Mets Morning News: So many injuries. So. Many.

Meet the Mets

The Mets lost 11-4 to the Cardinals yesterday afternoon. Lucas Duda provided all of the offense for the Mets, going 3-for-4 and launching his fifth home run of the spring. Unfortunately, the injury parade rolled through Port St. Lucie once again as Jeremy Hefner was felled by a Carlos Beltran one-hopper off of his pitching elbow. Luckily, the righty seems to have avoided major injury.

As if Hefner's injury wasn't enough, the team's starting pitching depth sustained two more blows. Shaun Marcum looks likely to start the year on the DL after neck stiffness scratched him from his next Grapefruit League outing. Aaron Laffey will take Marcum's spot if another starter is needed. Jenrry Mejia, meanwhile, hasn't pitched since March 11th and will be shut down for two weeks with elbow inflammation and may not pitch for six weeks. There was some good news: David Wright played in a minor-league game, getting five at bats without incident.

Pedro Feliciano has accepted his minor-league assignment to Triple-A Las Vegas, where he'll go to prove that he can get guys out at 83 MPH. With the team having to clear some room on the 40-man roster to add players on minor-league deals in the next week, Adam Rubin reports that the team is looking to trade some farmhands.

Toby Hyde's Top 41 prospect list looks at a pair of guys who are far away but feature some upside. Toby also looked into the implications of Matt den Dekker's wrist injury. The short version: it's not good.

With just two more spring training contests on tap, the B-Mets topped the Springfield Cardinals by the score of 6-2 on the strength of a two-hit game from from Joe Bonfe, including a two-run single in the ninth. Starter Logan Verrett surrendered two runs in the opening frame but followed with four more shutout innings.

If you think the 2013 outfield is going to be the worst ever, it's probably not going to be the worst in Mets' history, let alone the worst ever.

Sandy Alderson's sticking with his long term vision despite fans getting antsy. The GM's long term vision includes Zack Wheeler, who shouldn't be promoted before the Mets gain an extra year of control.

Finally, the Mets signed Tim Teufel's son Shawn Teufel, a lefty pitcher, to a minor-league deal.

Around the Majors

The Blue Jays optioned former ace Ricky Romero down to High-A Dunedin to fix some issues. Ouch.

A new book says that former Phillie Lenny Dykstra is a sexist, racist, sexual deviant, and one of the biggest low lifes you'll ever come across. Yes, former Phillie.

It sounds like there's a good chance Nolan Ryan leaves the Rangers.

Spring training is great for players' bank accounts, as they don't have to pay tax on money that they make during this time.

At FanGraphs, our own Eno Sarris gives you a reason to be skeptical of spring training stats, while Grant Brisbee at Baseball Nation gives you a whole list of reasons.

The Phillies' triple-A team will feature urinal gaming in the stadium's restrooms. Yeah, really.

Yesterday At AA

Chris McShane writes that it makes sense to keep Zack Wheeler and Travis d'Arnaud down in Triple-A Las Vegas through April.

David Moseder looks back at March 26 in Mets' history.