A little more about catchers.
Ted Berg links to a DJ Short piece, from a series about players who could be non-tendered this winter, including Kelly Shoppach.
If the Mets could sign Shoppach to a one-year deal, while is value down coming off a year when his BABIP was below average and his own career norms, that [...]

Thole
On Thursday, while Mets fans and Americans across the country were watching lousy NFL football and eating delicious food, Josh Thole was in Venezuela, doing the same thing he’s been doing for going on two years now: hitting.  The 23-year old Thole was 2-5 on Thanksgiving with a pair of doubles, giving him doubles in [...]

I tivoed Thursday’s Giants debacle, so I could spend time with my family and my mom’s fantastic pecan pie at game time.  Despite text messages from friends that all included the word “crap” I still made time to watch the whole game at the end of the night.  I can barely believe I wasted my [...]

Happy Thanksgiving.
I’ll enjoy a day with friends, family, too much food and maybe a little football on Thursday.  I’m especially thankful for my mother’s pies (she did up a pecan pie this year).
And while we’re here, lets all give thanks to baseball for existing.
And to those of you readers who stop by,  I can’t thank [...]

On the same day that the Mets announced the hiring of Terry Collins as the new Minor League Field Coordinator, the team also announced that manager Ken Oberkfell and pitching coach Ricky Bones would return to the Buffalo Bisons in 2010.
Jack Voigt was promoted from the Brooklyn Cyclones to be the Bisons new hitting coach.  [...]

At 7:47 PM on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, the Mets announced 1. the completion of their major league coaching staff with the hiring of Dave Jauss and Chip Hale and 2. the hiring of Terry Collins to be the team’s Minor League Field Coordinator.
From the Mets release on Collins:

Collins, 60, who managed the Houston Astros [...]

Yesterday, at MLB.com, Jonathan Mayo wrote up his review of the Mets farm system in 2009.  He wrote in part,
On the field, there were some signs of life from a system that hasn’t provided a whole lot of help in New York of late.

Mayo pointed to the development of Ike Davis, Reese Havens and [...]

The good guys over at Project Prospect have put together their list of the top five prospects in the Arizona Fall League.  Their list:
1. Stephen Strasburg
2. Buster Posey
3. Dustin Akley
4. Yonder Alonso
5. Josh Bell
HM: Domonic Brown, Starlin Castro, Mike Leake, Jenrry Mejia, Thomas Neal and Jose Tabata
I think the top three on that list are [...]

Let’s take a look how some of the more interesting prospects are fairing in winter ball:
Hitters
VWL

Name
AB
H
2B
3B
HR
RBI
BB
K
.AVG
.OBP
.SLG
.OPS

Chris Carter
92
27
4
1
3
10
11
15
.293
.365
.457
.822

Jose Coronado
86
24
4
1
0
11
10
14
.279
.364
.349
.713

Josh Thole
109
43
9
1
2
21
23
9
.394
.504
.550
1.054

League AVG

.287
.365
.426
.791

Josh Thole is still on a torrid pace. He leads the league in OBP, and is 2nd in BA, and 4th in OPS.
AFL

Name
AB
H
2B
3B
HR
RBI
BB
K
.AVG
.OBP
.SLG
.OPS

Ike Davis
85
29
7
0
4
16
8
23
.341
.394
.565
.959

Nick Evans
35
6
1
0
2
4
2
11
.171
.216
.371
.587

Reese Havens
38
14
3
1
2
5
8
9
.368
.478
.658
1.136

Ruben Tejada
59
15
4
0
1
9
6
9
.254
.338
.373
.711

League AVG

.283
.361
.443
.804

The AFL came to a close this week. [...]

So, did you know that the Mets have a pitcher named Jack Egbert on their 40-man roster?
The Mets claimed the 26 year old righty from the White Sox on September 25, a time when many Mets fans were watching football already.  Egbert, who made his MLB debut for the White Sox on April 21, 2009, [...]