Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Given the Mets’ humiliating collapse over the last month which saw a team that once held a 10.5-game division lead over the defending champion Braves dominated by an 89-win team on national television, it’s hard to think of the 2022 season as one in which nearly everything for the Mets went right.

And yet, on closer inspection, absent two baffling weekends in Atlanta and Queens, this year’s team really did play up to its full potential, and then some. A 35 year-old Carlos Carrasco turned in a healthy, productive season for the first time in years. Taijuan Walker avoided a repeat of last year’s second-half collapse. Jeff McNeil bounced back from a career-worst season to win a batting title. Max Scherzer battled a nagging oblique problem and Starling Marte’s bat was sorely missed in September, but the team’s key pieces otherwise stayed remarkably healthy.

But the “glass half-full” view of the 2022 Mets closely mirrors the “glass half-empty” perspective for the Mets in 2023 and beyond. In truth, it’s hard to imagine how the Mets can actually emerge from this upcoming offseason a better baseball team when merely keeping together the current roster could require a payroll approaching $350 million. Key contributors are old and set to become more expensive in the years to come as the last age out of arbitration eligibility. The closest the current roster has to a youth movement are 27 year-olds Pete Alonso and David Peterson.

There’s a reason why, even with a seemingly-endless fortune upon which he can draw, owner Steve Cohen envies the Los Angeles Dodgers’ approach to building a perennial winner, one that pairs an unbelievably deep farm system churning out cheap future stars with high-priced free agent and trade acquisitions. Cohen may be the richest man in baseball, but not even he can build a dynasty with money alone. It’s simply impossible in today’s game.

One doesn’t need to look to the West Coast for a model of balanced, sustainable roster-building. The Braves set themselves up to be championship contenders for the next decade by signing nearly their entire core to team-friendly, long-term contract extensions. Even in the middle of another playoff run, they inked future ace Spencer Strider this week to a six-year contract that will ensure his salary doesn’t balloon beyond what Atlanta can afford.

Many words will be written here and elsewhere this winter on Billy Eppler’s decision not to be more aggressive at the trade deadline. Giving Tomás Nido and James McCann a combined 500 plate appearances on a team that ostensibly had World Series aspirations really was an episode in front office malpractice. Still, Eppler’s desire to hold on to the organization’s blue chip prospects may arguably look better once the initial shock and anger over the last few weeks of embarrassing baseball begin to fade. We can quibble with who should or shouldn’t be untouchable in a division chase, but neither the Braves nor Dodgers became perennial juggernauts through desperation moves each July.

Cohen’s deep pockets and willingness to do whatever it takes to win will likely keep the Mets in playoff contention every year going forward, and for that we should be both excited and grateful. But money only goes so far, even in baseball. Now comes the hard part for Eppler and Cohen: building a farm system that can feed a consistent winner and a front office with the creativity and foresight to lock up young stars early on team-friendly deals.

The good news is this year’s Mets largely did not mortgage the future to win 101 games. Little of last winter’s spending bonanza looks like dead weight heading into 2023. The Chris Bassitt trade looks fine in retrospect. This year’s failure was not a case of burning every remaining asset for one last chance at a title.

But the 2022 Mets demonstrated both the potential and the limits to building a winning baseball team on the fly through free agency and the team will face some very difficult choices in the coming months as a result. Thankfully, Cohen and company seem to understand this.

Next year’s team will be good, potentially very good. As tough a task as the one ahead of Billy Eppler is, the team he ultimately puts together will be heavily favored to return to the postseason. But dethroning the Braves and Dodgers will require more than just another ticket to October and the hope of a little timely magic. And bringing a championship back to Queens will require more than just a blank check.

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David Wright’s final appearance as a New York Met on Saturday night was easily one of my most poignant memories as a fan of this team. Everything about the occasion – from Wright’s young daughter throwing out the first pitch to his final words to the fans after what would be a marathon game – was well choreographed to honor what he means to all of us.

To me, Wright was not merely a great player on my favorite baseball team. Born in 1997, I was seven years old when the Mets called up Wright, then the team’s top prospect, in the summer of 2004. The very concept of the New York Mets as a professional baseball team and the sight of David Wright manning third base have been almost indistinguishable as far back as my memory goes. He was a central character to every big Mets moment since that July evening and a cardinal figure in my childhood. It is fitting that as I finish my senior year of college and prepare to enter the “real world,” David begins a new chapter of his own.

Beyond the incredible statistics and heroic moments, the most astounding element of Wright’s career was his ability to command respect from his teammates and the league at such a young age. By his mid-20s, he had become the face of a winning team in the biggest media market in the country. At the top of the game in New York City with a team seemed destined to win for years, he stayed humble and always said the right thing.

