Your Wednesday morning dose of New York Mets and Major League Baseball news, notes, and links.
Meet the Mets
Welcome to Shortstop Avenue! There are a number of potential options that could be available to the Mets this offseason, like the MarinersshortstopsBrad Miller and Chris Taylor for instance. White SoxshortstopAlexei Ramirez is not at the top of the list. Meanwhile, Jimmy Rollins can be scratched off thanks to his no-trade clause.
Michael Cuddyeris a Met and with his signing, their payroll is currently the highest it's been since 2011. They're without a first round pick now but they had their reasons to give it up and ink him. David Wright put on the full-court press, calling Cuddyer multiple times a day recently. Tony Blengino at Fangraphs wrote about why the Cuddyer signing makes some sense, utilizing park factors. Mark Simon shared some stats to know about Cuddyer. When he was in the minor leagues, the outfielder ultimately saved the life of a teammate on September 11th.
With their first round pick gone, could the Mets target another Qualifying Offer free agent like David Robertson?
He's not getting a big league deal but the Mets did add outfielderAlex Castellanos on a minor league deal yesterday.
Can the Mets reach the World Series in 2015? Jacob deGrom thinks it's possible. In the division, the Bravesmight tear things down this offseason, which could further help the Mets contend.
If that happens, Terry Collins will likely receive manager of the year votes but the Mets manager actually snagged one 3rd place vote this year. Collins could have a new addition to his coaching staff soon, as the Mets interviewed Pat Roessler for their assistant hitting coach position.
Around the Majors
Rumors floated yesterday that the Nationals and Cubs were engaged in talks about starter Jordan Zimmermann but that was shot down last night. Certainly an interesting concept, if there's any truth.
MLB's Managers of the Year are Matt Williams in the NL and Buck Showalter in the AL.
David Eckstein is thriving in his post-baseball career, working with his wife selling out of this world items.
The ringleader of a human smuggling operation that got Rangers outfielder Leonys Martin out of Cuba was sentenced to 14 years.
There's a study that could provide some good news if you're hoping that baseball will eventually return to Montreal.
Yesterday At AA
James Kannengieser tries to figure out who should replace Kevin Burkhardt. I vote anybody but Martino.
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.