Young Love

Wearing No. 29, batting lefthanded, tall guy with some power–it’s not Ike Davis (or Dave Magadan). It’s Jared Young! A journeyman slugger from Canada, Young suddenly appeared as the regular DH one day and hasn’t stopped playing since (at least against right handers). I will give earwitness testimony that his home run in Citi Field on Tuesday was the loudest shot in an inning full of loud shots. He hits the ball hard.

It’d be foolish to think Young is a sudden everyday big leaguer after a nine-year career with parts of all of them in minors (save for one season in Korea) but he’s the first real upside surprise of 2025, at least on the offensive side, and that’s a good thing when your team is dragging around Francisco Alvarez and Mark Vientos. He really reminds me a bit of MBTN favorite Kelvin Torve, also a lefty minor-league vet who got off to a hot start in Queens.

Elsewhere on the transaction front we’ve seen a shuffling of back-end relief workers. At the moment, Chris Devinski (49) is back up with the Mets and Brandon Waddell (83) is down. Waddell got smacked around by the White Sox the other day but leaves the Mets with a lone lefty in the bullpen. Genesis Cabrera (92) and Jose Azocar (25), cashiered for Waddell and Young, respectively, refused to participate in another go-round in Syracuse and found themselves new employers. Cabrera signed with the Cubs and Azocar is with the Braves.

The next big shakeup for the Mets could come when the pitchers start returning from the disabled list. Paul Blackburn is expected today.

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Who is this Guy

Lacking experienced lefties now that AJ Minter and Danny Young are down for the count, the Mets traded Cahs Considerations to Arizona for Jose Castillo, an experienced lefty reliever.

Castillo had an 11.37 ERA in six innings with the Dbacks this year but a pretty good rookie season with the Padres in 2018. The Mets have given him No. 54. They sent Dedneil Nunez back to AAA to make room (literally, considering how plump he appears to have gotten).

That we have a chance to win the series in the Bronx tonight is pretty encouraging considering how much the offense has been struggling. I can’t believe we won the Pittsburgh series either.

Go Mets!

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Like a Broken Record

Once that minor-league reliever rotation starts it’s hard to stop but these Mets are making history along the way.

The most recent round of callups produced the first-ever 82 and 92 in team history. Brandon Waddell, a journeyman lefty showed up on my TV wearing No. 82, the same number he was assigned in spring training as a non-roster invitee. A couple of days later, another NRI lefty, Genesis Cabrera, showed up wearing the 92 he’d worn this spring.

The activity was part of a flurry of moves set into motion when AJ Minter went onto the injured list April 27 and intensified when Danny Young joined him there April 30. To make the Mets whole again they’ve since welcomed and/or sent back Waddell and Cabrara, plus Kevin Herget (57), Jose Urena (54, already a member of the Blue Jays), and Chris Devenski (49). Ty Adcock and Austin Warren were summoned but not used before being sent down. Adcock was assigned the same 52 he had last year; Warren held onto the 44 he had in spring).

Dedneil Nunez (72) returned in the meantime, looking rusty, and starting prospect Blade Tidwell was up and back wearing No. 40

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Max Power

So it turned out I was wrong about Paul Blackburn in more ways than one. Not only has he been a member of the organization since last July 30 when acquired in a  trade from Oakland, but he also wound up on the 15-day injured list and not on the opening day roster.

Instead there’s Max Kranick, who if you asked me seemed to a suspect for previous Mets experience but in fact never arrived last year despite all the Sulsers, Jays and Adcocks they ran through here. Kranick wears 32.

Met history alert–The SABR Casey Stengel Chapter annual meeting is this Saturday March 29 at Scandinavia House 58 Park Ave. between 37th and 38th Streets. Details are here.

Disappointing first effort, no?

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New Year’s Day

In the few minutes I have this morning allow me to welcome you to New Year’s Day and thank you for hanging out for the 26th season of Infrequent Comment on Uniform Numbers and Stuff ‘Bout the Mets.

I think the word that best describes my mindset about this team is “curious.” It’s not necessarily excited or dreading. I mean they have to go out there and perform and hopefully they are ready, even if they didn’t look like it when I checked in last. It would be interesting had David Stearns communicated his gameplan on Signal with a journalist eavesdropping. But we have to take starting Clay Holmes on Opening Day as a solid move on faith.

Holmes is among the seven six new guys who’ll wear a Mets uniform on the opening day roster. They are:

19 Jose Siri

22 Juan Soto

30 Hayden Senger (reassigned from 98 and into NRI Oscar Azocar’s uni)

33 AJ Minter

35 Clay Holmes

46 Griffin Canning

58 Paul Blackburn

Plus we got Brett Baty in 7. Danny Young still hanging on and hanging out in 81.

