Just before Thanksgiving 2010, the Mets hired Terry Collins to shepherd the Mets into their new era. The talk at the time was based in GM Sandy Alderson’s history – apocryphal though it might be – of disdain for the position. There isn't a copy of Moneyball handy, but the quote was something about the [...]
Since the trade of R.A. Dickey earlier this off season, the buzz has been about sensational prospect Travis d'Arnaud. And why not? His potential is agreed to be limitless. Even to the point of being compared to a young Johnny Bench. While time will tell, the forgotten man in all of this is John Buck. [...]
In some vocal circles of Mets fans, Carlos Beltran is loathed as a selfish player. The hate even inspired the semi-popular but ironic hashtag #BlameBeltran. In his six-and-a-half seasons with the Mets, Beltran selfishly hit .280/.369/.500 with a 129 OPS+. He also slugged 149 rally-killing home runs, selfishly drove in 559 runs, stole 100 selfish [...]
Robinson Cano: The reality is, Cano will be 31 and may not stick at second for the remainder of his career. The reality ALSO is that he’ll cost a lot of money and the Mets seem to have the position reasonably covered with Daniel Murphy, Wilmer Flores, Wilfredo Tovar, Danny Muno, Phillip Evans and Gavin [...]
Looking at the players the Mets have, and the projection systems used to evaluate the team, has been interesting. Dan Szymborski’s projection system, ZiPS, has projected a meager 68-94 record for the 2013 Mets. However, other, more optimistic, projections systems, such as Nate Silver’s PECOTA, have projected the Mets to finish 80-82. It’s important to [...]
Earlier this week, Mets owner Fred Wilpon referred to David Wright as "our Jeter." Some may be taken aback by that statement, but it make sense when considering what each player has brought to their respective franchises. Both are the "faces" of their franchise, have spent their entire careers with their team (and will probably [...]
Aimless in the Outfield: The Mets are going into Spring Training with a number of relative question marks in the outfield. No… there will be no Michael Bourn nor will there be Jason Borrne or Ozzy Osbourne but there will be plenty of speculation, misdirection and if we’re lucky… Duda might bite the head off [...]
This is the second in a series of evaluations comparing the 1986 World Series Champions with the projected 2013 team. The first article dealt with the offensive contributions of the 1986 Mets starting eight position players. This article deals with the offensive contributions of the bench (or platoon players). In order to keep this from [...]
After last year’s debacle, there’s a lot of concern about the 2013 bullpen. It seem like the Mets have signed 20 relievers with an NRI, hoping to get lucky with one or two of them. Since relievers are so volatile from year to year, this approach has at least as much chance of success as [...]
While examining the non-roster invites on the Mets’ official website you may notice there are quite a number of players who have a legitimate shot at making the club out of spring training. Veteran arms such as Scott Atchison and Aaron Laffey have MLB experience and could help in the team’s bullpen. Despite missing two [...]
It was revealed this week that incumbent Mets’ closer Frank Francisco has elbow inflammation and his availability for Opening Day is in doubt. Apparently, Francisco was not able to rehab properly after he had surgery this offseason to remove bone spurs in his elbow because of personal issues. “So, here we go again!”-says every Mets’ [...]
Some numbers roll off the tongue. Even though they may no longer be records, 714, 61, 511 and 56 all mean something specific to baseball fans. There’s an aura and mystique there unlike in any other sport. For the Mets, .340 is probably the number that stands out for me. I’m sure others will have [...]