There are certain sites and sounds in spring training that signal baseball is officially alive again, the pop of a fastball in a catcher’s mitt, the sound of a fungo bat, and the unmistakable cadence of a manager standing at a podium explaining, in calm baseball speak, why everything is both encouraging and cautiously monitored. On Friday, Carlos Mendoza stepped into that role, delivering a wide-ranging briefing that touched on pitching health, roster development, defensive p

There are a handful of rites of spring that never change. The sun comes up over the back fields, someone insists this is the best shape of their life, and reporters ask a newly arrived star how it feels to be somewhere new. On Thursday afternoon, that star was Bo Bichette the Mets’ freshly imported infielder with the family pedigree and an All-Star résumé, and now, a new glove destined for third base. And if you were expecting grand pronouncements, chest-thumping or a Power

If you’re anything like me and my wife insists there is no one like me (I’m still not sure if she meant that as a compliment), you can remember exactly when and where you bought your very first pack of baseball cards. Just reading this probably has your sense of smell kicking into gear right now. (Is that… that smell?) That unmistakable aroma of cardboard, ink, and gum, or what passed for gum in the 1960s, especially when you peeled back that last card in the pack, hoping for

There are days early in camp when the biggest story is which reliever showed up with a new haircut, and then there are days when the president of baseball operations steps to the microphone and casually drops enough news to make everyone in the room reach for their phones at the same time to post to Twitter. Tuesday was firmly in the latter category. David Stearns opened his media availability with what could best be described as a one-two punch: one that caused Mets fans to

Full Disclosure: I have been a big fan of Ken Davidoff for a long, long time. He was a frequent guest on my SportsTalkNY radio show, over the years I’ve always enjoyed spending time with him in the press box where conversations range from pitch sequencing to the identity of the mystery meat that’s been sitting under a heat lamp since Dave Kingman last played for the Mets. So when 101 Lessons From the Dugout, the book he co-authored with nationally renowned pediatrician and

Some transactions exist purely to help a Triple-A roster survive the dog days. Others exist to give a manager a spring training body who can play short, second, third, and probably sell peanuts if needed. And then there are the rare ones that exist almost entirely to poke the baseball gods in the ribs and say, remember 1969? The Mets’ minor-league agreement with Grae Kessinger, complete with a non-roster invitation to spring training, fits squarely into that last category. On

By now, Mets fans have learned a new daily routine for January: breakfast, walk the dogm check email, Zoom press conference, repeat. This month has featured so many introductory media availabilities that it’s starting to feel less like Hot Stove season and more like baseball speed dating . Today’s installment brought us the newest face in that familiar little Zoom rectangle — Freddy Peralta — and if the Mets were hoping to introduce someone who sounds unfazed by bright lights

There was a time when Craig Kimbrel entered a baseball game and opposing hitters immediately started thinking about their families. They wondered if they had said I love you enough. They wondered if this was how it ended. That Craig Kimbrel was a menace. A right armed horror movie with a bent over stance, a fastball that hissed, and a breaking ball that vanished like socks in a dryer. He piled up saves the way the Mets used to pile up injuries. Four hundred and forty of them.

Mets fans, let’s take the blue-and-orange tinted glasses off for a minute. Vidal Bruján is not the next José Reyes, hell he isn't even the next Pablo Reyes. He’s not a secret All-Star hiding in plain sight. He’s not about to steal 60 bases and force the Mets to install a speed limit at Citi Field. So who is Vidal Bruján ? If your reaction to the question, “Is that a new member of the Queens Crew — congratulations, you’re normal. He’s basically baseball’s version of the guy w

There are two truths in life: The sun rises in the east. Mets fandom much like today's political climate is a house divided, with the dividing line usually running straight through Thanksgiving dinner. I know this because I run KinersKorner.com, a digital family room where Mets fans gather daily to agree on one thing that everyone else is wrong. Which brings us to David Stearns. Let me preface this by saying I have been a believer in David Stearns’ long-term vision for this

