Edgy MD

Dave Kingman '83 abides.

They're doing some winning things today — even that unlikeable Francisco Lindor. Hanging on to a 1-0 lead is barely winning, but they're doing more winning things than I've seen in any game recently.

No, I mean, was the drilling of Crow-Armstrong a response to the mound violation. If so, that's a seeming over-reaction by Peterson, but he really put it right down the middle of PCA's back there.

Luis Torrens pulling a ball is, like, a bi-monthly treat.

Was that a response to the mound violation?

MJ FEVER.

Let's hear it for the old 4-5 double-play!

That is all true, but I'm sure Carlos would tell you something about giving him a different look, see more fastballs, a chance to utilize his speed, etc. When there are no good answers that are working we get bad answers and hope. And if you aren't going to win, you might as well try to give a rookie's development priority. It's all bad, but these are the calls managers make when the lineup is doing what it is doing, and multiple threads are speculating about their job security.

You can't bump everybody down in the lineup. When a lineup where nobody is doing well gets shaken up, somebody ends up with the lucky draw.

Hey, we have baseball! And we have a four-pitch walk to begin Tobias Myers first start!

We'll also be up against it if and when Soto and Polanco return and neither are healthy enough to play anywhere but DH. I guess my hope for Soto is that people start walking again when he gets back.

Well, almost every firing is inevitable. You are hired to be fired. Few managers retire out of the job. Dying in the job is probably as just as common. But I guess Terry and Casey Stengel both go down as guys who retired out of the gig, so maybe it's a 2-to-1 ratio. It's just an exercise in how long you can keep the wolves away from the door. And in Carlos' case, the wolves are in the house. Should the "Names Here" thread be merged with this 'un?

Yeah, it's weird the things one remembers.

As the Mets' losing streak approached (and has now reached) 10 games, displaying an offensive downturn with no answers, Mets Roster Central regrets to report that the transactions the Mets are making do not even suggest management is pretending to offer a way forward. Transactions, 4/18/2026 GOING COMING Placed on 10-Day Injured List with Right Wrist Contusion Promoted from Syracuse Infielders Catchers Jorge Polanco Hayden Senger S/R DoB: 1999-11-13 High Level: MLB (2026) R/R DoB: 1997-04-03 High Level: MLB (2025) While Jorge Polanco has surprised few by being a suboptimal solution at first (and, more frequently, DH), his right wrist contusion (hadn't we been made to understand he had a calf strain or the like?) leading to an IL assignment can hardly be framed as good news. But hey, finding opportunity in crisis is what GMs and PoBOs are supposed to do. Maybe they press the right button, and maybe they call up the right replacement from the hundreds of aspiring ballplayers in the Mets system, and maybe they take a small step in the right direction. It's been known to happen. Hey, look at MJ Melendez. But in a great surprise to Mets Roster Central, the Mets decided to call up third-string catcher Hayden Senger. Hayden has of course shown himself to be a capable receiver, but one who hits like ... well, like a third-string catcher (.415 career OPS). And when a team scraping the bottom of the league-wide barrel in most every offensive category needs to replace a starting firstbaseman/DH type, chooses such a character, you can't be blamed if you ask, "Are we actually trying to win?" There is a logic to the move. At least, Gary Cohen bent over backwards trying to lay out some logic to it in the booth today, noting that the Cubs have a bullpen loaded the eyeballs with lefties, and so the presence of Senger would allow the team to more safely deploy Luis Torrens as a righthanded pinch-hitter, and more safely deploy Francisco Alvarez (who Gary described as "red hot," but can more accurately be observed as not as Arctic-ly cold as some others in the Mets lineup. The obvious retort to this is, if you want better options for a righthanded pinch-hitter, and righthanded DH, add a righthanded pinch-hitter/DH to roster and let the catchers do what they do from where they do it. Gary might well have said, "Calling up Hayden Senger gives the Mets a great chance to rob Peter in order to pay off that nasty debt to Paul." I mean, who are we kidding here, right? What Gary didn't mention — at least, not while Mets Roster Central was listening — is that Senger, despite his unseemly track record as an MLB batter, is leading 11-9 Syracuse in almost every offensive category, sporting a .257 / .316 / .714 // 1.030 slash line boosted up by five homeruns, more than anybody with the big club. You cannot be blamed for being dubious that he is the answer, but if you insist that the Mets shouldn't be messing with the catchers and instead call up the best offensive option ... the answer is still Senger. So maybe they keep him around for one more day as this lefty-heavy bullpen looms, and then call Ronny Mauricio back, but the message is the same — the Mets are going to have to find a way to bop, as the answer isn't coming in the form of a callup any time soon.

Hey, I don't wanna dislike him. It just happened, OK?

