Mickey Callaway’s rookie managerial season skippering the Mets had some ups, and a lot of downs. He and the team had a sizzling start, then a dreadful June, before rallying to a respectable pace the latter part of the year. Perhaps the low point for Callaway was the infamous lineup mixup in Cincinnati that likely [...]
Now that David Wright has moved from the field to the front office, we can assemble an all-time team of players who played their entire MLB careers with the Mets. Each player must have played at least one game at the position to which he is assigned. 1B… Ed Kranepool was an easy choice here. [...]
Wilson Ramos was signed during the off-season, and, barring injury, he will be the Mets starting catcher in 2019. However, he turns 32 during the season, and he has had a few injuries, so the backup catcher should get plenty of chances to contribute. That backup will undoubtedly be Travis d’Arnaud, the injury beset backstop [...]
There was an interesting piece in the New York Post over the weekend concerning former Mets infielder Asdrubal Cabrera. Cabrera, an unsigned free agent as of this writing, expressed the lament that he would have loved to come back to the Mets but he realized that would not happen after the team signed Jed Lowrie. [...]
So far this offseason, rookie GM Brodie Van Wagenen has been wheeling and dealing players as much or more than any Mets GM ever. By signing Wilson Ramos and shipping out Kevin Plawecki, he’s remade the catching corps. He’s tinkered with the outfield, banishing Jay Bruce and acquiring Keon Broxton. The bullpen has been recast [...]
We’ve turned over to our 2019 calendar, and that means we are now in the 50th anniversary year of the remarkable, World Series winning 1969 Miracle Mets. This was a team that was little changed, with respect to personnel, from the ‘68 edition, a team which had finished in ninth place with a 73-89 record. [...]
The Mets have significantly upgraded their catching corps this offseason via the signing of Wilson Ramos. The backup catcher slot, however, is still up in the air. Conventional wisdom has been to either keep Travis d’Arnaud and trade Kevin Plawecki, or vice-versa. Yet another possibility is to keep both and occasionally deploy d’Arnaud in either [...]
Back in the last century the late comedian Rodney Dangerfield was known for his tag line “ I don't get no respect.” After the off-season that Mets infielder Jeff McNeil has endured, it would be no surprise if he felt the same way. McNeil, a rookie last year, was the Met second baseman for the [...]
The results are in from the Hall of Fame ballot of the Today’s Game Era committee, and once again Davey Johnson fell short of winning induction. Maybe the most surprising aspect of the vote was that Lou Piniella came within a whisker of induction as a manager, while Johnson was nowhere near the number of [...]
Now that Robinson Cano is in the fold for the Mets, it might be interesting to see how other elite second basemen have fared in their age 36 season. We’ll examine the records of the nine Hall of Fame second basemen who played the bulk of their careers after the second World War. Although all [...]
The Mets have several areas where they need improvement going into 2019, especially the bullpen, but also the catching corps, and first base is iffy as well. One area of need that has not gotten much attention is utility infielder. They need a player good enough with the glove to backup Amed Rosario at shortstop, [...]
On December 9, the Baseball Hall of Fame “Today’s Game Era” committee will vote on potential new inductees. Among those on the ten person ballot is Davey Johnson, one of three candidates being considered as managers. The other two managerial candidates for the Hall are Charlie Manuel and Lou Piniella., Johnson, of course, was skipper [...]