Newsday&#39;s annual baseball season preview kicks off with a look at how owners&nbsp;spent roughly $3.78 billion on&nbsp;new contracts and&nbsp;how those deep pockets have positioned themselves. We also go deep on the Mets and Yankees, analyze the impact of baseball&#39;s new rules and take a look at the best everyday players for each team. Hint: Aaron Judge and Pete Alonso are on that list.



	Speaking of lists, there&#39;s&nbsp;the 15th installment of our annual &ldquo;Baseball 101&rsquo;&rsquo; tutorial, with this year&#39;s exploration&nbsp;a kaleidoscope of baseball colors, plus our picks for the best teams, players, mascots and more from each league.&nbsp;



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Sports

Baseball

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David Lennon

Two decades after the concept of “Moneyball” was introduced to describe a frugal, analytics-driven approach to winning —&nbsp;the original how-to manual for penny-pinching franchises —&nbsp;it’s time for a new buzzword to describe what’s happening now among the industry’s upper-crust franchises. 
 Maybe we should label the prevailing trend “Billions-ball.” That's&nbsp;more indicative of the arms race occurring among MLB’s superpowers, as the most deep-pocketed owners are writing big checks with the goal of buying a World Series. 
 This is hardly a new concept. The late George Steinbrenner didn’t invent the idea, but he made the Yankees synonymous with the practice, as well as hated by everyone else for acting like a baseball Rockefeller. The Boss’ reign basically led to establishing the competitive balance tax (CBT) —&nbsp;also known as the “luxury” tax —&nbsp;and if all this sounds familiar here in 2023, it should. 
 Because baseball’s new boss, from a financial perspective, is the Mets’ Steve Cohen, whose combination of mind-boggling wealth (roughly $18 billion) and unbridled fandom is taking MLB to a place that the majority of his colleagues don’t want it to go. So much, in fact, that the CBT had to be modified last spring in an effort to slow him down. 
 News flash: it didn’t. The so-called Steve Cohen Tax, which carries the highest surcharge on all expenditures over $293 million, barely amounted to a speed bump for its namesake as he&nbsp; blew past that whopping sum en route to his current $374 million tab for the 2023 season (according to FanGraphs). To date, Cohen is the only owner to do that this year, as Yankees&nbsp;owner Hal Steinbrenner has warily stayed roughly $1&nbsp;million below for now. 
 Steinbrenner famously said a while back that he shouldn’t have to spend more than $200 million to build a championship team. But the Yankees have soared beyond that number, as have 13 other clubs, recognizing that it’s merely the jumping-off point for doing business in baseball these days. 
 “I had to change my whole $200 million thing to $300 million thing, right? In the last couple years, really,” Steinbrenner said earlier this month at the Tampa spring training complex that bears his dad’s name (along with a statue). “Look, an owner is going to pay what he feels a player’s worth. Some others may not agree,&nbsp;some may. But all boats rise on a high tide, right? One player gets a big contract&nbsp;and that’s going to bode well for others. And that’s kind of the way it’s been the last five years.” 
 Forget five years. How about nine months? That’s how long it took Aaron Judge to turn the Yankees’ Opening Day offer of $213 million into a record nine-year, $360 million deal by mid-December. Crazy thing is, Judge reportedly had a $400 million-plus&nbsp;deal on the table from the Padres, but he admitted later that he never wanted to leave the Bronx. 
 We’re not sure what the market value is for a Yankees&nbsp;captaincy these days, but maybe that saved Steinbrenner&nbsp;a few bucks in the Judge negotiations. The dizzying rise of salaries this offseason, however, should be a warning to owners about slow-playing these contracts. Every passing minute, the price only goes up. 
 “Quicker than inflation or anything else,” Steinbrenner said. 
 Four years ago, in the last winter before the COVID-19 pandemic, MLB teams spent a total of $2.2 billion on free agents, with an average salary of $11.24 million for those contracts (according to Spotrac.com). This offseason, the total payout was $3.78 billion, for an average of $14.6 million. 
 Remember, this is just for free agents. It doesn’t include the extensions to the Padres’ Manny Machado&nbsp;($350M) or the Red Sox’s Rafael Devers ($313M), just to name the two biggest from this offseason. 
 There’s no question the pandemic put a serious dent in baseball’s revenue streams —&nbsp;a shortened season and empty stadiums will do that —&nbsp;but the sport’s top spenders didn’t stay down for very long. And some roared back with unprecedented shopping sprees, with the New Yorkers leading the charge during the holidays&nbsp;like some kind of Black Friday bender for billionaires. 
 Cohen especially behaved as if he were&nbsp;out of Picassos to buy, spending nearly $800 million on players, including extensions for Brandon Nimmo ($162M) and Jeff McNeil ($50M). He also had a handshake deal with Carlos Correa for another $315 million, but the Mets walked away after red flags on the physical regarding his surgically repaired ankle. 
 When you reach Cohen’s stratosphere, however, it’s not only about paying the players. He gets a sizable luxury tax bill from MLB, too. According to the CBT penalty calculations for a $374 million payroll, Cohen would owe approximately $100 million in tax alone —&nbsp;more than the entire payrolls of seven teams —&nbsp;for a total layout of $480 million in this year’s club. 
 “I made a commitment to the fans,” Cohen said. “And it wasn’t a short-term commitment. And when I do something, I don’t do it halfway. When I’m in, I’m all-in. I don’t accept mediocrity well. I have &nbsp;certain high expectations. And if it requires me to invest in this club, then I’m going to do it.” 
 Cohen is like someone from your fantasy league who just won the Powerball jackpot. But aside from that other guy in the Bronx, along with the Padres, Dodgers and Phillies, there’s precious few owners who even approach Cohen’s “all-in” mentality when it comes to spending on their franchises. 
 Scott Boras, baseball’s most influential agent, understandably has&nbsp;been singing Cohen’s praises since he purchased the Mets, and we wouldn’t expect their little disagreement over Correa’s ankle to keep them from doing more business in the future. At the news conference for the signing of Nimmo, a Boras client, the agent affectionately called Cohen “Steve Kong” — a tribute to him as the big gorilla owning New York, hanging from the Empire State Building. 
 “Our game needs Goliaths,” Boras said. “We have to have Goliaths.” 
 Boras also referenced the Cohen Effect around baseball, and how his impact as a market-maker should, at the very least, guilt his tighter-fisted colleagues into spending more to win. Of course, MLB has a difference of opinion, and it&nbsp; remains concerned that Cohen’s spare-no-expense pursuit of players is damaging to the competitive balance of the sport. That’s what led, in part, to MLB’s February launch of an economic reform committee, which is likely to begin exploring ways to more strictly limit payrolls, such as&nbsp;the salary caps used in other pro sports leagues. 
 With four years left on this collective bargaining agreement, nothing can be done to the current economic model anytime soon. So you can expect baseball’s tycoons to continue flexing their financial might, buying up all the priciest players like so much Park Avenue real estate. 
 As for the price of winning a World Series? Those that have to ask probably can’t afford it anyway.

