The New York Mets have set a 1 p.m. ET deadline today for the team to come to terms with arbitration eligible players.

The Mets have already agreed on terms for one-year deals with Rene Rivera ($1.75MM), Zack Wheeler ($800,000K), Jenrry Mejia ($1.9MM) and Lucas Duda ($7.25MM).

Projected salaries for players the Mets still need to agree with:

Travis d’Arnaud – $1.9 million

Jacob deGrom – $4.225 million

Josh Edgin – $800,000 thousand

Jeurys Familia – $8.7 million

Wilmer Flores – $2.9 million

Matt Harvey – $5.325 million

Addison Reed – $7.9 million

Original Report – Jan 12

According to Adam Rubin of ESPN, Sandy Alderson is setting a hard deadline of Friday at 1 P.M. as the deadline to agree to terms with players who have filed for salary arbitration.

So far this offseason, the Mets have come to terms with Rene Rivera, Zack Wheeler, and Jenrry Mejia. This means the Mets have a lot of work to do over the next 24 hours, as Travis d’Arnaud, Jacob deGrom, Lucas Duda, Josh Edgin, Jeurys Familia, Wilmer Flores, Matt Harvey and Addison Reed have yet to come to terms with the Mets.

It should be noted that last year, deGrom was unwilling to sign his $607,000 contract when the Mets renewed his contract. It was a symbolic gesture as deGrom had no negotiating rights due to his being a pre-arbitration eligible player. With deGrom not signing the contract, the $607,000 salary was assigned to him.

The last time the Mets went to arbitration with a player was with Oliver Perez in 2008. Perez won his arbitration case with the Mets, and he made $6.5 million during the 2008 season.

Thoughts from Joe D.

It will be interesting to see how this hard line plays out with arbitration hearings being what they are. A player’s reps will be presenting all the reasons why the arbiter should decide in their favor.

Meanwhile on the flip side, the Mets legal team will be presenting all the reasons why the player is undeserving of the salary figure they submitted. Sometimes it can get real ugly.

It’s funny because just on Tuesday, I was praising the Mets for being among the top teams in staying clear of arbitration hearings with their players.

This new tact is quite a dynamic shift in philosophy. I would imagine this comes directly from the top and straight from Jeff Wilpon. Hopefully this has no effect on morale. I don’t know why, but I always get a real creepy feeling whenever Jeff sticks his nose in Mets decisions like this.

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Mets outfielder Michael Conforto has not and will not play any winter ball this offseason.

Despite Terry Collins‘ (and probably most people’s) recommendation for him to play winter ball and get as many reps as possible, Conforto’s representatives are not allowing it because it poses a ‘financial risk,’ according to Adam Rubin on Twitter.

Juan Lagares is allowed by his agents to play in the winter because he is guaranteed money over the next few seasons, and is not in the position Conforto is in. While Lagares is guaranteed money through 2019 (with a team option for 2020), Conforto is going year to year with a low salary almost entirely dictated on his level of play. If he were to get injured in the offseason and lose playing time in 2017, for example, his 2018 salary would take a hit.

In 33 Triple-A games this past season, Conforto absolutely mashed at a .422/.483/.727 (1.209 OPS) clip with nine home runs, eight doubles, and two triples. According to Adam Rubin on Twitter, another reason he did not participate was that the level of play in winter ball is lower than the level of AAA.

Conforto hasn’t just been sitting around doing nothing, though. He has been conditioning all offseason and plans on entering spring training in the best shape of his life. He is hoping that his strides made at the end of last season regarding going the opposite way, as well as some extra muscle, will translate into more home run power. I am hoping for that as well.

The best thing for Michael Conforto is to get as many at-bats as possible against any pitcher not named Madison Bumgarner. We can expect him to get plenty of work during Spring Training, including some innings at first base, as the Mets look for Conforto to significantly bounce back in 2017.

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Mets RHP Jacob deGrom has opted for season-ending surgery to repair the ulnar nerve in his right elbow. He will have the procedure this week, Terry Collins told reporters before Tuesday’s game with the Braves.

