NY Mets 2014

[gtru1981]

Is it true that Dwright got married recently? My heart is broken lol

 

[sonny10305]

Is it true that Dwright got married recently? My heart is broken lol

Yup it's true David married his longtime girlfriend Molly Beers in California on Thursday.
They two met in 2008 and got engaged last Christmas.

 

[Sausy]

Happy New Year to sonny and everyone, including of course our Mets.... may it bring health, happiness, prosperity to you all(not to mention at least a playoff appearance for our Mets!)

 

[sonny10305]

Back at you Saucy all the best for 2014

Well it’s Thursday and that means the return of Mets Hot Stove, tonight will be a little dicey with all that snow expected here in NY but as of now the show will go on with Kevin Burhardt and Jim Duquette with guest Dillon Gee. I have suggested that KB bring his sleeping bag and sack out in the studio tonight maybe on one of those comfy couches in the bosses office but then he would have to try and get home tomorrow with the conditions even worse. So be careful KB drive safe and let us know when you are back home in Jersey safe and all warm. If it were up to me I would cancel tonight’s show and play a rerun or a Beer Money but as of now with five hours till broadcast the show is set to air live.

Speaking of Dillon Gee check out the precious photo Dillon included with his Christmas card this year of the new Gee family.



Jay Horowitz did not as he threated to do and go to Times Square and try and catch the ball with his new glove as it dropped, Oh Jay

Congrats to Matt den Decker and his honey bun Christine getting married. The two met a year ago at New Year’s Eve and Matt knew right off she was going to be the one. Matt has given us some memorial moments in the outfield but by far my favorite is the one when he was being interviewed by KB and the wild and always crazy Justin Turner wrapped Matt in bubble wrap during the interview. It was all about the expression on Matt’s face of “ok so this is normal“ Gotta be in the top 10 of Justin’s antics. By the way JT has suggested Anthony Recker take over the pie detail not sure if Anthony is wantin to do that thou we shall see.

 

[Sausy]

You too, sonny.... hope everyone had a safe and fun ringing in of the New Year!

Everyone had enough of this snow? Lol, the supermarket I work in was invaded by crazed storm fear fueled shoppers... bread, milk, eggs and water were gobbled up like crazy! Got a ride home last night and just glad the worst of it fell overnight, around 8-10 inches in our area.


Lol at the Jay Horwitz threat... wouldn't have been shocked if he tried it! But smart of him not to do it, last thing we need is another Mets injury!

Our boys are getting the wedding bug and that's a good one to have! Congrats to Matt and his bride on the heels of DWright and Molly's wedding.. hope Matt does get a serious opportunity in the spring with the additions of Chris Young and Curtis Granderson to get some playing time and get into the outfield rotation. His defense and hustle will play well but he's got to show he can make enough contact. If he fails to crack the lineup he should get playing time at AAA and develop further for a callback during the season but I do hope he really gets a chance to succeed with this organization.

The bubble wrap thing was priceless... just acting as if nothing was going on while being bubble wrapped, lol!!!! Regarding the pie thing, is Anthony Recker as wacky and goofy enough for it to work? JT always had that delightfully impish glee for mischief... the Mets have a lot of fun, nice guys but you have to really have that playful silliness and youthful exuberance to make it work. Maybe the pie celebration will continue on after JT, maybe not but guess like you say sonny we shall see.

Great pic of the Gee family's first Christmas greetings together with the new addition, very sweet pic.

