Is Jeremy Hefner en route to becoming a rotation mainstay?

After pitching six quality innings in which he gave up just five hits and two walks while limiting the Marlins to one run in a no-decision, it certainly appears that Hefner is here to stay in the Mets’ rotation. The criminally underrated Hefner is a pitcher who gets by on grit and determination. While not [...]

Are Ruben Tejada’s spring struggles a reason for concern?

After going 0-3 in the Mets’ 6-2 exhibition win over the Houston Astros on Wednesday night, Ruben Tejada is now batting .080 in Spring Training while also struggling to make consistent contact. At what first was a promising start when he hit a home run off the Nationals’ ace Stephen Strasburg in early preseason action, [...]

Should the Mets consider starting out season with Travis d’Arnaud as their starting catcher?

What a novel concept it would be if the Mets actually went with their best options to win right away and bucked (no pun meant towards John Buck) the trend and tabbed uber-catching prospect Travis d’Arnaud as their opening day and full-time catcher. To coin a phrase made legendary by ex-Jets’ coach Herm Edwards: “Hello! [...]

Big opportunity in front of Jordany Valdespin

Earlier today (March 20) on WFAN, Terry Collins was speaking with the media “Sports Pope” of New York, Mike Francesa and hinted that Jordany Valdespin is his leading candidate to be the team’s opening day lead-off hitter. This is what Collins said to Francesa: “Right now, the way Valdespin has been swinging the bat in [...]

Marlon Byrd starting to make his presence felt

If you don’t know about the Mets’ much maligned and scrutinized outfield, then you are no Mets’ fan or you fell off the face of the earth-or both. In the quest to piece together a solid, yet unspectacular outfield, the Mets are getting good springs from Collin Cowgill and now as of late Marlon Byrd. [...]

Collin Cowgill making the most of his opportunity

“I gotta have more Cowgill!” Ok, now that that’s out of my system, I promise no more references to the famous SNL skit “I gotta have more cowbell!” with the great Will Ferrell  and Christopher Walken. Regardless, after the way Collin Cowgill has started his spring, the joke does have some merit. We really do [...]

Fun with Mets’ predictions: 2013 edition

With our site projections winding down, I wanted to revive a favorite piece of mine from last year and that is having fun with predictions (team leaders in most statistical categories) for the upcoming season. (For a refresher and primer, here is last year’s column. Some were on the mark and some were way off [...]

Making sense of the Mets’ closer issues

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’ [...]

Terry Collins facing pivotal year

As the Mets convene on Port St. Lucie for spring training on Monday, Terry Collins will be tasked with one of his hardest challenges in his coaching tenure. As the team regrettably says goodbye to some seasoned vets (i.e. R.A. Dickey, Scott Hairston) and some not so regrettably (Jason Bay, Josh Thole, Jon Rauch, Ramon [...]