That’s the Ticket

Not that you’d necessarily want to, but you can’t buy a ticket to a Mets game this year.  Well you can buy packages of 20 or 40 or 81 games, but the old-school a la cart single-game ticket window hasn’t opened yet.

Speaking as someone accustomed to creating my own season ticket one game at a time, that’s unusual. Individual tickets went up for sale in the first week of December last year, and several years before that. The last time I can remember tickets going on sale this late in the year, they were playing at Shea Stadium, and we lined up by Gate D on a frigid Sunday morning. Tim Teufel was there to make it all worth it.

It’s almost as if they knew that surrendering their most popular players through trades and free agency was going to do something to demand, and now, they must hustle to make it up.

I like Bo Bichette and happy the Mets got him and not Tucker. Right handed hitter, a batting champion candidate, hits lots of doubles. I’m not entirely okay with yanking third base out from under Baty when he’d finally had a decent year, but he hits well enough to play left.

The Mets still need a pitcher. There are the top-shelf free agents like Framber Valdez but I kinda like the under-the-radar guys too. He struggled early last year with an injury but Zac Gallen has been pretty good for years. I’m also not afraid to bring in Justin Verlander or Max Scherzer again. I think the young staff could use the right veteran, a la Orel Hershiser in 1999. Besides I’ve never even heard of our pitching coach, Justin Willard. They don’t even have a mugshot of him on the official site.

As noted in the comments it will be interesting to see what number they issue to Bichette, having assigned his No. 11 already to a different incoming free agent, Jorge Polanco. I feel like the Mets are too deferential to numerical identities formed on other teams. Neither the Rangers nor Orioles nor Dodgers replicated the respective jersey numbers of Alonso, Nimmo and Diaz, though it seems like they let them pick (To be fair, Frank Robinson and Roy Campanella may have something to with it, but I digress–I’d be happy to see Bo Bichette take up something new).

Diaz by the way is tempting the baseball gods by choosing No. 3. All relievers stop being effective at some point.

Goodbye New York

Whatever you make of the bloodless decision to let him go to Baltimore without so much as a competitive offer, New York just isn’t going to be the same place without Pete Alonso as part of it. That’s what bothers me most. I saw Alonso as a guy the Phillies and Braves feared, and the fans embraced as one of theirs doing walkoff interviews with Gelbs at the stadium, a goofy, reliable slugger who  came through in some huge moments and built an insurmountable lead for home runs by Guys Who Wore No. 20. All the best for the Orioles who are one of my “back-up” rooting interests, although recently my heart’s been in Toronto.

Brandon Nimmo is another guy who seemed destined to say longer. He was a good versatile hitter and on-base guy, whose 188 doubles vaulted No. 9 to second all-time. But lately I’d thought of him as the guy whose brought so much Jesusness to New York with his walk-up music.

I don’t think for a moment that the swap of Edwin Diaz for Devin Williams is an upgrade but I’m skeptical of relievers being reliable over long periods so I’m predicting Los Angeles will have as many regrets if not more than us.

Marcus Semian over Jeff McNeil? Sure. McNeil, as useful as he was as a multiposition guy, probably will get a bigger chance in Sacramento. Jeff departs as a perhaps the club’s most distinguished three-number wearer since Ron Darling. His versatility could be replaced by the switch-hitting, power-hitting newcomer, Jorge Polanco, who might also be the team’s next first baseman.

Luke Weaver? OK I guess. He’s going to wear No. 30, according to Mets.com.  As previously revealed Semian gets the No. 10 once having belonged to Ronny Mauricio–Mauricio is listed in No. 0 now. Devin Williams still doesn’t have a number with the Mets–his customary 38 belongs to Tylor Megill, so we’ll see how that works out.

All this–like the signing of Carl Edwards Jr. (No. 6 with the Cubs!) to a minor league deal– and I’m still wondering how they’re going to replace the right-handed power of Alonso. I’ve had enough 2024 Yankees already so let’s hope Stearns has something creative up his sleeve.

Relief Pitchers and Number Retirements Suck

Long time, no see!

There’s been a confluence of events that’s kept me away, and laziness/real job is only part of it. Like the Mets I sort of petered out at the end of last season. I was never expecting anything along the lines of 2024 but that was a rotten season for the Mets who somehow both sucked and underachieved simultaneously. They gave up when I did.

Then there was the drudgery of keeping the data fresh. At some point, the work here became less about the Mets and more about chronicling whichever 13th reliever the Mets had up for the day. By the time he’s entered in, he’s gone, and I’m like anyone else looking up what number the next one is wearing on Mets.com. In a few days or weeks I’ve forgotten these guys even existed much less their predecessor in No. 68 or 82. Seems like, there was a time when obscure Mets had a story behind their obscurity. Now they’re too damn ephemeral, and even where the job is writing it down, my memory cannot fit any more Richard Loveladys or Jonathan Pintaros.

