Soto a Met

[Lefty Specialist]

Marte is the most expendable of expendables right now.

It's Monopoly money with Uncle Steve. Boy, it's nice to have a really, really rich owner.

Still need a rotation and a bullpen though, because Soto can't do it all by himself.

[Gwreck]

So are we looking at an outfield of Nimmo and Taylor and Soto? Does Marte become a DH or does he get traded?

Trading Marte means eating money on his contract. He’s bad defensively, has little power, and is still making a fair bit of money this year. He’s a bench player and probably plays DH some.

[G-Fafif]

Plus Soto appears to enjoy Marte's company...though he can always buy new friends.

[batmagadanleadoff]

A home run every three games....

... Soto’s bat works everywhere, especially in Queens. In 35 career games at Citi Field (146 plate appearances), Soto has a 1.175 OPS with 12 home runs, including two of the five longest home runs in the stadium’s history (466 feet, 463 feet). And power isn’t even his calling card. Soto’s .421 on-base percentage over his seven-year career leads all active players.

“He’s as good a hitter and as good at knowing what to do with certain pitches,” a longtime National League scout said, “as I’ve seen since Barry Bonds.”

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/596941 ... eve-cohen/

[metirish]

Umm, several MFY friends are like yeah didn't want him for that money anyway .... Yeah, ok and no he didn't go to the Mets for the $5 M more , stop it

[Bob Alpacadaca]

Guys on the Mets Pod speculating on Marte, saying they think he sticks around as a DH. That keeps him healthier and is a strong bat in that role or even off the bench. They said he is super-tight with Soto and respected overall.

The Siri trade looking better to help Soto with range!

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

If I'm Baty I hold this motherfucker up for millions.

[whippoorwill]

Still need a rotation and a bullpen though, because Soto can't do it all by himself.

Yes

[Edgy MD]

The guy actually chokes up and lowers his stance with two strikes like he's Rusty Staub or something. Keith's heart might explode.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Do we think he'll play left field or right field? He's played pretty much the same number of games at each position.

Who has a better arm? Soto or Nimmo?

[MFS62]

I'm guessing Soto.
Not sure if outfield assists is a measure, but Soto has had 9 or 10 in the past few years while Nimmo has never had more that 4.
In some cases low assists means the guy has such a cannon that nobody runs on him, but I don't see that with Brandon.
Later

[Centerfield]

Soto has a very strong arm. It's about his only good trait as a fielder. So he'll likely stick in RF.

His problem is that he doesn't judge fly balls very well. I wonder if 1B is in his future.

[Benjamin Grimm]

First base or DH, eventually. But probably not until he's on the other side of 30.

[batmagadanleadoff]

This is gonna be some lineup if Alvarez takes the next step forward that many believe he's destined to take.

[Benjamin Grimm]

[Frayed Knot]

Now all we have to do is
A) hope he stays healthy
B) hope that his recent (Oct) 26th birthday really IS his age and not just some number he arrived at through Pujolsian math

[metirish]

Oldish video but I love watching it

[MFS62]

ABC-TV at 6 PM Weather Report, " It isn't raining in the Bronx. That is the tears of Y--kee fans".

Later

[Gwreck]

B) hope that his recent (Oct) 26th birthday really IS his age and not just some number he arrived at through Pujolsian math

What evidence do you have to suggest Soto isn’t his listed age?

[Frayed Knot]

None.
But neither did anyone have anything on Pujols until it was recently reported that it's now "widely accepted" in MLB circles that he was up to three years older
than his listed age. I think it's tougher to get away with that kind of thing now but so it was said during Albert's time too.

The point is that when you're agreeing to pay a guy through his age 41 season it would be nice to be sure that you're not really agreeing to pay him through
his age 44 season.

[CitiFieldPornRoom]

None.
But neither did anyone have anything on Pujols until it was recently reported that it's now "widely accepted" in MLB circles that he was up to three years older
than his listed age. I think it's tougher to get away with that kind of thing now but so it was said during Albert's time too.

The point is that when you're agreeing to pay a guy through his age 41 season it would be nice to be sure that you're not really agreeing to pay him through
his age 44 season.

It's not "widely accepted" with Pujols. There's no evidence, but there is the implication that he's presented documentation for things like becoming a citizen. Is it "widely accepted" that he lied to the US government too? Or that his paycheck lists his age but his official stats age is different? Or is it just that "haha DR is third world!" bias plus a healthy dose of jealousy? A lot of the initial rumors are from coaches when he was young insisting he must be older because he was so good.

Even more insane to imply anything about Soto, who was born in the digital age. Seinfeld was off the air already. McGuire was the HR king. The Diamondbacks already existed.

[Frayed Knot]

I don't remember the source of the article (which may have said "widely believed" rather than widely accepted) but it was from earlier this year and was in connection with Soto's pending FA-gency saying essentially that what the signing team doesn't want to experience is what happened with the Angels and Pujols where it is now widely believe/accepted within the game that Albert was then several years older than his listed age.

There's no hint or allegations I know of that this is the case with Soto (which I already stated) and it would be harder to do in this era (which I also said) but let's also not pretend that it's never happened before: El Duque, Rey Ordonez, Raffy Furcal, Adrian Beltre, others. The Yanx wound up taking legal action of some young foreign players who fudged their ages but only against the ones who turned out to not be as good as the team thought they were going to be because to take no action was to admit that they mis-judged their talent. They let things slide on the good players.

I was merely pointing out, in the wake of overnight news, that what one doesn't want to occur following the long-term signing of the uber-FA is either a succession of injuries which rob the player of what he once was [see Griffey, Ken Jr., the Cincinnati years] or a questionable age discrepancy [Pujols, Albert: the Disney era].

[RealityChuck]

I will say the sour grapes by MFY fans are a wonder to behold.

Funny they didn't object to him last week.

[stevejrogers]

I don't remember the source of the article (which may have said "widely believed" rather than widely accepted) but it was from earlier this year and was in connection with Soto's pending FA-gency saying essentially that what the signing team doesn't want to experience is what happened with the Angels and Pujols where it is now widely believe/accepted within the game that Albert was then several years older than his listed age.

There's no hint or allegations I know of that this is the case with Soto (which I already stated) and it would be harder to do in this era (which I also said) but let's also not pretend that it's never happened before: El Duque, Rey Ordonez, Raffy Furcal, Adrian Beltre, others. The Yanx wound up taking legal action of some young foreign players who fudged their ages but only against the ones who turned out to not be as good as the team thought they were going to be because to take no action was to admit that they mis-judged their talent. They let things slide on the good players.

I was merely pointing out, in the wake of overnight news, that what one doesn't want to occur following the long-term signing of the uber-FA is either a succession of injuries which rob the player of what he once was [see Griffey, Ken Jr., the Cincinnati years] or a questionable age discrepancy [Pujols, Albert: the Disney era].

Read a couple of books about the 1981 Dodgers/Fernandomania recently, and they brought up insinuations that Valenzuela was a bit older than he was presented as. So this stuff does go further back.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Mets named Juan:

Acevedo
Berenguer
Castillo
Centeno
Lagares
Padilla
Samuel
Uribe

If Soto doesn't become the best of them, things will have gone terribly wrong.