Beautiful field, great complex but it's freaking hit. Sitting in the dugout, just met Duda, deGrom and Granderson. Having lunch with Keith in a bit, also met Darling, pretty good dude. _
Cuddyer GREAT guy, I think his teammates love him. Sandy for such a bright guy and seemingly stiff can be pretty personable when he's not in front of the camera. _
- Totally agree with the first part JS, it's a ticking time bomb, why not take care of it? - Should I then LIKE Bernie Madoff? : )
I hate Madoff and am not a fan at all of the Wilpons. I truly wish their finances forced them to sell the team but I think they've waited it out long enough that things thing may acutally turn around and make them money again. Having said that, great little field they have down there AND I threw out the first pitch yesterday! I'm looking for the best clip of it, will post it this weekend. Was shitting a brick beforehand but yes, I threw a strike _
Supposedly he battled inflammation all year last year but the MRI's showed not tear until now. I think they're still a year or so away from true contention so let it happen now. Between Gee as a place holder, Montero, Matz and Syndergaard they aren't going to miss Wheeler much this year, I was thinking of him more as a back end of the the rotation guy this year with Harvey, DeGrom and Colon as front end so long as Colon holds up. No idea what to expect of Niese, he's a solid 3-4 but I don't think he'll ever become a 2. DeGrom looks like a 2. I'm more excited about next year. replace Colon and Gee with any of Wheeler, Montero, Matz and Syndergaard. Possibly 3 of those 4 if Niese isn't around. I'd still like to keep Gee in the pen as he can provide depth.
Now the Mets have cut down on security people . They are trying to turn shitty field into "THE HOOD " .
Spring training Tradition Field, Port St. Lucie last week. Pretty cool outing. Sat in the dugout for about 2 hours before I threw out the first pitch (was a charity thing), free access walking through the clubhouse and underneath the stadium and facilities--Jay Horowitz basically gave us run of the place. Sat with Sandy for a bit and he seems MUCH more confident and happy then he was during the season last year. Here are some pics--can't post the clip of my pitch, too much PI. Panoramic field shot shot deGrom and d'Arnaud Me and Keith Lucas Duda--big dude _
Stokes you're living the life buddy! Thanks for sharing with us. The Mets have looked good in ST. Crossing my fingers they can carry it on for the season. I'm gonna try to go to the first 3 games.
Nice. My brother flew down last year and we drove down from St. Aug. for a game.. My best picture is him passed out in the back seat on the way back after drinkin beers in the sun all day
I gotta say, I haven't been this optimistic in decades. The staff, even without Wheeler, is stout. Harvey is going to be Must See TV every start just like Doc back in the 80's and deGrom is going to be just as good as Darling or Ojeda and Niese is going to be Sid. I think the 8th and 9th innings should be fine, it's the 6th and 7th we need to worry about. Wright looks healthy but the key on offense looks like it could be Cuddyer--he could be the piece that is missing and I think Granderson has a bounce back year. I'm looking for a big year out of d'Arnaud and I'm cautiously optimistic about Flores. Can't wait, this could be a fun summer. Yeah, it's a great little park and was a lot of fun. I've never been to spring training before, I wish we had been down there for more than a day and a half. _
Yeah, it was our 1st time too (it's about 3hrs away) We had fun. weather was awesome (which he sure appreciated) Unfortunately it was a split squad game, so all the good guys were out west. Gave us an excuse to sit in the outfield grass berm and swill em in the sun.......... that and my dad's "driving" The Wheeler thing still has me bummed..... Given their "bullpen" and "bats" they needed that arm
Thought the trades for the lefty relievers was a good move by Sandy. And it showed he doesn't want to go into the season weak in the bullpen, that he's more serious now about the present, finally. I'm concerned about the up the middle defense, other than Lagares obviously. SS, C, and 2nd may be below average, but backups there are pretty good. Tejada could be a pretty good bench guy middle infielder, and Recker is nice at C tho. I'm really looking forward to seeing Flores hang in there at SS, and hopefully hold his own there. I think he's gonna hit, especially if it goes okay and he can become more and more comfortable...no pitfalls or disasters. Top of the order is a question too. How's the table gonna get set up? Lagares has speed, but can he leadoff effectively? Who batting 2nd? Murph's speed leaves something to be desired, but Grandy doesn't really have the bat control and strikes out too much. I think Sandy's vision of the team of the future will have Dilson Herrera at 2nd base next year and possibly one of two guys at SS who are still in the minors. But Flores hitting at SS could be a real option once Herrera takes over at 2nd, for the immediate future.... and hopefully Lagares matures into a solid leadoff hitter. Still gotta get better defensively, and faster.
I think d'Arnaud is going to be better defensively this year. Here's a decent article on him working on it this year. http://www.northjersey.com/sports/baseball/mets/d-arnaud-working-on-defense-1.1298257 _
He was basically a kid when he came up and had a lot to absorb. He's shown signs on both sides. Some maturity, confidence, and assertiveness may put it all together for him. Like Collins said in the article- "When d'Arnaud made his debut in 2013, he impressed manager Terry Collins with how he threw the ball. The numbers dipped in 2014, but Collins is optimistic d'Arnaud can get back to form and have his defense complement his bat. "He's got to put both parts of the game together," Collins said earlier in camp. "If Travis d'Arnaud plays the way we think he can, we got a good catcher on our hands.""
