Candelita Extinguished?

Hello hello hello! Welcome to The Mets Newsletter (nope, it wasn’t taken.) I’m Roger, and I’m coming to you live (no) from Brooklyn, New York. I’ve been a Mets fan since I was a young pup. I just missed out on being old enough to understand what was going on in 1986, the last time the Mets won the World Series, so I am worthy of your pity. I’ve stuck with the team through their ups and downs and downs and ups and downs and downs and downs and ups, and I can only assume will continue to do so until I leave this mortal coil. 

You might know me from the Good Fundies podcast/Twitter account. Maybe from my brief stint at Fangraphs? My many years now at Baseball Prospectus? Or perhaps you’ve grown accustomed to my ramblings at BlueSky. Or from none of the above. No matter how you know me, here’s my message to you:

The goal of this newsletter is to provide daily - including weekends - coverage of all things New York Mets. There will be commentary, analysis, and (attempts at) humor. You’ll learn and be entertained simultaneously. 

Mondays and Thursdays are gratis. In order to read the other editions, you’ll need to pony up five bucks a month, or at a discount, 50 dollars for a year. I’d love to make it free for everybody every day, but I am dangerously under qualified to work a real job. This is pretty much all I got, so you’ll get my A-game every time. 

Doug Flynn knows what I’m talking about.

(Flynn had a -3.9 bWAR in five seasons with the Mets, but he tried dammit.)

The Re-Pete is officially official. The Pete Alonso signing was officially announced by the Mets at around 4:15 p.m. EST yesterday, which just so happened to be 15 minutes before a David Stearns presser. The Mets Twitter account cheekily posted the video of him homering off of Devin Williams along with the news. It’s a two-year deal worth $54 million with an opt-out after this upcoming season. Alonso gets a cool $30 million in 2025 and $24 million if he decides to stick around in 2026. There’s also a $10 million signing bonus. I don’t know if that’s part of the $30 million 2025 figure or not. 

(Speaking of the Home Run That Changed All of Our Lives: Williams’ new employer did their due diligence before trading for him and came to the conclusion that he was not tipping his change-up to the Mets in that fateful 9th inning. The Yankees made him shave his excellent beard anyway.)

About two hours after the announcement, the Mets posted this excellent tribute to Pete that may make you want to run through a brick igloo. 

Free agency began on November 4th of last year, so Alonso technically became a Met again after exactly 100 days. It was a long, frustrating, annoying journey that is now over (until next offseason). 

In their official statement about the Alonso signing, Steve and Alex Cohen mentioned that this summer at Citi Field should be fun while Pete goes for the franchise home run record.

It is of the opinion of this author that this was the right move. Alonso projects to hit 33 home runs and bring home 101 runs according to ZIPS. Steamer has him hitting 36 homers. Both Baseball Prospectus and Fangraphs added 1-2 wins to their 2025 projections the day after the Alonso re-signing was reported, and 1-2 extra wins is potentially huge (see year, last.) It was smart to not sign him to a long-term contract because, yes, he had a down year and he, like all of us, is only getting older (he turned 30 last December.) Alonso for 2025 just has to r-e-l-a-x. Francisco Lindor has taken over the mantle as team captain and all of that entails, and Juan Soto is on the team(!), so not everything is on his shoulders. His down year in 2024 has been attributed to anxiety over his pending free agency, and he pressed and was trying to do too much. Pete’s an emotional guy. It takes awhile for athletes to harness their mentalities for optimum performance, if it ever happens. I think he’ll rebound, bwdik.

One thing David Stearns doesn’t get enough credit for is the fact that he doesn’t discount the good clubhouse guy factor. You can’t replicate the feel-good 2024 season even if you wanted to, but it makes good sense to bring back the likes of Sean Manaea and Alonso for both on the field and off of it. It leads me to think Jose Iglesias would be a Met again by now if he wasn’t asking for a multi-year contract. But alas, Stearns all but closed the door on a reunion with Candelita yesterday, citing a desire to have backup utility players with minor-league options. I don’t love this decision - I don’t have much faith in Nick Madrigal putting together a 3.1 bWAR 85-game season while topping the music charts to be honest. Even a regressing-to-the-mean Iglesias would be valuable to the team. (And to add injury to insult, Madrigal has claimed Iglesias’ #11). It’s weird to me that Alonso pretty much got his new contract because of his Game 3 home run but Iglesias doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt after his two-out hustle single tied Game 1 against the Brewers in the 5th inning, leading to four more runs, the eventual margin of victory. That play shouldn’t be lost to time.