Columnists

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Steve Cohen changing how big business is done in MLB

Cohen changing how big business is done in MLB

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Something had to be done. With the time of games stretching even the most ardent fan’s patience, and the lack of action threatening to stunt the sport’s growth in a crowded entertainment field, commissioner Rob Manfred finally got the rule changes he’d been seeking for much of the past decade. 
 It’s a shame the process took so long. Because if these spring training games prove to be an effective laboratory, then Manfred &amp; Co. deserve credit for pushing through rules that already seem to remedy some of the game’s thorniest issues. After years of pushback from the Players Association, which had resisted the pitch clock at every negotiating session, MLB’s implementation of that timer, along with the shift ban and larger bases, is the best thing to happen to the sport since the universal DH. 
 Not everyone may feel that way from the jump. Change is hard, especially in baseball, which typically makes adjustments at a glacier-like pace. But there’s been little dissent involving the new rules, other than concern over violations potentially deciding games (we’re highly skeptical that will happen during the regular season). 
 With that in mind, here’s a thumbnail primer of those rules, followed by their impact on games this spring, and my feedback. 
<h3> </h3> 
<h3> PITCH CLOCK </h3> 
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 Or if you prefer, timer, has a simple purpose: to get the game moving along at a crisper, more efficient pace. To that end, the clock is set at 30 seconds between batters, 15 seconds for the pitcher to begin his delivery (20 with a runner on base) and the batter must be prepared to hit -- alert, facing the mound, eyes up -- with eight seconds left. Any pitcher violation results in an automatic ball; a hitter violation is an automatic strike. Pitchers are allowed two disengagements with the rubber per plate appearance, whether it’s a step-off or pick-off attempt. On a third pick-off attempt is made, the runner automatically advances (balk) if the out is not made. 
 IMPACT 
 So far, the spring-training data has been stunning. Based on experimentation in the minors, MLB officials figured this would help, but to see the clock work in this fashion, this rapidly, has to surprise some. Over the previous two springs, the average time of game was 3:01. This year? It’s down to 2:27, which is even more staggering when you factor in so many substitutions and pitching changes. Limiting pick-off attempts also has promoted base-stealing, another MLB goal, with thefts per game jumping to 1.9 (78.3% success rate) this year as compared to 1.1 (71.3%) in 2022. 
 LENNON’S TAKE 
 I’d say mission accomplished. If only everything in life worked as well as the pitch clock, which has done exactly what it was designed to do. Sure there’s been an adjustment process -- some have griped about violations. But the reaction overall has been positive, and everyone should be pretty much acclimated by Opening Day. While hitters seem to struggle more at times, as pitchers now set the tempo, most of the players anticipate that to balance out as both sides get more used to the clock. The stolen bases are a nice bonus as well, despite being the bane of a a data analyst’s existence.&nbsp; 
<h3> SHIFT BAN </h3> 
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 Technically, it’s more of a limit, as the defensive teams must have a minimum of four players on the infield dirt, with at least two of them completely on either side of second base. The infielders must be within that boundary when the pitcher is on the rubber, and they cannot switch sides, say to reposition the best defender where the ball is more likely to be hit. Teams still can use an outfielder in the infield, or overload them to one side of the grass, but four-outfielder alignments are prohibited. 
 IMPACT 
 This rule also is achieving the desired effect this spring as the batting average on balls put in play (BABIP) has significantly spiked to .321, up from .312 a year ago. During the 2022 regular season, it was .291. In addition, overall batting average has nudged upward to .262 from .259 this spring while runs per games have increased to 11.0 from 10.6. Maybe some of those offensive stats are a residue of pitchers being more distracted by the pitch clock regulations, so it will be interesting to see how that translates to the regular season. 
 LENNON’S TAKE 
 The early numbers certainly look promising, and you can bet dead-pull hitters like Aaron Hicks, Anthony Rizzo and Joey Gallo are thrilled. Some infielders like Francisco Lindor still try to start on the edge of the grass, then creep fast onto the dirt to keep moving on the pitcher’s delivery. The big question once the games count is how many teams will be willing to roll the dice and leave a whole side of outfield uncovered if they choose to use the shift anyway. 
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<h3> LARGER BASES </h3> 
 Pretty straightforward. The bases used to be 15 inches square. They’re now 18 inches. The focus here is mostly on player safety, providing more room to operate, presumably helping to avoid collisions and prevent over-sliding the base as well. Also with the 4 1/2-inch reduction in the basepaths between first, second and third -- the distances involving home plate are unchanged -- that should encourage more base-stealing attempts.&nbsp; 
 IMPACT 
 As noted above with the pitch clock, stolen bases are up this spring, so this is probably a contributing factor. It’s difficult to gauge the player-safety aspect, however. 
 LENNON’S TAKE 
 Frankly, the game hasn’t looked much different with larger bases. Other than Red Sox manager Alex Cora referring to them as pizza boxes, there hasn’t been much blowback from this rule change. Maybe MLB just decided to sneak this in with the other two rules so nobody would get too riled up about it. If so, the strategy seems to have worked.&nbsp; &nbsp;