It finally happened. After two full seasons of me nagging, pleading, and borderline stalking the Mets front office via my keyboard, Luis Robert Jr. is a Met. That’s right the same Luis Robert Jr. who put up a , MVP-caliber season a few years back, making us all dream of 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases from center field, is now heading to Citi Field.”And yet, as is tradition in New York, some fans are pouting about the trade. Why? Because Luisangel Acuña was included. Let’s t

If you were looking for subtlety at Citi Field on Monday afternoon, you were very much in the wrong building. This was not a depth signing. This was not a hedge. This was the Mets standing at the podium and telling you exactly who they think they are right now. Bo Bichette is a New York Met, and from the opening remarks to the final breakout session, the message stayed remarkably consistent. This was about winning, work, and a willingness to embrace change in pursuit of somet

Hey Mets fans, consider this a reality check. A wake-up call. A figurative slap across the cheek designed to snap us out of our collective, group-text-level despair. Edwin Díaz is gone. Pete Alonso is gone. Brandon Nimmo is gone. And for good measure, let’s toss Jeff McNeil into the emotional blender as well. These were real Mets. Long term Mets. Homegrown Mets. “They were here when times were bad” Mets. The kind of guys you don’t just watch—you invest in. Jerseys were purcha

Wilbur Wood never looked like a pitcher destined to be remembered. That may be the most fitting place to begin. He did not arrive early, he did not overwhelm hitters with power, and he did not follow a straight path to greatness. Yet when Wood passed away at 84, baseball said goodbye to one of its most unlikely and extraordinary careers, built on reinvention, endurance, and a pitch that defied convention. Before Mets fans marveled at R A Dickey bending time and logic with a

The Mets lost Kyle Tucker and then, almost immediately, found Bo Bichette. Which in Queens qualifies as whiplash, progress, and possibly growth. Here’s how fast it happened. One minute the Mets were at the grown-ups table, pushing a truckload of money toward Tucker and saying, “What if we paid you roughly the GDP of a small island nation…per year?” The next minute Tucker was packing for Los Angeles, where the Dodgers continue to collect All-Stars the way kids collect Pokémon

Dave Giusti, a name Mets fans may not immediately place on the all time villains list but one that somehow always feels familiar, passed away on January 11, 2026, at the age of 86 If you grew up watching the Mets in the late 1960s and 1970s, Giusti was not a headline name like Gibson or Carlton. He may have not scared you like they did. What he did do, reliably, persistently, and often, was show up. And very often, that meant showing up against the Mets. Giusti appeared in 6

The calendar has officially flipped to 2026, which in Mets terms means two things. First, we are now legally allowed to worry about a season that has not started yet. Second, the excuses have expired. This is the point on the baseball calendar where optimism either matures into strategy or sits on the couch in sweatpants, scrolling through old box scores and whispering, “Trust the plan. There is definitely a plan.” I have maintained all along, often loudly, that David Stearns

Every few years, baseball social media gathers like villagers with torches and pitchforks to anoint The Worst Free Agent Signing of All Time. This winter, the mob has pointed west, squinting into the Anaheim haze, yelling one name in unison: Anthony Rendon. And look — fair. Very fair. The conversation flared back to life because the Angels just quietly reworked the final year of Rendon’s seven-year, $245 million deal, a move that functioned less like roster planning and more

There are Mets who pass through the franchise, and then there are Mets who end up in the trivia section. Jeff McNeil belongs to the latter group. When he packed up for Oakland, he didn’t just take his glove, his permanently scuffed batting helmet, and his habit of glaring at infield dirt with him. He took a slice of Mets history that’s smaller, rarer, and more easily forgotten than it should be. Only two Mets have ever won a batting title. Two. In a franchise that’s been arou

Jorge Polanco’s introductory Mets press conference had everything you want from a winter Zoom: position flexibility, God references, family values, a nickname that sounds like a Springsteen cover band (“George Bonds”), and at least two moments where reporters couldn’t be heard, which officially makes it a New York press conference. Polanco arrived sounding like a man who had already unpacked his bags, memorized the Citi Field dimensions, and labeled his glove collection by po