Mets

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

Which I guess qualifies as good news, as it means that it's more likely the team thinks that Senga will be ready for Opening Day.

(Even if it is amusing to ponder where Quintana would slot on the list of Mets Opening Day starters…below Big Pelph, but above Dillon Gee? And what of Fat Jack?)

Somewhere 'round Pete Harnisch, but surely above Tylor Megill.

[Westheim]

Mets apparently will get J.D. Martinez for $12M.

In other words, RIP J.D. Martinez' career.

[Amazin69]

But points for trying a logical solution, at least. Which is rather different than their standard practice.

(See "rotation, pitching" or "outfield". Remember, two years ago, we turned a 101-win season into an embarrassing collapse by going with a Vogelfat/Ruf-bad-dog! platoon at DH. At least we are better than that, now.)

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

But points for trying a logical solution, at least. Which is rather different than their standard practice.

(See "rotation, pitching" or "outfield". Remember, two years ago, we turned a 101-win season into an embarrassing collapse by going with a Vogelfat/Ruf-bad-dog! platoon at DH. At least we are better than that, now.)

I will copy this and remind you of it when Martinez is released in August after hitting .178 with five homers and a habit of urinating against the foul pole.

[Westheim]

MLB.com thinks the Mets will be "competitive, probably", but that's just two tiers above "yikes!"

[Westheim]

J.D.M. will start the season in the minors.

...and maybe he'll stay there.

[Amazin69]

Nah, JD was only working out with the minor leaguers until he could be added to the 40-man. The Mets have opened a slot by trading Austin Adams (and his impressive HPB stats) to Oakland for cash.* So JD has been activated now.

*Literal cash. They took whatever Scrooge McDuck Fisher had in his wallet at the time. (Allegedly $22 and a bus pass.)

In other news, Shintaro Fujinami has been optioned to Syracuse.

Revised 40-man:

SP: Kodai Senga (if he's ready)
SP: Jose Quintana
SP: Adrien Houser
SP: Sean Manaea
SP: Luis Severe-No

SP (other): 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: Creakin' Jake Diekman, one good year away from three more guaranteed

RP (others): Phil Bickford, Max Kranick (really?), 2022 All-Star Jorge Lopez, Yohan Ramirez, Sean Reid-Foley, Michael "Ka-Boom!" Tonkin

C: Alvarez
Incredibly Overpaid Reserve C: Narvaez

1B: Kingman
2B: Squirrel
SS: Francisco "30/30/34 million" Lindor
3B: Mauricio (INJ)
reserve 3B: Baty
reserve reserve 3B: Vientos

reserve DP guy: Zack Shortstop
no-batting-gloves stud: Wendle (.585 last year, though)

LF: Mr. Pointy
CF: Bader/Stewart platoon, ostensibly
RF: The Broken Corpse of Starling Marte (in theory)/Tyrone Taylor (in practice)

reserve OF: a random NRI (Ben Gamel?), I guess

DH: J. DH. Martinez, naturally.

71-91! I Dare to Dream!!

[Westheim]

Mets say no.

All parties involved have a vested interest in the ability of Martinez, who sat out nearly all of Spring Training before signing a one-year, $12 million deal with the Mets this week, to ramp up as quickly as possible. But there’s no great rush. Because Martinez has already consented to starting the season in the Minor Leagues, he will by rule have to spend at least 10 days there. The earliest Martinez can debut is April 7, nine games into the season.

[Amazin69]

Well, that was silly. Good job, Stearns/Carlos!

Why are they doing this, exactly? Is JD injured or something?

ETA: apparently not. It's just about finding his groove. I would think that the best way to be ready for major-league pitching was to train with major-leaguers, but apparently not. Huh.

Also, Vientos has been optioned to Syracuse (despite leading the team in dingers this spring) and now that Ji-Man Choi has been rendered redundant by JD, his NRI stint is over. (He has accepted a spot at Syracuse, however.)

Allegedly, the Mets are still scouring the waiver wires looking for a possible upgrade over DJ Stewart, which seems odd as they've given him a new contract. But I can at least tantalize you, right?

