Going into next season, you could say a few spots on the New York Mets roster are pretty much finalized. First base and shortstop on the infield, two of three outfield spots, most of the rotation, and the back end of the bullpen are pretty much set in stone for the 2018 season. However one position that is still in the undecided column for the Mets is second base. While the names of Gavin...
With the Mets’ loss to the Phillies this evening and a win of their own, the Washington Nationals have officially clinched the National League East title, their third in five years. Washington earned a 6-1 victory over the Pirates tonight, getting big contributions at the plate from Stephen Drew and Jayson Werth while squeezing 5.1 relief innings from Reynaldo Lopez. Capitalizing on...
Cringing because the Mets failed to acquire Ben Zobrist or Ian Desmond? Love to criticize the Wilpons for running a small market team in the big apple? You may disagree with me, but I don’t their either of those opinions are valid, and I’m here to tell you why. I know the Mets’ payroll has decreased each of the last five seasons, to the point where New York’s 2014 figure was almost $66 million...
A quick update live from Citi Field: Sandy Alderson confirmed once again that there is a “very high” probability Wilmer Flores is the Opening Day shortstop. “I don’t think the Jed Lowrie signing increases the probability, because we weren’t really in on Lowrie,” Alderson said. “To that extent the probability of Wilmer Flores as the Opening Day shortstop...
Jed Lowrie has agreed to a a three-year deal with the Houston Astros, the team announced this afternoon. The deal, which is worth $23 million guaranteed according to the Houston Chronicle, runs through 2017 and includes a club option for 2018 that could boost the total value to $28 million. The Mets were hoping that Lowrie or Stephen Drew would be hanging around in January and that maybe one of...
Speaking with reporters at the Winter Meetings, Sandy Alderson shifted gears again and now says it’s more likely the Mets acquire a shortstop upgrade via free agency, rather than the original plan which was to execute a trade using the Mets’ pitching depth. This certainly changes a lot for the team, who had several high end, team friendly options to build a trade around. But the...
For the better part of two months now, Sandy Alderson has been telling everyone about how impressed he is with Wilmer Flores and the prospect of him being the Mets everyday shortstop next season. Last week, he said about Flores’ defense that it’s not a disqualifier. “He did a nice job for us last year. Can he do that on a whole season basis? Offensively he got much better as...
This off-season, free agents that are extended qualifying offers by their current teams will be in store for a paycheck worth $15.3 million should they accept their offers. The figure was arrived at by averaging the 125 highest-paid players in a given season. The qualifying offer enables a team to either bring back a player that has spent the year on that team, or receive a bonus draft pick in...
Update 4:16: The Yankees have also acquired Martin Prado from the Diamondbacks, according to Jack Curry of the YES Network. Prado is batting .270/.317/.370 with five homers this season. Original Post: The Yankees have acquired Red Sox shortstop Stephen Drew, according to Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com. Drew, 31, signed a one-year deal with the Red Sox in late May. He is really struggling, hitting...
The Red Sox have reached an agreement with Stephen Drew, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports tweets that Drew is getting the pro-rated version of the qualifying offer of $14.1 million on a one-year deal. That comes to roughly $10 million for the rest of the season. MLB Trade Rumors points out that because Drew won’t be on Boston’s roster for the entire season, he’ll...
During a commercial break on my sports talk show a well-known New York sportswriter said to me, you know what’s wrong with Roberto Alomar? He has stage fright. It was July 2002. The New York Mets were in the middle of a free-fall. Alomar was being booed relentlessly. Stage fright? I thought as I put my headphones on for the next segment. Then, I forgot about it — until now. What the...
A friend of Stephen Drew called the Mets’ chances of getting Drew “very slim” as it becomes more obvious agent Scott Boras is willing to wait until after the season begins to sign his client, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post. This is the first thing I’ve read that actually makes any sense regarding this situation. While earlier reports had Scott Boras threatening to have Drew...
