3/30/21

Mets News and Breakfast Links 3/30/2021

 



Good Morning.  Happy Birthday Terry Bross.  Mets Tie Cardinals 3-3, Steve Cohen does a live Q&A, and the Mets and Francisco Lindor exchange contract offers.  

Section Links: Mets Links, MLB Links, and This Day in Mets History.

Mets Links: 

The biggest story is the Mets’ and Francisco Lindor’s contract talks. 










Mets 3 Cardinals 3 (Box Score). Today’s Lineup: Brandon Nimmo CF 1 for 3 with a run scored, 1 K  - .294 Spring Avg.; Francisco Lindor SS 1 for 2 run scored, .370 Spring Average; Dominic Smith LF 0 for 2 with a K - .214 this Spring; Pete Alonso 1B 1 for 2, 2 RBIs - .340; Jeff McNeil 2B 0 for 3 - .109; J.D. Davis 3B 0 for 1, with a walk - .216; Kevin Pillar RF 0 for 2 - .317; James McCann C 0 for 2 - .293 Spring Avg; Taijuan Walker RHP 5 innings, 3 hits, 1 HR, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, 2 Ks, - 3.27 ERA; Miguel Castro 1 inning, no hits, no runs, 1 K – 1.23 ERA this Spring; Robert Gsellman 1 inning, 1 hit, no runs, 1 K; Jerry Blevins 1 inning, no hits, no runs, 2 Ks; Trevor Hildenberger 1 inning, 1 hit, HR, 1 run, 2 Ks. 

Mets end Spring Training with an 11-11 record. 

Next Mets Game will be this Thursday, Opening Day against the Nationals in Washington DC, April 1st. 




Mets.com: Mets bulking up analytics department. “When Ben Zauzmer arrived in the Mets’ front office this winter, the Mets employed only one analyst with a focus on data science. They now have three on the payroll, with plans to hire four more before midsummer. Tack on developers and baseball systems employees, and that number jumps to 19 bodies in the analytics department, with another hire imminent and a few more in the near future.”

NY Post: Mets hire law firm to review ‘workplace culture’. “… with a focus on sexual harassment, misconduct and discrimination issues,” an industry source confirmed.”

Mike Puma NY Post: Mets bullpen filled with experience and even more concerns. Regarding Gsellman Luis Rojas said “’We like where his stuff is and there’s some things he needs to work on and he’ll put it in play…having Lucchesi and Peterson as part of our rotation, having a guy like Gsellman who can go multiple innings and reverse it from the lefty to righty I think is something that will make a little bit more sense right now.’”

Deesha Thosar NY Daily News: Mets bullpen will enter regular season with no room for mistakes.  “Despite the improvements Steve Cohen’s Mets made to their roster overall, the eight-man bullpen they’ll carry into the regular season emits more speculation than optimism. One NL executive said the Mets didn’t do enough this offseason to quell those concerns.”

Amazing Avenue: The Mets’ bullpen could be a major weakness in 2021. “Surprisingly, the Mets made only two notable free agent additions to the back of the bullpen: Trevor May and Aaron Loup…Seth Lugo’s injury has basically guaranteed a spot to both Jeurys Familia and Dellin Betances, at least for the start of the year. Neither has looked good in camp—Familia has his stuff, but no control, while Betances looks like toast—but both are making serious money, and the Mets find themselves without better options.” 




SportSpyder Mets Links: 

MLB and SportSpyder NL East and MLB Links:

Some of yesterday's Spring Training Highlights:





Here is yesterday's Spring Training Scoreboard.

USA Today: The $1 billion quintet: Breaking down MLB's epic free agent shortstop class. “Five shortstops, all first-round picks, every one of them an All-Star, three of them World Series champions, nestled between the prime ages of 26 and 28, each with just 162 games separating them from seemingly bottomless riches. From youngest to oldest, Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, Francisco Lindor, Javy Baez and Trevor Story represent an unprecedented class of pending free agent shortstops, a quintet that will combine for an otherworldly sum of salary commitments between now and the start of the 2022 season.”

Joel Sherman NY Post: MLB, union providing personnel incentive to get vaccinated. “In a joint memo distributed to teams on Monday, the league and union stated that fully vaccinated personnel and teams that reach 85 percent vaccination of its Tier 1 members (players and those who come into close contact with players such as coaches, managers, trainers, etc.) would have protocol restrictions loosened.”

MLB.com:

MLB Trade Rumors:

Yahoo Sports:

ESPN:

FOX Sports:

CBS Sports:

SportsSpyder:

Today in Mets History Per Ultimatemets.com: 

Born Today:

Transactions:

New York Mets traded Bill Denehy and Dean Chance to the Detroit Tigers for Jerry Robertson on March 30, 1971.

