Mets

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

It would be nice if Senga bucked that trend. That said, I'm less sanguine about it than if (previous) Mets regimes had had success with such cases.

Apparently, his "ghost forkball" is real!

The Japanese free-agent is said to have one of the most deceptive split-finger fastballs, or forkballs, in the game.

Kodai Senga is unlike any other MLB free-agent pitcher

EDIT: This is an interesting point:

[I]t is difficult to project Japanese pitchers for a variety of reasons, such as the increased workload of pitching every fifth day instead of once a week, as they do in Japan. Also, the size of the baseball itself is a bit smaller in Japan.

EDIT 2: And regarding him specifically:

The chief concern for Senga will be his durability. He was sidelined for most of 2014 with a shoulder injury and has had elbow soreness periodically since. Partly because of that, he has thrown more than 150 innings in a season only twice in 11 seasons. His 144 innings pitched in 2022 were the most he had thrown since 2017.

[Amazin69]

Soooo…$15 million a year for a 30-year old who can't pitch enough innings to qualify for the ERA title? Solid!

On the plus side, news coverage reminds us that Eppler not only signed Ohtani, but scouted Masahiro Tanaka, so perhaps he's not completely guessing about Japanese talent.

And I see I forgot Masato Yoshii in the list of Mets imported arms. Oops.

[BBGiovanni]

Originally Posted by Westheim

That oughta buy 89 wins and a wild card, don'tyathink?

Well from whichever article on the Athletic I read, this is perfectly in line with the Phillies' strategy, finish third and punch your ticket for the WS!

[Westheim]

But if the Fish win the division on a budget of $35,000 and a truckload of rotting fish sandwiches, I must hang myself.

[Déjà Bru]

You know who is a big fan of the team owner spending historically large amounts of money on baseball players? The guy who has built a highly successful career convincing team owners to spend large amounts of money on baseball players.

Two years into Steve Cohen’s tenure as Mets owner, he has developed a strong working relationship with agent Scott Boras that Boras seems to enjoy very much. “Our game needs Goliaths. We have to have Goliaths,” Boras said Thursday at Citi Field, where he attended the news conference for Brandon Nimmo’s eight-year, $162 million contract. “You can envision Steve Cohen hanging onto the Empire State Building. It’s maybe not Steve Cohen. It’s maybe Steve Kong.”

Boras called back to his old supermarket analogy, which he used to razz the former owners, the Wilpons, by saying they shopped in the “fruit and nuts aisle.” But these Mets? “They’re pretty much always after the premiums of the store,” Boras said. “No doubt.”

Or as Nimmo described the change between the old Mets and new Mets: “It’s been eye-opening, it’s been crazy and a little bit surreal to go through.”

[Déjà Bru]

The headline was "Pressure? Buck happy with payroll." Here he is, on Santa's knee.

[Amazin69]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Scott Boras must not have tried buying fruit lately. That damn bag of cherries I'm waiting on is going to cost me over $7.

And I HOPE that pic is PhotoShopped!

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Not calling our owner Uncle Kong yet.

Get me a ring first.

Originally Posted by Amazin69

Scott Boras must not have tried buying fruit lately. That damn bag of cherries I'm waiting on is going to cost me over $7.

And I HOPE that pic is PhotoShopped!

Could be worse. Could be Buck sitting on Nimmo's brittle legs.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Could be worse. Could be Buck sitting on Nimmo's brittle legs.

A little more from that story:

Left unsaid was the rather large bull’s-eye Showalter is sporting on his back heading into the 2023 season, along with everyone else associated with the Mets, a team spending at a rate never before seen in Major League Baseball. When you have the top payroll in the sport, people take notice. When it’s nearly $60 million more than the second-place club, in this case the Yankees, that buys you more than just attention. It makes the Mets a target as well. Playing in New York always comes with heightened expectations, but we’ve never seen a team saddled with a $430 million price tag before (including the luxury-tax bill). Or a manager.

To his credit, Showalter would not be lured into expressing anything of the sort, maintaining cheer and optimism.

“We won’t be boring, that’s for sure,” Showalter said, smiling.

'Tis the season, you know! Showalter took off his Santa hat for that photo opportunity.

[Westheim]

If Correa's 12-yr, $315M deal gets through a physical this time - and why wouldn't it? The Mets love to sign blind batters, statue infielders, and armless pitchers - the 2030 Mets will be hard to watch, when all those ginormous contracts will be for 38-year-olds that can't move anymore. They'll have a payroll of $1B and lose 115 games

[Cod]

Originally Posted by Westheim

If Correa's 12-yr, $315M deal gets through a physical this time - and why wouldn't it? The Mets love to sign blind batters, statue infielders, and armless pitchers - the 2030 Mets will be hard to watch, when all those ginormous contracts will be for 38-year-olds that can't move anymore. They'll have a payroll of $1B and lose 115 games :tt1:

It didn't make it. The Mets medical staff has brought up multiple concerns to the front office and ownership about the same ankle.

