The past two seasons have been dubbed “The Year(s) Of The Pitcher.” This is a retread of the label first trotted out in 1968, in response to record-shattering mound performances by the likes of Bob Gibson, Denny McLain and fine years by several other hurlers, including our own Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman. At that [...]
To explain exactly what it means to be a Mets fan over the past decade or so, you need look no further than Matt Harvey in 2013. Harvey was a name known to die-hard Mets fans when he came up in late 2012, where he posted a 2.73 ERA with 70 strikeouts and 26 walks [...]
We’re Met fans. We don’t really care if Alex Rodriguez plays in 2014 or beyond. Most of us would still love it if the Yankees to be forced to pay him, but we don’t care if he’s wearing pinstripes in the majors ever again. 60 Minutes did a report that troubled me, a Met fan, [...]
Now that all the anger and frustration stemming from last Tuesday’s Baseball Hall of Fame vote has died down somewhat, it’s time for one last article until we pack the topic of Cooperstown away for the next six months. The purpose of this article, as the title suggests, is not for me to express my [...]
Note: This is the first part of a short series comparing (at a high level) where the Mets roster stood last year at this time and where it stands heading into Spring Training 2014. We're quickly approaching the reporting date for pitchers and catchers and the start of baseball for 2014. The off-season may not [...]
Earlier this week the Mets announced that Frank Viola would be the pitching coach for Wally Backman in Triple-A Las Vegas. Viola, who has won raves for his work in this role, takes over for Randy St. Claire, who was also generally well-regarded as a pitching coach. This will be Viola’s fourth year as a [...]
Most of the top free agent hitters have inked deals for 2014 and beyond but the same cannot be said for the top free agent pitchers. Seemingly, everyone is waiting to see where Masahiro Tanaka lands – and for how much – before the other top hurlers make their deals. Ervin Santana, Matt Garza, Ubaldo [...]
Last week, Dave Cameron of FanGraphs set out to find potential comparisons for Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka. The profile for Tanaka is pretty interesting. The scouting reports are that he throws strikes, gets ground balls, and has a good fastball-splitter combo that gets some strikeouts. When Cameron ran his list to find guys who fit [...]
You can still hear the clattering. The Hall Of Fame vote – made public almost a full day ago – has elicited much moaning and shouting about how flawed the process is. The words floated about are “broken,” “unworkable” and “antiquated.” You won’t hear any argument here; your intrepid columnist is about to join the [...]
The Mets have had a strong off season thus far. They have brought in enough outfielders to turn the outfield from a massive weak link to a group of players with the potential to make that part of the team a strong suit. They’ve added a veteran starter to help bridge the gap while Matt [...]
There’s Lucas Duda, Ike Davis, Josh Satin, Daniel Murphy, Eric Young Jr. and Ruben Tejada. Three positions need to be decided between the six of those players. And then there is Wilmer Flores, a man without a home. His natural position is third, but David Wright has that locked down for the foreseeable future. He [...]
The Baseball Hall of Fame voting was revealed at 2 p.m. today, and Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas all earned the requisite 75% of votes to be enshrined. All three were in their first year on the ballot. Maddux earned 97.2% of votes, Glavine 91.9% and Thomas 83.7%. Glavine will go into the [...]