The Mets made possibly their most underrated signings of the offseason in late-January when they signed right-handed relief pitcher Scott Atchison to a minor league contract. Atchison, 36, has bounced around baseball in his 14-year professional career. He came out of TCU as a starting pitcher in the late ’90s. Drafted by the Mariners, he rose up through the system, but stalled at Triple-A. He was eventually converted to a relief pitcher, and made his [...]

With Frank Francisco working very slowly back from elbow soreness, presumably an effect of the surgery he underwent in December to remove bone chips from his throwing elbow, the Mets closer going into Opening Day will be Bobby Parnell. The 28 year-old right-hander will be getting his first long-term shot at the closer role. He has been given some time in August and September over the last few years in the role, but he has [...]

The Mets made arguably their biggest addition of the offseason in late January, when they finally filled in the slot once filled by R.A. Dickey. The man chosen to fill the spot was 31 year-old right-hander Shaun Marcum. Marcum is a seven-year MLB veteran with the Blue Jays and Brewers, and has spent the last two season in Milwaukee after being traded in December 2010 for Brett Lawrie. Marcum has put up above average numbers [...]

Mets starter Dillon Gee took a significant step forward last season, improving in a few key areas. Gee lowered his ERA from 4.43 in 2011 to 4.10 last season. He took some big steps forward and has me optimistic for this upcoming season. The biggest sign of Gee’s improvement last season came from his so-called “peripherals”– walks and strikeouts. He saw a substantial drop in walks, going from 4.0 BB/9 to 2.4, and an increase [...]

The Mets signed Jonathon Niese at the perfect time early last April, inking the left-hander to a five-year extension worth just over $25 million. The contract the two sides agreed to kept Niese a Met for his final pre-arbitration years (2012), all three of his arbitration years, and at least one year of free agency. The best part of the deal may be the two team options, which total $21 million and would keep Niese [...]

Johan Santana‘s 2012 statistics look awful at first glance. No, they are awful. His 4.85 ERA and 1.33 WHIP are both his worst since becoming a starter. That, combined with the fact that Santana missed the last two months of the season might have you down on the 33 year-old lefty. But when you look deeper, there is some reason to be optimistic that Johan Santana can bounce back, and be effective. Santana attempted something [...]

Despite losing a Cy Young Award winner via trade this offseason, the Met pitching rotation is still arguably the club’s biggest strength. The rotation is built around a few young and talented pitchers, with a more just a few months from the big leagues. The most promising of the bunch is Matt Harvey, who catapulted himself to ace status after last year’s incredible ten-start stretch to end the season. Harvey, 23, was the subject of [...]

A year ago, all the talk surrounding David Wright involved his long-term future with the club. A few down years in a row made people start to wonder if we would ever see the David Wright of old (circa 2006) ever again. Would the Mets re-sign him? Would they sell low and flip him for prospects? Well, a year later, he not only had a bounce-back season, but also secured his long-term future in New York by [...]

When the Marlins signed Jose Reyes in December of 2011, the Mets were forced to turn to a young, inexperienced shortstop in Ruben Tejada. Just 22 at the time, Tejada was given the enormous (and probably impossible) task of replacing Reyes. No one expected him to make up for the production lost, but the club certainly needed decent production out of the position. In 2011, Tejada got a substantial amount of playing time for the [...]

Daniel Murphy went into camp last year with very high expectations. After hitting .320 in 109 games in 2011, some people expected Murphy to become a perennial .300 hitter. In 2011, it appeared as though Murphy was living up to his potential, but a year later, Murphy’s future is much less certain. Murphy started off the year at a slower pace than he did 2011, but still put up solid numbers. In April, he hit .298, and [...]