Your Friday morning dose of New York Mets and MLB news, notes, and links.
Meet the Mets
The Mets defeated the Braves in Port St. Lucie yesterday by the score of 7-6. Anthony Recker hit a walk-off home run, Zack Wheeler pitched a solid five-plus innings, Ruben Tejada went 3-for-3, and Juan Lagares continued to be a certified wizard in the outfield.
Greg Prince opines about the recent Matt Harvey "controversy," wondering why the Mets choose to hide Harvey the way they do.
Speaking of which, Harvey is about to start throwing from 75 feet!
Sandy Alderson is pleased that the Mets have a tough decision to make about the outfield. A tough decision means that the team has more than three starting-caliber outfielders, right? I wish we could be more sure of that.
Another position battle is resuming at first base, where Ike Davis and Lucas Duda are finally both healthy enough to appear in game action.
Even though Jon Niese's recent MRI came with good news, he'll reportedly start the season on the disabled list. Thanks to backdating, though, Niese can still make his first start by April 6.
Opposing Stephen Strasburg on Opening Day will be... Dillon Gee? With Niese hitting the disabled list, Terry Collins has tabbed Gee as the first starter of the regular season. It's not the sexiest choice, but neither are the Mets.
The Opening Day second baseman will likely be Daniel Murphy, despite the fact that he is suffering from a sore calf.
Around the Majors
Considering that he was hit in the face with a line drive two night ago, Reds relief ace Aroldis Chapman is doing quite well. He just had surgery to repair broken bones in his face and had a metal plate inserted, but his brain and eyes are reportedly in good shape.
Stephen Drew could start the season without a major league roster to call his own, but has that been agent Scott Boras's plan all along?
Jorge Arangure Jr. writes that while former Mets spark plug Jose Reyes may not be as exciting or as popular a player as he used to be, he's still worthy of your attention. He's not the only Blue Jays player who needs an article like this. Edwin Encarnacion might be the least famous power hitter in the bigs.
Also not a famous power hitter: Matt Tuiasosopo, who was just grabbed off of waivers by Toronto. He's a decent platoon/bench guy with some pop.
If money was an issue for the Yankees, you could consider the signing of Jacoby Ellsbury a pretty big risk. Well, he is already dealing with a calf issue, but the MRI says that the outfielder will be ready for Opening Day.
Dodgers public relations chief Joe Jareck may have been a little too honest when talking about the team's favorite way to distribute news.
Finally, here's SuperDog: Australian for hot dog.
Yesterday at AA
Here's Part 2 of Peter Thomas Fornatale's awesome interview with the awesome Howie Rose.
Joshua Ryan previewed what those silly Phillies will be up to in 2014.
Brookyln's own Shawon Dunstonturns 51 today!