paul253

I hope they hang onto Jeffress. I think if he establishes himself as an elite closer next year his value can skyrocket. Even if he is "only" dependable he'd at least have a longer track record to go off of.

There's no guarantee anyone will reach their ceiling, Low A ball or AAA. I don't particularly care if we get all low A guys, two AAA ballers or some combination. I just want the best deal. If we get all low A ball players were taking a bigger risk but we'll also probably get more guys. If we get advanced players the risk isn't as high but we aren't going to get the quantity. If it's either or I'd prefer low A ballers, particularly pitchers, because I don't see us being serious contenders for 2-3 years anyway, which would put all these guys close to the majors. I've started to accept the fact that we aren't going to get the TOR we desperately need (which makes me even more frustrated about passing on potential TOR starters this past draft) so I am now hoping for highest ceiling. Like I said I don't particularly care if that is A ball or AAA ball players.

For Lucroy and Smith Id accept Bradley, Mejia, Mckenzie and Sheffield.

Definitely the guy, unless the guy is a shortstop. This system has plenty of depth but lacks star power. I'd definitely prefer a top 20 prospect then 2-3 in the 75-100 range.

So considering we're in the beginning of a rebuild and at least two years away from starting to get better, what are people's thoughts on trying Thornburg out in the rotation again? This guy was a starter his entire career, was at one point probably our top prospect overall, and put up a career ERA under 4 in the minors, almost exclusively as a starter, and an ERA under 3 through ten major league starts. He would have been in the rotation had our previous GM not made that stupid Matt Garza signing. And now he's a 7th inning guy. Granted his value as a reliever is fairly high but a starters value is almost always higher than a reliever. I realize it's a long shot but it's always bothered me how they handled him. Why not give it a shot? If he bombs he can always be moved back into the bullpen.

Or Erceg can DH in WI. But yeah no reason for a college hitter who has been dominating over 26 games or whatever to be stuck in rookie ball.

Why not move Gennett and have Villar play 2nd? He seems a better fit there. Is it just because we have nobody else to play third? I actually think Villar could be a long term solution at 2B.

The thing that concerns me is the lack of star power in the system. We have Arcia and......????? We have a lot of depth. A LOT of depth. And a lot of guys that can be MLB regulars. But we are severely lacking in star power. I was hoping a top five pick this year would get us a star but I put Ray more in the MLB regular category. We have nobody Id consider a #1 caliber pitcher. Hader maybe a #2 if he can't figure out how to go more than six innings. Then a bunch of back end rotation fillers. Last time we dedicated ourselves to a rebuild we had plenty of prospects with all star ceilings. Braun. Weeks. Fielder. In addition a lot of solid regulars like Hart Hardy and Lucroy. It's going to take awhile to build up that kind of talent base here.

True, but at some point his trade value hits its peak then starts to go down. That point is probably once next season starts as the team that trades for him can't get a comp pick if they acquire him after the season starts (I'm pretty sure anyway). There's also injury risk. Remember that conclusion that hurt his value last offseason. If you don't trade him by this deadline it's not the end of the world. But you have to recognize its not because nobody wants him, it's because you're asking too much. If you continue that into the offseason and still don't move him you could very likely end up with either a lower return than you want or that comp pick.

Love that centerfield depth.

Couldn't setting your asking price way too high be setting an awful precedent too? Who wants to negotiate with someone who completely overvalues their players and refuses to acknowledge doing so? I have no problem with him lowering his price if it becomes clear nobody is going to meet it. As I've said before getting a comp pick for Lucroy would be a disaster.

Still an incomplete. Most of the major leaguers he has acquired have been "blah". Villar has been good but Anderson, Flores, Broxton have all been disappointing. The prospects have been ok like Diaz, Nottingham and Peralta. But obviously time will tell on them. The real key is Lucroy because that move could make or break this franchise for a few years. If he gets two or three legit high end prospects then it'll be a job well done. If his asking price is too high and he walks away with a comp pick for Licroy that will be a major fail.

I know it's professional sports and all but think about how much $4 million actually is. Especially for someone who just graduated from high school. That's more than most of us will make in our entire lifetime. And he wants more. I get it. You can't really compare sports to real life but if someone offered me $4 million out of high school, to play baseball no less, I'd sign as fast as I could. Really puts professional athletes (and actors/actresses, musicians, etc) into perspective in how they live vs how we live.

What's even more ironic is that Cleveland actually could have gotten Lucroy in the Sabathia deal. Along with Laporta and the pitchers they had a choice of four players (I think it was a ptbnl type thing). The options were Cain, Brantley, Lucroy or Taylor Green if I'm remembering correctly.

Maybe he isn't motivated to trade Lucroy.

If I'm trading with Texas I want pitching. They have Tate. They have Ortiz. They have Mautella. I want two of them. My offer is: Rangers get Lucroy and Smith Brewers get Brinson, Tate, and then either Matuella or Ortiz and either Tavares or Jurado.

i understand the need for fan voting but it's getting kind of ridiculous. Looking at what happened with KC, I believe last year, and now with Chicago and Boston this year. You're telling me the Cubs have the best player at 5 of the 8 non pitching positions, including Addison Russell and his .242 batting average? Come on. And Boston with 4 of 9? If the all star game is going to continue to decide home field advantage in the World Series, which is a huge deal, here needs to be a way to get the best 9 players on the field the start the all star game.

