Carlos Beltran has always been a soft-spoken leader, preferring to lead by example rather than through rah-rah histrionics.  Throughout his career, he has been a player that has done everything well on the field.  He can hit for average (.325 in 2009, career .283 hitter), hit for power (franchise record-tying 41 HR in 2006), steal bases (286 SB in his career) and play a Gold Glove caliber center field.  He lets his talent do the [...]

The Winter Leagues are in full swing.  Mets major and minor leaguers are playing in the Arizona Fall League, Venezuelan League, Dominican League, Puerto Rican League and Mexican League. I will report every week or so on how our Mets prospects are doing down there. Winter League Baseball is a great link at which you can keep track for yourselves. Winter League Report : as of  11/12 /09 Today, I start with Ike Davis and Josh [...]

The Rawlings Gold Glove Awards were announced today and unfortunately no Mets were honored for outstanding defense. David Wright who had won two straight gold glove awards in 2007 and 2008, was supplanted by Ryan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals at third base. Wright committed 18 errors in 2009 and had the lowest range factors of his six year major league career. His UZR (-10.4) and UZR/150 (-12.2), two advanced fielding metrics, rank Wright as the worst defensive third [...]

In the last five days, I hear the name of Randy Wolf more often when it comes to the Mets pursuit of a number two starter, than this years pick of the litter, John Lackey. Earlier today I posted about the Mets being concerned about the potential for an arm injury with regard to John Lackey, which you can read in the post below this one. Last week, Randy Wolf’s name came up when Jon Heyman reported [...]

I logged on today to find an article by a fellow blogger about how the Mets should focus on Brandon Phillips for 2010. I immediately slipped into a state of shock, which lead to an unconscious state, and now here I am. Following 2008, everybody was down on Luis Castillo. Castillo had his worst offensive season in his career in 2008 following the signing of a long-term deal in 2007. After his unbelievably bad 2008, [...]

With the Winter Meetings already underway, Mets GM Omar Minaya (or according to some, Jeff Wilpon in disguise) is faced with the daunting task of building a World Series contending team for 2010. Aside from the obvious needs of a left fielder and a top-of-the-rotation starting pitcher, Minaya has made it clear that the team will be looking to upgrade at second base. This past week there have already been rumblings about a potential deal [...]

Omar Minaya was hired prior to the 2005 season to turn around the floundering New York Mets.  The team and its management were in chaos.  The Mets had completed three consecutive losing seasons with 86, 95, and 91 losses.  The low point occurred in 2004 when the Mets traded top prospect Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano. During his first winter on the job, Omar signed Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran.  The Mets were moving in [...]

It’s easy to sit and write an article saying that the Mets should sign Jason Bay, trade for Adrian Gonzalez and Roy Halladay and who knows what else. To examine the Mets offseason like they are working without the constrictions of a budget would be a mistake. They aren’t the Yankees. Given the number of holes they have, the Mets are going to need to be smart in order to not only fill them all, [...]

When Julio Franco was a Met, he vowed to play until he was 50. That didn’t happen, but the way Omar Minaya has put this team together, the Mets might have a few AARP members before too long. When the 2009 season began, more than half of the 25-man roster (13 players in all) was on the wrong side of age 30. Of those 13 players, only three of them made it out of the [...]

On behalf of everyone at Mets Merized Online we would like to take some time to remember and honor all of our brave servicemen and women that have served and continue to serve our country. Each Veteran’s day we have an opportunity to recognize the amazing people who make up the greatest military in the world. We would also like to extend our condolences to the families of all the victims of the recent tragedy [...]

Is your head spinning yet? We live in the age of the 24 hour news cycle thanks to the internet, but somehow when it comes to the hot stove season, it’s more like a 24 minute news cycle. Case in point, the Matt Holliday rumors. Everyone who has an inkling, a feeling or a thought on the Holliday situation keeps adding to the suffocating cycle and viral onslaught of baseless information that contradicts itself from minute to [...]