During the 2023 MLB draft the Mets selected a total of 23 players, including seven within the first four rounds. The Mets agreed to deals with their first 14 draft selections and 20 overall, with college pitchers Brady Kirtner and Christian Little, and prep pitcher Gavyn Jones choosing to forgo signing with the team. Most, but not all, of the draft choices who elected to sign made their brief...
Major League Baseball has several new rules going into effect for the 2023 season. The new rules have been tested in spring training (except for the shortened time to decide on replay reviews), discussed, debated, and in the case of when the clock starts between batters, slightly tweaked. There may be another new twist during the upcoming season, as teams try to find a way to shift within the...
One more week of spring training games and the regular season is here. The Mets were busy this past offseason, let’s see how some of their acquisitions have done so far this spring. Position Players Tim Locastro Tim Locastro has been the best story to come through Mets spring training this season. The 30-year-old outfielder has seemingly found his bat and has been a menace throughout the...
Allow me to channel my inner Brad Pitt for a second and get this out of the way: “Guys you’re still trying to replace Díaz and we can’t do it. Now what we might be able to do is recreate him, recreate him in the aggregate.” Here is the spoiler to this article, at this current moment in the middle of March, they do not need to trade for Alexis Díaz or David Bednar. If the...
One of the best ways to examine team expectations around the major leagues before the season is by taking a look at the odds bookmakers set. With sports gambling at an all-time high in America, and more and more states legalizing betting, there are several different projections to look at. So, what are the current odds saying about the 2023 New York Mets? Full-Season Team Odds There are five...
One of the rule changes, and possibly the most significant that we will see in 2023, is the introduction of the pitch clock in Major League Baseball. Commissioner Rob Manfred is determined to shorten games, quicken the pace of play, and add more action to the game. The pitch clock has demonstrated its ability to achieve the first of those objectives. Minor league game times have been reduced...
There’s a lot of speculation and hoopla around the limitations on the infield shift and how it may affect various hitters. Earlier this week, I speculated about how the rule changes might impact various Mets’ hitters. There has been less chatter about how the changes will affect specific pitchers, though. At the request of some commenters on the hitting article, let’s dive into...
One of the more highly-anticipated changes of the 2023 baseball season is the limitation of the shift. Since its widespread inception at the beginning of the 2010s, batting averages have plummeted, leading to a further emphasis on home runs and launch angle. Batting average with balls in play (BABIP) became too risky to rely on, as teams took advantage of batters’ inability to “hit...
When the Mets signed Mark Canha to a two-year deal in November 2021, his role on the team did not seem to be clear-cut. After all, they inked Starling Marte shortly thereafter and had Robinson Cano penciled in at second base, which left Jeff McNeil without an everyday spot. The assumption was that McNeil would take at least some of the at-bats in left in addition to second and possibly third...
At 2:38 AM on Wednesday, December 21, Jon Heyman of the New York Post revealed on Twitter that the Mets and esteemed infielder Carlos Correa had reached an agreement on a blockbuster 12-year contract worth $315 million. When most fans woke up the next morning, this news sent shockwaves around the entire league as Correa was seemingly destined to be a member of the San Francisco Giants. So how...
The New York Mets and right-handed pitcher Kodai Senga agreed on a five-year, $75 million deal that sends him from Nippon Professional Baseball to Major League Baseball. Senga, 29, wasn’t posted by the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks and triggered an opt-out in his contract to become a free agent. He was therefore not subject to the MLB-NPB posting system. The system has brought many Japanese...
What truly is an MVP? Is it the player who provided the most overall value to an individual team? The player who displayed the most prowess on a playoff-bound club? The player who rewrote the history books? Or is it the player who simply added the most value to his team’s win total, with respect to the club’s payroll? For small-market teams, it might be the latter. “Most Valuable...
