In December, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said it would be a disaster if MLB was forced to cancel games due to the MLB imposed lockout. On what was the final day of negotiations to save the 162 game season, Manfred was caught working on his golf game.
Associated Press photo taken by Lynne Sladky earlier this afternoon of MLB commissioner Rob Manfred at Roger Dean Stadium, where labor talks are being held. pic.twitter.com/isAzV6P86o
— Michael Silverman (@MikeSilvermanBB) March 1, 2022
Now, you may say that’s unfair or blown out of proportion, but it’s not. Really, this is indicative of what Manfred has been as the commissioner. One minute he’s serving up empty platitudes; the next he’s working at his golf game while others are negotiating.
Consider the fact the lockout happened on December 2, 2022. MLB followed with complete radio silence in their dealings with the MLBPA, and their first offer didn’t occur until 43 days later.
FORTY-THREE DAYS.
Reporter asks why real bargaining didn’t begin until three months after the lockout started
Rob Manfred literally does not answer the question pic.twitter.com/HQOSQaIQ9L
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) March 1, 2022
When the two sides convened, Colorado Rockies owner Dick Monfort was the main story talking about the difficulty of financially owning a team. It’s an absurd talking point considering Monfort has seen the Rockies value increase a billion in value since he purchased the team.
Despite all that, Manfred echoed those sentiments in his giggling press conference.
Even though Monfort’s antics led to the other owners asking him not to be in the sessions, Monfort returned. Yes, it’s due to his being the chairman of the labor committee.
That’s indicative of his power, and we’re seeing just how much he’s effectively wielding it. For example, consider MLB’s final offer to the MLBPA which didn’t address service time manipulation and made little to no CBT raises.
MLB's best-and-final offer:
– No changes to CBT thresholds (220/220/220/224/230)
– A $5M increase on pre-arb bonus pool from $25M to $30M
– An increase of minimums from $675K to $700K, moving up $10K/year— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 1, 2022
MLB was led by Monfort in these negotiations. It wasn’t just in Monfort’s position but in terms of the offers presented. It was in the nature of negotiations and the offers presented.
Remember, this is the same owner who got in hot water for nasty and angry emails to Rockies fans. In those emails, he actively told fans to not come to the park and said Denver didn’t deserve a team.
We saw that same arrogance in the CBA discussions. When all was said and done, he led the MLB to make a final offer they knew the players would never take. He got his wish with no fans coming to the park.
At the end of the day, the commissioner answers to the owners. When you have an effective commissioner, he leads the owners to where they may not want to go for the good of the sport.
When you have a commissioner like Manfred, you don’t have a commissioner. All power has been ceded, and the organization is left rudderless.
That is, until, Monfort filled the gap. He’s the driving force of these negotiations. He was negotiating long before Manfred showed up. It was the case when Manfred was working on his golf game.
Manfred may have the title of commissioner, but it’s Monfort who acts like it.
When Matt Harvey was with the New York Mets, there were some warning signs. The biggest might’ve been when he missed the postseason workout at Citi Field right before the Mets headed to Los Angeles for Game 1 of the 2015 NLDS. Of course, there was loud and unconfirmed speculation Harvey had a drug problem when he failed to show up to Citi Field leading to his suspension.
As we found out in his testimony in the criminal case involving Tyler Skaggs‘ death from an overdose, Harvey has a drug problem. During his time with the Mets, Harvey was using cocaine while partying. This is just a sad reminder to Mets fans on how Dwight Gooden‘s and Darryl Strawberry‘s Hall of Fame caliber talent didn’t find its way to Cooperstown because of their drug abuse. Like with Harvey, neither Doc nor Darryl ever received the help they needed.
As we discovered, Harvey was using cocaine when he went to the Los Angeles Angels. Harvey also said teams never asked him if he had a drug problem. That does seem odd considering what people were very loudly whispering behind the scenes about him.
For Harvey, it wasn’t just cocaine. He also had a problem with painkillers. From his testimony, we never discovered the genesis of that abuse, and trying to play a guessing game here would be irresponsible and unfair. That said, Harvey did testify there was a culture where players used painkillers to try to stay on the field. The fact he received pills from a hockey player seems to point to a great issue across sports.
