I don’t know what all the fuss over Mariano Rivera is about. The guy’s been in the major leagues since 1995, and he’s collected a grand total of zero hits in three at-bats, striking out once. That’s just a day’s work for Jason Bay. Ah, but it seems he’s pitched,... Read More →
With Kirk Nieuwenhuis on crutches, it is worth considering who the alternatives are for the New York Mets to play center field. Roughly speaking, here’s how I see the depth chart. 1. Collin Cowgill: Reasons for optimism include his 8-for-16 start in spring training, if you are into small sample… Read More →
From Sandy Alderson’s conference call with bloggers last night. Special thanks to Ean Bauer for asking the question, and to Eric Simon for the full transcript. Ean Bauer: Sandy, I’m hoping you can clarify something. You’ve described the 2013 outfield as “not a strength,” among other things you also told… Read More →
Did you see this home run by Ike Davis? Go ahead and watch, I’ll wait. There, now wasn’t that fun? I wrote a story yesterday about how the Mets have allowed Amway to open a storefront at Citi Field. Look, don’t go in. You’ll almost certainly lose money. It’s pretty… Read More →
One of my favorite press releases of the year. METS ANNOUNCE 2013 PROMOTIONAL SCHEDULE Nearly 400,000 Giveaways for Fans of All Ages David Wright (June 30), Dwight Gooden (July 21) and Tom Seaver (August 25) Join Ron Darling (April 21) and John Franco (May 25) in All-Star Bobblehead… Read More →
When evaluating exactly who can help the New York Mets improve upon their horrific 2012 bullpen performance, I keep returning to Greg Burke, signed early in the offseason, and already added to the 40-man roster. This may seem like wishful thinking, and to a certain extent, it is. Burke hasn’t… Read More →
I awoke this morning to see that Metspolice was advocating for the song that’s served as my ringtone for much of the winter. I defy you to listen to that song and not look forward to baseball season. I was once told by someone high up that “market research” showed… Read More →
The Mets have officially signed Brandon Lyon to a one-year deal. Ken Rosenthal reported the guaranteed money is between $750K and $900K, with incentives potentially pushing him to $2.4 million. Both are great moves; guaranteeing a guy who, as I wrote last week, would be better than anything the Mets… Read More →
The free agency of outfielder Michael Bourn has turned into a high-stakes card game between the New York Mets and Bourn’s agent, Scott Boras, in which both sides appear to be bluffing. On the one hand, there’s Boras, who has repeatedly claimed his clients have offers beyond those rumored in… Read More →
Adam Rubin has the Mets casting a wide net for bullpen help, and that certainly makes sense. Sandy Alderson isn’t confident about Frank Francisco at closer, nor should he be. And the group as a whole needs some more givens. Last season’s 29th ranked group in both ERA and (they… Read More →
As first reported here, Banner Day had become Banner Night. No longer. As I have said before: the Mets making a wrong choice, dealing with a week of bad publicity, then correcting is a silly way to let things unfold, but indisputably a step forward from failing to correct at… Read More →
“We continue to look, but I think, realistically at this point, there’s not a lot left on the shelf,” general manager Sandy Alderson said on Sirius XM’s MLB Network Radio yesterday. “So at some point we have to realize that, well, perhaps the outfield is not the strength of our… Read More →
As usual, we all awoke this morning to news that the Mets had signed a major league free agent. And by “as usual”, of course, I mean “for the first time all winter”. Still, the acquisition of Shaun Marcum on a one-year deal is a good one. Marcum, with a… Read More →
Bowing to popular pressure and, I expect, the need to make offseason news of some kind, the Mets have backed down from their original insistence that Banner Day remain on May 26, despite ESPN moving the start of the game from 1:10 to 8:05, thus making it Banner Night. (To… Read More →
We’re at the point where the team’s own general manager is complaining on WFAN about the state of the team, and his own winter progress in improving it. We’re at the point where ZIPS projects four Mets to produce even league average offense, measured by OPS+. Of those four, one… Read More →