DeGrom, 28, was initially slated to pitch last Sunday, but after throwing a bullpen session Friday, he felt the recurring pain in his right elbow while tossing a ball during practice.

Doctors will move the ulnar nerve, which had been causing intermittent elbow discomfort as well as finger numbness over his last 5-6 starts. DeGrom went 7-8 this season with a 3.04 ERA in 24 starts.

Original Report – Sep 18

Jacob deGrom who was expected to rejoin the rotation and start on Sunday, is likely out for the season according to general manager Sandy Alderson who spoke to reporters at Citi Field before the game on Saturday.

After throwing a bullpen session on Saturday, deGrom felt a twinge and some pain in his elbow and team doctors determined he will need surgery to repair the ulnar nerve in his elbow.

“I think we knew that it was something that was going to have to be done in the offseason, and we were trying to put it off until then. It’s definitely disappointing,” said deGrom.

Manager Terry Collins said that deGrom was very upset when learning his season was over because of continued pain in his elbow and forearm.

“I talked to him again this morning, and he’s still very upset at the fact he still feels it today. I just said ‘look, you’ve got to move forward and you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”

“We just have to prepare not to have him,” Collins continued. “It was hard. When he walked in, I could tell something was wrong. But again, you want to try to make sure. He was really down about it because he was so excited about coming back.”

Alderson said that the surgery is not as serious as Tommy John surgery, but that it’s still a significant procedure and an unfortunate loss for the club.

The likely recovery time for ulnar nerve surgery is anywhere between 4-6 months although each case is very different. DeGrom has already had Tommy John surgery on that elbow to repair the ulnar collateral ligament.

The 28-year old righty ends his season having made 24 starts for the Mets and posting a 3.04 ERA and 1.20 WHIP while striking out 143 batters in 148 innings pitched. DeGrom had a 7-8 record.

The Mets have now lost Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler and deGrom for the season. All three are expected to be ready for spring training.

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Robert Gsellman has at least some degree of labrum tear in his non-pitching shoulder, reports Adam Rubin of ESPN New York.

Team doctors will wait until after the season to determine whether Gsellman will require surgery.

Gsellman has not been swinging the bat at all in Las Vegas or with the Mets, which has made the issue glaring, adds Rubin.

After tossing 5,2 scoreless innings in a non-decision against the Nationals on Wednesday, Gsellman has a 3.08 ERA over five appearances including four starts since being called up.

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Adam Rubin of ESPN New York is hearing that RHP Logan Verrett will likely be recalled by the Mets to replace RHP Rafael Montero who was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas after last night’s game.

The Mets added Montero to the 25-man roster for Monday’s start in place of Jacob deGrom and tossed five scoreless innings against the Marlins despite walking six batters. After tossing 100 pitches in his emergency spot start, the Mets are taking an opportunity to add a fresh arm to the bullpen.

Verrett has appeared in dual roles for the Mets this season, going 1-6 with a 6.45 ERA in 12 starts, while posting a 1.29 WHIP and 2.81 ERA in 18 relief appearances.

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The Mets added outfielder Jay Bruce and LHP Jonathon Niese to the 25-Man roster. The club also recalled infielder Ty Kelly and LHP Josh Edgin from Triple-A Las Vegas of the Pacific Coast League.

New York also optioned outfielder Brandon Nimmo and RHP Seth Lugo to Las Vegas and placed infielder Asdrubal Cabrera and outfielder Justin Ruggiano on the 15-Day DL.

Bruce, 29, a three-time All-Star, is batting .265 (98-370) with 22 doubles, six triples, 25 home runs, 80 RBI and a .559 slugging percentage in 97 games. His 80 RBI lead the National League (fourth in the major leagues), while his 25 home runs are tied for fourth-most in the NL. Jay Bruce will wear #19.

Niese, 29, was 8-6 with a 4.91 ERA (60 earned runs/110.0 innings) in 23 games, 18 starts for the Pirates this year. He was 1-0 with a 2.16 ERA (two earned runs/8.1 innings) in five games in relief this season. He will reprise his uniform No. 49.

