It All Begins Again

I'm excited by the return of baseball this week, with the opportunity that 2023 represents for the Mets to continue to turn the page on their past struggles and build something special.

Spring training officially begins for the New York Mets this Wednesday. I've always looked forward to the day pitchers and catchers officially report, even in years when I knew the Mets wouldn't be very good. These days it feels more special, knowing that the Mets are heading into action with a powerful ballclub that will likely repeat as a playoff team this year. Think about that for a minute because that hasn't at all been common for this franchise. The Tom Seaver-led Mets of the 60s and 70s never did it. The powerful Keith Hernandez/Gary Carter mid-to-late-1980s juggernaut never appeared back-to-back in those pre-Wildcard days. Indeed, they only made two playoff appearances during that entire run. A late-season collapse in 2007 doomed the David Wright/Carlos Beltrán edition from accomplishing that rare feat.

Here Comes the Sun

Spring training is mere weeks away now, with longer, warmer days and exciting New York Mets baseball soon to follow.

While we all await the final resolution of the Carlos Correa saga, we're rapidly approaching the start of spring training. I've always enjoyed the return of baseball, even in years when I knew the Mets would stink. Of course, that's hardly the case for 2023. Although there are indeed questions about a Mets roster full of new faces, including many older ballplayers, it will be a great team to watch — no matter who is manning third base. Although it will undoubtedly be more fun if the Mets and Correa can come to terms.

How Much Is Enough?

The Mets did so much to improve this off-season. Is it terribly greedy to wish they had done just a little more?

We're just over two weeks away from the New York Mets' season opener in Washington on April 7. With only 3 exhibition games under their belts, the Mets really don't have much time to prepare for games that count. The offense hasn't looked very good in the early going, beyond a flurry of home runs in the first game.

A Very Early Look at Mets Position Players

When last I posted here, I took an early look at the Mets pitching*. This included the additions of Chris Bassitt and Adam Ottavino, but still pending the almost certain addition of at least one late-inning caliber lefty. Today we'll move on to the position players, whose ranks have been substantially overhauled this off-season. Eduardo Escobar will be picking up most of the 3B ABs this year, while Starling Marte and Mark Canha will be joining lone holdover Brandon Nimmo in the outfield. Barring a last-minute change of course, Michael Conforto will not be returning after seven mostly solid seasons in New York.

A Very Early Look at the Mets' Pitching

The weather here in Southern New England continues to be typical for this time of year: schizophrenically shifting back and forth between winter and spring. One day I was wearing shorts when I took my dogs for a walk with the temperature around 60. The next, I looked out of my window at about an inch of snow on the ground. While this weather can play havoc with my personal plans, it has no effect whatsoever on the New York Mets' preparation for the 2022 season that is underway down in Port St. Lucie. This weekend, the Mets have made some significant moves to bolster their chances of contending for a playoff spot this season.

Winter Is Over!

I was out taking my dogs for a walk when the news came over my phone that the MLB lockout is over. At first, I wondered if it was some sort of hoax. More than once in recent months, some joker's tweet that Rob Manfred had resigned was solemnly passed to me as fact by Google news. But today's news was verified by multiple news sources I could trust. Baseball is really back — pending, of course, ratification by both sides. Fingers crossed, but it seems pretty unlikely that either side would welcome the bad publicity sure to accrue to whoever chose to renege on this deal.

Play Ball!

The Mets finished their spring training schedule today in a rather fitting manner for games that don't count, their game against the Cardinals ending in a 3-3 tie. The next time they play will be Thursday night in Washington to open the season. That game will be telecast only on ESPN, which is a real shame. I know that quite a few Mets games are likely to wind up on national tv. I'm not going to whine about each and every one of them. However, it really is regretful that the ESPN circus is taking Opening Day away from Mets fans. I guess I should be grateful that Alex Rodriguez will be in the broadcast booth and not the owner's box.

Some Early Thoughts on Mets Starting Pitching

As a lifelong baseball fan, I always look forward to the start of spring training. This year, of course, was extra special. The combination of the Wilpons exiting the scene and the deep roster the Mets have built over the offseason has led to increased expectations. It was cool over the last few weeks to see it all come together on a playing field, even if the games didn't really count. But, at least for me, we're now at the point of spring training where the thrill is decidedly gone. Although not every question has been fully answered, we have a pretty good idea of what players the club will take north with them. Any questions still lingering about the 2021 Mets will require real games for the answers to be revealed.

Stumbling Toward the Light

As I wrote yesterday, I'm going to shy away from writing prediction pieces for the season. I've seen too many springs where a player was absolutely en fuego, only to watch those flames quickly die out once the games start counting. I've also seen players look as just plain awful as Jeff McNeil has this spring, only to see the player rebound just fine in the regular season. And, while I think prediction algorithms are good for sparking entertaining discussion and debate, I don't put much stock in how they foresee the season going. There are just too many variables once the season gets underway to allow myself to get excited that PECOTA is bullish on the Mets' chances.