Speaking of returning vibes, the Mets reportedly signed reliever Drew Smith to a one-year contract with a team option for 2026. Smith underwent his second Tommy John surgery (technically this was a hybrid Tommy John/internal brace procedure) last summer after tearing the UCL in his right elbow. He’s likely out for 2025, and he’ll get $1 million for the privilege. The club option is for double that amount. Smith is, get this, the longest-tenured pitcher on the team, having been acquired way back in 2017 for Lucas Duda. (Brandon Nimmo, drafted by the Mets in 2011, is the longest-tenured player.) Reaction from Mets fans on the signing was mixed. Some love it and love him, others remember all the times he served up home runs. For what it’s worth, in 17.2 innings last season he put together a 3.06 ERA, his second-best ERA in his major league career. Then again, his xERA (expected earned run average) was over a run higher at 4.43. Ah, well, nevertheless.

Christian Scott and Adbert Alzolay are the other Met pitchers not expected to appear in a game this year, Stearns confirmed. That being said, he feels better about the starting pitching depth this year than last.

Jfc, Paul Blackburn. The pitcher’s spine leaked back in September. Blackburn, a trading deadline acquisition from the A’s, said yesterday he had surgery that “shaved down some bone spurs”. He described it as “pretty noninvasive.” Okay? The Mets are going to take things slow with him, obviously, but he’s already well enough to toss the ol’ pigskin around, at least.

Francisco Alvarez, captured yesterday morning dropping knowledge on players who are somehow younger than he is, had some tongues a-flappin’ the other day when he said the Mets have the best lineup in the game. Mark Vientos backed his catcher up, saying “I can agree with that, honestly.” Vientos got rid of his blonde locks because it was too much work to maintain. “Now I understand how women have to take care of themselves,” the newly enlightened third baseman explained. 

Carlos Mendoza had glowing words to say about Vientos. “I saw him early in January with Lindor,” the manager said, “and he looked like he was ready to play 9 innings. He's on a mission.” In other words, he’s in the BSOHL. Mark himself told reporters, “I love the expectations. I love the pressure. I love people that are honestly rooting for me or rooting against me. It motivates me to work harder." Well Mark, I’m rooting for you. Now work harder. But seriously folks, I know this is spring training camp bluster and I am eating it up. 500 home runs from Swaggy V incoming. 

Clay Holmes, attempting the reliever to starter metamorphosis, threw three simulated innings. That’s considered a lot this early on the calendar. Mendoza called it “impressive.” The Mets posted four minutes of his simulated BP to Jesse Winker and Ronny Mauricio to its YouTube channel. It’s practically ASMR.

Holmes has been in camp for about a month now, so he’s clearly pretty serious about this career change at the age of 31. Good.

Mendoza was encouraged by A.J. Minter yesterday. He said it would be ideal if the reliever got “4-5” appearances before the regular season started. Minter underwent left hip surgery last September. 

We also found out more about Minter than maybe we wanted to know. 15 Mets participated in those questionnaires for kids about to attend their first day of school. As someone pointed out, Sean Manaea did that John Mulaney bit where you start off writing in big letters before realizing you’re going to run out of room to finish what you intended to write.

There were some major faux pas on some of these. David Peterson admitted his favorite player growing up was…Derek Jeter. What? Francisco Alvarez said Yadier Molina, which on the surface seems just as unforgivable, until you realize that’s a pretty decent role model for a catcher. But can you imagine the tall, left-handed Peterson playing shortstop? Follow your dreams within reason, Petey. Someone named Austin Warren said Chipper Jones, because some people are desperate for attention.

As far as food goes, Minter’s favorite is fried deer steak. It raised some antlers eyebrows. I suppose I shouldn’t knock anything until I’ve tried it. The problem though is I fear I might like it. 

The Mets wore their new alternate road unis, but with the standard pinstriped pants. I was under the impression they would be paired with the pants with the blue and orange racing stripe, because that’s what prospect Jonah Tong wore the other day. Either way, fans are divided on them, because we can’t agree on anything anymore in this country.

To me it looks like Mendoza gave Mauricio a talking to. This is one of those many times I tell myself I’m going to learn how to read lips before doing literally anything else. 

The Lumineers will be playing Citi Field on July 11th. You know them from the “Ho Hey” song from 2012. Even if you think you don’t know it, you know it.

Old friend Daniel Vogelbach is back with the Pittsburgh Pirates. As a “special assistant to the hitting department.” Sounds real, not made-up, to me.

The Red Sox signed Alex Bregman to a 3-year, $120 million deal with two opt-outs after Bregman allegedly was holding out for a longer-term deal (sound familiar?) I wouldn’t have minded Bregman in Queens but at least he stays in the American League. The Padres signed Nick Pivetta to a 4-year, $55 million contract.

Dwight Gooden appeared on MLB Network yesterday morning at the MLB flagship store in Manhattan. Bill Nye was also a guest. Sadly the science guy didn’t get into the physics of Doc’s Lord Charles. 

Someone on Reddit uploaded photos from the 1982 Mets season ticket mailer. The acquisition of George Foster was headline news. And of course we can’t forget Shea’s brand new DIAMONDVISIONvisionvisionvision…

On this day in 2003, David Cone re-signed with the Mets in a failed comeback attempt. He only managed to throw 18 innings before retiring for good. Tbf, that’s more work than Drew Smith had in 2024.