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Baseball's new rules: 2023 a season of change

Season of change: Baseball's new rules analysis

Marlins Nationals Baseball

Tim Healey

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Last year, in a tiny room off the Mets’ clubhouse at Citi Field, a go-to spot for pregame meetings about defensive positioning and opposing pitchers and the like, the staff hung on the wall a small board displaying the NL East standings. It existed as a mere statement of fact, a reflection of the reality for that day, a reminder — for most of the season — that the Mets had positioned themselves well. 
 But then the end came, they fell into second place and Atlanta captured the division title for a fifth consecutive year. The Mets, who finished with the same record as Atlanta, lost via a tiebreaker, the teams’ head-to-head record, which also was decided in the waning days. 
 Officially, Atlanta was on top in the standings. But for the additional half-week that the Mets’ season continued during the playoffs, manager Buck Showalter decided to say the heck with it, rearranging that board — plain for the players to see — in accordance with his preference: 
 Mets: 101 wins, 61 losses Atlanta: 101 wins, 61 losses 
 He would not cede that they were an inferior team just because of a technicality. 
 “Just to show [his players] that they didn’t finish ahead of us,” Showalter said. “We tied. We tied. It’s just a reminder to the players. It’s how much one game means. That more than anything, how much one game can mean over the course of the season.” 
 Max Scherzer said: “Man, you’d do a lot of messed-up things in life to be able to get that one extra game.” 
 Therein lies the Mets’ primary challenge over the next six months: Do what they did last year but finish the job and actually win the NL East title, knowing from painful experience that any random game might be the difference at the end. All the hype — and legitimate World Series aspirations — that accompanies their estimated $370 million payroll, the highest in baseball history, means nothing if they don’t earn a banner to hang at the end. 
 With Atlanta, the Mets and the Phillies — a distant third-place club that ended up in the World Series in 2022 — the race for the NL East looks as if it again will be awfully entertaining and/or stressful, depending on your perspective. 
 To Scherzer, who has a new co-ace in old Tigers teammate Justin Verlander, difficult is fun. 
 “When you’re playing each other, beating up on each other, it really pushes you to get better,” he said. “I’m a better pitcher because of it. I’ve taken some hard losses. I’ve gotten my brains beat in by the Phillies and [Atlanta]. You sleep on the Marlins or Nationals, you get beat. Division games are fun because of how difficult they can be.” 
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 Showalter added of the perennial non-contender Marlins, whom the Mets play four times to begin the season: “I don’t know if anybody has a better pitching staff than Miami. They’re capable of shutting you down for three or four days.” 
 Atlanta’s biggest offseason move was trading for premier catcher Sean Murphy, but for the second time in as many seasons, it will have to get by without a longtime face of the franchise. Dansby Swanson left for the Cubs via free agency, just as Freddie Freeman (Dodgers) did a year ago. 
 The Phillies added shortstop Trea Turner to an already loaded lineup, as well as former Met Taijuan Walker to the rotation and Gregory Soto and Craig Kimbrel to the bullpen. 
 Brandon Nimmo and Scherzer pointed out that the past two National League winners have come from this division, Atlanta winning it all in ’21 before Philadelphia came close last year. In fact, over the past six seasons, the pennant- winner has been either an NL East team or the Dodgers. 
 “It’s a testament to how difficult the regular-season games are in the NL East. They’re very playoff-like,” Nimmo said. “When you do get to the playoffs, usually the hot team is going pretty far in the playoffs. So when you’re a hot team from the NL East, you’re pretty hard to beat.” 
 For all the scoreboard-watching and standings duels in recent seasons, there isn’t much heat between the Mets and Atlanta. They’re fun to watch play against each other, but it hasn’t gotten personal. Even after their historically great race last year — it was just the sixth time in more than 50 years that one division had multiple 100-win teams — their fights are metaphorical more than literal. 
 Nimmo described it as “a very intense rivalry but not necessarily animosity.” 
 “It’s not like we dislike them,” Francisco Lindor said. “I don’t dislike them. But it was a good fight, it was fun.” 
 Mark Canha added: “It’s that competitiveness. Everybody wants to win really bad. I don’t think there’s any sort of bad blood or anything.” 
 The Mets, though, are ready for a role reversal, ready to lead the real standings — not just Showalter’s version. 
 “They [Atlanta] have been on top for a while now,” Nimmo said. “And they’re good and they know they’re good and they got new young guys that are filling in spots all the time. It’s kind of our job to dethrone them.”

