rise and shine, and everything will be fine…can’t remember the last sunrise i’ve seen…

adding on to the to do list: watch a sunrise, watch a sunset…

despite being fully ready to kick him to the curb after three games in to the playoffs last season – i’d keep him around this season, even without a new deal…

number 1 for continuity, plus he’s way better than sengun or adams or sengun plus adams…

definitely a risk if no deal happens before/during this season, but, all in on this upcoming season…

Basically one center for two and they still have Clint Capella. They pair KAT with KD, FVV, Thompson and Jabari Smith. NY shaves $8.5m in salary while solidifying center spot long term.

Oh well, basketball is starting soon…

The Alonso deal probably would have gone sour in its last few years, and Stearns was looking to avoid those years of dead salary. So in order to replace Alonso, he went fishing in the bargain bin, signed a replacement who does not even play first base, and who has had an extensive injury history. So basically he just fast forwarded to the “dead salary” part and created a monstrous hole both at 1B and in the middle of the lineup.

He did the same with Nimmo and Semien. Nimmo is declining, probably will end up at about 2.5 WAR this year. Semien is totally washed, is a negative WAR player. So the Mets this year are spending $43M for -1.5 WAR of Polanco and Semien, instead of $41M for 5.9 WAR of Alonso and Nimmo.

Then of course Polanco and Semien are back for another round of salary eating next year, and next year Polanco gets a raise, so that’s $49M worth of black hole. Also the Mets have no internal candidates who project as major league caliber first basemen or power hitters, so they’ll probably have to spend even more money trying to find somebody who can fill that 1B hole. The hole at 2B, at least they have some internal candidates who are close to the majors who can fill that.

Sure, they’re getting out of the Nimmo contract earlier they won’t have to deal with the back end of Alonso’s deal, but was all that really worth it? You just burned a year of Soto and Lindor’s prime with this dumb shit, and these aren’t the only two examples where Stearns went for the lesser player on the shorter deal only to get nothing out of the player.

the waiting is the hardest part…

Thanks for the reminder, timo. I guess I was less anxious because there was less urgency last year, considering that there wasn’t as urgent of a need to find a particular quasi-rotation player, as there is this year with the third C issue. Although I do remember being anxious about Diawara because I really wanted to see him make the roster. Ironically, he played well enough to make us worry about losing him to a higher bidder because he became a UFA, but thankfully it worked out!

Given the Dolan “No Second Apron” decree, Leon has really done an excellent job of retaining Diawara, Alvarado, and Shamet on what I believe are below-market deals. I am bummed that Huk was not retained, but let’s hope that the combination of 1) the aura of what might be the most hyped NBA championship of all time (seriously, America’s Team?!?!?), 2) the trust that Leon has garnered in the organizational desirability sense for good players that have choices, 3) the freeing up of the valuable 2033 first rounder, and 4) Deuce becoming sort of expendable will result in an upgrade over Drummond, or at least a guy with some upside as our 3rd C, before the playoffs begin.

The Second Round Pick Exception is lost if they signed him to a two-way deal first.” I thought they retained the ability to convert him to a “second round pick exception” even if he was signed to a two-way. Important distinction!

So the two-way deal can be converted at the minimum for the same number of years as the two-way deal was for, but two-way deals can only go up to 2 years. Or the team and player can negotiate the NBA deal, but still need to use some exception. For us thats the Minimum or TP-MLE. Both of them are only 2 years.

In either case, because the two-way deal was signed when Nickel was a draft pick and not a FA, the salary number would be his actual salary and not the vet minimum.

The Second Round Pick Exception is 3 or 4 years with a team option in the final year. So you’re getting extra years of control on Nickel. Of course, if you think Nickel might suck, then you might not want the extra years.