What’s astounding is Harvey saying he and other players, like Skaggs, would use/abuse the painkillers in the clubhouse and even the dugout. Make no mistake here. If Harvey and Skaggs were doing it, and they were getting pills from players in other sports, there is a much larger issue here. We do not know the full scope, and we may never find out. However, there is a significant problem when players have such easy access to these drugs, and they have no issue using them around other people.
We know it is something which led to Skaggs’ death. We know there are many players who have developed an addiction to painkillers. Former Packers QB Brett Favre is one of them. Some may have believed this was just an NFL issue, but apparently, it is much larger than that.
Now, reminiscent of Keith Hernandez in the infamous Pittsburgh Drug Trials, Harvey is testifying about his abuse and the abuse of a dead teammate. Hernandez estimated there were about 40% of players using cocaine back then, and we just saw Harvey testify about what he has seen with painkillers. Like Hernandez saw what happened to Doc and Darryl, Harvey saw what happened to Skaggs and perhaps other teammates.
For that matter, Harvey has his own what if story with his career. Ultimately, yes, TOS was what forever impacted Harvey’s career. However, we don’t know how much the painkillers and cocaine might’ve stopped him from getting the treatment he needed when he needed it. Fair or not, Harvey did testify he believes it all impacted his career negatively. There are those who will forever hold it against him no matter how unfair it is.
In the end, you can only hope Harvey is clean, and he has received or will receive the help he needs. You can also hope with new Mets owners there is an entirely different culture where players like Harvey get the help they need. As we look forward, you can’t help but wonder what this all means for Harvey as he will now publicly live the rest of his life as a known drug addict and as someone who is still looking to hold onto his fleeting MLB career.
Nothing, MLB got you nothing,. Instead, they are going to attempt to make sure Spring Training and Opening Day are delayed.
With that being the case, enjoy the Olympics. With the Knicks out of if and the Nets teetering, perhaps, it would be wise to really invest in the Rangers who are in playoff position and have the players need to make a deep run.
After the Stanley Cup playoffs are over, perhaps then, Rob Manfred and the owners will look to try to get you around 20-22 games this season.
With the institution of the universal DH, MLB has officially killed off National League Baseball. As such, the only real difference between the two leagues is their names. One just happens to be the American League, and the other just happens to be the National. Why are we even bothering anymore?
It’s not like changing up divisions and leagues is unheard of in this sport. Tom Seaver led the Mets to the first ever NL East title in 1969. Prior to that, there were no divisions in either league. Fast forward to 1994, and the Montreal Expos would have won the division led by players like Moises Alou, Cliff Floyd, and Pedro Martinez. Of course, that season didn’t reach completion because of the strike.
As a result, the first World Series with a Wild Card in the postseason was won by the Atlanta Braves with Tom Glavine taking home World Series MVP honors. The Braves would win the NL East as part of their journey. An interesting fact here is the Braves won the first ever NL West title, and they actually played the Mets in the inaugural NLCS.
Baseball has moved and changed teams and divisional structures as they have seen fit. When baseball expanded in 1998 to include the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays, the Milwaukee Brewers were moved from the AL Central to the NL Central. In 2013, the Houston Astros, who were an expansion team the same season as the Mets, were switched from the NL Central to the AL West because baseball wanted six five team divisions.
Things change according to the random whims of the commissioner. We see that has happened with the institution of the universal DH, and we are likely going to see it again with MLB trying to increase the amount of postseason teams from the current five per league to seven per league. That is again completely radical, and it cries for the need for another correlative move.
Before delving further, one of the reasons for the push for an expanded postseason is increased revenues. It should also be noted the reason for revenue sharing and compensation systems is to address the (laughable) assertions owning an MLB franchise isn’t profitable and costs need to be reduced. One major cost which can be cut is travel fees.
