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This was a no-hitter regardless of how you viewed it or how many pitchers it took. The Mets waited more than 50 years for their first: Johan Santana providing the entirety of the 134 tosses on a Friday night at Citi Field. They waited nearly 10 years for the next one: also on a Friday night, also at Citi Field, but using five pitchers to deliver the 159 needed against the Philadelphia Phillies.

A quintet of Tylor Megill, Drew Smith, Joely Rodríguez, Seth Lugo, and Edwin Díaz joined Santana – unconventional, but nonetheless a unique moment in club history.

It was the first no-hitter in the majors that year, the 17th-ever combined no-no, and the only one with five pitchers used. A reason for the high pitch count, the most needed for a no-hitter since the total was widely tracked back in 1988, was thanks to six walks. But it was a slight blemish on an otherwise immaculate evening that ended in a 3-0 victory.

Megill began by holding down an imposing Phillies offense over five innings, mainly with fastballs. After 88 pitches, five strikeouts, and three walks, he was replaced to begin the bullpen relay.

Smith did not allow a baserunner in the 1.1 innings he was on the mound and fanned four. Rodríguez gave out a free pass to the first batter he faced when he came on in the seventh, but a double play ball from Alec Bohm eliminated any further threat.

Lugo finished off the eighth and left a runner stranded when he induced a pair of popups.

Díaz entered in a save situation, except a little bit extra was at stake. He wasted little time sustaining the drama. Bryce Harper, Nick Castellanos, and J.T. Realmuto each went down on strikeouts in a performance that would be reminiscent of the closer’s dominance throughout the season.

The Mets’ offense initially had difficulty in building a lead for their pitchers. After being stifled by Aaron Nola, who retired 10 straight at one point, they got to the Phillies ace in the fifth. Eduardo Escobar singled, Mark Canha doubled on a liner over the third base bag, and Jeff McNeil drove both home with a two-run single to left center, breaking the scoreless deadlock.

The lead increased in the sixth thanks to a Pete Alonso home run for the game’s final margin.

Although their respective fortunes differed in the postseason, the Mets dominated the Phillies during the 2022 regular season — winning 14 of 19 with more special occasions and remarkable finishes. Just six days later, New York orchestrated a ninth-inning rally from 7-1 down at Citizens Bank Park. Later in May, Nick Plummer tied it in the ninth with his first career hit and home run (won later by an Escobar single). Then in August, Canha’s dramatic ninth-inning blast capped a two-homer day and a wild 10-9 road win.

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St. Lucie Mets. Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

Down on The Farm, a newsletter focused on minor-league coverage, just released their Minor-League Ballpark Park Factors from the 2022 season.

Park Factors have helped analysts and fans comprehend the value of specific batted-ball events, relative to the venue, for the last 20 years. Understanding the specific park factors behind each stadium can help determine whether a ballpark is either one that favors hitters or pitchers. They can allow one to strip the quality of each player and determine if a stadium is naturally inflating or deflating a player’s final line.

Each stadium’s Park Factor is measured by a value close to one. If that value is over one, that stadium is favored towards pitchers, while conversely, if it is under one, the stadium is more ideal towards hitters. These measurements are calculated by aggregating the value and recurrence of each group of hits (single, double, triple, home run).

MLB’s Park Factors, which can be found here, are the backbone of sabermetrics such as wOBA, wOBACON, and wRC+. By aggregating each park’s factors, each stadium can be categorized as a pitcher haven or a hitter’s paradise.

For example, MLB’s park factors devalued triples during Citi Field’s early years, given the park’s spacious outfield and the multitude of three-baggers smacked. Unique atmospheric characteristics of a stadium, such as the wind of Brooklyn’s Maimonides Park and the altitude of Colorado’s Coors Field, can also play a role in calculating park factors as it can give each batted ball event (BBE) an innate physical advantage. Park Factors can also show a stadium bias’ towards a certain type of hitters, such as the short right field in Yankee Stadium leading to more home runs from left-handed batters.

In the context of Mets’ Minor-League stadiums, the former Las Vegas 51s’ venue of Cashman Park sat at 1,995 feet above sea level, naturally inflating the offensive hitters’ performance. Despite the 51’s hitters’ impressive on-paper offensive performances, the air in the high elevation allowed their BBEs to have more innate carry.

According to Down on the Farm, Maimonides Park (home of the Brooklyn Cyclones) was rated as the toughest park to score runs in 2022, with a park factor of .79. Despite four of the Mets’ top prospects spending significant time with the Cyclones, Brooklyn finished as the second-worst team in the South Atlanta League in runs, hits, and home runs. A trio of Brooklyn’s most notable pitchers, Junior Santos, Daison Acosta, and Dominic Hamel, combined for a 3.64 ERA at home, compared to a 5.46 mark on the road. It should be noted that those results should be taken with a grain of salt as there are many confounding variables, but it is still noteworthy.

In terms of total Park Factor, the St. Lucie Mets’ Clover Park ended up 44th, the Binghamton Rumble Ponies’ park of Mirabito Stadium 66th, and the Syracuse Mets’ NBT Bank Stadium 76th. Clover Park and Mirabito Stadium were each rated as pitcher’s parks while NBT Bank Stadium was narrowly classified as a hitter’s park. Maimonides Park was assessed as the 10th most difficult stadium to hit a home run at. Mirabito Stadium finished as the 15th-hardest park to land a single, but the 12th easiest stadium to smack a double.

Overall, looking at a player’s final line can be a good guide to evaluate their performance, but including park factors in your analysis can help paint a clearer picture of their performance. Now, when evaluating Mets’ prospects, based off where they have been played, now you have more information.

The post A 2022 Park Factors Analysis Of The Mets’ MiLB Stadiums appeared first on Metsmerized.

For anyone questioning if Steve and Alex Cohen’s spending to make the New York Mets a winner is sustainable, the preliminary results would suggest that yes, the business model may work over the long term.

According to Sportrac, the Mets had the second highest payroll in Major League Baseball last year. Only the Los Angeles Dodgers, who spent $270,381,426, outspent the Mets, whose payroll came in at $268.292,506. The fans responded positively to the competitive team on the field, that netted 101 regular season wins, despite an unfortunately early exit from the postseason.

