Last night, in the Mets 7-2 loss to the Dodgers, Juan Lagares entered the game in the top of the fifth inning to play center field as part of a double-switch – officially marking his major league debut. Lagares led off in the bottom half of the fifth with a hard hit fly to the warning track in left field against Dodgers’ ace LHP Clayton Kershaw. In his next at-bat, Lagares singled against left-hander Paco Rodriguez in [...]

Updated 2:30 PM Whatever I said below, it’s now official… Updated at 11:30 PM Outfield prospect Juan Lagares, who is tearing up the Pacific Coast League, likely will join the Mets as soon as Tuesday, baseball sources told ESPN New York. Lagares, 24, is hitting .346 with three homers and nine RBIs through 78 at-bats with Triple-A Las Vegas. All 17 of his appearances with the 51s have been in center field. He also has [...]

Baseball 101: Regardless of the level of play, if a pitcher walks too many batters he will be beaten. It is a baseball fundamental understood by everybody, with the exception of those insisting the Mets bring up Zack Wheeler, who walked six hitters in his last start. The clamoring is getting louder in the wake of the Mets’ continued problems with the back end of their rotation. Maybe Dillon Gee, he of the 0-3 record and 8.36 ERA, [...]

For those of you hoping to see Zack Wheeler build upon his last start, tonight’s results will come as a disappointment to you. Unfortunately for Wheeler, he never seemed to find his comfort zone, and he walked a season high six batters tonight and failed to complete the fifth inning before Wally Backman had seen enough and pulled him from the game. His overall line left a lot to be desired, as he allowed four [...]

The last time the Mets had a youth movement, it was the in early 80’s and they were coming off a terrible run of losing seasons. The likes of Dwight Gooden, Mookie Wilson, Lenny Dykstra, Wally Backman, and Darryl Strawberry roamed the grounds at Shea Stadium and they quickly made a name for themselves especially after their magical run in 1986 that led them straight to a World Series Championship. Sprinkled in with a group [...]

According to Mark Hale of the New York Post, Triple-A manager Wally Backman believes Zack Wheeler is not far away from being promoted to the Mets despite his rough outing on Thursday, and drew comparisons to Matt Harvey. “He is the same spot Matt Harvey was at last year, I would say,” Backman said of Wheeler in a phone interview with The Post Friday. “It’s a matter of command. I think it’s going to be a [...]

Las Vegas manager Wally Backman had some nice things to say about Mets catching prospect Travis d’Arnaud after his impressive debut last night against Sacramento. In the 51′s season-opening 10-5 victory over the River Cats, the 24-year old prospect went 2-for-3 with two doubles, two walks, a career-high four runs scored and an RBI. “I think it’s just a matter of time before he gets to the big leagues,” 51s manager Wally Backman said. “He [...]

Post Updated on 3/20 I caught this transcript on MetsBlog this morning. They were comments made by Sandy Alderson who was a guest on the New York Post’s baseball podcast. The subject was Terry Collins‘s lame duck status and the possibility of a contract extension in the future: “Well, I want Terry to be the manager. He and I have a great rapport. I think he does a great job with the players. They believe [...]

It usually is not a good sign when a name not recently in the news shows up on the “What’s Trending Now,’’ list when one logs onto the Internet. Dwight Gooden was there this morning and we can expect to see future postings as his latest issue with the law unravels. Gooden, long out of baseball but not forgotten by Mets fans, allegedly threatened his estranged wife, Monique, on Friday, when he should have been on [...]

In a conference call Wednesday evening, Mets GM Sandy Alderson addressed several issues surrounding the team. Here are some of the things he told us: Catching prospect Travis d’Arnaud will not be allowed to block the plate. The reason for that is obvious – his health. The leadoff spot is still up in the air but Kirk Nieuwenhuis, who is the leading candidate, still has a lot of work to do. If Nieuwenhuis plays full-time [...]