Play Ball!

Update: Paul Blackburn was a Met in 2024. Or so they tell me.

 

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Taking Stock

Don’t look now but the season opens a week from Thursday and these Mets do not look ready. Nimmo’s got a knee thing. McNeil an oblique. Alvarez swung too hard and broke his hand. Montas is out, Senga is behind schedule, Manaea has something wrong with him. Dedneil Nunez will miss more time. AJ Minter has a hip thing. Ronny Mauricio is still out.

Also, small sample size and all, but I’ve watched two spring training games including the one this afternoon and can report they suck out there. Don’t get me wrong — wins and losses during spring training aren’t the point, but how they look matters, they look bad. They look like they’re 8-12 after 20 games, which they happen to be. That’s a 65-win pace over 162. That’s not encouraging!

Hopefully these guys get their stuff together when the bell rings because the first-half struggling they do every year is getting old and hurts them at the gate, even though I’m sure at some level David Stearns has figured out an advantage to winning a wild card only and coming to the postseason with momentum.

I guess the thing to watch in these last 10 days is who winds up taking Alvarez’ spot–will it be the guy wearing No. 85 (Jackson Reetz), the dude in 97 (Chris Williams) or the one in 98 (Hayden Senger)? There’s always a trade possibility too as teams have roster crunches around now. But let’s root for Senger, a 24th round pick who not only had a double and a pickoff today but like a real person is making ends meet as a Whole Foods stock boy. He’d be the first 98 in team history.

Let’s Go Mets! Win a couple spring training games already!

 

 

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Your New York Mets

Hi everyone, hope you had a good Super Bowl, Daytona 500, NBA All-Star and and Four-Nation Face-Off. With all that at or near the dustbin it must mean the minor league basketball tournaments are ahead and after several weeks of boring exhibitions, there’s baseball to look forward to.

The below roster may help. Noting that Carlos Mendoza remains in 64, Brett Baty has moved to 7, Rafael Ortega is back and wearing No. 0 with a non-roster invite. There’s also a guy called Oliver Ortega among the NRIs.

Read today where new arriving pitcher Frankie Montas is already down with an injury. It’s never good when a new guy gets injured in training camp.

Here they are, YOUR New York Mets! NRIs in italics, coaches in blue.

Number Name Notes
0 Rafael Ortega, OF
1 Jeff McNeil, INF-OF
2 Luisangel Acuna, INF
3 Jesse Winker, OF
4 Francisco Alvarez, C
5 Unassigned (David Wright)
6 Starling Marte, OF
7 Brett Baty new number: was in 22
8 Unassigned (Gary Carter)
9 Brandon Nimmo, OF
10 Ronny Mauricio, INF
11 Nick Madrigal, INF
12 Francisco Lindor, SS
13 Luis Torrens, C
14 Retired Gil Hodges
15 Tyrone Taylor, OF
16 Retired Dwight Gooden
17 Retired Keith Hernandez
18 Retired Darryl Strawberry
19 Jose Siri, OF
20 Pete Alonso, 1B
21
22 Juan Soto, OF
23 David Peterson, P
24 Retired Willie Mays
25
26 Luis De Los Santos, INF
27 Mark Vientos, 3B
28
29 Jared Young, INF
30 Jose Azocar, OF
31 Retired Mike Piazza
32 Max Kranick, P
33 AJ Minter, P
34 Kodai Senga, P
35 Clay Holmes, P
36 Retired Jerry Koosman
37 Retired Casey Stengel
38 Tylor Megill, P
39 Edwin Diaz, P
40 Yacksel Rios, P
41 Retired Tom Seaver
42 Retired Jackie Robinson
43 Huascar Brazobán, P
44 Austin Warren, P
45 Christian Scott, P
46 Griffin Canning, P
47 Frankie Montas, P
48
49 Chris Devenski, P 
50 Rico Garcia, P
51 Justin Hagenman, P
52 Ty Adcock, P
53 Tyler Zuber, P
54
55 Ryne Stanek, P
56 Grant Hartwig, P
57 Kevin Herget, P
58 Paul Blackburn, P
59 Sean Manaea, P
60 Jeremy Barnes, hitting coach
61 Eric Chavez, hitting coach
62
63 Glenn Sherlock, catching & strategy coach
64 Carlos Mendoza, MGR
65 Jeremy Hefner, pitching coach
66 Antoan Richardson, 1st base coach
67 Jose Rosado, bullpen coach
68 John Gibbons, bench coach 
69
70 Jose Butto, P
71 Sean Reid-Foley, P
72 Dedniel Nunez, P
73 Albert Azolay, P
74 Oliver Ortega, P
75 Reed Garrett, P
76 Desi Druschel, assistant pitching coach
77 Dave Racaniello, bullpen catcher
78 Eric Langill, bullpen catcher
79 Danny Barnes, strategy coach
80 Rafael Fernandez, coaching assistant
81 Danny Young, P
82 Brandon Waddell, P
83 Donovan Walton, INF
84 Joey Meneses, INF
85 Jakson Reetz, C
86 Luke Ritter, INF
87 Ryan Clifford, INF
88 Mike Sarbaugh, third base coach
89 Drew Gilbert, OF
90 Jett Williams, INF
91 Brandon Sproat, P
92 Génesis Cabrera, P
93 Dominic Hamel, P
94 Blade Tidwell, P
95 Kevin Parada, C
96 Alex Ramirez, OF
97 Chris Williams, C
98 Hayden Senger, C
99 Anthony Gose, P
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Amazin’ Again

