Mets fans, meet the closer before the closer, J.J. Putz. With a fastball in the mid-high 90’s, Putz became tremendously effective in 2006 once he mastered a secondary pitch, the splitter. In his first full year of closing duties for Seattle, Putz powered to 104 K’s in 78.1 innings, with a 2.30 ERA, .919 WHIP [...] more... 
Not going by the book, he causes a stir by deciding that it may be a good idea to bat Luis Castillo lead-off and move Reyes down to the three spot. Then he puts Mets hitters through these marathon ‘gangster’ hitting drills where they’re swinging at curve ball after curve ball till they start looking [...] more... 
Finally, baseball. It didn’t take long for Luis Castillo to get into the groove. One game that is. With 2 hits and four RBI’s out of the leadoff spot, Luis helped power the Mets over the Orioles in the first Spring Training game. Let’s hope this carries into the season. The only concern was Sean [...] more... 
I’m not going to lie. When it first came out Sean Green was coming to the Mets in the Putz deal, for a second I asked myself, Sean Green is pitching now? Get to know the other Sean Green, the player the Mets insisted Seattle include in the trade. Green comes with high praise from [...] more... 
He is still obsessing. Cole Hamels still can’t stop talking about the Mets after winning the World Series. One must wonder how much he’s going to say when we finish on top of the Phillies. “The word choke means you weren’t able to fully come through when you were supposed to,” Hamels said. “I think [...] more... 
Jerry Manuel hands left field job to Daniel Murphy and swings the platoon to Church in right. Jerry says he does not want to get Murphy into a platoon only scenario and believes he’s a better hitter than Church at the moment. “I don’t want him to get into a strictly platoon situation,” Manuel said [...] more... 
With plenty of time to recover from his freak accident over 2 years ago, Duaner Sanchez is ready to pick up where he left off before he got into that ill fated taxi. The player Mets fans welcomed with open arms was a brutal force in 2006. He started the season practically automatic, with 18 [...] more... 
With the acquisition of Livan Hernandez and Freddy Garcia, Redding has a tough road ahead if he wants in on the coveted starting five. To do so is not going to be easy. He’s going up against guys that sound pretty determined and in one way or another, each player in the running (Garcia, Hernandez, [...] more... 
Baseball must be around the corner, brotherly love is in the air. Reporters will be reporters, but are they really just doing their job, or is it called instigating? It’s really the media that drags on the war of words with the types of questions asked, more so than the players directly trash talking without [...] more... 
Venezuelan native Freddy Garcia is an example of Omar building depth in this ongoing arms race. Garcia presents an interesting situation, with the potential of it being a great one. Here’s a guy with a proven track record, starting over 30 games each season from 2001-2006 and a 118-77 career record thus far, pitching to [...] more...