Original Report – 10:00 AM

With newcomers Jay Bruce and Jon Niese set to join the team today, the New York Mets may have as many as four new faces when they take the field tonight at Citi Field for game two of the Subway Series.

Beat writer Adam Rubin is reporting that utility player Ty Kelly and left-handed reliever Josh Edgin will join the club from Triple-A Las Vegas.

He says this is a prelude to the likelihood that Asdrubal Cabrera (sprained knee) and Justin Ruggiano (strained hamstring) will land on the disabled list.

It’s not clear how the other two spots will be freed, but he speculates that Brandon Nimmo could be demoted. Also on the bubble might be reliever Seth Lugo.

We’ll know more later today when the Mets are expected to report the results of Cabrera’s MRI and whether Ruggiano will in fact be forced to the DL after only a three day tenure with the team.

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Update: According to Rolando Napoles and later confirmed by Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com the Astros have signed Cuban infielder Yulieski Gurriel to a five year deal worth $47.5 million.

Original Report

Yulieski Gurriel, the latest cuban defector who had been on the Mets radar is not believed to be on his way to New York anytime soon. Adam Rubin of ESPN reports that the team is unlikely to sign Gourriel.

On top of the expected multi-year deal required to obtain his services, it is believed he may need some time at the minor league level to ready himself to help a big league club. Rubin advised that Mets brass came away less than enamored with the 32 year-old Cuban star from his June 27 workout for the team.

With a possible resurgence of Jose Reyes, who has been off to a solid start in his first six games back as a Met, the team does not seem to believe that Gourriel would be worth the contract. Reyes has started his season with a .250/.308/.708 slash to go with three homers, three RBI and five runs scored. He though of course is not looked at as a long term solution.

Reyes though is not the only player the Mets have to help man the infield as Wilmer Flores had been on a mission prior to the All-Star break. Over his last 30 games, Flores has hit unbelievably to a .293/.337/.565 slash. In that same time period he has seven homers with 21 RBI and 11 runs scored. Anytime Flores has a threat of losing his job, he seems to excel as he has done here.

Yoenis Cespedes has spoke very highly of his good friend, Gourriel, calling him the best player in Cuba. It is always hard to tell how a player’s game though may translate when making their way to the States. Weeks prior it seemed there was a hot pursuit for Gourriel’s services, but talk has died down and we have yet to hear anything of where he may be leaning. It does not seem though the Mets will be a part of that decision.

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The New York Mets completed one of their best April’s in team history, going 15-7 for a .682 winning percentage. As Adam Rubin noted, the Mets twice had more wins in April in 2006 (16-8) and 2002 (16-10) but those were in more games played.

A number of factors led to such an impressive month, as the Mets offense woke up halfway through April, the starting pitching was impressive despite early issues from Matt Harvey and Steven Matz, and the bullpen has done a formidable job holding leads, much better than many early predictions favored them to be.

Before Monday night’s home game with the Atlanta Braves, the Mets pen ranked 9^th in baseball in ERA at 2.84, 9^th in OPS at .630, and 3^rd in K/9 at 10.48. The Mets bullpen is also in the bottom third of the amount of extra base hits surrendered, only giving up 17 extra base hits to date.

A key contributor has been LHP Jerry Blevins, who’s been fantastic thus far for the Mets in his short New York career.

I say short because Blevins, 32, was involved in not one, but two different broken arm injuries in 2015. The first occurred on April 19th when Blevins was pitching in the seventh inning against the Miami Marlins. With one out and runners on the corners, recently suspended Dee Gordon hit a 0-1 off-speed pitch right back at Blevins, fracturing his forearm. Blevins would go on to try and rehab it without surgery, until he next incident occurred four months later.

While rehabbing his way back for late season action, Blevins re-injured his left arm in August, when he slipped while stepping off a curb retrieving his iPhone from his car in Florida. He re-fractured his distal radius bone in his left forearm, the same one he had initially injured in April against the Marlins.

