Quote from WindsorUK on October 5, 2022, 9:29 am

Quote from MrPadre19 on October 5, 2022, 3:40 am

Quote from WindsorUK on September 29, 2022, 6:32 am

Quote from LynchMob on September 28, 2022, 4:00 pm

Gabe Arias with HR #1 today for Guardians ...

While I miss guys like this ... none of them are really chaffing ... maybe Quantrill ... who do you miss most?

For me it was Naylor ... now it's CJ ... likely to be Bobby Barrels ...

Naylor, Miller, Quantril, and even Hedges have all been instrumental in Clevelands push to the playoffs. We'll regret that trade for a long time....especially if Arias now starts to contribute like we here think he can/will.

CJ will definitely be fun to watch as well....

Don’t forget Joey Cantillo.

He had a great season for the Clev. Farm.

 

Of course.

Joey has a chance of being in a big league rotation. We gave up A LOT to get....not much.

Quote from LynchMob on October 6, 2022, 9:36 am

Joel Sherman in the Post this morning:

The Mets are planning to start Max Scherzer in Game 1 of their Wild-Card Series against the Padres and — in their best scenario — are contemplating a strategy to not use Jacob deGrom at all in this round. It harkens to a ploy Buck Showalter used in 1995 when he first made the playoffs as a manager with the Yankees.

If the Mets beat San Diego in Game 1 and, thus, do not face elimination Saturday, Chris Bassitt would start Game 2.

If the Mets lose the opener, the strategy would be to start deGrom in Game 2 to try to avoid elimination. If the Mets win the opener, but then lose Game 2, deGrom would start Game 3 to attempt to save their season.

But if the Mets were to sweep the Padres in two games, deGrom would be lined up to start Games 1 and 5 against the Dodgers in the Division Series. This strategy is designed to make sure both Scherzer and deGrom would start in the wild-card round if the Mets ever face an elimination game while simultaneously, in the best case, trying to maximize their chances of winning more than just the wild-card round.

The Mets have not made public a final decision on what they are doing after Game 1. They can always go with the plan that seemed destined from the moment Scherzer signed last offseason — to start him and deGrom in the first two games of a playoff series. That would be the easiest and least controversial mode. But the Mets are trying to win more than just the wild-card round and see a potential avenue to do so if they could sweep two games against San Diego without ever using deGrom.

If they go with that strategy, the Mets probably will not publicize the biggest reason; at least not in real time. For no Mets official would ever want to have his players hear them say that they don’t believe the Mets can beat the highest-scoring team (by far) in the majors unless deGrom is available to start Games 1 and 5 at Dodger Stadium while having Scherzer for Game 2 and potentially a relief spot in Game 5 against Los Angeles.

So you have to plumb Showalter’s history because this mirrors in many respects what he faced in 1995 as Yankees manager.

In that year, Showalter’s ace, David Cone, won on Sept. 27 pitching on three days’ rest for the first time in five years. There was an off-day on Sept. 28 and the Yankees went into the final three games in Toronto with a one-game lead on the Angels for the only AL wild-card slot (that was the first season of the wild card).

Jack McDowell, like Cone a former Cy Young winner, had not started since Sept. 21 due to a strained back muscle. Showalter felt McDowell needed more time to be at his best, but would have used him that final weekend if the Yankees faced elimination. Showalter made the decision he would only use Cone on three days’ rest on Sunday also if the Yankees faced elimination or on Monday if they needed to play a one-game playoff against the Angels to save the season.

Why did he do this? In real time, Showalter talked about trusting all of his starters as he almost certainly will if the Mets start Bassitt in Game 2.

But as 1995 faded further and further away, Yankee officials would come to admit that they did not believe the Yanks had much of a chance against the Mariners’ lethal lineup in a best-of-five Division Series unless Cone started Games 1 and 5 while McDowell was available for a start and perhaps help in relief in Game 5 (if needed) in Seattle.