In an article by Mike Ozanaln published in Forbes, the Mets had a net income of $127 million in their Citi Field operations last year, off of a ballpark revenue of $244 million. This net income is the highest such figure since the park opened in 2009. Ozanlan provides further details on how the ballpark finances turned out least season, including the following (note: these data come from financial statements from Queens Ballpark Co. LLC, the subsidiary that operates Citi Field and is required to make payments on the PILOT bonds used to finance its construction).

• Average attendance per game was close to 33,000
• Ticket sales generated $133 million
• Concessions brought in $22 million
• Parking totaled $12 million

On the expense side:

• Ballpark operations and maintenance cost $51 million
• Payment in lieu of taxes was $43 million
• Parking (payment on the lots in Queens) cost the team $5 million

The 33,000 average attendance is up 60% from 2021, which was anomalous season, as attendance restrictions were in place until late June. It is important to note that ballpark operations are only a part of team’s financial picture. There are other revenue streams, such as local television and radio broadcast fees, as well as each team’s share of national broadcast contracts. Expenses such as travel, costs to maintain minor league operations, and player and coach salaries are all not considered in the above.

The Mets, at this point, are projected to have the highest payroll in MLB in 2023, with their payroll currently standing at just over $336 million. The Yankees are a distant second at $287 million, with the Phillies third at $231 million, while the Padres are projected to have the fourth highest payroll at $223 million. All of these data are from Sportrac.

The old adage suggests that one has to spend money to make money. MLB teams do not share their financial statements, so it’s not possible to determine if overall the Mets made or lost money last season. Estimates (from dodgerblue.com) are that each team receives over $60 million from national broadcast contracts, and that local deals bring an average of $40 million to each team (the Mets would be higher than that because of the New York market).

It’s safe to say that the positive cash flow at Citi Field will continue, and likely grow, as the Mets consistently put a quality product on the field. Whether the team is in the black or the red, while unknown to fans, does not seem to matter to the Cohens, who are committed to bringing sustainable winning to Flushing for years to come.

The Cohen way of doing business is in year three now. Already the Mets have brought in superstars  Francisco Lindor, Max Scherzer, and Justin Verlander, and retained (at significant expense) players such as Brandon Nimmo and Edwin Díaz.

The Cohens will spend, this is something we have seen since day one of their ownership. What we are seeing, not surprisingly, is that the fans will spend in kind, moving the turnstiles at Citi Field in growing numbers. It’s a wonderful circle of baseball life.

The post Mets Had Positive Cash Flow At Citi Field In 2022 appeared first on Metsmerized.

Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

As good as Francisco Lindor was for the New York Mets in 2022, he was also playing hurt. Like really hurt.

In an interview with Mike Puma of The New York Post on Friday, Lindor revealed that he suffered with lower abdominal discomfort since August 2021. After the pain really flared up in the wake of the NL wild-card series to the San Diego Padres last year, the star shortstop underwent surgery.

“I could barely move,” Lindor told The Post. “We checked (the appendix) and there was nothing, apparently. I just figured that it was something that was going to come on and off, and never say anything.”

However, after playing through the pain barrier for almost the entire season, Lindor eventually had to go under the knife after his wife, Katia, persuaded him to go to the emergency room.

Lindor underwent an appendectomy and the laparoscopic procedure, which featured just three small incisions, meant Lindor was released from the hospital just 12 hours later. His recovery was short and sweet and, if the Mets had gotten past the Padres to play in the NLDS, Lindor admitted he would have gritted his teeth and continued to play through the pain.

“I probably would have held it,” Lindor told The Post. “I probably would have kept it on the down-low and just continued to play.”

It is pretty significant that Lindor was hindered by a painful ailment yet was able to still produce the way he did in 2022. It is also remarkable that, after returning from the IL, Lindor was still able to put up solid numbers despite the pain still very much existing. He hit .286/.372/.420/.792 with four homers, 15 RBI and four stolen bases in August, before slashing .281/.311/.477/.788 with five home runs and 22 RBI in September / October combined.

Lindor did struggle in the wild-card series – hitting just .200/.333/.500 – but we now know there was a very good reason behind those struggles. The 29-year-old was effectively playing with appendix pain all year and it reached a boiling point just as the postseason was beginning.

The good news for the Mets is that the ‘fart bubble’ – as Lindor coined the discomfort – is now dealt with and their star shortstop will be entering 2023 with no discomfort or pain that could hinder him. Given that Lindor put together his best year in a Mets uniform in 2022 while dealing with appendix pain, it is feasible to suggest that even bigger things could be on the horizon this season now that the issue has been dealt with.

The post Lindor Played With Appendix Pain Throughout 2022 appeared first on Metsmerized.

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Every single action has a consequence and the New York Mets’ lack of action at the 2022 trade deadline ultimately cost them.

They can’t afford to repeat that mistake in 2023.

And, yes, spring training isn’t even here yet so talking about the trade deadline may seem a bit premature. But you can never be too prepared.

You shouldn’t but, in case you do need reminding, the Mets had two very real glaring needs they could have addressed at the trade deadline last year. Despite going on to win 101 games in the regular season, the lineup lacked a power bat and the bullpen was in need of a high-leverage lefty arm.

Faced with those facts and armed with a boatload of prospects, general manager Billy Eppler had a real opportunity to reload at the deadline and bolster his roster for both the stretch run and indeed the postseason. Instead, he and the Mets largely stood pat apart from a couple of minor additions.

As a result, the Mets faltered down the stretch and surrounded the NL East division to the Atlanta Braves. Even worse, the lack of a game-changing bat in the lineup and an average bullpen came back to haunt New York in the NL Wild Card series against the San Diego Padres. While other teams loaded up and went for it, the Mets perhaps believed in their own hype a little too much and ended up paying the ultimate price.

Entering 2023 as a legit contender thanks to the billions of owner Steve Cohen, it is fair to state that the front office can’t afford to not be aggressive. Especially at the trade deadline. After all, this team still has flaws and there’s still one or two holes on the roster that need filling.

While the team did sign a depth outfielder after giving a one-year, $6 million contract to veteran Tommy Pham, the lineup still lacks a game-changing bat that can make the difference in clutch spots. The Mets did think they had that after coming to an agreement with superstar shortstop Carlos Correa but, after that deal ultimately fell through, the search for a big bat goes on.

