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2019-2020 METS THREAD! It’s time has come.


32EBoozer

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  • 2 weeks later...

According to a New York Post report, Cespedes was injured following a run-in with a wild boar.

The Post has learned all involved parties agreed that Cespedes was injured on the ranch stepping into a hole after an interaction with a wild boar.

According to multiple people who were informed of the incident, Cespedes has traps on his ranch for a variety of reasons, including to keep boars away from people. But one boar was removed from a trap — perhaps by Cespedes — and either charged toward Cespedes or startled him, causing Cespedes to step into a hole. Cespedes suffered the fractured ankle at a time when he was recovering from surgery to both heels that already was jeopardizing his playing status in 2019. The ankle fracture guaranteed that he would not take an at-bat last season.

This not the outcome we were expecting.

Given the Mets’ odd luck with injuries though, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised by anything.

As the report notes, the injury happened in May while Cespedes was still recovering from offseason heel surgery. Since then, the incident has proven to be a costly one for Cespedes. The amended contract reduced Cespedes’ base salary $29.5 to $6 million for the 2020 season. That’s a potential savings of $23.5 million if the veteran outfielder doesn’t return to full health.

A restructuring of Cespedes’ deal was negotiated after New York filed a grievance and withheld part of his 2019 salary.

The New York Post report says it’s not clear if Cespedes and the Mets agreed to specific language that would make potentially dangerous activities on his ranch a violation of his contract. Though it’s certain that an incident such as the described run-in with a wild boar would fall into the category of dangerous if such a provision exists.

At this point, we’re sure the Mets and Cespedes will be eager to put this incident behind them. On the plus side, the Mets are still hopeful they will have Cespedes available for the upcoming season.

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There were a couple of these at the small new years party we went to a couple of days ago.

Didn't know they were so dangerous. 

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15 hours ago, 32EBoozer said:

Thor & Mets reach agreement on 2020 arbitration for $9.7 mil. Let's get the season going. 

Thor has a lot to prove this season after last years disaster. You want the big money.... step up in big situations.

Saw this AM that Mets may be looking at Kevin Pillar again.

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On 1/10/2020 at 6:52 PM, 32EBoozer said:

Thor & Mets reach agreement on 2020 arbitration for $9.7 mil. Let's get the season going. 

Thor has a lot to prove this season after last years disaster. You want the big money.... step up in big situations.

You need to start a new, 2020 version of this thread, 32.

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25 minutes ago, SAM SAM HE'S OUR MAN said:

Mets should fire Beltran IMMEDIATELY . They do not need to deal with all the bullspit later this season . A cheater should not be manager of the team . Brody did not do his homework before hiring him . 

I would disagree on this. Brodie and AJ Hinch are very close, they played college ball together at Stanford, I believe. May have even been roommates. I'll bet this definitely came up when the Mets were going to interview Beltran.

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2 hours ago, Warfish said:

Beltran is Bellichek, Cora, Hinche.

His escaping discipline because "he was a player at the time" is pathetic.

He was a key player in this scandal, along with Cora, and should be facing a minimum of a one+ year suspension along with Cora.

 

What did he do specifically? Was he involved in developing the electronic monitoring system?

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7 hours ago, Warfish said:

He did all of it, right alongside Cora, far as I've heard reported.

Those are not specifics, and I have not read specifics other than "he was one of the players that said they could convey signals better".

I am not supporting or spewing guilt on Beltran here, just trying to understand what he specifically did. I did not get that from my quick read of the report.

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3 hours ago, Scott Dierking said:

Those are not specifics, and I have not read specifics other than "he was one of the players that said they could convey signals better".

I am not supporting or spewing guilt on Beltran here, just trying to understand what he specifically did. I did not get that from my quick read of the report.

My gut feeling is that he is going to be retained as the manager of the Mets.  The Mets have a link on the team website that specifically says that Beltran will not be disciplined by MLB (We all heard that) and there is also a link to the commissioners full report.  Beltran's name was mentioned once in a 9 page article .

From the Mets website:

Beltrán, an outfielder/designated hitter on the 2017 Astros, was among those who “discussed that the team could improve on decoding opposing teams’ signs and communicating the signs to the batter,” according to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. That was Beltrán’s only appearance in Manfred’s nine-page report, which limited individual punishments to Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow, manager AJ Hinch, and former assistant GM Brandon Taubman.

