While everyone has all of their attention on the Juan Soto sweepstakes, which seem to be heating up, the Yankees are still keeping their eyes on the pitching market. The club in the Bronx officially spoke with both top free agent pitchers, Max Fried and Corbin Burnes, via Zoom this past week, per Mike Puma of the New York Post. Reportedly, nine team officials including Brian Cashman, Aaron Boone and Matt Blake were on the call, which lasted over an hour.

While this might not have any correlation to the Yankees chance with Soto, it shows that New York is ready in case the slugger decides to jump ship. 

Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Latest Mets News

New York City FC showed some pictures of the progress being made towards their new stadium in Queens.

Jose Iglesias told Laura Albanese of Newsday that he is very open to a return to the Mets, and will also be dropping a new song in 2025. 

Mets legend Johan Santana was inducted into the Latin Baseball Hall of Fame in the Dominican Republic. Alfonso Soriano, Alex Rodriguez and Andruw Jones were also inducted. 

The Mets received a fourth minor league option for right-handed hurler Max Kranick, per Joel Sherman of the NY Post. 

Frankie Montas’ two-year deal, including a player opt-out after 2025, with the Mets was officially announced by the club. David Stearns commented on the signing: “Throughout his career, Frankie has flashed some of the best stuff in the game. He’ll provide a stabilizing presence to our pitching staff and can contribute on and off the field.”

Latest MLB News

Several industry sources believe that the San Diego Padres are in a strong position to land Japanese ace Roki Sasaki, per Francys Romero. 

RHP Koyo Aoyagi’s 45-day negotiating window with major league teams has begun, after the Hanshin Tigers made his posting official, per Jon Morosi of MLB Network. The sidearm pitcher posted a 6.2 K/9 and 1.307 WHIP in 114 innings this past season.

Major and minor league player representatives, including former Met Chris Bassitt, were elected by the MLBPA.

Jeff Passan of ESPN reported that all five Juan Soto contenders, including the Mets, Red Sox, Yankees, Blue Jays and Dodgers, are still in the mix. He also noted that he will meet with clubs this weekend and we should know his decision by the start of winter meetings on December 9.

On a Bleacher Report live stream, Jon Heyman reported that the Mets are still the favorites to land Pete Alonso. He also noted that getting Soto would in turn help the Mets keep Alonso.

Latest on MMO

Jose Iglesias is open to return to Queens in 2025!

Check out MMO’s free agent profile on a familiar face, Sean Manaea.

Hyeseong Kim of the KBO is being posted for major league clubs. 

On This Date in Mets History

2021: Former Mets manager Gil Hodges is elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The man who lead the Amazins to their first World Series got in on his 35th ballot.

2005: The Mets send prospects Gaby Hernandez and Dante Brinkley to the Florida Marlins and receive catcher Paul Lo Duca in return. His .297 average as a Met is the highest for any catcher in franchise history,

Born On This Date: Cliff Floyd (1972), Al Moran (1938).

The post Morning Briefing: Yankees Speak to Fried, Burnes appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Travis d’Arnaud returned to the lineup on Thursday night after a nearly two week absence due to concussion like symptoms after being struck on the helmet by a backswing off the bat of Alfonso Soriano.

D’Arnaud, now 25, went 0-for-4 and grounded into a double play with the bases loaded in a continuation of the hitting problems he was having before he was injured.

“I think he’s made big strides defensively,” manager Terry Collins said. “That’s what I’ve said before, he’s come with huge grades offensively and I would certainly like to get that on track.”

Last year’s top ranked catching prospect is hitting .189 with a .265 on base percentage this season with three doubles, three home runs and eight RBI over 118 plate appearances.

“At this point you would put him in the overhyped category for sure,” a major league scout told the New York Post before the Mets faced the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

D’Arnaud spoke to the Post’s Mike Puma and told him that he wasn’t happy with his plate approach before his concussion and that he plans to work with new hitting coach Lamar Johnson, who has yet to watch any video of d’Arnaud and has had hardly any exposure with him going back to his first year with the organization.

“I’m going to watch him in the games,” Johnson said. “I like to look at game situations and then we’ll make an evaluation — after I see him in games.”

