So it seems that in addition to more money ever paid to any player in any sport ever, Juan Soto gets possession of No. 22 written into his contract. Rules in the new CBA state players aren’t supposed to switch numbers without alerting the league office well in advance or by acquiring the inventory of materials bearing that combination of name and number, so there’s a further outlay Steve Cohen must make to erase the retail existence of Brett Baty.
They’ll probably trade him is the prevailing belief; if it gets the pitching help we still need I’d be in favor but we can’t lose sight of his being a top prospect only a short time ago who tore it up in AAA last year. And if the Mets don’t manage to re-sign Pete Alonso, there’s a strong argument to make him the third baseman and move Vientos to first base. Matt argues for reassigning Baty in 25 below, that seems OK to me.
So Juan Soto, huh? This reminds me of a few things–one is that we’ve finally struck back at the Phillies’ signing of Bryce Harper; another is 24 years ago when the Alex Rodriguez contract broke baseball. It was a long time before any deal surpassed his, and it seems like the Mets just did the same thing.
Catching up with other moves, Frankie Montas has worn 47 throughout his career and will step into that here with Joey Lucchesi gone. Jose Siri (No. 22 with Tampa Bay) will be shopping for a new number. And No. 35 is available for Clay Holmes, who also came from the Yankees.
Finally congrats to David Wright, who will be getting his number retired next summer. Let’s hope it’s the last for a long time. many of you probably know I’m a “small hall” guy when it comes to number retirement and a little uncomfortable with how freely to Mets have been distributing that honor. I’d much prefer the team Hall of Fame get some attention and player number issued with more awareness of history. Don’t issue 16 or 17 or 18 to any guy, but reserve it for the special ones.
All that said Wright totally deserves what’s coming to him–because players like him don’t come around very often. Retired numbers should be the same thing.
I hope Pete Alonso is back. I like him! I know he’s limited–he basically does one thing well and he didn’t do that as well as he should have last year. Who knows what will happen.
No instead it’s Luisangel Acuna getting the call (and the start!) today, playing shortstop instead of Francisco Lindor whose consecutive-game streak is ending. I don’t believe Acuna is here for injury but to pinch run. Given he OPSed all of .654 in triple A its not the bat you want out there.
As I’d 
And who’s to say they can’t? Mark Vientos, whom I’d once dismissed as a discount-store Giancarlo Stanton, is hitting for average and power; Francisco Lindor is having an MVP year and the role-players and reserves are all doing their jobs. The scrap-heap starting rotation has also been good and the bullpen after a few turns of the soil has also come through most nights. And don’t look now but Carlos Mendoza is a manager of the year candidate even after that awful start.
Pablo Reyes was the only new callup when rosters expanded (they don’t expand like they used to). He was issued No. 26.
Until he broke out with three hits last night, I was worried about Nimmo who wasn’t even sprinting to first on walks with the same gusto. And if you stayed up late last night you also saw Paul Blackburn make his debut, wearing No. 58 and ringing up his WHIP score with guys on base every inning. He persevered though, with the help of a couple DPs and generally wasn’t hit hard.
The other night it was Huascar Brazoban making his Mets debut, wearing R.A. Dickey’s former 43. Tyler Zuber has been assigned No. 54 but is still in the minors.
One way the Mets made room for the new guys was cashing out Jake Diekman and Adrian Houser, trading Josh Walker to Pittsburgh and Cole Sulser to Tampa Bay and releasing Ty Adcock. Will Adam Ottavino survive the pending return of Sean Reid-Foley and Reed Garrett?
I like it too. Winker is a good hitter, especially vs. right handed pitching, can steal bases, and play the outfield better than DJ Stewart, whom I’m afraid is about to lose his job. Who knows, maybe Stewart is in the package. Winker is also a colorful performer so some new energy on the team sounds like second-half fun. Ryne Stanek also matches that description; the Mets made it official by the way and gave him 55.
I wouldn’t have guessed two months ago the Mets would be in a position to buy and not sell at the trade deadline, or that they stood any chance of reeling in the Braves in the standings, or any of that and here we are. It’s important not to forget this Mets team has also demonstrated it is capable of awful of stretches of baseball so I’m keeping my expectations in check. Next goal: 10 games over .500.
Stanek has worn 45, 55 and 35 in his career. I saw a mockup of him in 65 with the Mets. That’s available, but so is 55, 85, 95 and 35, now that Adrian Houser has been kicked off the 40. That move came as Kodai Senga returned, however briefly collapsing in a heap near the mound like he was Ike Davis or something.
I found it a little presumptuous at first for Phil Maton to walk in, take 88 off the back of coach Mike Sarbaugh, then go out there and be the first guy ever to wear 88 in a game in Mets history. Then I found out Maton has a demonstrated fondness for 88 since having it issued to him as a Padre, and that he was friendly with Sarbaugh from their time together in the Indians’ organization. Sarbaugh by the way is now suited up in 86.
Who knows with the bullpen but I’m glad we’re making some choices beyond the Tyler Jay, Ty Adcock, Danny Young and Matt Festa rotation. Also, great to see Jose Butto doing his thing only now in relief. He’s got some bulldog in him. The other guy to look out for (perhaps) is Shintaro Fujinami, who struck a buncha guys out wearing 19 in Spring Training. He might come back with Kodai Senga, who knows.
On the mound there’s Ty Adcock, who was given No. 52. Tyler Jay (74) is back and we were unfortunate enough to make acquaintances with Matt Festa, who stunk it up wearing No. 73 tonight. Gone are Edwin Diaz, popped for a stupid sticky-stuff violation that is hurting the entire team. Sean-Reid Foley has been out since June 22 with shoulder trouble, and Drew Smith out since June 24 with elbow issues.
Now he’s gone, and so is Tomas Nido, a forgotten man in the catcher scrum until resurfacing briefly this year. Here’s a fun piece of trivia you might have forgotten in the seven years that Nido’s been a Met: He started off his career wearing No. 77, in September of 2017.
There’s a lot to talk about since my last update including the City Connect unis (should have used more 7-train purple, don’t like the hats but better than I feared they’d be) the “new” black look (terrible), the new guys (the miraculous Luis Torrens and the dazzling Jose Iglesias), and the old guys (Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden, rocketed to eternity). Then there’s the whole month-of-May thing where it’s plausible the Mets might not have won any games and it seemed at times our rookie manager, whom I liked in April, was getting in over his head.
Take Jerry Grote. He’s a Met Hall of Famer who passed away in April, and the the Mets haven’t done a thing to remember him, beyond (I assume) a pregame scoreboard video. Yet there’s a patch for Grote’s longtime teammate and fellow Mets Hall of Famer Bud Harrelson there.
Back to Iglesias for a moment: I was surprised he didn’t come north with the team in March and it was obvious a versatile infielder who could actually play the infield belonged on the team. Now he’s getting starts ahead of Jeff McNeil who looks like he’s getting the Daniel Vogelbach Treatment. I was also mildly surprised to see them cut ties with Omar Narvaez, despite his performance, being a David Stearns Milwaukee stock.