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The Mets’ newest second baseman, former Rangers star, Gold Glover, father of five, and now owner of the Most Spoken Words in a Zoom Call Since 2020, Marcus Semien met the New York media today for the first time. And if first impressions matter… well, Mets fans, start stretching now because this guy plays like he expects you to run out every grounder too. From the jump, Semien was vintage Semien: direct, thoughtful, polished, and sneakily funny in that “I’m a dad of five and

The Texas Rangers spent the Monday before Thanksgiving talking about the kind of move that shakes organizations, fan bases, and group chats from Arlington to Queens: trading Marcus Semien, the durable All-Star second baseman and cornerstone of their 2023 championship, to the New York Mets in exchange for longtime Met Brandon Nimmo and cash considerations. On Monday, Rangers President of Baseball Operations Chris Young and GM Ross Fenstermaker met with the media to explain one

On a gray November morning, with Thanksgiving somehow both days away and already weighing heavily on the stomachs of Mets fans, David Stearns stepped onto a Zoom call and did something no Mets executive ever enjoys doing: explaining why he just traded Brandon Nimmo. And not just traded him… traded him to Texas, for a 35-year-old second baseman whose best years “may or may not be” be behind him depending on how optimistic you are this holiday season. Stearns opened the call th

I’ve had the privilege of covering Brandon Nimmo for his entire Mets career, and let me tell you, the guy has been more gracious with his time than any ballplayer has a right to be. On-field interviews, appearances on my radio show, random chats in the dugout—Brandon always showed up with that trademark smile that made you wonder if he knew something wonderful about the world that the rest of us Mets fans didn’t. And it’s not just me; he’s exactly the kind of player an organi

Welcome back to Sunday School: Forgotten Faces of Flushing, our weekly rummage through the Mets’ attic, where we dust off the bubble-gum cards and game-used jerseys of the guys who made you squint and go, “Wait… didn’t he play for us?” Last week, we spotlighted Kevin Baez — the smooth-handed Brooklyn shortstop who carved out a life in baseball that’s been more meaningful than many players with ten times the headlines. A grinder, a teacher, a championship manager, and a guy wh

Despite coming off a disastrous 1996 season where they finished 71-91 and were 25 games out of first place and 19 games out of a wild card spot, the Mets became one of the surprise teams and challenged for a playoff spot in 1997. Manager Bobby Valentine replaced Dallas Green and was heading into his first full season as the “dugout general.” During the off season, the Mets made a very shrewd trade when they sent pitcher Robert Person to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for f

Former Mets reliever Adam Ottavino recently went on the offensive against his former team during an episode of his Baseball & Coffee podcast, criticizing manager Carlos Mendoza and the Mets organization for what he called “haphazard” bullpen management and a lack of communication that allegedly led to numerous injuries during the 2025 season. Ottavino didn’t mince words. He claimed Mendoza “has no idea what he’s doing when it comes to bullpen guys and how to keep them healthy

For the first-ever Franchise Friday Strat-O-Matic showdown, baseball fans got to witness a matchup that never happened in real life: Tom Seaver vs. Sandy Koufax. Koufax retired after the 1966 season, Seaver debuted in 1967, yet here they were, as if time itself had hit “rewind and fast forward at the same time.” Seaver was magnificent, striking out 13 Dodgers over nine innings, walking just one and allowing two runs. Koufax, as if proving the baseball gods had a sense of humo

If you’ve ever fallen down the Strat-O-Matic rabbit hole—and if you’re reading this, the odds are dangerously high—you understand that the game is less a hobby and more a lifelong affliction. Those dice don’t just “roll”; they call to you. And for some of us, like the faithful members of the Long Island Strat Club (where the first rule of Strat Club is you constantly talk about Strat Club), Strat isn’t just baseball. It’s religion. With charts. So imagine the kind of mind it

Randy Jones never threw a pitch that frightened a radar gun, but he built a career that could humble even the most electrified arms of his era. He grew up in southern California, a left-hander whose fastball wasn’t exactly the sort of thing scouts sprinted to see twice. What he did have—and what would eventually make him one of the great artisans of 1970s pitching—was a stubborn belief that there were other ways to get hitters out. When he talked about it, even decades later,

