Adam Rubin of the Daily News is reporting that the Mets have released lefthanded reliever Valerio de los Santos. The veteran reliever, who was in major-league camp at the start of the spring, had drawn positive reviews, including for his willingness to help young players, but he got caught up in a numbers game. This probably bodes well for Ron Villone more than anyone else. (He just got tagged for 4 runs as I write [...]

When the Mets drafted David Wright in the supplemental round of the 2001 amateur draft (amazingly, AFTER drafting Aaron Heilman in the first round), they hoped they were investing in a future MVP.  And since coming up to the big leagues in the summer of 2004, Wright has been steady, and in fact has been progressing forward just a bit each season.  As far as voting for the NL MVP Award, Wright has finished 19th, [...]

Joel Sherman of the NY Post believes that the bench is all but finalized except for the very last spot. He surmises, and correctly I might add, that Ramon Castro, Fernando Tatis, Alex Cora and Jeremy Reed have all secured spots on the Opening Day roster. He further believes that the last spot will come down to either Nick Evans or Marlon Anderson. He writes… The Mets owe Anderson $1.15 million this year and he [...]

So here we are just 12 days away from Opening Day and despite my optimism, enthusiasm and excitement, I can’t shake these starting rotation jitters. Until I actually see John Maine pitch like his former self, I must admit I’m beginning to worry about him. And the thing of it is, that the old standby excuse of “it’s only March”, runs out of gas in six days. Aside from Johan Santana, the one other constant [...]

While perusing the comments of a recent article here on Mets Merized Online, an old but familiar name popped out at me…Dave Magadan. Most of us Mets fans vaguely remember him. “Mags” played with the Amazins’ from 1986 until 1993. He was never a great player, but was decent enough to finish 22nd in the MVP voting in 1990, hitting .328 with 6 homers, 72 RBI’s and playing a solid first base. Anyway, his name got [...]

Okay, like 15 minutes ago I posted… Get ready for an announcement soon on who the fifth starter will be. (psst… it’s Livan). Jerry Manuel hinted that a decision is as close as the next turn in the rotation for Livan and Garcia. The only real question is if the Mets can convince Freddy Garcia to accept a minor league assignment so they can keep him as an emergency starter. Umm, the Mets have just [...]

Last week I was a little surprised when the Mets reassigned Robinson Cancel to Minor League camp. Given how difficult it is for Ramon Castro to stay healthy for an entire season, I thought Cancel would be one of the last guys to go this spring. Cancel did a decent job filling in last year and actually had a couple of big hits for us including down the stretch on September 25th when his RBI [...]

One of my favorite players on the Mets is John Maine.  Maine always wants the ball, always goes out to the mound ready to win a game.  When he steps on the mound every fifth start he’s as intense as anyone playing the game today.  In 2006 he endured himself to Mets fans when he pitched his heart out in the playoffs.  On September 28, 2007 he took a no hitter deep into the game [...]

I came across an interesting interview by our friends at Baseball Prospectus with Nate McLouth of the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was conducted by David Laurila McLouth recently became the first Pirates center fielder to win a Gold Glove since Andy Van Slyke. Here is the first part of the interview. Check out the complete interview at BP. David Laurila: You won a Gold Glove last year. What does that mean to you? Nate McLouth: It [...]

After capturing the NL pennant in 2000, the Mets quickly sunk to the depths of mediocrity. 2001 saw the defending league champions struggle to get to 500, finishing 82-80, 3rd place, 6 games back. From 02-04, our Mets fell faster than George W.’s Approval Rating. We averaged just 71 wins and finished a combined 86 games out of first. Then, Omar Minaya was brought in as GM and almost overnight his impact was felt. It [...]

Jeremy Reed has just about sewn up a spot on the opening day roster as the fourth outfielder. Today against the Braves, Reed had a banner day going 4-5 with two runs scored and four ribbies. Ironically, he wasn’t even supposed to play today as Carlos Beltran was slated to start but was scratched minutes before the game and replaced by Reed. Jeremy Reed is now batting .426 and for those who think that spring [...]