Six games into the season and the Mets have used three different leadoff hitters. Evidently, there are answers to be found. One who should get a longer look is Mike Baxter, who started Saturday and reached base three times on two hits and a walk. A lead off hitter needs to get on base, and if not then take the count as deep as possible to give the following hitters a chance to learn what they [...]

Updated at 4:45 PM Terry Collins said he doesn’t have a timetable for Shaun Marcum and said it could be a week or 2 before they know. #Mets — Jorge Castillo (@jorgeccastillo) April 5, 2013 Original Post at 11:00 AM MMO’s John Delcos reported on April 2 that Shaun Marcum was scratched from his simulated start and was flown from Port St. Lucie to New York to be examined by team doctors. “He has some real [...]

How appropriate. It was overcast for much of the day, but shortly after this afternoon’s 11-2 rout of the San Diego Padres, it started to rain on Citi Field. If there could be universal laws in baseball, is it isn’t supposed to rain on Opening Day and the home team has to win. Let the Padres win Wednesday night and when they return to San Diego, but today belonged to the Mets, played as complete [...]

Updated on 3/30 Johan Santana has decided that he will continue his career and has elected to undergo surgery to repair the torn anterior capsule in his left shoulder, according to the team. This essentially means that Santana will miss all of the 2013 season. With no insurance to save them, the Mets will owe Santana $25.5 million for the rest of this season and an additional $5.5 million to buyout his 2014 option. Apparently, pitching [...]

Do you think Sandy Alderson was willfully blind when he traded R.A. Dickey and counted on Johan Santana to be his Rock of Gibraltar and retake the reins as the ace of the Mets rotation? Yesterday, I faulted Santana for not keeping the Mets in the loop this Winter about his questionable shoulder and how he was progressing, but shouldn’t there be some accountability on the Mets’ part as well? Wasn’t there an obligation to track Santana down and [...]

It is the same in every spring training camp with winners and losers. Booms and busts. With camp ending today, the Mets had their share of both. THE WINNERS Jon Niese: With Johan Santana a question going in, Niese entered camp No. 1 in the rotation and pitched deserving of that title. Not surprisingly, he was named Opening Day starter. With Santana gone for the year, he’s the de facto ace, at least until Matt [...]

The Mets have two games remaining in spring training, and if they don’t know what they have by now they never will. They break camp today after playing St. Louis, then bus over to the bay side of the state to play the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday. Next will be Opening Day Monday afternoon against San Diego, while at the same time, in a display of scheduling genius by Major League Baseball, across town the [...]

Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, does a fine job of explaining why the Mets chose not to insure Johan Santana’s contract. The Mets will be on the hook for the remaining $31 million owed to Johan Santana because they did not insure the contract.  Why? As premiums have skyrocketed because of escalating salaries and past payouts — such as the bailout when Mo Vaughn was owed $17 million and could not play for the Mets in [...]

Oh how I hate “I told you so” posts, but MMO’s John Delcos nailed it. Santana’s left shoulder is not getting better and it isn’t unfair to wonder if the prideful or stubborn lefthander – take your pick – may have committed career suicide on March 3, a quiet Sunday that turned into one of the Mets’ loudest days of spring training. Yep, that was one of the loudest days of the spring alright… Original [...]

There are two no-brainers in place for the Mets with their latest injury news. The first was the slam-dunk Shaun Marcum would be injured. The surprise was it happened before the team broke camp, but considering the shape he reported in, well, maybe not so much. The second is the inevitable early clamor for the Mets to promote prospect Zack Wheeler, which should be an emphatic NO WAY.Manager Terry Collins told reporters today in Port St. Lucie, but he has [...]