Good morning Mets fans! Former Mets radio play-by-play announcer Josh Lewin will be a part of the Boston Red Sox’s radio play-by-play rotation, in addition to his new job as the San Diego Padres’ radio pregame and postgame host. Lewin confirmed the recent news about both jobs in a letter to Mets fans. Lewin will also continue to call basketball and football games for UCLA.
Latest Mets News
Jacob deGrom was in the headlines for a few reasons on Thursday.
DeGrom indicated to the media that he has a desire to stay in New York, but that contract extension talks have been stagnant so far. Both he and the Mets have set Opening Day as the deadline for an extension.
Also Mickey Callaway confirmed the expected by stating that deGrom will be the Opening Day starter.
Finally in regards to deGrom, his National League Cy Young Award plaque was slightly damaged as it was shipped from New York to Florida according to Jeff Passan of ESPN. The Mets are returning the award to the manufacturer for a repair.
Infield Chatter caught up with Keon Broxton who returned to his hometown to reminisce about his childhood.
Bruce Markusen of Fangraphs interviewed Wayne Coffey, the author of They Said It Couldn’t Done: the ’69 Mets, New York City, and the Most Astounding Season in Baseball History.
Ron Darling spoke about Michael Conforto on MLB Network after he was ranked 60th on the network’s “Top 100 Right Now” list by saying, “Opposite field power, as good as any left-hander in the game. I’ll make that argument.”
Former Mets hitting coach Pat Roessler is returning to the New York Yankees as a consultant in player development per Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News.
Latest MLB News
Los Angeles Angels manager Brad Ausmus said that Matt Harvey strained a glute muscle during agility drills and will be sidelined for about 10 days per Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times.
Johnny Cueto will start throwing next week according to Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic.
Craig Calcaterra of NBC Sports wrote that the Toronto Blue Jays plan to manipulate Vladimir Guerrero Jr.‘s service time as inferred from general manager Ross Atkin’s comments in which he would not commit a time of arrival for Guerrero Jr. in Toronto.
The Blue Jays signed southpaw Ryan Feierabend to a minor league deal according to Keegan Matheson of Baseball Toronto. The 33-year-old has not pitched in the Majors since 2014, but has since reinvented himself as a consistent knuckleballer and pitched the last four seasons in Korea.
Latest NL East News
Philadelphia Phillies general manager Matt Klentak mentioned that he is happy with how the team’s offseason has went and is willing to wait on Manny Machado and Bryce Harper and play out the situation.
Don Mattingly announced that Jose Urena will be the Miami Marlins’ Opening Day starter.
Mark Zuckerman of MASN wrote about the Washington Nationals’ spring training plans for Howie Kendrick and Ryan Zimmerman.
Latest on MMO/MMN
Matt Mancuso covered the news about the Mets farm system being ranked 19th by Baseball America.
John Sheridan continued MMN’s top-50 Mets prospects list with No. 8, Thomas Szapucki.
Sheridan also wrote about the Mets’ contentious talks with St. Lucie county in their renovation project of First Data Field.
Tim Ryder wrote a piece about Edwin Diaz who recently told Matt Ehalt of The Record that he is happy to be in New York with the Mets.
Mr._O wrote a Fan Shot in which he argued that the Mets should trade for Zack Greinke. If you are interested in writing a Fan Shot, find out more information here.
This Day in Mets History
1961: Mets chairman and minority owner, M. Donald Grant, offered Branch Rickey a contract to become the Mets general manager. Rickey turned down the offer and George Weiss was offered and accepted the position instead.
2001: After Bobby Jones turned down the Mets’ offer of salary arbitration which would have been worth at least $2-$3 million, he signed with the San Diego Padres for $625,000. Jones went on to pitch to the tune of a 5.12 ERA and put up an 8-19 record for San Diego in the 2001 season.
Birthdays: Barry Jones turns 56 and Chuck Estrada turns 81.
