Still Work to Be Done with the Mets

While much has been accomplished this season to improve the Mets' roster, there still remains work to do.

Over their first 52 games, the New York Mets gave us many reasons to believe that they've come a long way towards the goal of being a legitimate contender. Then they traveled west to Los Angeles. While apparently dealing with the pervasive smell of "rat urine" in the visitor facilities, they've also spent a couple of games learning that they still have some distance to go if they hope to compete with the best teams this fall.

The Mets Can't Just Cross Their Fingers Waiting for McCann to Return

James McCann's wrist injury means the Mets just took a hit at their most vulnerable position.

The Mets have just suffered a serious injury setback with the news that catcher James McCann suffered a fractured hamate bone in his left wrist and will miss around 6 weeks. The lack of depth at catcher has been a concern since the spring, and 6 weeks is a large chunk of the baseball season. McCann wasn't producing much offensively but seemed to be coming around a bit before this injury.

The Rat Made Him Do It

Francisco Lindor finally came through with a huge hit for the Mets to get them back even in a game that seemed all but lost in the second inning. Then the Mets managed to win the damn thing in extras, bringing their record back over .500 for the first time since April 25. Patrick Mazeika, a 27-year-old rookie who was the last position player on the bench, got the game-winner by staying alive long enough to tap a fair ball slowly enough for Pete Alonso to score from third. (Alonso got a terrific jump on the play for which he deserves credit. You don't have to be fast to be a good baserunner.) All of this, along with some good relief pitching and heads-up defense, should be the story of the Mets stirring 10-inning win over the Arizona Diamondbacks last night, but instead, all of the post-game oxygen seems to have been taken up by a phantom rodent.

I'm a James McCann Fan Already

I remember over the winter when the New York Mets elected to sign James McCann to a surprisingly large 4-year deal rather than wait out J.T. Realmuto. As the offseason got underway, McCann was basically seen as the consolation prize for a team that didn't sign Realmuto. While Realmuto was arguably the top free-agent position player and a lock for a 9-figure contract, the speculation was that a team could get McCann on a 2-, maybe 3-year deal. In actuality, it took a 4-year deal to lock down the catcher who will celebrate his 31st birthday in June. The Mets will be paying McCann $12 million for the final year of the deal — his age 34 season when presumably he won't be the Mets starting catcher.

Breaking With the Past

Yesterday, I started writing a piece on the opening of spring training. I had a bad cold that limited me to a few short hours of heavily interrupted sleep, but I sat at my computer for a couple of hours and knocked out several paragraphs of thoughts. At the time, I felt like I had an excellent start. I took a couple of hours off. By the time I sat down again, I still felt tired but was also more clear-headed. I read through the words that I had written earlier, and I'm pretty sure that the look on my face was reminiscent of Edvard Munch's famous painting. I decided that, while it felt a little like slacking off to not post something on the first official day of workouts for the whole squad, it was the right move to table those thoughts for a day. So, belatedly, some thoughts on the opening act of the first Mets squad of the post-Wilpon era.