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OT: New York Mets 2021-2022 Off Season Thread

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Bob Gibson was a bad ass from what I read. He was little bit before my time as a fan, but he was even intimidating on the Primatene Mist commercials that I remember growing up!
Look up his beanball war with Tom Seaver.
 
Another older book, 60 Feet, Six Inches by Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson was a good read. Had not realized (or forgot) that Bob Gibson passed away from pancreatic cancer in October 2020.
Thanks for the tip. Will look for it over the weekend.
 
Is there ANYTHING ONLINE (YouTube or whatever) of video of Dodgers or Mets games played in the Polo Grounds. Other than some highlights, NOTHING.
 
It’s old but I thought Jim Bouton s “ Ball 4” was a great and funny read.
A great, great book that still is a good read.
Two of my favorite sports books are Ball Four and Jerry Kramer's Instant Replay. Both diaries of a season, they came from different directions. Kramer was very establishment while Bouton was outside of the baseball establishment.
There is a connection between the 2 books. In Instant Replay Kramer talks about an article in Look Magazine about Lombardi that was not complimentary and hurt the coach and his wife quite a bit. After the Ice Bowl Kramer went out of his way to dispute the article. Well the guy who wrote was Leonard Schecter who a few years later was Bouton's editor on Ball Four.
 
There will most certainly be a baseball season, but it will almost certainly be less than 162 games.

As you know the owners have established a February 28 deadline for settlement, otherwise we don't play a full season. Which equals missed paychecks. The players have responded that this is an arbitrary deadline, even if the season starts late we can make the missed games up via 7 inning doubleheaders. MLB said nope, we're not doing that.

I continue to believe that the small market owners (who are in the majority) are driving this process, and are quite willing to miss some early season, bad weather games. Those games are not money makers anyway. They believe they can wait the players out. So we'll see.
 
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A great, great book that still is a good read.
Two of my favorite sports books are Ball Four and Jerry Kramer's Instant Replay. Both diaries of a season, they came from different directions. Kramer was very establishment while Bouton was outside of the baseball establishment.
There is a connection between the 2 books. In Instant Replay Kramer talks about an article in Look Magazine about Lombardi that was not complimentary and hurt the coach and his wife quite a bit. After the Ice Bowl Kramer went out of his way to dispute the article. Well the guy who wrote was Leonard Schecter who a few years later was Bouton's editor on Ball Four.
I read and reread both. I was 11 when Ball Four came out and when my mother found out what it was really like she was none too happy.
 
Since it looks like no baseball for a while, anyone have any good baseball books? I just started re-reading Split Season about the 1981 strike year. Just ordered 1930, about the 1930 season where offense dominated. Looking for some other suggestions as this may go long.
The Last Good Season by Michael Shapiro . The end of the dodgers run in Brooklyn . Fascinating political stuff between O’Malley and Moses
 
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The Last Good Season by Michael Shapiro . The end of the dodgers run in Brooklyn . Fascinating political stuff between O’Malley and Moses
There was a great documentary on HBO many years ago about the Dodgers leaving Brooklyn. O'Malley wanted to build a state of the art stadium in downtown Brooklyn - at the exact spot where Barclays Arena is now located where the LIRR depot is. Moses, on the other hand, wanted the Dodgers to move to Queens where Citifield is located which infuriated O' Malley and right fully so - given the Dodgers were the 'Brooklyn" Dodgers.
 
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Since it looks like no baseball for a while, anyone have any good baseball books? I just started re-reading Split Season about the 1981 strike year. Just ordered 1930, about the 1930 season where offense dominated. Looking for some other suggestions as this may go long.
"The Year the Mets Lost Last Place" cool book about the 69 season
 
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ICYMI - Negotiations continued until 2:30 AM as the 2/28 deadline came and went. The parties reportedly made substantial progress but no agreement. They agreed to reconvene at 11:00 AM today and set a new and presumably final deadline of 5:00 PM. So we should know today if we have a 162 game season or not.
 
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There was a great documentary on HBO many years ago about the Dodgers leaving Brooklyn. O'Malley wanted to build a state of the art stadium in downtown Brooklyn - at the exact spot where Barclays Arena is now located where the LIRR depot is. Moses, on the other hand, wanted the Dodgers to move to Queens where Citifield is located which infuriated O' Malley and right fully so - given the Dodgers were the 'Brooklyn" Dodgers.
That was a good one
 
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No. All that has been announced thus far is that the first two series (i.e., one week) is cancelled. Regardless of home or away.
I agree. The owners will want the schedule adjusted so every team loses some home games. Also the players have said no expanded post season unless they get all the games or at least all the pay. Owners want an expanded post season and will probably adjust the schedule to make it work as long as they resolve it this week. After this week who knows.
 
