National League MVP Ryan Braun’s 50-game suspension was overturned today by baseball arbitrator Shyam Das, the first time a baseball player successfully challenged the MLB Suspension For Banned Substances. The decision was announced today by the Major League Baseball Players Association, just a day before Braun was due to report for spring training. Braun originally tested positive for elevated testosterone levels that one official said was “off the charts” last October. But several reports now indicate that the [...]

With baseball coming back and our traffic up nearly 50% from January, I wanted to welcome those of you who are new to MMO and those who are back from your Winter hibernation. I’ll be re-posting some of the two dozen interviews we conducted over the last three months as all of them make their way to the Mets major and minor league camps. Enjoy! When the Mets made shortstop Danny Muno their 8th round pick in this years [...]

I stumbled upon this on Baseball America during their Prospect Chat the other day. Jim Callis was asked by a reader: What will the 2015 All Star lineups look like? I’ll attack this question from the perspective of who will deserve to be in starting lineups for the 2015 All-Star Game, rather than trying to determine whether 41-year-old Derek Jeter wins the popular vote. Here goes: National League CA: Buster Posey 1B: Joey Votto 2B: [...]

Recently, I was able to speak to several members of original 1962 Mets: Ed Kranepool, Frank Thomas, Jay Hook, Craig Anderson and Gil Hodges’ wife, Joan. They reminisced about the early days of the franchise, which I will chronicle in a series in early March. However, in talking to Anderson, I was made aware that the team’s finances was preclude them from bringing back members of the 1962 “Lovable Losers.” I hope that’s not the [...]

Here is a video of what the players had to say about Field 7 yesterday, which were making some of them play and feel a little Ruthian to say the least. David Wright, Daniel Murphy and Lucas Duda became the first players to test out the new dimensions on Field 7 which has been altered to match the new outfield dimensions at Citi Field. Several of the balls landed between the new and old fences. [...]

On Tuesday, Grant Brisbee of SB Nation posted who he feels are the four players that have the biggest shoes to fill during the 2012 season. Among them he listed the Mets’ Ruben Tejada who of course will replace Jose Reyes this season as the everyday shortstop. It focuses mostly on the offense, but check it out. Here is what he writes: Tejada has been kicking around the Mets’ roster for the last two years, capably [...]

Mike Nickeas may be the frontrunner for the righty-hitting complement to Josh Thole behind the plate, but the Mets are not handing Nickeas an Opening Day roster spot yet, writes Adam Rubin. The defensively capable Nickeas will need to demonstrate he can produce at the plate at a competent-enough level that Terry Collins will not need to pinch-hit for him in the middle innings. Nickeas does have the advantage of already being on the 40-man roster. His main competition will [...]

Last week we learned from Dave Lennon of Newsday that the Mets are waiting for Mike Piazza to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame for them to retire number 31. For me, that takes away from the honor of retiring someone’s number. It should not be about if someone else sees him as a great player, it should be about how Piazza impacted the New York Mets from 1998-2005. If they look at [...]

Angels General Manager Jerry Dipoto, announced that he has agreed to terms on a minor league contract with RHP Jason Isringhausen. Isringhausen, 39, appeared in 53 games for the New York Mets in 2011, posting a 3-3 record with seven saves and a 4.05 ERA, walking 24 batters while striking out 44. The right-hander recorded 19 holds while converting seven of 11 save opportunities. Izzy is third among active players with 300 career saves despite missing most of the 2009 [...]

Mets GM Sandy Alderson (@MetsGM) answered questions from his followers on Twitter today. While most of the questions were kind of silly or irrelevant, these responses were interesting: These are a few that didn’t make the first cut…

My expectations for the 2012 Mets are admittedly low, but that’s just me, and readers of this blog realize I don’t jump off the deep end when it comes to this team. However, I will be pleased if they continue the aggressive play they performed last year under Terry Collins. The Mets didn’t win, but there was a crispness to their play at times. There was a marked difference in the improvement in hustle last [...]