Brian
Schneider named as Mets quality control coach, the Dominican Republic wins
the Caribbean Series, Mookie
Betts trade is still in Limbo, and much more.
First,
from the Associated press: “Roger Kahn, the writer who wove memoir and
baseball and touched millions of readers through his romantic account of the
Brooklyn Dodgers in “The Boys of Summer,” has died. He was 92…The author of 20
books and hundreds of articles, Kahn was best known for the 1972 best-seller
that looked at his relationship with his father through their shared love of
the Dodgers, an object of nostalgia for the many fans who mourned the team’s
move to Los Angeles after the 1957 season.”
This site has
many great Roger Kahn quotes including this from the Boys of Summer: “You
may glory in a team triumphant, but you fall in love with a team in defeat.
Losing after great striving is the story of man, who was born to sorrow, whose
sweetest songs tell of saddest thought, and who, if he is a hero, does nothing
in life as becomingly as leaving it.”
Per
SI.com Roger talked about Warren Spahn
including his time with the Mets and Casey Stengel
which included this: “The two crossed paths again, in 1965, when Spahn's
pitching days were almost done and Stengel was managing the Mets into the
cellar. Spahn was pounded in a few starts, and Stengel complained, ‘The hitters
jump on him so quick, I can't get him outta there fast enough.’ Summing up not so
long ago, Spahn said, exercising his fine and occasionally malicious wit, ‘I
pitched for Casey Stengel both before and after he was a genius.’”
As
we had yesterday on Mack’s Mets: Brian Schneider has been hired as the Mets
quality control coach. Additionally, Schneider will oversee catching
instruction.
Per
Syracuse.com: “Syracuse Mets need new manager...again. The Brian Schneider
era as manager of the Syracuse Mets was short, but at least he leaves the job
undefeated. The New York Mets announced on Friday that Schneider has been
promoted to a job as quality control coach for that team. The move comes a
little more than a month after Schneider was named new Syracuse manager for
2020.”
Per
Michael Mayer in Mets Minors: “Mets Sign Outfielder Sebastian
Elizalde to Minor League Deal. Elizalde, 28, spent the 2019 season playing
in Mexico during the regular season and winter ball. The left-handed hitter
slashed .313/.389/.414 in 39 regular season games. He then hit .308/.397/.507
with six doubles, four triples, 10 home runs, and 21 stolen bases during the winter
leagues.”
Gus Livaditis of Mets
360.com asked: “How far are the Mets away from having Dodgers-like success?”
As always Gus does an amazing analysis including this: “Brodie Van Wagenen has
tried to emulate this (the Dodgers model) as best he can by stealing the Royals
AGM and two of Boston’s top analytics people, but he needs the resources to go
for more. Consider this: Jon Updike was a Mets Scouting Supervisor and the
reason the Mets have Matt
Allan and Pete Alonso
in their organization. However, this man left the Mets to start an analytics
business for the amateur player called Baseball Cloud.”
SNY.TV
had video of Brandon
Nimmo Saying: "’I'm feeling good," Nimmo
said. ‘I've been here all offseason and just been doing some work on the neck
and everything's been good. ... I've been down here, I'm ready to go, and I'm
100 percent healthy.’…” The left-handed hitting Nimmo struggled at the start of
2019, scuffling for all of April and May before his injury took him off the
field. But he returned to action on September 1st, and for the rest of the
season he slashed .261 BA/.430 OBP/.565 SLG, playing mainly in center field but
also getting time in the corner outfield spots as well.”
Per
SNY.TV: “Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported on Friday, the Mets
"aggressively" tried to trade for Lindor during the Winter Meetings
-- with that dialogue first reported by SNYs Andy Martino -- and that the price
would have likely been Amed
Rosario and two top prospects.”
The
NY Times had: “‘Sell the Team!’ Please, for the Sake of Mets and Knicks
Fans.” The article included this quote: “The
Wilpons call to mind that family down the street that talks of selling the old
house even as they insist any new owner must let their son retain the master
bedroom.”
The
Wall Street Journal reported ‘Dark Arts’ and ‘Codebreaker’: The Origins of the
Houston Astros Cheating Scheme. MLB
Commissioner Rob Manfred’s previously undisclosed letter to Astros GM Jeff
Luhnow details the team’s spreadsheet and algorithm to steal signs in one of
the biggest scandals in baseball history. During MLB’s probe, Luhnow maintained
that he had no knowledge of any of the Astros’ misconduct. However, Manfred
wrote in his letter that ‘there is more than sufficient evidence to support a
conclusion that you knew—and overwhelming evidence that you should have
known—that the Astros maintained a sign-stealing program that violated MLB’s
rules.’”
The
NY Post reported “A.J. Hinch opens up on sign-stealing scandal — to a point”:
“’I should have had a meeting and addressed it face forward and really ended
it,’ Hinch said. ‘Leadership to me is often about what you preach. Leadership’s
also about what you tolerate. I tolerated too much. … Right is right and wrong
is wrong, and we were wrong.’”