To do that, you can more geographically align the divisions of baseball like it is done in the NBA and NHL. After all, we see MLB trying to more align their sport like those, so why not take a look at what that would look like:
Northeast League
- Baltimore Orioles
- Boston Red Sox
- New York Mets
- New York Yankees
- Philadelphia Phillies
- Pittsburgh Pirates
- Toronto Blue Jays
- Washington Nationals
Southern League
- Atlanta Braves
- Cincinnati Reds
- Houston Astros
- Miami Marlins
- Tampa Bay Rays
- Texas Rangers
- EXPANSION
- EXPANSION
Central League
- Chicago Cubs
- Chicago White Sox
- Cleveland Guardians
- Detroit Tigers
- Kansas City Royals
- Milwaukee Brewers
- Minnesota Twins
- St. Louis Cardinals
Western League
- Arizona Diamondbacks
- Colorado Rockies
- Los Angeles Angels
- Los Angeles Dodgers
- Oakland Athletics
- San Diego Padres
- San Francisco Giants
- Seattle Mariners
Yes, this does call for the inclusion of two expansion teams. Let’s face it. It is well past time for MLB to expand. If the NHL can support 32 teams, MLB certainly can. There are markets in the United States and Canada which have been relatively untapped, and to a certain extent, the minor league retraction has created a void in many communities for baseball. At least geographically, the southeast with cities like Raleigh and Nashville makes sense, but MLB can look elsewhere and align differently if it makes more financial sense.
As for the blowing up of some rivalries, well, that’s a consequence. That said, it wasn’t a concern when the Brewers and Astros changed leagues. There is also the important consideration the geographical rivalries will be off the charts, and there will certainly be the development of new rivalries.
Now, the next step is especially radical, but then again, so was the death of National League baseball. Before delving further, we first need to acknowledge baseball’s crown jewel is the World Series. Baseball needs to do all it can endeavor to create the best possible World Series matchups to generate more fan interest. The best way to do that is to actually set up the best possible match-ups in the World Series.
For that, just eliminate the AL and NL in its entirety. Instead, just have the four divisions. If you want to keep an AL and NL for nostalgia stake and create new names for the other two divisions, fine. That said, the World Series should abandon the concept of the AL against the NL. Instead, it should be the two best postseason teams.
This is where MLB can borrow a bit from the NHL. Since MLB wants an expanded postseason, they can have the top three teams in each division make the postseason. After that, the next eight non-automatic qualifying teams, regardless of division and division rank, can play a one game Wild Card Game to qualify for the Division Series. The World Series will instantly become increasingly more interesting.
The potential match-ups can radically change. For example, one year, the Mets and Cardinals could meet in the World Series, and the next, they could meet in the Championship Series. As a bit of added intrigue, under this format, MLB could get their biggest dream to come true with a Yankees-Red Sox World Series. The ratings and revenues from that may set records never before seen.
Overall, MLB has been forever changed with the death of National League baseball. As a result, instead of trying to hold onto some vestiges of the NL, it is time to just let it go away entirely and focus on what would create the most interesting and exciting baseball. Creating a four league format would be refreshing, and it would create the best possible postseasons. From there, genuine interest (and associated revenues) would grow putting baseball in the best footing it has been in a century.
With the return of the Old Timer’s Day, we are going to see some of the most beloved Mets in history return and play a game in front of adoring fans. We will once again get to see beloved players like Cliff Floyd, Daniel Murphy, and Robin Ventura return for the day. It is going to be a great and emotional experience.
Those are players forever in Mets lore. We will always love them for what they did on the field. Not all of them had the biggest personalities. There are, however, some Mets who had the innate ability to become fan favorites without so much as dominating.
One player all over the baseball news is Tsuyoshi Shinjo. The formet Met was hired as the manager of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. Sorry, as Shinjo says, he isn’t the manager, but he is rather the “Big Boss.” This is just Shinjo being Shinjo. No one has better understand the great theatre baseball can be in the moments outside of the action. After all, he used to name his homers and orchestrated his own epic retirement ceremony
Baseball needs that type of theatre, and the Mets are the perfect frachise to embrace it. Shinjo can create a spectacle which could garner attention and interest. Really, teams pay a lot of money to hire people who try to figure out the things Shinjo just does on his own, and it comes naturally to him. Whether as a part of the coaching staff, televsion, or just as a team ambassador, Shinjo would make Mets games that much more entertaining.
