I’ve been in the book production business now for over thirty years. In the summer of 1982, my first job after college was at Simon & Schuster in New York City. I was hired as an assistant and I was put in charge of making advanced reader copies for new books being published. This was [...]
They don’t call it a New York minute for nothing. We’re all impatient and we want to get things done so we can move on to the next thing we’ve got to do. So, while Sandy Alderson takes his time and acts like the adult in the room, here’s my armchair GM and the 25-man [...]
Six out of eight playoff teams--Boston, Tampa Bay, Detroit, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Los Angeles--all featured a top-10 OBP leadoff hitter and all made the playoffs. A 7th team represented on this list, Texas, missed the playoffs on game 163. The non-contending teams with strong leadoff hitters were Toronto, Milwaukee, and Colorado. The two teams [...]
Terry Collins is now the oldest manager in the major leagues. He’s played his part of the development of the young players in the organization from his years as the minor league coordinator to the past three years as the Mets’ skipper. The majority of the players on the prospective 25 man opening day roster [...]
Joe talks about Mets pitching prospects, and why starting Eric Young Jr. over Juan Lagares is lunacy.
There was the Miracle of 1969. There was its even more unlikely cousin, the “Ya Gotta Believe” pennant of 1973, which saw a second championship fall short – just when the Mets were poised to take it -- due to un-robust hitting and some managerial malpractice. What was lost on the management of the time [...]
In 2011, Jose Reyes led the league in batting for the Mets and was with another team the next year. In 2012, R.A. Dickey led the league in strikeouts and the next year he was on another team. In 2013, Eric Young Jr. led the league in stolen bases. While he will likely open the [...]
It has been a hot topic as of late. Who is going to start for the New York Mets on opening day? Three names have been thrown around: Jon Niese, Bartolo Colon and Zack Wheeler. Niese, who has started opening day for the Mets in the past, hasn’t gotten off to a great start. He [...]
Spring training is a time of hope, happiness, and wonder. The regular season is less than a month away, and every team has a chance to prove the haters wrong and win a championship. But spring training can also be a time of concern. Something could go wrong at any point in time. So what [...]
Inverse, converse, diverse, perverse, and reverse.
Ah, spring training. The one time when losing is acceptable and the Mets have done a ton of it. Several hours after the loss to the Cardinals on Sunday I read a review of the game on a few websites, as I had not watched it, and there were a couple bright spots; Curtis Granderson [...]
When Sandy Alderson decided to trade R.A. Dickey, he insisted on a haul befitting a sitting Cy Young Award winner. In one of his best moves yet, the Son of Alder came home with Travis d’Arnaud, Wuilmer Becerra and fellow Nord Noah Syndergaard, right now looking for all the world like the lynchpin of the [...]