Good morning, Mets fans!
19 days until opening day!
Michael Wacha took the mound for the Mets’ rare spring training night game against Lance McCullers Jr. and the Houston Astros. The former St. Louis Cardinal threw 2.2 innings gave up one run and five hits while struck out two and walked one during the outing, lowering his spring ERA to 1.17.
Brandon Nimmo started the game off with a lead-off triple and with a ground ball fielders choice for Pete Alonso the Mets were ahead 1-0. Amed Rosario led off the second inning with a triple himself, and in mirroring the first inning, Eduardo Nunez grounded into his own fielder’s choice to score Rosario extending their lead to 2-0. Unfortunately, the Mets could not hold onto their lead and lost 3-2. The Mets are now 5-8 this spring.
The Mets will take on the Washington Nationals today at 1:10 p.m. in Port St. Lucie. Steven Matz will take the bump for the first time since being sent home sick earlier this week. It is expected that Dellin Betances will make his spring debut in the game as well. The game can be seen on SNY and heard on WCBS 880 AM.
Latest Mets News
J.D. Davis faced live pitching on Friday afternoon against Jacob deGrom and knocked the only two hits deGrom gave up on the day–one of which came via the home run. These were the first live at-bats Davis had since his he jammed his shoulder nearly two weeks ago, and he feels great. Ryan Finkelstein of MMO has more on the days events and Davis’ comments.
The Mets made their first round of spring training cuts announcing those who have been reassigned and optioned to minor league camp. Some notable names on that list were Stephen Gonsalves, Jordan Humphreys, Matt Blackham, and Tim Tebow.
Latest MLB News
Finally, Yankees reporter for MLB, Bryan Hoch has announced the injury bugging their star outfielder Aaron Judge. The team’s doctors have diagnosed Judge with a stress fracture in his rib which he likely received after making a diving playback in September. He will be sidelined for two weeks and then will be reevaluated to see if surgery is necessary.
The Milwaukee Brewers have extended All-Star outfielder and 2018 NL MVP Christian Yelich to a nine-year contract through the 2028 season with a mutual option for 2029. The deal promises him $188.5M on top of what he was owed through 2021 ($12.5M in 2020, $14M in 2021).
The Chicago White Sox have officially announced that Yoan Moncada and the club have agreed to a five-year contract extension worth $70M with a club option that can extend the deal through 2025.
Jimmy Pitaro, ESPN President, announced that ESPN will be airing popular Statcast-driven presentation in addition to their regular broadcast during select Sunday Night Baseball games in 2020. The Director of Communications for ESPN Ben Cafardo, posted the news on Twitter.
The World Baseball Classic Qualifier games will be live-streamed on MLB’s Youtube channel for free according to MLB’s Communications Twitter.
The Charleston RiverDogs, a minor league affiliate of the Yankees, has canceled their ‘OJ Trial Night’ promotion, according to Ryan Chatelain of WFAN. The team received a lot of backlash because the idea was, clearly in poor taste, and the team’s president felt as though it was the “responsible thing to do”.
Arizona Diamondbacks infielder, Domingo Leyba was suspended for 80 games after testing positive for boldenone which is a banned PED.
The Los Angeles Angels have fired their visiting clubhouse manager after an investigation confirmed he had been providing opposing pitchers with “illegal ball-doctoring substances”. ESPN‘s Alden Gonzalez was first to report the unfortunate dismissal of Brian Harkins.
Lindsey Adler of The Athletic remembers Kelly Rodman, an amateur scout for the New York Yankees, after her passing earlier this week.
WCBS 880 sports director Ed Ingles has passed away at the age of 87. The legendary sportscaster had a career spanning over 60 years and had just retired as professional in residence at Hofstra University for their radio station WRHU.
Latest NL East News
ESPN showcased a few games across the NL East this week featuring some Mets players and some Atlanta Braves mic’d up during their games this week. MLB compiled a video of the highlights from the week’s discussions and it is…something else.
Latest on MMO
Sal Manzo shared a personal story in his latest article titled “Why I’m Grateful For Baseball”, a truly beautiful story about his experience growing up loving the sport.
On This Date in Mets History
Happy Birthday to Cookie Rojas (81)!
2001: The Mets signed Tony Tarasco.
2003: The Mets signed Orber Moreno.