Here is a link to the full report:

https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/upload/mlb/cglrhmlrwwbkacty27l7.pdf

 

 

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All teams try to steal signs and have been since the sport began. We did this is high school (albeit not too successfully). Why else would a catcher come out to the mound with a runner on second to change the signs or have a more complicated system just for that situation? You can't see it on TV but next time you go to the ballpark. Give a close look to the runner on second and the subtle indications that he might make. the use of technology just makes it more modern in a technology age. 

The punishment for the management and team is harsh but appropriate for face saving sake. To punish a player/ex-player for this is silly.

Maybe they should take away Whitey Ford's HOF induction because he used to pitch a few inches off the rubber or his catcher used to sharpen his belt buckle and nick the ball when he threw it back to the mound? Gaylord Perry? Mike Scott? Tony Armas' corked bat? 

You try for any advantage possible. That is sports and it certainly is business. The talent is in doing it and not getting caught. This is the reality of the world. 

Time to move on

 

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As expected from this crowd, the "Cheating is ok as long as my team does it." answer.

Quote

 

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2871447-red-sox-left-reeling-as-alex-cora-goes-down-as-one-of-mlbs-greatest-cheaters?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_medium=referral

Baseball's newest scandal now has burned through the Boston Red Sox managerial office. Alex Cora is out. The Red Sox are singed.

On it goes.

If you're scoring at home, it's scorching. That's two of the game's last three World Series winners that now suddenly are without a manager one month before pitchers and catchers report to spring training. One day after Houston was shamed, the Astros taint splattered Fenway Park.

Next, basking in their own silent bubble, the New York Mets have some hard questions to answer. Carlos Beltran has yet to manage his first game in Queens, and he's already caught up in the big lie: He told the New York media that he had nothing to do with stealing signs—at least, not digitally by incorporating Houston's now infamous center field camera. MLB's investigation says otherwise: The report specifically names Beltran as chief among a group of players brainstorming the video camera/computer/trash-can-banging plot roughly two months into the 2017 season.

Right now, the Mets have an enormous credibility problem on their hands with Beltran. But back to Cora.......

One key difference between him and Cora is that Commissioner Rob Manfred specifically said he is not looking to punish players, that in this scandal, those in positions of responsibility would pay because it came on their watch. But while Beltran's crimes were committed during his final season as a player in 2017, now that he's crossed the divide onto the leadership side...where and how, exactly, has he earned the right to lead? Why should he have the privilege that was seized from Cora and AJ Hinch?

Cora's exit from Boston, while extraordinary in its timing on the heels of the Astros' implosion, was not a shock. Baseball's investigation essentially called him the mastermind behind Houston's scheme, identified him as a figure on the dugout phone connection to the clubhouse replay room and fingered him as the brains behind installing the computer monitor in the tunnel behind the dugout. From Manfred's report:

"Cora arranged for a video room technician to install a monitor displaying the center field camera feed immediately outside of the Astros' dugout. (The center field camera was primarily used for player development purposes and was allowed under MLB rules at the time when used for that purpose.) Witnesses have provided largely consistent accounts of how the monitor was utilized. One or more players watched the live feed of the center field camera on the monitor, and after decoding the sign, a player would bang a nearby trash can with a bat to communicate the upcoming pitch type to the batter."

Once that became public Monday, Cora had zero chance to manage the Red Sox again. He will go down as one of the most egregious cheaters in baseball history, and remember this: What happened Tuesday was only that he and the Red Sox "mutually agreed to part ways," as the press release read. MLB still hasn't announced his punishment. Anything up to and including a lifetime ban from the game would not be surprising at this point.

In some ways, as is the case with Hinch, you feel for Cora, who quickly became a beloved figure in Boston and treated everyone from his players to fans and ballpark vendors with kindness and respect.

"I do not want to be a distraction to the Red Sox as they move forward," Cora said in a statement released by the club. "My two years as manager were the best years of my life."

But before feeling too badly, stop and consider how many lives were affected by the cheating.

