It's a little hard to imagine, but the Metsies were the recipients of some positive publicity this week, the NY Times commending the kings of Queens for spending big on their future.
On August 15, the Mets signed top pick Brandon Nimmo for $1.656 million, and 15th rounder Phillip Evans for $650,000--the latter in particular a larcenous sum for a lower round guy.
The Mets "went over slot" by doing so.
Huh? you may say.
Clarifies Andrew Keh of the Times:
The practice of bypassing Major League Baseball’s guidelines — commonly known as “going over slot” — is neither new nor uncommon for other clubs.
In layman's terms, the Mets spent more than the league recommends, which teams who prefer winning to losing tend to do.
"The slot" is of course a hockey term for a key offensive position within shooting distance of the goal.
It's also the name given to a body of water running through the Solomon Islands, a little south of Papua New Guinea.
It was also the name of a column I wrote for the defunct New York Sports Express several years ago, in which I found offbeat sports stories (women's fastpitch baseball, bowling leagues, gay hockey tournaments) around New York City.
"Slot" appears to be a somewhat familiar term to those who cover baseball for a living; Jon Heyman of SI.com saw fit to use it in verb form without any sort of explanation for readers:
"[Selig] is more determined than ever to get slotting," one person who knows Selig well said.
And...
Selig's hope that the union would accept binding slots rests partly on a belief that current players aren't concerned about incoming amateur players.
If Batter Chatter condoned branded integration in any way, or thought we could make a nickel of it, we'd probably throw in a plug for Foxwoods having the "loosest slots," as their billboard boasts, right around here.
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