As the Mets' losing streak approached (and has now reached) 10 games, displaying an offensive downturn with no answers, Mets Roster Central regrets to report that the transactions the Mets are making do not even suggest management is pretending to offer a way forward. Transactions, 4/18/2026 GOING COMING Placed on 10-Day Injured List with Right Wrist Contusion Promoted from Syracuse Infielders Catchers Jorge Polanco Hayden Senger S/R DoB: 1999-11-13 High Level: MLB (2026) R/R DoB: 1997-04-03 High Level: MLB (2025) While Jorge Polanco has surprised few by being a suboptimal solution at first (and, more frequently, DH), his right wrist contusion (hadn't we been made to understand he had a calf strain or the like?) leading to an IL assignment can hardly be framed as good news. But hey, finding opportunity in crisis is what GMs and PoBOs are supposed to do. Maybe they press the right button, and maybe they call up the right replacement from the hundreds of aspiring ballplayers in the Mets system, and maybe they take a small step in the right direction. It's been known to happen. Hey, look at MJ Melendez. But in a great surprise to Mets Roster Central, the Mets decided to call up third-string catcher Hayden Senger. Hayden has of course shown himself to be a capable receiver, but one who hits like ... well, like a third-string catcher (.415 career OPS). And when a team scraping the bottom of the league-wide barrel in most every offensive category needs to replace a starting firstbaseman/DH type, chooses such a character, you can't be blamed if you ask, "Are we actually trying to win?" There is a logic to the move. At least, Gary Cohen bent over backwards trying to lay out some logic to it in the booth today, noting that the Cubs have a bullpen loaded the eyeballs with lefties, and so the presence of Senger would allow the team to more safely deploy Luis Torrens as a righthanded pinch-hitter, and more safely deploy Francisco Alvarez (who Gary described as "red hot," but can more accurately be observed as not as Arctic-ly cold as some others in the Mets lineup. The obvious retort to this is, if you want better options for a righthanded pinch-hitter, and righthanded DH, add a righthanded pinch-hitter/DH to roster and let the catchers do what they do from where they do it. Gary might well have said, "Calling up Hayden Senger gives the Mets a great chance to rob Peter in order to pay off that nasty debt to Paul." I mean, who are we kidding here, right? What Gary didn't mention — at least, not while Mets Roster Central was listening — is that Senger, despite his unseemly track record as an MLB batter, is leading 11-9 Syracuse in almost every offensive category, sporting a .257 / .316 / .714 // 1.030 slash line boosted up by five homeruns, more than anybody with the big club. You cannot be blamed for being dubious that he is the answer, but if you insist that the Mets shouldn't be messing with the catchers and instead call up the best offensive option ... the answer is still Senger. So maybe they keep him around for one more day as this lefty-heavy bullpen looms, and then call Ronny Mauricio back, but the message is the same — the Mets are going to have to find a way to bop, as the answer isn't coming in the form of a callup any time soon. Your Mets Coaching Staff Manager Bench Coach Pitching Coach Hitting Coordinator Third Base Coach First Base Coach Bullpen Coach Ass't Pitching Coach Carlos Mendoza Kai Correa Justin Willard Jeff Albert Tim Leiper Gilbert Gomez José Rosado Dan McKinney DoB: 1979-11-27 DoB: 1989-07-14 DoB: 1990-09-09 DoB: 1992-08-16 DoB: 1996-07-19 DoB: 1992-03-08 DoB: 1974-11-09 DoB: 1989-06-06 Hitting Coach Strategy Coach Catching Coach Coaching Assistant Bat'g Practice Pitcher Equipment Manager Bullpen Catchers Bullpen Catchers Troy Snitker Danny Barnes J.P. Arencibia Rafael Fernandez Kevin Mahoney Kevin Kierst Eric Langill Dave Racaniello DoB: 1988-12-05 DoB: 1989-10021 DoB: 1986-01-05 DoB: 1988-08-03 DoB: 1987-05-11 DoB: 1964-07-09 DoB: 1979-04-09 DoB: 1978-06-03 Your Mets Training Staff Director of Player Health Head Athletic Trainer Assistant Athletic Trainer Reconditioning Coordinator Reconditioning Therapist Head Performance Coach Assistant Performance Coach Performance Coordinator Brian Chicklo Joseph Golia Bryan Baca Sean Bardanett Josh Bickel Dustin Clarke Tanner Miracle Jeremy Chiang DoB: 1972-07-17 DoB: 1978-??-?? DoB: Circa 1980 DoB: 1988-06-23 DoB: 1996-??-?? DoB: 1987-??-?? DoB: 1991-??-?? DoB: ????-??-?? Your 2026 New York Mets Starting Pitchers Clay Holmes Nolan McLean Freddy Peralta David Peterson Kodai Senga R/R DoB: 1993-03-27 R/R DoB: 2001-07-24 R/R DoB: 2996-06-04 L/L DoB: 1995-09-03 L/R DoB: 1993-01-30 Relief Pitchers Huascar Brazobán Craig Kimbrel Sean Manaea Tobias Myers Brooks Raley Austin Warren Luke Weaver R/R DoB: 1989-10-15 R/R DoB: 32291 R/L DoB: 1992-02-01 R/R DoB: 1998-08-05 L/L DoB: 1988-06-29 R/R DoB: 1996-02-05 R/R DoB: 1993-08-21 Relief Pitchers Catchers Infielders Devin Williams Francisco Alvarez Hayden Senger Luís Torrens Bo Bichette Francisco Lindor Jorge Polanco R/R DoB: 1994-09-21 R/R DoB: 2001-11-01 R/R DoB: 1997-04-03 R/R DoB: 1996-05-02 R/R DoB: 1998-03-05 S/R DoB: 1993-11-14 S/R DoB: 1999-11-13 Infielders Infielders Marcus Semien Mark Vientos Carson Benge MJ Melendez Tommy Pham Luis Robert, Jr. Tyrone Taylor R/R DoB: 1990-09-17 R/R DoB: 1993-12-11 L/R DoB: 2003-01-20 L/R DoB: 1993-11-29 R/R DoB: 32210 R/R DoB: 1997-08-03 R/R DoB: 34356 Also on 40-Player Roster Starting Pitchers Relief Pitchers Tylor Megill Christian Scott Jonah Tong Alex Carrillo Reed Garrett Joey Gerber Justin Hagenman R/R DoB: 1995-07-28 R/R DoB: 1999-06-15 R/R DoB: 2003-06-19 R/R DoB: 1997-06-06 R/R DoB: 1993-01-02 R/R DoB: 1997-05-03 R/R DoB: 1996-10-07 On 60-Day Injured List with torn right UCL. With Syracuse With Syracuse With Syracuse On 60-Day Injured List — right UCL surgery and nerve relocation surgery. On 15-Day Injured List with blistered right finger. On 60 Day Injured List with fractured rib. Relief Pitchers Relief Pitchers Outfielders A.J. Minter Dedniel Núñez Jonathan Pintaro Dylan Ross Ronny Mauricio Jorge Polanco Nick Morabito L/L DoB: 1993-09-02 R/R DoB: 1996-06-05 R/R DoB: 1997-11-07 R/R DoB: 2000-09-01 S/R DoB: 2001-04-04 S/R DoB: 1999-11-13 R/R DoB: 2003-05-07 With St. Lucie on Rehab Assignment On 60-Day Injured List — right UCL surgery. With Syracuse With Syracuse, on Seven-Day IL With Syracuse On 10-Day Injured List with right wrist contusion. With Syracuse Outfielders Juan Soto Jared Young L/L DoB: 1998-10-25 L/R DoB: 1995-07-09 On 15-Day Injured List with strained right calf On 10-Day Injured List with torn left meniscus. View full article

