So, Kodai Senga will open the year on the IL, making this the fifth straight year that the Mets will begin the year with one of their five starting pitchers sidelined. Last year it was Jose Quintana and Justin Verlander. In 2022 it was Jacob deGrom. In 2021, it was Carlos Carrasco. And in 2020 [...]
A lot of us thought that the Mets overpaid to get Francisco Lindor, sending out a non-insignificant package of players to acquire him and then extending him to a 10/$341 contract before he hit free agency, in a season where there were multiple top-shelf shortstops available. But Lindor has been tremendous as a Met. In [...]
Because of last year’s deadline deals to restock the farm system, there’s been a lot more talk about prospects now than there’s been in many years. It’s really nice to see all of the attention being given to prospects. It’s even better to hear David Stearns talk about youngsters from the farm system needing to [...]
N.C. State rallied from a 15-point deficit to take a one-point lead but poor execution down the stretch led to an 87-83 loss to Syracuse Tuesday night in Raleigh. It was the seventh-straight loss to the Orange and put a serious crimp into finishing fourth and getting a double bye in the conference tournament. Syracuse [...]
There were several articles written last year discussing Jeff McNeil's results when pulling the ball. If you don’t want to click on the links, the main takeaway is that the shift didn’t affect McNeil as much as conventional wisdom would have you believe, at least from a raw number of balls hit to the pull [...]
Prior to the 2019 season, new GM Brodie Van Wagenen made a big trade to acquire Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz. It was a win-now move, with the hope that Cano would produce enough in the first few years of the deal to make up for expected diminished production at the end of his contract. [...]
You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em Know when to walk away and know when to run
DJ Horne hit a floater with just under 10 seconds remaining and NC State survived a last-second shot in the paint to emerge with a 78-77 win over Clemson Saturday night in Littlejohn Coliseum. It was the first Quad 1 win of the year for the Pack and the victory put them into a three-way [...]
But only if we're smart about it
Of all the major moves David Stearns has made this offseason – say with an AAV of $1.5 million or more – my favorite is the signing of Sean Manaea. While he doesn’t have the long-ago upside of Luis Severino, Manaea also has 81 starts since 2000, compared to 37 for Severino. And that’s with [...]
Forget the commercials, I just want to see a ton of Taylor closeups!
In 1987, Nolan Ryan won two legs of the pitchers’ triple crown, as he led the NL in both ERA (2.76) and strikeouts (270) – which helped him to a 6.4 fWAR, the top mark in the league. Yet, Ryan posted a W-L record of 8-16, which seems unfathomable. But it’s just one of many [...]