Jeff Long of Baseball Prospectus won the fourth annual Greg Spira Award, given to writers under 30 whose pieces on baseball display innovative analysis and reasoning. There have been some pieces that deal with people more than numbers and Long’s BP article sort of dealt with both. he used state of the art programs to compare players of different skill sets and came up with some interesting results. Interesting enough for the $1,000 first prize.

The $200 second prize went to Jon Feyan for his homework. His capstone project for gradual school at Cardinal Stritch University in Wisconsin looked at analytics through eyes of baseball personnel. It is intriguing how that argument has completely turned around from a decade ago from maverick outcasts when Moneyball first came out to the way business is done.

In between doing his high school homework, 18-year-old Ben Diamond looked at the success rate of shoulder surgery for pitchers. It is not the slam dunk experts would have you believe. Remember Johan Santana? Diamond got $100 for his third-place entry. Here is the release with links to all the three winning entries. 

Great job not just writing these pieces, but getting the pieces in for the Greg Spira Award, named after a good friend and a great Mets fan who died too young from kidney disease. We worked together on the Maple Street Press Mets Annual for four years and I’ve been judging this for four years without him. He would have turned 49 this week and he would have loved seeing the Mets finally sticking to a plan.

And if you knew Greg or know someone going through the pain of losing a sibling, Greg’s brother Jonathan just came out with a book on the subject of dealing with the death of a loved one.

So far this year I’ve been to two Citi Field games. It was neither the first nor the last game of the initial homestand, so they lost both. Outscored 15-5. I sort of saw the lone Mets home run on the homestand by Yeonis Cespedes—I mean sort of because, having stumbled into the Promenade Club during Sunday’s frigid game (in the shade) against Philly, I could only see the tops of the outfielders, but I heard the cheer and picked up the crowd welcoming the ball into the stands. For one home run in 52 innings of swinging (and missing), I’m counting it. Unfortunately, I had much better sightings of Odubel Herrera, Giancarlo Stanton, Marcel Ozuna’s home runs—the latter two seen from my first visit to the Party City Deck Monday night. If they are going to name the stadium Citi Field, how about Party Citi Deck? Doesn’t matter, as they informed us it was now the M&M deck, but of all the stuff they “gave us” (after charging us $115 for all you can eat and drink) we did not get a single M&M.

All right, I am already rambling and I’m still just trying to lay the story straight on last year. The postseason threw off my ritual annual postings so I didn’t know when to do them. So how about just in time for tax day?

Favorite Nonplaying Met: Juan Uribe. I sure do miss the guy’s bat and smile. Even in the World Series, he got up just once and singled in a run—compared to three K-ABs by totally done Michael Cuddyer in Kansas City. We’ve never had a FNP Met who came midseason from another team and spent just a couple of months on the Mets roster, but he was the only guy I wanted to see play more. Though Kirk Nieuwenhuis had a chance to go back-to-back FNPs, like Nick Evans before him (2009-10). Uribe played plenty until David Wright came back and then Juan got hurt and couldn’t play again until the World Series. Still, this coveted prize will look great in an Extended Stay America suite somewhere near Cleveland. We’re thinking about you, Juan, and there’s that rendezvous at Flo Field in Cleveland!

OK, what’s next? Mets final grades. To quote newlywed Flap from Terms of Endearment, who he had more pressing concerns than giving out grades on English papers: “Oh, I’ll just give ’em all B’s.” Rarely have I ever been prouder to be a Mets fan than I was last fall. That’s better than any letter grade I can come up with.

And finally, there is the log of games at Citi Field, which I do annually so I never have to say I think I’ve been to so and so many games at the park. And for the first time since this began in 2009, I have postseason games to include. Come back a few months with me. It is magic from first to (almost) last pitch.

