Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, confirms what was reported late last night by NY Baseball Digest. Tim Byrdak has signed a minor league deal with the Mets and will be invited to spring training. If used properly, he can be very effective and a serious weapon for Terry Collins against left handed sluggers like Ryan Howard and Chase Utley. Lefties hit .210 off him in 2010. For his career, he has held lefties to a [...]

Adam Rubin grabbed an interesting quote from Mets COO Jeff Wilpon at a Mets-FDNY event today at beautiful, tropical Randall’s Island. “I don’t think they realize the payroll is up in the $145 million or better range,” Wilpon said about casual observers. “I don’t think people realize that. Unfortunately, we were somewhat hamstrung by what had happened before. Sandy Alderson’s plan was to go and deal with it this year and make sure we have [...]

According to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, Tim Byrdak is “on the radar” of the Mets and could end up competing with Taylor Tankersley for a left-handed relief role in spring training, a source confirmed to ESPNNewYork.com on Wednesday. Earlier today at an even at Citi Field, Terry Collins said he thought Alderson would add a left handed reliever to compete with Tankersley. Byrdak, 37, went 2-2 with a 3.49 ERA in 64 relief appearances [...]

Now that the dust has settled, and the Mets rotation has taken shape, I decided to come up with some pre-season projections for the Mets rotation in 2011. I also included early projections from the esteemed Bill James which you can always get at Fan Graphs, as well as projections from CBS Sportsline which is a combined effort from their staff. Here you go: My Final Thoughts Bill James seems to believe Mike Pelfrey will regress [...]

As I supposed in my original post, the Mets have indeed settled with Mike Pelfrey and thus avoiding arbitration. ESPN New York is reporting that arbitration-eligible Mike Pelfrey has settled with the Mets. An organization source said the deal will pay Pelfrey $3.925 million during the upcoming season. He can earn $50,000 extra in performance bonuses. Pelfrey, who turned 27 last Friday, made $3.3 million in 2009 as part of his original deal after signing as [...]

Kerel Cooper form one of my favorite Mets blogs On The Black, tossed out that age old question that comes up each year right before the start of spring training: Should David Wright be named captain of the Mets? I have never really understood the significance of a baseball team having a captain, and of course there’s no evidence to suggest that it adds to the team chemistry or leads to more wins. I used to get [...]

Jon Heyman of SI.com totally infuriates me at times with the joy he seems to get out of taking potshots at the Mets. Some of you may think I’m overreacting, but he does this incessantly 2-3 times a week. However, this one takes the cake as I’m sure you will all agree. Before the weekend, Heyman posted a list of his most overpaid and underpaid free agents this offseason. It sounded like a good read, [...]

The Mets are reporting that Johan Santana met with their Mets medical staff and that they have cleared him to begin a rehab program which will have him throwing before the start of Spring Training. A spokesman for the team said Santana is where he should be in terms of coming back surgery to repair a torn anterior capsule in his left shoulder. His original prognosis was for him to begin playing catch in January. He is still expected [...]

It seems that the Mets are still in play for starting pitcher Chris Young and that he is very close to making a decision as posted yesterday by my colleague Brandon Butler. Chris Young would be a nice addition for the Mets and if we do get him he instantly becomes the biggest acquisition of the Mets offseason and probably the first player that fans didn’t have to look up on google to figure out who he was. [...]