Author: Jim Mancari

From Left Field: Mets Finally Sign A Free Agent

With the announcement this morning that the Mets have agreed to sign Shaun Marcum, the offseason drought is officially over. The Mets were the only team in the game to have not signed a Major League free agent before the Marcum deal. Of course, the Mets are going through a rebuilding phase, but the team didn’t even sign a bench player or relief pitcher to a pro deal. What this means is that the...

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R.A. Dickey Accepts NL Cy Young At BBWAA Dinner

The stars were out at the New York Hilton Saturday night at the 90th annual Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) Dinner. This year’s award winners received their hardware, and of course, R.A. Dickey was the main event. Dickey took home the 2012 NL Cy Young Award and was honored with the BBWAA’s “Joe DiMaggio Toast of the Town” award for forging a special bond with the New York fans....

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From Left Field: Give Travis d’Arnaud A Chance In The Bigs Right Away

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...

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From Left Field: Should Mets Mortgage Farm For Giancarlo Stanton?

MLB.com’s Marty Noble wrote a piece that the Mets should try to make a push to acquire Miami Marlins budding superstar slugger Giancarlo Stanton. Stanton is just 23 years old and has shown mammoth power in just three professional seasons. But hold on, the Marlins have already traded the rest of their star players. Why would the team part ways with its only young power bat? Well, Stanton is a hot...

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From Left Field: In Mets’ History, Farm System Has Lacked Strong Hitting

After the trade sending R.A. Dickey to the Blue Jays, I started thinking that the Mets really have never developed a top-notch catcher out of their minor league system. Todd Hundley is closest thing to being a productive home-grown catcher, which isn’t exactly saying much. Of course, the most productive catchers in team history, Gary Carter and Mike Piazza, were acquired via trade. Now that the...

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