John From Albany – Mets Breakfast Links 1/26/2020

The Mets signed Eduardo Nunez to a minor league deal, 4 Mets made MLB’s top 100 prospects list, Wilson Ramos was named one of the top 10 catchers in the game on the MLB network, and by all accounts, the Mets had a very successful fan fest yesterday. 

Mack Mets writer Dave Rubin reported to me last night that “about 30 Mets players were at fan fest including Polar Bear (Pete Alonso) who posed for pics for an hour in the clubhouse with everyone who took the tour.”

SNY.TV had lots of great quotes from Fan Fest.  Here are some of the best:

Edwin Diaz said he has been getting help from Pedro Martinez: "I've remained in contact with Pedro Martinez for most of the offseason," Diaz said. "...We've remained in contact all offseason. I would send him videos, he would send me videos and feedback."

Dellin Betances on bouncing back: "This offseason, I've spent a lot of time working on my body," Betances said Saturday at Mets Fan Fest. "I've thrown three bullpens already, so I feel good throwing off the mound. I'm doing more running now than I was earlier in the offseason. I'll be ready to go for this year and I'm definitely excited."

Pete Alonso on Luis Rojas: "A buddy of mine, Nick Sergakis, unfortunately he's no longer in baseball, but he was having a really tough year, and we were playing in New Hampshire, and I've never seen Luis lose it like this," Pete Alonso said. "So Sergy goes up to pinch-hit, hits a go-ahead three-run bomb, and he absolutely destroyed this baseball, and Luis is jumping up and down with his hands in the air, like just super elated (like) a little kid, and he's so calm, cool and collected, but just to see him so excited for Nick, who was kind of struggling, it was just a big testament. He's got a big heart. He's rooting for all of his players."    

Mets' Brandon Nimmo addresses trade rumors: “They haven't traded me yet, so they must like me a little bit.” “Unless somebody calls me, unless Brodie (Van Wagenen) calls me and says 'you're traded, we traded you to this team,' I'm just not gonna pay attention to it," Nimmo explained. "But I'm also a very positive person and I like to take the positive outlook at it. At least people want you.”

Steven Matz thinks Jeremy Hefner is a big addition to the Mets staff: "All of this analytics is new but sometimes it's tough for us to understand what it even means and how we can make adjustments off of that stuff," Matz said. "He's really good at articulating and giving us cues to make small adjustments. I'm excited to have him as a pitching coach."

Brodie Van Wagenen had a town hall at fan fest and had this quote after being asked about Mets Ownership: “Our goals are to win now and win in the future," Van Wagenen said. "We've been very, very direct and we haven't shied away from that, from that mission statement and we won't as we go forward. The day-to-day operations of our club have been consistent in which I started, I would anticipate that being the same going forward.”

The NY Post had this Pete Alonso quote from Fan Fest yesterday: “Obviously, I had a good offensive year, but who knows? If I can have more plate discipline, who knows that will translate?”

MLB Network and MLB.com had the top 100 MLB Prospects for 2020.  The Mets had 4 players: #62: Ronny Mauricio, SS; #63. Francisco Alvarez, C; 84. Andres Gimenez, SS; 93. Brett Baty, 3B;  MLB.com added this: “The Mets have as many Top 100 prospects this year as they did in the previous three combined, but they’re 21st in terms of Prospect Points (102) because all of their representatives rank outside of the top 60. The good news is that none of those players are any older than 21, and as a result they all have to the potential to rank much higher on the Top 100 a year from now, especially Mauricio, Alvarez and Baty.”

Per SNY.TV, the Mets signed Eduardo Nunez to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training: The former Yankee “…spent his last three seasons with the Boston Red Sox, and while he helped the Sox win a World Series title in 2018 as a key bench piece, he had a poor season in 2019, compiling just a .548 OPS and struggling on defense as well in just 60 games played.”

MLB Network had the top 10 Catchers and top 10 2^nd Basemen right now:  Wilson Ramos was named the #6 Catcher.  No Mets were listed in the top ten 2^nd Basemen.  Here are the Catchers: 1) Yasmani Grandal, CWS; 2) J.T. Realmuto, PHI; 3) Willson Contreras, CHC; 4) Mitch Garver, MIN; 5) Gary Sánchez, NYY; 6) Wilson Ramos, NYM; 7) Robinson Chirinos, TEX; 8) Buster Posey, SFG; 9) Yadier Molina, STL; 10) Omar Narváez, MIL. Here are the 2^nd Basemen: 1) Ketel Marte, ARI; 2) DJ LeMahieu, NYY; 3) José Altuve, HOU; 4) Ozzie Albies, ATL; 5) Brandon Lowe, TB; 6) Keston Hiura, MIL; 7) Mike Moustakas, CIN; 8) Cavan Biggio, TOR; 9) Kolten Wong, STL; 10) Luis Arraez, MIN.

The NY Post talked to Felipe Alou about his son Luis Rojas becoming the Mets Manager: “The last thing I wanted for any one of my children was to become a manager,” Alou said by phone. “I know all the pressure, all the sleepless nights, all the slumps. Managers are going to get fired. So to me, it was kind of like a nightmare that [my sons] Moises [Alou] or Jose [Alou] or Luis [Rojas] would become a manager.”

