Mets Morning News: Let's play two! (at the same time)

Meet the Mets

One week from today the Mets 2013 season will begin, and we will have at least six straight months of real baseball to talk about. However, until then we have games where the most exciting thing that happened was one A-ball hitter driving in another A-ball hitter (well at least to me, I'm weird that way). The Mets played two yesterday, half the team sticking around in St. Lucie to get beat up by the Tigers, while the other half mounted a furious comeback to best the Cardinals in Jupiter.

Matt Harvey started the home game and immediately made an impression, striking out Austin Jackson, Torii Hunter, and Miguel Cabrera in the first inning with filthy, filthy stuff. Harvey struggled some with his location after that, reminding us that he is still a work in progress. Granted, a work in progress that might have a 92 mph slider-like thing. Aaron Laffey got roughed up in his start in St. Louis and afterwards was reassigned to the minor lague side along with Travis d'Arnaud, Brian Bixler, and Brandon Hicks.

But the big news from yesterday is the injury to Mets prospect Matt den Dekker. Den Dekker had wowed with the glove this Spring, and probably still had a slim shot of making the team out of camp, but he landed awkwardly on his glove hand trying to make a leaping catch and had to leave the game. The injury was thought just to be a bruised wrist at first, but x-rays showed a break, and den Dekker will head to New York for further evaluation.

While den Dekker will be out for the forseeable future, David Wright and Daniel Murphy are both still targeting Opening Day for their return. Murphy got some action in a minor league spring training game yesterday, and went 1-2 with a BB while playing five innings at second base. Expect Murphy to stay in minor league camp for the next few days at least, as once he plays in a major league spring training game, the Mets can no longer backdate a potential DL stint.

Best PR man in the business? Best PR man in the business.

Here's a closer look at Amazin' Avenue's #12 Mets prospect, Jacob deGrom. DeGrom will probably be sticking around St. Lucie to start this season, but he has the stuff to move quickly.

And Faith and Fear in Flushing has a preview of the Mets outfield. Outfield Avenue is everywhere people, you can't possibly hope to stop it now.

Yesterday at AA

Brock Mahan reminded us that not every day in Mets history can be a winner.

Around MLB

The Yankees traded for Vernon Wells. This is not a drill, people. The Angels will eat 35 of the remaining 48 million dollars left on his contract, but that does still mean the Yankees will be paying 13 million dollars over two years for Vernon Wells. But LOLMets, right?

Consensus #1 prospect Jurickson Profar will start 2013 in AAA. I guess this means lots of late nights for Baseball Prospectus' Jason Parks, as he will be wistfully watching Round Rock Express games on MiLB.tv. #want

Cole Hamels will be featured on the packaging for Big League Chew. In a world exclusive, Amazin' Avenue has obtained a leaked copy of the design they will be using.

Grant Brisbee fears no man but Yasiel Puig.

Amazin' Avenue is taking over the internet. First, Bill Petti looked into Bill James contention that groundball pitchers get injured more than flyball pitchers. And Eno Sarris joined Carson Cistulli for a chat on FanGraphs Audio.

Finally, Beyond the Box Score attempts to quantify the most disciplined hitters in baseball. They could have just named this the Luis Castillo award.