According to Dan Martin of the New York Post, Sandy Alderson said while Frank Francisco is the team’s current closer, he continues to weigh options which remain on the open market. “Confident? I’m willing,” Alderson said in regards to Francisco’s ability to close. “There’s still a lot out there and we’re looking.” This doesn’t surprise me. I would expect Alderson to keep an open mind about the closer role in light of Francisco’s poor showing [...]

I’ve read many columns from my colleagues, and was greatly disappointed in those who would not recognize a player on the first ballot, and even worse, those who returned their ballots blank. As I wrote yesterday, boycotting first timers is an abuse of power. If you truly believe a player merits induction based on his career, then he should be on your ballot the first year. You can’t legislate whom a voter marks down on [...]

So, like everyone else, I was very disappointed yesterday that Mike Piazza did not get elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. And what was the reason? We all know that he has the stats during his career to be considered for the Hall. So, why didn’t he get in? Piazza has been put in the group of players who played during the so-called “steroid era” and it’s just not fair. Where is the evidence [...]

Major League Baseball is about to take the next step in its attempt to rid the sport of performance enhancing drugs. MLB is set to announce an agreement with the players’ association for random, unannounced, in-season blood testing for HGH, according to WFAN and CBSSports.com baseball insider Jon Heyman. The testing will begin this upcoming season. The league will also keep a profile of players’ testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratios (T/E). Prior to this, such HGH blood testing [...]

Mike Piazza may have been shutout by the Baseball Writers which you can read below, but according to Adam Rubin, he could very well be inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame during the 2013 season. The Mets’ Hall of Fame committee — which has included team employees Dave Howard and Jay Horwitz, former player Al Jackson and media members Gary Cohen, Howie Rose and Marty Noble — is expected to meet before spring training [...]

While the Mets may in fact be done for the winter, they are still open to the possibility of adding to the major league roster, although on minor league deals. So now that we’ve got that straight… The list of FAs we’ve seen recently has done nothing to excite Mets fans, but someone has just entered the fray that really piques my interest. After a Chris Schwinden-like off season, Russ Canzler has landed with the Yankees, [...]

Check out this cool sketch from the very talented Chris Panetta who runs the popular Mets In Stitches. If you love these art blog posts like I do, I suggest you add this site to your favorites. A picture really is worth a thousand words. If I had his talent I would have sketched the gates of Cooperstown with a sign saying “Do Not Enter – By order of the BBWAA” . Anyway go check [...]

To turn attention away from Mike Piazza and the Hall of Fame vote for just a minute, let’s discuss the future Mike Piazza, or so we hope. The Mets acquired Travis d’Arnaud, their catcher of the future, in the trade that sent R.A. Dickey to the Toronto Blue Jays. But why can’t the future be right now? d’Arnaud said he’s ready to play and recovered from a knee injury that ended his minor league season [...]

Through The Fence Baseball posted their updated 2013 Mock Draft yesterday. The first round of the 2013 MLB draft keeps shrinking they say. When the Los Angeles Angels signed free agent Josh Hamilton a couple of weeks ago, they lost their first-round pick. They became the second team to lose their first-round pick, joining the Atlanta Braves, who lost theirs when they signed B.J. Upton in November. There may be more shrinking depending on what happens to Kyle Lohse and [...]

I am not surprised at the voting numbers for Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa, but I am stunned at there being a total shutout and disappointed at the reasoning of some writers. For just the second time in four decades none of the candidates were elected, and that is wrong. Craig Biggio, who was on my ballot, had 3,000 hits, which had been an automatic ticket – save PED user Rafael Palmeiro – [...]