MACK – MY Tuesday Morning Observations

 

I will not be able to comment today due to scheduled surgery.

 

John Frascella (Football) (@NFLFrascella) posted at 11:00 PM on Sat, Nov 23, 2024:

Juan Soto UPDATES:

1. Alex Cohen, the wife of Mets Owner Steve Cohen, is now Following Juan Soto on Instagram.

2. Juan Soto is now Following Francisco Lindor, Starling Marte & JD Martinez of the Mets.

 

Samuel Clemente              @Samuelclemente

Cardenales de Lara reports that shortstop and big leaguer Luisángel Acuña suffered spasms in one of his legs on Friday night due to dehydration. Therefore, he will be out of the lineup as a precaution.

 

Buster Olney                       @Buster_ESPN

Sources involved in the Juan Soto talks expect the teams will begin forwarding offers this week. To date, the process has been about Soto meeting with teams/club officials, and about those officials getting to know Soto.

 

Mike Mayer            @mikemayer22

Carlos Cortes is signing a minor league deal with the Oakland A’s.

Cortes, 27, hit .246/.330/.456 with 16 home runs for the Triple-A Syracuse Mets in 2024.

 

Josh Hejka               @hedgertronic

A starting pitcher who needs to throw 100 pitches once every 5 days has higher volume and volume at peak intensity demands, while a short reliever who needs to throw back-to-back days has a higher frequency demand.

Knowing the requirements of your role specifically is crucial.

This is a reason I believe more minor league relievers should throw back-to-backs.

If a pitcher gets called up and starts throwing 3 out of 4 days in the majors, he better have experienced a similar stress before if you want him to stay healthy and continue pitching well.

 

Jim Koenigsberger            @Jimfrombaseball

 

"If the people don't wanna come out to the ballpark, nobody's gonna stop 'em."

Yogi Berra

 

“You know what this is? It’s a Polish joke stopper.”

Ted Kluszewski talking about either one of his equally powerful fists.

White Sox owner Bill Veeck introduced uniforms with the player's last name on the back of the jersey.

On a road trip to New York, Kluszewski became  the first player to appear in a game with a misspelled name which had a  backwards "z" as well as an "x" instead of the second "k".

 

"In 1955, when the Dodgers won their only Championship for Brooklyn, that was more than just a World Series victory. It was a crowning point for a  Borough that had given its heart to the ballclub & had been  disappointed so many times. I can remember when that game ended in  Yankee Stadium. Suddenly, the Bronx was in a football mode. Fall had arrived. And we went through the Battery Tunnel, came out on the  Brooklyn side and hallelujah it was like VE Day & VJ Day! I mean there  was dancing in the streets, block parties, stores were closed. That really stays in your mind and in your heart as well"

Vin Scully

Mack – I was eight year old when this happened and yet I remember it like it was yesterday. Our house was a Dodger house and my father, my brother, and I watched this on our old Muntz TV. Sandy, Mom died two years earlier.

 

"The Baker Bowl"

One of the Phillies' first stadiums, featured 60ft wall in right field. For a number of years, a huge advertising sign on RF wall read "The Phillies Use Lifebuoy", a popular brand of soap.

In `36, a vandal broke in & wrote "and they still stink!" on the ad!

 

"The best Major League ballplayer I ever saw was Willie Mays. Ruth beat you with the bat. Ted Williams beat you with the bat. Joe DiMaggio beat you with the bat, his glove and his arm. But Willie Mays could beat you with the bat, with power, his glove, his arm and with the running. He could beat you any way that's possible."

Buck O`Neil

 

MLB Pipeline                      @MLBPipeline

Here are the compensation picks each team will get in the 2025 Draft (in the order listed) if these free agents sign with another team:

Mets:             Three picks at the end of the 4^th rounds for Alonso, Manaea, and Severino.

Mack – not a first rounder, but better than anything.

Some past fourth rounders:  Ricky Henderson, Ozzie Smith, Jeff Bagwell,

                        Yadier Molina

 

The Athletic             @TheAthletic

Roki Sasaki's next team will likely break pre-existing verbal commitments with a number of Latin American players to sign him, writes Ken Rosenthal. Depriving those players of life-changing money isn’t right. And baseball should not allow it to happen.

            Joe Doyle                 @JoeDoyleMiLB

Hope this isn’t the case. Sasaki will make upwards of $30 million annually in sponsors and endorsements immediately. The one-time ~$5 million bonus he can command on the IFA market is a drop in the bucket.

 

The Mets have signed RHP Justin Hagenman to a one-year major league contract.

28-years old     6-3    205

4 yrs – 302.2-IP, 4.19, 25-7%-K Rate, 7.5%-walk rate.

Swingman in 2024 – 91.2-IP, 4.91, 24.5%, 7.8%                 

Gave ucp 21-HRs (21.4% per flyball).

Split contract - $850K in the majors and $225K in the minors.

Low 90s FB – best pitch is his changeup

Mets 40 now stands at 34.

Mack – Three recent signings (RHP Justin Hagenman to MLB Deal; UT Donovan Walton, OF Rafael Ortega) are not going to make big headlines, but they are necessary to do this time of the year. Many of their minor league players at the AAA level are now free agents and these slots need to be filled. Who knows? Maybe they can find another OMG guy.