When the franchise spiraled out of control in the wake of the Bernie Madoff scandal, Wright held his tongue, sticking it out with the hope that the organization would eventually turn the corner. When that moment finally came, Wright was glad to cede the spotlight to a new generation of sensational talents like Noah Syndergaard and Michael Conforto. If there were one word that could capture Wright’s approach to the game, his teammates, and fans, it’s class.

Unfortunately, after a night of such grace and humility by one of the classiest players in baseball, Mets ownership put on a disgraceful display that was the very antithesis of the legacy Wright left with this franchise.

In an increasingly-rare media appearance before Sunday’s season finale, Mets COO Jeff Wilpon put on a cowardly performance in stark contrast to the previous night’s festivities. Attempting to dodge any blame for squandering competitive 2015 and 2016 teams, Wilpon pinned many of the organization’s failures on outgoing GM Sandy Alderson, who left the organization in June to undergo another round of cancer treatment. Wilpon claimed that it was Alderson who decided not to invest in high-priced free agents over the past few years. He also added that it was Alderson’s staff who refused to expand the team’s analytics department.

As if ownership has not shown enough contempt for Mets fans already, Wilpon took one cheap shot after another at a figure who, like Wright, is much too classy to ever fire back. Nobody believes Jeff. We all know what has gone on the last few years and exactly who was at the center of it all. Does he really think Mets fans are dumb enough to believe him?

The last two months have proven that this team has the pieces to contend next year, with a few sizable investments. The rotation was otherworldly in the second half, while Brandon Nimmo and Michael Conforto looked like stars. Another re-tooling, rather than a rebuild, is the clear path forward. However, that will require the Wilpons to fork over some major cash. Unless they can make significant upgrades while retaining Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard, I don’t see how anyone can justify giving these owners another dime.

After this weekend, we’re now left with nothing more than memories of what real leadership looks like. So thank you, David. You’re truly the last of your kind.

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Anthony Swarzak talked to reporters at Citi Field on Tuesday afternoon and said his oblique strain is “mild to moderate,” and that he hopes to return sooner rather than later.

While oblique injuries are tricky and can linger, Swarzak said as long as he feels better each day, which he has, he thinks he can make it back in shorter than a few weeks.

Anthony Swarzak says his MRI revealed a “mild to moderate” oblique strain. Doctors told him he’ll be out a few weeks, but Swarzak hopes to beat that timetable. #Mets pic.twitter.com/7Qvvi61CUf

— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) April 3, 2018

Update – April 2, 11:01 a.m.

Anthony Swarzak, who left Saturday’s match up against the St. Louis Cardinals with a sore oblique, will undergo an MRI on Monday.

The 32-year-old was reevaluated Sunday with the doctors recommending the MRI.

Swarzak also dealt with a strained left calf this spring which forced him to miss time.

He has appeared in two games for New York so far this season.

Original report – March 31, 4:53 p.m.

Mets reliever Anthony Swarzak left today’s 6-2 win over the Cardinals in the top of the eighth with a sore left oblique.

Issuing a two-out walk to Jose Martinez, Swarzak grabbed at his oblique in pain, bringing team trainers and Mickey Callaway out to the mound. After a rather lengthy discussion, Swarzak was pulled in favor of Jeurys Familia, who finished off the game with a four-out save. Swarzak had allowed a solo home run to Matt Carpenter earlier in the inning.

The Mets announced the injury as left oblique soreness, but Mickey Callaway told reporters Swarzak will be re-evaluated tomorrow morning. “There’s a little bit of concern now,” he said, “You have to be cautious with it.”

Swarzak inked a two-year, $14 million deal with the Mets this winter.

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The Boston Red Sox have agreed to re-sign infielder Eduardo Nunez on a one-year deal pending a physical, reports FanRag Sports’ Robert Murray. While these physicals are typically a formality, ESPN’s Buster Olney points out that given Nunez’s injury history, the deal is still no sure-thing.

Nunez had been linked to the Mets for most of the winter before New York inked Todd Frazier to a two-year deal two weeks ago.

A shortstop, third baseman, and second baseman, Nunez split time between San Francisco and Boston this past season, joining the Red Sox after a July trade. Overall, he batted .313/.341/.460 with 12 home runs and 24 stolen bases, the best offensive season of his career. He finished particularly strong down the stretch, hitting .321/.353/.539 with eight homers after being dealt to Boston.

The post Red Sox To Sign Eduardo Nunez, Pending Physical appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

While the New York Mets organization doesn’t lay blame for this disaster of a season on Terry Collins, the manager is unlikely to return, reports FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman.

