With all the rumors flying around the Yankees getting a starter to fill in for Andy Pettitte—Ted Lilly, Roy Oswalt, Fausto Carmona, Joakim Soria, Jake Westbrook, I’ll add one named. Ben Sheets. OK, insert injury joke here—true, Sheets is a shoulder injury waiting to happen, but Sheets offers something a few things the other guys [...]

The Mets critical West Coast trip couldn’t have gotten off to a more frustrating start. The Giants have scored 3 runs in 18 innings and have won both ballgames. It shouldn’t be a surprise that a lineup without Reyes, Jason Bay hitting singles, and Jeff Francoeur swinging at everything is struggling to plate runs. Another [...]

When Mike and I discussed a possible return of Pedro Martinez this spring, I said the following conditions would be necessary for it to make sense. 1. The Mets would need to be in contention. 2. The Mets would need to be one starting pitcher short. The second condition seemed like an obvious one, since [...]

As the Mets continue to defy the experts and play well, the possibility they will be buyers at the trade deadline increases. It’s no secret that another starting pitcher would be desirable to help the big three of Santana, Pelfrey, and Niese. We have talked endlessly to date about Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, and to [...]

Another former Yankee joins us on the Sunday Hot Stove as Moose Skowron headlines the show. Moose played with the Yankees from 1954 to 1962, winning 4 World Series. He talks about the great Yankees teams, his World Series highlights, and his role as a community liaison with the Chicago White Sox. I will recap [...]

The Met decided to pass up on Ben Sheets, but there still is another high reward starter on the market: Chien Ming Wang.  We talked about Wang earlier in the off season. NYBD contributor Frank Russo has been ahead of the curve on the Wang situation. As early as July he talked about the Yankees [...]

It looks like the Mets will sign John Smoltz, and rely on numerous in house candidates for the rotation. Personally, I wanted Ben Sheets. As I predicted, it was going to take about $10 million dollars plus incentives to sign the righty. All winter we have told fans the Mets did not want to take [...]

NYBD contributor Joe Demayo just tweeted that he is “hearing the Mets have an offer out to Smoltz and will be looking to see if he can get details.” As I have said before, which you can read here, Smoltz as a piece in the bullpen is a great move. If the Mets are thinking [...]

Update: 4:20 PM Jon Heyman believes the Mets are not the front runners for Sheets, as it may come down to Oakland, Seattle, and Texas Update 1:30 PM Jon Heyman tweeted that it’s between the Mets, A’s and Rangers for the services of Sheets. Original Post Just received an email saying the A’s signed Sheets [...]

I have been poking around trying to see what numerous people think about the Ben Sheets situation. From what I have found out, the Mets clearly are targeting Ben Sheets as their #1 priority, with John Smoltz shortly thereafter. This, obviously, shouldn’t be a surprise as it has been reported via numerous outlets. The key [...]

Get over the Jets loss by joining me tonight to talk some baseball. Former Yankees pitcher Jim Coates will headline the show. He recently released a book about his career called “Always a Yankee”, and will be talking about his days in pinstripes. We will talk about the 61′ World Series, some of his memories [...]

I was a guest of Tom Reese and Paul Rubillo from Hot Stove TV. We talked Mets during the first half, as I gave my take on the team’s offseason, Gary Matthews Jr., and their starting pitching options. We discussed the Yankees left field, the impact of Curtis Granderson during the backhalf, and why I [...]

At 2pm I will be calling in to Hot Stove TV to talk baseball with Tom Reese and Paul Rubillo. I am sure Ben Sheets, Johnny Damon, Gary Matthews Jr.,  and other notable free agents will come up Yesterday Matt Cerrone of Metsblog joined the duo which you can check out here.

I have a feeling the Ben Sheets sweepstakes might get very interesting. His workout, as you probably already know, went well with about 15 teams in attendance. All along it was thought a reunion with his former pitching coach, Mike Maddux, in Texas is where he will end up. Although NYBD contributor, host to of [...]

This offseason has been filled with a lot of smoke, but very little fire. In an interesting twist, just a day after it appeared that Texas was the favorite to land Ben Sheets, reports are circulating the Rangers may not have the capital to go after his services. Buster Olney of ESPN believes the Mets [...]