Collins has expressed concern over d’Arnaud and the catching position in general which ranks next to last in the majors in on-base plus slugging.

“We’ve got to start getting some offense out of our catching position for sure,” said Collins.

“Where he [d’Arnaud] starts to run into trouble is where he’s trying to perhaps pull or hit for some power rather than just put good swings on the ball, because he’s got good strength. We’ve seen that.”

D’Arnaud has a .558 OPS and a 60 OPS+ through his first 230 major league plate appearances.

(Photo by Anthony J. Causi)

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In the piece, Sherman spends a lot of time dissecting all the events that played into A-Rod becoming a Yankee. The Red Sox came within a whisker of signing Rodriguez. It wasn’t until Yankee third baseman and post season star Aaron Boone tore his ACL playing off-season baseball that the Yankees were in on bringing A-Rod to the Bronx. As is their habit, the Bronx Bombers were all in.

Rodriguez, a Met fan when he was growing up, hoped his people could swing a deal where he would land in Flushing. As things turned out, A-Rod would be coming to New York only to the other part of town.

As a Met fan, the piece that interested me the most indirectly involved the Mets. First, as part of the deal between the Yankees and Rangers, the Yanks gave up Alfonso Soriano and a pinstripe prospect from a list of five. That list included pitcher Ramon Ramirez, outfielders Rudy Guillen and Bronson Sardinha, shortstop Joaquin Arias and second baseman Robinson Cano. The Rangers chose Arias.

Stop and think what may have happened in Texas had they chosen Cano. The reports the Rangers had on a young Cano were that the future Yankee second baseman was talented but moody, so the club decided to move in another direction.

Arias has played in parts of six major league seasons, three with the Rangers, one split between the Rangers with a cup of coffee with the Mets and the last two with the San Francisco Giants. In just over 800 at bats Arias has a major league batting average of
.272.

With the deal complete, Sherman reports the Rangers and the Mets engaged in serious discussions about moving Soriano. The Mets wanted Soriano and were willing to part with their shortstop, Jose Reyes, to get him. Texas owner Tom Hicks vetoed the proposed deal fearing a fan revolt in Texas should he move Soriano immediately after relinquishing Rodriguez.

If the Rangers had selected Cano rather than Arias, and had Hicks not nixed the trade with the Mets, the Rangers would have fielded a double play combination of Jose Reyes at shortstop and Robinson Cano at second base. Now that’s enough to make your head spin.

The post Talkin’ Baseball: A Brilliant Infield Duo That Never Was appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News reports that Carlos Beltran has agreed to a three-year deal with the New York Yankees. The contract is worth $45 million according to what a source told Feinsand.

A rival executive told Andy Martino that if the numbers are accurate, this might be the best signing of the offseason. If you’re trying to do the math, that’s Beltran, Brian McCann and Jacoby Ellsbury for $283 million so far for the Yankees. Beltran is expected to play right field while Alfonso Soriano moves to DH.

The Kansas City Royals were also in on Beltran, but it doesn’t look like they’ll have that reunion after all. Hey, on the bright side, it still looks like he’ll go to the Hall of Fame in a Mets hat…

I was talking with Ed (Rusty) earlier tonight, and neither of us could remember another offseason that had so much action before the Winter Meetings. This is kind of unprecedented.

You may remember me saying this would be a wild one because of every team being flush with cash from the new TV deal, but I wasn’t expecting anything like this.

The post Carlos Beltran Agrees To Three-Year, $45 Million Deal With Yankees appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Are you getting sick and tired of reading about the baseless rumors and speculation surrounding a potential Troy Tulowitzki to the Mets swap? Let’s get real, welcome to Metsmerized.

Javier Baez‘s name has been getting kicked around the New York Mets’ fan base as a potential trade target for the Mets this winter, but there is virtually no chance this is going to happen.

There is no way the Cubs would part ways with their prized prospect, but if they did, we would be talking about giving up Noah Syndergaard and maybe even Travis d’Arnaud in exchange for the Cubs’ slugging shortstop. But it’s not even worth worrying about because the likelihood of the Cubs giving up their No. 1 prospect is highly unlikely. Think about it, if the Mets had a shortstop in Double-A that crushed 37 homeruns last year, is there any chance they would think about trading him?