There’s also still a need for the bullpen to be further bolstered. While the Mets have interest in former Yankees reliever Zach Britton and have engaged in talks with Andrew Chafin, Andy Martino of SNY reports that the front office would prefer a bullpen option with options remaining. As our very own Rivka Boord opined here, that would be a mistake.

We saw in 2022 what the absence of an elite arm, particularly a lefty one, behind Edwin Diaz and Adam Ottavino meant, and that can’t be the case again in 2023. After all, you can’t expect to be competitive in October without a quality bullpen. And, as is the case in modern baseball, you also can’t expect to win without power or the long ball.

Of course, there’s still time for the front office to fill some of those holes before spring training. But they must also be ready to be aggressive at the trade deadline should this roster need some reinforcements ready for the postseason. And there will be areas in which this team will need to improve.

For one; the still worrying lack of power is one flaw that likely won’t be addressed before the trade deadline. Things change quickly in baseball and there will be a handful of big bats available at the deadline for contending teams. Rather than make subtle additions, the Mets will need to be prepared to pull the trigger on a move-the-needle type move that could put them over the top in the search for a championship. If they don’t, you can be sure that their fellow contenders will, as was the case in 2022.

Just look at the Braves in 2021 as the perfect blueprint. Struggling to make much of a mark in the regular season, they went out and acquired Jorge Soler, Eddie Rosario and Adam Duvall at the trade deadline. All three played a key role in the Braves winning the World Series, while Soler was crowned the World Series MVP.

Being bold at the trade deadline and adding a spark to the clubhouse has been proven time and time again to work.

You can make the argument that the Mets’ front office and ownership will stick to their philosophy of hanging on to their top prospects. There’s also the sense that the franchise is waiting until next offseason to make a major splash when superstar unicorn Shohei Ohtani will be a free agent. Reports have also stated that the Mets could be in on Padres third baseman Manny Machado too.

However, Cohen has deep pockets and his pursuit of a star for the 2024 season shouldn’t prevent the Mets from being aggressive buyers at the 2023 trade deadline. You can’t be a legit contender and not take risks and push all your chips into the middle of the table when the situation calls for it. Standing pat in 2022 proved to be fatal for the Mets. They must now learn from their past mistakes and adopt a more aggressive approach at the 2023 trade deadline.

The post Mets Need To Be More Aggressive At Trade Deadline appeared first on Metsmerized.

Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

When a team wins 101 games, the assumption is that many things went right.

However, when that same team is eliminated in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs with barely a whimper, it’s fair to look back and ask what went wrong.

The 2022 Mets were one of the most puzzling enigmas of the last number of seasons. There have been other good teams eliminated in the first round; as recently as three seasons ago, it was possible for a 106-win team to face a win-or-go-home elimination game. Indeed, the Atlanta Braves were eliminated after their first playoff series, as were the 111-win Los Angeles Dodgers.

However, just the way the Mets stumbled to 101 victories in the regular season foretold their possible demise. Unlike Atlanta and L.A., whose losses can be pinned more on the flukiness of the playoffs and bad matchups, the Mets headed into the postseason in a free-fall.

Lest we pin this entirely on momentum, it seemed for much of the season that the Mets’ biggest problem was their offense. Though many of their statistics were strong, the Amazins’ seemed incapable of getting the big hit at the right time. Although their starting pitching failed them near the very end of the season, even then it was their offense that assured defeat. Throughout the year, even when the bullpen blew games, it was the lack of scoring that ultimately doomed them.

So many Mets fans will point to the team’s record and seeming statistical strength as proof that running back virtually the same lineup will produce similar winning results. It’s easy to believe that, as the team seemingly still has a strong rotation and a significantly improved bullpen (that may still be further upgraded). However, there are a number of underlying metrics that paint a less sanguine picture of the Mets’ offense heading into 2023.

It Starts With Power

Since the analytical approach broke out of the realm of the Moneyball Oakland A’s and found its way around baseball, there has been a major emphasis on hitting the long ball. Hitters are taught to take uppercut swings and emphasize launch angle and exit velocity over avoiding strikeouts.

The 2022 Mets seemed to take the opposite approach, valuing contact over power. They struck out the third-fewest times of any team in baseball. It’s hard to say that this strategy didn’t work; after all, the Mets were fifth in the Majors in runs scored, fourth in hits, second in batting average and OBP, eighth in slugging percentage, sixth in OPS, fourth in OPS+, third in wRC+, and tied for fifth in wOBA. Running it back with the improvement of Omar Narváez over James McCann, however slight the difference is, should produce a similar result. Right?

Perhaps that’s true. Maybe the 2023 Mets will continue to score well on the way to another 100-win season. However, there were a few batting stats in which last year’s unit was not so strong, and most of them were power-related. The Mets were tied for 15th in home runs, 18th in barrel rate, 21st in hard-hit rate, tied for 15th in isolated power (ISO), and 18th in exit velocity and launch angle.

On the surface, if the Mets didn’t have a problem scoring runs, this does not seem to be an issue. However, one of the primary reasons that there is an emphasis on power is that once a ball is put in play without leaving the yard, it is largely left to factors outside the batter’s control. This is particularly true if the ball is hit on the ground, no matter how hard it is hit.

Spencer Strider and Zack Wheeler both showed their sour grapes by making comments about the Mets’ batting average on balls in play (BABIP). The Mets were tied for the sixth-highest BABIP in baseball despite below-average hard-hit and barrel rates. This would indicate that they were getting a certain amount of luck in where the balls went, particularly since their fly-ball rate was 22nd in baseball while their groundball rate was 13th. Because the Mets’ medium-hit rate was sixth in the Majors while their hard-hit rate was far lower, it seems that there was an element of good fortune in the Mets’ overall hitting success.

Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

Handedness Splits

The Mets ranked third in baseball with a .756 OPS against righties, trailing only the Dodgers and Blue Jays. However, that number plummeted to .716 against lefties, which ranked 14th. Although .716 is not terrible, the 40-point drop-off represented a sharp difficulty for the Mets when coupled with their overall inability to hit home runs consistently. Darin Ruf, the main player brought in to alleviate that difficulty in the second half of the season, hit .197 with a .413 OPS in 66 at-bats with the team, eventually finding himself on the IL to figure it out. Mark Vientos, who took his place, hit .167 with 12 strikeouts in 36 at-bats.