I’m also fatigued with uni-number retirements if you want to know the truth. There’s definitely some dissonance associated with chronicling numbers for a team with fundamental differences in the purpose of them. Please reissue 8 today.

My friend and counterpart at the  Ultimate Mets Database is encountering the same exhaustion I have and as a result he’s in the process of transferring that site after 25 years in business. The new owner intends to refashion it, which is nice, but it leaves the uni-number data in some uncertainty. In case you don’t know I moved that info from here to UMDB several years ago and I still manually maintain that part of it. It’s not clear if that be the case in the future.

I’ve considered retiring my own number, so to speak, but not quite yet. New year, new look for the website, hope springs eternal, etc. I’ll address this massive Met overhaul in a separate post. For now, goodbye and hello.

Stick Out Your Tong

In a season without a lot of pleasant surprises you gotta be pleasantly surprised at how awesome Nolan McLean‘s been through three starts. Steve Cohen in fact has already decreed to retire No. 26 in a ceremony next season. But before that, we’re getting a potentially better young pitcher in Jonah Tong, whose motion recalls Tim Lincecum and who’ll be wearing No. 21.

I ran into friend of MBTN Dave the other night at CitiField and we agreed that of the available numbers (we went though them all), 21 was the best for Tong. That’s in part because it’s just a badass number, but also because it aligns with McLean’s 26 as a kind of new identifier of a rising Met rotation–sort of like when the 86ers took numbers in the teens or the accident of Matz, Harvey and Syndergaard occupying 32-34.

This may all be imaginary as young pitchers are notoriously unpredictable and too many guys now arrive wearing No. 73. But maybe we can find room for Brandon Sproat to take 29– sorry, Jared Young.

I count only six pitchers to wear 21 in Mets history, starting with Warren Spahn, then Bob Moorhead, Bill Pulsipher, Masato Yoshii, Bobby M. Jones and most recently, Rich Hill.

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I’ve been meaning to take a moment and extend props to Starling Marte, who was forgotten while injured last year but is reminding us once again that he’s a very good player. I guess that also counts as a pleasant surprise of 2025.

Alert reader Chris Sullivan points out that Marte recently surpassed teammate/half-brother Jeff McNeil as the all-time leader in home runs by guys who wore No. 6 for the Mets. Marte sits at 36 dinger; McNeil was the previous leader at 34. As noted frequently in this space, that’s not necessarily saying much although McNeil and now Marte have brought new stability and skill to the jersey we haven’t seen since Wally Backman.

Dead Line

I can remember there being some real heat coming out of the trade deadline but despite what they did–and maybe because it it a little–I don’t detect a vibe for tonight’s game.

I suppose that’s mostly because the Padres kicked our asses all over the place in that series and it’s getting to be too often that the Mets just look bad out there. It’s hard to build off a fragile foundation like that.

Will 3 new relief pitchers and Cedric Mullins help? I hope so. I’m bigger on Cedric Mullins than his numbers would indicate. I think we need a better everyday guy than Tyrone Taylor in center. We did the same thing a year ago when we bailed on Harrison Bader. It was a small upgrade that helped the team get a lot better. Plus Taylor is a fine backup and gets that job again.

As our friend Jim reported in the comment section, Mullins will wear No. 28, belonging most recently to Jose Azocar (I think). Mullins was a 31 in Baltimore which is retired here.

New relievers Tyler Rogers will suit up in his customary 71 and Ryan Helsey will wear the same 56 he wore in St. Louis. Rogers I’m familiar with from his unique delivery (and his role on my fantasy team). But I’m not even going to pretend I know anything about Helsley who apparently is good but I wouldn’t know because I try not to pay any attention to the Cardinals.

Fun fact: Justin Garza and Zach Pop were the respective previous wearers of 71 and 56. Garza may as well be a St Louis Cardinal for all I remember about him.

For Who?

That’ll be a big question this deadline while the Mets work out some roster indigestion while the trade deadline approaches. I have no idea who they will trade for and for whom and I don’t have a particularly strong opinion other than, this is a better organization to trade from in a long while and so it seems they have the capital to get whoever it is they want.

The price for Gregory Soto looks light for now but you never know what might become of Wellington Arecena. The Mets suited up Soto in his customary 65 (33 would be better, no?), while moving Jeremy Hefner from 65 to 95, though the Hef never shows his uni anyway, I barely understand why we even keep track.

Soto’s arrival meant a DFA for big lefty Jose Castillo and his No. 54. Castillo had a day or two before replaced Chris Devenski, who refused his minor league assignment and became a free agent. He seemed good enough to maybe help somebody in a pennant race, or maybe the Braves. We also saw Alex Carillo (84) and Kevin Herget in there–Herget came all the way back from Atlanta and was able to reclaim No. 57 as Richard Lovelady was gone again.