 

[sonny10305]

Lol at the Jay Horwitz threat... wouldn't have been shocked if he tried it! But smart of him not to do it, last thing we need is another Mets injury! Our boys are getting the wedding bug and that's a good one to have! Congrats to Matt and his bride on the heels of DWright and Molly's wedding.. hope Matt does get a serious opportunity in the spring with the additions of Chris Young and Curtis Granderson to get some playing time and get into the outfield rotation. His defense and hustle will play well but he's got to show he can make enough contact. If he fails to crack the lineup he should get playing time at AAA and develop further for a callback during the season but I do hope he really gets a chance to succeed with this organization.
The bubble wrap thing was priceless... just acting as if nothing was going on while being bubble wrapped, lol!!!! Regarding the pie thing, is Anthony Recker as wacky and goofy enough for it to work? JT always had that delightfully impish glee for mischief... the Mets have a lot of fun, nice guys but you have to really have that playful silliness and youthful exuberance to make it work. Maybe the pie celebration will continue on after JT, maybe not but guess like you say sonny we shall see.
Great pic of the Gee family's first Christmas greetings together with the new addition, very sweet pic.

Yup a lot of the guys got engaged and married this year and one of the cutest of the couples has to be Matt and Chrisie so adorable, so much in love. Yeah we all hope Matt gets a shot in the outfield this year he can really pick it out there and he is so well loved in the clubhouse I mean the kid is just sooooo sweet …seriously. Another player we want out there is Juan Lagares who is Morph’s favorite to make the team in the outfield, it will be a very interesting in spring to see who makes the final cut. Very interesting and fun to be sure.

Glad you liked the Jay Horwitz story he is always up to something goofy here he is thinking about his new look for spring Oh Jay





The Gee family sure is sweet expect many babies next year starting with Murphy with wife Tori expecting, Daniel who absolutely adores kids is gonna make one heck of a dad.

As to the bubble wrap I always thought that was one of JTs finest pranks he is so nutz and we love him for it.



The thing about Recker taking over the pies just doesn’t seem likely he is just not that guy but who knows maybe there is aside of Anthony we have not seen yet but I just don’t see him in that role hope he does thou but the thing about Anthony is he will need to hug the player after cause ya see that is what he does he loves to give out the hugs no handshakes for that kid it’s all bout the hugs.

Back to Justin here he is doing what after baseball is his favorite pastime….well.. Second




 

[sonny10305]

Some great news; first up two of the boys I have been watching develop ever since the days in Brooklyn playing with us with the Cyclones, Danny Muno has joined Cory Vaughn as prospects getting an invite to big-league spring training camp. Danny is a switching hitting infielder who batted .249 with nine homers, 67 RBIs and 15 steals in 127 games with AA last season. I expect Vaughn to join Noah Syndergaard and Rafael Montero as farmhands in camp Vaughn, hit .267 with 10 homers and 50 RBIs in 262 at-bats last season at AA He also represented the Mets in the Arizona Fall League

AND now we know that Bobby Parnell, who you recall underwent surgery for a herniated disk in his neck, has been fully cleared for baseball activities and is expected to resume closing games for the Mets this season. Great news for us guys we really need Bobby who converted 22 of 26 chances last season.

Tonight on Mets Hot Stove Andy Martino along with Jim Duquette and John Harper will have Travis d Arnaud telling us what he expects from himself this year both defensively and in the batter’s box Plus what is going on with Stephan Drew and much more That’s Mets Hot Stove tonight at 7 on SNY

 

[Sausy]

Good to hear about Danny and Cory.. just taking in how big leaguers conduct themselves and what they go through will be a positive experience for them. Noah and Rafael should impress as well... being closest to coming up to the Mets they can only benefit by facing the best competition working with the big squad in spring training. Also glad to hear Bobby Parnell is ready to go, hopefully he is completely over the disk situation and it won't be a chronic problem.

One thing about Stephen Drew.... I'm really interested in the Mets pursuing him ONLY if Scott Boras doesn't insist on anything beyond two or three years. I'd even go three years, around 40 mil if that's what it took to seal the deal but NO higher. I think while he's not a superstar by any means he does have the capability of solid offense with power and good defense and psychologically it would be good having a steady if not spectacular guy at shortstop... especially batting him low in the order you have a much more potent offensive threat driving the ball consistently than Ruben Tejada presents. If it's reasonable, get him because he improves you and makes you more competitive right now, especially if the commitment is not more than three years, when he'll be only 33... forgot to tape Hot Stove tonight so I would appreciate sonny's take and what KB and others had to say about the possibility. I have read that "possibility" at this point is ALL is, not "probability" The Mets like him but only under their terms, feel no rush to risk overpaying when they don't have to.... ESPECIALLY because he's a Scott Boras client, who always tries to ratchet up bidding wars even when they involve a team foolishly bidding against itself.

