The Cincinnati Reds (25-18) shutout the New York Mets (17-25) by the score of 4-0 tonight at a sparsely crowded Citi Field. Left-hander Jon Niese started for the Mets and and after getting the first two outs in the first inning he allowed a hit and a pair of walks to load the bases. Niese had a chance to come out of the inning unscathed and induced a hard grounder to third for what should have been [...]

Starting Lineup Daniel Murphy – 2B Mike Baxter – RF David Wright – 3B Lucas Duda – LF Rick Ankiel – CF John Buck – C Ike Davis – 1B Ruben Tejada – SS Jon Niese – LHP Game Notes The Mets signed reliever David Aardsma to a minor league deal. Aardsma didn’t make the Yankees’ roster out of spring training and opted out of his deal with Miami after not getting promoted within a [...]

It doesn’t matter that Daniel Murphy hit the game-winning homer Sunday afternoon, or that he’s the Mets’ hottest hitter, he should be in the leadoff spot going forward for the Mets. Because of Murphy’s high on-base percentage, batting him leadoff is something I have advocated, and I’m glad Terry Collins was thinking outside the box enough to make the move. “He gets on base, because he can hit,’’ Collins told ESPN.com. “And, when he’s swinging good, he can get [...]

I am as optimistic as anyone wants to be when you think that the Mets can turn this ship around, put together a run that can make this team worth watching again. When you go through years of not much promise, you just hope that maybe, just maybe this year could be different. I thought that in the first two weeks of the season when we had a good start and then just as fast [...]

Updated Post 1:44 PM MLB Trade Rumors just posted something that would add to the debate on Choo as a potential acquisition for the Mets in 2014. I also updated the original post to indicate that Choo’s best position is right-field. Of course, as with most free agents, Choo’s next contract will cover post-prime years, perhaps age 31-35.  With Boras doing the negotiating, we can’t rule out a sixth year or a salary in the [...]

Despite a major league pedigree and respect for his tools (Baseball America Top 15 organizational prospect three years running), Binghamton Mets outfielder Cory Vaughn had yet to put all his tools together. His power and speed didn’t show up until 2012, but he hit .243. In St. Lucie in 2011, Vaughn hit .286 before his promotion, but only four home runs. After the promotion, he more than doubled his home run total, but the batting average dipped to .219. [...]

AGBAYANI: THE METS’ “BENNY-FACTOR” SLAMS THE CUBS Did you ever notice that certain players that have toiled in the minors for a while tend to exhibit surges in production when they finally get a crack at the big time? It’s as if they had those hits stockpiled for the Show and can’t wait to get them out of their systems once fortune and the front office permits. So it seemed to be with Benny Agbayani, [...]

ALDERSON DOING METS A DISSERVICE IN STAYING WITH DAVIS Perhaps Sandy Alderson knew of Andrew Brown’s strained oblique when he said there was nothing imminent about sending Ike Davis to the minor leagues. Assuming he did not, it is puzzling as to why he’s in no hurry to ship out his struggling first baseman. Eventually, Alderson said, “everything comes to a head at some point,’’ but evidently it is not hitting .156 two months into [...]

Last Night’s Quick Scores Las Vegas was washed out in Iowa. Binghamton dropped New Britain, 6-3. St. Lucie lost to Dunedin, 4-3. Savannah dropped to Charleston, 5-2.  Prospect Pipeline Thanks to everyone who visited MetsMinors.net yesterday and made our launch a successful one. If you are interested in the Mets’ prospects, then MMN is for you. Check us out today! Rafael Montero‘s Triple-A debut was rained out yesterday. He takes the hill in Iowa today [...]

For a while, it looked like Terry Collin’s weird lineup choice going into the evening would actually work when Marlon Byrd ripped a three-run home run in the bottom of third. Perhaps unsurprisingly, however, the Mets would fail to score again the rest of the night and could not stage a comeback after Jay Bruce hit a go-ahead home run off Shaun Marcum in the sixth. To be fair to Marcum, he handled the Reds [...]

Starting Lineup Daniel Murphy 2B Rick Ankiel CF David Wright 3B Lucas Duda LF Marlon Byrd RF Ike Davis 1B John Buck C Ruben Tejada SS Shaun Marcum SP Game Notes Bobby Parnell has three wins and four saves this month. Parnell has hurled 8.0 scoreless frames in May and is tied for the major league lead among all relievers with four wins and is seventh in the NL with a 0.93 ERA (min. 17.0 innings). Parnell is unscored upon in 17 of his [...]