 

Requiring Retiring

Today out at Big Shea they are honoring one of the greats. Really, the greatest of the greats–the best homegrown offensive player in team history and a wire-to-wire Met good enough to go to 7 All-Star Games, and win a few Silver Sluggers and Gold Gloves. That distinguishes David Wright from say, the man whose many records he erased, the late Ed Kranepool.

This is a resume of a number-retiree, and what we’ll see today. It’s not what we’d been seeing with the Strawberry, Gooden and even Hernandez retirements, although Keith’s post-playing career as a figure in Mets history is a persuasive extenuating circumstance. And for god sakes, its not Gary Carter, even as they’ve held his number in limbo for more than two decades, presumably waiting for the right moment. Now that they’ve demonstrated 8 is kind of special they lack the courage to go back, which is very Wilpon-y. That they’ll solve the problem by recklessly retiring it is very Cohen-y.

But uni-number retirement shouldn’t be about waiting for the right moment. If there’s a moment to be waited for then that’s not a guy whose number you should be retiring.

The only solution, I’ve come to believe, is to do away with number retirements entirely. It doesn’t do anything that a statue couldn’t do or a well-managed Hall of Fame couldn’t do and it will arrest this urge to cashier perfectly good uniform numbers that’s only going to accelerate as the team attempts sustained success for one of the few times in its history. You can’t look at Francisco Lindor today and not consider him a retiree shoo-in. We’ll have Juan Soto for 15 years or whatever, he’ll take 22 with him when he goes. Even Brandon Nimmo is creeping into immortal territory, Met-wise. deGrom? Dickey? Diaz? It may never end.

Plus, I’ve argued this before, how does not issuing a number honor a guy? You’d do better to remember him through the guys who follow in his path.

I’ll say one more thing, and that’s to honor in proportion to the rest of the retired-numbermen, they must erect a giant statue of him outside the stadium just like they did for Seaver. The True Greats.

I know, Cohen would prefer building a casino there.

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Congrats to Brooks Raley for making it back from arm surgery and resuming his Mets career in No. 25. Richard Lovelady was DFAed to make room. Bad loss last night; not impressed with Mendy’s handling of bullpenny things this year.

Oil painting above was done by my dad shortly before he passed away.

 

Call to the Bullpen

They should stop with all this randomness and just assign relievers numbers in ascending order starting at say, 50. Had we done so, most recent Met Alex Carillo would be wearing 80 and and not 84, being the 30th guy to make a non-starting appearance in a Mets game this year (if I counted right).

Carillo survived a shaky inning and a third last night as the Mets did something they rarely do anymore and came from behind to defeat the Orioles in extra innings. Carillo will probably get cashed out today for his efforts if not already and we’ll move on to reliever No. 31, uniform No. 81.

Meantime I neglected to mention the Mets promoted bullpenner Rico Garcia the other day. A native Hawaiian, they were aware enough to assign the guy No. 50, joining Hawaiian-born Met luminaries Sid Fernandez and Benny Agbayani. Other Aloha State Mets (Ron Darling, Carlos Diaz, Jordan Yamamoto and Tyler Yates) went without 50.

Zach Pop has a classic name but between us looked like he didn’t even want to be out there in his lone Met appearance and was waived to make room for Carillo. Should have signed Zach Rock. That guy rocks.

Pop Star

It sure looked like we were never going to win another game after that Pittsburgh series. What would be the catalyst? It turns out, a few unexpectedly effective bullpen games and a few Brandon Nimmo grand slams.

The big wheel keeps on turning. Several retreads have made their way back, like Chris Devenski and Austin Warren. Tyler Zuber, whom I thought they saw something in, was DFAed, as was Colin “The Pooch” Poche, who I think may have resigned a minor-league deal. Then there’s newly arriving reliever Zach Pop, who deserves to hang around just because his name is Zach Pop (he should pitch to Coco Crisp). New York, London, Paris Munich–everybody talkin about Pop’s uni. It’s No. 56.

Prepare for reckless speculation from now till July 31 about the Mets’ appetite for starters and relivers, maybe some from here. I’m officially starting the Zac Gallen to the Mets rumor. He wears No. 23!

What’s the Difference?

I kinda liked Dicky Lovelady (57) in his maiden Met appearance–there wasn’t much else to like that night other than another Met debut for Frankie Montas–but Dicky was immediately designated for assignment after that Tuesday Night debacle so that Jonathan Pintaro could his place. I kinda liked Pintaro too even as he couldn’t close the door with a six-run lead he was right there with the rest of the bullpen, walking the first guy he saw. But I liked his wavy blonde hair, his gigantic butt and his short trunk.

Pintaro showed up rocking No. 91, but he’s gone too. In his place is Austin Warren, who I’d already forgotten was here already this year, and briefly conflated with Adam Warren, the former Yankees reliever. This guy’s different somehow. Wears No. 44.

Frankie Montas is in his customary 47. Hayden Senger in his customary 30.