G-Fafif

We're gonna rev up the hover scooters when Shinjo comes home to stay…

Chris Archer has joined the Twins, presumably making them triplets.

Here go some more guys.

Albert says this year will be his last as a player.

Will Toffey, the minor league third baseman the Mets acquired from Oakland in the Jeurys Familia salary dump of 2018 and was sent to San Francisco for Anthony Banda, has moved on to the Phillies, still aspiring to make his MLB debut.

It took Pujols 11 years to return home. By that clock, we'll see Conforto in 2032.

DUI for Jays pitching coach Pete Walker. https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/pete-walker-continues-to-work-with-blue-jays-while-legal-process-unfolds/https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/pete-walker-continues-to-work-with-blue-jays-while-legal-process-unfolds/

Anthony McCarron talks to Gil Hodges's daughter Irene as the 50th anniversary of her Hall of Fame dad's passing approaches. Still a revered figure in the Brooklyn neighborhood where the family lived (and her mom Joan still lives). When Irene Hodges and her siblings were growing up in Brooklyn, her renowned father played first base for the Dodgers and later managed the Mets. Gil Hodges was first a powerful slugger and a deft first baseman for a beloved team and then a master strategist and motivator of the Miracle Mets. But to the folks in the Midwood section of the borough, Hodges was even more than that. A faithful man who said a Hail Mary before big-league games, he was a regular presence in the pews at Our Lady Help of Christians, his local parish, even before Sunday afternoon games at Ebbets Field. He was such a part of the fabric of the neighborhood that sometimes he'd sit out on a stoop and schmooze the folks fascinated that a baseball man of his stature lived around the block. “He'd walk to all the stores, walk to get pizza on Fridays,” Irene Hodges says. “My friends all knew him. He'd be Santa Claus on Christmas, go to my friends' houses. He was just our dad at the time. As I got a little older, you realize that he's more famous than you ever knew.” Years later, his church and his neighborhood still cherish one of their own. On the upcoming 50th anniversary of his death — Hodges died on April 2, 1972 — he will be remembered in a Memorial Mass at Our Lady Help of Christians, the same church that held his funeral. The Mass is set for next Saturday at noon and two of Hodges' great-grandchildren, Emma Savelli and Layla Ojeda, will do readings. The church will also dedicate its statue of St. Joseph to Hodges. “He is one of our heroes in the parish,” says Fr. Dwayne Davis, the parish administrator. “Our parishioners still remember him. Some of them were children when he died. Some of them can remember where they were the day of his funeral. “Even being a star, he never forgot his faith. He was a very faithful Catholic. It was important to him in raising his family. That's a connection that will live on for us. No matter how big he was, faith was important to him, that honorable gentleman.” https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/ny-gil-hodges-memorial-mass-hall-of-fame-20220326-sl4qzk7c6ngnfewaw4nhfnlpxm-story.htmlhttps://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/ny-gil-hodges-memorial-mass-hall-of-fame-20220326-sl4qzk7c6ngnfewaw4nhfnlpxm-story.html The family will throw out a first ball when the Mets play their second home game April 16.

Tyler Clippard's left arm and other body parts are in camp with the Nationals.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: The Kansas City Monarchs? There's a minor league team in Kansas City? Very much so, in Kansas City, Kansas. Wikipedia description: The Kansas City Monarchs are a professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Kansas. Formerly known as the Kansas City T-Bones, they are members of the American Association of Professional Baseball; which, in 2020, became designated as a Major League Baseball partner league. They have played their home games at Legends Field (formerly CommunityAmerica Ballpark) since 2003, when the team began as a member of the Northern League. In 2011, the team joined the modern American Association. In 2018, the T-Bones won their first-ever American Association championship by defeating the St. Paul Saints. While named the T-Bones, the team's mascot was named Sizzle. On January 21, 2021, the team announced a partnership with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and a rebranding to the Kansas City Monarchs, one of the founding teams of that league. The Monarchs defeated the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks in the 2021 American Association championship, claiming the franchise's third title. Ty Kelly joined their ranks briefly. https://monarchsbaseball.com/https://monarchsbaseball.com/

Super hitmaker Pete Rock certainly dresses the part. https://tvone.tv/106287/celebrating-the-legacy-of-super-hitmaker-pete-rock/https://tvone.tv/106287/celebrating-the-legacy-of-super-hitmaker-pete-rock/

The Pirates have outrighted Eric Hanhold to Indianapolis, presumably with far less flair than anything Tsuyoshi Shinjo has done lately.