In recent history, Mets games have probably not been as much fun as they were in 2015. A large part of that was the Mets winning the pennant. Another component of that was the force of nature that was Juan Uribe.
Uribe was the perfect addition to that Mets team. First and foremost, he was the real stopgap third baseman the team needed. He would quickly ingratiate himself to Mets fans with a walk-off hit in his second game with the team. He would then become a larger than life character for needling David Wright, objecting to football being played on TV, and for declaring he doesn’t wear a cup in the field because there isn’t one big enough for him.
Uribe was great in the clubhouse keeping the team on an even keel and upbeat during their first real pennant race. He was also a leader who helped the team reach their full potential that season. In some ways, his presence was missed the following season as he helped a Cleveland team get to the next level. Certainly, you want to believe there is room for him to do the same again for the Mets in some capacity.
Finally, there is Curtis Granderson. Aside possibly being the best human being to ever don a Mets uniform, Granderson was as fun a player as there was. He was not just terrific on the field, but he was also the genius behind the We Follow Lucas Duda Instagram account. Granderson didn’t just understand how to make baseball fun on the field, he knew how to do it off the field as well. The fact he is a great person on top of it makes it all the more important to get him to return in some capacity.
Overall, the Mets franchise has had a number of colorful characters. From Roger McDowell to the hot foots to Pete Alonso with the fake hitting coaches, you need a certain personality to handle and thrive in New York. While the Mets do need to honor their greats, they also need to find a way to better incorporate those players who made the Mets the fun team they are and hopefully always will be.
The New York Mets made the announcement they are officially bringing back Old Timer’s Day. So far, it has been announced Mets greats Cliff Floyd, Howard Johnson, Daniel Murphy, and Robin Ventura will be there. We are undoubtedly going to see many other greats.
As we work through the list of players which will undoubtedly include Mike Piazza and David Wright, the most important player would be Carlos Beltran. This would set the perfect stage and opportunity for the best free agent signing and center fielder in team history to return.
The saga of Beltran and the Mets is in many ways a story still unfolding. During his playing days, he was never fully appreciated by the fans. Part of that was his very disappointing first year in Flushing, and then in 2006, when he was everything and more the fans expected, he would strikeout looking to end the NLCS. After that, while Beltran was great, he was part of the Mets teams who collapsed in consecutive seasons.
From there, he was a bit injury prone. Lost in everything was the Wilpons interference with his ability to get the treatments he needed. There was also the fact he graciously accepted a move to right field because it was what was best for the team. After his departure, it did seem Beltran was better received by Mets fans as evidenced by the ovation at the 2013 All-Star Game.
Of course, we know all too well Beltarn was initially hired to replace Mickey Callaway. He wouldn’t get the chance to manage one game because of his role in the Houston Astros cheating scandal. To date, he is the only player to face any discipline as the callow Wilpons fired him.
Sadly, it wasn’t the Mets who gave Beltran his path back into baseball. That would be the Yankees. Much like how Beltran began his post playing career working in the Yankees front office, he will be part of the Yankees’ YES studio shows. It is something the Mets could’ve potentially done with SNY, but it should be noted the Wilpons still owned the network, and as such, Steve Cohen didn’t have the chance.
This is now Cohen’s opportunity. He can reach out to Beltran and bring him back for a big ovation at Citi Field. He can remember him of all that was great during his time, and that Beltran will go to Cooperstown largely because of his time with the Mets.
Remember, Beltran will be on the ballot for the first time next season. Looking through his career, Beltran will likely have three choices for his Hall of Fame cap: (1) Royals; (2) Mets; or (3) blank. Beltran played more games for the Mets than any other team. He also accumulated his highest WAR, all three of his Gold Gloves, both of his Silver Sluggers, and five of his nine All-Star appearances with the Mets.
