5/11/20

John From Albany – Mets Breakfast Links 5/11/2020


Good Morning, Happy Birthday Ryder RyanPete Alonso can sniff the season, and MLB and the Players to fight over money.

All the news that’s fit to Link, Mets Links, MLB Links, Minor League Links, Asian Baseball Links, and This Day in Mets History.    

Joel Sherman NY Post: MLB 2020 season threatened by utter compensation nonsense. “They can’t do it. Right? There is no way — regardless of both the historic and current bad blood — that MLB and the Players Association are going to shut down the game this year over player compensation. That would be so shoot-yourself-in-the-brain, assure-the-negative-first-line-in-your obituary stupid that not even these two hostile sides can navigate there.”

Mets Links:



Mike Puma NY Post: Steven Matz needs to stay focused as his Mets spotlight grows. “You take the first inning out and his numbers are a lot better, but he’s streaky,” the former team official said. “But he’s a tremendous athlete. Everybody talks about Noah Syndergaard being a hard worker, Steven Matz is right there with him, he works just as hard.”


SNY.TV: Mets' Pete Alonso says he 'can almost sniff the season'.

SNY.TV: Mets' Noah Syndergaard on 2021 season: 'I fully intend to be ready for next Opening Day'.

NY Post: Jake Marisnick gives defensive upgrade the Mets sorely need.

Rising Apple: Mets 2020 Draft: Why a five-round draft is bad news for New York. “…picking up some sleeper pick in the later rounds was a key part of New York’s plan for long term success, and unfortunately, now that those rounds have been eliminated this could have a long-lasting effect on the Mets. For example, key players for the Mets last season like Jeff McNeil (12th round), Seth Lugo (34th round), and Robert Gsellman (13th round) were all selected after this years draft cut off was set…”

Elite Sports NY: Mets should keep an eye on Odrisamer Despaigne this season. “While this is just his first season in Korea, Odrisamer Despaigne, 33, will likely attract a ton of attention from many MLB teams in 2020.”

Rising Apple: Can Marcus Stroman really snatch the Cy Young from Jacob deGrom?

Metsmerized Online: I’m Scared For MLB’s Future. “If they have the game’s best interest at heart, then why cut down a draft that we know produces some of the game’s best talent (Jacob deGrom, Jeff McNeil, and Mike Piazza to name a few) in the late rounds, down to only five?”






Remembering Mets History (1982): Rusty Staub's Walk Off Pinch Hit HR, May 9, 1982.


MLB LINKS:

CBS Sports: MLB coronavirus antibody study results: Less than 1 percent of participants test positive. MLB employees participated in the large study starting last month.

SNY.TV: Mets, Yankees employees among highest positive rates in MLB coronavirus test: report. Of the 5,603 employees tested, only 60 positive cases were found. “According to The Athletic, it was the Angels employees that had the highest rate in this test that is the largest of its kind to date. However, the Mets and Yankees followed, though Bhattacharya said the rates recorded were lower than counties in which they play.”

CBS Sports: MLB plan for 2020 season to include approximately 80 games and expanded playoffs, report says. The DH will be used in both leagues in order to spare pitchers from additional fatigue and wear and tear.


AP News: If games resume, athletes will ‘need to know when to peak’. “For players, the difference between merely working out and playing games will be a significant jump and experts say things shouldn’t be rushed.”


Yahoo Sports: Cardinals' Andrew Miller: MLB players want 'guaranteed safety' before returning.


Yahoo Sports: ESPN leaks Trevor Bauer's phone number in a 'massive screw up,' but Bauer turns it into something good.


CBS Sports: Agent rips MLB's deal to cut the draft to five rounds, calls it 'self-inflicted sabotage'. “Jeff Berry, co-head of CAA Baseball: ‘Particularly given the negligible economic impact to what's already a cheap acquisition cost, this approach is grossly shortsighted. To drastically reduce opportunity and talent and talent pools, it stunts growth and diversity at all levels and is really a self-inflicted sabotage of the long-term health and popularity of the game.’”






Minor League Links:

Daily Camera.com: Saunders: MLB’s five-round draft is another blow for minor-league baseball. Big-league owners want savings now in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Poughkeepsie Journal: Hudson Valley Renegades release comprehensive safety guidelines for upcoming season.  Cashless payments, Limited tickets sold for each game, Increased sanitation, Temperature checks for all employees and interns, to name a few. 

Baseball Mexico: Former Rockies All-Star Vinny Castilla was formally fired last week as manager of the Mexican Pacific League Naranjeros. Also, “Playing dates for the 2021 Caribbean Series in Mazatlan have been tentatively set Sunday, January 31 and Saturday, February 6 next winter.”

Asian Baseball:



LG Twins 10 NC Dinos 8 (Box Score). Aaron Altherr played CF and went 1 for 4.    