I'm not saying we're at that point yet, but you lower your asking price if nobody is willing to meet it. At some point his value hits it's peek and starts to go down. Think about it this way. You know that in a year and a half your house is going to go into foreclosure and when it does you'll lose the house for nothing. You can list it for $350k all you want, but if pretty much everyone agrees it's a $290k house you're not getting $350k for it. You can hold out and hope someone gets desperate enough to give you $350k but when pretty much everyone knows you're going to soon lose the house for nothing it's not all that likely. The closer you get to that year and a half deadline the more realistic you have to be and accept that $290k is better than nothing. Again, I'm not suggesting we are there yet but if he's still on the team opening day next year I'd say you've missed your chance to maximize the return. I understand why Stearns has a high asking price. He should. But we've seen many reports suggesting the asking price MAY be too high. I'm just saying that if that is indeed the case, I hope Stearns isn't too stubborn to accept reality because taking a comp pick for Lucroy would be an amazing fail.

I know Stearns is asking a a lot, and rightfully so, I just hope he's not over playing his hand. If nobody is willing to match what you're asking, you have to either hope they change their mind or lower your asking price. Whatever we get for him is going to be better than a comp pick. Hopefully someone increases their offer to what Stearns is asking but if not I hope Stearns isn't too stubborn to lower his asking price.

I as much as anyone have been critical of the Brewers Drafting the past few years but even I have to admit they've been drafting more for upside lately. Coulter was an upside pick. So was Clark, who I believe many considered to be the best prep hitter in the draft. Harrison and Gatewood were definitely upside picks, as was Devin Williams. We've also made the safer picks too, the Jungmanns and Bradley's, the Rays. Counting the first two picks in our last five drafts we've picked 3 college position players, 4 high school position players 2 HS pitchers and one college pitcher. Go back one more year you have two more college pitchers. That seems fairly balanced to me with a lot of high ceiling low floor picks in there (Williams, Gatewood, Medeiros, Clark, Coulter). I'm not sure what policy you're rooting for Austin. I think the policy is fine. I think maybe the execution needs to improve. Personally, this past draft I wanted Groome or Garrett, mainly because I wanted a pitcher. Ray is a good player whom almost all the scouts like. It's not a bad pick. In 2014 I wanted Grant Holmes. At the time our system was rather poor though and needed depth. Drafting Medeiros allowed us to draft Gatewood and Harrison, two picks I believe you said you liked. But if we took Holmes we would have missed out on one, if not both of them. Williams in 2013 was considered first round talent. Coulter hasn't worked out but there's still time. So again, I think our strategy or policy itself is fine. We just need to start hitting on more of them. That said, opportunities to get TOR pitchers are rare. We can't pass on opportunities to get a Groome or a Garrett too often.

And what he's doing now is ranking in the top 15 in the NL in average, OBP and slugging. That's pretty good. Add that to what Lucroy is doing, despite "only" being a 1.5 year rental, unless of course they resign him, and that's a ton of value, especially if you're in a win now mode which the Mets are. I get that Matz is a good young pitcher but unfortunately if you want two players playing at an all star level you have to give something up. I don't think they have the quantity of prospects which means they'd need to give up quality. I know it's all a moot point since it'll never happen but i think if the Brewers offered Braun and Lucroy for Steven Matz the Mets would be fools to turn it down.

Chipmunks or rabbits would be my guess. I grew tomatoes a few years ago. Put a little mini wooden fence around them and they were ok. I've heard spreading human hair around the area will keep pests out but I have no idea if that works. I will say I've had zero luck with that store bought repel stuff.

Yes I think two all stars, one a former MVP and one quite possibly the best all around catcher in baseball and both of whom would immediately be the best position players on their team, have more value than a 25 year old pitcher with barely over 100 innings in the majors. If the Mets offered me Matz for those two I'd respond "Matz and......?" You're obviously entitled to your opinion but i think you are simultaneously overvaluing Matz and undervaluing Braun and Lucroy

You don't think Ryan Braun AND Jonathan Lucroy could get Matz? With all due respect I think you're insane. Matz is good but you're talking about two legitimate all stars. Yeah obviously there are other factors like age and money but at some point we need to actually look at the players themselves. The Mets offense is putrid. 28th in runs scored. 29th in BA. 24th in OBP. 20th in OPS. Meanwhile even if you consider all those question marks you brought up they are 2nd in team ERA. They have more than enough pitching to win but their offense is holding them back big time. Adding two middle of the order bats would be huge for them.

It seems like people are taking everything into account except for how good the players actually are right now. Right now Braun would be a HUGE offensive upgrade over Conforto. .229/.298/.741 vs .319/.378/.917. While Conforto will probably get better it's a matter of whether or not the Mets want to wait for that to happen. If they think they are legitimate WS contenders and want to go for it now Braun would be a huge help. Hell how about Braun AND Lucroy to NY for a return centered around Matz? Those two would significantly upgrade their offense this year and next and while Matz is very good the fact is he's probably their #4 right now, at best their #3, and can be replaced in the rotation by Wheeler if and when he gets back.