I can tell you, it was an Amazin’ Day. Went grocery shopping, took a nap and went to the gym. Then I came back and heard the reports from what was going on at CitiField.

New unis! New numbers!

Let’s start with the alternate blue away jersey. The amazin’ thing about this isn’t the resurrection of the 1987-style script or the black-home style outlined numerals (that will be hard to see) but that it’s a pullover. Same style and silly neckline as the Nationals’ alts. This would appear to supplant the blue away jersey they had been using, but infrequently. I preferred the version with the grey letters.

Will they pair this with grey pants? Blue? Orange?!? I’d like to see the latter.

Now to numbers. Brett Baty whose 22 went to Juan Soto, revealed he’d be wearing No. 7 this year. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to see that number in circulation again — although 8 would better. Seven had been unissued since Marcus Stroman took it upon himself to shelve it in 2019.

Other numbers for new guys on the 40-man roster: Jose Siri wearing 19, which I believe is pulling even with 6 as the most-issued number in team history (I’ll check on that). Infielder Jared Young (who?) in 29; and Jose Azocar in 30.

The newly arriving pitchers: A.J. Minter 33; Clay Holmes 35; Frankie Montas 47 and Griffin Canning 55. Then there’s the fringey waiver claims and surprise bullpen candidates I don’t know well yet–Dylan Covey in 54; Justin Hagenman in 51; Kevin Herget in 57; and Austin Warren in 44.

That’s all for now. Have an amazin’ day!

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It’s time to retire retiring numbers

I don’t need to tell you David Wright was an all-time Met great. Fielded his position well. Hit for power and average. Could take a walk. Clutch? You bet. Well spoken. Model citizen. Dad was a cop. Met stock through and through draft pick who grew up rooting for the Tides, never played for another team and acquired as a compensation draft pick for just the kind of fleeting mercenary he wasn’t, the one-and-done Mike Hampton. Tore up the team record books to lead all-time in hits, runs scored, plate appearances, doubles, walks, total bases and runs batted in. Got along great with the press. .296 batting average, same as Mike Piazza as a Met.

If they didn’t go and hang his No. 5 high up in left field next summer, all of the above things would still be true, and needn’t be forgotten, since Wright at the same time will be entering into the Mets Hall of Fame.

I don’t need to tell you, and neither does the retired number.

Don’t get me wrong. I think Wright is the perfect example of a player whose number should be retired, for all the reasons above. But numbskulls are already writing dumb articles about who should be next as though there’s a well of guys as accomplished as Wright out there in Mets history who somehow just haven’t gotten their due.

The sad truth of the matter is the Mets don’t have a great history when it comes to developing retirement-worthy ballplayers and no amount of number-retirement is going to fix that. So I’m calling for an end to number retirements, not just for the Mets, but as a thing. Find a more creative way to salute the accomplishments of these guys. Name a field after Gary Carter. Have the best rookie win the Dwight Gooden Award. And I’d much prefer a Darryl Strawberry statue by the right field gate than no more No. 18s. Wouldn’t anybody?

Let’s end this madness.

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Yes We Can

Griffin Canning is the newest Met. He was signed to a 1-year deal the other day and will be given a chance to make the starting rotation, which is what he’s been given in Anaheim thus far in his career but really hasn’t run with it consistently.

But the same could be said about some of the other palookas we saw last year. Look at it this way–he’s got a 1-year deal, he needs to turn his career around in order to make big money, he’s 28 and had success before. I don’t think it’s a bad risk.

Canning actually started this offseason with the Angels and was traded in the Jorge Soler deal to Atlanta, only to have the Braves release him. Canning has worn No. 47 throughout his career but looks like Frankie Montas has the inside track to that.

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