Captain’s Log 2015 Citi Field

Date	Foe, Result	Mets Rec, Pos	MS Rec	Win	Loss	Save	HRs /by NYM	Who hit the HRs	Note
13-Ap	Phi, 2-0 W	4-3, 2nd	1-0	deGrom	Harang	Familia	0		Only thing more perfect than Opening Day at the park was start of perfect 10-0 homestand.
15-Jun	Tor, 4-3 W	35-30, 1st	2-0	Robles	Cecil		2	Bautista 2	Most years this is signature win, but in ’15… Syndergaard superb,  2 Bautista bombs, Duda RBI in 11th ties, and then a Wilmer walkoff hit!
24-July	LA, 7-2 L	49-48, 1st	2-1	Thomas	Niese		3	Turner, Puig, Rollins	Conforto debut, night of Uribe & Johnson deal, and Niese missed birth to get torched by LA. Mets 2nd, 1 game over .500, and all changed.
28-Aug	Bos, 6-4 L	71-57, 1st	2-2	Layne	C. Torres	Breslow	3	Ortiz, Bradley, Swihart	1st place Mets kept coming back on Sox, but another great Harvey start with no decision. Scoreless Eric O’Flaherty appearance!
2-Sep	Phi, 9-4 W	74-59, 1st	3-2	Harvey	Nola		4/3	Tejada, Conforto, Cespedes, Sweeney	Finally saw a Mets HR–3, actually! And Tejada inside-the-park job! Plus Conforto and Cespedes! And Mets got win for Harvey…just before innings gate and the big series in DC.
4-Oct.	Was, 1-0 W	90-72, W	4-2	Clippard	Treinen	Familia	1/1	Granderson	Worried this’d be for the marbles. Mets no-hit previous night. So what? Granderson HR!
12-Oct	LA, 13-7 W	NLDS, 2-1	5-2	Harvey	Anderson		4/2	d’Arnaud, Cespedes, Gonzalez, Kendrick	First postseason game at Citi. Heard ovation for Tejada a mile away–where we had to park! Mets down 3-0 and then…Ka-Boom! 10 unanswered runs! One NLDS game not duel.
17-Oct	Chi, 4-2 W	NLCS, 1-0	6-2	Harvey	Lester	Familia	3/2	Murphy, d’Arnaud, Schwarber	1973 World Series level frigid but electric at top of Citi. d’Arnaud off apple, Shawarber off Unisphere, Murph HR and nice play to end.
30-Oct	KC, 9-3 W	WS, 1-2	7-2	Syndergaard	Ventura		2/2	Wright, Granderson	Pregame atmosphere worthy of World Series. Standing room only and my spine tingles thinking of Wright’s HR–and Syndergaard!
29-Sep	KC, 7-2 L	WS, 1-4	7-3	Hochevar	Reed		1/1	Granderson	Should have quit while I was ahead. Spent last half inning in last go round for Pepsi Porch.
2015				Harvey 3		Familia 2	23/11	Grand 3, d’arnaud 2, Cespedes 2	Like everything else in 2015, the HRs came on late. As did the wins.
	Since ’09 opening	280-287	46-38	Dickey & Santana 4	Pelfrey 3	K-Rod 7	126/68	Wright 8	Counting postseason, Mets are 284-290 at Citi. A winning record at the place isn’t far fetched.

 

Yes, I’m behind. Months behind in everything, and this blog has ended up at the bottom of the pile after family, finishing books, sitting at work, and what could have been the best sports year of my life. But wasn’t. It was close, though.

To be honest, I could not even put the lid on 2015 until January 2016 was almost done, with my Arizona Cardinals, but that ended in the NFC Championship Game, quickly, I might add, but they did pull out an incredible game out of the fire against the Packers. In short, the year 2015 can be summed up as absolutely superb, but a couple of game short of the ultimate goal. But it was close.

The World Series. The Mets in the World Series. Every step was as inconceivable as the villain Vizzini (Wallace Shaun) in The Princess Bride.

The Mets are getting Yeonis Cespedes at the trade deadline and it won’t cost them their best prospects.

Inconceivable.

