xMets

Mets fan…

[xMets @Courtsidecom]

@TheDunkCentral @realapp Vintage James Harden tonight... he was pretty unguardable and super efficient for most of this game.

[xMets @Courtsidecom]

my guy Deuce has been automatic this season.

[nykcommenter @knicksguru2]

I love the confidence Deuce McBride has been shooting and playing with all year... 21-for-45 from three this year (47%). That’s elite.

And he’s scorching tonight, 3-for-3 from deep so far.

[nykcommenter @knicksguru2]

Leon Rose never sleeps.

Another move like the Knecht acquisition. Not a big one, but a talented guy with no risk. Former No. 8 pick, still just 21.

He isn't on the Knicks roster, but it's always good to add to the talent pool in the organization.

[xMets @Courtsidecom]

@Bryan17761 @EvilLesCatgirl @TJStats I also accept the position of the voters… I’m not rioting in the streets

Just trying to have a conversation about baseball but you have the nuance of a 3rd grader

[xMets @Courtsidecom]

@Bryan17761 @EvilLesCatgirl @TJStats so you don’t understand baseball because you have yet to explain “how they are right”…

That’s all I’ve asked you to do and yet you continue to dance around the question.

It’s actually exhausting talking to someone so unintelligent

[xMets @Courtsidecom]

Most people engage in debate about sports and talk about guys they like and don’t like and give their opinion. It’s a pretty standard thing people do.

I’m sorry that me having an opinion bothered you so much… no one would ever give any opinion on sports again if you had it your way.

You still have yet to make a good point and just regurgitated what I just made fun of you for in my previous post… your only argument is “the voters voted for him, so it’s the right decision”.

If you are so dumb and lack the ability to have an adult conversation about your opinion idk how you survived this long in society. I’m glad that you are ready to accept the position of the voters instead of doing any actual thinking for yourself. Moron.

[xMets @Courtsidecom]

@Masterflip_ Absolutely no way

[nykcommenter @knicksguru2]

Karl-Anthony Towns in just 27 minutes vs. MIL:

21 PTS | 16 REB | 2 STL | 1 BLK | +21

That's a double-double in all 10 games to start the year. The Knicks have now won 6 of 7 after a rough start.

Big game vs. CLE at the Garden tomorrow.

[nykcommenter @knicksguru2]

Knicks win their 4th straight, and it was never close. 117-85 over MIL.

Loved the pace. 26 assists, 18 offensive boards, only 10 turnovers.

Mike Brown kept the starters fresh for tomorrow: nobody played 30 minutes and Josh sat. Big one vs the Cavs tmr.

[xMets @Courtsidecom]

David Stearns is excited to have Bo Bichette back after he opted in, saying the Mets were encouraged by his final 3-4 months and expect more of the same in 2027...

Bichette is back on a one-year deal that includes another $42 million player option for 2028.

What are your expectations for Bichette in 2027? Can he be an elite bat once again and maintain it for a full season?

[xMets @Courtsidecom]

@SNY_Mets This sounds to me like he doesn’t want to throw Semien under the bus but it will be Voit or Rojas rather soon… especially if he doesn’t perform.

[xMets @Courtsidecom]

@abovethebreak2 Celtics

[ATB @abovethebreak2]

NBA POWER RANKINGS: WEEK 3

Injuries are everywhere: Ant, Chet, J-Dub, Kawhi, Ja, Haliburton, Banchero, Butler. This week is about who's surviving it.

1. OKC ▲1
2. SAS ▲3
3. HOU ▼2
4. PHI ▼1
5. LAL ▲2
6. BOS ▲2
7. NYK ▲2
8. MIN ▼2
9. DET ▼5
10. GSW ▲7
11. POR ▼1
12. ATL ▲3
13. DEN ▲1
14. MEM ▼1
15. CLE ▼4
16. DAL ▲2
17. TOR ▼5
18. MIA ▲4
19. WAS ▼3
20. NOP ▼1
21. PHX ▲3
22. IND ▼1
23. ORL —
24. CHA ▼4
25. LAC —
26. BKN ▲4
27. SAC —
28. MIL ▼2
29. UTA —
30. CHI ▼2

Full breakdown in the thread below

[xMets @Courtsidecom]

You’re clearly not capable of having an actual conversation. I brought numbers and arguments, and you brought “but he won.”

Repeating the result back to me isn’t a rebuttal, it’s an admission you’ve got nothing else. Let me know when you’re ready to defend the pick instead of just pointing at it.

[xMets @Courtsidecom]

@Bryan17761 @EvilLesCatgirl @TJStats I made this argument without using advanced metrics… just so you could see how you got absolutely nothing other than rbis and HRs.

[xMets @Courtsidecom]

By what metric was he more valuable to his team??? The “isayso” metric.

Is that 113 RBIs means nothing else Benge does can make up that gap? Not even playing elite defense at a much more difficult position when Sal played below average defense at the easiest position on the field.

His OPS is a 11 pts higher which I think is good overall evaluator of hitters… I think Benge being elite at every other facet of the game makes up the OPS gap and also the gap in certain counting stats.

[xMets @Courtsidecom]

Do you seriously think Sal is a better all around baseball player than Carson Benge? Or JJ Wehterholdt?

Those voters were silly and didn’t take into account defensive value considering Benge and JJ were 2 of the most valuable players on that side of the ball in all of baseball.

