Mets Morning News: St. Lucie, here we come!

Meet the Mets

The Mets packed up their equipment trucks for the trip down to St. Lucie on Monday.

There’s still no timetable for the return of Yoenis Cespedes.

Brodie Van Wagenen is happy with the Mets’ upgrades this offseason.

Matt Ehalt says that for all Van Wagenen has done, it’s what he (and by extension the Wilpons) didn’t do, in signing Manny Machado or Bryce Harper, that may come back to haunt the Mets.

MLB Trade Rumors took a look at the Mets’ 2019 payroll.

Several veteran starters still remain on the market if the Mets are looking to add to their rotation.

Get ready to hear more about Jacob deGrom’s contract.

Around the National League East

The Phillies are standing behind Gabe Kapler after two reports linked him to potentially mishandled sexual assault cases while he was in charge of minor league personnel for the Dodgers.

The Nationals revealed their promotions for the 2019 season, including an “Obi-Sean Kenobi” bobblehead.

The Marlins traded Nick Wittgren to the Indians.

Around Major League Baseball

The LA County Coroner’s office has ruled that Linda Goldbloom’s death was due to blunt force trauma from being struck in the head by a baseball at a Dodgers game last season, making her just the third fan to die from such an injury in MLB history. She is the second fan to die from such an injury at Dodgers Stadium.

Francisco Liriano has signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Jerry Blevins got a minor league deal with the Oakland A’s.

Tom Ricketts has attempted to distance himself and the Cubs from a series of deeply racist emails written by and shared by his father, Joe Ricketts, the former Chairman of TD Ameritrade, and the man who fronted the money for the Ricketts family’s purchase of the Cubs.

Pitcher Joe Smith and his wife, basketball reporter Allie LaForce, are hoping a new form of in vitro fertilization, which utilizes genetic testing, will help them to avoid passing on the genes for Huntington’s Disease carried by Joe to their children.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

Steve Sypa revealed the prospects who almost made it onto his Top 25 Mets Prospects of 2019 list.

This Date in Mets History

Today is the birthday of the original owner of the Mets, Joan Whitney Payson, a trailblazer, and the first woman to ever buy an MLB franchise.