According to Heyman, Collins is reluctant to return and the Mets aren’t eager to bring him back. Members of the organization refused to defend (or bash) Collins either publicly or anonymously, perhaps a bad sign for him.

Collins signed a two-year extension after the Mets’ 2015 World Series run and has left it up in the air whether he would even like to return.

Of course, Collins is not responsible for the unbelievable number of injuries, the primary cause of the Mets’ failures this season. However, he has repeatedly come under fire from fans for poor in-game and lineup management, among other things.

Collins, 68, is the longest-tenured manager in Mets history, having steered the team through 1097 games, in which the Mets are 536-561.

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According to Marc Carig of Newsday, Matz will need surgery for ulnar nerve repositioning in his pitching elbow and will miss the remainder of the season.

Jacob deGrom underwent a similar surgery last season and returned by Spring Training. The Mets hope the same will hold true for Matz.

Original report – 5:29 p.m.

Steven Matz is likely headed to the DL, Terry Collins told reporters this afternoon. Tommy Milone will get the start in his place tomorrow.

Collins told reporters that while he believes Matz could continue to pitch, the team has decided to shut him down for the time being.”This is not an injury,” Collins said. “This is a situation of, he needs to shut it down for a little while. I haven’t talked to Sandy about it, so I’m not going to get into the whole medical thing just yet, but if he had to, he could pitch tomorrow. We’re going to probably put him on the DL.” Collins would not reveal any specifics, but said Matz saw a doctor today, received a shot, and cannot throw for 48 hours.

Newsday’s Marc Carig adds to this statement, reporting that Matz has been diagnosed with an ulnar nerve injury similar to Jacob deGrom’s last year, and has been pitching through pain all season. He may require surgery, Carig’s sources say.

Matz has pitched horribly for well over a month now after getting off to a hot start. Since July 9, Matz has a 10.19 ERA over 32.2 innings. Over that span, he has allowed 57 hits, including seven home runs.

The post Matz Will Undergo Surgery To Correct Nerve Issue In Elbow appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Jeurys Familia will pitch on back-to-back days this week as he looks to return to the Mets after three months on the disabled list.

Familia will appear in the Brooklyn Cyclones’ Tuesday and Wednesday night games. He has already made two rehab appearances for the High-A St. Lucie Mets. On Saturday, he tossed a scoreless inning, striking out three and clocking a 98 mile per hour fastball. He threw another scoreless inning in a separate appearance last week.

Tests in early May revealed a blood clot in Familia’s right shoulder, which has kept him off a big league mound since May 10. In 9.1 innings with the Mets this season, he has a 3.86 ERA, 10 strikeouts, and eight walks.

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The New York Mets announced they have received right-handed pitching prospect Jacob Rhame from the Dodgers as the Player to be Named in the Curtis Granderson deal early Saturday morning.

Rhame, 24, has pitched 41 games for the Dodgers Triple-A affiliate Oklahoma City in 2017, registering an 0-2 record with a 4.31 ERA.

At the time of the trade, MLB Pipeline had Rhame as the Dodgers No. 28 prospect.

Here’s the scouting they gave the righty:

Despite those dominant numbers, Rhame’s future at the big league level may be limited because he’s primarily a one-pitch guy. His fastball, clocked in the low 90s at Grayson, has jumped to 94-98 mph and occasionally tickles triple digits since the Dodgers streamlined his mechanics. His four-seamer is tough to deal with not only because of its velocity, but also because it features riding life and his short arm action creates deception.

Rhame also uses a low-90s two-seamer when he wants some sink, but he doesn’t have anything reliable beyond his fastball. While his slider has some power and can climb into the upper 80s, it lacks tilt, and his attempts at throwing a splitter have been less effective. He’s an extreme fly-ball pitcher who will need to find a way to keep Major Leaguers off his fastball.

Original report – Aug. 19, 12:30 a.m.

The Mets have a deal to send outfielder Curtis Granderson to the Los Angeles Dodgers, both teams have announced. The Mets will be sending cash along with Granderson to LA and will receive either cash or a player to be named later.

Granderson has been the subject of trade rumors for months now, although his hefty salary and his dreadful start to the season made it much harder to deal him, particularly in such a saturated market.

Granderson, 36, is in the final year of a four-year pact he signed with the Mets prior to the 2014 season. Over his 573 game Mets career, Granderson hit (coming into tonight) .239/.341/.444 with 95 home runs, 106 doubles, 12 triples, and 27 stolen bases. One of the few Mets to consistently stay healthy in recent years, he played over 150 or more games in each of the last three seasons and seemed poised to approach that number again in 2017.

