Hello Met Fans–

I will be starting a new podcast called Coutinho Talking Mets beginning next week and I am so excited about it.

It will be totally devoted to the Met Fan and will spin positive which as you all know is what separates me from most Met beat reporters.

It will also have a fan component to it as I would like to have fans on the podcast expressing the reason they love the Mets so much.

The podcast will feature exclusive content with Met players that cannot be heard anywhere else with extensive spring training reports from Port St. Lucie as well as coverage all year round as I travel with the team.

I plan on presenting my usual positive view of the Mets which is uncommon on Mets Twitter giving fans the inside stories in the Mets Clubhouse presenting  the real story–not the fabricated nuggets that help fill out a pre-season narrative on how bad things are.

My objective is to present the team in a positive light with an opposing viewpoint to all the negative storylines that permeate the Mets Twitterverse. But that doesn’t mean I won’t be objective, I absolutely will.

This Mets team as presently constituted is an ABSOLUTE playoff contender. That being said, I think they could and should add some pieces to the roster which I think Brodie Van Wagenen will indeed accomplish before Opening Day.

I learned so much early in my career working with people like Howard Cosell who assured me being myself would be enough.  In my last meeting with Cosell, he counseled me by saying, “Rich–what is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right.”

Pure and simple, this Mets team is vastly improved.  The bullpen alone is much better than last year and Robinson Cano is a quality big-time bat that will blend in with guys like Michael Conforto, Amed Rosario, and Todd Frazier very well. Cano also improves the defense up the middle as will catcher Wilson Ramos who also gives the Mets some right-handed pop in the lineup.

Speaking of that I can’t wait for Met fans to warm up to The Alonso Factor–another right-handed bat that will regularly clear the walls at Citi Field as he rounds the bases.

I only see three rosters in this league better than the Mets — The Cubs, the Cardinals and the Dodgers — and they don’t reside in the NL East.  So you know what that means, right? Playoff games will return to Citi Field this October.

My podcast will take you through that journey–week by week. Yes, I am building a bandwagon–hop on right now before it gets too crowded. Coutinho Talking Mets on the best Mets website on the planet. You are all invited.