 

[syam24]

Glad to hear Bobby Parnell appears to be on the track back to Mets bullpen ace. I saw where the Mets signed Taylor Teegarden for a possible backup catching spot. Probably more of a safety move to have some experience at the position should a major issue come up. I would prefer Recker as the backup at this point pending any future additions. Wish you all a Happy New Year!

 

[sonny10305]

Well it’s a sweet bitter day for me .our fearless leader of the Brooklyn Cyclones for the last 3 years Rich Donnelly will be leaving us having just been named manager of Triple-A Tacoma in the Seattle Mariners organization. Rich has been in the game for just over 40 years and in 13 seasons as a minor league manager is at .526. His 128 wins with the Cyclones rank as the second-most in the franchise's history. I am going to miss Rich he has been beyond generous to me personally always there when I had a question or a problem giving me some of the best advice I could ever ask for. But beyond that he was a sweetheart of a guy a man who knew how to get the most out of his boys teaching mentoring making sure the guys always knew he was there for them, it will be a little strange not to see him in the clubhouse and dugout next season which begins on June 13th I shall miss that warm great to see you smile always present. I know there are a ton of players from our team who owe him so much most recently LJ Mazzilli and Gavin Cecchini both said today how grateful and privileged they are to have known Rich. Good luck to Uncle Rich as he moves on we will miss him I am thankful for everything he taught me and for being my friend.

The Mets avoided arbitration with Ruben Tejada, as he signed a one-year deal worth $1.1 million that’s actually just slightly more money than he originally expected so let’s hope the same will hold true for the other guys who are also eligible for arbitration, Ike Davis, Lucas Duda, Dillon Gee, Daniel Murphy, Bobby Parnell and Eric Young Jr. have all filed earlier this week. Looking more and more like 'Ruby Tuesday', as his teammates call him, will be our SS this season. I had held hope for Drew who would have been a major upgrade at short but the Mets do not want to give him the deal he wants so pretty much the same three alternatives exist, they could still sign a free agent, make a trade, or bring in a backup to Tejada which seems to be the most likely

As Syam and I have written Bobby Parnell is up and throwing feels great and is going to be ready to resume his closing role. You can hear Bobby talk about it tonight on Mets Hot Stove on SNY at 7pm. Kevin Burkhardt has the night off again he is still up to his eyeballs in NFL work with Fox so Gary Apple fills in tonight along with Jim Duquette and Andy Martino.

 

[sonny10305]

A quick update to my post above regarding salary arbitration and it involves Ike Davis I can tell you he is going to settle and avoid arbitration his deal will give him a raise bringing him about 350,000 above last year’s salary I will bring you the whole story after the news is made official but great news for Ike, and now we move on to Murphy who I will also have news on tomorrow

 

[syam24]

As Sonny stated in his update, Ike has settled his salary negotiations along with Eric Young. NY Daily News had an article on Bobby Parnell who is starting to workout to get into baseball playing shape again, he's cleared for baseball related activities. I think I'm glad to see MLB is going to allow more replays. Hopefully this won't provide too many delays nor disrupt the flow of games too much. The umps do a very good job in general, with the occasional hiccup which becomes obvious during a replay, so this should help improve the product.

 

[Sausy]

Thanks Syam... with Ruben Tejada, Ike, Murph , Parnell, Gee and Young all signed only one left is Lucas Duda, who definitely is asking for too much but probably will settle with the Mets before having to go to arbitration. Really not excited either way about the replays, just want to see first if they effect the flow of the game.