Overall, the Mets’ 32-23 record against left-handed starters ranked 10th in baseball, while their 69-38 record against righties ranked second. While a tenth-place record is not bad, it is still something to be wary of in a playoff series against a team with strong left-handed starters (although the Mets did beat lefty Blake Snell in their lone playoff victory of 2022).

Extra Bases Not Taken

When a team is focused on contact and lives base-to-base, they’d better maximize their chances by taking the extra base. Unfortunately, that was not the case for the 2022 Mets, whether due to a lack of general foot speed, poor baserunning, poor coaching, or a combination thereof.

Per FanGraphs, the Mets tied for 22nd in baseball with a 38% extra base taken rate. In overall baserunning (BsR), they ranked 26th with 10.7 runs below average. This did not help matters when trying to score runs.

Plate Discipline and Coverage

Per Statcast, the Mets ranked 17th in chase rate in 2022 at 29.5%. However, their contact rate on those pitches ranked second at 61%. Generally, these numbers are not predictive, meaning that there is a lot of fluctuation from season to season. If a team is making a lot of contact on chased pitches, there is no way to ensure that this rate will continue.

Furthermore, Statcast tracks the rate of meatballs faced by an offense, meaning pitches that are right down the middle of the plate. The Mets were tied for 21st in meatball rate at 7.1%. What does not bode so well for their offense, though, is that they swung at meatballs 76.2% of the time, tied for 20th.

Limiting the Shift

We can do a more thorough player-by-player breakdown of how the shift limitations will affect the Mets in 2023. However, as a team, the Mets were tied for sixth with a 25.7% opposite-field rate in 2022. The shift is weighted heavily against pull hitters, and the Mets ranked 25th in pull rate at 36%. Limitations on the shift are not likely to cause a sudden upswing in hitting for the Mets.

Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

The Loss of Correa

How would Carlos Correa have helped? Well, for one thing, he is just another hitter with pop. Although his home run total of 22 last year is not slugger-level, exactly, it would have been the third-highest on the Mets in 2022. He barreled the ball on 11.4% of his batted balls, well above the Mets’ team average of 7.1% and in the 81st percentile among hitters. His 44.7% hard-hit rate was in the 74th percentile.

However, there are a few other curious stats that actually might have made Correa a less-than-ideal fit for the Mets’ lineup. For one thing, Correa’s average launch angle was 11.6, below the MLB average of 12.1 and below the Mets’ team average of 11.9. His career 45.7% groundball rate is slightly worse than the average of 44.9%.

This is not to say that Correa would not have helped the Mets. They would sign up for an .833 OPS, 22 homers, and a lot of hard contact any day of the week if the contract number was right. However, Correa is not the true slugger that the Mets’ lineup seemingly lacks the most.

What Might Change in 2023?

If the Mets won 101 games in 2022 and ranked so highly in many offensive categories, why should that change in 2023?

Injuries: Brandon Nimmo, Starling Marte

Well, for one thing, several Mets players have age and injury concerns. Brandon Nimmo had 673 plate appearances, only the second time in his career that he topped 500. Although Nimmo is 29-years-old and should likely still have a few years off .800+ OPS left in the tank, his injury history is a concern offensively. Starling Marte is more of a regression risk heading into his age-34 season, and his injuries last season may have done the Mets in down the stretch. He has played in 120 and 118 games over the last two seasons, respectively, and it is fair to assume that he can end up somewhere in that range again.

Regression: Mark Canha, Francisco Lindor

With Mark Canha, the risk is not so much injuries as pure regression. He is also heading into his age-34 season and has seen his launch angle, barrel rate, xSLG, and xwOBA decline steadily over the last few years, suggesting that a downward shift is coming.

Furthermore, Francisco Lindor had his best season in three years, which always makes projection systems wary of a regression. The question is simply whether you believe that the 2022 Lindor was a return to his former self or an outlier in what was otherwise a slow downward trend.

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Likely Consistent: Jeff McNeil, Pete Alonso

Of all the Mets’ players, the projection systems believe the least in Jeff McNeil’s 2022 season, likely due to his monumental rise in fWAR and his subpar 2021 season. It’s likely that McNeil will not be able replicate his outstanding 2022 marks, but considering that those numbers were not all that far off from his 2018-20 marks, betting on him is probably safe.

Pete Alonso is the Mets’ iron man: you know he’ll be good for at least 150 games a year, he’s going to give you close to 40 homers, and he’ll have a wRC+ at or above 130.

Wild Cards: 3B, DH, Catcher

The biggest wild cards for the Mets are the third base, DH, and catcher positions. With Correa no longer in the mix, it’s unknown whether the Mets will roll with Eduardo Escobar as the starting third baseman or platoon him with either Luis Guillorme or Brett Baty. Escobar himself is heading into his age-34 season after coming off a mostly-disappointing campaign that was offset by a ‘Month of Escobar’ September performance.

Although the Mets were expecting more from Escobar, his final numbers were not so wildly different than his previous season’s totals. It is more likely than not that if he is the Mets’ starting 3B, he will hit around 15-20 homers, bat .230 or so, strike out around 20% of the time, and put up an OPS of around .720-.730. That production may not be enough for the Mets to sustain offensive success.

The Mets love Guillorme’s glove and were pleasantly surprised by his offensive success early in 2022. However, after posting a .738 OPS in 224 at-bats prior to the All-Star break, Guillorme declined to a .598 OPS in 111 at-bats afterward. Guillorme does have a career .729 OPS vs. righties, which is respectable enough, but not when you consider that his SLG is just .359. That is just not good enough to be starting on most days.

The most intriguing option for the Mets is a platoon between Escobar and Baty. Baty is still the Mets’ No. 2 prospect and showcased hard contact skills in a short 11-game cameo prior to breaking his thumb. Although he did not light up the stat sheet, Baty’s .179 BABIP despite a 91.1 average exit velocity was seen as a sign of positive things to come. Furthermore, Baty does most of his damage against righties, and it showed up in his brief Majors stint, as both of his homers came off right-handers.

The bigger question for Baty is regarding his defense at third. He is raw with the glove, and the team’s pursuit of Correa showed that they do not necessarily see Baty as the third baseman of the future. However, Escobar himself is a below-average third baseman (he put up -3.0 Adjusted Defense last season, per FanGraphs), so the Mets may decide to bite the bullet and embrace a lefty-righty platoon. It remains to be seen if Baty can show enough as a hitter to balance out his defense and stick in the Majors.

