With MLB ground to a halt, and no trips to go to Spring Training, I spent some of my weekend going to some local antique stores. It’s a great place to find old magazines, usually LOOK, TIME, SPORT and the like. I happened to stumble across a bin of old Baseball Digests. I have been [...]
I grew up in rural North Carolina, played Little League and collected baseball cards. My dad and I would watch weekend baseball games and during the summer we would watch Monday Night Baseball with Curt Gowdy and Tony Kubek. My dad was a Yankees fan, as were so many North Carolina mill town kids that [...]
Lots of electrons have been spilt and will continue to be spilled over the Mets hiring of Buck Showalter as the New York Mets manager. Many believe he has the experience, the demeanor, and the relationships to take this Mets collection of players to the playoffs again. Most importantly, he appears to be the specific [...]
I am a big fan of WAR. Huge. I am also a fan of WAA. Old school statheads will tell you that “Average players have value”, which is why the bar is set at replacement. For the purposes of building or improving a team, replacement level isn’t as intuitive nor informative. Wins Above Average is. [...]
While we wait for the World Series, and the World Series to end and the Hot Stove League to begin, Brian Joura (BJ) and I (CD) touched base to exchange a few thoughts about the Mets, past, present and future. Chris Dial: Hi Brian. Thirty-five years ago the ball rolled through Buckner's legs. Do you [...]
Jack Nicklaus was once asked, as he got older, when he was playing a round of golf, when he realized he wasn’t going to shoot par. He replied, “When I hit my 72nd shot.” When assessing the Mets chances of making the playoffs or winning the National League East (around 88 wins), the question boils [...]
As the season has reached about 100 games, the Mets are leading the division by four games. To date, the Mets have been led by outstanding pitching from Jacob deGrom, Taijuan Walker and Marcus Stroman, Francisco Lindor’s defense, and a group of replacement players playing like average players. They have also just been hammered by [...]
The Mets entered the pre-season with a strong pitching staff, and promising developing bats, but a questionable defensive set. Injuries have diminished the Mets rotation. Injuries slowed the Mets offense, with Brandon Nimmo, Michael Conforto, J.D. Davis, and Jeff McNeil all spending significant time on the sidelines. That is four of the eight bats expected [...]
Every game watched results in someone inevitably saying, “the umpire screwed us.” Most fans acknowledge that calls go both ways most of the time, but do they really believe that? Does it all even out over the long run? With Statcast tracking everything via radar, the precision with which umpires are being tracked has continuously [...]
Benjamin Franklin was a comedic philosopher. Certainly, he is known as a Philadelphian, but he certainly had the Mets on his mind during the early 1700s. Yes, Poor Richard’s Almanack was printed from 1732 to 1758, and Franklin’s witticisms found therein are largely from the first half of the century. Side note, Franklin was born [...]
The Mets have famously melted as summer has set in, known as the June Swoon. Noah Syndergaard threw 97 on Saturday and is projected to return in June. Will he prevent a June Swoon, or better, will he even have to? Spring Training is all but over. The roster is set, and everyone knows who [...]
The Mets have had, by all accounts, a terrific offseason. Steve Cohen has done a particularly good job of improving the team on the field. Most projections put the Mets in the lead for the division crown and in a position to challenge for the World Series. Should the Mets be confident in that? Or [...]