At first glance, the eight-year, $138 million deal David Wright signed early Friday morning didn’t appeal to many. Originally, reports indicated that the Mets wanted to offer a little less than $120 million, and the Wright camp started out well above $140 million, so I was very surprised that the two sides settled for such a high amount. However, when you dig deeper into the deal, it looks like more of a bargain than I, [...]

Major League Baseball announced via Twitter this afternoon that Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz has been suspended 25 games after testing positive for an Amphetamine. The 33 year-old Ruiz had the best season of his career this year, hitting .325 with a career-high 16 home runs and 68 RBI. Ruiz had never, before this year, had an OPS higher than .850 and only once in his career has he hit over .300. His career batting average [...]

Record: 23-43 How did the “big-name prospects” perform? Gavin Cecchini- 2012 First-Round Pick – .246/.311/.330 (191 AB), 1 HR, 22 RBI, 5 SB, 8.5 BB%, 20.3 K% Branden Kaupe- 2012 Fourth-Round Pick- .173/.358/.195 133 AB), 3 RBI, 3 SB, 22.0 BB%, 25.4 K% Other notables: Steve Matz- 2-1, 1.55 ERA, 29 IP, 34 K, 17 BB, .158 BAA Miller Diaz- 2-1, 3.56 ERA, 43 IP, 45 K, 18 BB, .220 BAA Akeel Morris- 0-6, 7.98 [...]

The Mets infield faced many questions coming into the 2012 season. Will David Wright re-gain superstar status? Can Daniel Murphy survive as an everyday second baseman? How much will the Mets miss Jose Reyes? Let’s see how these questions were answered this season…. Josh Thole: D- Josh Thole has not become the player we thought he could be. After hitting over .300 in his last two minor league seasons, and showing glimpses of a future [...]

The Mets need a right-handed power hitter. There’s no doubt about that. The Mets ranked 22nd in baseball in home runs and 23rd in slugging percentage, and that’s with Scott Hairston, who will likely not return next year, in the lineup. Finding (and acquiring) these players will be a difficult task, especially with the Mets budget already limited. Sandy Alderson will likely re-sign David Wright, which will bring the payroll to or even over the [...]

The season ended about three weeks ago and now that we’ve had some time to reflect, it’s time to start handing out grades. This morning, we’ll begin with the starting pitching. The starting pitching exceeded expectations this year. I don’t think anyone thought that Jon Niese or R.A. Dickey would be as dominant as they were this year. We were also very unsure about how Chris Young and Johan Santana would hold up. Both contributed [...]

The regular season is over for all three upper minors teams. That means no more baseball for the Bisons and B-Mets, and a best-of-three divisional series for the St. Lucie team. Let’s take a look at who finished up the season strong, and who didn’t. Who’s Hot!!! Wilfredo Tovar 2B, Binghamton- Tovar had a strong first half with St. Lucie, but had a tough time adjusting in Double-A Binghamton. However, he was able to finish [...]

Jenrry Mejia had a rough outing last night against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, leading to a Bisons 6-0 loss. Mejia, making his final Triple-A start of the season, was looking to bounce back off a rough start on August 27, when he gave up five runs in six innings against Rochester. Well, he didn’t bounce back so well. It all got started for Mejia in the first inning, when he really got roughed up. He [...]

Last night, in his final start of 2012, Zack Wheeler was solid, closing out a fantastic minor league season, leading the Bisons to a 6-3 win against the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs. Wheeler rolled, especially early on. Lehigh Valley couldn’t touch him. Although he did struggle with control, he only surrendered two hits. The only “big” hit he gave up was a solo home run in the second after the Bisons scored a run earlier. [...]

Last night was all about Chris Schwinden… well, for a while. Schwinden struggled in the sixth inning, but the Bisons held on to beat the Rochester Red Wings 8-5. Schwinden took the mound and dominated early. He held Rochester hitless inning after inning. In fact, the only early baserunner he gave up was a walk in the fourth, which was immediately erased by a double play.He took a no-hitter two outs into the bottom of [...]

Welcome to Who’s Hot Who’s Not, where every Tuesday, we take a look at the hottest and coldest players from the upper minors (St. Lucie, Binghamton, Buffalo). Who’s Hot Wilmer Flores INF, Binghamton- Flores is just on fire right now. After earning himself an “Honorable Mention” on last week’s list, Flores has picked it up even more. Over his last ten, he is batting .447 with three home runs. During that span, he has driven [...]