The Metropolitan: Francisco Lindor in the spotlight
Plus: Former Met Ty Kelly takes us inside Spring Training
Good Morning,
Today our special correspondent, former Met Ty Kelly, reveals what really happens at Spring Training from a player’s perspective. But we start with the news.
⏰ Catch me up in 60(ish) seconds…
🍎 AMBASSADOR LINDOR: In a wide-ranging press conference that touched on everything from labor issues, to hair dye, to contract talks, to ideas on how to improve the game, Francisco Lindor played the part of superstar and baseball ambassador in his first spring training press conference as a Met on Monday.
💰 EXTENSION: While Lindor noted there is “mutual interest” in signing an extension, he told reporters, “If something comes up we’ll see in the future, that is between my agent and Sandy [Alderson] and the rest of the staff. It’s been nonexistent, the conversations. It’s too early, I think.”
SOON: Mets acting GM Zack Scott later said he would like to get talks going “the sooner the better.”
⚾️ HEALTH OF THE GAME: Lindor — who was elected to the MLBPA executive committee in December — shared some ideas on how baseball can improve itself: “The game is headed in the wrong direction [in that] you’re rewarding losing,” he said. “A team loses 100 games and they get money at the end of the year because the bigger market teams are the teams that decided to spend money.”
📊 ON ANALYTICS:
⚾︎ DOUBLE PLAY: Lindor’s new middle infield partner Jeff McNeil is already learning from the star shortstop: “We had a good day. Worked on some bunt defensive and fielding some double plays as well. It’s nice to see how he works around the bag and kind of trying to get in sync with him, where he likes to throw the ball on double plays so we can turn it more efficiently.”
🍎 ROSTER IN PLACE: After a busy offseason that turned over nearly half (literally 18) of the 40-man roster, acting GM Zack Scott appears ready to start the season: “I feel really good about the roster. As it is right now, I think we’re pretty settled with the 40-man.”
THIRD BASE: When asked (yet again) if he was comfortable with J.D. Davis playing everyday at the hot corner, Scott said, “I think the manager always makes those decisions in collaboration with others, but I'd be comfortable with that, yeah.”
⚾️ ABSENT: Four players, including Dominic Smith and Carlos Carrasco, were missing from the team’s first full-squad workout on Monday due to what manager Luis Rojas called a “non-injury-related issue.”
🐎 WILD HORSES: Mets president Sandy Alderson with an all-time quote when asked if the Mets would be scouting Yoenis Cespedes’ upcoming showcase:
Spring Training Can Be Crazy For a Player
by Ty Kelly, Mets Fix “Former MLB Player” Correspondent
Happy Spring Training. For fans, it’s a euphoric first glimpse of baseball, after a long winter of waiting. But for a player trying to get a job, it’s something else entirely.
After a decade of playing this game professionally, here are some Spring Training lessons and findings I gleaned:
1. Always Bring Your Uniform to the Game. In your first big league Spring Training, you should come prepared to play in the game every day, even if you’re informed you will not be a participant in that game. In my experience, if you’re not prepared you could find yourself in a situation where you're being put into the game in the 6th inning and having to borrow Chris Taylor’s cleats, Mike Zunino’s batting gloves, bat, and right-handed helmet, and Xavier Avery’s left-handed helmet. Then, as you jog back into the dugout, you could possibly see Chris Taylor running out to play shortstop wearing Jesus Sucre’s cleats because your unpreparedness is now jeopardizing several careers, not just your own.
2. Don’t Let Coaches Know About Your Nerdy Hobbies. When asked “how was your offseason?” you can tell your teammates—new or old—about all of your hobbies. No need to pull punches; they already think you’re super weird. But when responding to coaches—especially new—you should strive for “ball talk” convos: conversations that show you’re a real ballplayer and not just a nerdy guy with good strike-zone discipline. You can mention one of your hobbies but don’t linger on it. Your newfound love for chess and Rubik’s Cubes will only lead them to telling you you’ll make a great coach one day—and now they’re thinking about you as a coach instead of as a possible Major Leaguer. Tell the coaches about your diet, your weight lifting routine, the facility at which you trained, and other Major Leaguers you worked out with. For example:
“Oh yeah, I worked out at San Diego State every day. I lifted weights with the football team [in a corner of the room trying to stay out of their way], took grounders with my slick-fielding roommate who’s in the Giants organization [he’s a left-handed pitcher], hit with Adam Jones, Quintin Berry, and Tony Gwynn Jr. [3 times max], and then ran sprints with the track team [jogged on a track].”
3. Competition Can Be “Friendly.” There’s a good chance your best friends are the players you’re in direct competition with. Can you be a competitor, trying to win a job and ensure hundreds of thousands of dollars, while making a lifelong dream come to fruition... and also be a good friend and teammate by not rooting against your friend, even subconsciously? Probably, if you’re a good person. But put it this way: I think former Mets infielder TJ Rivera and I were lucky we both ended up getting our first call-up in 2016 -- and both made the MLB team out of Spring Training in 2017 -- so our individual successes never came at the expense of the other.