There is still a question mark on where Baez will end up defensively. If the Mets did manage to pull off a trade for him, they would be trading for about 30 errors at shortstop to gain about 30 home runs at the plate. Baez made 44 errors in 2013—to put that in perspective, the highest amount of errors by a major league shortstop last year was 27. Oddly enough, the second most errors were made by Chicago Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro (22).

Before a trade brought third base prospect Mike Olt to the Chicago organization, it was believed that Baez would eventually settle in at third base, giving the Cubs a left side of the infield of Castro and Baez. But if the Mets were serious about getting a shortstop this winter, then Castro should be the guy they go after, not Baez.

Castro has all the tools to be a solid everyday player at the big league level. The Mets need help now, not in a couple of years, which is why Castro would be the trade target and not Baez.

The problem with Castro seems to be his maturity. I guess it’s understandable to get frustrated when you are on teams struggling to win 70 games in a season. The question is whether the Mets would be a good fit for Castro considering his past history with mental lapses, and all the struggles the Mets have had winning games themselves the past couple of years. The good news is that the Mets have something that the Cubs don’t have, something that would make a very big difference with Castro’s attitude and on field play—a good clubhouse leader in David Wright.

CSNChicago.com recently took a look at the future of the Cubs with Castro and Baez, and here is what they had to say about Castro’s recent woes:

Yes, Castro still had a few moments where he drifted. You would, too, if you played 161 games for a 66-96 team. But he cut the errors down to 22, committing only eight in his final 85 games, which translated to a .979 fielding percentage that ranked fourth among shortstops in the league. He’s coachable. He works hard. He cares. He should get better defensively.

Another Cubs player the Mets would be wise to target in a trade would be 23 year-old Junior Lake. He was a prospect that I fell in love with when I was covering the Chicago Cubs for Bleacher Report last winter. Here is an excerpt that I wrote about him last December:

When you read a scouting report and a player’s arm is compared to Shawon Dunston it’s hard to believe. It’s an eye opening comparison.

Like Dunston, Lake’s natural position is shortstop. However, with Starlin Castro locked in place, there’s a good chance that when Lake gets called up, it will be at another position.

He is still considered a raw talent, but has a cannon for an arm, good power, great speed and excellent athleticism. The Cubs were giving him some time in the outfield during winter ball, so that could be a potential landing spot for Lake in the future. With his strong arm, he could also eventually end up at third base.

Lake was called up to the show last July, and he did find himself playing the outfield. He ended the season with a .284/.332/.428 slash line. He has a busy swing, but if the Mets were looking for a player who has future Alfonso Soriano-type ability, then Lake is someone they may want to take a shot on.

Who knows, maybe the Mets pull of a miracle and get Starlin Castro and Junior Lake to Flushing this off-season…but it’s probably going to cost them if they do. The Cubs would be an excellent trade partner for the Mets due to the lack of pitching depth in their system. The question is, would the Mets be willing to part with some of their pitching stock in order to pull this off?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug_QMrcu360

The post Could The Cubs’ Starlin Castro Solve Shortstop For Mets? appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

According to ESPN’s Jim Bowden, Major League Baseball has just approved the trade of Alfonso Soriano from the Cubs to Yankees. Bowden said that Soriano officially waived his no-trade rights and the trade is now official.

The Cubs will pay roughly $17.7 million of the approximately $24.5 million left on Soriano‘s contract, and that they are considering several low-level minor league pitching prospects in return.

Soriano returns to the Yankees, with whom he made his major league debut as a second baseman in 1999. He was traded to the Rangers as part of the Alex Rodriguez deal in 2003. After a year of playing outfield for the Nationals, he signed with the Cubs in 2007 and has primarily played left field.

The Yankees are desperate for power and the Cubs, who are in sell-mode,are looking to move any of their veterans.

Soriano, 37, has hit .254/.287/.467 with 17 home runs in 93 games this season with 48 runs, 51 RBI and 10 stolen bases.