New York Mets

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Mets learned this last year: Every game is important

Mets' lesson from last year: Every game is important

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Erik Boland

TAMPA, Fla. — The question on Day 1 of spring training was this: 
How much have the Yankees closed the gap on the Astros? That’s the team that has ushered the Yankees out of the playoffs four times since 2015, including last year in a four-game sweep in the American League Championship Series. 
It was unanswerable then. It is unanswerable now. 
“How much we’ve closed the gap, I don’t know,” Aaron Boone said Feb. 15 in his spring training kickoff news conference. “We’ll see. We’re in February. We’ve got a long way to go to even get that opportunity to find out if we get to play in the playoffs and have that crack [at it] again. I feel like that’s our expectation.” 
Reaching the playoffs, of course, is the minimum expectation from a fan base that has grown frustrated at their favorite team’s annual flameouts in October. 
After missing the postseason in 2016, the Yankees have made it each year since. But for different reasons, they’ve fallen short of qualifying for their first World Series since 2009, also the year of their last title, the 27th in franchise history. 
“It bothers me, and I think it bothers the group as well,” Aaron Judge said of the October exits. “Every year we don’t finish what we started, it wears on us in different ways. I think every failure pushes you toward that ultimate goal.” 
Judge, coming off an American League MVP season that included an AL-record 62 homers, has been around for every one of the last six playoff disappointments. 
There was the seven-game ALCS loss to the Astros in 2017 — Joe Girardi’s last year as manager — and the four-game Division Series loss to the Red Sox in 2018, Boone’s first in the dugout. A six-game ALCS loss to Houston followed in 2019 and a crushing five-game loss to the Rays in the Division Series came next. October 2021 brought the wild-card game loss to the Red Sox at Fenway Park and last year it was the Astros again. 
“They’ve set the standard right now, certainly in the American League,” Boone said of the Astros. “But that said, we’ve got a bear of a division we’ve got to go through. In a lot of ways, a number of teams in the American League are better.” 
The latter two points are indisputably true. The Yankees reside in the AL East, which they won in 2022 at 99-63. The division was loaded as four of the five teams finished above .500, and there’s no reason to expect a decline this year. As for the rest of the league, the Astros still rule the AL West until it’s proved otherwise. 
Maybe the team from that division that features two of the best players in the sport — the Angels with Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout — will become an upper-tier club. The Mariners made a leap last season and did not appear to get worse over the winter. 
The AL Central typically is a patsy for the Yankees come October, but Cleveland, which had 17 players make their big-league debut in 2022, scared the pinstripes off the Yankees in the ALDS in a tense five-game series. 
Still, even in an American League that could be stronger than it was a year ago, the Yankees have the talent to separate themselves and, come the trade deadline, the resources to add reinforcements. 
Once Carlos Rodon returns from the injured list — the lefthander will start the season there with a forearm strain, but the Yankees don’t believe he’ll miss more than April at the most — they should have an elite top-of-the-rotation punch-counterpunch with Gerrit Cole leading the way. The arms behind the pair are solid, starting with Luis Severino (currently sidelined with a lat strain) and continuing with Nestor Cortes and Domingo German. Clarke Schmidt, whose cutter impressed talent evaluators inside and outside the Yankees’ organization, will start the year in the rotation because of Rodon’s injury and could stick if his performance warrants it. 
The bullpen has the potential to be historically good, even with Tommy Kahnle and Lou Trivino starting the season on the injured list. Clay Holmes, Wandy Peralta, Ron Marinaccio, Michael King and Jonathan Loaisiga would be considered stud arms in most other teams’ bullpens. 
The lineup, with a finally healthy DJ LeMahieu at the top and Judge right behind him, again should be among the highest-scoring in the game. It is righty-heavy, as has been the case in recent years, which is a concern come October. The Yankees hope young, energetic talents such as Oswaldo Cabrera, Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza — to name a few — continue to develop, adding another dimension to the group. Volpe beat out Peraza for the starting job at shortstop. 
“I think you start at the top when you’ve got a guy like Carlos Rodon added to the mix and into our rotation, that plays a big part of it,” Judge said of his expectations. “Pitching and defense win you ballgames down the stretch, and having a balanced lineup. And I think with a lot of the young guys we have coming up . . . there’s quite a few opportunities with [those players’] bat-to-ball skills, great defensive skills. And when you add in the rotation we have, we’re going to be in a good position. 
“But we haven’t played any games yet, so we’ll see what we’ve got down the road.”

New York Yankees

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Yanks are good enough to make playoffs, but can they make it back to World Series?