4. MLB & MiLB Spring Trainings are Not the Same. To compare Major League Spring Training to minor league spring training (note the lowercase because that’s what being in minor league spring training feels like) would be like comparing the North Pole to the south pole; sure, they’re both poles, but survival in the south pole necessitates penguins eating each other to avoid starvation in an unrelenting loop of “wake up and bring your A-game or die,” whereas the North Pole is characterized by a cozy Santa, elves, and reindeer nibbling on personalized smoothies and omelettes before they decide if they should make toys that day, or just wait until the last couple weeks before Christmas to ramp up production so as not to pull a hammy. (Not to mention, the melting of 43 south pole ice caps recently, but that’s a different story.)
5. Baseball Players Like Nicknames & Inside Jokes. Spring Training is a great time to start going by whatever nickname you want for the year. During my first professional season, the media guide said “Tyler” Kelly. I made it my top Spring Training priority to ensure that everyone who had only read my name or, more likely, never heard of me knew my name was “Ty” Kelly. Teammates often opted for just “Kelly” and in my opinion there was no bigger sin. I repeatedly announced that calling me “Kelly” was akin to the acknowledgement that we were not actually real life friends, but just baseball season acquaintances. Harsh? Again: Probably, if you’re a good person.
The first week back is also the perfect time to run through every inside joke you’ve ever had with your teammates. If you’ve found yourself in a new organization, good luck deciphering this foreign language.
“Look at this McGoob.”
“Yeah right, I’m not the Trotsky here, Mr. McGoob-piece.”
What does any of this mean? Nothing, if you’re normal. But baseball players aren’t normal. They take part of a word or phrase, make it goofier, and then start telling people they're acting like the sum of those parts. McGoob? They probably watched “McGruber” together drunk one night, someone said McGoober, and then someone else re-shortened it. And now you can act like “such a McGoob.”
Baseball players also put “piece” on the end of everything. It starts with pitches: “slide-piece,” “change-piece,” “cut-piece,” and it ends with every other thing: “beer-piece,” “bomb-piece,” “McGoob-piece.”
And even further down the line, thanks to poor hat circulation... “hair-piece.”
6. The First Week is a Long One. In my experience, here’s what a typical first week of camp is like:
Day 1: “Hey man, good to see you. I have to go do my physical and get my uniforms, so let’s catch up after.”
Day 2: “Dude, how was your offseason? You look jacked. You get on ‘roids?”
Day 3: “I’m dead tired already. I hate my cleats. Next offseason, I’m just going to stand around for hours in my cleats to prepare for this.”
Day 4: “I just faced [NAME of 100mph-fastball-pitcher] in live BP and I actually hit one off the wall. It was a change-up that I thought was a fastball so my bat speed probably isn’t there yet but still, I’m locked in. My offseason training is really showing up.”
Day 5: “I got all fastballs today and didn’t get one in fair territory. Feels insulting to call it bat ‘speed’ right now with how slow my swing is. My offseason training is in serious question.”
Day 6: “I truly don’t care about Spring Training anymore. I, MLB Player, have done all of this so many times—I can’t do another bunt play.”
(Alt: “I truly don’t care about spring training anymore. I, MiLB Player, haven’t had breakfast in a week—I physically can’t do another bunt play.”)
Day 7: “We’ll be fine having a couple of beers even though we have to get up at 5:30 am, and be out in the scorching sun and blistering wind all day, right? We’ll only have 2 or 3. Definitely not 10.”
[It ends up being 10.]
⚾️ As noted earlier, former Met Yoenis Céspedes intends to play in 2021, and will hold a showcase for interested teams on March 2 in Florida, per Ken Rosenthal.
⚾️ Former Met Tyler Clippard has agreed to a deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks, per Nick Piecoro.
⚾️ Mariners president Kevin Mather stepped down from his position after a video surfaced of him making offensive comments about his players.
⚾️ Albert Pujols’ wife wrote a message on Instagram to announce her husband would retire after the 2021 season.
🔗 Mets in black: On Dr. Dre, Mike Piazza, Steve Cohen and the jerseys’ return, by Rustin Dodd, The Athletic: “The breakthrough had come when Halfacre, inspired by the New York skyline and its shadows, added a black “drop shadow” element to the club’s home jerseys, accenting the Mets script on the front, and sent it to Charlie Samuels, the club’s equipment manager. The idea spawned a new black hat and an alternate black jersey. All three would debut during the 1998 season.”
🔗 The team names the Mets almost became, by Grant Brisbee, The Athletic: “The Avengers was the leader for a while, which has a ring to it. Note that the first Avengers comic didn’t come out until 1963, so if the Mets are the Avengers, maybe the Avengers have a dippy name like Strong Hero Squad, and the multi-billion-dollar movie franchise doesn’t exist because the comics flopped. In its place would be a 10-movie installment about Hindsight Lad.”
👟 Lindor announces signature sneaker will drop on March 1, via Sneaker News: “The Lindor 1 is presented in a number of colorways, but one that stands out is the tie-dye edition that that draws in the colors of Puerto Rico – a nod to his heritage. Each version also features a thick mid-foot strap featuring an all-over pattern of the New Balance logo and Lindor’s personal emblem.”
📺 And Francisco Lindor showcases his switch-hitting ability in practice:
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I created a spreadsheet for the ST broadcasts but don't know how to get it to you privately.
Polite suggestion: add a "[sic]" to the Rustin Dodd quote as he named the Mets trainer at the time "Charlie Daniels" (the "Devil Went Down To Georgia" singer") instead of "Charlie Samuels". It's been fixed on the website.