{"id":2458,"date":"2015-12-15T19:36:50","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T01:36:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/?p=2458"},"modified":"2015-12-15T22:44:18","modified_gmt":"2015-12-16T04:44:18","slug":"glad-tidings-from-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/?p=2458","title":{"rendered":"Glad Tidings from New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"20\"<\/a>Neil Walker<\/strong> on Tuesday crashed\u00a0the Mets’ annual holiday party at\"\" Citi Field, showing off\u00a0what appears to be his new uni number, 20. Walker would be the first second baseman to wear 20 since 2000 Mets legend Kurt Abbott.<\/strong> Uh, yeah. Anthony Recker<\/strong> wore 20 last but as you may have heard the handsome backup catcher signed a deal with the Indians following the season.<\/p>\n

Walker by the way said he wore 20 to honor his dad, Tom Walker, who as you can see here wore the same for the Montreal Expos. Neil reached the big leagues with the Pirates only to learn 20 had been retired for Pie Traynor.<\/p>\n

\"13\"<\/a>Later on Tuesday, the Mets and erstwhile lefty stopper\u00a0Jerry Blevins<\/strong>\u00a0agreed on a new deal for 2016. Blevins you may recall arrived at the eve of the ’15 season and did an all-around super job getting the Bryce Harpers and Freddie Freemans of the league out before fracturing an arm the same day that Travis d’Arnaud<\/strong> went down with an injury. Only Blevins never made it back to the team\u00a0by suspiciously re-breaking the same arm shortly before his expected return.<\/p>\n

If that’s not enough reason by itself to surrendered No. 13 the rule requiring\u00a0all Venezuelan shortstops wear No. 13 trumped it.<\/p>\n

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Dear Santa: You can give my #13 to Asdrubal Cabrera. He signed with the @Mets<\/a> first. I will figure out what number to wear.<\/p>\n

— Jerry Blevins (@jerryblevins) December 15, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n