Blevins had surgery after the incident in Florida, requiring a plate and six screws. Blevins rehabbed in the offseason and was ready for another opportunity with a clean bill of health for 2016. Blevins knew that he had to adjust after having surgery, and needed to test his arm out as soon as he was cleared to do so. He talked in spring about facing the new challenge.

“Something is new. I’ve got metal latched to bone in my arm. So there was definitely a bit of apprehension. But there’s only one way to find out how it’s going to be. And that’s to start throwing. Knock on wood, it’s been great so far. I haven’t had any issues. It feels really good now.”

Blevins is healthy and back in action for the Mets this year, after resigning with the club in December for $4 million plus incentives to be one of their their lefty specialists.

In Spring Training, Blevins talked about how the incidents from 2015 have had an impact on his life, and are a constant reminder of the wacky season he had. At least he has a sense of humor about it!

“Every time somebody tweets about me, all the comments are: ‘Watch out for a curb. Wrap him in bubble wrap,’” Blevins said. “So it’s something I’m prepared for.”

He’s off to a great start in 2016, as he’s 1-0 on the year, with a 3.38 ERA in 12 appearances. Blevins has struck out seven, and has not issued a walk in eight innings of work before Monday night’s game.

His secondary stats are excellent as well, as he owns a 0.50 WHIP, and a .148 batting average against. Blevins has inherited 12 runners, and only one has come around to score. And his FIP also reveals that Blevins has done better than what his ERA indicates, as he’s currently at 2.94.

Blevins’ splits are phenomenal against left-handed hitters, as he owns a 1.59 ERA in 5 2/3 innings, allowing only three hits, one extra-base-hit, and one earned run.

He’s essentially a three-pitch pitcher, throwing his sinker 45% of the time, followed by a curveball 31.7%, and a slider at 19.2%. He also features a changeup that he’s only employed 4.2% of the time thus far. Despite not featuring overpowering “stuff”, Blevins has been successful in his career by pitching on the first base side of the rubber, and throwing at more of a three quarter delivery, giving the opposition a more difficult task of trying to pick up the ball at an altered angle.

Blevins is going to play an important role for the Mets in the pen, especially when facing the tough left-handed hitters in the National League East. Here’s Blevins’ career numbers against some of the tougher competition in the NL East, Bryce Harper (0-1), Daniel Murphy (0-3), Freddie Freeman (3-8 with 2 strikeouts), Dee Gordon (1-7), and Ryan Howard (0-3 with 2 strikeouts), and Odubel Herrera (0-2).

The Mets bullpen has been a collective success so far, and more help is on the way in LHP Josh Edgin, and the return of Zack Wheeler in July, which would push Bartolo Colon to the pen and for some spot starts. In order for the Mets to make another run at the World Series this year, they’re relying on their pen of veterans and young arms to carry the load and turn the ball over to Jeurys Familia. Blevins and his lefty arm will be a big part of that for the Mets in 2106, but maybe keep the bubble wrap handy when he’s walking near curbs.

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Last season, Noah Syndergaard basically dominated with a fastball/sinker, curveball, and a changeup. He tinkered with a slider, but he only threw it 3.15% of the time. After a full offseason to work on the pitch, Syndergaard announced in a big way that the pitch will be a big part of his repertoire this season.

GIF: Did we just witness @Noahsyndergaard throw a 95 MPH SLIDER?! pic.twitter.com/v5BGdNGKLp

— Nick Pollack (@PitcherList) April 5, 2016

A 95 MPH SLIDER!  ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?!?!?

You don’t throw 95 MPH sliders with all the cheat codes on when you’re playing a video game. It’s not seemingly impossible.  It is impossible.  Somehow, someway Syndergaard was able to do it.  Syndergaard took that pitch and took it to another level. Everyone noticed it, including Syndergaard himself as Adam Rubin reported:

“I realized in the beginning of the game I had a pretty good feel for it,” Syndergaard said. “I really took it to the next level, because I’ve never thrown a 95 MPH slider before . . . .  I kind of shocked myself with how good my slider was. It felt good in spring training, but I amped it up to another level today.”