Making the playoffs not enough for the Yankees

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MIDDLE INFIELDERS 
In shortstop Francisco Lindor and second baseman Jeff McNeil, the Mets have as strong a double-play combination as any team — and now they’re both under contract for perhaps the next half-decade. 
Lindor’s increased productivity last year correlated with his increased comfort in New York and on the Mets. That should continue. Through two seasons here, he hasn’t won any individual awards — no Silver Sluggers or Gold Gloves or even All-Star nods — but don’t be surprised if that changes in 2023. 
McNeil hit .326 in 2022 to win the major-league batting title, fulfilling his top personal goal. The Mets rewarded him with a four-year, $50 million contract (which includes a fifth-year team option). 
One dynamic worth keeping in mind with the defensive shift limits implemented this year: This pair should be fun. Lindor has been a vocal critic of the shift; now he’ll get to play freely and athletically the way he wants. McNeil is a throw-his-body-around, do-whatever-is-needed-to-make-the-play defender, which also might lend itself to this tweaked environment. 
GRADE: A+ 
 &nbsp; 
CORNER INFIELDERS 
At first base, the Mets have a face of the franchise, an organizational cornerstone, as sure of a thing as they have in the lineup: Pete Alonso. He hit 40 homers and shared the major-league lead in RBIs (131) with the Yankees’ Aaron Judge. At third base, they have Eduardo Escobar . . . for now. They consider Brett Baty the future of the position. It will be up to Escobar and Baty to tell the Mets — via the quality of their play — when it is time for the future. 
GRADE: B+ 
 &nbsp; 
OUTFIELDERS 
The Mets are bringing back the starting group, a strength last season: leftfielder Mark Canha, centerfielder Brandon Nimmo and rightfielder Starling Marte. And in Tommy Pham, they think they’ve upgraded the backup option, too. 
Nimmo is coming off the best year of his career and signed an eight-year, $162 million contract to stay. He designed his offseason and spring training regimen around trying to repeat that on-field performance, most critically staying healthy and on the field. 
Marte took well to rightfield last year and has said he thinks the double groin surgery he had in November won’t impact the kind of player he is. At 34, he might slow down eventually, but his strong arm should make him a force in the field (and his quick bat a force at the plate). 
Canha may well be the most underrated Met, offering solidly above-average offense while serving as a backup in centerfield, rightfield and first base. 
GRADE: A- 
 &nbsp; 
CATCHERS 
The Mets signed the defensively savvy Omar Narvaez to pair with the defensively savvy Tomas Nido. Both are highly regarded behind the plate but don’t bring much at it. That said, if the Mets indeed play them in a straight platoon — Narvaez against righthanded pitchers and Nido against lefthanders — it should mean an improvement over their minuscule production from the position last year. 
The wild card: When will the Mets work in top prospect Francisco Alvarez? He had a major-league cameo late last season, but the Mets have emphasized his need to improve defensively before they trust him with the major-league staff. 
GRADE: C+ 
 &nbsp; 
DH/BENCH 
The Mets again don’t have a definitive answer at DH. Daniel Vogelbach will get the majority of that playing time. Pham also is an option after the Mets cut Darin Ruf. The rest of the Mets’ bench is solid. They love the surehanded Luis Guillorme and his ability to move around the infield — so much so Buck Showalter has talked about getting him experience at first base, just in case — and Nido is a prototypical backup/co-catcher. 
GRADE: B-  &nbsp; 
BULLPEN 
The entire dynamic with this group changed when the Mets lost all-world closer Edwin Diaz, likely for the season, to a torn patellar tendon in his right knee. He went from celebrating a Puerto Rico win in the WBC to surgery in less than 24 hours. Now the Mets will lean on the rest of their high-leverage group. That includes Adam Ottavino (who was excellent last season and has minimal closing experience) and offseason addition David Robertson (who has extensive closing experience and also was very good in 2022). 
Lefthander Brooks Raley, a trade acquisition, will pitch important innings. The Mets hope righthander Drew Smith emerges as a consistent late-and-close option. The last several bullpen spots are more uncertain. Tommy Hunter, John Curtiss and Stephen Nogosek won jobs in camp. Stephen Ridings, Sam Coonrod and Bryce Montes de Oca should be options when healthy. 
GRADE: B

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Mets scouting report to start the 2023 MLB season

