The owners don't want to play in April, anyway.

Sure, there are some nuances and each team is different ...

 ... but every team's offense will benefit from the DH.

Because pitcher's can't hit.

I also think that everyone in the NL will echo the sentiment of the Mets' manager and hitting coach.

DJ LeMahieu hopes the players' next proposal will end the MLB lockout.

I never understand the rush to get rid of Voit.

Voit's 162-game average stats:

.267/.357/.510

34 HR

94 RBI

83 R

159 K

61 BB

I was thinking deGrom is their best hitter.

"Five months ago, when the Mets were heading toward their fifth-straight playoff miss, the futures of J.D. Davis and Robinson Cano were murky at best. Davis was expected to be involved in an upcoming offseason trade package — and he very well might still be — while Cano was a distant entity, already erased from Mets’ fans collective consciousness.

Now, their outlooks are quite different. With the universal DH expected to arrive next season, whenever the MLB lockout is lifted and a new Collective Bargaining Agreement is in place, the opportunities for the Mets lineup are especially advantageous."

I mean, in general, I'm bearish on the Mets. It's grading on a curve compared to expectations which I think are a bit outlandish and optimistic.

But if a steroid-less, 39-year-old Robinson Cano is an impactful offensive player for the Mets, then I will truly be shocked.

Universal DH

 That was anti-climactic after decades of screaming about it.

Some ink for Hiroki Kuroda.

Not the first guy I think of when I think of ex-Yankee sluggers ...

When Canseco confessed in his book, admittedly for self-serving purposes, just about everyone dismissed him and ganged up on him.

But, over time, he was proven right.

I find the most cowardly HOF arguments are fixated on the particulars of drug test results, official suspensions, official MLB rules vs., I dunno, the laws of the USA.

With every other dimension, a voter is supposed to review the facts and use their judgment.

Ortiz used PEDs. I feel very comfortable saying that, and I don't have to prove it 100%. I am using my judgment and common sense.

Several players already in the HOF used PEDs.

So the hypocrisy is that the writers use the character clause when it suits them. It seems to the rest of us, that they're making their decisions based on popularity or a quid pro quo payback.

Manny Ramirez crossed a threshold that Ortiz didn't cross? OK, if that fiction gets you through the night.

I mean, if you really want to reject a player due to his character, I'll gladly reject Omar Vizquel ... yet he still got 24% of the votes.

Hinske with your best shot.

 Mike Aldrete was unavailable for comment.

Yes doubting.

"There's no doubting that Rodriguez is very intelligent and is one of the most accomplished players in MLB history, but there are quite a few people not fond of him personally. Details on how 'a Manningcast-type broadcast' with Rodriguez would work appear to be slim right now, but ESPN would seemingly have to pair the 14-time All-Star with one of their most universally liked personalities for such an arrangement to be successful."

I have never really seen evidence that he is intelligent. 

He's ...  magnetic? Charismatic?

But not intelligent.

It's quantum journalism.

It's never true, it's always true.

It is not an exaggeration to state that Mike Lupica anticipates the Mets taking over the headlines from the Yankees every single season:

"Nobody would ever call the Yankees bums, lovable or otherwise. They have one winning season after another, back to the middle of the 1990s, an historic and remarkable run. But their fans know that winning seasons aren’t supposed to be the coin of the realm on the north side of 161st St. any more than they were on the other side of 161st St., where the Yankees won 26 of the 27 World Series.

Yankee fans liked it better over there, the home for most of the good ghosts that Derek Jeter liked to talk about.

Now it’s as if the Yankees have ghosted the Series."

Huh? Coin of the realm? Ghosted the Series? Is he saying Yankee fans dislike the new Stadium? I like the new Stadium.

"And it’s even worse than that right now, especially in light of the way the Yankees started doing business, on and off the field, once George Steinbrenner got to town, and became the first real modern sports owner, throwing money around and making more noise than a brass band.

It is the other team in New York, the Mets, who now have become the biggest baseball spender around, even bigger in the moment than the Dodgers. It is the Mets who made the biggest offseason noise before the sport shut down because of the current labor dispute, signing free agent Max Scherzer to a record-setting contract, and then hiring the best free agent manager out there, Buck Showalter, one of the most popular managers that the Yankees ever had."

