By now we are all aware of the tantalizing conga line of pitching prospects dancing their way up the ladder to Flushing. The litany of names is familiar: Zack Wheeler, Noah Syndergaard, Rafael Montero, Luis Mateo, Steven Matz, Michael Fulmer, Hansel Robles, Jacob deGrom, Jack Leathersich, Domingo Tapia, et al. It is only natural to consider how some of this apparent surplus of talent might be spun off in exchange for pieces needed to shore [...]

Aside from Marlon Byrd, who is batting .269 on the young season, the rest of the Mets outfielders are all in a big rut at the plate. Worst among them is Oakland A’s import Collin Cowgill who is batting .130 after another 0-for-4 showing last night against left-hander Cliff Lee. Cowgill, who was initially proclaimed the everyday center fielder before the season began, has now been relegated to a platoon role against southpaws only and [...]

If the Mets are to beat Cliff Lee tonight – the second Phillies’ ace in as many nights – they’ll have to do it without Ike Davis. Davis is struggling out of the gate, hitting .148 with one homer and showing no signs of breaking out. He’s on the way of repeating last spring, which morphed into a miserable first half. “I don’t know if I can say I am better for going through that,’’ Davis said during [...]

Starting Lineup Collin Cowgill CF Daniel Murphy 2B David Wright 3B John Buck C Marlon Byrd RF Lucas Duda LF Justin Turner 1B Ruben Tejada SS Dillon Gee RHP Game Notes The Mets have hit at least one home run in each of their first seven games, the longest such stretch to open a season since the 1987 team opened the season with a home run in their first eight contests. This current streak is tied [...]

Team News and Notes Atlanta Braves (6-1) The Braves currently sit in first place in the NL East, and new addition Justin Upton is a major reason why. The 25-year-old has batted .423/.448/1.192 to start the season, with six bombs and eight RBI. The other half of the Upton brothers, B.J., has struggled to hit himself out of a barn batting just .120 to date. On the mound, the wily veteran Tim Hudson is back [...]

Fast starts can lead to expectations. After opening the season with wins in consecutive series over San Diego and Miami, it is way to soon to consider the Mets a General Electric type behemoth. But, there is some juice here, enough to where there is some light. The Mets began the season with little hope of cracking last year’s 74 victories, but the first week created a sense there might be something to the summer [...]

The Mets begin a three-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies tonight at Citizens Bank Park, their first road series of the year and their first against a decent team. Tha Phillies are currently at a crossroads. Where health and age meet talent. The Phillies are getting older, and this may be their last year to make a run at the World Series, although it’s very unlikely. The Phillies went 81-81 last season, spending half the [...]

In this edition of a not-so-regular MMO feature that first appeared in 2007, our reader Pietro Sinapi gets the well deserved hat tip for taking us back to June 30, 2010 when the big news of the day was the Mets and their pursuit of Mariners ace Cliff Lee. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported that if the Mets wanted Lee they needed to up the ante and make the M’s an offer [...]

As Sandy Alderson and the Mets continue to wait and see how cheaply they can sign free agents, other teams are signing players at a brisk pace. I understand they couldn’t realistically be buyers for Cliff Lee or Carl Crawford, and without a doubt the Mets were right not to even come close to offering Jason Werth the kind of contract he signed with the Nationals. I also understand that the Wilpons refuse to pay a [...]