Your Thursday morning dose of Mets and Major League Baseball news, notes, and links.
Meet the Mets
The Mets' front office held a Q&A with Mets season ticket and ticket plan holders last night. He implied that perhaps the refusal to trade top prospect Noah Syndergaard was the reason the team never acquired a shortstop and said the team was not likely to sign Yoan Moncada.
Jim Callis released his list of players who just missed out on MLB.com's top 100 prospects list. This new list included Mets prospects Amed Rosario and Dominic Smith.
Jonah Keri recalls the year that Ron Hunt got hit by fifty—yes, fifty—pitches at Five Thirty Eight.
Zack Wheeler spoke about how he intends to improve in 2015. Most notably he wants to lower his pitch count so that he can pitch deeper into games.
Bernie Pleskoff looked at prospects who could help the Mets at the major league level in 2015. At the top of the list is Noah Syndergaard, and after that, he mentions Kevin Plawecki, Rafael Montero, Dilson Herrera, Cesar Puello, Cory Mazzoni, Jack Leathersich, and Matt Reynolds.
Around the NL East
Federal Baseball wonders if the Nationals have a chance at signing Yoan Moncada. While they do not appear to be one of the frontrunners, general manager Mike Rizzo made a big splash earlier in the offseason with the Max Scherzer signing and perhaps will look to do so again.
Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria is excited about the 2015 season. Much of this excitement is due to having a team that has players who have "had big-league success at every position."
Around the Major Leagues
James Shields has multiple offers and is expected to sign by the end of the week. It is not known which teams made offers, but the Royalsare not one.
Josh Hamilton needs shoulder surgery and will be sidelined for six-to-eight weeks. This continues his disappointing tenure with the Angels after signing a five-year, $125 million deal.
The LA Times has a Q&A with new MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.
The Rangerssigned outfielder Ryan Ludwick to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training. If he makes the Opening Day roster, he will earn $1.75 million.
With the thawing of American relations with Cuba, new opportunities for Cuban baseball players are opening up. Yet ESPN reported something that sounds straight out of the Cold War: Players must sign an oath swearing they are not members of the Cuban Communist Party.
Yesterday at AA
Jeffrey Paternostro ranked Mets players in terms of trade value by tier. The list is headlined by Matt Harvey who is joined by Zack Wheeler, Jacob deGrom, and Travis d'Arnaud in the "so you want Troy Tulowitzki" tier.
Colby Conetta continued the forgotten Mets series with Chris Carter. Carter arrived from the Red Sox as part of the Billy Wagner trade, and as a fourth outfielder, hit .263/.317/.389 in 2010.
This Day in Mets History
Today would be the 112th birthday of the Mets' original owner, Joan Whitney Payson. Payson was one of the only people who voted against moving the Giants to San Francisco, but was eventually able to bring a second team back to New York in the form of the Mets.