Morning Briefing: Mets Officially Sign and Introduce Matthew Allan

It is, yet another, unpleasant morning to be a Mets fan.

Jacob deGrom took the hill Friday night against his 21-year-old counterpart in Mike Soroka. The two battled through six innings apiece giving up three and two earned runs, respectively. Ultimately, the Mets lost their sixth game in a row in a 6-2 final against the first place Braves. Some positive things to mention about this game:

Pete Alonso got his 28th homer of the season, the team showed life late in the game with bases loaded in the seventh inning, and deGrom had another quality start against a good team. A surprising takeaway from this game is that Robinson Cano (yes, Robinson Cano) had two hits on the day.

Tonight, LHP Steven Matz (5-6, 4.85) will face off against RHP Julio Teheran (5-6, 3.94). Since the Mets just played the Braves a little over a week ago, they are catching him at a low point in his season. Teheran gave up seven earned runs to the Chicago Cubs in his last outing; In his outing before that, against the Mets, he gave up six earned runs in four innings.

The team will look to do damage again tonight against the veteran right-hander and, hopefully, get a win. Matz opposed the Atlanta Braves in game three of that Braves/Mets series and did only slightly better than Teheran giving up five earned runs in five innings of work. The two starters have had a mix of success in their outings this year with a few awful and a few decent ones every now and again. The question to ask before the game isn’t who will win, but which pitcher will have a better outing.

Latest Mets News

The New York Mets have officially signed their “first round talent”- third-round pick, Matthew Allan for 2.5M. The Mets also held a brief press conference to speak with Allan after his signing.

Anthony Kay, Mets’ top pitching prospect, will be the Mets’ representative at the Futures Game in July.

Pete Alonso is officially participating in the Home Run Derby in Cleveland on July 8, according to Mike Mazzeo of Yahoo Sports. In honor of that news, Alonso hit his 28th home run in last night’s game. In addition to driving his 28th homer of the season over the left field fence, Alonso has tied the record, set by Mark McGwire in 1987, for the most home runs by a rookie before July 1!

Jeurys Familia had a rehab outing today for the Brooklyn Cyclones in which he pitched 1.1 innings while striking out two batters.

Latest MLB News

Remember Wilkin Castillo? Castillo used to play for the Cincinnati Reds back in 2009 and injured his shoulder en route to second base. He made his ‘second’ major league debut at age 35 after spending about a decade in the minor leagues. Forbes contributor and MMO writer Nick Diunte spoke to the catcher about his call up. In his first two major league appearances this year, he went 1-for-4 (6/22/19) and 0-for-3 (6/25/19).

Iowa’s Baseball Camp for the Deaf is going strong after five years providing baseball lessons for deaf and partially deaf children around the community. Tommy Birch, who covers the Iowa Cubs, wrote about his time at the camp and spoke to a few campers as well.

White Sox place Tim Anderson on the injured list due to a right ankle sprain. The team recalled Daniel Palka from Triple-A and selected the contract of Ross Detwiler from Charlotte. There was an open spot on the roster along with Anderson’s with the recent designation of Yonder Alonso for assignment. Anderson is having himself a great 2019 season; he is batting .317/.342/.491 with a .832 OPS, so far.

Brad Peacock, starting pitcher for the Houston Astros, was placed on the 10-day injured list with shoulder discomfort. The club recalled Reymin Guduan from Triple-A. Peacock, in 85 IP, has a 4.13 ERA this season. In his most recent outing, he couldn’t get out of the third inning after giving up six earned runs to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Cincinnati Reds activated Scooter Gennett from the 60-day injured list. The team placed Tucker Barnhart on the 10-day injured list with a strained right oblique. Gennett was designated for assignment in 2017 spring training by the Brewers and then picked up by the Reds. In 2017, he had a 2.4 WAR with a .295 batting average to boot. Gennett had an even better season in 2018 finishing the year with .310/.357/.490 with a .847 OPS capping his All-Star season off with a 4.2 WAR.

Minnesota Twins place Eddie Rosario on the injured list, activate Ehire Adrianza from the injured list, optioned Zack Littell to Triple-A, and promoted Lewis Thorpe. Rosario had an incredible start to the year, but has cooled down recently. His batting numbers for the season still are impressive though, .282/.312/.529 with a .841 OPS.

Cole Hamels left the game after throwing only one inning for the Cubs in Friday night’s division rival matchup. He left the game with discomfort in his side. According to Jordan Bastian MLB.com ‘s Cubs writer, Cole Hamels will go to the IL with a left oblique strain. Hamels had been on a tear in his last few outings throwing 36 innings and only giving up four earned runs.

Latest NL East News

Washington Nationals option Michael A. Taylor and activate Ryan Zimmerman from the injured list. In 85 plate appearances this year, Taylor is batting .211/.277/.276 with a mere .553 OPS. For a team trying to stay in the running for NL East division champ, those numbers won’t cut it.

Fernando Salas was designated for assignment on Friday by the Philadelphia Phillies. In addition, the team reinstated Tommy Hunter from the 60-day IL and Adam Haseley from the 10-day IL and optioned him to Triple-A. After throwing only one inning for the Phillies, Salas was designated and sits on waivers with a 9.00 ERA for 2019.

Latest on MMO

Matt Musico explains although the Mets are doing poorly, once again, deGrom is still pitching well despite his lack of wins.

Jack Ramsey went into detail on the recent signing of third-round pick, Matthew Allan’s contract.

Tim Ryder reflects on the Mets “big” offseason trade acquisitions in Edwin Diaz and Robinson Cano.

Tim Ryder also added on to The Miracle, a two-part explanation of the 1969 Miracle Mets season. You can find part one of the series, written by Marshall Field, here.

Michael Mayer interviewed recent call-up, Chris Mazza, to talk about his journey through the minors and reaction to his promotion.