The Cubs have already moved Matt Garza to the Rangers on Monday and have previously moved Scott Feldman and Scott Hairston. Theo isn’t messing around…

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The Chicago Cubs beat the New York Mets by the score of 6-3 tonight at Citi Field. The loss dropped the Mets to 14 games under .500 for the first time this season.

Shaun Marcum was in trouble early and struggled with his command, giving up a run in the first and then four more in the second. His record falls to 0-8. All told Marcum allowed a total of six runs on seven hits and a walk in 5.2 innings pitched while striking out four. His ERA is now up to an unsightly 5.43 for the season. I still say he should be bounced from the rotation and not Gee or Hefner. But what do I know…

The bullpen did a good job again… Dave Aardsma relieved Marcum and retired all four batters he faced striking out two. Josh Edgin allowed two hits in the eighth, but stranded both runners, and Greg Burke pitched a clean ninth.

Daniel Murphy drove in the first two runs for the Mets and went 2-for-5 with a run scored. David Wright had a great night at the plate with three hits and a walk, but erred on the basepaths in the seventh when he was thrown out trying to reach third on a Lucas Duda single and was out by a mile on the throw by left fielder Alfonso Soriano. And boy what a drama SNY is making out of it… Gee thanks, guys…

John Buck went 0-for-4 to drop his batting average to .218, and Jordany Valdespin went 0-for-3 and struck out twice in the leadoff spot.

That’s all I got for you… I’m just waiting for Super Tuesday…

Jon Niese (3-5, 4.24).will go tomorrow against Scott Feldman (5-5, 3.22) in a 1:10 PM start. Zoom, zoom…

The post Mets Fall To 14 Games Below .500 After 6-3 Loss To Cubs appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Matt Harvey settled down after a rocky two-run first inning to produce one of his most impressive starts of the season in a 3-2 victory at Wrigley Field. The victory was the Mets’ second straight after losing six in a row.

ON THE MOUND: Flirting with perfection is one thing, but pulling it together when it isn’t going well is more indicative of what he’ll normally face. Harvey gave up three hits in the first inning and only two after, at one point retiring 14 straight.. … In 7.1 innings, Harvey gave up two runs on five hits and no walks with six strikeouts. … Bobby Parnell worked the ninth for his fifth save.AT THE PLATE: David Wright homered in the first, Daniel Murphy homered to tie the game in the fourth, and Harvey drove in the game-winner with a seventh-inning single. … Wright had three hits. He also stole his ninth base. … Ike Davis snapped a 0-for-25 slide with a single in the sixth.

IN THE FIELD: Davis missed coming up with Ruben Tejada’s one-bouncer that allowed two runs to score in the first. Amazingly, the official scorer gave Alfonso Soriano an infield hit and a throwing error to Ruben Tejada. … Marlon Byrd threw out Darwin Barney at the plate to preserve the lead in the eighth inning.

METS MATTERS: Zack Wheeler returned to Triple-A Las Vegas and resumed throwing today. He received a cortisone injection in the AC joint of his right shoulder Wednesday. … Terry Collins suggested a platoon with Justin Turner at first base and/or dropping him to fifth in the order if his problems continue.

THEY SAID IT:  “The run support has been lacking, but most of our starters can complain about run support the last couple of weeks. … Pitching, run support and defense; we got all three of those.’’ – Wright on Harvey’s performance.

BY THE NUMBERS: 18: First-pitch strikes thrown out of 27 hitters faced by Harvey.

ON DECK: Jeremy Hefner attempts to win for the first time in eight starts Saturday afternoon.

Please follow me on Twitter @jdelcos

The post Matt Harvey Does It All In Mets 3-2 Win Over Cubs appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Not too long ago, the answer to that question would be easy. A resounding “NO!”. Too much money, too old, bad attitude, lousy fielder and he is a strikeout waiting to happen. Physical prowess be damned, he just has too much baggage. Then again, not too long ago, I would have scoffed at the idea of signing Derrek Lee<you could probably link to your post about Lee here> to the team. My, how things have changed.

At the very least, it should be considered. I’ll admit, I am very conflicted about the idea. There is a lot to consider (disclaimer: These are all hypothetical, pie in the sky type stuff. I’m just laying out some possible scenarios.)

