That's how I know you're not familiar with my Raccoons, where the core routinely fails, I hold on to players for sentimental reasons, and sentimentality gets in the way of winning. :p

This core won 101 games two seasons ago, and while that was part of a historically-large choke, the result is still there. Deal the dross, not the gems, and rebuild around the young and talented.

We're stuck with Frankie because of the contract, and Senga has to stay because the cupboard is bare behind him. Alvarez, Mauricio, Kingman, Squirrel and Mr. Pointy stay; all the rest can get flushed. I mean, wtf is DJ Stewart doing getting a new contract? And we hardly need useless washouts like Wendle and Narvaez blocking the kids. Or Marte's rotting corpse.

But it's not time to panic yet. If in two seasons we can't get Kingman to stop my calling him that, and McNeil is declining, then yes, move on. (Bonus, by then Frankie might be amenable to being moved.) Let's not punt the decade until we need to.

...and what did it get the Mets? A meltdown against the Padres in the wildcard round.

Regular season wins are all well and good, but it's the playoffs that matter. We have to agree to disagree here. I refuse to budge from my stance.

If a team were to come along either before the season or close to the deadline while we're trying to avoid the NL East cellar and they said hey, we'll give you two of our top prospects (one of them ideally being near-MLB ready) in a deal for Pete Alonso, would you not at the very least think about that very carefully? It doesn't have to be just two prospects, those two top prospects would have to head up a significant package, but I think Alonso is the kind of player that can return exactly that.

Finished fourth in the division and still have to pay a $101M luxury tax bill: https://apnews.com/article/mlb-luxur...dcad58801e9f00

The failure in the playoffs, and the choke that preceded it, are largely on Schmuck Bowalter, a proven loser in the post-season. (Career post-season record of 10-16, losing 5 of 6 series. [The only time he won a series, in the 2014 ALDS, he got swept the next round.]) Schmuck is out of here.

You were claiming the core lacked sufficient talent, not that they didn't get the best results, given the talent. The talent is there. (Well, not in the rotation right now, or the corner outfield spots, but the core is still a winning core.)

Just because Schmuck was a different kind of failure than Luis "Arm Care" Rojas-bot, that doesn't mean he wasn't a failure. Yes, he had two good months…but so did Mickey Callaway.

Let's have a look at the Mendoza line before we panic. JMO.

Apparently we slept on this, but a couple of days ago, Stearns picked up a couple bodies from his old digs, grabbing RHP Adrien Houser and OF Tyrone Taylor for RHP Coleman Crow.

Crow is the minor leaguer the Mets got from the Angels in the Escobar deal. He missed last season with Tommy John, but the Brewers think he might pitch in AA this year.

Houser and Taylor were available cheaply because they're arb-eligible after the season and Milwaukee is being thrifty. Houser is good for 20+ starts a season, and had a 1.39 WHiP last season. Solid #3 candidate.

(Rotation: Senga, Quintana, Houser, Severe No, Lucchesi?)

Taylor has a smattering of power (career Isolated Power is about .160), but his career OBA is .294. Yikes. The guys on MLB.com were acting as if he would be a useful platoon piece, but…

career OPS v. righties, .742
career OPS v. lefties, .752

Not exactly a dramatic split, there. Still, anything that takes ABs away from DJ Stewart is A-OK w. me.

Every time you post about this, it makes me feel less nauseous about the Raccoons' rotation of Tipsy Bobby, Stew-art, Careeno, DeRotten, and the looming threat of Oh No Bro to enter the #5 hole. Hey, even an infinite budget can't buy pitching, apparently! :laugh:

:o

Are the Mets *really* much better than THIS...? ..:

More "exciting" news. Last week the Mets purchased 28 y/o RHP Yohan Ramirez from the ChiSox.

Ramirez career stats: 128 K/124 IP, 3.99 ERA, 1.35 WHIP. Nothing to hire a skywriter about, but possibly useful.

From the off-season thread, a recap of the two top payrolls last season:
Always good to recall that Uncle Stevie's "Dream" Team outspent their fellow Gotham Goobers by $78,000,000! I mean, come ON.

