Gio Gonzalez Signs With Brewers

24 Apr

Gio Gonzalez
NYPost.com:

On a day the Mets trot out Jason Vargas to the mound, a potential replacement fades away.

Gio Gonzalez is signing a one-year, $2 million deal with the Brewers, The Athletic first reported Wednesday. It’s a major league deal that also includes performance bonuses. It’ll be a reunion for the free-agent starter, who came to Milwaukee in a deadline deal from Washington last offseason.

Milwaukee reportedly was more attractive than other suitors because he can slot right into the rotation, whereas the Mets may have wanted him out of the bullpen, too.

The Mets, according to The Post’s Mike Puma, viewed Gonzalez as a marginal upgrade at best over Vargas. They did not want to eat his money if he flopped.

My guess is that with the Mets in first 1st place and deGrom’s MRI coming back ok, there just isn’t a pressing need to sign a starting pitcher.

Amed Rosario Is Currently The Mets Only Shortstop

22 Apr

Amed Rosario
NYPost.com:

Amed Rosario has five errors in his past five games, but the Mets shortstop shouldn’t expect a day off anytime soon.

“We don’t have another shortstop, so he’s not getting a day,” manager Mickey Callaway said after the Mets fell to the Cardinals 6-4 Sunday at Busch Stadium. “No, he’s fine.”

Rosario’s first of two fielding errors Sunday was the more costly. It came on a weak ground ball from Cardinals pitcher Dakota Hudson in the bottom of the second as Rosario couldn’t field it cleanly, loading the bases with one out in a 1-1 game. Two batters later, Paul Goldschmidt cracked a two-run single and the Cardinals led the rest of the way.

I assume that this is why we picked up Jed Lowrie in the off-season, but he’s still on the DL. I’m also of the feeling that Rosario’s errors contributed heavily to Steven Matz’s horrible last start where the Phillies scored 10 runs in the first. If Rosario’s fielding woes continue, the Mets will really be in trouble.

Jacob deGrom Should Have The MRI

20 Apr


ESPN.com:

Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom says his elbow felt better Saturday, one day after the team had said he would return to New York for an MRI.

Manager Mickey Callaway said deGrom now may not need to have the MRI, but will be checked out by the team’s medical staff when the Mets return to New York on Monday.

On Friday, the Mets said the reigning Cy Young Award winner would be placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Tuesday. DeGrom was scratched from his Saturday start against the Cardinals.

“It’s just a little sore,” deGrom said in St. Louis after throwing in the outfield.

I mean, why take any risks? Just get an MRI to be on the safe side.

The Calendar Dictates That Edwin Diaz Shouldn’t Be Used For More Than An Inning

16 Apr

Edwin Diaz
It’s funny how this little controversy surrounding Edwin Diaz possibly having some sort of ‘mandate’ that says that Mickey Callaway can’t use him for more than an inning, wouldn’t have even mattered other night if Jeurys Familiar had just done his job as a set-up man and yunno, gotten some outs instead of getting in trouble and again putting runners on base, thus forcing the manager to take him out of the game. But then too, regardless of it being a division rival, do we really want our closer coming in for 4 outs during a game that takes place in April? Or should Callaway and the GM think about the wear and tear of the long season still ahead and use Diaz diligently? I for one, prefer the latter.

Mets Should Give Jason Vargas The Matt Harvey Treatment

15 Apr

You can’t be a Mets fan and not want Dallas Keuchel on your team instead of the anemic Jason Vargas. That being said, Vargas has only had two starts this season, one of which was against the defending NL-East champion Braves (in which he was horrible) and a quality start against the Marlins in which he gave up 2 runs in 5 innings. Vargas also pitched an inning in relief against the Twins that saw him also stink up the joint by allowing 4 runs. That’s 3 outings altogether, 6.1 innings, a 1-0 W-L record and a 14.21 ERA. Yeah, Vargas has for the most part been incredibly bad, but the Mets went into this season hoping that Vargas would continue pitching to the promise he displayed in the 2nd half of last year. So they’re not going to give on him after only 3 outings, no matter what free agent is still out there. It also helps Vargas’ case that the team has gotten off to a nice start to the new season, being only a half-game out of 1st place. Then too, it took 8 outings and 4 bad starts for the Mets to give up on Matt Harvey last year. I think it’s only fair that Vargas, unless the team goes on a major losing streak, gets the same opportunity.

As for Vargas’ appearance in this now infamous interview that took place after the Braves loss…I got him looking like Jerry Springer than anyone else.

Wally Backman Defends Lenny Dykstra in Racial Slur Fight

8 Apr

Dykstra Backman Darling
NYPost.com:

Score one for Team Dykstra.

Wally Backman became the latest former Met to chime in on the feud between Lenny Dykstra and Ron Darling over whether Dykstra shouted racial slurs at Red Sox pitcher Oil Can Boyd from the on-deck circle during the 1986 World Series, as Darling claims he did.