New York Mets released Jesus Alou on March 30, 1976.

New York Mets traded Benny Ayala to the St. Louis Cardinals for Doug Clarey on March 30, 1977.

New York Mets traded Ken Reed and Gene Autry to the Chicago White Sox for Randy Niemann on March 30, 1985.

New York Mets traded Terry Bross to the San Diego Padres for Craig Bullock on March 30, 1992.

New York Mets traded Steve Long to the Florida Marlins for Robert Person on March 30, 1994.

New York Mets traded Anthony Young and Ottis Smith to the Chicago Cubs for Jose Vizcaino on March 30, 1994.

New York Mets traded Endy Chavez to the Kansas City Royals for Mike Curry on March 30, 2001.

New York Mets claimed Wilson Valdez on waivers from the Chicago White Sox on March 30, 2005.

New York Mets signed free agent Ken Takahashi on March 30, 2009.

New York Mets claimed Manny Acosta on waivers from the Atlanta Braves on March 30, 2010.

New York Mets released Danny Herrera on March 30, 2013.

New York Mets traded Cory Mazzoni to the San Diego Padres for Alex Torres on March 30, 2015.

New York Mets traded Matt den Dekker to the Washington Nationals for Jerry Blevins on March 30, 2015.

National Pastime.com:

2001

Choosing to end his career as a member of a World Champion team, 36 year-old Dwight Gooden announces his retirement from baseball. 'Doc,' who compiles a 194-112 record in 16 seasons playing for the Mets, Yankees, Indians, Astros, and Devil Rays, will remain on the Bronx Bombers' payroll and will have a position within the organization.

2003

Major League baseball returns to Brooklyn for a day when the Mets appear at KeySpan Park, the Coney Island home of the short-season single-A Cyclones, for the team's final preseason workout. Although the practice session is rained out, fans enjoy meeting the players and collecting autographs, with the profits made from beverage and other sales being donated to charities in the NYC area serving children.

Baseball Reference:

2000 - At the Tokyo Dome, the New York Mets defeat the Chicago Cubs in 11 innings, 5 - 1, on Benny Agbayani's pinch-hit grand slam. Rey Ordóñez commits an error in the game, ending his major league record streak of 101 consecutive errorless games at shortstop. With a swipe of second base, Rickey Henderson joins Ted Williams as the only major league players to steal a base in four different decades.

2001 - The New York Mets' #3 prospect, Brian Cole, aged 22, is killed when the SUV he is driving home to Mississippi from spring training flips over. Cole, who stole 69 bases the previous year, was voted the organization's player of the year in 2000.

Centerfield Maz:

Click here for the full list of Mack's MLB Draft Scouting Reports.      

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6 comments:

Tom Brennan said...

Brian Cole's death 22 years ago changed the course of this franchise.

I would love Lindor to sign - but now is the last minute jockeying - I think he'd be foolish not to sign - wake me up when it is all over.

Half the raters have the Mets winning the Division - half have them winning the wild card. None of the rankers in your chart picked the Mats, Marlins, or Phillies for either. Sure looks like an epic Mets-Braves battle is upon us.

Be careful, Cookie - we don't want you to crumble again.

If Jeff McNeil hit an absurd .109 this spring, perhaps he will hit an absurd .901 this year.

March 30, 2021 at 6:27 AM
Remember1969 said...

Hate to be a naysayer Tom, but pretty sure McNeil's final 2021 average will be closer to .109 than .901 :-(

March 30, 2021 at 7:31 AM
John From Albany said...

Tom,

I think McNeil will hit but remember he slumped for a bit during the regular season as well.

Hitters going through slumps happens to each and every one of them. As Whitey would say "Defense and speed never slump".

Build the team around defense and speed. If only this formula was tried in the Mets system in the past few years (say by Edgardo Alfonzo in 2019 Brooklyn perhaps). I would bet they'd win a Championship. (Wait they did - he must still be managing for the Mets someplace, right? No? How is that possible?)

March 30, 2021 at 8:15 AM
Tom Brennan said...

1969, I will settle for .401 from McNeil.

March 30, 2021 at 8:20 AM
Tom Brennan said...

Kidding aside, John and Jeff, I still think McNeil is more apt to hit above his career .319 this year than below .319, regardless of his spring results.

March 30, 2021 at 8:21 AM
bill metsiac said...

Something in this Lindor story just doesn't ring true. In all the "reports" of the Mets' offer vs Lindor's "demand", nowhere is there any mention of the source.

I just can't picture Sandy "leaking" his offer at all, much less calling it "final".

Neither can I imagine Lindor or his agent making public his outrageous demand.

Color me very suspicious. 😣

March 30, 2021 at 9:18 AM

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