At DH, the Mets clearly like Daniel Vogelbach for the left-handed part of the platoon. Vogelbach is the classic analytics-era hitter: he walks (15.8%) and strikes out (24.7%) a lot while maintaining a high OPS (.793). However, it’s important to realize that 2022 was Vogelbach’s best season with the bat, as his 128 wRC+ was 26 points higher than the prior season and the highest of his career by 16 points. Furthermore, he had played over 100 games only once prior (2019), which was, not coincidentally, his best year before 2022. The question is if he can at least maintain his offensive level last season, if not exceed it. There is a lot more pressure to do so as the presumed number five or six hitter in the lineup behind Lindor and Alonso.

On the left-handed side of the platoon, there are many rumors that the Mets are looking for an upgrade over Ruf. They acquired him from San Francisco for a large, if underwhelming prospect haul because of his career splits against lefties. Prior to joining the Mets, Ruf had put up an .887 OPS against lefties last year and had a .915 career OPS against them. However, he finished the season with a .753 OPS against lefties after a .152/.216/.197 statline down the stretch in New York.

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Vientos is one option to replace Ruf, but it doesn’t seem overly likely that the Mets will go with him. For one thing, the team values Ruf’s defensive versatility, which Vientos does not provide. Additionally, the Vientos audition in 2022 did not go particularly well, as he hit .167/.268/.278/.546 in 41 plate appearances last September.

There are a number of Mets fans clamoring for Francisco Alvarez to take the right-handed platoon slot in 2023. However, that is highly unlikely to happen for several reasons. The Mets want to groom Alvarez as the catcher of the future, and that will not happen if he is in the Majors as a DH. Additionally, coming off ankle surgery, Alvarez is more likely to get the time he needs to readjust in Triple-A. Bringing him up at the end of the season was mostly a desperation move by the Mets and not one they are likely to repeat to begin 2023.

Given the above and notwithstanding Alvarez’s recent comments, the Mets will most likely begin 2023 with Narváez and Tomas Nido as their catchers. Whether this is a starter/backup situation or a platoon is unclear and will likely depend on Narváez’s early performance. Nido is better as a backup catcher, as his hitting (.600 OPS in 2022) is just not consistent enough to deserve more meaningful at-bats.

However, Narváez is coming off a down year, as he hit .206/.292/.305/.597 in 224 at-bats in 2022. That line is not all that different from Nido’s stats. The Mets are hoping that Narváez can hit more along the lines of his .258/.343/.386/.728 career stat line, which would make him their clear starter at catcher. It’s always risky to expect meaningful contributions from a player coming off a down year, though.

Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Bottom Line

Hitting is only one part of the equation for a baseball team. The 2022 Mets certainly hit enough to win 101 games and get into the dance. The falling apart of their starting pitching at the end of the season and their season-long struggles in getting the ball to Edwin Diaz could be pointed at as the primary culprits for the Mets’ early playoff demise.

Additionally, when a team wins 101 games and gets into the postseason dance, it’s likely they did many things right that could translate to a ring. Short series are fickle, and upsets are common. (Who would have predicted that the scuffling Phillies would be the NL representatives in the World Series?) If the Mets hit as they did in 2022, they will likely still be a very good offense.

That being said, for the reasons listed above—highlighted predominantly by the lack of power—there is an equally good chance that the Mets find themselves faltering down the stretch due to the inability to change the game with one big swing. Alonso and Lindor cannot do it all on their own. Alonso, in particular, was clearly pressing down the stretch last season, knowing that if he didn’t hit the big bomb, it was likely that no one else would.

The Mets’ options to correct that are relatively limited right now and come down to the hope that at least one of their young guys can reach their power potential as a rookie (if they’re even in the majors). The possibilities of a deadline trade are also suspect when you consider how teams price gouged on Steve Cohen at the 2022 deadline.

Will the Mets be a good team in 2023? Likely. Are they a contender? Yes. Will they win their division? The Braves are a formidable foe, and the defending NL champion Phillies are a force to be reckoned with, as well. It’s not going to be an easy road to accomplishing the first step that the Mets failed in last season.

Viewing the Mets’ lineup is a lot about carrying multiple truths simultaneously. The Mets have a good lineup but not an elite one. They can score runs but not at the level of teams like the Braves and Dodgers. They are relying on more things breaking the right way than Atlanta is.

Mets fans, the dialectic must live on.

The post Let’s Not Rewrite The 2022 Mets’ Offense appeared first on Metsmerized.

David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

It’s about that time of the offseason when baseball fans get a little antsy. The winter meetings have been over for about a month, and player movement across Major League Baseball has slowed to a trickle. Spring training is still over a month away, so we (patiently?) wait for the crack of the bat and the pop of the glove in Arizona and Florida. To help pass the time, let’s take a look at some of the more unique happenings in baseball during the 2022 season.

August 17

The Mets had an amazing comeback win with seven runs in the ninth inning at Philadelphia on May 5, but the Guardians’ feat on August 17 may have outdone that. The Tigers were in Cleveland that night, and Andrew Chafin took the mound for Detroit to start the eighth inning. He struck out the side. What’s so unique about that? Well, the third strikeout came on a passed ball, allowing the batter to reach first base and extend the inning. Then, as Jayson Stark notes in The Athletic, single, double, single, double, double, intentional walk, and single. Six runs crossed the plate, while the scorebook showed three strikeouts to open the inning. You can’t make that up.

July 6

The White Sox trailed the Twins five different times in the game and ended up winning the game 9-8. The last time that happened was in the 2011 World Series, in Game Six, when David Freese won the game for the Cardinals to force Game Seven. Weird, right? How about this? As Stark points out, the winning manager in both games was Tony La Russa.

May 9

The White Sox took on the Guardians (Cleveland had quite a season in 2022) in Chicago. Terry Francona‘s team trailed 8-2 going into the ninth, and ended up winning the game 12-9 in extra innings.

Baseball became football a couple of times last season. On April 23, the Cubs pasted the Pirates by a 21-0 score. On July 22, the Blue Jays used the running and passing games effectively to drub the Red Sox 28-5 at Fenway Park. One more note from Stark on that Cubs win over the Pirates. That was a four-game series, during in which the Pirates won three of four, with a run differential of -17!

