Dallas Green: 1934-2017

Dallas Green was baseball guy, or rather, a baseball hard[case]. He knocked around the majors as a journeyman pitcher for eight seasons and knocked some sense into countless players longer after that. He was one of the strongarmers, of which there was no shortage in the majors back in the day. If it’s all possible, [...]

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Kevin Long: 21st Century hitting guru

Kevin Long has been the Mets batting coach since the 2015 season. Previously he had been the Yankee batting coach from 2007-2014. Long so far has been the kind of batting coach who can make good hitters even better. Some of his specialties include wringing more power from hitters, and helping left-handed batters improve against [...]

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Did Ty Kelly hurt his chances of making the Mets?

At the beginning of spring training, Ty Kelly had a legitimate chance of making the Mets roster as either a fifth outfielder or third baseman.  A strong showing in camp could have made a strong case for him being with the team; instead, he opted to play for team Israel in the World Baseball Classic.  [...]

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Mets360 2017 projections: Jeurys Familia and Addison Reed

Last year, the suspension for Aroldis Chapman for his domestic violence case was handed out on March 1. Here it is March 21 and we’re still waiting for a decision to be announced on Jeurys Familia. You can say that the league didn’t want to take away from the World Baseball Classic but now that [...]

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Mets Minors: When trading Dominic Smith might be okay

If you are a fan of the Mets and follow the minor leagues you’ve heard the name Dominic Smith.  Smith is currently enshrined as the future of first base for the team and fans are looking forward to seeing him rake in Las Vegas for a season before he reaches Queens.  Yet, Smith might not [...]

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Rafael Montero’s quest to relaunch his once promising career

One of the surprises of Grapefruit League play is former top prospect Rafael Montero. After looking like a guy who should be released during the majority of the 2016 season, Montero has been having a rather successful Spring in his effort to make the club as a reliever. He has 17 Ks in 11.1 IP, [...]

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Recent podcasts with David Groveman and Trent Joura

There are two recent podcasts that we've done that I wanted to share the links. The first one was with my son, Trent, who did our new blog header. We talk about the creative process and other things that he's involved in. Trent. The other podcast was done this past week when David Groveman dropped [...]

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Shohei Otani will never be a New York Met

When people think of baseball in Japan, most think of the legendary Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Matsui, or even New York Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka. Some may also remember busts such as Tsuyoshi Shinjo, Takashi Kashiwada, and Kaz Matsui. But there may be a new star rising from Japan, and he goes by the name of [...]

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How deep is this Mets pitching staff?

From the rotation to the bullpen, to reserves in Las Vegas, this is shaping up to be the deepest Mets pitching staff in a very long time. Regardless of which 12 or 13 guys make the opening day roster, the number of available arms runs about 20 deep. Assuming health, the rotation will begin with [...]

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Getting on board with Dan Warthen

Well, when your intrepid columnist is wrong, he’s the first to admit it. Back in the most recent Dark Age of Metsian fandom, when the purge of the Willie Randolph/Jerry Manuel regime occurred, it was beyond comprehension how pitching coach Dan Warthen survived. Warthen looked like your kindly old uncle who told you stories that [...]

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Best and worst-case scenarios for the 2017 Mets

Following are some best and worst cases scenarios for the 2017 Mets, position by position, with a little humor thrown in. 1b Best case: Lucas Duda and Wilmer Flores provide a formidable platoon in the middle of the batting order. Worst case: Back woes send Duda to the DL, and the front office searches for [...]

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