It was 8 years ago today that Cary Carter
passed away. We have two Mack’s Mets
posts from that day in the Blast From the Past section below.
Per MLB Trade Rumors: Late last night, Ex-Met Tony Fernandez passed away. RIP.
Per MLB Trade Rumors: Late last night, Ex-Met Tony Fernandez passed away. RIP.
Now let’s hit the links:
Steve
Serby of the NY Post sat down to interview Jeff Wilpon. He is asked about everything from Bernie
Madoff to the Steve Cohen sale of which Jeff said: “Have to refer to the
following from the statement released earlier. As spring training begins, on
behalf of ownership, we would like to share more information explaining why the
proposed transaction has ended, however due to confidentiality and
non-disclosure agreements, we are unable to do so at this time.” Article provides a nice video of the Bartolo
Colon home run.
Mike
Lupica of the NY Daily News said: “Not crazy to think these Mets are good”
Mike Lupica goes on to add – “The best season around here is one in which both
the Yankees and Mets are in play. It’s really the only way to root, especially
at this time of year. But is it crazy to think that the Mets can start this
season the way they finished last season, when they were 46-26 after being
40-50? It’s not. Maybe the crazy for the Mets can be on the field this time.”
Per
Franchise Sports.co.uk: “New York Mets could be the pleasant surprise of
National League in 2020.”
SNY.TV
had video of Pete Alonso’s
Press conference. The two big quotes you
are seeing everywhere: “There's one goal, and that's to win a World Series.
Like I want to be celebrating on a parade float, drunk as hell, celebrating
with my boys.” And “Winning a Gold Glove would probably mean the most to me,
outside of winning a World Series, because for me that's the ultimate. I think
everyone wants to be a champion, but for me winning a Gold Glove would be
really special.”
Per
SNY.TV: “Mets manager Luis Rojas says Pete Alonso isn't going to set
numerical goals this season.” “He's just going to go out there and give it his
best every day."
Joel
Sherman in the NY Post had: Noah
Syndergaard is battling to reach his Gerrit Cole
level. Comparing the two pitchers for
the five seasons from ages 22-26: “Pitcher A (Syndergaard) with a 3.31 career
ERA and 9.7 strikeouts per nine innings. He also identified Pitcher B (Cole),
who had a 3.50 ERA and 8.4 strikeouts per nine innings.”
From MLB.com: "Mets Prank Thor by going shirtless for workout."
From MLB.com: "Mets Prank Thor by going shirtless for workout."
Per
Amazing Avenue: J.D. Davis
looks to build off his breakout season.
Regarding the war of words between Brodie Van Wagenen and Zack
Wheeler, Jack
Hendon in Metsmerized had this to say: “Brodie Van Wagenen trashing the
second-best starting pitcher the Mets have had the past two seasons not once,
but once more after being called out for not doing due diligence, is a reckless
and self-indulgent attempt at saving face. It serves little to no benefit for
the organization in the public eye, but more importantly, it is yet another
deterrent for players that may be considering coming to an otherwise exciting,
young team.”
To
this MetsPolice added: “The Wags thing really got me thinking – if you were
a Free Agent, why would you ever want to come to Queens...where they bash you
on the way out and even if you’re one of the all- time greats they wait to
honor you until you’re either dead or too old to appreciate it?”
Per
Yahoo Sports, on Saturday Phillies' Wheeler downplays dispute with Mets' GM.
''I don't want to make this go on any further. I don't think it's meant to go
on any further. We're two grown-ups here, and we're battling like little kids,
you know what I mean?'' Wheeler said. ''I'm happy to be here with this group of
guys.''
MLB.Com
had one bold Spring Training prediction for every MLB team. For the Mets: Edwin Díaz
wins back the closer's job.
CBS Sports had every team's most interesting Non-Roster invitee. For the Mets it was David Peterson.
CBS Sports had every team's most interesting Non-Roster invitee. For the Mets it was David Peterson.
213
Miles from Shea had Get to know Non-Roster Invitee Erasmo Ramirez. “Last
season he only got into one game and allowed 4 runs over 3.0 innings while posting
a 4.74 ERA over 24 starts and 125.1 innings in Pawtucket. This included a 1.340
WHIP, 6.8 K/9 and a 2.21 K/BB which were all worse than his major league averages.”
Tim
Ryder in Metsmerized said: “Luis
Guillorme Unconcerned With Role, Simply “Fighting For A Spot”.
Per
Elite Sports NY: “MLB’s attempts at incentivizing teams to win with a new
postseason format will actually have the opposite effect…The proposal is
supposed to make baseball more exciting. But stripping all the suspense out of
September pennant races doesn’t seem exciting at all. Rather, the proposal
takes baseball at its best and most exciting, and turns it into a month of
coasting aimlessly towards a bloated, meaningless postseason.”
Matt
Mancuso of Metsmerized looked at Mets Players Most Affected By 2019’s Juiced
Ball: Edwin
Diaz, Pete Alonso, JD Davis.
