Your Tuesday morning dose of New York Mets and MLB news, notes, and links.
Meet the Mets
Happy Tuesday Mets fans, and we hope you're staying safe and enjoying #Snowpocalypse2015! Here's today's stories:
Our buddy Eno Sarris wrote that Travis d'Arnaud has the potential to be a breakout star.
Anthony DiComo took some questions and gave his thoughts on Noah Syndergaard.
Rob Manfred defended his new finance chair, Fred Wilpon, and thinks that he's a savvy businessman.
Mark Townsend wrote that Michael Cuddyer is magic-tricking his way into Mets fans' hearts.
The Mets have officially announced their Single-A coaching staffs.
The group of Mets fans who are setting up a billboard near Citi Field announced their official design.
Around the NL East
Harris Nye at Talking Chop wrote up a great piece discussing defensive metrics and their impact on WAR.
Jay Polinski at The Good Phight thinks about what might have been if the Phillies trading Bobby Abreu had gone differently.
The Braves have signed former Met John Buck to a minor league deal.
Around the Majors
The Reds have signed Devin Mesoraco to a four-year, $28 million deal, which will allow the team to avoid arbitration.
Dave Cameron has a problem with Rob Manfred's ideas about shifting, and wants you to know about it. It should be noted that Manfred backed off the idea today in several radio appearances, saying that it was "premature" to take action.
The Yankees saga with Alex Rodriguez took another strange turn, as the Yankees are now trying to void his incentive payments.
Kiley McDaniel writes that the United States' reopening of relations with Cuba will have an impact on MLB.
John Shea writes that preserving baseball in Northern California is an important part of Bud Selig's legacy. But Selig should not be a lock for the Hall of Fame, writes Jay Jaffe.
The Brewers have made one of the greatest decisions in baseball history, as they'll reintroduce Beer Barrel Man for the 2015 season.
This past weekend marked the second annual Francesacon and Grantland was there to take it all in.
Yesterday at AA
Loic Oumier thinks that Jacob deGrom uses his slider too much.
We've officially reached the submission deadline for our #LovetheMets contest, and our team is hard at work looking through the submissions. We'll have the finalists for you to vote on very soon, and thank you to everyone who contributed!
If you see a link you think would be a great addition to Mets Morning News, send a link to our tips address, tips@grission.com, and we'll try to add it in.