New York Mets Morning News: Dickey Has Book Deal, Byrdak Undergoes Surgery

There was no Mets game for us to tune into yesterday, but there was still plenty of news to discuss. We'll start in Florida, where the St. Lucie Mets season came to an unfortunate end last night. The Mets made a fantastic comeback against the Jupiter Hammerheads, but in the end they'd be eliminated from the FSL playoffs. That leaves the Brooklyn Cyclones as the lone Mets affiliate still alive in the playoffs.

There was some R.A. Dickey talk again yesterday as well. After earning his league leading 18th win, his fellow knuckleballers were talking up his candidacy for the NL Cy Young award. DIckey also penned a new deal, although this one is to write children's books.

Tim Byrdak finally went under the knife to repair his damaged shoulder. He seems confident that he'll pitch in the majors again, and I'm sure we'll all be wishing him the best.

Last year the Mets and MLB had a bit of a controversy when the Mets attempted to wear first responder caps on 9/11. The two sides have sorted out the situation in advance this season, and the Mets will wear the caps for all of their pre-game activities. When the game gets underway, they'll be wearing the standard cap.

Forbes had an article yesterday talking about the direction of the Mets. They came to the conclusion that things are trending in the right direction, and I have a hard time disagreeing.

Finally in Mets related news, Andy McCullough had some comments from a few executives from outside the Mets organization about the value of one of their players. The player in question? Jon Niese. I'd hate to see Niese traded, but if the Mets could get a legitimate impact hitting prospect I'd completely understand.

Yesterday at AA:

Colin McHugh has now pitched eleven innings at the major league level. Yesterday we had a look at McHugh using PITCHf/x.

Pack has again updated the top #50 Mets of all time. Number 43 on the list was kind enough to give us Ike Davis and Brad Holt as parting gifts.

We also had a look yesterday at the many times Larry Jones has homered against the Mets. Hopefully he's done with that sort of behavior.

Around MLB:

We'll start our look around baseball by having a peek at the rest of the division. The Braves were in action yesterday, and they managed a second consecutive 1-0 victory.

The Nats also won, sweeping the Cubs with a 9-2 victory. This game featured some clearing benches, and Davey Johnson had some things to say about the incidents. There was also more Stephen Strasburg talk, as he doesn't sound thrilled that he's being shut down.

The Marlins rounded out the winning ways of the division, beating the Brewers 6-2. Also worth noting, the artist formerly known as Leo Nunez had Tommy John surgery yesterday and is expected to miss the bulk of the 2013 season.

Brandon McCarthy underwent brain surgery yesterday after being struck in the head with a line drive. It sounds as if the surgery went well, and I'm sure all of us are wishing him the best.

The Orioles had a big night as well. First, they unveiled a statue of Cal Ripkin Jr. at Camden Yards. They'd then beat the Yankees 10-6 to jump back into a tie for first in the AL East. The AL playoff race is going to be fun to watch, isn't it?

Finally for today, Fangraphs took a look at who might be the most underrated player in baseball. He used to be a Met, so it should be fun reading.