It’s been a fairly quiet off-season for the Mets so far… they’ve been linked to free agent second baseman Ben Zobrist, but I have a hard time believing they will be the top bidder for his services.
Outside of that? Crickets… at least in terms of high demand free agents.
Since I last wrote, the Mets have added former Milwaukee Brewers closer Jim Henderson on a minor league deal with an invitation to major league spring training. That seems like a worthwhile low risk, high reward move that the Mets should be making to shore up their relief corps.
They’ve also lost bench coach Bob Geren to the Dodgers and backup catcher Anthony Recker to the Cleveland Indians organization, also on a minor league deal. Recker was fun, if only for the possibility of getting to see him pitch again in another blowout game somewhere down the road, but there was no spot on the roster for him with Travis d’Arnuad and Kevin Plawecki now splitting time behind the dish.
Former Mets pitchers Mike Pelfrey and Oilver Perez have landed new deals with the Detroit Tigers and Washington Nationals, respectively. Raise your hands if you expected either would still be pitching in 2016 when they left New York.
And to remind us that 2000 was a long time ago, the Seattle Mariners added Mike Hampton to their coaching staff. (Hampton has been a minor league coach in the Angels’ organization since he retired in 2010.) I wonder what he thinks of the Seattle-area school systems.
Finally, I’ll be praying for Mets GM Sandy Alderson, who is being treated for cancer and will miss baseball’s winter meetings this week.
PaulHadsall.com 