Just excited that spring training is around the corner, now less than a month for pitchers and catchers!

Nice tribute to Rich Donnelly, sonny... as great as he has been for Brooklyn baseball and the many young players who started developing under his wing it's well deserved he's getting a great opportunity to advance and hopefully soon manage in the major leagues.

 

[sonny10305]

I too am glad to see most of the guys settle with the team. Ike was a treat blessing that kid deserves that chance to come out swinging literally next year and as for Murph’s $5.7MM contract, the deal could not be sweeter everything we wanted for him and a bonus too Murphy can earn an additional $50K for reaching 500 plate appearances, which by the way he's accomplished with no sweat in each of the past two seasons. The bonus will come in handy when the baby comes.
Murphy is in his second year of arbitration eligibility and is controllable through the 2015 season for the Mets then he will be a free agent.
Now only Lucas Duda is still not settled, as of yesterday Lucas and the Mets were about $550k apart with The Dude requesting $1.9 million, and the Mets offering $1.35 million, thing is for me Lucas needs to take that deal cause in arbitration they will take him apart comparing him to other players and that may not go well for the kid. In the outfield he average to not bad and at First although he played a lot better at that position when he is compared to other first baseman in arbitration he will not be able to prove his worth. There is still time for Lucas to accept before the sides go to a hearing next month Take the Deal Dude!
Looks like I am (and Ike’s too) getting my wish to see Duda and Davis battle it out for the first base job in spring training I always felt it was the best way to decide that position Now I love Lucas he is a very good player and a sweetheart of a guy but he is no Ike Davis at first and maybe not even at the plate so may the best man (Ike) win the job. See ya on the bench Lucas

In other news, I guess with Rubin prolly starting as our shortstop and our needing bench depth, the Mets may have agreed to bring back Omar Quintanilla on a Minor League deal, I say “may have” cause so far no confirmation from the team who had non-tendered Quit earlier this offseason. Now I like Quintanilla he gives us a decent middle infielder back up but I would prefer Justin Turner who was a far better player especially at the plate and Omar can’t play all infield positions the way that JT can. Kicking Justin to the curb is still a major sore spot for me. Non-tendering both Quintanilla and Justin Turner earlier this offseason left us without a veteran backup middle infielder. I was hoping it would be Turner that returned.

I too am unsure of how I feel about the new replay stuff I will see how it goes when they test it out in spring training and I have had a chance to speak with some of the guys to get options before I make up my mind about all that. I did speak with Dillon Gee to congratulate him on his new $3.625 million deal (he wanted $4 million but happy with what he got) Dillon has mixed feelings about the new replay but is concerned about rusting out on the mound while all that is going on an as a pitcher I totally relate to his feelings. My dad has gotten pretty good friends with Terry Collins over the years of us going down to Florida for spring training so I know he is going to speak with Terry about it and get his opinion which should be interesting.

For those of you unaware of the new MLB Instant Replay Rules take a deep breath and then read em
PLAY TYPES
-The following play types will be subject to review:
-Home run
-Ground rule double
-Fan interference
-Stadium boundary calls (e.g., fielder into stands, ball into stands triggering dead ball)
-Force play (except the fielder’s touching of second base on a double play)
-Tag play (including steals and pickoffs)
-Fair/foul in outfield only
-Trap play in outfield only
-Batter hit by pitch
-Timing play (whether a runner scores before a third out)
-Touching a base (requires appeal)
-Passing runners
-Record keeping (Ball-strike count to a batter, outs, score, and substitutions)

All other plays will not be reviewable; however, the Umpires may still convene on the field at any time to discuss the play.