How about Joe Girardi, who was fired as manager by the New York Yankees after losing Game 7 at Minute Maid Park in the 2017 ALCS? Had the Yankees won that game and advanced to the World Series instead of the Astros, maybe Girardi would still be managing in the Bronx.

How about the Los Angeles Dodgers, who lost consecutive World Series in '17 to the Astros, who now have been convicted of cheating, and to the Red Sox, whose '18 season—in which Cora was managing—is under investigation by MLB for the same stuff?

How about Yu Darvish, whose reputation was left in tatters as the Astros swung away with impunity against him in the '17 World Series? How about Clayton Kershaw, who was mugged in Houston in that World Series by a team that likely knew what he was throwing? How different might his ragged postseason reputation be had things gone differently?

How about the Cleveland Indians, who were mowed down in the '18 playoffs by Houston in as bad a mismatch as Muhammad Ali vs. Pee-wee Herman?

On and on it goes, organizations and lives affected by a devious, postmodern cheating scheme that arrived as an unintended consequence of baseball's move to institute instant replay. A replay room and endless cameras and monitors in the clubhouse—and apparent subsequent failure to anticipate that something like this could happen.

What a colossal mess.

And now comes the cleanup in Houston, Boston and, likely, beyond, like following a circus-parade elephant with a shovel.

In Boston, barely more than a year after a World Series title, both the general manager (Dave Dombrowski, fired last September) and the field manager are gone. When Chaim Bloom, Boston's new chief baseball officer, decides who will manage the Red Sox, it will be, incredibly, the club's fifth manager in 10 years. This for an organization that's won four World Series titles in the past 16 seasons.

In-house, Bloom could promote highly regarded bench coach Ron Roenicke, who managed Milwaukee from 2011-15 and was hired in Boston as Cora's bench coach in 2018. Former Boston catcher Jason Varitek has been mentioned as a candidate seemingly since the day he retired. Or, Bloom could move in a totally different direction and tab someone he knows from his tenure with the Tampa Bay Rays.

Regardless, in a twisted sense, that might be the least of Bloom's worries. The Red Sox still face an enormous financial puzzle with their payroll and might end up having to trade All-Star Mookie Betts if they cannot induce him to sign long-term—and there are no indications they will. Or, they may have to deal Jackie Bradley Jr. And, they very well may be tasked with trying to attach the remaining three years, $96 million of lefty David Price's contract to a Bradley or Betts trade.

It already had been mostly a disaster of an offseason for Boston before the Sox and MLB perp-walked Cora right out of town. Now, unspool the firehoses and blast away.

Throughout the game, from Houston to Boston to New York, it's hot and getting hotter. And unfortunately for all, not exactly in a good, ol' Hot Stove League sense either.

As Bloom attempts to plot the Red Sox's future, the organization awaits the verdict on MLB's investigation and whatever sanctions that brings to Boston. In New York, we're reaching the point where we'll take odds on whether Beltran is still around when pitchers and catchers report to Port St. Lucie next month.

In the distance, alarms continue to blare.

                            

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow Scott on Twitter and talk baseball.

 

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On 1/15/2020 at 4:10 AM, Scott Dierking said:

Those are not specifics, and I have not read specifics other than "he was one of the players that said they could convey signals better".

I am not supporting or spewing guilt on Beltran here, just trying to understand what he specifically did. I did not get that from my quick read of the report.

 

What a waste.  I was actually looking forward to him as manager.  Ill pick the coaching staff.

Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling, Todd Zeile, David Wright

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3 minutes ago, JetsMetsDevilsPA said:

 

What a waste.  I was actually looking forward to him as manager.  Ill pick the coaching staff.

Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling, Todd Zeile, David Wright

You bring in an internal candidate on a 1 year contract. Then let Cohen and whomever his GM is pick the new manager.

MLB manager is the most overrated coaching position in sport

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2 hours ago, Scott Dierking said:

So the Mets are now considering the one, really the only manager I could not stomach, Dusty Baker? The guy that leaves pitching staffs in ruins?

Just give Rojas or Muelens the 1-year job and reevaluate when Cohen takes over next year.

If he's willing, bring Terry Collins back for one year. Wait till Cohen gets approved, have Stevie show Brodie the door, and get the people in charge here that will bring the Mets back to where they belong.

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