Mets Morning News: Rain On Thursday, Atchison Pitching With Torn Ligament

Spring training is underway, but not much got done yesterday due to the weather. Hopefully there aren't too many more days disrupted like yesterday, as the Mets' first Grapefruit League game is just over a week away.

Zack Wheeler comes into spring training this season in a very similar spot to the one Matt Harvey was in just a year earlier. They have lockers right next to each other, and it sounds like Harvey has been giving Wheeler some advice. While Wheeler will almost certainly start the season in Las Vegas, I think most would be pretty shocked if he wasn't pitching in Flushing at some point this year.

Scott Atchison seems like a guy who should have been able to find a major-league deal somewhere, as he's been relatively effective for the bulk of his time in the majors. It turns out he's got a torn elbow ligament that he's been pitching with for quite a while, which really helps to explain why he keeps being overlooked for other options.

Mets.com has a piece about Travis d'Arnaud striving for greatness on their front page at the moment. I really can't wait for games to get going again.

Baseball Nation has a whole storystream devoted to the Mike Piazza book, so if you don't want to read it yourself, just check in with that from time to time.

Yesterday at AA

We continued our Top 50 Mets list with Bret Saberhagen.

David looked back at Valentine's Day in Mets' history, and February 14 brought us both Jose Lima and Livan Hernandez during the Omar Minaya era.

Around Baseball

While the Red Sox probably made a mistake by signing John Lackey (although not as big a mistake as signing Jason Bay), they definitely did something right with the clause pertaining to an elbow injury. The Mariners have a similar option on Felix Hernandez, an option that takes an awful lot of risk out of that deal. That Johan Santana deal would look a whole lot better with a ultra cheap 2014 coming.

Marc Normandin took a look at Mike Giancarlo Stanton, Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, and PECOTA yesterday. That's three players that might outperform the entire Mets' outfield by themselves in 2013.

The Rockies acquired utility infielder Reid Brignac yesterday, while the Twins signed reliever Rafael Perez.