Your Saturday evening dose of New York Mets and Major League Baseball news, notes, and links.
Meet the Mets
A Mets employee has made it into the Hall of Fame! That's right, longtime groundskeeper Pete Flynn was elected to the groundskeeper Hall of Fame.
How bad was Mike Piazza's defense behind the plate? It actually wasn't bad at all, though that wasn't the conventional wisdom of the time thanks to his poor arm. Somehow, it's not defense but offense that caused one of the dumbest voters to leave Piazza off his ballot. Pedro Martinez, meanwhile, thanked a Mets coach for helping him make the Hall of Fame.
Wally Backman had some great things to say about Mets pitching at the Queens Baseball Conference earlier today. Backman and Frank Viola will return to Triple-A Las Vegas in 2015, joined by new hitting coach Jack Voigt.
Grant Brisbee writes that the Mets have had one of the most baffling offseasons in baseball, up with the Braves. Their offseason list won't include shortstop Takashi Toritani, who's heading back to Japan.
Toby Hyde updated his list of Mets prospect rankings from around the internet. Cesar Puello's up and down career appears to be at a crossroads this spring.
Around the NL East
Dan Haren could fit well with the Giants as the Marlins look to deal the unhappy pitcher away.
The Braves added a high upside 17-year old lefty in a deal for a pair of older prospects.
The Phillies are hosting a 5k and The Good Phight mapped out the course.
With Ben Zobrist in Oakland, what can the Nationals do at second base?
Around the Majors
Ben Zobrist and Yunel Escobar are moving to Oakland, as they've been dealt to the A's.
Jung-ho Kang and the Pirates are supposedly nearing a four-year contract.
The Cardinals are exploring the possibility of trading for David Price or Cole Hamels, or signing Max Scherzer.
Jose Valverde has signed on with the Padres. Apparently, they didn't see his stint with the Mets last year.
In The Players' Tribune, Dodgers righty Brandon McCarthy wrote that PED users should be in the Hall of Fame.
Has Josh Donaldson reached his peak yet? Here are some players who broke out later in their careers like Donaldson.
Yesterday At AA
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If they could afford to sign them, Max Scherzer and James Shields would certainly improve the Mets rotation.
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