Your Friday morning dose of New York Mets and Major League Baseball news, notes, and links.
Meet the Mets
Las Vegas hitting coach George Greer has reportedly been hired by the Cardinals. I guess that's how you know he was good.
The Star-Ledger explains why Curtis Granderson was better in 2014 than it might appear.
Rising Apple goes head-to-head with Joel Sherman, arguing that Nick Markakis is not a good fit for the 2015 Mets.
Andy Martino says it doesn't really matter who the Mets hire as their new hitting coach. What the heck are we supposed to argue about in October, then?
Mark Simon looks at who will be outbidding the Mets for free agents this winter.
Around the Majors
The Cardinals led for most of the game last night, but Michael Morse hit a solo home run to tie the game 3-3 in the eighth. Then, in the ninth, Travis Ishikawa hit a walk-off, three-run tater to send San Francisco to its third World Series since 2010.
Madison Bumgarner is the NLCS MVP. The World Series begins on Tuesday in Kansas City.
Grant Brisbee looks at how the American League champion Royals were built. All hail Dayton Moore.
The Orioles didn't win the pennant, but their 2015 might be brighter than that of Kansas City.
Following the bizarre resignation of Ron Washington, Texas is hiring Pittsburgh bench coach Jeff Banister as its next manager.
Jake Peavy reminds us all that using your teeth as a tool is a bad idea.
Around the NL East
Talking Chop brings us back to the amazing 1957 season of Hank Aaron.
Fish Stripes is concerned about the shrinking strikeout rate of pitching prospect Justin Nicolino.
There are some Phillies fans who are defending Ruben Amaro Jr. Here is a breakdown of that thought process.
Should the Nationals pursue Korean second baseman Kang Jung-Ho in free agency? Federal Baseball isn't so Jung-Ho about the idea. I'll be here all week.
Yesterday at AA
James K handed out the Piazza for Best Position Player. It was a battle of offense versus defense for our voters.
Greg Karam uses park factors to show us the thinking behind the Citi Field adjustments.
Rob Castellano hosted a live chat with Mets pitching prospect Robert Gsellman.