On May 1, first base umpire Sean Barber had four calls challenged in the White Sox/Angels game. All four calls ended up being reversed. It’s safe to say that Barber has had better nights.

On June 17, in a game between the Phillies and Nationals, there was a 28-pitch inning. Why is that noteworthy? Because there was not a single ball put in play and no runs scored. There were three four-pitch walks, and three strikeouts with no swings.

This is a small sample of some of the odd moments that dotted the 2022 season. We also saw 18 instances of position players pitching in games that their teams were winning. In the not-too-distant past, doing this would have been considered poor sportsmanship. It’s a new era in baseball, and things will be changing even more in 2023 with the upcoming rule changes.

One thing we know for sure. No matter what the rules are or may be, the very nature of baseball lends itself to uncommon occurrences. As the cliché goes, watch a baseball game and you may just see something you’ve never seen before.

The 2023 season can’t get here fast enough so we can begin living that cliché once again.

The post The 2022 Season Had Some Unique Moments appeared first on Metsmerized.

Topps has been burning a hole in the wallets of collectors throughout the hobby since the beginning of October with so many new releases, and they didn’t let the holidays stop them. In the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the hobby saw the releases of Topps Heritage Minors, Bowman Platinum, and Bowman Draft.

2022 Topps Heritage Minors (L-R) Brett Baty, Francisco Alvarez, Alex Ramirez.

Topps Heritage Minors is what it sounds like…a minor league version of Topps Heritage. Released using the same 1973 Topps card design, Topps Heritage Minors is a 220-card that includes Prospect Stars at each position and League Leaders. The final 20 cards in the set are short prints and the base set also comes with five different serial numbered parallels for the first 200 cards in the set, image variations, and autographs.

Topps chose the basic Mets top prospects to include in the base set and there are no Mets short prints or autographs. The lack of signed cards from any of the Mets prospects included in the set seems a bit shortsighted. I was able to track down some reasonable listings on eBay to piece together the team set, but it took some time.

2022 Bowman Platinum (L-R) Francisco Lindor, Max Scherzer, Calvin Ziegler.

The Bowman Platinum release seems to be released quietly every year. It’s a simple 100-card set of veterans and rookies plus another 100-card Top Prospects set. Bowman Platinum is much different from every other Bowman release as it super imposes the player over a futuristic background. I’ve been able to find reasonable listings for all of the base set cards and the Top Prospects on eBay.

Included in the Bowman Platinum release is Topps’ continued infatuation of have a dozen different parallel sets, autographs, memorabilia cards, and several insert sets. Collectors will be extremely thrilled with the high volume of autographs included in the Bowman Platinum from their top prospects and other current and former stars.

Released just days before Christmas, Bowman Draft is always one of the hobby’s most sought after products on the release calendar. Bowman Draft is usually one of, it not the final product released by Topps every year due to Topps representatives running around the country trying to obtain signed contracts from the top players drafted in the June draft. Bowman Draft is not just recent draft picks, though. It also includes some of the game’s top prospects.

2022 Bowman Draft (L-R) Kevin Parada, Simon Juan, Jett Williams.

For 2022 Bowman Draft, they really outdid themselves as there are several autographed cards included in the set from Mets first round draft picks Kevin Parada and Jett Williams. Nevermind the fact that there are over a dozen different serial numbered parallels for Bowman Draft and the Chrome parallel. This set gives collectors and Mets fans alike the chance to get the first cards for both Parada and Williams.

Of course, with every release there is a downside. Parada and Williams are the only Mets draft picks to be found in the Bowman Draft base set and Simon Juan is the only Mets prospect, too. I would have loved to have seen someone like Mike Vasil make his cardboard debut, or possibly the inclusion of Alex Ramirez. I feel this was a huge missed opportunity. Finding a reasonable price for cards of Parada and Williams has proved challenging.

Below you will find a full checklist of the Mets cards included in Topps Heritage Minors, Bowman Platinum, and Bowman Draft.

2022 Topps Heritage Minors

Base
5 Mark Vientos – Syracuse Mets
16 Brett Baty – Binghamton Rumble Ponies
72 Francisco Alvarez – Binghamton Rumble Ponies
76 Alex Ramirez – St. Lucie Mets
115 Ronny Mauricio – Binghamton Rumble Ponies
184 Brett Baty – Prospect Stars – Binghamton Rumble Ponies
187 Francisco Alvarez – Prospect Stars – Brooklyn Cyclones

2022 Bowman Platinum
Base
9 Francisco Lindor
32 Max Scherzer
42 Jacob deGrom
56 Starling Marte
63 Tylor Megill (rookie card)
65 Pete Alonso
72 Nick Plummer (rookie card)

Top Prospects
TOP-65 Calvin Ziegler
TOP-74 Jaylen Palmer

Minted in Merit
MM-2 Brett Baty
MM-11 Ronny Mauricio
MM-12 Francisco Alvarez

Minted in Merit Autographs
MM-2 Brett Baty
MM-11 Ronny Mauricio
MM-12 Francisco Alvarez

Platinum Pairings Patch Relics
PLPP-AB Brett Baty/Francisco Alvarez
PLPP-CD Jacob deGrom/Gerrit Cole

Platinum Pairings Patch Relics Autographs
Gerrit Cole/Jacob deGrom
Francisco Alvarez/Brett Baty

Platinum Patches
PLP-BB Brett Baty
PLP-PA Pete Alonso

Platinum Patches Autographs
Brett Baty
Pete Alonso

Platinum Pieces Autograph Relics
PPAR-BB Brett Baty
PPAR-FA Francisco Alvarez

Platinum Plating Die-Cuts
PPDC-8 Pete Alonso

Platinum Plating Die-Cuts Autographs
PPDC-8 Pete Alonso

Precious Elements
PE-20 Francisco Alvarez

Precious Elements Autographs
PE-20 Francisco Alvarez

Top Prospects Autographs
TOP-65 Calvin Ziegler
TOP-74 Jaylen Palmer

2022 Bowman Draft
Bowman Base
BD-47 Kevin Parada
BD-52 Simon Juan
BD-190 Jett Williams

Bowman Chrome
BDC-47 Kevin Parada
BDC-52 Simon Juan
BDC-190 Jett Williams

Bowman Draft Night
BDN-4 Kevin Parada

Bowman Draft Night Autographs (serial numbered to 99)
Kevin Parada

Bowman Invicta
BI-9 Kevin Parada
BI-12 Jett Williams

Bowman Invicta Autographs (serial numbered to 99)
Jett Williams

Chrome Prospect Autographs
CDA-DS D’Andre Smith

Chrome Prospect Autographs
CDA-JWS Jett Williams
CDA-KP Kevin Parada
CDA-TST Tyler Stuart

