Kuzul

The New York Mets have re-signed relief pitcher Tim Byrdak and acquired middle infielder Brandon Hicks in a trade, The Sports Network reports. Byrdak, who pitched for the Mets in 2011 and 2012, returns on a minor league contract, while the team received Hicks from the Oakland Athletics for cash considerations. It is unknown whether Byrdak—who missed the latter part of last season due to injury and surgery—will be of much service in 2013, as the operation to repair a torn anterior capsule in his throwing shoulder often takes many months from which to fully recover. A 39-year-old left-handed specialist, Byrdak was 2-2 with a 4.40 ERA in 56 games for the Mets last season. He was 2-1 with a 3.82 ERA in 72 games in 2011. The 11-year veteran pitched for the Kansas City Royals, Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers and Houston Astros before joining the Mets in January of ...

Ken Rowe, who played for the Baltimore Orioles in the 1960s and served as the team’s pitching coach in the 1980s, passed away Nov. 22 at the age of 78. According to MLB.com, Rowe—who had a long and storied career in professional baseball—died in his hometown of Dallas, Ga. after suffering briefly from pneumonia. Born Kenneth Darrell Rowe Dec. 31, 1933, the Ferndale, Mich.-born relief pitcher twirled for the Orioles in 1964 and 1965 after spending many years in the Detroit Tigers and Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers minor league systems. He joined the team in September 1964 after being purchased from Los Angeles, with whom he pitched briefly the previous year, going 1-1 with a 2.93 ERA in 14 relief appearances. He appeared in six games for the Orioles that season and went 1-0, despite posting an 8.31 ERA. Returning to the Orioles for a cup of coffee in 1965, the ...

As the New York Mets continue to build a contender unmatched since perhaps the 1927 Yankees, rival teams and the National League in general quake in their collective boots as the team recently signed star power hitters Jamie Hoffmann and Brian Bixler, and potential perennial Cy Young winner Carlos Torres. Those three players, complemented by lesser stars David Wright, R.A. Dickey and Ike Davis, ensure the Mets at least 120 victories in 2013. With the team jelling as it is, it might even exceed those admittedly low expectations and win at least 162 games, becoming the first baseball team to have a perfect season. In fact, the rest of the league will probably lose count of its enormous number of wins and ungodly runs scored about a third of the way through the season. It’ll throw its arms up in surrender, grant them 175 victories and beg them for mercy ...

Chuck Diering, who played for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1947 to 1951, died Friday at the age of 89. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the elderly former outfielder fell in his Spanish Lake, Miss. home on Thanksgiving and was later found by his son, Bob. He passed away at a hospital a few hours later from cerebral hemorrhaging.   Diering, who was born Charles Edward Allen Diering on February 5, 1923, began his professional baseball career over 70 years ago. After losing three years in the military to World War II, he still played in over 750 major league games. Spending over half of his big league career with the Cardinals, the speedy Diering was a serviceable backup outfielder to the likes of Hall of Famers Enos Slaughter and Stan Musial and reliable cog Terry Moore. In 396 games with the team, he hit .252 with eight home ...

At the trading deadline, the New York Mets drew the ire of the fanbase by not making a single transaction to help bolster the team. About half a month later, the Mets have finally made a deal, albeit a fairly minor one at that—they have acquired catcher Kelly Shoppach from the Boston Red Sox, reports Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald. In return, Boston receives future considerations or a player to be named later. Shoppach, 32, was hitting .250 with five home runs and 17 RBI in 48 games at the time of the transaction. In 140 at-bats, he had 11 walks and 60 strikeouts. The backstop, who The Sports Network calls “a natural leader behind the plate,” will be used to spell current starting catcher Josh Thole, who has been thoroughly mediocre at the dish in 2012. Shoppach provides power, which Thole is severely lacking, and plays solid defense, ...

Players come and players go; that is the nature of baseball. For many fans, however, when a player leaves their favorite team—in this case, the New York Mets—that player is gone forever. He may still be active, yes, but they lose interest in him.Well today, in 2012, lots of former Mets are still kicking around—from Endy Chavez to Oliver Perez to Jeff Keppinger. Some have forged pretty good careers since leaving the team, while others have fizzled.Let's take a look at how some of those players are doing today.Begin Slideshow

Well, it’s that time of year again. The Mets have dashed their hopes of success, fans hang their heads low and everyone grumbles that changes need to be made. Not surprisingly, much of the Mets’ problem—the majority, even—stems from their putrid, horrid bullpen. Of course, the bullpen has been a problem for quite some time, years in fact. When was the last time Mets fans as a whole were satisfied with it? 1999 or 2000, when they had Turk Wendell and Dennis Cook? It seems so long ago… But I digress. The Mets have gotten to the point where they are experimenting, trying just about anything to patch up the holes in their ‘pen. They’ve already thrown Elvin Ramirez at the wall, but he hasn’t stuck. Pedro Beato—no, Manny Acosta—not at all. So why not start scrounging even more through Triple-A—I mean, at this point, it can’t hurt. I suggest ...

Relief pitcher Jason Bulger has had an interesting career. The right-handed hurler has pitched in the major leagues every season since 2005, yet he has appeared in at least 20 games only twice—and at least 60 games but once. Now that he has signed a minor league deal with the Minnesota Twins, he hopes to up that latter count to twice as well. The 32-year-old spent 2011 in the Los Angeles Angels system, making five appearances for the big club and going 0-1 with a 0.96 ERA and an astonishing 411 ERA+. He spent most of the year with their Triple-A affiliate, the Salt Lake Bees, going 1-0 with a 4.03 ERA in 35 games. Though brief, Bulger's stint with the Angels last year perfectly exemplifies just what has gone right—and wrong—in Bulger’s career; that is, it shows exactly what the Twins will be getting. In 9.1 innings last year, ...

Somehow, I stumbled upon a blog I started in early January 2007, called the "Hall of Good."As I read through it, I began to remember the reason why it was started: I wanted to write a piece for each of the pitchers in major league history who started at least 100 games, won at least 100 games and finished their careers with a winning percentage of .500 or better. In addition, they couldn't be Hall of Famers or presently active.Back then, I thought, "how long could it take?" I planned on making a post every day or two, to cover the 150 or so pitchers I thought would fit the above parameters. Now, with the advent of tools like the Baseball-Reference Play Index, I now know there are, in fact, 370 pitchers who fit the criteria.Long story short, I made two posts and that was the end of that.Today, I'm ...

The Arizona Diamondbacks added minor league outfield depth by acquiring Michael Restovich from the Chicago White Sox for cash on July 27. Restovich, who has not played in the major leagues since 2007, was hitting .229 for the Charlotte Knights—the White Sox’s Triple-A team—at the time of the transaction. He has hit .222 in three games since then. The Knights are not losing much. In addition to his .229 batting average, he had 37 strikeouts, a meager .365 slugging percentage and a .282 on-base percentage prior to the move. Restovich was once a top prospect in the Minnesota Twins organization and in 2000 was rated the 26th best prospect in all of baseball by Baseball America. He came to the major leagues in 2002 and hit .308 in 13 at-bats, giving the big club a taste of what they hoped he would produce. However, the power-hitting prospect slugged only three home ...