Happy Birthday to Mookie Wilson, Todd Pratt, and Danny Muno. Now, let’s hit the links:
Kevin Kernan of the NY Post reported “‘The Mets Way:’ Inside the overhaul that could change everything”. He included this quote from Brodie Van Wagenen: “The Mets Way. It’s having a philosophy. It’s having structure and purpose,’’ Brodie Van Wagenen told The Post on Saturday. “We’ve used the word purpose a lot in our meetings. We are not out here to go through the motions. We want to make sure that in our words and in our drills and in our practice we have purpose because that purpose will put us in a position to accomplish what we want to accomplish.’’
Sounds great but after watching Edgardo Alfonzo stress fundamentals, defense, and aggressive base running last year, and get fired, as I talked about here when I touted Fonzie for the Mets Managerial job or here when I said he should be a MLB coach, I am a little skeptical. We will see.
As we had on Mack’s Mets yesterday: Syracuse Mets Name Chad Kreuter Manager for 2020 Season. “Kreuter is in his fourth season in the New York Mets’ organization and his first as manager for the Syracuse Mets. Before coming to Syracuse, the 55-year-old managed the St. Lucie Mets for three seasons.”
MLB Trade Rumors had more on the Mets quest of Francisco Lindor the last month or so: “The Mets aggressively tried to acquire [Lindor] at the winter meetings,” Rosenthal writes, noting that it would “likely” have cost New York a three-player package consisting of Amed Rosario and two prospects. Both this proposal and Cleveland’s interest in Jeff McNeil were too much for the Mets, however, and beyond the cost in trade chips, Rosenthal has also heard from some corners that “finances played a significant role” in negotiations.”
Joel Sherman of the NY Post had “The 50 most interesting people in MLB: Mookie Betts, Jeff Wilpon and one big twist.” The big twist was that the Astros Cheating scandal, rather than an actual person, was ranked #1. Mets include - Luis Rojas was #12 (tied with Dusty Baker); Jeff Wilpon #13; Yoenis Cespedes #16; Jacob deGrom #19; Pete Alonso #25; Robinson Cano #30; and Edwin Diaz #43.
Newsday’s Tim Healey had: “Mets' new pitching coach Jeremy Hefner already has a big fan in Steven Matz. Hefner already has suggested that Matz tweak his hand position when he delivers certain pitches. On Saturday, they chatted about the paths his pitches take, which paths look similar, which pitches look similar coming out of his hand and therefore which pitches might play well off each other.”
Mike Vaccaro says “The Mets need baseball more than ever: Because only in playing baseball — and playing it well, better than it’s been played by the Mets since 2016 or so — can the turbulent past few weeks finally be put behind everyone. Look, backing the Mets has always meant inviting a little chaos into your life, alongside the team’s bookend specialties of heartburn and heartache. So in that sense this winter has been no different than so many others.”
Bill Madden in the NY Daily News said “Time for Tony Clark, MLB to do right by the former players excluded from pension benefits.” Bill goes on to explain: ”We’re talking about the Major League Baseball pension plan. More specifically, we’re talking about the fast diminishing number of aging former players whose careers ended prior to 1980 and who went 31 years without getting a single cent from the game. These players are still receiving a pittance of what they should be getting were it not for being frozen out of a revised pension deal brokered by the Players Association that year, which changed the vesting eligibility from four years of service time to 43 days. It remains a major financial windfall for thousands of players, but it was not retroactive.”
Scott Ferguson of Mets 360 had “Fred and Jeff Wilpon: A tale of failure - Guess what, the Mets are probably going to play well this year. In fact, the team should be very competitive. The team might win it all. But that won’t change the fact that the primary owners of this franchise will never allow for this team to have an extended time of success.”
Metsmerized online says: “Cespedes, Davis Could Play First Base in Spring Training”.
Mets Minors had: “Ranfy Adon Named Mets Fastest Prospect…With his speed, Adon has had a range factor in center comparable to Juan Lagares. On the basepaths, Adon has not only been able to steal a double digit bases in three out of his five minor league seasons, but he has been stealing bases more efficiently. In fact, he went from being successful in 67% of his attempts in 2018 to 79% in 2019.”
213 Miles from Shea continued to look at Baseball America’s 2019 Prospect projection versus the actual result with #17 Jordan Humphreys. “But at the end of the season a lot of good things happened. He (Jordon) dominated in 4 outings, 11.2 innings, in the Arizona Fall League with a 0.77 ERA and a 1.029 WHIP. He was also added to the 40-man roster.”
Also here is 213 Miles from Shea’s 2019 Prospect projection review of #18 Ross Adolph: “The Mets traded two interesting prospects for J.D. Davis last year: Ross Adolph and Luis Santana (#13 on this list). A week later they signed Jed Lowrie and it felt like the Mets gave up two players that could make the farm system interesting, for nothing. But Jed Lowrie essentially never played and J.D. Davis had a break out year. So it looks like things went well for the Mets on this trade.”
MLB.com ranked the top 30 closers in Baseball (one per team). #1. Brewers -- Josh Hader, LHP; #2. Padres -- Kirby Yates, RHP; #3. Astros -- Roberto Osuna, RHP; #4. A’s -- Liam Hendriks, RHP; #5. Yankees -- Aroldis Chapman, LHP; Edwin Diaz? They had him ranked #25 saying this: “No one could shoot up this list faster than Díaz if he can rediscover his 2018 form. But then again, no one fell down this list faster than he did last year. Reason for hope? His 39 percent strikeout rate still ranked fifth among qualified relievers.”