The Yankees and Angels both won Friday and Saturday, keeping the Yankees up by a game. So Showalter had Sterling Hitchcock start Game 162 rather than Cone on short rest to try to clinch. The Yankees beat the Blue Jays, so it didn’t matter what the Angels did (they won) because the Yankees had sealed their first playoff berth since 1981.

The way the playoffs worked then was a two-three format. The Yankees won the first two games at home, including the opener behind Cone. McDowell lost Game 3 and Seattle also won Game 4. So Cone started the decisive Game 5 and pitched valiantly before walking in the tying run in the eighth inning. Showalter brought in the only effective reliever he had in that series, a rookie named Mariano Rivera to get out of the eighth and get the first out in the ninth. But Rivera wasn’t Rivera yet — at least not in accomplishment or full understanding of what he would be by the next year.

So Showalter removed Rivera and turned to McDowell, who got out of the ninth inning, but famously gave up the game-winning, two-run double to Edgar Martinez to eliminate the Yankees in what would be Showalter’s final game as their manager.

Now, Showalter again has two former Cy Young winners. He has a Division Series looming against an offensive powerhouse. He and the Mets are trying to determine how to maximize their chances to win it all, not just a wild-card round.

So, one strategy that has been considered is one that Showalter already implemented more than a quarter of a century ago.

Quote from Henry Silvestre on October 6, 2022, 10:49 am

Post in locker room.. and Sweep the Mets.. 1 game W Next game W... Lets Go Padres!

Quote from Jeremy Hill on October 9, 2022, 9:13 am

Apparently Aroldis Chapman didn't show up to team workouts and is being left off the Yankees ALDS roster.

Quote from fenn68 on October 9, 2022, 10:17 am

Quote from Jeremy Hill on October 9, 2022, 9:13 am

Apparently Aroldis Chapman didn't show up to team workouts and is being left off the Yankees ALDS roster.

$16MM contract …. 35 next season … Free Agent after this season … made the decision (with no acceptable excuse) to spend time in MIAMI instead of being in NY for the playoffs workout.

Never know GMs but if it were me … he is history with the NYY. His teammates can’t be all that happy either.

At 35, might have cost himself some money as a FA this winter … Yankees have more money to re-sign Judge.

Quote from LynchMob on October 12, 2022, 11:15 am

I was at NLCS Game 4, 1984 ... were you? 🙂

https://www.mlb.com/news/yordan-alvarez-case-for-best-postseason-game-ever

The most valuable postseason game ever?

Again: Just by hitters – sorry Don Larsen – and without the context of the round and game. The question being asked here is just how much did you do to help your team win this particular game, in the most important moments?

With a win probability added of +105.2% – and more on how that is possible in a second – it’s now the number one most impactful game in postseason history. You could say no hitter ever did more to help his team win, and you wouldn’t be wrong.

+105% – Alvarez, ALDS Game 1, 2022
+96% – David Freese, WS Game 6, 2011
+87% – Gibson, WS Game 1, 1988
+85% – Steve Garvey, NLCS Game 4, 1984

Quote from MrPadre19 on October 21, 2022, 10:09 am

Bruce Bochy to the Rangers

Quote from BoosterSD on October 24, 2022, 6:51 pm

We bounce LAD from the playoffs, and then I just read that LAD will make a "strong" run at Judge. They mention that it could be possible to sign Judge, move Betts to 2B, and then slide Lux to SS.

That would suck having Judge and Betts in the same line up.

Quote from fenn68 on October 25, 2022, 2:39 am

Quote from BoosterSD on October 24, 2022, 6:51 pm

We bounce LAD from the playoffs, and then I just read that LAD will make a "strong" run at Judge. They mention that it could be possible to sign Judge, move Betts to 2B, and then slide Lux to SS.

That would suck having Judge and Betts in the same line up.

Although LAD would want Judge but this early report of their desire for him might be, in part, a strategy to get his price up for the presumed favorite to sign him … SF. Sort of what they did to SD on the Soto trade. My guess is the Padres paid more for Soto with the story that LAD is the mix. If they get SF focused on paying big for Judge … it saps some of the SF money and reduces the chance of other major moves as other players sign elsewhere.