By the time the conga lines hit the third-base line, the flags were waving like a United Nations parade on double espresso, and the temperature dipped to a wind-chill-enhanced 47 degrees, Citi Field felt less like early-winter Queens and more like a giant Caribbean block party sponsored by LIDOM, the LBPRC, and maybe a little by the New York Mets themselves. And yes — this was absolutely a Dominican Republic vs. Puerto Rico showdown. But make no mistake: it also had a tremend

Welcome back to Sunday School: Forgotten Faces of Flushing, our weekly rummage through the Mets’ attic, where we dust off the bubble-gum cards and game-used jerseys of the guys who made you squint and go, “Wait… didn’t he play for us?” Last week, we looked back at Brent Gaff — the Indiana right-hander who quietly became a dependable arm in the early ’80s Mets bullpen and now builds some of the finest fishing rods this side of the Midwest. This week, we stay closer to home — a

The Mets began 1996 with great anticipation. They ended it with another year of disappointment.                In-between saw one of their players hit for the cycle, another break the record for home runs by a catcher and a managerial change that probably came too late.                “We expect to be there,” general manager Joe McIlvaine said when asked about the postseason, just as spring training was about to begin.                “I’d be disappointed if we didn’t do well,

The Mets announced today that three of the franchise’s most memorable figures Carlos Beltrán, Lee Mazzilli, and Bobby Valentine will be inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame in 2026. That brings the total to 38 Mets immortals and three new plaques for the wall at Citi Field, which, at the pace we’re adding them, may need its own renovation soon. Maybe not quite East Wing-of-the-White-House territory, but close enough that an architect should probably start warming up. When t

Let the record show, I’ve been driving the Max Kranick bandwagon since Day One. Don’t believe me? Go ahead and check the KinersKorner.com Facebook group archives. As the kids say, I’ve got the receipts. And why not? The guy’s got that mix every Mets fan dreams of: lifelong Mets fan ,he even attended a baseball clinic run by Al Leiter as a kid and fifteen years later caught the ceremonial first pitch from Leiter on Opening Day in 2025 — hometown roots, bulldog mentality, and a

The annual General Manager Meetings are sort of the appetizer before baseball’s offseason buffet.The Winter Meetings get all the glory, the signings, the trades, the Scott Boras monologues that go longer than a game-winning home run given up by Ryan Helsley, but the GM Meetings? That’s where everyone starts slow-cooking the rumors. And this week, the baseball world descended on Las Vegas, which feels appropriate, because nothing says baseball wants to distance itself from a g

Welcome back to Sunday School: Forgotten Faces of Flushing, our weekly rummage through the Mets’ attic, where we dust off the bubble-gum cards and game-used jerseys of the guys who made you squint and go, “Wait… didn’t he play for us?” Last week, we looked back at Brian Cole, the five-tool comet who blazed through the Mets’ system before tragedy cut his story short. This week, we go back to the early ’80s before Doc, before Darryl, before the Home Run Apple even knew how to

The 1995 baseball season began with a hangover from 1994: the labor dispute that cut short that season and carried over into the next, prompting major league owners to begin spring training with replacement players – a move the owners hoped would bring the “real” major leaguers back to the bargaining table and result in a settlement.                It only made things messier. The players’ union said it wouldn’t settle the strike if replacement players were used in regular se

The Mets off season could be defined by ADS. That’s not a syndrome but an acronym for Alonso, Diaz and Skubal. Pete Alonso, Edwin Diaz and Tarik Skubal are the prominent names that will be tied to the Mets this off season. Alonso and Diaz have opted out of their current deals, and the Mets are in the market for an ace pitcher. With free agency looming for Skubal after next season, he and the Tigers are reportedly far apart in any negotiations for a new contract. The Mets are

If you’ve been a loyal reader of Kiner’s Korner over the years, you probably know I’m usually all in on most things the Mets do. I take a wait-and-see approach to most moves, rarely critical, because let’s face it anyone sitting in that chair at Citi Field making Major League hires has more baseball smarts in their pinky fingernail than I do in my entire body. That being said, this is one of the first moves in a long, long time that has me scratching my head. Time will tell,