[Amazin69]

Originally Posted by Westheim

If Correa's 12-yr, $315M deal gets through a physical this time - and why wouldn't it? The Mets love to sign blind batters, statue infielders, and armless pitchers - the 2030 Mets will be hard to watch, when all those ginormous contracts will be for 38-year-olds that can't move anymore. They'll have a payroll of $1B and lose 115 games

Let's not forget, the Mets hired Ruben Amaro Jr. as their first-base coach for 2018. I'm guessing that "Ruin Tomorrow Sooner", as he was known in Philadelphia for just this sort of thing, left his GM "Manual" behind?

(I grant you that this hypothesis requires that subsequent Mets GMs such as Brodie von Hunchback, Zack DWI Scott and Billy Eppler be able to read. But at least there's a chance.)

[Westheim]

Sources say that Michael Conforto signed with the Giants for 2 years, $36M today. Not bad for a reclamation project that missed all of 2022 with a busted shoulder (possibly two busted shoulders).

I hope he pieces his career back together. Always liked the bugger.

[BMW]

Correa is still, as of 12 hours ago, pegged as more likely than not to come to the Mets.

Good summary here:
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/...os-correa.html

[Amazin69]

Cestus, Confortius, Altius, Michael! Best wishes by the Bay. Say "hi" to Wilmer for me! (*dies slightly, inside*)

Best decision I ever made was deciding not to go to that Dbacks game in 2017 to watch Michael wreck his shoulder. That looked lousy enough on my hotel TV; I didn't need to see it in person.

Mostly OT reminisce follows:

I was in NY on a combination trip; to Columbia SC to watch the solar eclipse at a Fireflies game (they stopped in the 3rd inning to play "Eclipse" by Pink Floyd, the Fireflies lost despite the efforts of Future Met Wilfredo Tovar), then hit NY and Philly on my way back to LA. (I wasn't going to fly cross-country just to see the eclipse.)

I had planned on going out to Shea II, but the night before, the concert in Camden NJ [Alice Cooper, Deep Purple] ran long, the bus back to the Trenton train station was late, I missed the last train back to Manhattan, so after zombie-ing in the station for several hours and catching the first one in the morning, I needed to crash and was in no mood to take the 7-Line to Queens for the day game. So I guess the Train Gods were sparing me?

The Philadelphia leg went much better as a I was able to get off of Amtrak, check into my Center City hotel, grab an authentic Philly steak, catch a bus, and hoof across roughly half of Fairmount Park to be able to catch Aretha Franklin, in what was her penultimate concert. (One in Chicago and then she made an appearance at the Kennedy Center Honors and that was it before she died; we all knew she was sick, but she knocked it out of the park.) So I assume that was the Train Gods balancing the scales, no pun intended.

[Amazin69]

Originally Posted by BMW

Correa is still, as of 12 hours ago, pegged as more likely than not to come to the Mets.

Good summary here:
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/...os-correa.html

Also, the Mets have now officially flushed that $8 million down Omar Narvaez's toilet.

Mets catchers, 2023

Tomas Nido 2022 OPS .600
Omar Narvaez 2022 OPS .597
Francisco Alvarez, 2 for 12, career.

Meanwhile, Andrew Benintendi still has yet to officially sign with the ChiSox.

One page I saw ranks Nathan Eovaldi as the most valuable FA still available. But given that he's only turning 33 in February and he's never even missed half a season with an injury, it's no wonder the Mets had no interest in him.

"Young and healthy? Who needs that drama?"

[dsvitak]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

Also, the Mets have now officially flushed that $8 million down Omar Narvaez's toilet.

Mets catchers, 2023

Tomas Nido 2022 OPS .600
Omar Narvaez 2022 OPS .597
Francisco Alvarez, 2 for 12, career.

Meanwhile, Andrew Benintendi still has yet to officially sign with the ChiSox.

One page I saw ranks Nathan Eovaldi as the most valuable FA still available. But given that he's only turning 33 in February and he's never even missed half a season with an injury, it's no wonder the Mets had no interest in him.

"Young and healthy? Who needs that drama?"

You're pretty desperate for a catcher when you consider a 33-year old as young.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by dsvitak

You're pretty desperate for a catcher when you consider a 33-year old as young.

That was in the context of pitchers, but have you seen what the Mets usually sign?

Also, have you seen all the rings we've hauled in with smart, savvy team-building? =)

[Cod]

Originally Posted by BMW

Correa is still, as of 12 hours ago, pegged as more likely than not to come to the Mets.

Good summary here:
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/...os-correa.html

I wouldn't be so sure of that. Rumors are the Mets want to restructure the deal and Boras is saying "not going to happen". I assume the Mets want to make some of the money non-guaranteed, make some club option years, and/or incentive-based changes based on games played. If Boras doesn't give teams wiggle room, then Correa may be on short-term deals the rest of his career.

More info: https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/gi...ct-restructure

[BMW]

Originally Posted by Cod

I wouldn't be so sure of that. Rumors are the Mets want to restructure the deal and Boras is saying "not going to happen". I assume the Mets want to make some of the money non-guaranteed, make some club option years, and/or incentive-based changes based on games played. If Boras doesn't give teams wiggle room, then Correa may be on short-term deals the rest of his career.

More info: https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/gi...ct-restructure

One of the quoted sources mentioned 55% he signs, 45% he walks, which is technically more likely than not to come to the Mets. But that's still a really big possibility (in that person's estimation) that it doesn't happen.

Eovaldi, young and healthy? His team is usually listed as "60 Day IL".