That’s an understatement. Seven of Syndergaard’s nine strikeouts came with the slider.  He only had 11 strikeouts from his slider all last season.  None of the Royals could hit the pitch, not even Hall of Famer George Brett – he of 3,154 hits and a career .307 batting average.

“There is no man alive who could’ve hit those three sliders Syndergaard threw to Morales,” Yost said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a 95-mph slider. George Brett was in here [his office] and I asked him if he could hit that, and he said no way.” (New York Post)

After watching Syndergaard last year, we should no longer be surprised that Syndergaard has unmatched and unhittable stuff. And yet, he continues to amaze because he has a strong work ethic and a willingness to be coached. He gets better and better. He even amazed his teammates; the same people who watch him day in and day like David Wright.

“He had electric stuff,” captain David Wright said. “I looked up at the scoreboard and saw 94, 95. I go ask [catcher] Travis [d’Arnaud] what those pitches were, and he’s talking about sliders. That’s unheard of. That’s about as good as I’ve seen. Stuff-wise, composure-wise, for a young guy to come into this environment and throw that type of game, he’s got the ability to be a special one.”

By the way, for all the talk about his new unhittable slider, Syndergaard still had his original pitches all working:

Syndergaard is averaging 99.7 mph on his sinker. Not approaching. Not maxing out at. Averaging.

— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) April 5, 2016

“He was throwing me fastballs right down the middle,” said Alex Gordon. “I couldn’t catch up.”  No one was catching up to the fastball. No one was making contact with the slider. Travis d’Arnaud, an exceptional receiver, even had trouble catching the pitch at times. Syndergaard now has two unhittable pitches. Amazing.

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The Mets announced that Ruben Tejada has been released after the infielder went unclaimed on waivers.

Tejada, 26, was due to make $3 million dollars this season after the Mets offered him arbitration, but the team will only pay him $500,000 because they released him 15 days prior to Opening Day.

Tejada is now free to sign with any team, and this ends his six year run with the Mets with a .255 batting average, .330 OBP and .688 OPS in 580 games with the the organization.

Interestingly enough, his last impression with the team was being tackled by the Dodgers’ Chase Utley and suffering a fractured leg in the NLDS.

According to the Daily News, sources told them last month that they were looking to move Tejada and prepared to cut him before Opening Day to make sure his $3 million salary was never guaranteed.

For the better part of the last three years, Tejada has been one of the best backup middle infielders in the league and he should have no problem catching on with another team. His departure opens the door for Eric Campbell or Matt Reynolds.

Original Report

According to Adam Rubin of ESPN.com, the Mets have placed shortstop Ruben Tejada on waivers.

Tejada, 26, was slated to earn $3 million this season had he made the opening day roster. However, the Mets will now only have to pay the infielder $500,000. A claiming team can try to work out a trade for Tejada through Thursday.

Should Asdrubal Cabrera start the season on the disabled list, Wilmer Flores will now most likely get a majority of the starts in his absence with Matt Reynolds backing him up.

Earlier this month it was reported that the Mets could either trade or release Tejada before opening day, and now that has come into fruition.

In six seasons for the Mets, Tejada appeared in 580 games, hitting at a .255/.330/.323 clip with ten home runs and 148 runs batted in.

Tejada became a fan favorite in the NLDS this past season after Dodgers infielder Chase Utley broke Tejada’s leg on a take out slide into second base.

To be honest, I’m a little surprised that the Mets chose to waive Tejada and couldn’t find a trade partner for him. I thought they were going to be able to get something for him, but now they are losing him for nothing.

Tejada could have been a valuable piece for the Mets this season in a reserve role, and I’m definitely sad to see him go.

I won’t be surprised if he’s picked up or traded for by the Cardinals now, considering Jhonny Peralta is set to miss 2-3 months.

Best of luck, Ruben…

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