Lohud.com
had: “Five thoughts on the NY Mets to this point in spring training.” These include Pete Alonso pushing himself and
everyone likes Luis Rojas.
Per Newsday: Blocked at first base, Mets' Matt Adams
will give leftfield a shot.
Tim
Boyle of Rising Apple had: Mets outfielder Jake
Marisnick is going to save the pitchers a lot of aggravation. “Although
Marisnick lacks the offensive production we prefer from our big leaguer
players, he has routinely shown off some superb defense. He has a lifetime 8.5
Defensive WAR. The 7.5 total he posted as a member of the Houston Astros alone
would place him sixth all-time in Mets franchise history.”
Josh
Finklestein of Metsmerized.com had “Pictures From Mets Spring Training.” Lots of great shots.
Ray
Butler of Prospects 365 continued to run down MLB’s top 200 prospects with Numbers
81-100. His #90, Andrés
Giménez. The
Other Mets on his list so far were all in the 141-200 section: #200, Thomas
Szapucki; #149, Mark
Vientos; #148, Brett
Baty; #144, Francisco
Alvarez.
Per
AP News: MiLB, Minor Legue Baseball, responded to MLB’s decision to
increase the pay for minor leaguers. “MiLB said in a statement Saturday it ‘fully
supports MLB’s decision to raise the pay rates for players in affiliated Minor
League Baseball’ but added it ‘believes MLB can afford these salary increases
without reducing the number of players by 25 percent.’”
Per
Ken Davidoff of the NY Post talked more about the sign stealing scandal with
these: “Astros manager Dusty Baker, who on Saturday urged Major League
Baseball to protect his players from beanballs, dangerous slides into second
base and any other tactics the other 29 clubs have in mind to punish Houston
for the sign-stealing scandal that has shaken this sport like nothing else in
modern times.” Plus, From the Carlos Correa interview with Ken Rosenthal: “a
partial reason why Altuve didn’t want to remove his shirt after he cracked a
pennant-winning homer off the Yankees’ Aroldis Chapman last October — which
launched the conspiracy theories that he was wearing a buzzer alerting him to
Chapman’s slider — was … an ugly, unfinished tattoo on his collarbone.”
12UP.com
got into the Jose Altuve don’t rip off my shirt because I have an ugly tattoo
controversy with photo evidence from twitter. One shot debunked the claim, and another
possibly gave it credence.
SportsMockery.com
says: Rob Manfred Needs To Adjust His Priorities Immediately. They add: “Manfred needs to step up and
sanction additional punishments on the Astros organization and its players.
This is the worst collective cheating scandal for baseball since the “1919
Black Sox scandal”, which tarnished baseball for over a decade. Progressive
rules and new formats mean little if the integrity of the game is not
maintained. Unfortunately, Manfred has very little interest in preserving that
integrity.”
Per
Yahoo Sports: “A new rule intended to help speed up the game also could
thwart attempts to steal signs in college baseball. The NCAA will allow a
pitcher to wear a wristband with a signal card when the season opens Friday,
allowing him and the catcher to look into the dugout to get pitch calls and
eliminating the need for the catcher to relay the call with hand signs.”
Per
12UP.com: Red Sox Suggest Chris Sale
Could Miss Opening Day Due to Pneumonia
Per
Larry Brown Sports: Nationals thinking about moving Victor Robles to top of
order
From
the NY Times: “The Nationals Beat the Astros. They Still Feel Overshadowed.”
Per
12UP.com: Alex Verdugo, who Red Sox obtained for Mookie Betts, Has a Stress
Fracture in His Back so It's Clear Brusdar Graterol Fuss Was One Big Joke.
Transactions:
New York Mets signed free agent Clem Labine on February 16, 1962.
New York Mets signed free agent Clem Labine on February 16, 1962.
Born on this date:
- Barry Foote (1952)
- Bill Pecota (1960)
- Tommy Milone (1987)
- Blake
Tiberi
(1995)
Died
on this date:
- Gary Carter (2012)
Mack’s Blast
From the Past comes from February 16, 2012 – RIP Gary Carter.
Also
from February 16, 2012 a Mack’s Blast from the Past with Dave Rubin saying:
“So Hard to Say Goodbye.”
Want more?
Check out https://sportspyder.com/mlb/new-york-mets/news.
R.I.P. Tony Fernandez.
ReplyDeleteI wish sports writers would stop saying the Mets are real good. I'd rather have them flying under the radar.
Agreed Bob W. I remember when Sports Illustrated had Johan Santana on the cover in 2008. I still believe in that curse.
ReplyDeleteColin Cowgill...the kind of player this team needs to always do better than.
ReplyDeleteSyndergaard becomes Cole? Mets win division.
Gary Carter smiled thru every second of pain. He is a perfect example of what every kid should strive to be like some day.
ReplyDeleteAnd kudos too to David Rubin. He is a great writer.