Your Tuesday morning dose of New York Mets and MLB news, notes, and links.
Meet the Mets
Our beloved Mets decided to be lazy yesterday, and take a day off. Even still, there was some news out of Flushing in the past twenty-four hours:
Bartolo Coloncleared waivers, meaning that the Mets can now freely work out a trade with any team. There has been some speculation that the Angels and Dodgers may be interested.
Marc Carig writes that Terry Collins may finally consider moving David Wright down in the lineup.
An interview with Lamar Johnson may confirm what many people had suspected, that David Wright is playing hurt.
Mike Petriello at Fangraphs wants to know if Lucas Duda is a legitimate star player, as he seems to have not heard about baseball's power crisis.
Kevin Kernan writes that the Mets must get serious about contending in 2015, and that they can't afford to fall flat again.
Mike Puma spoke with former Mets hitting coach Dave Hudgens, who said that Lucas Duda was having timing issues prior to his surge.
Michael Fensom reports that the Mets may be considering a six-man rotation in September.
Kristie Ackert writes that Lucas Duda's personality has shown that it's not a detractor in the second half.
Craig Calcaterra writes that Lucas Duda makes the Mets look smart.
Around the N.L. East
A.J. Burnett looked struck out twelve, as the Phillies ousted the Nationals, 3-2.
The Marlinsput a paddlin' on the Angels, in Anaheim last night.
Things aren't looking so brotherly in the City of Brotherly Love, as the Philadelphia Inquirer told the boys in red to "shut up and play" in regards to their complaints over Ryne Sandberg.
Around the Majors
The Giants have made a controversial move, by putting Tim Lincecum in the bullpen
The Rangerswill put Shin-Soo Choo and likely Yu Darvish on the disabled list to end the season, after a both suffered elbow injuries.
Joe Posnanski writes that Pete Rose won't be allowed back in baseball in his lifetime.
Novelist Paul Auster has an interesting suggestion on how the game could be sped up.
As if the nightmare can't get worse for Mets fans right now - the Yankeesappear to be making a charge towards a Wild Card spot.
Dave Cameron writes that there's a minor change we can make to the trade deadline that would benefit a lot of teams.
August Fagerstrom looks at the contradiction that is Joe Maddon and bunting.
Jeff Sullivan suggests that there might be some things that are not particularly quantifiable in regards to postseason races and their landscapes.
Yesterday at AA
Chris McShane rolled out the Play Performance Meters. Position players can be found here, and pitchers can be found here.
Daniel Stein-Sayles finished his series on how Mets personnel are perceived. Check out Part IV here.
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