INITIATION OF INSTANT REPLAY
-Field managers may initiate replay review on one reviewable play per game by verbally indicating his intention to challenge, in a timely manner, to the Crew Chief. Guidelines will be established to determine whether a challenge is timely.
-The manager may request that the umpire review multiple portions of the same play, but he must specify exactly which portions of the play he is challenging.
-If any portion of a challenged play is overturned, the manager who challenged the play will retain the ability to challenge one more play during the game. No manager may challenge more than two plays in a game.
-Once the manager has exhausted his ability to challenge plays during the game and after the beginning of the seventh inning, the Crew Chief may choose to invoke instant replay on any reviewable call. In that circumstance, the Crew Chief is not obligated to invoke instant replay if requested by the manager.
-Home run calls that are currently subject to instant replay review will continue to be reviewed at the Crew Chief’s discretion. Managers may request that an Umpire review a home run call, but managers cannot challenge home run calls.

REVIEW PROCESS
1. Once instant replay review is invoked (either by the Manager or the Crew Chief), the Crew Chief will signal to the official scorer that the play is under review.
2. The Crew Chief and at least one other umpire will then move to a designated communication location near home plate, where they will have access to a hard-wired headset connected to the Replay Command Center in New York.
3. Major League Umpires will be staffed as Replay Officials at the Replay Command Center, located at MLB Advanced Media headquarters, for all Major League games.
4. The Replay Command Center will have direct access to video from most cameras in the ballpark in real-time, regardless of whether they are shown on the live broadcast.
5. The Replay Official will look at the video feeds and determine if there is clear and convincing evidence to overturn the call on the field. If the Replay Official overturns a call on the field, he will also use his judgment to determine where to appropriately place runners if the play had been called correctly on the field.
6. The umpires on the field will not have a monitor to review the play and they will not leave the field at any time.
7. The Replay Official will make the ultimate determination of whether to overturn the call.
8. On-Field personnel may not argue with the decision of the Replay Official.

CLUB ACCESS TO VIDEO
-To determine whether to challenge a play, personnel in the dugout will be permitted to communicate with a video specialist in the Clubhouse who has access to the same video that is available to Replay Officials. This communication will occur via the dugout phone.
-Both the home and visiting Clubs will have standardized technology to ensure each Club has equal access to all video.
-No monitors or additional electronic equipment will be permitted in the dugout.

SCOREBOARD REPLAYS
-Clubs will now have the right to show replays of all close plays on its ballpark scoreboard, regardless of whether the play is reviewed.
Whew doggie told ya to take a deep breath first

 

[Sausy]

There's so much opportunity to screw things up with what's allowed just think it may bog down the game... how many times are teams limited to asking for a review? The game was fine as is, just need to get more consistency and accountability from the umpires. I think this could be a BIG mistake... the last thing being able to show close plays regardless if the umpires are going to review it just smacks of riling up the home crowd. Count me as REALLY skeptical of this broadening of replay, just thin it will hurt more than help.

Subtle about Ike, aren't ya sonny? I really do hope he wins the first base job outright, my thinking is whoever loses will be dealt end of spring training or by the trade deadline. The key with Ike is driving the ball, being patient and getting on base by walks when the opportunity is there and really put the pitcher in a bind, not just swing away and get himself out on pitches clearly that he can't hit...or anyone else pretty much for that matter. If Ike only hits .250 or .260 it doesn't matter so long as he walks a lot and plays to his strength going opposite field with power when that's how he should approach the pitcherand has confidence that slumps will be short and he is a threat to hit one out at ANY time. No doubt if he plays with confidence he'll pull a lot of long home runs to right as well as a good amount to dead center and opposite field.... when he is using all fields with power(doubles, homers) he's really at his best and I hope he wins the battle with Duda and finally proves he can put it all together. If he does I know we'll see 30-40 homers and 110-130 RBI.

 

[syam24]

Well, the Mets signed John Lannan to a minor league deal with a spring invite. I think this is a good "shot in the dark" signing. He has had some decent efforts over the years, no so much this past season, but I see no downside to his signing. I suppose he will get a shot to compete for the fifth starter's slot, but give the Mets another left hander for either that or a bullpen slot. A local guy so perhaps that incentive will reignite his abiliities.

