passes Early Wynn as major leagues' all-time walks leader, walking two batters in a 3 - 0 win over the Mets to raise his total to 1,777. Ryan also strikes out 10 batters while pitching a five-hitter.

2012: Ian Desmond drives in the tying run in the 8th, then does it again in the 10th and once more in the 12th for good measure, as his Nationals finally beat the Mets, 7 - 6. The Elias Sports Bureau reports he is the first player since Art Shamsky (1966) to have three game-tying or go-ahead RBI from the 8th inning on in the same game.

Amazing Avenue: This Date in Mets History: June 5 — Three coaches are fired after flameout against Yankees, GM dismissed Apodaca, Robson, and Niemann on this date in 1999 following the Mets’ eighth consecutive loss.



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5 comments:

  1. It would be absurd that no baseball season will occur due to a dispute. Both sides can't be that stupid. Compromise, and let's play ball.

    If Wilpons are borrowing more, the pain is real for at least some owners. SO compromise - and Wilpons? Sell, sell, sell.

    Love 3 HR, 8 RBI Kong. Hopefully, Brett Baty can be a Kingman cyborg upgrade.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hope all the bluster is just posturing and they get down to real negotiations real soon. If not? Baseball could be out for a long time as the basic agreement ends in the not too distant future. Manfred may kill a long period of labor peace.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mike Puma said this morning that we now could have fans at the stadium but no players. Ha.

    I love the idea of the Florida Fall league.

    They could do this with the DSL teams as well and further develop those guppies across the pond.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Two things from me:
    1. John, as Texas just said that stadiums can fill to 50% capacity, and hopefully most other states follow, it would be easier for the owners to offer 82 games without the sliding pay scale and hopefully get a truce that way. I can’t see how losing customer revenue cannot be hurtful to MLB.

    2. With regard to Rising Apple’s claim that Ozuna and Pederson are upgrades over Nimmo, I tell them to find out why Osuna isn’t even a decent fit as a left fielder and why they want a swing from his heels platoon guy in CF like Pederson that will give you about 12 homeruns more than Nimmo but his 60 points lower in batting average.

    Good stuff John.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Gus,

    Hope all is well.

    I always liked Osuna when he was in Miami but he did not seem the same player in St. Louis. Right now, I’d keep Nimmo over Osuna as well.

    ReplyDelete