MACK - MY Tuesday Observations -

 

The Mets signed RHP Oliver Ortega to a minors deal.

            28/yrs old                6-0                  185                 2014 IFA

            Career – 0.2-WAR             2-4                  4.03

Did not play last season due to elbow surgery in March to remove loose      bodies

Second surgery in June that year to remove bone spur in same elbow

2023 – Majors:       10-apps, 0-1, 4.30, 14.2-IP, 14-K

             Minors:       24-apps, 1.82, 34.2-IP, 44-K

98.6 fastball in 2022… dropped arm angle in 2023 and lost velo

Two fastballs, slider, curve

Career 20.4% K-rate, 10.8% BB-rate

            Mack – doesn’t hurt to kick the minor league tires here…

 

 

Aram Leighton                    @AramLeighton8

The Rangers and RHP Adrian Houser have agreed to a minor league deal with an invite to big league camp

 

 

SNY                @SNYtv

The Mets are reportedly among teams who are expected to be "significant players" in the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes. The 23-year-old will officially be posted during the Winter Meetings.

            Mack – A few things…

1.     He’s 23 years old

2.     His fastball has exceeded 100mph

3.     Whichever team signs him would pay him a league-minimum deal in terms of Luxury Tax money, as he would sign as an IFA in a similar manner to how teenage prospects sign out of foreign countries with signing bonuses.

4.     He had two teammates in Japan with the last names Yamamoto and Ohtani

5.     Did I mention he is 23 years old?

6.     He has a career 2.10 ERA with 1,543 strikeouts across 394.2 innings in the NPB

7.     Has had health problems in the past, but was healthy for the entire 2024 season

 

Michael Baron                    @michaelgbaron

What's the point of having Steve Cohen as the owner if he doesn't get the best players? Corner cutting is exactly what #Mets fans complained about during the Wilpon Era. It isn't the Wilpon Era anymore. How can some think Soto is too expensive & not worth it?

Ridiculous.

            Mack – and then there is this…

 

Luis Severino got a $22.33m AAV from the A’s over 3 years.

Figure Sean Manaea is in the 3-4 year window at $23-25m per year now

It’s an expensive marketplace!

 

            Anthony DiComo               @AnthonyDiComo

For those asking, the Mets will receive a pick after the fourth round of next year's draft as compensation for Luis Severino signing with the A's. The pick is so low because of the Mets' status as Competitive Balance Tax payors -- one of several punishments for violating the tax.

 

New York Porch Sports                @nyporchsport

Luis Severino on choosing the A’s over the Mets:

“I haven’t won a World Series yet.”

 

 

Baseball America              @BaseballAmerica

Elian Peña is expected to sign for a bonus in the $5 million neighborhood, which would take up almost all of the pool space for the Mets

Mack – Of course, this could change if the Mets signed, what is considered a longshot, Roki Sasaki.

 

 

Mets News and Links                   @JohnFromAlbany

Dom Hamel is listed as the intriguing Mets Rule 5 Player - "There were 65 Triple-A pitchers who threw at least 400 sliders in ‘24, and Hamel’s average spin rate of 2,623 rpm was ninth-highest and his 12.6 inches of average gloveside movement was 10th. Throw in a 92-94 mph fastball with good ride and a bridge cutter, and there’s something to work with here."

Mack – Personally, I have been disappointed in Hamel as a starter. I agree with the Mets if he is left unprotected in the Rule 5 Draft, but I would bring him back and let him compete for a 2025 pen piece in Queens. Nothing more.

 

Jim Koenigsberger            @Jimfrombaseball

 

"Babe Ruth never played a night game, he never hit against fireball relief pitching (relief pitchers in his day were worn-out old starters), he never travelled cross-country for a night game & played a game the next day, he never performed before millions of television viewers, he never had to run on artificial turf.  It is the changes in the game, the modern factors that have made the game more difficult, that bring Babe in here as number three, behind Mays and Aaron. His feats were heroic.  So were theirs. They simply did them under tougher conditions."

Maury Allen

 

"I try to get along with all the guys but, even though he's my teammate, I can't take Frank Robinson. That guy is out there trying to maim people."

Don Newcombe

 

"The great trouble with baseball today is that  most of the players are in the game for the money and that's it, not for the love of it, the excitement of it, the thrill of it."

Ty Cobb

 

"I could have played baseball another year, but I would have been playing for the money, and baseball deserves better than that."

George Brett

 

"Satchel  had a very, very good fastball, but he threw me a little breaking  ball, just to see what I could do, & I hit it off the top of the fence. I got a double. When I got to second, Satchel told the third baseman, 'Let me know when that little boy comes back up.'

Three innings later, I go to kneel down in the on-deck circle, and I hear the third  baseman say, 'There he is.' Satch looked at the third baseman, & then he looked at me.

I walk halfway to home plate & Satchel says, 'Little boy.' I  say, 'Yes, sir?' because Satch was much older than I am, so I was trying to show respect. He walked halfway to home plate and said,  'Little boy, I'm not going to trick you. I'm going to throw you three fastballs and you're going to go sit down'.

I'm saying in my mind, 'I  DOOON'T THINK SOOO.' If he threw me three of the same pitch, I'm going  to hit it somewhere. He threw me two fastballs & I just swung, I swung right through it & the third ball he threw, & I tell people this all the time, he threw the ball and as he let go he said, 'Go sit down.' This is while the ball was in the air. Yes, he struck me out with  three pitches. He was just magnificent."

17 year old Willie Mays facing Satchel Paige for the first time.

 

            Mack –

                        Career:          46.9-WAR, 124-82, 2.73

I was too young to remember Satch, but I did read about the day he came back in 1965, to pitch one inning for Kansas City, at the young age of 58. 3 batters faced. 3 strikeouts. So many great players were deprived of, not only stardom, but also salaries that would have put food and clothing on their families, due to racist, white owners, back in the day.

In my opinion, THIS was the greatest pitcher in the history of baseball, and the second and third might also have been deprived of a major league career.