Per
AP News: “Major League Baseball intends to impose new limits on what live
video is available to teams, and Commissioner Rob Manfred hopes to complete his
investigation into alleged electronic sign stealing by the Boston Red Sox
before spring training camps open next week.”
Per
NBC Boston: Red Sox investigation expected to yield “light punishment”. “The
Red Sox are expected to receive ‘no more than a light punishment’ from Major
League Baseball once it concludes its investigation of the team's alleged 2018
sign-stealing plot, USA TODAY's Bob Nightengale reported Friday, citing two
officials involved in the investigation.”
Yahoo
Sports reported how MLB players union issues blistering statement about delayed
Mookie Betts trade: “Tony Clark, head of the players union, issued a
statement Friday afternoon that made it clear where he union stands on this. ‘The
proposed trades between the Dodgers, Red Sox, Twins, and Angels need to be
resolved without further delay. The events of this last week have unfairly put
several Players’ lives in a state of limbo. The unethical leaking of medical
information as well as the perversion of the salary arbitration process serve
as continued reminders that too often Players are treated as commodities by
those running the game.’”
CBS
Sports says: “Red Sox trade Mookie Betts: Dealing an MVP for salary relief
completes John Henry's dishonest offseason.”
Also
Per CBS Sports: “Mookie Betts trade: Dodgers rightfully taking aggressive
approach in hopes of winning World Series.”
Beyond
the Box Score notes: “Alex Verdugo was credibly implicated in a sexual
assault. Why doesn’t that seem to matter?”
SNY.TV
reported that Jessica Mendoza is leaving her advisor role with the Mets to
focus on an "expanded" role at ESPN. "We have enjoyed our
relationship with Jessica and appreciated all her contributions and insight
over the past year," Van Wagenen said in a statement. "We are excited
for her expanded role at ESPN and fully understand and support her need to
fully invest her time in all the new platforms. We have such respect and value
her baseball insight and know her impact on the game of baseball is just
beginning.”
Per
CBS Sports: “Jessica Mendoza resigns as Mets adviser after calling out
whistleblower Mike Fiers. Mendoza is also being removed from ESPN's Sunday
Night Baseball broadcast team.”
CBS
Sports has this idea about implementation of the DH: The big idea? The home
team of a given game gets to choose whether the DH is used. Besides espousing the benefits of this idea
the writer Dayn Perry points out “There's a counter-argument to be made that
this might lessen the value of DH-only players on the market.” I could also see small market teams never
using the DH players to save money.
Winter Ball:
Peter
O’Brien, per Twitter was
named MVP of the series. He was also
the MVP of the regular season in the Dominican Republic. The former Yankee and Marlin signed a minor
league contract with the Braves this winter.
Mack’s
Blast From the Past comes from February 8, 2012 – “Buscones”. “A buscon is far less than an agent and more
like a surrogate father. They start with kids as young as 13-years old and
pretty much take them completely under their wing. They feed them, put clothes
on their back, teach them what fundamentals they have learned along the way,
and expose them to the Dominican version of professional baseball. In return,
they receive up to 30% of the signing bonus these kids get if they sign someday
with a professional baseball team.”
Great post from Mack.
Born on
this date:
- Don Heffner (1911)
Died on this date:
- Mike Bishop (2005)
Arizona Diamondbacks signed Tyler Clippard of the New York
Mets as a free agent on February 8, 2016.
Want something else tracked here each day?
Please leave a comment below.
9 comments:
Porcello “dream come true” is another reason to be excited about the 2020 Mets.
As is a 100% healthy Nimmo.
Elizalde looks like he is immediately a, or the, top high minor league OF for the Mets. Good enough perhaps for some major league time in 2020. This years Arismendy Alcantara, who has moved on.
Thanks Tom. I saw Elizalde play in the Carribean Series and he looked good. He hit a three run homer in Sunday's game which was the decisive blow in the Mexican win that day.
Thank you for the kind words John.
Regarding the "Buscones" piece, not much has changed since I wrote that except the league now limits the amount of bonus money each team can spend each year.
I did find something strange internationally this week.
MLB is reporting that the Astros will sign this year's top prospect by signing him to a 4 mil bonus.
Why no ellimination or restriction of these signing this (and next) year like they did with domestic picks?
Gus, You are welcome. Thanks for all the great posts.
Thanks Mack - story I saw yesterday and forgot to mention. Makes no sense that they did not get international hit as well. Especially in light of the Wall Street Journal article yesterday which detailed how this was a top down scandal.
I may be wrong on this one, but I do believe I heard that there is a maximum amount of punishment that could have been leveled against the Astros, and they received it.
Thanks Bob - as always great input.
My pleasure John.
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