Let's Play Mets Baseball!
Plus, Jacob deGrom dazzles and several minor league signings
Good Morning,
We have Mets baseball today!
Well, technically. The team will play a free-admission intra-squad game at Clover Park at 1:10 PM today. It’s their final tune-up before the Grapefruit League schedule kicks into gear on Saturday at 6:05 PM against the Nationals. You can listen to that game on the radio, but will have to wait until Sunday to see the first SNY telecast of the season.
After a busy week, yesterday was a relatively light news day. I will talk about several minor league signings and celebrate the brilliance of Jacob deGrom, plus catch you up on the latest news and notes.
In a scene almost made for the movies, Jacob deGrom stood on the bump to face his teammates on Thursday. And let’s just say the day went better for deGrom than everyone else:
From Pete Alonso to Francisco Lindor, nobody could touch the Mets’ ace.
Or, almost nobody…
Following an offseason in which Steve Cohen spent $130 million to sign a pitcher who would be the best pitcher on almost any other staff, Jacob deGrom reminds us why he is the brightest star on this Mets team. He’s not the flashiest. He was never Knighted. He just flawlessly executes, while appropriately playing Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Simple Man in the background.
“Jake’s going to make the club,” manager Buck Showalter joked after yesterday’s amazing display.
The Mets made several minor league signings this week. We talked about outfielder Johneshwy Fargas in an earlier issue. Let’s catch you up on the rest of the additions.
🍎 TIM ADLEMAN
The Mets have signed right-hander Tim Adleman to a minor league contract, per Jacob Resnick.
WHO? A Staten Island native, Adleman, 34, played college baseball at Georgetown before being drafted by the Orioles in 2010. He last pitched in the major leagues in 2017 for Cincinnati, where he posted a 5.52 ERA in 20 starts and 10 bullpen appearances. After spending some time in Korea and with Detroit back in the majors, he pitched 45 innings for the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate last year, showing strong command in recording a 3.80 ERA over 45 innings.
🍎 TZU-WEI LIN
The Amazins will also welcome infielder Tzu-Wei Lin on a minor league deal, per Michael Mayer.
BONUS BABY: Lin caught the attention of both the Yankees and Red Sox as a young player out of Taiwan, ultimately receiving a $2.05 million signing bonus from Boston, the second largest for a Taiwanese player behind Chin-hui Tsao.’
CAREER PATH: After toiling around the Red Sox’ system for years, Lin joined the Minnesota Twins’ organization last year, where he spent almost the entire season on the minor league injured list. He hasn’t proven he can hit much at the major-league level, but he offers versatility on defense and knows how to pick it.
🍎 TRAVIS JANKOWSKI
Stony Brook star Travis Jankowski has been invited to camp on a minor league contract.
SPEED: The 30-year-old, Jankowski, brings baserunning prowess to the organization. His 2021 sprint speed ranks in the 88th percentile, according to Statcast. He has a career 75% success rate swiping bags, although he has only accumulated nine stolen bases in the past three seasons due to limited playing time.
ON-BASE: Jankowski did play 76 games for the Phillies last year (after playing only 41 games over the previous two years), playing mostly center field, but also occasionally on the corners. He didn’t hit much (.252 batting average), but he got on base at a .364 clip.
WANTS TO WIN: Jankowski told reporters he had other offers, but chose the Mets for an opportunity to win: “I’m getting up there in age when it comes to baseball," he said. “And I want a ring. This was the best fit as far as go out, make a team, compete in camp, see what happens. The roster speaks for itself.”
Some more news and notes from yesterday…
📻 PLAY-BY-PLAY: Howie Rose told Newsday he will scale back his schedule on the radio this season, saying, “clearly, the physical situation and my surgery and recovery from that and my new normal dictates I have to cut back.” It’s unclear who would fill in for Howie when he takes days off.
🍎 FIRST ROTATION: Buck Showalter revealed his pitching plans for the weekend. Left-hander Josh Walker will get the ball in the Grapefruit opener on Saturday; David Peterson is slated to start on Sunday; and Max Scherzer will take the hill on Monday, followed by Jacob deGrom on Tuesday (which will be on SNY).
💰 OFFERS: As Michael Conforto remains a free agent, Andy Martino reports the Mets offered him a contract “in the $100 million range last spring, and would have gone to about $120 million.” Will he get that, or even his qualifying offer amount this offseason?
🔝 PROSPECTS: MLB Pipeline released a brand new Top 100 Prospect List for the 2022 season. There are three Mets on the list: Francisco Álvarez (10), Brett Baty (27) and Ronny Mauricio (78).
🏃 NEED FOR SPEED: Brandon Nimmo took advantage of a minor tweak in the Mets’ conditioning program last season to improve his sprint speed, which also helped him improve his defense, something we talked about heading into last season. While Buck Showalter hasn’t indicated whether Nimmo or Marte will be the starting centerfielder, the fact we are even having that discussion right now speaks volumes to Nimmo’s improvement.
READ MORE: Nimmo's faster than ever. But will that make him the CF starter? by Anthony DiComo, MLB.com
📺 NATIONAL BROADCASTS: Get used to the Mets becoming the new darlings of national TV broadcasts.
ESPN released an initial Sunday Night Baseball schedule, which puts the Amazins on the mothership twice in May against the Phillies (May 1 and May 29). The rest of the schedule will be updated as the season progresses.
FOX: The Mets will also be featured on Fox/FS1 at least six times this season, beginning April 11th against the Phillies on FS1 (they really like that match-up).
🌴 GRAPEFRUIT SCHEDULE: Before we get to national TV, we have plenty of spring games to watch. Save the graphic below to keep track of when/where you can watch the Metsies this month.
◾️ MLB and the Player’s union extended Trevor Bauer’s administrative leave through April 16.
◾️ MLB will have a 20-round draft during the All-Star week in Los Angeles from July 17 - July 19, with a draft combine June 14 - June 20 at Petco Park in San Diego.
◾️ The Cubs signed a few former Mets yesterday, inking Jonathan Villar to a one-year, $6 million deal and signing right-hander Robert Gsellman.
🔗 Mets closer Edwin Diaz facing crucial Year 4, by Mike Puma, NY Post: “Edwin Diaz’s 2021 season fell somewhere between his rocky first year with the Mets and the dominance he displayed the next. The right-hander’s electric arsenal suggests he can be an All-Star closer every year. Will the Mets finally see that kind of pitcher over a full season?”
🔗 How the MLB lockout turned out to be a break for Mets’ J.D. Davis, by Tim Healey, Newsday: “For the first time in his life, he had surgery last October, a much-needed operation to repair a torn ligament in his left hand, the injury that ruined his 2021 season. Rehabilitating his hand became the theme of his offseason, which stretched an extra month into mid-March. Had camp started on time, Davis would have had to show up mid-rehab, facing workload limitations that would have separated him from his Mets position-player peers.”
🔗 Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman signing shows how much further Mets have to go, by Joel Sherman, NY Post: “At this moment, I agree that the Dodgers are the NL team to beat and favor the Braves in the NL East. The Mets have closed the talent gap on the Braves, perhaps even nudged ahead. But Atlanta has won the division the last four years and the championship last season. Understanding how to successfully navigate a season becomes part of an organization’s DNA. The Braves have that right now. The Mets have to prove it.”
And we leave you with Brandon Nimmo providing an inside look at his hitting approach…
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Great newsletter as always! But I get scared whenever I see the words “minor tweak” in a sentence about Brandon Nimmo!
Remind me, is there still a SNY broadcast when game is national? I think the answer is no, which sucks. The price of (paper) success.