Daniel Murphy in the cleanup spot and optimizing the lineup

On Sunday, Terry Collins did some interesting shuffling of the Mets lineup.  What it essentially boiled down to was he flipped Curtis Granderson and Daniel Murphy in the two and four holes, a somewhat confusing swap.  Collins' reasons for the change were, as Ron Darling put it, strange. He said that he made the change [...]

Will Vic Black be the Mets closer by season’s end?

The 2014 season didn’t get off to a fast start for Vic Black.  In ten spring training appearances, Black pitched to a 5.79 ERA and 2.46 WHIP in 9.1 IP, a showing that promptly had him demoted to minor league camp much earlier than anyone could have expected.  Fans and upper management envisioned Black as [...]

Curtis Granderson, the latest unlucky Mets Opening Day cleanup hitter

On Opening Day, the Mets had big free agent acquisition Curtis Granderson hit cleanup. He started his Mets career 0-for-5 with three strikeouts. And it hasn’t gotten much better since. Last night, Granderson heard Mets’ fans boo him, as he twice came up empty with multiple runners on base in the late innings. With runners [...]

Can Daisuke Matsuzaka cut it in the bullpen?

As the New York Mets came back to Queens to start their 10-game homestand last night, the team brought up Daisuke Matsuzaka on Friday while reassigning John Lannan. With the Mets having five healthy starters (save for Jenrry Mejia’s blister issues and Bartolo Colon’s back problems), the only chance where Matsuzaka can make his mark [...]

Breaking: Ike Davis traded to Pittsburgh Pirates

After 18 months of teasing, the New York Mets have finally broken up with  Ike Davis, sending him to the Pittsburgh Pirates for minor league reliever Zach Thornton and a player to be named later.  According to CBS's Jon Heyman, the PTBNL is "significant", so there's that. Right now, this trade looks like nothing to [...]

Why a struggling Valverde still makes the Mets win

Important caveat, 15 games is a good hitting streak, not a good base to establish trends. Warning aside, something interesting is happening with the 2014 New York Mets. A seemingly terrible omen in the form of an opening series sweep at the hands of the Washington Nationals has been settled for now with an 8-7 [...]

Lucas Duda swings, Jeurys Familia’s opponents don’t, Anthony Recker wins

One of the unsung stars of the early going for the Mets has been the offensive production of Lucas Duda. Slowed by an injury in Spring Training, Duda has also suffered somewhat from management’s refusal to solve the three-headed first baseman issue. But when he’s got on the field, Duda has been a productive offensive [...]

Enjoy Eric Young Jr’s great start for however long it lasts

My strong preference was for the Mets to sign Shin-Soo Choo this past offseason. However, Sandy Alderson did not want to put all of his eggs into one basket and instead spent $32.25 million on Bartolo Colon, Curtis Granderson and Chris Young. While it will be interesting to see the value the Mets get for [...]

Jenrry Mejia And The Mets’ Starters Recover At Their Favorite Spa

The Arizona Diamondbacks were established in 1998, a newly minted National League expansion team. They have had their fair share of success in a pretty short time frame, winning the NL West in only their second year of existence, winning a World Championship two years later – wrecking the Yankees’ latest dynasty in the process [...]