Spring Fever Dreams

Today is the first day of spring. It's always among my favorite days of the year. Although I tolerate winter pretty well, I'm absolutely not a winter enthusiast. This day always feels significant to me, even though Mother Nature often doesn't show much respect for the Vernal Equinox here in the northeast. The weather gods have been generous in 2021, giving spring a warm and sunny Opening Day after a few cold, blustery days leading up to it. Even my two dogs have taken note of the upgraded meteorological conditions, giving up cherished couch time to enjoy the warm sunshine in the yard.

The Bullpen Is Still a Work in Progress

There's been much discussion in the local media about some of the Mets' relievers this spring. This isn't surprising, as the bullpen is probably the biggest question mark for the club in the early going. The questions run from closer Edwin Díaz on down, but one of the biggest questions is certainly who will be the most frequently used late-inning setup men. Only Trevor May and Aaron Loup look like locks for those jobs currently, while many other candidates jockey for the other slots.

Marcus Stroman Was Impressive in His Spring Debut

I'm not one to make too much of spring training appearances for pitchers. Often in spring games, pitchers are working on getting ready for the season rather than concentrating strictly on getting outs. For instance, if he's working on sharpening his slider, he's going to throw it a lot, even if the hitters are looking for it. Early on in the spring, batters are still searching for their timing, which may allow a hurler to get away with pitches that will be sent into deep orbit once the season starts. As tempting as it is, when I am watching spring games, I try to get more general impressions of players' performances and stay away from reading too much into stat lines.

Spring Training Thoughts

When you have a team that's been together for a while, with most of the key players returning, spring training becomes boring fairly quickly. That's certainly not the deal with the Mets this season. Two, possibly three, members of the starting rotation are brand new to the club. In the field, there will be a new catcher, shortstop, and a rebuilt bench. There will be new guys in the bullpen this season as well.

The coaching staff has undergone some changes, too. Dave Jauss is replacing Hensley Meulens as bench coach, Tony Tarasco replacing Tony DeFrancesco as first base coach (an exchange of Tonys, if you will), and hitting coach Chili Davis doing his job in person rather than remotely this season.

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.

No Free Pass for Luis Rojas This Time Around

Tim Britton had a good profile of Mets manager Luis Rojas up on The Athletic earlier this week. All in all, Rojas endured a strange year in his first season on the job. It started with Carlos Beltran resigning as manager three weeks before spring training started, thanks to the Astros sign stealing scandal. That spring training came to a screeching halt, but not before it was revealed that his second-best pitcher Noah Syndergaard needed Tommy John surgery. Then, after we all sat around for a few months, waiting to see if there would be a baseball season in 2020, everything ramped up way too quickly for the weird 60-game season that followed. Before that season even began, his now second-best pitcher Marcus Stroman opted out of the season. The abbreviated slate of games was barely underway when his star player, Yoenis Céspedes, also opted out in a manner that was equally poorly handled by the player and the club. To put a cherry on top of it all, Rojas was given a roster, particularly the pitching staff, which proved woefully inadequate, and Brodie Van Wagenen did a poor job of juggling the useful pieces the Mets did possess.

More Baseball, Less Drama Please

I woke up this morning with a smile on my face. For a baseball nerd, the first day of training camp is always special. Sure, after a couple of weeks, spring training gets boring. You find yourself pining for the regular season to start. But this year, with so many new faces around, even the spring games will be more fun than usual. In any case, it's not just about baseball coming back. As I get older, I find myself with drastically diminishing patience for winter to pack up and ship out. The start of spring training offers an early promise that warm weather will eventually return to the icy northeast. With another crappy weather forecast for tomorrow, you take all of the hope you can find.

At the Gates of Spring

It's hard not to feel the excitement of baseball returning this week, even amidst the still-ongoing concerns about COVID-19. Mets pitchers and catchers will report Wednesday, while the position players will be in camp a week from Monday. While Acting GM Zack Scott has indicated that the Mets are not done improving their roster, it will still be a blast to see the team they've assembled so far over the offseason. A new era of Mets baseball truly began when Steve Cohen took over the team in October and handed the keys to Sandy Alderson, but it will all start to get real this week.

Spring Feels a Long Way Off

I'm still working through some health issues, but I thought I'd check back in on some of the Mets- and baseball-related topics. I'll stay away from Trevor Bauer for now, as I've already said my piece on the guy. If the Mets sign him, I'll root for it all to turn out well. If they don't — well, if you read my other piece, you can probably guess that I won't be heartbroken. Either way, I learned a long time ago not to live or die based on decisions that the team you root for makes. You only hope that they operate in a way that makes sense, and only time will tell on this current Mets' brain trust. The one thing that I do feel strongly about is that hope this Bauer pursuit comes to an end one way or the other very soon, because a) it's been going on for too freaking long and b) I think it's holding up the other personnel moves the Mets need to make before the season starts.

Sandlot

Although I enjoy living in the northeast and experiencing all four seasons, I'm not really a winter person by nature. By the time February rolls around, I'm more than ready for winter to be over. Back in February of 2006, during my first year of blogging, I spent a Sunday morning watching snow pile up outside of my house. Spring training was about to begin. My mind was filled with thoughts of warm summer days and baseball, in a year the Mets finally seemed poised to compete for the playoffs. I wrote a post for my blog, then I had to come back to the wintry reality and go out and shovel the nearly two feet of snow that had fallen.