Also, no games in Taiwan today.  In the CBPL yesterday it was the Uni lions 10 Fubon Guardians 2 (Line Score).

Rakuten Monkeys 5 CTBC Brothers 4 (Line Score).







Mack’s Blast From The Past May 11, 2012: Baseball America Mock Draft v1.0.  Baseball America had the Mets picking GAVIN CECCHINI at #12.  Pretty good guess. 


Born May 10:
Transactions:

New York Mets signed free agent Tom Sturdivant on May 10, 1964.

New York Mets traded Larry Elliot to the Kansas City Athletics for Ed Charles on May 10, 1967.

New York Mets purchased Bob Johnson and John Miller from the Baltimore Orioles on May 10, 1967.

New York Mets traded Jason Felice to the Minnesota Twins for Bill Latham on May 10, 1987.

Minnesota Twins claimed Adam Wilk of the New York Mets on waivers on May 10, 2017.

Born today May 11:
Transactions:

New York Mets purchased Chuck Hiller from the San Francisco Giants on May 11, 1965.

New York Mets traded Charlie Williams to the San Francisco Giants for Willie Mays on May 11, 1972.

New York Mets traded Ricky Nelson to the Cleveland Indians for Don Schulze on May 11, 1987.

Pittsburgh Pirates claimed Mark Dewey of the New York Mets on waivers on May 11, 1993.

New York Mets traded Mike Remlinger to the Cincinnati Reds for Cobi Cradle on May 11, 1995. 


1972
The cash-strapped Giants, after promising the club would never trade him, send Willie Mays to New York, the city where he began his Hall of Fame career in 1951, for right-hander Charlie Williams and $50,000 cash. San Francisco owner Horace Stoneham, who could not guarantee his aging superstar an income after the outfielder retired, extracts a promise from the Mets that they will pay the 'Say Hey Kid' $50,000 a year for the ten years after the future Hall of Famer stops playing.
1996
On 'John Franco Day,' the New York veteran reliever is ejected from the game, along with eight other players, as the result of participating in a fifth-inning bench-clearing brawl at Shea Stadium. Prior to the game the Mets celebrated their closer's recent 300th career save, but his unavailability in the ninth leads to three hurlers combining to give up the tying runs in the team's eventual 7-6 walk-off victory over Chicago.

1998
Striking out 13 Diamondbacks, Cubs' Kerry Wood sets a major league record for strikeouts in consecutive games with 33 in two games. The previous record for strikeouts (32) in two starts was held by Luis Tiant (1968 - Indians), Nolan Ryan (1974 - Angels), Dwight Gooden (1984 - Mets), and Randy Johnson (1997 - Mariners).
1999
For the first time this century, two starting major league pitchers share the same name as the Rockies southpaw Bobby M. Jones bests right hander Bobby J. Jones and the Mets.

2008
At Shea Stadium, a 13-minute delay occurs in the beginning of the ninth of the Mets' 8-3 victory over the Reds, when David Ross bats out of order, making an out in Corey Patterson's place in the lineup. The very confused umpires eventually make the correct call, telling Ross to bat again, now with one out, without his teammate having an opportunity to come to the plate.
2012
The Mets play their 8,000th game in franchise history, dropping a 6-5 decision in Miami when closer Frank Francisco allows the tying and winning runs to score in the bottom of the ninth inning. During the thousand game span, the Amazins have compiled a 515-485 record, with third baseman David Wright being the team's top home run hitter and run producer with 143 round-trippers and 595 RBIs.


1972 - Tom Seaver wins his 100th game in a 2 - 1 New York Mets victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Mets also acquire veteran outfielder Willie Mays from the San Francisco Giants for pitcher Charlie Williams and $50,000.


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3 comments:

Mack Ade said...

Regarding Gavin Glenn Christopher Joseph Cecchini...

In my book, he easily goes down as the worst draft pick of the 21st century. It isn't just about what we wound up with, but who we lost with that draft pick.

The Mets were poised to pick pitcher Lucas Giolito until that last minute look at him in Queens (in the batting cage) right before the draft.

John From Albany said...

Mack - your revelation makes the pick even more interesting. You wonder if the Mets chose Gavin based on the Baseball America write up? Also, so many great SS in that draft - Mets took one of the few who didn't stick.

Tom Brennan said...

Mack, that Cecchini pick made zero sense. Let's say you draft a high skills guy (great speed, great power) and he flops. Happens. But Cecchini was a 2nd or 3rd round talent, with no high skills.

Boy, that Great John Franco article - he sure was great.

I liked Joel Sherman's idea on player compensation - because the players' careers in most cases are very finite, and for owners, this is hopefully just a one year meteor strike then back to normal for the decades to come. His pay proposal makes sense from a cash flow perspective.

Also, if owners have to borrow for a period of time, they can probably get extraordinarily low rates, and a dollar of interest saved is a dollar earned.