John From Albany – Mets Breakfast Links 4/23/2020

Good Morning.  Happy Birthday Warren Span, MLB hands down punishment for the Red Sox, Pete Alonso launches a charity website and we start to today with Mack’s Blast from the Past…

Mack’s Blast from the Past 4/23/2013:  Mack posted his updated prospect list and when you think about it, what a tremendous list it was: 1 - Zack Wheeler; 2 - Travis d’Arnaud; 3 - Brandon Nimmo; 4 - Wilmer Flores; 5 – Rafael Montero; 6 - Noah Syndergaard; 7 - Jack Leathersich; 8 - Luis Mateo; 9 - Matt den Dekker; 10 - Michael Fulmer; 11 - Domingo Tapia; 12 – Jacob deGrom; 13  - Gavin Cecchini; 14 –  Rainy Lara; 15 - Kevin Plawecki; 16 -  Cory Vaughn; 17 -   Cory Mazzoni.  A large number made it to the show, an All-Star, a Cy Young winner.  When you think of how other Mets prospect lists turned out, this was a pretty good one.  

Mets Links:

Mets.com: Alonso launches Homers for Heroes foundation. Wednesday Pete Alonso www.homers4heroes.org. “Its mission ‘to recognize the outstanding work of our heroes and inspire others to be a hero in others’ lives.’ Each month, Alonso and Walsh plan to sift through nominations to decide where to direct their resources.”

Mike’s Mets says “Let's All Buy the Mets”.  Mike makes a number of good points including “I'm not trying to be Cohen's cheerleader, the dude paid $1.8 billion to settle a criminal case, after all. It still makes sense to me, however, that a guy worth in excess of $10 billion might be a better bet going forward than a group financed by a considerable amount of debt.”

Metsmerized Online: MMO Top 5 Prospects: Catcher.  No. 5 Hayden Senger; No. 4 Endy Rodriguez; No. 3 Patrick Mazeika; No. 2 Ali Sanchez; No. 1 Francisco Alvarez.

You Tube Mets video: Tom Seaver Strikes Out 19.

SNY.TV: Tale of Mets legend Tom Seaver's 10 straight strikeouts, 50 years later: 'That was a piece of art' Art Shamsky, Ron Swoboda, Jerry Koosman, Ed Kranepool and Al Ferrara reflect on April 22, 1970.

SNY.TV: Beyond the Booth: Ron Darling shares his two favorite Tom Seaver stories. 

Centerfield Maz: The Winningest Left Handed Pitcher of All Time- One Time New York Met: Warren Spahn (1965), born April 23, 1921 in Buffalo NY. 

Tim Boyle Rising Apple: Matt Franco’s final year in New York back in 2000. “Franco’s final year with the Mets went the way many of the previous ones did with a sign of decline. Unlike 1997 and 1998 which saw him hitting in the .270s, this year was a repeat of the 1999 campaign with an average in the .230s.”

Empire Sports Media: Yankees, Mets Stand to Lose Hundreds of Millions if Games Are Played Without Fans.

Elizabeth Muratore Rising Apple: Mets History: Jack Fisher’s connection to famous home runs.

Metsmerized Online: The Anchor of the 1986 Mets, Jesse Orosco.

Reflections On Baseball: A-Rod/J-Lo team shopping in Mets bargain basement a work in progress.

Elite Sports NY: Miami businessman rejects Alex Rodriguez’s offer to buy New York Mets together (Report)

NY Post: Mets’ Pete Alonso on Brady-Gronkowski reunion: ‘Fire the cannons, baby’. 

MLB LINKS:

AP News: Red Sox stripped of pick, Cora banned in sign stealing scams.

NY Daily News: Red Sox get slap on the wrist for video cheating as MLB scapegoats replay operator.

Yahoo Sports: Scapegoating staffer for Red Sox sign-stealing creates impossible choices in MLB's replay rooms.

NBC Sports Boston: MLB conveniently pinned Red Sox sign-stealing on a nobody, which is shameful.

Joel Sherman NY Post: Red Sox sign-stealing punishment is nothing compared to Astros. “MLB’s investigation into the Red Sox’s sign-stealing during their 2018 championship season lasted more than three months, covered 65 witnesses and hundreds of thousands of emails, texts and videos to determine that …The video-replay system operator did it. The only way it could have been more anticlimactic is if commissioner Rob Manfred had ruled it was Mr. Plum, with a candlestick, in the parlor.”

Ken Davidoff NY Post: The winners and losers in Red Sox cheating scandal report.  One of the losers: “Rob Manfred… However, how come Dombrowski and/or Cora bear no responsibility for players’ ignorance on the rules about using video during games to steal signs? And why didn’t the owners get fined for what essentially constituted a repeat offense, less than a year after the 2017 Apple Watch scandal?”