I know Lupica's the lead Showalter Guy. Lupica can gloat about this one. Like I said before, it's almost as if Lupica willed the Showalter hire into existence.

But I honestly had no idea Buck Showalter was one of the most popular managers the Yankees ever had.

With the fans? Or do you mean, like, with inside baseball personnel?

Because Showalter made his bones after his four seasons with the Yankees ... which ended 27 years ago.

"(If you don’t believe that, go see if you can find the video of the ovation Showalter got at the old Stadium before Game 1 of the Yankees’ division series against Junior Griffey and the Mariners in 1995)"

Ummm ... still don't believe it ... and, no, I am not going to look up a video.

I know for damned sure the Yankees fans were excited to be back in the playoffs. 

It was a good time.

The bullpen catcher got a standing ovation.

Go find the video of the fans going crazy when Ruben Sierra hit a home run ... and then tell me you've concluded that Ruben Sierra is one of the most popular Yankee outfielders ever. They were chanting "Ru-Ben, Ru-Ben, Ru-Ben."

Off the top of my head: Casey Stengel, Joe Torre, Billy Martin ... and then a few old-timers like McCarthy and Huggins.

So "three decades ago, Showalter's short tenure with the Yankees has probably made him one of the Top Six or Top Seven most popular Yankee managers, based mostly on a re-evaluation of his talents after the 1995 season."

"But from the end of the ‘21 season until now, something quite, well, amazin’ has happened:

It is the Yankees who have felt like the Other Team in town."

Maybe this is even true. 

But you say this every single year.

Even if you are eventually correct, you don't get credit.

Scherzer and Showalter can't be the reason the Mets take over New York. The Mets have already taken over New York many tames, according to Lupica: Lindor, Betances, Granderson, Afonso, etc.

 

At least he explained himself.

"I’ve voted for Bonds and Clemens every year since 2013. My support for them has been unwavering.

Yes, I realize using steroids gave hitters (and a good number of pitchers) an unfair advantage. I don’t condone cheating. Anyone who tests positive or confesses to juicing is automatically stricken from my ballot.

But…

If there’s no substantive proof of PED use, I’m willing to give a candidate a closer look. Neither Bonds nor Clemens was ever disciplined by Major League Baseball during their respective careers.

If the commissioner’s office (and in Clemens’ case, the federal government) couldn’t deliver evidence against the two, that’s good enough for me. I’m not a prosecutor. I’m not a pharmacist. I work with data, not suspicion."

That's fine, I suppose, but a lot of these people are going to make a chump out of you. If you want to keep PED users out of the Hall of Fame, you know it's already too late, and you're smart enough to realize this. As for "substantive proof," it just depends on your definition of "substantive."

 

"I voted for Schilling because his political beliefs (decidedly right-wing) don’t constitute a violation of the Hall’s morals clause. I don’t care what politicians he supports or what causes he advocates for. Schilling hasn’t broken any laws.

Granted, his views are extreme and offensive to many. He’s also a grouch, especially towards the media. I don’t take that personally. I’ve met worse individuals in a major league clubhouse. A Hall of Fame ballot shouldn’t be used to exact revenge on the politically incorrect."

Sure.

But this is what drive me nuts about the way Schilling has shifted the argument into the "cancel culture" argument.

Schilling has 216 wins; not 316.

His "most similar" pitchers at baseball-reference.com are Zack Greinke (likely future HOFer), Kevin Brown, and Bob Welch.

Sure, Schilling's postseason probably pushes him over the top ... but then Orel Hershiser is wondering why he fell off the ballot after two years.

"Schilling’s work on the mound (career 4.3 strikeout-to-walk ratio, the best in 100 years, and the only hurler to win a World Series game in his 20s, 30s and 40s) count more than what he posts on social media."

Strikeout-to-walk ratio?

Where's Jon Lieber's plaque if that stat is now a thing?

Schilling also allowed 347 home runs, if we're cherry-picking stats.

No worries. I think Schilling will get in and he deserves it. But he's a borderline candidate posing as a victim ... and Klapisch seems to have fallen for the con. 

 

"In Pettitte’s case, the 10-vote limit killed his chances as I had to make room for Helton and Jones. Still, my respect for Pettitte’s work in October is undiminished: the most wins (19), innings pitched (276.2) and games started (44) in post-season history

As for Vizquel, his stats are deserving of one final mention, including his 11 Gold Gloves. He was the game’s best defensive shortstop after Ozzie Smith.

