“If you ain’t got a bullpen, you ain’t got nothin’” – Yogi Berra, 1973 In 2011, the Mets didn’t have nothin’. Unless you’re a dominant team (like ’86) or a hapless collection (like…oh, never mind), the difference between being over .500 and under is a matter of a couple of wins. Last year, the Mets [...]
The confetti from the Giants’ Super Bowl victory is scarcely swept up and we’re gearing up for spring training. The annual winter doldrums between the end of football and the beginning of baseball seem shorter than ever, mercifully and will shrink further still if the NFL goes through with its plan to add two more [...]
Well, it just gets better and better for the Wilpons, doesn’t it? For an organization that tries its darnedest to put out nothing but positive PR, it sure has a funny way of achieving the exact opposite. The tighter the choke hold on the Mets’ message, the more mangled it becomes. Even what would be [...]
What comes to mind when I mention “1962?” Is it Casey Stengel’s fractured fairy tales? Is it Marvelous Marv and his unintentional hilarity in the environs of the first base bag? Is it sad-sack starter Roger Craig, a very good pitcher both before and after his Met tenure? Is it the sheer futile enormity of [...]
So this is what we’ve been reduced to, apparently. So starved for some good news on the acquisition front are we fans, that more than a few of us got excited at the prospect of acquiring a 31-year-old journeyman outfielder. Another right-hander hitter, I might add, so friendlier fences in right and right-center would do [...]
Former “super-prospect” Fernando Martinez was placed on waivers yesterday. Never having played a full season in the majors or minors and still just 23 years old, Martinez was jettisoned – along with Danny Herrera – to clear out space on the 40-man roster for must-haves Ronny Cedeno and Scott Hairston. Let that sink in for [...]
The dust has settled on the early off-season activity, such as it was. With the official announcement of the signing of Frank Francisco – the latest member of the College of Closers, joining Jon Rauch, Ramon Ramirez and Bobby Parnell – the 40-man roster finds itself at 40-men. The winter’s haul, which also included older [...]
Apart from being a Mets fan, I’m a baseball fan. I like to keep abreast of the goings-on of other teams and – as shocking as this may seem – I like to see what fans of other teams think about our club in Flushing. I’m also a fan of good writing. All this is [...]
I trust everyone enjoyed their bird last week. Thanksgiving always whets my appetite for the funtime follies of the off-season, the Winter Meetings. This is the MLB uber-convention. This is the time of the year when owners, GMs and their staves, writers, hangers-on, wannabe executives and even the stray ballplayer or two converge on a [...]
I read the papers, same as the next guy. I hear all the doom and gloom from my favorite Mets MSM writers: Adam Rubin, Steve Popper, Marty Noble and Andy McCullough. Every day, it’s a done-deal that Jose Reyes is going…somewhere. San Francisco? Detroit? Milwaukee? Boston? Miami? Yep, might as well resign myself to the [...]
I have a confession to make. I’ve never admitted this to many people, but it feels really good to get it off my chest now. I – ME of all people – was a bandwagon jumper. Years ago, I committed the unpardonable sin of a sports fan: I switched teams. At an opportune moment, in [...]
Well, being a Mets fan just gets better and better, doesn’t it? We’re worried about whether or not the team will keep Jose Reyes in orange and blue next year, while people who actually work for the Mets will now have to worry about where their next meal is coming from. On the one hand, [...]