Fact is, Beltran will go to the Hall of Fame because of what he did in a Mets uniform. He belongs in Cooperstown as a Met, and his 15 should be retired. However, there is evidently still some healing which needs to occur to secure Beltran wearing that Mets cap. That should begin with Old Timer’s Day. It’s an excellent opportunity for a first step, and hopefully, it will be a big step in what can be a journey for Beltran emerging as a great former Mets ambassador for years to come.
With the addition of Max Scherzer, it would appear the New York Mets rotation is set. After all, they already have Jacob deGrom, Carlos Carrasco, and Taijuan Walker returning. They also have two interesting young pitchers in Tylor Megill and David Peterson, who should be given every opportunity to battle for the fifth spot in the rotation.
Looking at Megill first, he was a revelation when he was called up to the majors. Through his first seven starts, he was 2-1 with a 2.04 ERA while walking 11 and striking out 39 over 35.1 innings. For some, he was reminiscent of deGrom, and you could argue it was more like John Maine in 2006. Whatever the case, he pitched well in what was then a pennant race.
After those seven starts, Megill tapered off as he reached innings he never reached in his career. Over his final 11 starts, Megill was 3-6 with a 6.13 ERA while averaging just under 5.0 innings per start. On the bright side, his control remained strong with 16 walks and 60 strikeouts over 54.1 innings. When you see him, there is something very promising there, and it’s incumbent on the Mets to best figure out how to allocate his innings to have him ready for September and October.
Peterson was a different story. He followed a promising albeit statistically troubling rookie season during the pandemic with a poor and injury shortened second year. It’s difficult to know when the oblique began to start bothering him and impacting his performance, but Peterson followed a season with a 4.52 FIP with a 4.78. We would see his 125 ERA+ fall more in line with the FIP dropping to a very poor 73 in 2021. While the strikeouts went up, the walks remained high.
With these two, Peterson has the better pedigree as he’s a former first round pick. However, Megill has better recent success. All told, they are both still a bit raw for the Major League level. You can certainly justify giving one or both of them a spot in the rotation. The better option would be to keep them both in Triple-A to allow them to further battle it out and get ready for when the Mets staff has an inevitable injury.
Keep in mind, the Mets needed 19 starting pitchers last season. Of course, part of that was using pitchers like Aaron Loup and Miguel Castro as openers, but the point remains they needed that many starters. Marcus Stroman was their only starter to make at least 30 starts, and he signed with the Chicago Cubs last season. What the Mets need more than anything right now is pitching depth, and with their having a lack of near Major League ready starters in the upper levels of the minors, they need to manufacture that depth.
With that in mind, the Mets need to sign another starter whenever this lockout ends. Keep in mind, future Hall of Famers Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw are still available. There are other interesting stopgap options as well, and of course, there is also Trevor Williams, who the Mets added at the trade deadline last year.
Whatever the case, the Mets have four very solid starting pitching options if they’re healthy. In fact, when they’re healthy, they’re the top four in the majors. That’s the key. They have to be healthy, and the Mets have to plan for the event they won’t be. That is exactly why Megill and Peterson should be positioned to start the year in Triple-A whenever they permit this 2022 season to begin.
Babe Ruth is widely considered the greatest baseball player who ever lived. In his era, he would out-homer entire teams. When he hit 60 homers in 1927, he passed the single season home run mark. Of course, he was beating his own mark, a feat he would accomplish on a number of occasions.
By the way, Ruth was also an accomplished pitcher. He had a career 122 ERA+, and he once held the record for consecutive scoreless innings in the World Series. No one in the history of baseball would dominate the sport in the way he did.
Fast-forward a century later, and many people scoff at the notion Ruth is the greatest player in Major League history. Their argument is Ruth never faced the type of pitching we see in the modern game. Assuredly, Jacob deGrom and his stuff would make Walter Johnson look like a Four-A pitcher . . . at best.
Of course, part of that misses the point. A century ago, deGrom would never make it to the Major Leagues. Remember, deGrom would undergo Tommy John surgery in 2010. We wouldn’t see Tommy John undergo that surgery until 39 years after Ruth played his last game. To put it further in perspective, medicine was so far behind where it was now that penicillin wasn’t discovered by Alexander Fleming until Ruth was in his 15th Major League season.
