In the words of Mark Twain, “The coldest winter I ever saw was the summer I spent in San Francisco.” An excellent thought but obviously Mr. Twain never saw a baseball game at NYSEG Stadium in Binghamton, NY on a Friday night at the beginning of April. Wow, it really gives new meaning to the phrase “chilled to the bone” I can tell you that much. I had arrived in Binghamton at around noon on Friday after making [...]

  With opening night Thursday for the Buffalo Bisons, here is the “official” opening day roster for the Mets AAA entry in the International League. With at least five major league prospects on the roster in Harvey, Familia, Valdespin, Lutz, and Nieuwenhuis, this AAA team is getting away from the image of fielding a team full of retreads every year. Perhaps this incarnation of the Herd can compete for it’s first playoff appearance since before [...]

It took some time, but the Binghamton Mets have finally announced their “official” opening day 2012 roster. The first game of the regular season was slated for last night in Binghamton when they faced off against the Akron Aeros, AA team for the Cleveland Indians. The starting pitcher for the season opener was right-hander Collin McHugh, who anchored the Binghamton starting rotation for much of last year. This 2012 version of the team will match [...]

The Savannah Sand Gnats (A) of the South Atlantic League, were the first of the Mets long-season league teams to unveil their “official” 2012 Opening Day Roster, and here it is: PITCHERS Marco Camarena (RHP) T.J. Chism (LHP) Michael Fulmer (RHP) Jack “The Rocket” Leathersich (LHP) Rafael Montero (RHP) Estarlin Morel (RHP) Alex Panteliodis (LHP) Tyler Pill (RHP) Brandon Sage (LHP)  D.L. Tyson Seng (RHP) Domingo Tapia (RHP) Carlos Vasquez (LHP) Logan Verrett (RHP) Jeffrey [...]

Yesterday the St. Lucie Mets (A) of the Florida State League announced their “official” 2012 opening day roster. Their season begins on the road tonite against the Bradenton Marauders, the Pittsburgh Pirates single A affiliate. Although nothing has been announced, the probable starting pitcher for St. Lucie will be fire-balling right-hander Cory Mazzoni, who figures to anchor the staff. Let’s take a look at how the roster shakes out. PITCHERS Kyle Allen (RHP) Yohan Almonte [...]

Josh Stinson is now an ex-Met. He was claimed off waivers by the Milwaukee Brewers. The 23-year-old righty reliever was the Mets 37th round pick in the 2006 player draft. He reached the majors last September appearing in 14 games for the Mets in relief. He was placed on waivers along with Armando Rodriguez to make room on the 25-man roster for Mike Baxter and Miguel Batista. He is a real great guy and all [...]

As we enter the final weekend of minor league spring training, let’s see how the four long-season clubs fared on Friday. BUFFALO BISONS (AAA) Matt Harvey took the mound for the Buffalo Bisons Friday in a minor league spring training game against the Memphis Redbirds. The Bisons now have just two spring games remaining before heading north for their first workout at Coca-Cola field on Tuesday. Yesterday’s start was Harvey’s last tune-up before he takes [...]

The Binghamton Mets (AA) broke a three game losing streak on Thursday with a 10-6 win over the Jacksonville Suns (Marlins). The B-Mets put together a 12-hit attack, led by outfielder Cesar Puello who had a single, a double, a HR, and two SB’s. The righty-hitting Puello will turn 21 in two days. CF Darrell Ceciliani had two doubles in the game, and 1B Travis Ozga slugged a two-run homer. LHP Darin Gorski went five [...]

With just three days remaining in Spring Training for the Mets minor league clubs, contributions by certain players in yesterday’s Buffalo Bisons spring training game caused me to do a double-take. Say what? First up, the winning pitcher in today’s game for the Bisons was left-hander Mark Cohoon. Cohoon had a great year in 2009 followed by a spectacular year in 2010, but in 2011 the wheels fell off. Last year in 18 starts for [...]

Either today or tomorrow the Mets are extremely likely, according to sources, to announce the 2012 minor league rosters for each of the long-season teams. Competition has been ferocious for all four teams, particularly for the most coveted prizes, a spot on one of the pitching staffs for each of the long-season clubs. Over-crowding, combined with ho-hum performances necessitated the recent release of seven pitchers: Tobi Stoner, Eric Niesen, Nick Carr, Roy Merritt, Chris Hilliard, [...]