Mets scouting report 2023

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BULLPEN 
Even with two of the relievers expected to be significant contributors to the 2023 Yankees bullpen – righthanders Tommy Kahnle and Lou Trivino – slated to start the season on the injured list, the club should be able to withstand their absence. Clay Holmes, Ron Marinaccio, Wandy Peralta, Michael King and Jonathan Loaisiga are all power arms and the Yankees very much like Greg Weissert and Jimmy Cordero. Albert Abreu, out of options and therefore expected to be a part of the group out of camp, threw well throughout the exhibition season. 
GRADE: A 
 &nbsp; 
MIDDLE INFIELDERS 
The Yankees went down to the final week before deciding to keep Anthony Volpe and demote Oswald Peraza to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. As Gerrit Cole said toward the end of spring training: “There’s no bad choice.” Keeping both Volpe and Peraza would have required a trade, and there was interest in second baseman Gleyber Torres, who came to camp motivated to recapture the form that made him an All-Star in 2018 and ’19. 
GRADE: B 
 &nbsp; 
CORNER INFIELDERS 
Anthony Rizzo, who battled back issues for much of the second half of last season, missed two games in spring training when his back flared up, but by all accounts, he was fine after that. The lefthanded-hitting first baseman enjoyed a strong camp at the plate, but spring training results rarely are predictive of what’s to come in the regular season, good or bad. The Yankees are hoping for a bounce-back season from third baseman Josh Donaldson, whom they tried to trade in the offseason. He never got his bat going until late in Grapefruit League play but did show his usual good glove. 
GRADE: B- 
 &nbsp; 
OUTFIELD 
The Yankees took a hit during camp when centerfielder Harrison Bader went down with an oblique strain that will keep him out until at least mid-April. Don’t be surprised to see an Opening Day outfield alignment of Aaron Hicks in left, Aaron Judge in center and Giancarlo Stanton or Oswaldo Cabrera in right. The presence of Judge and Bader’s return makes this group close to elite. 
GRADE: A-  &nbsp; 
CATCHING 
Starter Jose Trevino suffered a mild right wrist sprain during camp, but it was not expected to be something that would keep him from being ready for Opening Day. Kyle Higashioka missed much of camp, but that was because he was the third catcher for the United States in the World Baseball Classic. It’s a good defensive battery with not a lot of punch at the plate. One cautionary note: the Yankees very much hope neither gets hurt. Because of injuries, their organizational depth at catcher currently is a mess. 
GRADE: B &nbsp; 
DH/BENCH 
Stanton, who in an ideal Yankees world would play 40 to 60 games in the outfield, still is the primary designated hitter. Everyone knows what he’s capable of if he stays healthy, and Stanton is the first to say he’s at his best at the plate when he sees at least somewhat consistent time in the outfield. Cabrera, an infielder coming up through the system, has shown the ability and willingness to play every position on the field but pitcher and catcher (and he’d probably be more than willing to try those, too). 
GRADE: B+

SPBYGRADES230330

Yankees scouting report to begin 2023 MLB season

Yankees scouting report for 2023

Twins Yankees Spring Baseball

Across 15 seasons with five teams during his first-ballot Hall of Fame-caliber career, Max Scherzer has developed a theory — expressed via physiology metaphor — about roster construction. 
A starting rotation is the spine of a club, he said. The hitters are the muscle. 
“It doesn’t matter how strong you are,” Scherzer explained, “if you don’t have a backbone.” 
The 2023 Mets like their backbone, led by Scherzer and his fellow all-time great, Justin Verlander, who signed for two years at the same annual salary as Scherzer: $43.33 million, the highest in baseball history. 
Altogether, the starting five are due to make $128.67 million — more than the entire payrolls of a dozen teams — and expectations for the group are appropriately high. 
Behind the co-aces, the Mets have righthander Kodai Senga, 30, an elite pitcher in Japan for the past decade who now will be a rookie in the majors, and righthander Carlos Carrasco, 36, who last year got back to being the durable, reliable innings-eater he has been for much of his career. Lefthander Jose Quintana, another offseason addition, will be out until at least July after mid-March rib surgery. 
His injury underscored the Mets’ anticipated reality: Yep, some of these guys are going to get hurt, especially at their ages. Even the still-elite Verlander, at 40 and the AL Cy Young Award winner last year, and Scherzer (39 in July), are at risk. Backups are critical. That is why the Mets wanted to have David Peterson and Tylor Megill at the ready. Peterson will get the first shot at stepping in for Quintana. 
Last year, 11 pitchers started a game for the Mets (six of them are no longer with the organization). 
“Every single one of us has got to go out there and have a career year,” Scherzer said. “We all know how important each other is to be the backbone of this team.” 
GRADE: A-

SPBMPITCH230330

Mets pitching rotation for 2023: Scherzer, Verlander give it some backbone

Scherzer, Verlander give Mets' staff some backbone

Mets Rays Baseball

The Yankees thought signing Carlos Rodon to a six-year, $162 million free-agent contract in the offseason would give them an elite one-two punch in what they believed would be one of the most dynamic rotations in the American League, if not all of baseball. 
What they have to start the season is a mess. 
Rodon, a lefthander who was 14-8 with a 2.88 ERA in 31 starts for the Giants in 2022, will begin the year on the disabled list with what the Yankees called a “mild” forearm strain. And toward the end of camp came the news that Luis Severino, who has had an extensive injury history since 2018, had suffered a “mild” lat strain. 
The initial prognosis called for Rodon, who underwent Tommy John surgery in 2019 and who experienced something similar to this forearm injury last May, to return at “some point in April.” Indications since the injury was announced in early March suggest he shouldn’t miss more than the first four to six weeks of the season. Severino expects to miss at least three or four starts, and that’s assuming the lat heals perfectly, never a safe assumption. 
So to start the season, something that was a major concern going into spring training — organizational starting pitching depth — will be tested. Despite what they say publicly, the Yankees are not awash in organizational depth when it comes to starters. 
As things stand, Gerrit Cole will be followed in some order by Clarke Schmidt, Nestor Cortes, Domingo German and perhaps an unproven arm such as Jhony Brito. Bringing in a starting pitcher from the outside shouldn’t be ruled out, though this isn’t the time of year when major deals get done. The injury to Rodon essentially put Schmidt, a contributor last season as a swingman in separate big-league stints, in the rotation. That could prove fortuitous for the Yankees; multiple rival scouts assigned to the club independently mentioned Schmidt — who spent February and March refining a cutter that opposing hitters struggled to make consistent contact with throughout spring training — as a pitcher who stood out to them the most. It was one of the few positive aspects of camp for the group. 
 
