caulfield12

This week’s “retro” giveaway cards... Chris Getz, Kenny Williams, Buddy Bell (in honor of his “turning around” the Reds), Rick Renteria, Don Cooper, Daryl Boston, Todd Steverson

How can we say that when the Red Sox have four World Series titles to the Yankees’ one over the last 18 seasons? To judge the GM with the most resources to work with...and compare him to Billy Beane, the Atlanta Braves organization, Friedman in Tampa and LA, Antonetti and Chernoff in Cleveland, etc. That’s an impossible task. But the obvious choice at any rate is Jeff Luhnow...other than DFAing JD Martinez and picking Appel over Bryant, almost every big move has gone right for them, with the possible exception of bringing Osuna with his questionable background on board.

Anthony Kay, LHP Age: 24 The 31st overall pick in 2016, Kay didn't pitch after signing due to an elbow injury and missed all of 2017 after having Tommy John surgery. He returned last year and has flown up the system, reaching Triple-A this year in just his second season on the mound. Kay is a power lefthander with a fastball that sits at 93 mph and regularly reaches 95-96 mph. He complements his fastball with a high-spin, top-to-bottom curveball he locates to sides of the plate and a changeup that flashes above-average with sink at the bottom of the zone. Kay's arsenal is that of a mid-rotation starter or better, but his control and command are inconsistent and make him a future back-end starter in the eyes of most evaluators. He is nearly major league ready and could make his debut this year. Simeon Woods-Richardson, RHP Age: 18 The Mets' second-round pick last year, Woods-Richardson made his full-season debut this year and earned raves as one of the best pitchers in the low Class A South Atlantic League despite a pedestrian 4.25 ERA. Woods-Richardson is a 6-foot-3 righthander who pounds the strike zone with a power arsenal. His four-seam fastball reaches 95-96 mph and his cutter sits at 92 mph, giving him two hard offerings to front his four-pitch mix. His 12-to-6 breaking ball has hard downward action and shows the potential to be an impact pitch, and his changeup flashes average. Woods-Richardson struggles leaving the ball up and gets hit as a result sometimes, but evaluators feel he can be an impact starter once he learns to work the edges of the strike zone. He earns wide praise for his fearless, bulldog mentality on the mound and aggressiveness in attacking hitters. baseballamerica.com

https://nypost.com/2019/07/28/mets-face-obstacles-in-dream-noah-syndergaard-trade-scenario/ Will disagree with one assessment of Sherman here...Mejia was injured this spring (despite his gaudy numbers) and has really been MUCH better since returning from the minors, both offensively and defensively. Finding a catcher in this day and age that can hit and throw well is exceedingly difficult, along with increasing plate framing awareness...and Mejia's flexible/athletic enough to play LF/RF as well. Agree 100% with him on Urias, I wouldn't make him the centerpiece of any trade if I was another organization.

They're probably getting back 55-60 cents on the dollar for the Cespedes deal through insurance, so there's that.

So he was together with other players...in a pack, and you randomly ended up with an Alonso card if you were unlucky? 4 cards per pack, and I guess some of the mystery packs had an autograph (like 1 out of 100 or 200)?

He and Collins are going crazy today, OPS at Charlotte up over 1.000, likely just hit the game-winning homer for CHARLOTTE...a 3 run blast in the bottom of the 8th in a game they were trailing by seven runs early (9-2 going into the bottom of the 5th inning). Let's give organizational filler like Mercedes and Mendick a shot, because why the hell not? Mercedes 3/5, hitting .315...and even our old friend Zack Collins is 4/5 .269 878 OPS.

Imagine sitting through that game...and THEN adding insult to injury. I was at a game they lost like 21-2 or something like that against the Twins a decade or so ago, and that was just something you had to laugh about...knowing the best of Freddy Garcia's days were long behind him. If memory serves correctly, it was the very first time we were going after Jake Peavy and he turned the trade down. Not sure what to call today's game...other than embarrassing. But you would think the White Sox would 1) just throw out the cards, and figure out a better way to appease the sponsor, who will probably be receiving complaints that they have nothing to do with, or 2) send them onto Colorado, or 3) send them all on to Manny Machado as a good-natured prank. Then again, #3 is something a person officially connnected to the team could never do, because it would be hilarious but "lacking in professionalism" or whatever. Or just send them to the Padres or Indians, where fans would be more appreciative...anywhere but Chicago.