But I have a hard time lining up with a player who was accused by his wife of multiple instances of domestic violence. Vizquel was also accused of sexual harassment by an autistic man.

Sorry, I’m out."

Yeah, I'm sure most are in agreement that Vizquel crossed the line. I don't think he deserved it either way, but that debate is now moot.

Pettitte, on the other hand, has absolute and undeniable "substantive proof" of PED use. So what's the deal, Klapisch?

This guy is bad news.

 I mean, I don't wish poor health on anyone, but it's ridiculous and childish and self-defeating to not tell the Yankees:

"Frazier did admit that he didn’t tell the Yankees when his symptoms returned before the 2021 season, when it was announced that he would be the starting left fielder on Opening Day. But a brutal 5-for-55 start to the season quickly ended his time as a starter, and by June, his season was over with what the Yankees labeled as 'vertigo.'

'They weren’t aware, that was on me,' Frazier said. 'I was fighting for my life…I was trying to continue to play. So I didn’t tell them. And then I showed up to spring training and started to feel better, and then it kind of, like, came back, because I had an instance where I bumped the wall again. I went into the whole season feeling that exact way.'"

It looks like Buck Showalter will be the manager of the Mets.

An idea I (probably) scoffed a year or two ago.

While I understand that most sportswriters are not legit journalists, this degree of rooting makes one wonder how they will react if Showalter fails. 

If Showalter fails, will any of them admit they were wrong about Showalter?

It feels like Mike Lupica willed this into existence.

So hire Buck Showalter already.

Do it for Mike Lupica.

I don't think Showalter is a good choice for the Mets. A year ago, I'd have scoffed at the idea. 

But if he is seen as a counterpoint to the Rojas Experiment ... and if all the inside baseball people think it's going to happen ... then I suppose it's going to happen. 

A moratorium on fluff pieces.

I can't deny there's an illogical emotional reaction the Scherzer signing.

The Yankees weren't on the radar for Scherzer.

If Scherzer had signed with the Blue Jays, that would be bad news for the Yankees.

I am not bullish on the Yankees for 2022, but this is a kooky over-reaction to the signing of a 37-year-old whose career will be over soon.

Not in this article per se, but the idea is floating around that the Yankees are about to lose a generation of young fans to the Mets. 

In the near future, Yankee Stadium converted to a server farm for Amazon as ex-Yankee fans flock to CitiField:

"So the grand question becomes: Is it time for Yankee fans to panic as players continue to sign elsewhere?

The short answer right now is, well, I wouldn’t blame you. It’s bizarre to see the Bombers not doing a single thing before the expected lockout after Cashman’s lengthy comments about what must be done this offseason to get his team back to a World Series contender." 

The time to panic was when the realization began to set in that both Sanchez and Torres are slobs.

"And then there’s the shortstop market, with many believing Seager was the right man for the job. Some even thought Semien, after his pummeling of the Yanks last season in a Blue Jays uniform, would be a great fit.

But now those two and Baez are off the table, leaving Carlos Correa and Trevor Story as the ones left of the 'Power Five.' All hope isn’t lost but the Yanks aren’t helping themselves when you see SNY’s Andy Martino reporting that they're looking into stop-gap option Andrelton Simmons, as well as exploring Rangers SS Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s market.

These two shortstops are certainly defensive studs, but frankly, that’s not what fans expected when Cashman said this team needs a shortstop. Correa is more like it – an All-Star who can field and hit at an above average level."

Two words that will solve all these problems: Troy Tulowitzki.

The Mariners are playoff-hungry.

At this point, even Buck Showalter is wondering why this guy is so obsessed.

"First a conga line of executives didn’t want to come work for Steve Cohen.

Now an ex-Met, and a local kid, named Stephen Matz doesn’t want to take Mr. Cohen’s money.

It is why it is more incumbent than ever for Cohen, and for Billy Eppler, to get it right with the manager.

Buck Showalter isn’t the only candidate out there.

Just the best one."

 

"More incumbent than ever," he says.

Because two months ago, the manager didn't really matter.

I'm almost wishing for it to happen. Buck gets hired and the Mets win 77 games. Joins an immense list of Lupica misfires that he never mentions again.