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Amazin69 · 03-11-2024, 12:49 AM

So I actually sat through 7+ innings of Manfred-ball Thursday night, just to hear Keith and Gelbs chat for a bit. It's not worth following (since it's not baseball), but it was nice to get little details about various players.

The crew said that Bader was definitely being platooned, even though he played the whole game against various righties. Okayyyy.

Ottavino made his spring debut. Gelbs told us that part of the problem last year was that he has a slow delivery to home plate and had been relying on holding runners close by throwing over, but they took that away last season, and so it was 22 SB, 1 CS against him. They said he's been working on speeding up his delivery and indeed, both baserunners he allowed were caught stealing. Albeit that the first was Carter Kieboom, whom Gelbs said the Gnats were pretty much done with (wasn't his brother Spencer [the catcher] supposed to be the real talent, anyhow?) as they want to play Brady Somebody, and Kieboom had the base stolen but slid off the bag going in head-first.

Joey Wendle also made his debut. He was subbing for McNeil (who is out with a hand thing) and Joey is still recovering from a shoulder thing, and so can't throw hard enough to play on the left side of the infield. Why Joey should make the team instead of NRI Jose Iglesias (who may end up going 0-for-the-season, but is still Jose Iglesias in the field) was not explained, but Joey has one HUGE advantage as far as Keith Hernandez is concerned…Joey is one of the few players who does not wear batting gloves, and you will recall that Keith hates them, as well. So that's one vote for Joey, I suppose.

And Shintaro Fujinami made HIS debut. Gelbs noted that he had the 9th-highest total of pitches over 100mph last season, and that most of that lovely 7.18 ERA came from his seven starts for Oakland, which would fluff up your ERA, no doubt. (His ERA as an Oriole was in the low 4.00s.) Fujinami zipped through his inning, only touching 100mph once. So perhaps he's been convinced that "close your eyes and throw REAL hard" isn't optimal pitching strategy, after all.

And so, as the Mets picked up the 3-1 win (Alvarez homer after Baty saw Kieboom was overshifted and bunted for a hit; Jose Iglesias came on for Wendle, hit a double despite wearing batting gloves, zoomed for 3B, was dead to rights but Kieboom dropped the throw, and came home on an out), Steve Gelbs painted a rosy picture for the season ahead.

It seemed to boil down to "hope everybody's excuses were legitimate and that everybody stays healthy and maybe we'll be okay."

67-95

(The stolen base % for all of MLB combined last season was 80%! FFS!)

03-11-2024, 12:49 AM	#2354
Amazin69 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 3,460 Infractions: 0/2 (2)	So I actually sat through 7+ innings of Manfred-ball Thursday night, just to hear Keith and Gelbs chat for a bit. It's not worth following (since it's not baseball), but it was nice to get little details about various players. The crew said that Bader was definitely being platooned, even though he played the whole game against various righties. Okayyyy. Ottavino made his spring debut. Gelbs told us that part of the problem last year was that he has a slow delivery to home plate and had been relying on holding runners close by throwing over, but they took that away last season, and so it was 22 SB, 1 CS against him. They said he's been working on speeding up his delivery and indeed, both baserunners he allowed were caught stealing. Albeit that the first was Carter Kieboom, whom Gelbs said the Gnats were pretty much done with (wasn't his brother Spencer [the catcher] supposed to be the real talent, anyhow?) as they want to play Brady Somebody, and Kieboom had the base stolen but slid off the bag going in head-first. Joey Wendle also made his debut. He was subbing for McNeil (who is out with a hand thing) and Joey is still recovering from a shoulder thing, and so can't throw hard enough to play on the left side of the infield. Why Joey should make the team instead of NRI Jose Iglesias (who may end up going 0-for-the-season, but is still Jose Iglesias in the field) was not explained, but Joey has one HUGE advantage as far as Keith Hernandez is concerned…Joey is one of the few players who does not wear batting gloves, and you will recall that Keith hates them, as well. So that's one vote for Joey, I suppose. And Shintaro Fujinami made HIS debut. Gelbs noted that he had the 9th-highest total of pitches over 100mph last season, and that most of that lovely 7.18 ERA came from his seven starts for Oakland, which would fluff up your ERA, no doubt. (His ERA as an Oriole was in the low 4.00s.) Fujinami zipped through his inning, only touching 100mph once. So perhaps he's been convinced that "close your eyes and throw REAL hard" isn't optimal pitching strategy, after all. And so, as the Mets picked up the 3-1 win (Alvarez homer after Baty saw Kieboom was overshifted and bunted for a hit; Jose Iglesias came on for Wendle, hit a double despite wearing batting gloves, zoomed for 3B, was dead to rights but Kieboom dropped the throw, and came home on an out), Steve Gelbs painted a rosy picture for the season ahead. It seemed to boil down to "hope everybody's excuses were legitimate and that everybody stays healthy and maybe we'll be okay." 67-95 (The stolen base % for all of MLB combined last season was 80%! FFS!) Last edited by Amazin69; 03-11-2024 at 08:52 PM.