Dykstra has vehemently denied the allegation while former teammates Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden and Kevin Mitchell, along with Boyd, have all said they did not hear his comments. Keith Hernandez, meanwhile, said he saw Dykstra “barking” at Boyd, but did not hear the alleged insults.

Backman was adamant the episode never happened.

“The fact of the matter is I [was] standing right besides Lenny on the on-deck circle before that game,” said Backman, the former minor-league Mets manager now in charge of the Long Island Ducks. “If something like that would have happened, if something would have been said, I would have said something to him at that time. But I’ve known Lenny a long time and I know for a fact — on my kids’ life — he did not say that.”

The evidence on both sides has been weighed and I think it’s pretty clear on who the winner is. Darling should apologize and admit he got it wrong.

Should the Mets Sign Dallas Keuchel?

7 Apr

Dallas Keuchel
TheScore.com:

Dallas Keuchel remains a free agent over a week into the regular season, and now his contract demands are emerging.

One executive spoke to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, and he’s under the impression the left-hander is seeking a one-year contract for more than the $17.9-million qualifying offer Keuchel rejected from the Houston Astros, or he’ll take a long-term deal at a lower salary.

It’s not clear if any team is offering him either of those options, according to Rosenthal.

Keuchel’s already difficult free-agent journey has become even harder now that the season is in progress. Any deal he signs for the 2019 campaign would now be prorated based on when the veteran makes his regular-season debut.

Keuchel’s won a Cy Young and Jason Vargas can’t seem to be trusted to go longer than 5 innings. If it’s really just for a year, why not pay the man the money?

Brandon Nimmo Has Been Looking Awful

6 Apr

Brandon Nimmo
NYPost.com:

The most positive player in the Mets’ clubhouse is trying to stay that way.

But Brandon Nimmo doesn’t want to wait much longer to break out of his season-opening slump, which sunk to 2-for-23 at the plate after going 0-for-3 with a walk in Thursday’s 4-0 loss to the Nationals at Citi Field.

“I don’t want to overdo it, because it is just seven games in and I do have a lot of confidence that this is going to turn around, but obviously I look at the next game and I’m like, this is the game I want it to turn around,” Nimmo said. “I don’t want to wait for two weeks or whatever and be like, ‘Ah, it’s just a thing.’ The competitor in me wants it to happen now. I’m going to work as hard as I can for that right now.”

The Mets’ leadoff batter in six of their seven games — he got the night off Monday in Miami — Nimmo has struck out 14 times, the latest coming in the first inning Thursday against Stephen Strasburg. He wasn’t alone, as his teammates only picked up three hits off Strasburg and struck out 14 times as a team.

I know that it’s only been 7 games, but all those strikeouts Nimmo’s been racking up are really concerning and frankly speaking I don’t know if the Mets really have anyone else who can bat leadoff (Lagares?).

No One Has Corroborated Ron Darling’s Account Of Alleged Lenny Dykstra Racial Taunts

4 Apr


Not his broadcasting partner Keith Hernandez. Not Darryl Strawberry or Dwight Gooden or Kevin Mitchell. Not Oil Can Boyd. Not Wally Backman (who had to be right behind Dykstra as he was 2nd in the lineup that day). Not any former Red Sox or even a front-seat Sox fan who attended Game 3. No one.

RELATED: Ex-Met Darryl Strawberry takes sides in Ron Darling-Lenny Dykstra feud, calling 1 of them a liar

Lenny Dykstra Vows To Sue Ron Darling Over Book Alleging Racial Taunts During ’86 World Series

1 Apr

Ron Darling Lenny Dykstra
NJ.com:

Former baseball great Lenny Dykstra has vowed to sue former Mets pitcher Ron Darling Jr., who claims in a new book that Dykstra hurled racial slurs at Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd during Game 3 of the 1986 World Series.

Dykstra was a key player in that game, hitting a leadoff home run against Boyd in Fenway Park. The Mets would later win the series.

During Game 3, Dykstra shouted “every imaginable and unimaginable insult and expletive in (Oil Can’s) direction — foul, racist, hateful, hurtful stuff,” Ron Darling wrote in his book, “108 Stitches: Loose Threads, Ripping Yarns, and the Darndest Characters from My Time in the Game.” The book is due out Tuesday.

Like I alluded to earlier on Twitter, Dykstra has proven to be a lot of unsavory things since he retired from baseball, but I’ve never heard about him being a racist. Plus, Lenny had 4 black teammates on the ’86 Mets: Kevin Mitchell, Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden and Mookie Wilson. You think in 30-plus years, one of them would’ve said something about this alleged incident by now if was true? Hell, Mookie, Straw and Doc have each written books about their playing days, have done countless interviews and have attended many a reunion with each other (and with Lenny) and this is the first team we’re hearing about Dykstra supposedly yelling racial taunts at Oil Can Boyd. I’ve never heard of Boyd or anyone else out of Boston vouching for this story either. Yeah, Lenny Dykstra may be a nutcase, but that doesn’t make him a racist.