Steve Trachsel allowed 348 home runs in his 16-year career in Major League Baseball. But the one he allowed to Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals on September 8, 1998 cemented his spot as a footnote in baseball history. The right-hander served Big Mac an 88 MPH fastball and with a quick, short stroke [...]
You would be hard-pressed to find a Mets fan who has never criticized the Wilpon Family for one thing or another in their tenure as primary owners of the ball club. Just a few weeks ago they attracted a ton of negative publicity for the new MLB clubhouse at Clover Field, which they won’t allow [...]
With pitchers and catchers having reported to spring training in Port St. Lucie, Florida last week, the time-honored tradition of minor league players wearing numbers in the 70s and 80s showing up in Grapefruit League Exhibition games is right around the corner. As a baseball-starved kid growing up in the early-2000s, my favorite early-February tradition [...]
Flying somewhat under the radar this weekend – understandable given the scope of the fallout from the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal – was a report by MLB insider Robert Murray that the Mets and Pittsburgh Pirates have once again engaged in talks centered on Starling Marte, though he said no deal was imminent. New Pirates [...]
On Friday night, the ongoing feud between Major League Baseball and the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, the governing body of Minor League Baseball took an ugly turn. MiLB published a four-page statement seeking to correct the public record about their willingness to negotiate with MLB, which was responded to with a 191-word threat [...]
Earlier this month rumors flew around that the Philadelphia Phillies were interested in interviewing Mets hitting coach Chili Davis for the same position. Shortly after those rumors leaked out, Andy Martino reported via Twitter that the Mets had reached multi-year deals to retain Chili Davis and assistant hitting coach Tom Slater in their current positions. [...]
This is a project where 30 people got together to act as the GMs of the 30 MLB teams with the idea of conducting the offseason in one week. This is what happened in this simulation, not a prediction of what will happen in real life. After a few years in a row of getting [...]
On July 10, 2016 Salem Red Sox relief pitcher Jamie Callahan was struggling against the Lynchburg Hillcats. This wasn’t surprising as the 22-year-old entered his 21st appearance of the season with an ERA north of four and an ugly walk rate of 6.06-per-nine innings (27 BB in 40.1 IP). Lynchburg, the Cleveland Indians affiliate, was [...]
In an interview with the New York Daily News, soon-to-be-inducted Baseball Hall of Famer John Smoltz had some high praise for the Mets' young pitching quintet of Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz and Jacob deGrom. "They're way better," Smoltz told Daniel Popper. "They've got more talent than we could ever have." The [...]
It’s no secret that the Mets offense has been terrible for the better part of the season, and that deficiency has only been magnified over the past few weeks. In the past seven games entering play Thursday, the Mets hit .193/.278/.278 as a team, with a .249 wOBA. That’s an almost historically bad week at [...]
In April when the Mets were still mostly healthy and the season was young, the club rattled off an 11-game winning streak, seemingly announcing its presence as a legitimate contender in the National League East. But circumstances, as they often do, have changed. With Curtis Granderson no longer producing at high levels and a disabled [...]
There was a time a few years ago when Bobby Parnell was half-lovingly nicknamed Captain Fastball. He could bring the heat - reaching over 100 mph on the gun - but had problems with control and being hittable. As the now well-known story goes, Jason Isringhausen taught him the knuckle-curve and from that point on, [...]