On-Base Perception

Derek Jeter’s contributions to the Yankees are often talked about in terms of what he brings with his "intangibles." But what the Yankees are missing right now from the shortstop position is very tangible.

Jeter's replacements have combined to hit .220 with one home run and a .606 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) through the first 40 games of the season while the Yankees captain...

The hunt for a spot at the All-Star Game isn’t limited just to baseball players.

Starting Saturday, MLB, in partnership with the Mets, will be conducting a city-wide scavenger hunt – the ultimate prize being tickets to All-Star Week events. The All-Star Game is being held at Citi Field this season.

The clues will be announced, one-by-one, though the All-Star Game twitter account, @AllStarGame....

Manhattan-born and Brooklyn-bred Dellin Betances has been called up to the Bronx.

The once highly-touted right-handed starter who recently switched to relief was added to the Yankees’ bullpen before their game Thursday night against the Mariners, the team announced. Brett Marshall, who gave up five runs and threw 108 pitches in 5.2 innings during his MLB debut Wednesday night was sent down...

The first of the reinforcements has arrived.

Curtis Granderson was activated by the Yankees – just in time to face Mariners ace Felix Hernandez at Yankee Stadium Tuesday night. Vidal Nuno, who started Game 2 of Monday’s doubleheader against Cleveland, was optioned to the minors in a related move.

Granderson is playing left field and batting cleanup. Vernon Wells is the odd man out of...

Here’s the first thing Mets fans need to know about the job General Manager Sandy Alderson has done over the last three seasons in Flushing: he’s acquired Zack Wheeler and Travis d’Arnaud, stud prospects kept from the major league roster by service time considerations and a freak injury, respectively.

The second thing is – wait, you still need a second thing?

Alderson has taken a lot...

The Mets added some power to their slumping lineup by signing outfielder Rick Ankiel to a major league deal.

The pitcher-turned-outfielder is a streaky hitter who strikes out a lot, but is also a legitimate home run threat. The Astros designated Ankiel for assignment last week after hitting .194 with five home runs. He’s a .243 career batter with 74 home runs in 11 seasons.

Ankiel is...

How good is Matt Harvey? Let's go to WAR to find out.

WAR is an advanced metric that calculates a player's offensive and defensive contributions over what a replacement-level player would add. The Mets righthander, who is 4-0 with a 1.28 ERA and 58 strikeouts and has two brushes with no-hitters, already owns a 1.9 WAR (using FanGraphs calculation methods) this season, or 0.27 per start. If...

The Mets may take forever to win a baseball game, but give them this: they're quick with a joke.

Or at least their longtime director of media relations is.

Jay Horwitz, the team's PR guru since 1980, set off a mini firestorm on Tuesday after jokingly tweeted that Matt Harvey would be allowed to miss Wednesday's game in order to attend the Rangers playoff game at Madison Square Garden....

Each of the 30 teams in baseball have a 40-man roster, various injured players, top prospects, interesting minor league veterans, beat reporters, blogs and stat-minded followers.

Basically, we’re saying that’s a whole lot of people to follow on Twitter.

But we follow them so you don’t have to and every morning we’ll embed the top tweets from the previous 24 hours:

1. Matt Harvey’s...

How the Yankees’ top minor league prospects have fared so far this season (all stats through Friday):

1. Mason Williams OF | Tampa Yankees (Single A Advanced) .258 BA, .379 OBP, .392 SLG, 2 HR, 10 RBIs Williams has walked just as many times as he’s struck out – 18 times.

2. Slade Heathcott OF | Trenton Thunder (Double A) .169 BA, .258 OBP, .260 SLG, 1 HR, 7 RBIs Has struggled to hit...