Morning Briefing: Neil Walker Announces Retirement

Screenshot from MLB.com

Good morning, Mets fans!

The team released a statement on Tuesday about the conviction of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd.

“After 10 hours of deliberation,” the statement began, “the jury has found Derek Chauvin guilty.” It continues:

This is bigger than baseball. Let us honor the memory of George Floyd by continuing to work reconciliation and healing by ensuring there is justice for all.

The team also released the statement in Spanish.

Luego de 10 horas de deliberación, el jurado ha declarado culpable a Derek Chauvin. Esto es más grande que el béisbol. Honraremos la memoria de George Floyd continuando con el trabajo hacia la reconciliación y sanación, asegurando que hay justicia para todos.

— Mets de Nueva York (@LosMets) April 21, 2021

Also on Tuesday afternoon, former Met Neil Walker announced his retirement on Twitter. Walker hit .275/.344/.462 in 186 games as a Met.

Now let’s get into the rest of the morning briefing.

Latest Mets News

The Mets lost 3-1 to the Cubs Tuesday night as their offense continued a cold stretch. You can read the recap here. The team is 7-5 still and in first place by a game and a half over the Phillies.

The Mets adjusted their rotation to have Joey Lucchesi pitch Thursday and Jacob deGrom on Friday to give deGrom a requested extra day of rest.

Tim Britton of The Athletic posted an interview he had with James McCann he had over the phone during spring training. They talked about forming relationships with a new pitching staff, what he’s working on as a catcher and more.

Former Met reliever Eric Hillman turns 55 on Sunday. To celebrate, he’s walking 55 miles to help raise money for No Kid Hungry to provide meals for kids in the New York area. He has a goal of $20,000, and he’s already more than 75 percent of the way to the goal as of Tuesday night. You can donate to Hillman’s fundraiser here.

Walker spent one-and-a-half season with the Mets in 2016 and 2017. He totaled a .275/.344/.806 slash line and 116 OPS+ over 186 games. He played 12 years overall–the first seven with the Pittsburgh Pirates–and notched a career .764 OPS. He most recently played in the majors in 2020 with the Phillies before being designated for assignment halfway through the year.

Walker also tried to be the calming voice of reason after Noah Syndergaard threw behind Chase Utley before Terry Collins got involved.

He’s the second Met from the 2016 roster to retire in the last three days after Jay Bruce did so on Sunday.

If you were wondering why Jerry Seinfeld didn’t buy the Mets, it’s cus he didn’t have enough money, as a Newsday article recapped the most famous Mets fan’s appearance on Steve Somers’ WFAN show points out.

The Mets social media team made sure a Denver Post columnist made sure the facts were straight after posting a clickbait article.

That was our dugout.

— New York Mets (@Mets) April 20, 2021

Latest MLB News

ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported Major League Baseball and the Players Association had preliminary discussions about their next collective bargaining agreement. The current one expires after the World Series later this year.

Former Met Matt Harvey earned his first win in nearly two years Tuesday night when the Orioles beat the Marlins 7-5.

Matt Harvey on his first win in almost two years: “To be honest, I didn’t know if it was ever going to happen again.” #Orioles

— Joe Trezza (@JoeTrezz) April 21, 2021

Mookie Betts was hit on the forearm with a pitch Monday, but the X-rays were negative, according to MLB.com‘s Sarah Wexler, and the Dodgers star should be considered day-to-day.

Per Jeff Schultz, there are no contract extension talks currently between Atlanta and Freddie Freeman, who is in the final year of his deal.

Zachary Silver wrote a touching story about how Cardinals reliever Jordan Hicks‘ diabetes diagnosis gave him new plans to be an influence on younger diabetic athletes, especially one child from San Diego.

Yasiel Puig is joining the Mexican League, signing a contract with El Águila de Veracruz, according to ESPN‘s Enrique Rojas.

Latest on MMO

MMO writers debated in a roundtable if their inconsistent schedule to start the year will come back and haunt them at any point.

Brian Devine dubs Brandon Nimmo and Jacob deGrom the Mets’ Players of the Week (again).

The Mets went 5-1 last week, and Anthony Parelli analyzes the strengths and weaknesses over the six games.

John Flanigan looked back on Tom Seaver‘s first win as a Met, which happened April 20, 1967.

Flanigan also checks out what’s going right for Michael Conforto at the plate over the last series.

Rich Sparago previewed the Mets’ series with the Chicago Cubs.

Beyond the Blog

Empire State of Mind: On today’s episode the Empire State of Mind Podcast, host Zachary Grady sits down with The Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders to recap the three game set in Colorado.

Along with the series breakdown, they talk possible trades, Marcus Stroman’s upcoming free agency, and the 2021 All Star Game. All that and of course our weekly Twitter poll on this week’s episode of The Empire State of Mind Podcast brought to you by MetsMerized Online and USA Today Sports.

Locked On Mets: On today’s episode, host Ryan Finkelstein talks about the J.D. Davis experience, which was on full display last night. Davis represented the New York Mets only run, with a solo homer, but made some bad plays at third base.

Should the Mets continue to ignore the defensive issues with Davis to keep his bat in the lineup?

Could the Mets look to Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant as an answer to solve those issues, or just stay in-house?

Also, Francisco Lindor has gotten off to a slow start to the 2021 season, but listen for why there should be no buyer’s remorse when it comes to the superstar shortstop.