Pros:

• He addresses a major weakness on the team. Power. As I write this the Mets are 11th in slugging and 13th in home runs. The fact that they were 4th (and presently 6th) in runs scored in the NL was a minor miracle. They took advantage of that crazy high team OBP with some timely hitting and small ball. The problem is, small ball doesn’t win long term. You need real power in the heart of the line up and the guys the Mets expected to supply that have failed miserably so far (although, Duda looks like he’s on track now). Unless Ike Davis starts on a 30 home run pace tomorrow, they need to bring in someone from the outside. And if we start seeing some real power in the lineup and the Mets start plating more runs earlier in games, we’ll have less bullpen inspired agita. A healthy Soriano is good for 25-30 HR (he already has 12) and a .500 slugging.
• He’d be relatively cheap. Since taking over the Cubs, Theo Epstein has been trying to get rid of all the long term big money deals. He traded away Carlos Zambrano along with $15.5 million of the money guaranteed to Big Z to the Marlins for essentially a warm body. His age and health questions would also drive the asking price down. If the Cubs eat half the money owed on Soriano and take Bay straight up, I’d jump on that. If they ate almost all of it and took a B prospect, I’d be open to it.
• He’s right handed. After David Wright, our next best right handed hitter is Scott Hairston. That is bad on a lot of levels. Also, while Wright has seen a boost in overall production this year, he’s not a 30 home run type hitter. Alfonso is. And, you don’t have to worry about his splits because his numbers stay consistent throughout. We need someone to break up our parade of lefties because all it takes is one LOOGY to kill our offense.

Cons:

• His attitude problems. It is no secret that he wore out his welcome on 3 different teams. And this was while he was a legit 30/30 player. Granted, there hasn’t been a lot of noise about him specifically, but that could simply be that a prima donna is not that interesting a story when Carlos Zambrano’s drama is playing out on the same train wreck of a team. Do we really want a guy like him on a team that is built around guys hustling and putting their bodies on the line? What happens if he snubs Terry Collins or he loafs on a fly ball?
• His defense is still lousy. Yes, so far this season, he has a 1.000 fielding percentage. But that is going to change. Also, he plays in a smaller park. Playing Citi Field is far different from playing Wrigley. The Mets are already weak on defense. Do they need to risk becoming weaker? For all his trouble at the plate, Jason Bay has played a solid left field. At the very least, he’s exceeded expectations there.
• His contract is huge. The rumors are that Epstein is willing to eat a big chunk of his remaining money, but no one has an exact number. He is signed through 2014 at $18 million per year. That means he is still owed over $40 million. Zambrano only had 1 guranteed year left at $19 million. That is a huge difference. Epstein probably won’t eat $40 million just to open up a roster spot. He’s going to want some actual talent coming back. The 2 ½ year commitment will assuage that somewhat, but it is still a lot of money.
• He is old and has health problems. This is kind of a double edge sword. He is 36 this year and hasn’t played 150 games since 2006. It is a given that he is going to have some kind of surgery on his knee after the season. He said outright that at the very least, it will be exploratory. There is a real chance it will be full on arthroscopic. This is the same knee that had season ending surgery in 2009. He’d be lucky to give a team 130 games a year after that. This will drive the asking price down for sure, but you are still getting an old and injured player.

Those I think are the major arguments. The cons outnumber the pros, but I think each individual pro outweighs each individual con. So, it is probably a wash. I think the deciding factor will be if Alderson truly believes this team can compete right now. And I don’t mean win 88 games, scratch their way to a Wild Card spot, and get bounced immediately. A move like this isn’t to try making the playoffs. A move like this is about gunning for the World Series. It is very much a win now move. Alfonso Soriano isn’t going to help a team of young guys win 2 or 3 years from now. He’s going to put a winning team over the top this year.

This Fan Shot was submitted by MMO reader, Donal. Have something you want to say about the Mets? Share your opinions with over ten-thousand Mets fans who read this site daily. Send your Fan Shot to GetMetsmerized@aol.com. Or ask about being a regular contributor, and share your opinions with an engaging community that loves to debate.

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