Kevin Davidoff of the NY Post talked about Robinson Cano being the center of the Mets universe and provided this: “(Robinson Cano) helped beleaguered closer Edwin Diaz, who accompanied him here from Seattle, connect with Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez over the winter.”

Bill Madden of the NY Daily News said it was a “Hall of a week for Felipe Alou with Larry Walker and Luis Rojas.” About his son Luis Rojas Felipe said: “Luis has worked all his life for this. What’s important is the Mets know him well from 13 years in the organization and the players know him well. There is already that respect.”

Bob Raissman of the NY Daily News asks: “Who is finally going to hold Brodie Van Wagenen accountable for Mets mistakes?” Discussing Brodie’s role in in-game decisions: “There needs to be more of a breakdown — a delineation — on who actually is making those in-game decisions. If Rojas, or any other manager, is portrayed as someone who is working closely with the front office, who really called for that pitching change in the sixth inning? And who decided which relief pitcher to bring in? If anyone is going to hold BVW accountable for some of Rojas’ strategy it should be SNY’s Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling and Gary Cohen. At least two of them are doing a Mets telecast every night during the season. They have the reputation of carrying a big stick — prove it.”

Rob Rogan of Mets 360 discussed “The Mets’ 2020 bullpen and the Edwin Diaz dilemma”: Rob does an extensive analysis of Edwin’s spin rates and rise factor in his pitches as he discusses the high projections many stat analysts are giving the Mets 2020 Bullpen.  He includes this: “That 5.0 fWAR projection would absolutely look nice on the Mets’ bullpen this season, but before we start counting those chickens we should remember that Steamer was pretty high on the Mets’ bullpen in 2019 as well.”

Thomas Hall in Elite Sports NY says “Brad Miller would make a perfect backup to Jed Lowrie.” Per Brad Miller he states: “During this past season, the 30-year-old split time between the New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians and Philadelphia Phillies. Over his 170 plate appearances, Miller hit six doubles, 13 home runs, 25 RBI, .305 ISO, .281 BABIP, 126 wRC+ and earned a 1.2 fWAR rating along with a slashing line of .260/.329/.565/.894.”

Reflections on Baseball said: The Mets have their man, and as they say – the third time’s a charm. He’d better be because a lot is riding on the shoulders of Luis Rojas…

Rising Apple had three predictions for Seth Lugo.

Amazing Avenue looked at where the Mets payroll stands right now: “Because the competitive balance tax uses the average annual value of a player’s contract and the Wright salary is included, Cot’s has the team’s CBT hit at $188.3 million, well below the threshold of $208 million that would make a team pay what’s commonly referred to as the “luxury tax,” a tiny percentage fee based only on the amount of payroll that exceeds the threshold.”

Per the Chicago Tribune: Cubs reportedly close to signing veteran outfielder Steven Souza Jr.

Per SI.com: Mike Fiers publicly addressed the media after his revelations on the sign stealing scandal. "I said what I said, but we’re moving forward. I don’t want to be a distraction to this team," 

Per MLB Trade Rumors:

The Marlins have agreed to a one-year contract with right-hander Brandon Kintzler.

No games last night in the Dominican Republic, the Final Series will resume today with the Toros Del Este leading the Tigres del Licey 3-2. 

Mack’s Blast From the Past comes from January 26, 2011: Mack looked at Keeper #28 – Chad Sheppard.

UltimateMets has the date in Mets History:

Born on this date:

• Andres Torres (1978)

Transactions:
New York Mets signed free agent Kurt Abbott of the Colorado Rockies on January 26, 2000.

New York Mets traded Jaime Cerda to the Kansas City Royals for Shawn Sedlacek on January 26, 2004.

New York Mets traded Ian Bladergroen to the Boston Red Sox for Doug Mientkiewicz on January 26, 2005.

New York Mets signed free agent Jon Switzer of the Boston Red Sox on January 26, 2009.

Also per National Pastime.com:

2002        The Mariners trade David Bell to the Giants for infielder Desi Relaford, acquired earlier this offseason along with Tsuyoshi Shinjo from the Mets for southpaw Shawn Estes. The 29 year-old veteran third baseman became expendable when Seattle obtained Jeff Cirillo from the Rockies last month.

2005        After failing to sign free agent first baseman Carlos Delgado, the Mets quickly fill the void at first base by trading minor league prospect Ian Bladergroen and a player to be named (or cash) to Boston for Gold Glover Doug Mientkiewicz. The Red Sox, who acquired the 30 year-old infielder from the Twins at the non-waiver trade deadline to solidify their defense, will use heavy hitting, light fielding Kevin Millar at first.

2012        The Mets announce that John Franco, the club's all-time leader in saves and games pitched, will be inducted into the team's Hall of Fame. The All-Star closer, who has the second longest tenure in franchise history behind Ed Kranepool, compiled 276 saves of his career 424 saves, the most by any left-handed reliever in baseball history, with New York.

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