MLB Network had their 10 ten players for Relief Pitchers and 3rd Basemen right now: Seth Lugo made the relief pitcher list (#7) and Jeff McNeil (#5) made the 3rd Base list. Here is the full list of Relief Pitchers: 1) Kirby Yates, SD; 2) Aroldis Chapman, NYY; 3) Josh Hader, MIL; 4) Liam Hendriks, OAK; 5) Ryan Pressly, HOU; 6) Brandon Workman, BOS; 7) Seth Lugo, NYM; 8) Adam Ottavino, NYY; 9) Taylor Rogers, MIN; 10) Will Smith, ATL. Here is the full list of 3rd Basemen: 1) Alex Bregman, HOU; 2) Anthony Rendon, LAA; 3) Nolan Arenado, COL; 4) Matt Chapman, OAK; 5) Jeff McNeil, NYM; 6) Josh Donaldson, MIN; 7) Justin Turner, LAD; 8) Eugenio Suárez, CIN; 9) José Ramírez, CLE; 10) Manny Machado, SD.
Per Yahoo Sports: President Trump calls for Pete Rose to be inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The President tweeted this – “Pete Rose played Major League Baseball for 24 seasons, from 1963-1986, and had more hits, 4,256, than any other player (by a wide margin). He gambled, but only on his own team winning, and paid a decades long price. GET PETE ROSE INTO THE BASEBALL HALL OF FAME. It’s Time!”
Padres Acquire Relief Pitcher Emilio Pagan From Rays For CF Manuel Margot And C Prospect Logan Driscoll. Pagan “served as the Rays de facto closer last season, notching 20 saves in 66 games with a 2.31 ERA/3.30 FIP.”
White Sox Reach Agreement international free agent Norge Carlos Vera. Vera will collect a $1.5MM signing bonus. “The deal would leave the White Sox with just under $3.9MM to spend on international free agents, per Baseball America. Vera is a 19-year-old right-handed pitcher out of Cuba who threw for scouts in late September, hitting as high as 97 mph on the radar gun.”
Mack’s Blast From the Past comesfrom February 9, 2012 – Mack looked at Michael Bloomberg possibly buying the Mets, Carlos Beltran, and Ike Davis.
Born on this date:
- Mookie Wilson (1956)
- Doug Linton (1965)
- Todd Pratt (1967)
- Danny Muno (1989)
Transactions:
New York Mets signed free agent Clint Hurdle on February 9, 1987.
New York Mets signed free agent Clint Hurdle on February 9, 1987.
Anaheim Angels signed Jason Middlebrook of the New York Mets as a free agent on February 9, 2004.
New York Mets signed free agent Chan Ho Park on February 9, 2007.
New York Mets signed free agent Frank Catalanotto of the Milwaukee Brewers on February 9, 2010.
New York Mets claimed Jason Pridie on waivers from the Minnesota Twins on February 9, 2010.
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13 comments:
I wonder if there's any particular reason for Cespedes and Davis working out at first. I would think Alonso would be good for 150 games and Dom Smith would get the rest.
First base makes both more valuable in a trade and more versatile in a pinch. And if Smith still gets traded, even more sense.
Good point Anon. I can see the value to try and build some flexibility in case you want to make a late inning move but as they are both right handed as is Alonso it does not make a lot of sense. Of course, outside of left field, where else can Cespedes play?
I would rather have a third 1st base option like Patrick Mazieka or Ail Sanchez. Mazieka played 1st when not catching at AA last year ans Sanchez played 1st a bit in the Arizona Fall league.
Good point as well Tom. I guess we will get a better idea when the Spring games start and we see how things shake out.
Bloomberg buying the Mets?
That would be a short order.
Sorry the first comments came out as Anonymous. I tried doing it from my phone.
I'm not sure how first base increases their trade value. It seems outfielders would be more in demand. There are very few teams that need a first baseman, and it's a position that can usually be filled from within.
The fact that the Mets kept Smith, added Matt Adams and are working Cespedes and Davis at first makes me wonder if something is up with Alonso.
The other interesting thing I found is the Padres trading Manuel Margot. A couple of years ago, I thought the Padres had a nice core four of young, talented players in Corey Spangenberg, Franmil Reyes, Hunter Renfroe and Manuel Margot. They have now traded away all four.
Thanks Bob. That Margot trade puzzled me too. Especially because San Diego already had a good bullpen and Tampa Bay has a CF.
Rays may be preparing to trade an outfielder; like Spangenberg’s tools, but for some reason keeps getting released.
I wonder if Alfonzo did a “Jim Riggleman in Washington” to BVW, and had some kind of demand after winning the championship. It doesn’t add up.
It does not Gus. The best Mets related manager I have seen in 40 years. Better than Backman. Better than Luis Rojas. Most managers don't get my emotions going one way or another. Once in a while, I may question a move but that's it. Watching a Fonzie managed team was like a wake up call - seriously. Seeing players hit against the shift, take advantage of players in that crazy shift, watching them take extra base after extra base like every baseball fan I know has been begging their team to do was a godsend - and they fired him.
Technically, he wasn’t fired, just not renewed. Think he “demanded” consideration for the major league opening and BVW wasn’t thinking that? And, how did he ask?
Anyways, I have a dumb idea: If my buddy Yoenis wants to play on the right side of the field all of a sudden, how about moving back closer to the fence?
Gus, It will be interesting to see Yoenis on the field this spring.
Interesting article From Bloomberg this afternoon. Here is the link:
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/york-mets-sale-again-price-180741657.html
Great article Bob. I think this is a telling quote:"Unlike the Los Angeles Dodgers, whose new owners were immediately able to sell the team’s local broadcast rights upon buying the team in 2012, no such opportunity exists for whoever takes over the Mets, whose rights are locked up for another decade"
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