Mike Axisa CBS Sports: Boston gets off easy for sign-stealing as MLB's credibility takes another hard hit. “I'll give Manfred this: he announced the Red Sox's discipline at exactly the right time. It'll be quickly pushed out of the news cycle by Thursday's NFL Draft and the MLB season is still weeks away…If MLB wanted to bury the news -- and the league did, undoubtedly -- there was no better time to do it than right now.”

12up.com: Previous Rob Manfred Comments Prove He Totally Chickened Out of Punishing Red Sox for Reasons Unknown. “So go ahead, Astros and Sox fans. You can exist in your little bubbles of what you believe to be true. Consider yourselves lucky that the acting commissioner will go down as one of the most negligible in MLB history.”

Yahoo Sports has some of the best fan reactions from twitter.

SNY.TV: There is optimism among teams, agents that MLB is on track to play in 2020.

12Up.com: Scott Boras Thinks He Has a Plan to Bring Back Baseball Quickly But He Really Doesn't At All. 

MLB Trade Rumors:

Alex Cora Issues Statement On Suspension; Red Sox Unlikely To Rehire Him.

Red Sox To Remove “Interim” Tag From Ron Roenicke’s Title.

Offseason In Review: Chicago White Sox.

The Sale Of An Elite Outfield.

Pirates Provide Updates On Injured Pitchers.

What In The Sam Hill(iard) Do The Rockies Have In The Outfield?

  

Asian Baseball:

NJ.com: Ex-Yankees slugger Tyler Austin went to Japan to prove himself. Then the coronavirus struck.

Yonhap News: Manager for defending champion in S. Korean baseball not pleased with compressed season.

Daniel Kim Via Twitter: According to Yonhap News, ESPN wanted to acquire KBO broadcasting rights for FREE. Unnamed KBO official told Yonhap “we do believe reaching U.S. audience is a positive oppty, but Korean baseball should not viewed as free content” Hmm.. sounds like the deal is dead.

CPBL Stats: Goodbye Grandma Flower: Brothers Pay Tribute to Ultimate Fan.

Yesterday in The CPBL –

Rakuten Monkeys 3 Chinatrust Brothers 2 (Line Score)

Uni Lions 9 Fubon Guardians 5 (Line Score) Video replay of long home run that cleared outfield bleachers.

You can see today’s Monkeys Vs. Brothers game as well as replays of yesterday’s games here.

CPBL is providing free VOD of FubonGuardians first game until 4/25. 

Yesterday at Mack’s Mets:

Reese Kaplan -- Sell the Damned Team, Wilpons!

Tom Brennan: Re-Run of My Prospect Series. Today? 16-20.

Today in Mets History Per Ultimatemets.com:

Born on this date:

• Warren Spahn (1921)
• Duke Carmel (1937)
• Jason Tyner (1977)
• Henry Owens (1979)
• Sean Henn (1981)
• Kevin Hernandez (2001)

Died on this date:

• Deron Johnson (1992)

Transactions:

New York Mets traded Chico Fernandez and Bobby Catton to the Chicago White Sox for Charley Smith on April 23, 1964.

New York Mets claimed Jeff Kaiser on waivers from the Cincinnati Reds on April 23, 1993.

New York Mets signed free agent Gerald Williams on April 23, 2004.

National Pastime.com:

1962	In the team's tenth attempt, the Mets win their first game in franchise history, defeating the Pirates at Forbes Field, 9-1. Jay Hook's five-hit complete-game victory snaps Pittsburgh's record-tying winning streak of 10 games from the start of the season without a loss.
2006	Keith Hernandez is reprimanded by Sportsnet New York, the Mets' television network, for comments made last night about the female in full uniform sitting in the Padres dugout. Spotting Kelly Calabrese, the Padres' full-time massage therapist, the Mets broadcaster remarked women "don't belong in the dugout" and apologized for his insensitive comments during the telecast.

Baseball Reference:

2010: The Mets beat the Braves, 5 - 2, as Ike Davis hits his first major league home run. There is an unusual play in the 7th inning: with the Mets leading 3 - 2 with two runners on base, Jose Reyes hits a high pop-up and the umpires invoke the infield fly rule. But 3B Chipper Jones crosses in front of SS Omar Infante in the windy conditions, and the ball glances off his glove and falls to the ground. C Brian McCann picks up the ball, and not realizing that Reyes is out automatically, goes after him. He relays the ball to 1B Eric Hinske, who tags both Reyes and the bag to no avail. While the Braves are busy flogging a dead horse, Angel Pagan races around the diamond for the Mets' fourth run. Nippon Pro Baseball veteran Hisanori Takahashi replaces starter John Maine, who has to leave in the 4th inning with pain in his left elbow; he strikes out seven in three innings to pick up his first major league win.

2015: The Mets tie a team record with their 11th straight win, 6 - 3 over the Braves. Daniel Murphy drives in 4 runs as Bartolo Colon is the winner over Julio Teheran.

2019 - Zack Wheeler has a career night for the Mets against the Phillies, as he gives up no runs on 5 hits in 7 innings while striking out 11, and also contributes at the plate with a double and his first career homer. New York wins handily, 9 - 0.

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