While researching RHP Kent Tsujimoto, who the Mets signed to a minor league deal today, I came across some interesting facts to pass along. According to NPB Tracker, Tsujimoto made history a few years ago, when at age 15, he became the youngest player ever drafted in NPB history. Last season, while playing for the independent Golden Baseball League, Tsujimoto’s fastball consistently hit 94 mph on the radar gun, and he had an incredible strikeout rate of 12.6 K’s per [...]

Today the Mets announced that they have signed 3 players to minor league deals. Jesus Feliciano (who played with the Mets in 2010), Chris Shelton (has played for Tigers, Mariners, Rangers) and Japanese League player Kent Tsujimoto (had 2.88 era, 12/6 k/9 in 32 relief appearances last season in the Golden Baseball League. I like the signings. Can’t hurt to ink new players to minor league deals. You never know when you will need the [...]

One of my favorite Rites of Spring has always been a hearty re-reading of this great baseball classic that dates back over a hundred years ago. Enjoy. Casey At The Bat By Ernest Lawrence Thayer, San Francisco Examiner – June 3, 1888 The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day; The score stood four to two with but one inning more to play. And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same, A [...]

Now that we’ve pushed football and soon basketball and hockey off the the page, it’s time to bring on the real game of New York; the Mets and Yankees. Yes, the Mets and Yankees are playing baseball again. Both teams have had a winter of discontent, but now as the weather turns and folks are flocking to Tampa and Port St. Lucie to see the guys, I know it’s Spring. Take the stage, Sandy and Terry – this [...]

Luis Castillo arrived at Digital Domain Park in Port St. Lucie this morning and immediately met with manager Terry Collins. Castillo told Collins that there was a medical issue in his family that prevented him from arriving earlier. On Friday and again on Saturday, Collins commented that he would have preferred that Castillo arrived earlier, but today said if he knew there was a family issue he would have never raised the issue. Adam Rubin says we should all Stop Picking [...]

Here is the low-down on the first three games of the Mets 2011 Spring Schedule. Saturday, February 26th Jenrry Mejia will get the ball for the Spring Training opener, a 1:00 PM start against the Atlanta Braves. The game will be broadcast live on WPIX and WFAN.   Sunday, February 27th The Mets will have a split squad on Sunday. Chris Capuano is scheduled to face the University of Michigan at Digital Domain Park in a 12:10 PM start. [...]

Beltran is here, Bay is here, Castillo is not, and Collins is irked about it. When asked if had met yet with Castillo, Collins replied,  “I haven’t seen him. You guys see him yet?” “You guys were around him last year. … He was unhappy with the way things ended. He’s expressed that to me. And I said … ‘You have to understand we have new people here. We’re going to draw our own conclusions. And [...]

Adam Rubin of ESPN New York posted a full transcript of Carlos Beltran who met with reporters and fielded many questions on a variety of topics including his knee, playing centerfield, and the Mets in general. Here is part of the transcript. How did the meeting go and what was communicated? Well, I told them in order for me to decide if I’m going to play center field or right field, I would love to [...]

It must be really hard to be Oliver Perez these days. It’s no secret that the majority of the fanbase would have preferred that Perez had been released long before the reporting date for pitchers and catchers, and I bet after seeing the atrocious numbers Perez put up at Winter Ball, the thought may have crossed the mind of GM Sandy Alderson. But Sandy stuck to his original plan and he repeatedly fended off questions about cutting [...]

Our friends at TC Palm have posted a few cool videos from Mets camp at Port St. Lucie. This one here shows Pelfrey having a bullpen session and then signing autographs for fans who were gathered to watch him pitch. Check out all the spring videos on TC Palm’s YouTube Channel.

I’m not going to include updates on ANY Wilpon/Madoff stuff in these Spring Updates going forward. !00% Baseball. The word is that Oliver Perez has unveiled a new changeup that he has been working on all winter long. Not only was minor league catcher Mike Nickeas very impressed, but so was Terry Collins. For Perez it was his second consecutive bullpen session that had players and and manager buzzing. In addition to what looked like [...]