Your Thursday morning dose of New York Mets and MLB news, notes, and links.
Meet the Mets
On Monday, Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen was caught using an ethnic slur by Wall Street Journal reporter Stu Woo. The incident occurred during a conversation with Warthen and Daisuke Matsuzaka's translator, Jeff Cutler. A few hours after the article was published, Warthen and Sandy Alderson issued apologies.
The Mets lost to the Cardinals, 6-4, in Port St. Lucie. John Lannan shined over four innings, allowing just two unearned runs while striking out five and walking none. However, the bullpen let the Mets down as Kyle Farnsworth and Joel Carreno combined to allow four runs.
Fangraphs takes an in-depth look at Daniel Murphy's great season on the bases.
John Harper says the Mets are monitoring Diamondbacks shortstops Didi Gregorius and Chris Owings for a possible trade. Meanwhile, nothing has changed with Stephen Drew.
Carlos Torres will be in the Mets bullpen on Opening Day.
Bobby Parnell, who was throwing 88-89 mph in Wednesday's game, has no concerns about his velocity.
Around the Majors
The Braves made a significant move, signing pitcher Ervin Santana to a one year, $14.1 million deal. The move was necessary after Kris Medlen's elbow injury, one that will likely require him to undergo Tommy John surgery.
The other primary suitor for Santana, the Blue Jays, were not happy about his decision. Blue Jays manager John Gibbons was expecting the team to sign Santana, while their general manager, Alex Anthopoulos, said Santana did not want to pitch in the American League.
Ken Rosenthal believes the Blue Jays got "too cute" in their pursuit of Santana.
Former Met Francisco Rodriguez suffered a freak injury when he somehow stepped on a cactus.......without shoes.
Veteran Livan Hernandez is retiring after 17 major league seasons. He posted a 4.44 ERA in 3,189 innings while pitching for nine different teams, including the Mets in 2009.
Jimmy Rollins will not play for a third straight game, and it may be due to Rollins' perceived lack of hustle on the basepaths.
Michael Bauman of Grantland looks at why there are so few first base prospects in baseball. Domonic Smith says hi.
Eno Sarris asks: How many starting pitchers does a team need?
Yesterday At AA
Jeffrey Bellone examined how difficult it was for Mets hitters to hit at Citi Field.
The Amazin' Avenue community projectedDaniel Murphy's 2014 season.
If you read an article or find a link that you think would be a great addition to a future edition of Mets Morning News, please forward it to our tips email address tips@grission.com and we'll try to add it in.