I’ve said the whole time - I think Sal is a very good baseball player I just don’t think he was the best national league rookie… it’s not “national league hitter of the year”.

[xMets @Courtsidecom]

I wish every voter did this. Way more interesting to see the reasoning than just the final ballot.

[Brenden Schaeffer🎳 @bschaeffer12]

As a BBWAA member, I had a vote for NL Rookie of the Year.

My ballot looked like this:

Wetherholt
Rumfield
Benge
McLean
Stewart

I didn't know before the results were unveiled last night how others voted. I didn't know I would actually be the lowest voter on Sal Stewart, the only person to place him 5th on their ballot.

I've gotten some flak from disgruntled Reds fans about where I placed the eventual winner of the award. I wanted to outline some of my thought process.

I had a Rookie of the Year vote once previously, when Corbin Carroll won it. Making out a ballot that year felt a lot more straightforward compared to this loaded list of worthy rookies.

Wetherholt led all NL rookies in Wins Above Replacement and was one of the top 20 players in WAR in the NL, not just among rookies.

He was the best defensive player in the sport aside from PCA. His defensive metrics seemed to back this up, though he didn't win the Gold Glove at 2B (and no, I didn't have a vote in that).

In addition to the superlative defense, he remained an above league-average contributor offensively, particularly in his role. Wetherholt led NL rookies in runs scored, which seemed to me to be a similar valuation to the way Reds supporters view Stewart, who led rookies in RBIs.

For a leadoff man, runs scored is the goal. For someone in Stewart's position in the lineup, the goal is driving in the runs. Both thrived at their objective. I, clearly, put weight into JJ's defensive value vs. where Sal didn't carry value on that side of the ball.

Carson Benge was a blend of strong offensive numbers with plus defense in the outfield. Probably the most well-rounded rookie, but perhaps without any standout characteristic to push up to the top of the ballot.

The order of the top three was a real challenge that I wrestled with. Benge drew the second-most 1st place votes and I can't argue with the logic behind those selections. Benge had 4.3 WAR, only narrowly behind Wetherholt (4.6), but admittedly ahead of Rumfield, who was only 2.6 per FanGraphs but 3.5 per Baseball Reference.

But the more I looked into TJ Rumfield's season, the more I was impressed. Did you realize he led the National League in OBP this season? Not just among rookies -- he led the entire NL.

Additionally, the Coors Field bump wasn't responsible for his standout offensive season. He had a better OBP on the road. His OPS was easily above every other name on my ballot.

Nolan McLean came next on my ballot. I struggled figuring out exactly where to draw the lines and place the only pitcher on my ballot. His numbers were really strong, and it's an age-old question how to weigh position players against pitchers in this award race. Logan Henderson merited consideration, too, but with only five spots on the ballot, he fell victim to the workload conversation. He didn't reach 100 big-league innings, as he spent a stint in AAA during the season.

Sal Stewart, of course, was worthy of the ballot. And truthfully, I wouldn't have had a huge issue with any of the five names I chose ultimately winning. Stewart's 30-100 season obviously won over enough of the voters for him to be selected as the winner.

But of the five players on my ballot, he was lowest in WAR (2.0) by a considerable margin. He contributed power and RBIs that exceeded the other candidates, but ultimately, landed fifth on my ballot due to some of the rate stats and other underlying numbers that pushed other candidates above him, for me.

At the end of the day, Sal Stewart is a deserving winner of the award and I enjoyed the process of putting together what ended up being an especially challenging ballot.

[xMets @Courtsidecom]

Nobody said my vote should be the only one that counts. And I'm not cherry picking anything. I'm using the stats that include MORE of what a player does, not less. Cherry picking would be pointing to batting average and RBIs and ignoring walks, power, and ballpark.

A lot of advanced stats are built on batting average and the other counting stats. They just take more factors into account. OBP takes the hits from batting average and adds walks and HBP. Slugging takes those same hits and weights extra-base hits. wOBA weights every one of those events by how many runs it actually produces, and wRC+ adjusts that for ballpark and league. They take the basic stats and make them more well rounded.

So I'm not dismissing the counting stats. All those counting stats you're obsessed with are built into the advanced ones, which makes them more credible, not less. If you trust a .300 average, you should trust a stat that includes everything in that .300 plus what it leaves out.

And the writers you're pointing to are the ones who moved toward these stats. The BBWAA gave Félix Hernández the Cy Young in 2010 with 13 wins. They gave deGrom the Cy Young in 2018 with 10 wins. Neither of those happens fifteen years earlier. Every front office in baseball has an analytics department (and they are growing). The people who live the game daily are using exactly what I'm talking about.

You can have 50 years of watching baseball and still be wrong about this. Experience isn't an argument. You still haven't responded to anything I actually said.

[xMets @Courtsidecom]

Also on here: Seattle beat reporter Andrew Destin gave Dylan Beavers a 5th-place vote.

Beavers hit .228/.307/.373 with a -0.5 bWAR, ranked 55th among AL rookies in fWAR, and was the 4th-best rookie on his own team. I'd genuinely love to hear the reasoning on this one.

[xMets @Courtsidecom]

2026 AL Rookie of the Year voting, ballot by ballot 👇

McGonigle took 28 of 30 first-place votes in a race that was a lot closer than that. He edged Messick 5.4 to 4.9 in fWAR and 7.1 to 6.3 in bWAR. Voters clearly favored the everyday shortstop over the arm.