My favorite player is Rusty Staub. Well, Kelly Leak — then Rusty Staub.

It's not really a side effect, because I don't know it's particularly irrational, but ... I'm really starting to actively dislike Francisco Lindor. I don't like him at bat. I don't like him in the field. I don't like him on the bases, on the occasions when that happens. I don't like how he's carrying himself. I don't like the body language. I don't like the mental errors. I don't like "My Girl." I don't like The Temptations. Some of this has to be exaggerated, right? They're losing so I am inflating negligible things. Or maybe I ignored more substantial stuff in prior times. I don't know. At this point, with all the player loss and player dumping this offseason, about 75-80% of the identity of the franchise that rests on the players rests on him. (At least, with Soto out.) So that's not good. I have adored watching Lindor throughout his Mets career, during good and bad periods, and suddenly, I have an aversion to the guy. How much of that is projection and/or scapegoating, I do not know. I am too close to the subject (me) to be objective. (I'm still kind of crazy about his wife and kids, though.)

Well, I'm starting the BRING BACK HOWE campaign.

What I want to see during replay challenge delays: Slo-mo replays. What SNY wants to show me during replay challenge delays: The backs of the heads of the umps in the replay review room in Chelsea.

First-pitch hacking is killing me.

And one pitch and that blows up unsweetly in my face.

Bringing in Brooks gets Ballesteros out of there. Sweet!

It's not at all. The wind is going from left field toward first base. Vientos' homer was almost right into the teeth of it. If he hit it yesterday, it would have cleared the bleachers. Still would have been one run, of course.