Updated 4:00 PM by Mitch Petanick Domingo Tapia had a very forgettable outing today in Grapefruit League play. Tapia pitched two innings, allowing four runs on four hits, two of which were home runs. Sounds scary when you read the stat line, but remember that Tapia is still a lower level prospect who was pitching against major league hitters that are just about ready for regular season play. And by lower level prospect, I do not mean talent wise, I [...]

Updated at 4:30 PM Okay, well nobody actually said that, but I thought it made for a great title… However, in case you were wondering about it, perish the thought… Terry Collins just said that Zack Wheeler will not be considered as a replacement for Shaun Marcum in the rotation and will not pitch for the Mets at all in April. “His ultimate promotion will have nothing to do with other injuries and they don’t think [...]

The Mets have until Tuesday to make a decision on whether to add Pedro Feliciano, LaTroy Hawkins and Tim Byrdak to the 25 man roster. According to the rules of the new collective bargaining agreement, the Mets must inform each player by Tuesday if they intend to carry them on the major league roster. The alternatives are that either will be assigned to the minors and receive $100,000 or they will be released. It will be [...]

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 Opening Day less than two weeks away, the names of those who could open the season on the disabled list has more star power than the team we’ll see on the field come April 1 against the Padres. Closer Frank Francisco told the team he is still not feeling right after a 31-pitch side session on Saturday. He is still trying to recover from inflammation following off-season surgery to remove above spur form his right elbow. [...]

Adam Rubin of ESPN New York reports that Frank Francisco threw another bullpen session on Saturday morning. According to Rubin, this was his third bullpen this week, and he is likely going to throw at least two more before moving on to live batting practice. Saturday’s session consisted of 31 total pitches, all of which were fastballs and curveballs. The likely path for Francisco at this stage in the game is for him to start the season on the disabled [...]

The Detroit Tigers defeated the New York Mets this afternoon by the score of 9-1 at Tradition Field. Most of the damage came against starting pitcher Dillon Gee who was absolutely awful and completely out of sync. Gee had no control as evidenced by his four walks, two hit batters and three wild pitches in just two innings of work. He was charged with six earned runs and didn’t beat around the bush after the [...]

Lucas Duda is showing signs of snapping out of his spring slumber going 3-for-3 with two RBIs as the Mets defeated the Astros 9-6 this afternoon at Tradition Field. Duda now has six hits in his last 15 at-bats after an agonizing start that sent him to the sidelines for a couple of days to work on his swing. It looks like those two days off did the trick. “I feel like I’m a good hitter.” [...]

They all can’t throw like Matt Harvey this time of spring. Overpowering and arguably flawless in yesterday’s start against Miami, Harvey had one of those seamless starts pitchers rarely have in their third spring training game. Dillon Gee, today’s starter against Detroit in Lakeland, has no such illusions. “My mechanics are off,’’ Gee said. “It will be just my third start of the spring, so they are bound to be off. Spring training is for trying to [...]

Things just keep getting worse and not better on the Johan Santana front. Andy Martino spoke to more than one team source and the consensus seems to be that Johan Santana will not be ready by Opening Day which totally wipes out Santana’s assertion that “he knows what he’s doing” and everything is okay. “I know the deal, spring training is for training okay!”. The Mets’ private expectations for Johan Santana’s April 1 availability are even [...]

The latest on Johan Santana cane from manager Terry Collins who said that Johan Santana’s decision to throw a bullpen for the first time in 10 days, was “unnecessary” and said he “wished his ace handled himself differently.” Mike Kerwick of The Record quotes Collins who suggests that Santana needs to calm down and get his emotions in check, and that he should have gone about this the proper way. “He’s fine,” Collins said, “and [...]