Mets picked up Harrison Bader, one year, ten million.

I LIKE Bader. If he could just make better contact, he would be a great pickup.

Bader here, Bader there, no rotation anywhere..... :(

Bader has never really made it to significant with the bat, but he does have a nice platoon split, hitting about .815 against lefties. So if they can join him with a decent lefty bat (Taylor's .752 against RHP is hardly All-Star, but it's better than Bader), he can help fill a hole.

The Mets also nabbed SS Diego Castillo on waivers. Castillo, 26, had a rancid half-season for the Pirates in 2022, but posted a lovely .310/.431/.410 for Reno last season, with the caveat that it's the PCL and it's RENO. (He was 0-for-3 as a Snake.) Still, he can provide competition at reserve IF.

Current 40-man Roster:

SP: Kodai Senga
SP: Jose Quintana
SP: Adrien Houser
SP Luis Severe No
SP: Joey "46 awesome IP" Lucchesi

SP, other: Jose Bútto, Tylor Megill, David Peterson (INJ)

CL: Edwin "Where's the Spider-Tac, Jer?" Diaz
RP: Brooks Raley, Scourge of the Homosexuals
RP: Drew Smith, the Legacy of Lucas Duda
RP: Jorge Lopez, dreaming Happy Dreams of '22
RP: Yohan Ramirez

RP, other: Austin "HPB" Adams, Phil Bickford, Reed Garrett, Grant Hartwig, Sean Reid-Foley, Michael "Ka-Boom!" Tonkin, Josh Walker

C: Alvarez
reserve C: Tyler Heiney-man, who would make a fine battery with Butt-o
about as good as what comes out of Heiney-man's Butt-o: Narvaez

1B: Kingman
2B: Squirrel
SS: Francisco "30/30/34 million" Lindor
3B: Mauricio, I guess
reserve 3B: Baty
reserve reserve 3B: Vientos
reserve reserve reserve 3B: Wendle, with reservations

reserve DP guys, Zack Shortstop, Castillo

down on the farm: Acuna

CF: Mr. Pointy
useful spares: Bader, Taylor
useless spare: the broken corpse of Starling Marte
spare us, please: the immortal D.J. Stewart, Cooper Hummel

Back to Brooklyn, kid: Alex Ramirez.

Better than before, I guess. 79-83?

The heat death of the universe will occur before THAT roster finishes 79-83...

It's January and I still compare the back end of the Mets rotation to the back end of the Raccoons rotation and think, eh, the fuzzy Critters (45-54) aren't so bad!

And the Mets already had their once-a-decade nine starts of semi-brilliance from their often-waived, more-often-injured 30-year-old left-hander with lots of AAA experience when Lucchesi went 4-0 with a 2.89 ERA. The Coons? Cameron Argenziano, 30-year-old lefty, 5-1 with a 2.32 ERA in nine starts right now. I have no illusions that it will last (didn't last the last five call-ups either). In fact, I am dangling him for the most menial prospect right now. The Mets? THAT GUY'S GOTTA BE IN THE ROTATION!

How can people that get paid millions for looking at pitchers and analyzing pitchers and seeing those numbers (or lack of) from Lucchesi the last four seasons expect anything from him? How? Why? I don't pretend to have any advanced wisdom in baseball analytics, but come on...!!

Brrr. Will be a lousy season for the Metsies.

Mets sign Kingman to 1-year, $20.5m extension, avoiding arbitration. However, as David "Bear" Stearns couldn't say anything about a long-term deal beyond (essentially) "Pete's great. We'd love to keep him. I don't comment on negotiations.", this probably increases the chance that he's walking at season's end, which I really can't believe Uncle Stevie is about to allow. Sigh.

The Mets have also signed LHP Sean Manaea to a two-year deal, at $14 mn per. Manaea (32 in April) struggled a bit for the San Francisco Blind Squirrels last season, being used mostly in relief, but did post a 2.25 ERA in 4 September starts. He was passable with the Pads in 2022, and actually good pitching alongside Chris Bassitt on the Last Real Oakland A's team, back in 2021.