On January 24, deep in the miasma of The Lockout, Akeem Bostick signed with the Kansas City Monarchs of the American Association. Akeem threw an inning as a Met and was plenty excited about it. https://twitter.com/ab10thephenom/status/1420879952199749639

Tsuyoshi Shinjo is managing quite nicely.

Steve Gelbs overestimates our fervor for Edwin Diaz's entrance fanfare.

From 2010 (a long time ago in its own right). Mex was very much out there, down in Port St. Lucie, schooling Murphy on the finer points of playing first. https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/daniel-murphy-flaws-base-test-mets-announcer-keith-hernandez-article-1.199132https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/daniel-murphy-flaws-base-test-mets-announcer-keith-hernandez-article-1.199132

Bob Klapisch reports in a paywall NJ.com piece that Buck Showalter isn't so insecure that he can't have Keith Hernandez around. (The Mets enlisted Keith to work with Murph at first base, which maybe Keith has since forgotten or it was at a distance before social distancing was cool.) PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – Ever since he arrived at the Mets' spring training facility, Buck Showalter had been baffled by the rule that kept Keith Hernandez away from the batting cages. Technically it was because Hernandez works for SNY, and as a member of the media he was denied access to certain areas of the complex. The decade-old ban was actually pettier than that. Prior regimes were intimidated by Hernandez and his towering 80s legacy. He was popular and knowledgeable and somehow a threat to smaller minds. It was indeed insanity: who thinks of Mex as anything except the most influential player of the ‘86 team – so revered his number is being retired this summer at Citi Field? Showalter was appalled at the way Hernandez was being treated and took swift action. The manager pulled up in a mechanized cart outside the clubhouse the other day and motioned to Hernandez. “Keith, get in,” is what Buck said as the two proceeded to drive slowly around the complex, making sure everyone could see. “I wanted people to notice Keith was sitting next to me and that it wasn't by coincidence,” Showalter said on Tuesday. “To me, Keith Hernandez is Mets royalty. Can you imagine keeping him out? He can go wherever he wants around here. This is his team.” Showalter's deference to Hernandez wasn't just borne out of courtesy, it was a smart move for a manager who's still largely a stranger to the Mets' community. That's changing, but it's nevertheless startling to see the orange-and-blue “NY” on Showalter's cap. He's been with four other franchises since the early mid-90s, but in these parts Showalter is still a Yankees ex-pat. That's okay; if anyone understands the ticket buyers' obsession in this market, it's Buck. And if Job One was to turn Hernandez into an ally, that's already a “W.” “I'm very pleased about this, it's a complete change,” Hernandez said. “Keeping me out was something the old Mets regime did. The last time I was allowed near the field was 2000, when Bobby Valentine had me working with Todd Zeile at first base. “But since then I felt there was an insecurity from the coaches; they didn't want me around, almost like they felt threatened. Like I wanted to get back in uniform, which I couldn't do. It was just a bad vibe.” And now? “Buck said, ‘I want you here, I want you to be part of this,'” Hernandez continued. “He's what the Mets need, 100%. They need a strong leader, they need direction.” https://trib.al/xXfPsbphttps://trib.al/xXfPsbp

Andrew Miller just got done negotiating the CBA. Now he's done pitching.

“Now you sure you arranged for the statue to be delivered?” “Relax, Steve. My dad and I wouldn't sell you the team without taking care of every last detail. It's paid for and everything. Just call this number a couple of weeks before the official unveiling.”

Statue apparently en route this morning. Armored car must not have been available.

Tommy Pham is Red in the hat, signing with Cincinnati.