Link: The best Mets ad this year

Head on over to MetsGrrl to check out a new Mets ad spotted in what seems to be a subway station.

The timing of such a find is very apropos.

Sherman: Mets shopping GMJ; Who would take his place?

Two major league officials told me the Mets are shopping Gary Matthews Jr., and the Reds could be a possibility.

-Joel Sherman

If the Mets do find a trade partner for Gary Matthews Jr., and who they would get in return is fodder for another post, who would take his likely spot on the 25-man roster?

Chris Carter, who is simply tearing the cover off the ball to the tune of .444/.500/1.056 with 3 home runs and 8 RBI, can play corner outfield spots, but isn’t a centerfielder.  He’s also somewhat in the running for the first base spot, but he has a snowball’s chance in hell of winning out over Daniel Murphy, Mike Jacobs and Fernando Tatis.

Fernando Martinez, the Mets young and exciting prospect, has been tabbed to start the season in the minor leagues.  F-Mart, who is also having a fantastic spring (.447/.439/.868, 3 HR, 11 RBI), can play center field and would be able to take over for Angel Pagan if needed.  (Pagan, obviously, is the starting centerfielder with Carlos Beltran out.)

An older option would be Frank Catalanotto.  Catalanotto, who has played nearly every position (except CF), would be another option if the corner outfield spots were needed.  But again, he doesn’t have any CF experience and at his age, speed isn’t a strong suit.

Other options might be Jason Pridie or someone the Mets might get in the GMJ trade.  With Pagan’s injury history and this short list of possible, but not very good replacement candidates, if the Mets have the foresight to think about this before they make the trade, they might not be dealing GMJ anytime soon.

Manuel’s Musing

“This process is unique, very unique. I mean, it is for me. What I’ll probably do is I’ll call around and find out if anyone has had a situation such as this and see how they handled it and what are the results.”

-Jerry Manuel on Jose Reyes

Reyes cleared for return; Opening Day possible?

Jose Reyes will return to Port St. Lucie and will begin baseball activites, which is excellent news.

Though we all will wait and watch Reyes and his thyroid as he begins playing again, but with millions of fingers and toes being crossed, Opening Day is not out of the question.

Manuel’s Musing

“He has put his name in the hat very strongly.”

-Jerry Manuel on Chris Carter

Spring Training power surge [Graph]

Here is a chart showing the number of home runs hit by the Mets in all of the full months of last season and so far during spring training.Twelve of the Mets home runs this spring training have come from players who will likely not make the team (Chris Carter, Ike Davis, Fernando Martinez, Omir Santos and Russ Adams).

Nine of the home runs have come from players that will likely make the 25-man roster, but were not on the team last year (Jason Bay, Mike Jacobs, Gary Matthews Jr. and Rod Barajas).

Stats from Baseball-Reference and Mets.com

1983 Mets banner day [Video]

I’ll be out most of the day, so take a look at this video from the Mets banner day in 1983.  It’s a home movie from YouTube user NaOHKDBO.  Pretty cool…

Mets fans getting two new beat writers?

With the news that Adam Rubin is leaving the Daily News for ESPN, I did some digging to see who is replacing him.

As Michael Baron just published on MetsBlog, there are a few people who believe Andy Martino is leaving Philly.com and the Phillies beat to come to the Daily News and the Mets.  Martino used to operate @PhilliesZone on Twitter, but that page is suspiciously deleted.  Is there reason to believe it will be @MetsZone soon?

And the Wall Street Journal is pulling in another Philly reporter, as Michael Sielski, who used to write for the Bucks County Courier Times, will join the WSJ to cover the Mets, as per this tweet.

Welcome them with open arms, Mets fans.

Manuel’s Musing

“I think I'll take him with me to Kissimmee, so he can face Roy Oswalt. That'll be his reward.”

-Jerry Manuel on Ike Davis’ power output

Adam Rubin leaving the Daily News

Adam Rubin appeared on WFAN with Tony Paige last night and at the end of the interview, he revealed that today is his last day with the newspaper.

Rubin denied to reveal where he was heading, but he will not be leaving New York, or even the Mets beat.

Here’s what Rubin had to say (starts around 10:40)…

“Tomorrow is my last day at the Daily News, but I’m still going to be covering the Mets.  I don’t think I’m exactly supposed to say what yet, so hopefully people just hold tight and it will come out soon, I guess.

But I really just want to say about the Daily News that I thoroughly enjoyed the last almost 10 years there including seven-plus seasons as the beat writer.

They stood behind me last year when everything happened with Omar.  they were tremendous to me then.  And just bringing me to New York.  i grew up on Long Island but I was in Birmingham, Al. to cover White Sox Double-A baseball.

For them to show the faith to bring me to New York in the first place, I’m always going to be thankful.”

As to where Rubin is going, Tom Pich from Mets Guide posted to Twitter last night that he was “shocked that Adam Rubin is leaving the Daily News for ESPN.”

Update – 10:55 a.m.: Pich spoke to Rubin who confirms he is heading to ESPNNewYork.com and will start in two weeks.

This makes sense because ESPNNewYork.com, the latest in local ESPN web sites, is just about to launch, but there’s no confirmation of that yet.

The Daily News will miss Rubin, but I guess this means we’re about to welcome a new beat writer onto the Mets beat.