After perhaps the worst month of his Mets career in April, Granderson has since been a force to be reckoned with at the plate. Since May 1, he’s batting .263/.383/.570 with 18 home runs over 303 plate appearances. Throughout his stay in New York, Granderson has made fans think he was “done” on multiple occasions, only to roar back with months-long stretches where he regains an elite power stroke.

He has become a fan favorite in New York, being consistently upbeat and open with reporters, even when he and the team were struggling. Granderson has also been active in philanthropy, earning himself the Roberto Clemente Award last October.

Granderson will join a Dodgers team that is leaving the rest of baseball in the dust. Los Angeles has an 86-34 record, 19 games in front of the second-place Colorado Rockies and 11 wins in front of the Houston Astros, who have the second-best record in baseball at 75-47.

Thoughts from Connor:

Granderson has been a model player from his first day in a Mets uniform. He has certainly had his ups and downs on the field, particularly in his first year, but always kept his head up and remained such an important leader on some pretty inexperienced Mets teams. Without him, it’s tough to say the last two postseason runs could have happened.

His work off the field has been nothing short of tremendous, too. Granderson’s personal foundation, the Grand Kids Foundation, really does some great work that I encourage you all to check out. He sets a great example that I wish more players would follow.

Granderson has a real shot at winning his first ring, and I truly hope he gets it (even if Chase Utley gets one too). Best of luck, Curtis. You will be missed.

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Jeffrey Loria has agreed to sell the Miami Marlins to a group led by businessman Bruce Sherman and headlined by Derek Jeter, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports. The final selling price will be $1.2 billion.

According to Jackson, Sherman will serve as the “managing partner” of the team while Jeter will run the club’s baseball operations. Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports Jeter will serve as Chief Executive Officer.

Drama over the sale has carried on for months, and in February there was a rumor of a “handshake agreement” on a $1.6 billion sale. Earlier this week, the Associated Press reported that a group led by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush had dropped out of the negotiations, leaving only the Jeter-Sherman group.

A total of 16 investors put money into this apparently successful bid. Jeter himself put down $25 million, according to Jackson.

Loria has been a very controversial figure in his two decades in baseball. In the late 1990s, Loria gained control of a Montreal Expos franchise that was hemorrhaging money. In 2002, Major League Baseball’s 29 other owners agreed to buy the club, which later became the Washington Nationals, for $120 million. As a part of the deal, Loria turned around and bought the Marlins for $158.5 million.

In Miami, Loria became notorious for routinely low payrolls and constant selloffs of young, talented players. A 12-player trade with the Toronto Blue Jays in which the Marlins dumped tens of millions in salary was especially controversial, drawing allegations that Loria didn’t care if the team was successful.

Loria also encountered controversy with the deal to build Marlins Park, which opened in 2012. More than 80 percent of the financing was covered by the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County. The deal even sparked an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Despite it all, Loria will emerge having flipped the franchise for a cool $1 billion profit.

Final approval the sale must be given by the league’s 29 other owners, who are expected to vote on it in the coming weeks.

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The New York Mets (49-60) were defeated by the Los Angeles Dodgers (79-32) tonight at Citi Field by a score of 8-0.

Pitching

Steven Matz took the mound for the Mets and struggled yet again in his 11th start of the year. He gave up three first inning runs and labored through the rest of the night. Justin Turner put the Dodgers further out ahead against of his old team with a two-run shot to left in the third inning that gave Los Angeles a five-run lead.

Matz, who hasn’t made it past the sixth inning since June 3, left after 5.1 frames, in which he allowed five runs on six hits and two walks. While he struck out seven, he needed 102 pitches. Matz has allowed five runs or more in four of his last six starts and now has a 5.77 ERA on the season.

Erik Goeddel and Hansel Robles combined for 1.2 scoreless, hitless innings after Matz was removed with one out in the sixth.

The Dodgers piled on against Josh Smoker, as Cody Bellinger hit his 32nd home run of the year — a two-run shot– to give LA a 7-0 advantage. Smoker now has a 7.32 ERA on the season.

In the ninth, AJ Ramos allowed a run-scoring triple from Chris Taylor to make it 8-0, which would be the final score.

Hitting

Offensively, there was absolutely nothing to speak of. Hyun-Jin Ryu was spectacular, holding the Mets scoreless over seven innings. He allowed just one hit — a Travis d’Arnaud single — while not walking a single batter and striking out eight.

Every player in the Mets starting lineup struck out at least once.Amed Rosario was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.

On Deck

The Mets have off tomorrow before starting a brief two-game series against the Texas Rangers at Citi Field. Chris Flexen (2 GS, 6 IP, 9 ER) will face off against Andrew Cashner (7-8, 3.36 ERA). The first pitch is at 7:10.

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