GRADE: C+

SPBYPITCH230330

Yanks' rotation: Early injuries slowing their 'start'

Yankees Tigers Spring Baseball

Anthony Rieber

PORT. ST LUCIE, Fla. — Why did Justin Verlander decide to sign with the Mets? 
It couldn’t have just been the money ($86.6 million over two years). Sure, the money’s great, but who is to say he couldn’t have gotten that from, say, the Dodgers or the Padres? 
It’s not about chasing a World Series ring. Verlander has two of them, from the Astros in 2017 and last season. 
Some of it is about wanting to experience living in New York. But a lot of it, if you listen to Verlander, is about wanting to experience winning a World Series in New York. 
For the Mets. Who haven’t won one since 1986. 
In spring training, Verlander said he talked to Mets reliever David Robertson about what it was like to win a World Series with the Yankees in 2009 “and what it was like winning a championship in the city and what the parade was like. Obviously in that city, it’s just iconic .&nbsp;&nbsp;.&nbsp;&nbsp;. You want to win a championship, and if we were able to do that for this organization particularly — one that has gotten close a couple times and hasn’t quite been able to get over the hump in a while and has a wonderful fan base that I’ve come to know in a short period of time — those are the stories that live forever, you know? It would be pretty special.” 
Why was Verlander talking about a World Series parade after a mid-March spring training start? 
Because that’s why he signed with the Mets. 
“I’m not afraid to talk about winning a championship,” he said. “I think establishing a culture that you expect to win a championship is important. You should be able to talk about it. That’s what we’re here for. You don’t shy away from it. 
“However, you don’t put the cart before the horse. You start envisioning the parade and you’re too far ahead .&nbsp;&nbsp;.&nbsp;&nbsp;. The parade — after it’s all said and done and you’re exhausted after a long season and you’re laying down on the battlefield victorious, that’s the moment you enjoy it.” 
Mets fans certainly enjoyed the moment in early December when Steve Cohen’s limitless payroll snagged them a second three-time Cy Young Award winner to go along with Max Scherzer. 
Verlander, who turned 40 in February, replaces Jacob deGrom, who signed with the Texas Rangers for five years and $185 million less than a week before Verlander decided to join the Mets. 
DeGrom is a two-time Cy Young Award winner, but there were two elephants in the room when it came to the Mets re-signing him: his lengthy recent injury history and the belief (which he denies) that he just didn’t want to stay in New York. 
But that’s yesterday’s news as far as Mets fans are concerned. Verlander and Scherzer are here, and having co-aces who are being paid $43,333,333 each this season makes the Mets one of the favorites to vie for a World Series title. 
As manager Buck Showalter has gotten to know Verlander in spring training, he said he was “curious about why” — as in, why is he so great? 
“You understand why when you’re around him,” Showalter said. “Just a constant quest for perfection. He’s doing reports for the teams that he’s getting ready to pitch against. He’s got a plan for everything. Very conscious of his health and doing things and the responsibility of pitching for the team. He knows everybody’s depending on him on the day he pitches. Just the professionalism and preparation. 
“It’s amazing the guys like him and Max and [Adam Ottavino] and Robertson that have been around a while. That just continued thirst for getting better. At some point, you’d think that’s why they’ve been around so long. They’re chasing that perfection every day.” 
And for the next two years, Verlander will be chasing it in Flushing.

SPBMFEAT230330

Winning a title in New York drew Justin Verlander to Mets

Winning a title in NY drew Verlander to Mets

JUPITER, Fla. — When the Yankees are introduced along the baselines at Yankee Stadium for Opening Day on Thursday, some fans may notice how many of the players have NFL-style high uniform numbers, and not just Aaron Judge with his signature 99. 
 For example, Oswaldo Cabrera wears No. 95. Oswald Peraza is 91. Ron Marinaccio has 97. 
 In baseball, it used to be that a young player was given a high number in his first big-league spring training and earned a lower one as he moved up the ladder. 
 “I went from left tackle — 71 — my first camp,” manager Aaron Boone said this past week. “Moved up to inside linebacker — 55 — in my next camp, and then I was 17. Nice progression.” 
 But with the Yankees having 22 retired numbers, there are slim pickings when it comes to handing out the lower ones. Some players have grown to like their hefty digits and don’t want to switch. 
 “The first time, I didn’t like it too much,” Cabrera said. “But after I played in the big leagues, everybody started to yell my 95 number. I started to like it. That’s part of me right now. That’s part of my life. So I love that right now. I just want to keep it.” 
 Other players don’t love sporting a number that used to be more suited to a low-level minor-leaguer who was filling in at the end of spring training games. 
 “I like 91, but I guess if I’m given an option in the future, I’d probably end up switching to a lower number,” Peraza said through an interpreter. 
 Peraza said his preferred number “since I was a little kid” is 27. Peraza is Venezuelan, and 27 is the jersey number of his All-Star countryman, Jose Altuve. 
 Peraza wore the number in the minors, where he'll begin this season,&nbsp;and has it as part of his Instagram handle. But given that 27 with the Yankees belongs to Giancarlo Stanton and his contract runs through 2027 with an option for 2028, Peraza is not going to get it anytime soon. 
 Plenty of young players don’t really care — they’re just happy to be in the majors and would take any number they’re given. 
 Others, such as pitcher Clarke Schmidt (No. 86), aren’t sure how they feel about it. 
 “I go back and forth a lot on that,” he said. “I’m like, ‘I kind of want a lower number.’ Or maybe I can make 86 my own. It’s one of those things where it’s like to be determined. I would love to get down to those low numbers. Maybe that’ll be a goal of mine.” 
 In all, the Yankees have eight players who have a shot to make the Opening Day roster, have numbers above 80 and already have worn those numbers in the majors. The others are Albert Abreu (84), Greg Weissert (85) and Estevan Florial (90). 
 Judge is not the first Yankee to wear 99. Outfielder Charlie Keller wore it in 1952 and reliever Brian Bruney had it in 2009. It’s a safe bet no Yankee will ever be issued 99 after Judge retires. 
 Rookie infielder Anthony Volpe, who wore 7 in the minors because his grandfather loved Mickey Mantle, wore the “double Mantle” -- No. 77&nbsp;-- this spring.&nbsp; 
 No. 7, obviously, is retired in the majors by the Yankees. Volpe will wear No. 11 as the Yankees' opening day shortstop. 
 Domingo German will become the second Yankee to wear No. 0 when he suits up this season. The righthander switched after the Yankees signed Carlos Rodon, who asked for and received German’s blessing to take his old No. 55. 
 German has said No. 0 represents “a new beginning” for him. 
 Adam Ottavino was the first Yankee to wear 0. The reliever currently wears it for the Mets. 
 The Mets, by the way, have eight retired numbers, including Jackie Robinson’s 42, which is retired around baseball. The Mets’ only current 40-man roster player who is expected to make it to Opening Day with a uniform number above 80 is reliever Stephen Nogosek (85).