I agree. The owners will want the schedule adjusted so every team loses some home games. Also the players have said no expanded post season unless they get all the games or at least all the pay. Owners want an expanded post season and will probably adjust the schedule to make it work as long as they resolve it this week. After this week who knows.
So the owners might as well reduce the season from 162 back to 154 or less since the reports says that some of them hate April Baseball. You can’t have your cake and eat it too with that.

So the owners are pleading poverty even though they have been making billions every year. Good thing they’re not the ushers, security, concession people who are making ZERO as of now while the owners still collects on merch at the least.
 
So, now with the DH and Cohen not caring about the luxury tax- is Bryant or Freemen next?
 
Let's do this!!

Unbelievable they needed to put in a Steve Cohen tax 4th tier of the CBT.
 
Very curious to see if Cano has anything left or if the year off eroded his skills to the point he is a 1973 Willie Mays.
 
Very curious to see if Cano has anything left or if the year off eroded his skills to the point he is a 1973 Willie Mays.
We do have a small sample to review: Cano's 74 at bats in the 2021 Dominican Winter League. Mixed results. He slashed .344/.419/.406. So the average was there, but not the power. No homers.
 
Let's do this!!

Unbelievable they needed to put in a Steve Cohen tax 4th tier of the CBT.
Cohen is the new big bad wolf of MLB. Based on the actions of other teams over the last year, it's clear some, if not the majority, didn't want Cohen to own the Mets. It's like the other owners have placed landmines in front of Cohen to prevent him from having success. Several owners didn't want him to buy the Mets out of fear he'd spend them out of existence. Did they really want JLo and ARod to own the Mets? I guess so, so the team would continue to struggle as a big market team and not threaten smaller market owners. Next, they put up roadblocks when Cohen attempted to hire a GM. It was clear that collusion was in play. There is no way that many qualified persons passed on being a GM for a major market team. Now the new CBT is code for Steve Cohen tax.
 
Pete and Freeman would alternate DH and 1B. Dominic Smith would either be traded or moved to outfield on a permanent basis.
They moved Smith to the outfield because Pete wants the 1b job and wants to be on the field not a dh. Later in his career you move him but not in year 3. Freeman is not coming to be a full time DH. Sign Bryant and let him play some 3B, LF and DH. Gives you more flexibility. Freeman is certainly a better player but a luxury on this team.
 
Pete and Freeman would alternate DH and 1B. Dominic Smith would either be traded or moved to outfield on a permanent basis.
If Atlanta is walking away from Freeman, then the Mets should be wary of what is left in the tank. Atlanta does an excellent job of getting the most out of a player and walking away at the right time.

Why do so many of you want a senior citizen team? How many old guys are you going to sign?

Dom Smith gives you more flexibility, and he is cheap.

You guys want Bryant, Freeman, but you forget the Mets are stuck with Cano. How many big contracts do you want to be stuck with and the guys who are not starters? Cano is not a starter anymore. Freeman is not going to start over Alfonso.
 
Before the lockout and after Max signed
If Atlanta is walking away from Freeman, then the Mets should be wary of what is left in the tank. Atlanta does an excellent job of getting the most out of a player and walking away at the right time.

Why do so many of you want a senior citizen team? How many old guys are you going to sign?

Dom Smith gives you more flexibility, and he is cheap.

You guys want Bryant, Freeman, but you forget the Mets are stuck with Cano. How many big contracts do you want to be stuck with and the guys who are not starters? Cano is not a starter anymore. Freeman is not going to start over Alfonso.
Before the lockout and after Max signed there was talk the Mets were ready to add another big contract. That remains to be seen. The poster posed the question in a vacuum who would you rather have. Taking it outside those parameters, I personally would like to add a pitcher.
Anyway its good to be talking baseball again.
 
Before the lockout and after Max signed

Before the lockout and after Max signed there was talk the Mets were ready to add another big contract. That remains to be seen. The poster posed the question in a vacuum who would you rather have. Taking it outside those parameters, I personally would like to add a pitcher.
Anyway its good to be talking baseball again.
I'm with you on adding a pitcher. The Mets could use a starter for more depth, and you can never have enough bullpen help.
 
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If Atlanta is walking away from Freeman, then the Mets should be wary of what is left in the tank. Atlanta does an excellent job of getting the most out of a player and walking away at the right time.

Why do so many of you want a senior citizen team? How many old guys are you going to sign?

Dom Smith gives you more flexibility, and he is cheap.

You guys want Bryant, Freeman, but you forget the Mets are stuck with Cano. How many big contracts do you want to be stuck with and the guys who are not starters? Cano is not a starter anymore. Freeman is not going to start over Alfonso.
Freeman is going to get 500-600 AB’s for the next 4 years if no injuries. He is a no brainer for any team that signs him.
 
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