 

[sonny10305]

My bad, I forgot to give you guys a heads up about Mets Hot Stove which aired last night. First of all it was the return of Kevin Burhardt who has been away doing NFL duties and second it featured a terrific interview of my boy Noah Syndergaard whom I first saw and meet in St Lucie last year. You will recall we got him in the Dickey trade along with d'Arnaud. The first time I saw him pitch I was absolutely mesmerized by his abilities I man the kid has this amazing fastball he can locate with ease. After the workout I went to the pitching coach Phil Regan and said “I gotta meet that kid”. Noah flashed a big ole Texas smile and said “so you pitch too? Well I said “not like you do not by a mile” We had an awesome conversation about pitching and his hopes for the future It turns out we both started playing baseball at age 7 after being pushed by a relative him his mom and me my Uncle Joe.one thing I got out if that conversation was for sure this kid wants to be in the big leagues and soon. I watched him workout in the weight room and saw him due things that not many pitchers do I the kid can squats like 450 pounds and dead-lifts just over 500 I even recall saying to someone else watching he is gonna hurt himself pushing so hard but no that’s just Noah an amazing young pitcher who has aspirations of not only making to the Bigs but already thinking about a couple of Cy Youngs. But hold up before you think the kid is cocky or someone tootin his horn too much I can tell you once you get to know him you learn quickly that he is a very level-headed kid who just wants to make big strides and quick. He is currently working on his changeup; ya know just sweeting the pie a bit for that big-league call-up.



This week’s Mets Hot Stove will be repeated all week just check your TV guide.KB’s return to SNY yesterday had him being his goofy self as he gets the last touches of makeup before the show



Had a very sad conversation with Reese Havens last week I have written about his problems staying healthy withy persistent elbow and groin injuries. Still he managed some awesome numbers playing for us in Brooklyn till that strained oblique cut him down to just a little over 100 plate appearances. He had surgery to treat what I seem to recall was rib-tip syndrome the surgery cut a part of his ribs off. But he never returned the same and after playing only about 90 games for Binghamton in 2012 he was knocked off the Mets' 40-man roster last year and sent to AAA Las Vegas where he continued not to play all that well and never return to how he was. As a result Reese has decided to hang it up and retire from baseball. Sad sad story we shall never know what he mighta been. Best of luck to Reese.

 

[syam24]

Sorry to hear about Reese, but goes to show how much luck and hard work is involved to make to the "show". He obviously had enough talent to gain the number one draft choice, but for probably a myriad of reasons just was not ever able to put it all together to get to the major leagues. It's not as easy as sometimes the media and publicists make it out to be.

 

[sonny10305]

Terry Collins stopped by the SNY studio recently and sat down with Gary Apple to discuss the 2014 season. Among the things Terry talked to Gary about is the lack of offense over the last few years and the need to improve the long ball which did not improve much at home, even after the fences were brought in the Mets have not been able to get the runs in with a 241 average batting average. In fact the Mets In the last three seasons were 37 games under 500 at home. Terry believes that first and foremost the team has got to manufacture more offense. He wants to see the guys become more athletic and creating runs. Another thing Terry talks about is who he is leaning towards to start opening day as well as Eric Young Jr as the Leading Leadoff Candidate, that along with feelings about his new and improved outfield. Kevin Burkhardt is off with SNY college basketball coverage tonight but you can see Gary Apples interview with Collins along with Andy Martino and John Harper on Mets Hot Stove tonight on SNY at 7pm repeating all week

 

[syam24]

Well, the Mets signed Kyle Farnsworth to a minor league deal, with the usual invite to spring training. It's possible he could be a useful arm for the bull pen, but I certainly don't see him as a threat to Parnell in the closer's role. I was never a big Farnsworth fan, as his inconsistency made him suspect in big situations. He tended to walk folks at the most inopportune times, then give up a big hit. He had some success with Tampa Bay, but for me, could not be counted on in the clutch.