Good morning, Mets fans!

A few legendary Mets — Edgardo Alfonzo, Ron Darling and Jon Matlack — will be enshrined in the team’s Hall of Fame this summer. The trio will be inducted on Saturday, July 31, versus the Reds.

The team originally planned to induct the former Mets last season, but then that was suspended due to COVID-19.

Alfonzo is one of the best offensive players in Mets history — a player with a utility belt’s worth of skills at various positions on the field, and a 115 wRC+ over eight seasons with the team. He won a Silver Slugger Award in 1999 and was voted an All-Star in 2000.

Fonzie most recently coached the Brooklyn Cyclones to a championship in the 2019 season. His contract wasn’t renewed by the Wilpon and van Waganen regime, though, and he left the organization under confusing circumstances.

As for Darling and Matlack, the team Hall of Fame will now feature two of the best pitchers in team history.

Matlack ranks 5th in team history in ERA (3.03) and Darling has the fourth-most wins (99) and 10th in WAR for starters (16.0). Both pitchers were members of team that reached the World Series — Matlack in 1973 and Darling in 1986. Matlack won the Rookie of the Year Award in 1972, and Darling’s 1986 season earned him a 5th place Cy Young Award finish.

Al Jackson was planned to be a part of the original induction in 2020, too, and it’s unclear why he wasn’t included in the most-recent announcement. The pitcher, who passed away at 83 in 2019, was an original Met and spent parts of five-and-a-half seasons with the team. He was one of the first black baseball players to play for the Mets, too.

Now let’s get into the morning briefing.

Latest Mets News

The Mets had a bad game last night, losing to the Orioles 10-3. You can read the recap here.

They’ll face Matt Harvey again on Wednesday, with Taijuan Walker opposing him (again).

Albert Almora Jr. started a rehab assignment with Triple-A Syracuse. It’s a positive development with regards to the Mets’ current outfield situation. He went 0-for-2 and played five innings in the field, and Luis Guillorme, who started along Almora Jr., went 0-for-3 and played seven innings at third.

Jeff McNeil will start his rehab assignment this weekend, too, and Michael Conforto is a couple weeks behind him, according to Luis Rojas.

The Mets released former 2015 second-round pick Desmond Lindsay on Tuesday. The 24-year-old never played above High-A before this year, and he was batting .155 in Double-A this season.

Read Tim Healey’s conversation with Jeremy Barnes, the Mets’ director of player development initiatives — a.k.a the head of the farm system.

Latest MLB News

Jarred Kelenic — y’all know him — was demoted to Triple A by the Mariners after an 8-for-83 start to his career. Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto said: “This isn’t a failure,” regarding having to send Kelenic down. “This is Jarred had his first opportunity, and we feel like the right thing to do for him is just to give him a chance to go find the barrel” and eventually “get back to being Jarred Kelenic.”

The Texas Rangers designated Khris Davis for assignment Tuesday. Davis was in the final year of his contract and was traded to the Rangers this offseason in a deal that sent Elvis Andrus into Oakland, where Davis thrived.

Joey Votto returned to the Reds from the injured list Tuesday.

The first bit of drama from MLB cracking down on foreign substances by pitchers came when Ken Davidoff asked Gerrit Cole if he’s used it before. His non-answer was… a little awkward.

Read Ken Rosenthal’s piece on the signings of Juan Soto, Vlad Jr. and Fernando Tatis Jr. via the international market.

Oh, and check out this Shohei Ohtani bomb.

Latest on MMO

Mojo Hill looked at the Mets’ decision to draft some kid named Jacob deGrom way back in 2010.

Joseph Langan gave Brett Baty and Carlos Cortes the Mets minor league Players of the Week. John Flanigan gave Jacob deGrom (it was a good decision to draft him) and James McCann the honors at the major-league level.

John Flanigan also wrote about a couple well-performing Mets: McCann and Billy McKinney.

Beyond the Blog

Locked On Mets: On today’s episode, host Ryan Finkelstein talks about another disappointing outing for David Peterson and wonders how long the Mets can keep the struggling starter in their rotation. Ryan discusses the internal options that could take his place in the rotation and if it would make sense to look to the trade market for another starter.

On This Date in Mets History

In theme with the header, the Mets retired Gil Hodges‘ number — 14 — on this day in 1973. It occurred a year-and-a-half after the legendary manger, who coached the Mets to their first World Series in 1969, tragically died of a heart attack before the 1972 season.

Patrick Mazeika — the newest legend in Mets lore — was drafted on this day 2015. On the same exact day? The Mets were no-hit by Chris Heston of the Giants. Heston made 10 starts before the no-hitter, and only made 20 more starts in the majors afterward. And yet, here we are.

The Mets also cut ties with Kaz Matsui on June 9, 2006, trading him to the Colorado Rockies.

Let’s go Mets!