Targets for the Mets as they deal Syndegaard 1A) Cal Quantrill 1B) Will go after Baez or Morejon, might have to accept Luis Patino (#2 in terms of potential after Gore) in the CAL League...Logan Allen would be a disappointing fallback position 1C) Josh Naylor or Xavier Edwards...unless they're willing take a lesser AA position prospect in order to get Patino No way the Padres will trade Mackenzie Gore. Not sure how much rope Luis Urias has left at second, he's been up to the majors 3 time now and has struggled offensively all three times, but very nifty defensively. Considering he's still ranked as one of the Top 20-25 prospects in baseball, moving him would be a shocker.

Anderson and Robert both 1/4 with a strikeout and run scored, they'll each get at least one more at-bat in this marathon battle of attrition, trailing 10-9 now in the bottom of the 7th. Timmy just lined out to 2B. So Anderson now 8/23 on his rehab assignment so far. Zack Collins is having a nice game, 3/4, up to 872 ops. Madrigal 0/3, down to an 886 OPS. Will get on more at-bat in the top of the ninth, third up. Barons trail 2-0 defensive/pitching-minded game.

McDowell wouldn't last more than 2-3 weeks. He'd be way too quick to criticize the performances, especially from the pitching staff, as well as pitch calling.

Someone had a picture up at Twitter...or it was in another thread. https://mobile.twitter.com/Dzikhead/status/1155590144931614721

Anthony Kay, a 2016 first-round pick, was considered the Mets’ most ready pitching prospect, but has struggled since being called up to Triple-A earlier this season. Kay is 1-3 with a 6.62 ERA in seven starts. Woods-Richardson was selected by the Mets in the second round of the 2018 draft, and is 3-8 with a 4.25 ERA with Single-A Columbia. Joel Sherman‏认证账号 @Joelsherman1 Told the whole trade is Kay/Woods-Richardson for Stroman. #Mets #Bluejays Gee, it would have been nice if we could have beaten out the Blue Jays with an offer from our formerly #1 farm system (which is completely bereft of starting pitching prospects at the moment)...because we, ahem, need starting pitching desperately in order to compete with the Twins and Indians in 2020, unless we are going to completely write it off as well.

Beyond Triple-A lefthander Anthony Kay, who pitched a scoreless inning at the Futures Game, the Mets have no prospect reinforcements on the immediate horizon. Most of the organization’s top talent is concentrated at low Class A Columbia and in short-season ball, a product of focusing on high school talent in recent drafts and a continued emphasis on Latin America. College lefties Kay, David Peterson and Kevin Smith are the only exceptions in the Mets’ midseason Top 10 Prospects ranking. baseballamerica.com

The White Sox handing out Yonder Alonso baseball cards to the few remaining fans at the end of today's bloodbath has to rank right up there...

Where's our Yelich, lol?

Syndegaard has one more year of control than Stroman. So it's simply hoping the prospects that you get back from the Padres (let's say, Quantrill, L.Allen, Naylor plus) are enough to make it worth it... That sounds short, so they're going to ask for Luis Patino (Lake Elsinore), Michel Baez or Morejon from the Top 100 list (both those guys are on the current roster)

There's also a greater hope for an eventual change in ownership...there's that. The Wilpon family had enough of a financial setback with the Madoff fiasco that they might feel compelled to sell at some point.

Despite Schwarber's offense today...they're looking to trade him, too. Or maybe not, after his first two at-bats.

It's even sadder that a crowd of 20,000+ is considered some sort of victory for the organization...

Now WAS, past tense...

Vaughn is graded as above-average but not exceptional at 1B, right? Concerns about handedness and height, probably...

He had better stuff than Scott Carroll (remember the big issue with getting him to enough MLB appearances to qualify for a pension)...and he triumphed over his diabetes problems and even managed to look like a legitimate starter for about 6-8 weeks the other year...but he HAS to go to the bullpen and focus on his 2 seam sinker and perfecting one other pitch to go with it. No more overthinking and trying to utilize 3-5 different pitches in his repertoire, but "rock and fire" like our Little League coaches or parents from the stands would always shout encouragingly.

Not sure that last line is going to escape the censors. Then again, what's possible to say in public discourse has dramatically changed since the summer of 2015.

Roach recalled, lol?