Meet the Mets
Pitchers and catchers officially report to Port St. Lucie tomorrow. Stop for a second and savor that phrase in your mind. It's baseball season!
Sandy Alderson spoke to the media on Saturday about a range of topics, beginning with the status of David Wright. Sandy said that the team's decision on what to do with Wright will be independent of the team's record, since the Mets hold a 2013 option on him and can just keep him, unlike Carlos Beltran a year ago. Sandy also spoke about Johan Santana, player acquisitions and what to expect from the team's trio of pitching prospects at the major league level this year (Hint: not much).
Andy Martino presents five questions for the 2012 Mets as they head into spring training.
Scott Kazmir threw a bullpen session in front of scouts on Friday, although the Mets did not send one. Dave Lennon reports that the team just isn't interested in the lefty at this time.
Mr. Met had a cameo on 30 Rock a couple of days ago. Good to see that the acting career of everybody's favorite mascot is panning out. Now he just needs to get himself a speaking role.
Edit: Just saw this posted a little while ago and figured Mets fans might be interested in reading it--a great article on former Met Taylor Buchholz and his battle with depression.
Around the Majors
Closers with new addresses became sort of a theme this offseason and now they are ready to help their new teams. New Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon is ready to begin a new chapter in his career, while new Red Sox closer Andrew Bailey is ready to take over Papelbon.
Roy Oswalt is at the top of the class of free agents who are still looking for teams. I'll say it again, just in case Sandy reads this: we'd love to see him in the Mets rotation and he'd make great trade bait at the deadline. Just a suggestion.
Theo Epstein is working hard to develop the "Cubs Way", which is basically a guide for players in the organization to follow.
Finally, Adam Wainwright is back on the mound for the rebuilt Cardinals.