Morning Briefing: Yermin Mercedes Retires, Comes Back Next Day

Good morning, Mets fans!

White Sox catcher Yermin Mercedes made an interesting Instagram post on Wednesday. The 28-year-old stated that he was walking away from the game of baseball with the post starting with the words “I’m done.” In it he thanked his family and friends for their support.

However, he was back in the lineup for the White Sox Triple-A affiliate on Thursday night with another Instagram post explanation his post from the night before. In Thursday’s post, he expressed his love for the game and for his fans. He also talked about his dream to play in the major leagues and the frustration he has gone through not being able to be an established major leaguer. His retirement lasted less than 24 hours..

The Mets had a day off on Thursday but they better have enjoyed it. The team will play a stretch of 18 games in 17 days starting on Friday. They have a four-game lead in the National League East as they enter play on Friday with a record of 50-43.

The Mets will play host to the Toronto Blue Jays in an interleague series at Citi Field. The Blue Jays come into the series with a record of 48-44 and trail the Boston Red Sox by eight games in the American League East, entering Thursday. They are 4.5 games back of the second wildcard in the American League.

For the Mets, Tylor Megill (0-0 2.63) will make his sixth career start. Megill has been very competitive so far in his starts but has yet to receive a decision. He gave up six hits in six innings in his last start for as the Mets fell to the Pirates on Saturday.

He will be opposed by former Mets left-hander Steven Matz (8-4 4.36). Matz was traded to the Blue Jays from the Mets in the off-season for pitchers Sean Reid-Foley and Yennsy Diaz. The Stony Brook, New York native got off to a red-hot start in 2021, starting the season off with a 4-0 record. However, he has cooled off since then. He threw five shutout innings against the Baltimore Orioles in his last outing on Sunday.

Latest Mets News

Mets pitcher Marcus Stroman hosted the first ever HDMH Foundation baseball and softball game on Thursday. The event was well received and even had a few special visitors in Mr. & Mrs. Met.

HDMH Foundation is the official charitable foundation of Stroman. HDMH stands for Height Doesn’t Measure Heart. Stroman, who is 5-foot-8, was told repeatedly in his life that he was too short to accomplish his dream of becoming a Major League Baseball player. With hard work and determination, he was able to do just that. He hopes that he can inspire kids to fulfill their dreams no matter what obstacles they may face.

Stroman also told Newsday’s Tim Healey that he and the Mets have yet to discuss a contract for the 2022 season and beyond. Stroman signed a one-year qualifying offer with the Mets in the off-season. The deal was worth just north of $18 million.

Jim Callis from MLB Pipeline reported that the Mets have signed their 11th-round draft pick Rowdey Jordan for $125k. The Mississippi State outfielder was part of the championship winning team in 2021. He is a switch hitter, who gives the Mets above average speed on the base paths, controls the strike zone and gets on base. No word yet on what level Jordan will report to. Callis also reported that the Mets signed 14th-round draft pick Nathan Lavender with a signing bonus of $125k. The Illinois left-hander led the Big Ten Conference in strikeout to walk ratio.

Latest MLB News

The Tampa Bay Rays have acquired DH Nelson Cruz in a trade with the Minnesota Twins. ESPN’s Jeff Passan broke the news. The 40-year-old slugger has 19 homers and 50 RBI in 346 plate appearances for the Twinkies in 2021. The Twins received two pitching prospects from the Rays in the deal.

One was Joe Ryan, a 25-year-old right-hander starting pitcher from San Francisco, California. He was a seventh-round draft choice for Tampa Bay in 2018. He spent the 2021 season in Triple-A Durham where he had a 3.63 ERA. He was the Rays’ 10th best prospect according to MLB.com. The Twins also received the Rays’ No. 17 prospect, Drew Strotman. Strotman is a 24-year-old starting pitcher who was in Triple-A Durham as well. He is from Sunnyvale, California and was the Rays’ fourth-round pick in the 2017 MLB Draft.

MLB insider Jon Heyman is reporting that rival executives are telling him that while the Chicago Cubs are expected to be big time sellers at the trade deadline and move several key pieces don’t included shortstop Javier Baez or first baseman Anthony Rizzo into that conversation. The Cubs expect both Baez and Rizzo to sign contract extensions with the club, although negotiations have yet to begin.

Latest NL East News

Veteran Marlins reporter Craig Mish tweeted that sources told him that Marlins outfielder Monte Harrison was the instigator in a confrontation with teammate Starling Marte. The incident happened in their series with the Washington Nationals this past week. Mish stated that the sources told him that the club has handled the incident internally.

The Atlanta Braves took down Philadelphia Phillies 7-2 on Thursday. Charlie Morton got his 9th win of the season going six strong innings. Dansby Swanson hit a grand-slam to break the game open in the 3rd inning. The win moves -the Braves to within four games of the lead in the National League East. They improved their record to 47-48.

Latest on MMO

The Mets have a long stretch of games coming up. Nate Mendelson discusses the upcoming games and how the Mets offense has picked it up in the month of July.

FanGraphs released a new list of baseball’s top 100 prospects. Five Mets made the list; can you guess which ones? Michael Mayer has the names and more insight into those prospects.

On This Date in Mets History

On July 23, 1965, John Stephenson’s 10th-inning single off of Jack Baldschun give the Mets a 3-2 victory against the Philadelphia Phillies at Shea Stadium. The game was tied at 2-2 since the fourth inning until Stephenson’s single sent the crowd of 38,533 home happy. Jack Fisher pitched all 10 innings for the Amazins’ getting the win. He gave up two runs on five hits and struck out five.

A Wally Backman walk-off single in the bottom of the 12th put the Mets past the Cardinals 4-3 at Shea Stadium on this date in 1984. He did it off former Met Neil Allen and Mike Fitzgerald scored to give the Mets the victory. Walt Terrell started for the Mets and pitched seven strong innings but the bullpen was even better, throwing five innings of shutout ball that resulted in Ed Lynch getting his eighth win of the season. The win gave the Mets a 56-37 record and a 1.5 game lead over the Chicago Cubs in the NL East.

John Maine pitched seven strong innings to help the Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies by a score of 6-3 on this date in 2008. Maine gave up six hits on three earned runs and was aided by a Jose Reyes three-run home run in the sixth inning off of Ryan Madson. 53,444 patrons at Shea Stadium witnessed the Mets pull to a dead even tie of the Phillies atop the National League East.

Let’s go Mets!