If you were to put modern day pitchers back in the game a century ago, they couldn’t compete, or better yet, they wouldn’t be anywhere near the pitchers they are now. There aren’t the modern training techniques or training. There isn’t the focus on changing baseballs as frequently as they do now.
In fact, it was routine until 1920 that one baseball would be used per game. As a result, you would get dirty, heavy, and hard to pick up on baseballs. While that would suppress pitch velocity, it would also reduce exit velocity. It wasn’t until Ray Chapman‘s death, that things would change.
Aside from that, while it is true Ruth probably never saw a pitcher like Noah Syndergaard‘s fastball or slider, pitches were routinely scuffed, and pitchers were permitted to use the spit ball (and likely used many other substances). Fact is, every time Ruth stepped to the plate, he was effectively facing Mike Scott on the mound. Also, keep in mind, someone like Johnson or Smoky Joe Wood was throwing their fastballs in the lower 90s.
Another consideration is during Ruth’s playing days, he routinely used bats which weighted as much as 54 ounces. The modern day bat weighs around 33 – 36 ounces. Ruth was hitting the ball when it was likely mostly thrown in the 70s and 80s. Keep in mind, he was hitting the ball out of ballparks whose fences were typically deeper
Even if we were to assume Ruth could not keep up with the current velocity, he could drop 15 ounces on his bat and be much better positioned to catch up to that velocity. It should also be noted Ruth would be using a significantly better quality bat than he was using a century ago.
That’s exactly the point. If you put Ruth into baseball a century later, he would have every advantage the modern day player has. If you put the modern day player in baseball a century ago, they may not be able to even step on the field. Overall, Ruth dominated his era like no one ever has or ever will. If you gave him all of the modern advantages, or you took them away from the modern player, he would absolutely destroy those pitchers because Ruth was that great.
Back in 1995, after the cancellation of the 1994 World Series, the Major League owners opted to lock out the striking players, and they began the process of using replacement players. Their plans were foiled when now Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor put a preliminary injunction in place.
The ruling fortunately put the replacement player plan to bed, but it cast many players with a black mark. One of those players was New York Mets pitcher Rick Reed.
Reed was put in a completely impossible position. At the time, Reed was a borderline player who needed an income to pay for his mother’s medical bills. He was told by the Cincinnati Reds if he did not agree to become a replacement player, he was going to be released and blackballed from the game. In many ways, he had no other option.
It was something which ate him up inside in the moment and years to come. He was no longer a part of the union, and during his brief time in the majors in 1995, he was ostracized in the Cincinnati Reds clubhouse. After the season, he was granted free agency leading to his becoming a member of the New York Mets.
By and large, it was the best thing to happen for Reed and the Mets. There may be many reasons why he didn’t face the same backlash as the other replacement players did or what he faced in Cincinnati. Part of the reason was Bobby Valentine had his back after his success in Norfolk. The Mets had a strong clubhouse, and they already had one of their own replacement players in Benny Agbayani.
Mostly, it might have just been he pitched very well for the Mets. He was an extraordinary surprise going quickly from the bullpen to the rotation. It was a career best year where he had a team best 2.89 ERA and 141 ERA+. Reed would only build and grow from there becoming a gutsy veteran presence in the Mets rotation.
He backed that season up by being an All-Star in 1998 (and would be again in 2001), and he would help the Mets win the 1999 Wild Card. He stepped up with a huge 12 strikeout performance pulling the Mets to a tie with his former Reds team for the last Wild Card spot. Reed would then win the first ever NLDS Game in Shea Stadium history.
Reed would go on to become a top 10 pitcher in Mets history. He was eventually accepted by his teammates, and he was beloved by Mets fans. However, despite all of that, he was left forever banned from MLB because he needed to pay his mother’s medical bills, and he didn’t want his MLB career to be over before it eventually began. That’s why you’ll never see him in a video game.
Right now, it does not appear MLB has any intention to repeating the use of replacement players. They seem more than content to cancel games while they wait out the players. That said, who knows how long it will be before MLB gets that idea in their head again and puts the next Rick Reed in another impossible situation. Hopefully, that day will never come.