The Mets are going to knock off the Nationals for the division title and the season-ending series against Washington won’t mean a thing.

Inconceivable!

The Mets are going to beat the Dodgers despite not having homefield advantage or, apart from one game, not hitting at all.

Bah, inconceivable!!

The Mets, who lost all seven games against the Cubs in 2015, are going to sweep them in the NLCS to reach the World Series.

As I told you, it would be absolutely, totally, and in all other ways inconceivable!!!

Inconceivable indeed. Though I was working two jobs, working on five books, and numerous pressing personal issues that are still too painful to share, the Mets, for once, were the one constant in my life. They just kept winning. I hadn’t missed a Mets postseason game in person since the last two games of 1986, but I missed one each in these three postseason series. Didn’t matter. Daniel Murphy’s heretofore up and down career was all up, stealing unoccupied bases and hitting homers at key moments. Every… single… game. And the pitching was as good as anything I’ve ever seen in a Mets uniform. Yes, anything. Even Terry Collins could not make a wrong move (until, sadly, he did). And if only for a couple more late-inning outs in the World Series, it might have all turned out like a fairy tale.

Inconceivable!!!! You keep saying that word. I don’t think that word means what you think it means.

I saw the first pitch of the year and the last from the upper deck at Citi Field. I went to eight games in between (more on that in a future post), but I saw most of the kids pitch: deGrom, Harvey, Syndergaard, and of course, Jeurys Familia. I am still trying to catch up on the work, but in the coming weeks you will see how my homework came out: One-Year Dynasty, 100 Things Mets Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die (third edition), Mets by the Numbers (the second edition of Jon Springer’s landmark concept). And Red Sox and Cubs by the Numbers will also be out soon, in case you think I’ve been slacking. All are available for preorder, I may add because there is room for promotion every year.

It is a new season but 2015 still seems to go on. The game goes on. Life has been moving as fast as a Matt Harvey fastball. And I’m still swinging. Let’s go Mets!

Keep the inconceivable coming.

Didn’t like how the World Series turned out? Well, here’s a chance to take the World Series trophy from the Royals… this Sunday night!

How could this happen? You know how the players from opposing teams nowadays love to fraternize before a game, no matter how important the contest. Fun-loving Mets outfielder Yeonis Cespedes hit it off with Royals catcher Salvador Perez so well during the World Series that when Perez stopped in Miami to film a commercial on his way from home in Venezuela to spring training in Arizona, the two hit the town harder than the Royals jump on a fastball. After many cervesas, Perez agreed to put the World Series trophy back in play in their rematch on Opening Night.

Wait, you ask, what are the Mets putting up if they lose? Yeonis agreed to put up his entire 2017 salary of $23.7 million. Perez was not aware that Cespedes can (and likely will) opt out of that contract after this year, leaving the Royals with a whole lot of nothing if the Mets can pull this off. But how can the suits from MLB let this happen? There has never been a World Series rematch on Opening Day (or Night), so this is new territory. And an old man in Quiggleville, PA recently found a copy of the Temple Cup agreement of 1894 that has some bearing on this issue, back when gambling was not limited to Indian-run casinos, state lotteries, and free agency.

By the time the lawyers get it all sorted out, the Mets might just have added a third trophy to the display vase at the Mets Hall of Fame and Museum. The Kansas rubes never saw this coming. They sure can hit, though. And run. And pitch. And celebrate in Flushing.

But after having the whole winter off and no two-inning saves to wear him out, maybe Jeurys Familia will be back to his pre-Series self. And Terry Collins knows to never let Matt Harvey talk him into anything. And Lucas Duda has practiced the throw from first to home 370,000 times (or, in dollars, the amount of money each World Series-winning player got).

Cespedes even convinced Perez  to put his World Series MVP on the line. (Perez really was hammied in Miami.) If Cespedes can pull of this trick, he deserves MVP even if he goes 0 for 4 in the game.

What better way to start the 30th anniversary of the 1986 season? Well, maybe pre-ordering this book is a good start.