Class of 2022 Autographs (serial numbered to 250)
C22A-JW Jett Williams
C22A-KP Kevin Parada

Franchise Futures Dual Autographs (serial numbered to 99)
FFDA-PW Kevin Parada/Jett Williams

Heir Apparent
HA-9 Kevin Parada
HA-12 Jett Williams

Heir Apparent Autographs (serial numbered to 99)
Jett Williams
Kevin Parada

Image Variations
BD-47 Kevin Parada

Image Variations Autographs (serial numbered to 99)
BD-47 Kevin Parada

Mood Ring
MR-6 Jett Williams
MR-9 Kevin Parada

Mood Ring Red Autographs (serial numbered to 5)
Jett Williams
Kevin Parada

Positioned for Excellence Autographs (serial numbered to 10)
PEA-HJLNWY Jett Williams/Cole Young/Zach Neto/Termarr Johnson/Brooks Lee/Jackson Holliday

The post Now Available: 2022 Bowman Draft, Topps Heritage Minors, Bowman Platinum appeared first on Metsmerized.

Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

Given today is the first day in 2023, we can officially close the books on 2022. It was an eventful season that saw several different individuals contribute to the 2022 New York Mets. Here at MMO, we took a look at each of these contributors, assigned them a grade, and predicted what may be next for them.

Below are all those report cards. You can click on the player’s name for the full report card.

Starting Lineup

Brandon Nimmo

Grade: A

“Playing nearly every day, Nimmo was able to produce a 5.4 fWAR. Only Mike Trout had a higher fWAR in 2022 amongst full-time center fielders. It was an incredible year for Nimmo, earning him an A for his all-around game.”

Starling Marte

Grade: B-plus

“Focusing on when Starling was on the field, the Mets have to be pleased with the production Marte brought to the lineup in his first year in Queens. For the second time in his 11-year career, he was named an All-Star and was very solid as a right fielder for the first time in his career.”

Francisco Lindor

Grade: A-plus

“Lindor’s all-around excellence made him one of the best players in the National League (NL) in 2022. His 6.8 fWAR was fifth in the NL, trailing just Manny Machado, Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt, and Freddie Freeman. Lindor won’t be taking home the NL MVP Award this season, but his stellar year should earn him some down-ballot votes.”

Pete Alonso

Grade: A

“Alonso had another dominant offensive season in 2022 and provided the Mets with much-needed power. His 40 home runs accounted for 23 percent of the Mets’ long balls and his 131 MLB-leading RBI accounted for 17 percent of the team’s runs. In 2022, Alonso led MLB with 16 intentional walks and the Mets in home runs, RBI, OPS, OPS+, and total bases.”

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Jeff McNeil

Grade: A-plus

“This final surge to end the regular season pushed McNeil’s batting average up to .326, just enough to beat Freddie Freeman for the National League and major league batting titles. McNeil became the first Met since Jose Reyes in 2011 to win the National League batting title, and the first Met ever to win the major-league batting title.”

Mark Canha

Grade: B

“The .367 OBP was among the highest of his career, and his 17.9 K% was the lowest of his career. There is no question that Canha was a difficult out, and that helped the entire lineup’s mentality of getting starting pitchers out of the game early.”

Daniel Vogelbach

Grade: B

“He went through some cold stretches, but his ability to consistently get on base, hit for power, and provide protection for Alonso in the lineup was evident the entire time. His 139 OPS+ and 144 wRC+ with the team suggest that he was the massive upgrade they thought he would be.”

Eduardo Escobar

Grade: C-plus

“Escobar was so good at the end of the regular season that he earned the National League’s Player of the Month honor in September, the first of his career. Escobar then went 3-for-9 with a double and home run in the Mets’ Wild Card loss to the Padres.

While there were certainly high points, and his most recent play was stellar, it’s no secret that Escobar’s first season as the third baseman in Queens was a roller coaster ride.”

Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

Bench Players

Luis Guillorme

Grade: B

“Even with an uneven showing at the plate, in what ended up being a career year for Guillorme, he had another fantastic season defensively. Guillorme had his best shot at winning a Gold Glove in 2022, as Rawlings announced that it would be recognizing the defensive performances of utility players. Guillorme was ultimately snubbed for the award.”

Starting Pitchers

Jacob deGrom

Grade: B-plus

“DeGrom got the chance to redeem his terrible September when he made his Citi Field postseason debut against the Padres. With the season on the line, he struck out eight Padres and surrendered two runs over six innings. DeGrom’s performance propelled the Mets to a Game 2 victory and forced an eventual Game 3 loss.”

Max Scherzer

Grade: B-plus

“In the first two months of the season, Scherzer met the expectations many Mets fans had for him. In his first eight starts, Scherzer held batters to a slash line of .203/.264./.299/.564 and recorded a 2.54 ERA.”

Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Chris Bassitt

Grade: B

“Bassitt was a phenomenal addition to the clubhouse. He quickly built a strong relationship with deGrom and Scherzer, who would discuss the outcome of their starts immediately after it was finished. ”

Taijuan Walker

Grade: B-minus

“The 2022 season was an overall improvement for Walker. He had a better first and second half from the year prior and started 29 games. The Mets also got great value from Walker due to his low salary and performance compared to higher paid starting pitchers.”

Carlos Carrasco

Grade: C-plus

“Carrasco was able to make it through the season with just one short injured list stint, making 29 starts on the year. That’s a vast improvement from his 2021 health streak, and he provided a level of consistency at the back-end of the rotation with deGrom and Scherzer out for large portions of the year.”

David Peterson

Grade: B

“Overall, a nice season for the left-handed pitcher who served a plethora of different roles for the Mets. He was not perfect, though, he was very much serviceable and played a huge role in ensuring that New York’s pitching staff did not completely breakdown when they were suffering injuries left and right.”

Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Bullpen

Edwin Díaz

Grade: A-plus

“Díaz’s production was unmatched by any other reliever this year [2022]. You could certainly make the case it was the best season by a relief pitcher in Mets’ history, possibly, going as far as to say he had a top-three season by any Mets’ pitcher in team history.”

Adam Ottavino

Grade: A-minus

“Ottavino turned in the best season of his 12-year career in 2022. He threw 65 2/3 innings while striking out 79. He also posted an ERA and FIP of 2.06 and 2.85, respectively. Each extremely impressive figures. In doing so, he served as the all-important setup man to Díaz. Each time, doing so almost flawlessly.”

Seth Lugo

Grade: B-minus

“Lugo’s underlying and expected figures also shed some light on what was a relatively decent year for the veteran reliever. His xERA of 3.46 and xFIP of 3.51 are pretty solid numbers.”

Drew Smith

Grade: B-minus

“Smith didn’t allow a run in 2022 until his 13th appearance on May 13 against the Mariners. The Mets used him predominantly in the 7th and 8th innings, high-leverage situations. He had a 1.99 ERA as of June 24, but then hit a rough patch and the worst his ERA would be the rest of the season was 2.48.”

Trevor May

Grade: C-minus

“While May did not have the season that he or the organization envisioned, he locked in and pitched great down the stretch. May struck out 13.9 batters per nine innings after coming off the injured list and was able to lower his ERA from 8.64 to 5.04 at the end of the season.”

Mychal Givens

“Givens did not allow a run over his final eight appearances as a Met, totaling 11.1 innings pitched.”

Grade: D-plus

Tylor Megill

Grade: C-minus

“It was a mostly lost season for Megill, as he spent the majority of the 2022 season either on the injured list or appearing in minor-league rehab assignments. His season numbers don’t paint the whole picture, as he pitched rather effectively in a starting role, up until he got injured.”

The post MMO’s 2022 Mets Report Cards appeared first on Metsmerized.

We’ve reached the final day of 2022 and, as ever, we were treated to some incredible moments from the best booth in baseball over the past 12 months. Let’s take a look at five of the best moments from Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling before we officially wave goodbye to 2022.

Where Is India?

Our favorite booth is at its best when Gary, Keith and Ron are all together. However, Gary and Keith are capable of producing comedy gold even in Ron’s absence and that was certainly the case during a game against the Cincinnati Reds on August 11. Following a mistake in the field by the Reds, Hernandez wondered aloud “where is India,” referring to Cincinnati’s second baseman Jonathan India. However, and without missing a beat, Gary quickly responded with “Well, it is right next to Pakistan, actually, Keith.” It was a perfectly timed response and summed up the chemistry that exists between our favorite broadcasters and why it is the best booth in baseball, even when there’s only two of them in action.

Keith: "Where is India?"

Gare: "Right next to Pakistan, actually" 😂 pic.twitter.com/3r7IDSgKrA

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 11, 2022

Gelbs On The Run

While Gary, Keith and Ron get all the plaudits and the attention, it is important to not forget the crucial role Steve Gelbs plays in SNY’s excellent broadcast. He’s effectively the glue guy and provides fascinating insight in-between innings. However, as was the case during a game in September, Gelbs proved that he could take centerstage. He dressed as the Polish sausage during the Milwaukee Brewers Sausage Race and, not only did he compete, but he won the damn thing after mounting an incredible comeback. It was a signature moment by Gelbs who was the king of the track, and of the broadcast, for the day, and it just further underlined how lucky Mets fans are to have this booth.

Steve Gelbs wins the Sausage Race! pic.twitter.com/Q2ZrJPpcJq

— Shea Station (@shea_station) September 21, 2022

Stroking Out

This entry will probably go down as the funniest moment of 2022 by the SNY booth. With Ron not working, it was left up to Gary and Keith to cause chaos and chaos they caused. During what was a routine play against the San Diego Padres, Hernandez made what he thought was an innocent comment by saying “stroking out” in relation to the Mets’ struggles at the plate. However, Cohen took offence to this and that’s where all hell broke loose. While Cohen was urging caution because of what stroking out could mean from a health perspective, Hernandez, not for the first time, let his mind wander to the gutter and his “are you saying I’m a creepy old man?” line was the highlight of what was just a hilarious exchange. The SNY cameras cut to the two guys at just the perfect time too, and Cohen’s innocence and Hernandez’s not so innocent mind made for a moment that will forever live on.

"From a medical standpoint, do you know what stroking out means?"

Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez 😂pic.twitter.com/RnHrtxkpt5

— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) June 7, 2022

Hernandez Goes After Phillies

There’s no doubt that Keith Hernandez is the star of the SNY booth. Not only does he provide excellent insight because of his great baseball mind, he also produces comedy gold every time he opens his mouth, even if that isn’t always the intention. One such occasion came in an August game against the Reds. During SNY’s ‘Road Ahead’ segment, Hernandez explained how he told the powers that be at the network that he prefers not to call games against the Phillies because they were not “up to it” when it came to their defense and their fundamentals.

The Phillies have done nothing but prove Keith Hernandez right since he said this. pic.twitter.com/BXNK32MdZ3

— Mojo Hill (@mojohill22) August 21, 2022

The fact Keith led off with “I hate doing Phillies games” instantly caught the attention of all Mets fans, and how he proceeded to matter of factly state his reasons why he doesn’t like working those games was just typical Hernandez in every single aspect. It made for entertaining viewing during a down spot in the broadcast, and it riled up Philadelphia sports fans in the process which just made it even better for Mets fans.

Eddie Steals The Show

Without doubt the most feel-good moment of 2022 from our favorite trio came during a game against the Colorado Rockies in late August. Young Eddie Kraus, who won SNY’s Kidcaster competition, joined Gary, Keith and Ron in the booth during the 3-1 win and immediately stole the show and the hearts of Mets fans.

This kidcaster is coming for every broadcasting job, absolutely electric in the booth pic.twitter.com/9ButDnSEdz

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 25, 2022

Eddie, just 12-years-old, wore a blue and orange tie, took his place between Gary and Keith, and wowed his new colleagues with his incredible knowledge and knack for broadcasting. Arguably Eddie’s funniest moment came when he mocked Keith for putting ketchup on his hot dog. It was just a real warm-hearted moment and we may have witnessed the beginning of a legendary broadcast career.

The post Top 5 GKR Moments in 2022 appeared first on Metsmerized.