The Mets also claimed 26 y/o Max Kranick on waivers from Pittsburgh. Kranick, 26, had the Kran kicked out of him in a 2021 cameo and then suffered an injury in 2022, but he did recover enough to have 7 effective openings as an opener with AAA Indianapolis last year. Of course, he has never had the depth to be a ML starter and the Bucs never tried him in relief, but why nitpick?

Cooper Hummel was DFA'd to make room.

Mets sign 17 international free agents, including Vladi Guerrero…but don't get too excited, since this is Vlad Jr.'s baby brother, Vladi Miguel.

(I wonder if the Other Vladi and the Other Acuna will be teammates somewhere in the chain?)

And the Cooper Hummel saga rolls to a conclusion, as Coop cleared waivers…and then was sold to the Blind Squirrels for cab fare and some used sweat socks.

I thought that picking up Kranick put the Mets over the limit, and I was correct. Farewell, Diego Castillo, we hardly knew ye.

At least Castillo won't need to change his travel plans overmuch, since he's been claimed by the Steinbrenners. Enjoy the Bronx (if you even get there), kid.

Silly, silly A69! AO-K (10.0 k/9 ratio) was just taking a few months to spread his wings, apparently!

MLBN is now reporting that, pending a physical, Ottavino will return to Big Shea for 1 year/$4.5mn. Hope they kept his #0 warm for him!

NEVER underestimate the power of Uncle Stevie's Magick Cheque-Book!

*************
In actual good news, apparently The Immortal Demetrius Jerome Stewart lashed RHP for an OPS of .950 last season!

Therefore, he will make a fine platoon partner for Harrison Bader and his .815 OPS against lefties.

Of course, the odds of Carlos Mendoza being skilled enough to get the players to set aside egos and agree to this alignment (rather that making us watch Bader hit .690 against righties and DJ squib out at a .595 pace against portsiders) are about as long as the odds of Westheim welcoming Ottavino back home, but still.

(2.62 ERA! 1.09 WHIP! Get excited, Westie! The stats wouldn't lie, right? Right?)

Snottavino!!??

I think the Rays need fans.

Taking Snottavino back makes as much sense as this breathtaking offer Amazon just made me. I can barely contain myself at the opportunity to order a Mets shirt together with this 12-piece set of ... wrenches? Chrome-Vanadium steel, too, wow!

State of the Mets, currently:

SP: Kodai Senga
SP: Jose Quintana
SP: Adrien Houser
SP: Sean Manaea
SP: Luis Severe-No

SP (other): Joey "46 awesome IP" Lucchesi, Jose Bútto, Tylor Megill, David Peterson (INJ)

CL: Edwin "I know it was YOU, Frankie!" Diaz
Set-up: Adam Ottavino, Back by Popular Demand!
RP: Brooks Raley, Scourge of the Homosexuals
RP: Drew Smith, the Legacy of Lucas Duda
RP: Jorge Lopez, dreaming dreams of '22

RP (others): Austin "HPB" Adams, Phil Bickford, Reed Garrett, Grant Hartwig, Max Kranick (really?), Yohan Ramirez, Sean Reid-Foley, Michael "Ka-Boom!" Tonkin, Josh Walker

C: Alvarez
reserve C: Tyler Heiney-man, who would make a fine battery with Butt-o
about as good as what comes out of Heiney-man's Butt-o: Narvaez

1B: Kingman
2B: Squirrel
SS: Francisco "30/30/34 million" Lindor
3B: Mauricio, I guess
reserve 3B: Baty
reserve reserve 3B: Vientos
reserve reserve reserve 3B: Wendle, with reservations

reserve DP guy: Zack Shortstop

down on the farm: Acuna

LF: Bader/Stewart platoon. (Note: this will probably never happen)
CF: Mr. Pointy
RF: The Broken Corpse of Starling Marte (in theory)/Tyrone Taylor (in practice)

Back to Brooklyn, kid: Alex Ramirez.

I'll let Westheim predict the record, this time. Over to you, furball!

($40 for a very generic tee? Yeesh. Everything at the7line.com is $30, pretty much. And they are rather more creative.)