[Westheim]

Vientos is a giant windmill. It's awful. Yes, he'll run into one from time to time, especially against other AA talent. Big Pete on his worst day looks still better than Vientos on his best day.

I thought "Chubby Korean" Choi was a decent enough fit at DH, although his spring was awful. Clearly made redundant with the signing.

Why J.D.M. didn't train with some sort of professional to be semi-ready for live action play with an actual ball just in case, y'know, somebody gives him a contract after all, is beyond me. If everybody thinks it's best that he spends ten days with the Tidewater Tides, so be it.

DJ Stewart (not: D.J. Stewart, which is a black minor leaguer taken by the Phillies in the 39th round some years back, which briefly confused me very much upon searching just now) makes scarcely more than Bobby Bonilla this year ($1.38M). Uncle Steve has flushed much bigger bundles of benjamins down the toilet, I doubt he cares about that million bucks, or about hurting somebody's feelings. It's the same with how roughly half of all Rule 5 picks (caution: I halfheartedly googled this) end up being offered back to the team they were drafted from. "Eh! We found something better! Wasn't even that hard."

[Westheim]

Marte beaned by Clay Holmes. Maybe that'll fix him.

[Amazin69]

Farewell, Phil Bickford. We barely knew ye.

[Westheim]

Meanwhile I am relieved to see that our Opening Day tilt with the Brew Crew is actually on SNY. It didn't have a channel listed on MLB.tv until yesterday, so I was hyperventilating that it might be on E-SPUN or SUX

That would have RUINED THE ENTIRE SEASON FOR ME.

[Amazin69]

I still can't believe Opening Day is tomorrow. Too early, and on a Thursday?

That said, I'm almost tempted to at least check out some of the game, to see if Opening Day still belongs to the Mets and to hear GKR try and spin this dungheap as a possible contender. Hmmm.

(Oh, and to see how they try to ignore the part where Pete will be out of contract come fall and likely to walk.)

[Westheim]

Gary, Ron, and Keiiiith!

Yes, tune in. You know, you want to. You can still flick it off after nine innings.

Also, the Mets always win on Opening Day! That's the law!

Regarding Peeeete, all I hear is that the Mets obviously wanna keep him (since Vientos does not seem like a replacement in anything but body temperature) and Pete is at least open to staying. What could go wrong now!?

[specter of Scott Boras appears in the background]

[Amazin69]

So I was commenting in another thread about how I don't think Tony LaRussa should be in the Hall (given all the "good work" done by Barry "Needles" Weinberg as LaRussa took him from job to job) and I recalled that Ronnie had played for those Athletics and I wondered what he had to say about that.

Turns out that Ron wasn't on the 'roids but he did notice something about his teammates. But I was distracted, because there was a book Ron had written that I didn't know about (Ronnie has authored several books, as has Keith; unsurprising, given their constant exposure to a large fanbase, which at least gives the publishers expectations) and there were a few tidbits in there.

For example, Ron says that Lenny Dykstra was spewing all sorts of racist abuse at Oil Can Boyd during Game 3 of the 1986 World Series. (Can says he never heard it. I'm just thinking that, being from Mississippi, Dennis had [sadly] heard it all before.)

But on a lighter note, Ron also says that Kevin Elster used to travel with a collection of white, lacy women's panties, which he claimed were souvenirs from his romantic conquests. Cynical me, I figure that the panties were what Kev employed without seeking out conquests. Some men (allegedly) use a sock, others prefer something silkier. (Allegedly.)

I mean, Elster did set that record for consecutive games without an error, so it's no surprise he had a firm grip, right?

(Who says I'm not in midseason form? Even though I skipped training camp.)

[Amazin69]

Dang, it must be pissing buckets in NYC. Not only is the game rained out, they called it off last night. (I went to set my DVR and was much confused.)

[Westheim]

It's also raining ... from my eyes.

[low]

All that money and can't afford a roof. FFS.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by low

All that money and can't afford a roof. FFS.

Please remain serious. How are you gonna build a roof over a video board the size of 30 Rock?