SPBYFEAT230330

Numbers up: Aaron Judge not the only Yankee in the 90s on his jersey

Judge not the only Yankee in the 90s on his jersey

Tigers Twins Baseball

WHY THE METS WILL BE GOOD

1. The talent of the rotation: Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer have a combined six Cy Young Awards (including Verlander&rsquo;s with the Astros in 2022), nearly 6,000 innings, almost 6,400 strikeouts and 445 wins. That pair plus rookie Kodai Senga, an ace in Japan, is a good place to start. And it helps that the likes of David Peterson and Tylor Megill entered camp as high-quality depth.

2. Nimmo is back: Centerfielder Brandon Nimmo was the most important of the Mets&rsquo; many free agents, so credit to them for doing what they had to do by retaining him for eight years and $162M. He was a key last season and will be important again this year.

3. Prospects are coming: Followers of the farm system have heard about this group for years. Now they might actually impact the big-league club, if not from the outset. Look out for Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty, Mark Vientos and Ronny Mauricio. And the overall improved system means the Mets have trade chips for major midseason upgrades if they want.

WHY THEY MAY DISAPPOINT

1. An aging rotation: Verlander is 40, Scherzer is turning 39, Jose Quintana is 34 (and already out for the first half with an injury) and Carlos Carrasco is 35. They ranged from good to excellent last year, though, and the Mets are betting that inevitable age-related declines won&rsquo;t happen this year (or next).

2. Open at closer: Edwin Diaz&rsquo;s season probably ended before it began, as he had mid-March surgery on the patellar tendon tear in his right knee. That injury usually requires an eight-month rehabilitation. So the Mets have major questions at closer. David Robertson and Adam Ottavino are the most likely answers, but either way, Diaz&rsquo;s absence weakens the overall late-innings approach.

3. Power outage: The Mets scored plenty but were a mediocre homer-hitting team last season. Pete Alonso is their only real power threat. They passed on supplementing the offense over the offseason for the sake of buying more pitchers. They didn&rsquo;t quite need Carlos Correa, but they could&rsquo;ve used somebody. The DH spot especially is a question mark. &nbsp;

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Three reasons the Mets will be good, and three reasons that may not be the case

Good or bad Mets in '23: Three reasons for each

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<h3> WHY THE YANKEES WILL BE GOOD </h3> 
 1. AARON JUDGE. Hard not to begin here. Judge, who will turn 31 on April 26, is coming off one of the best offensive seasons any player has ever had — an AL-record 62-homer year that helped him earn MVP honors and a record nine-year, $360 million contract. What might his 2023 look like without the pressure of looming free agency? 
 2. THAT BULLPEN. It’s a roll call of arms that, on paper, looks to be an embarrassment of riches. Clay Holmes, Michael King, Wandy Peralta, Jonathan Loaisiga and Ron Marinaccio each has the potential to be the leading man in most other teams’ bullpens. And that doesn’t even include Tommy Kahnle and Lou Trivino — who will start the year on the IL — or Bay Shore’s Greg Weissert, whose stuff, some of his fellow relievers say, is as nasty as anyone’s. 
 3. THE YOUTH MOVEMENT. In terms of their regulars, the Yankees are a mostly veteran team, but youngsters such as Anthony Volpe, Oswald Peraza and Oswaldo Cabrera are expected to be significant contributors this season. Late in the season, Jasson Dominguez — aka “The Martian” — could help as well. &nbsp; 
<h3> WHY THEY MAY DISAPPOINT </h3> 
 1. ABOUT THOSE VETERANS. While not long in the tooth, the Yankees do feature their share of regulars who are 30-plus. That doesn’t necessarily make them more prone to injuries but it is a concern, especially when it comes to Anthony Rizzo (age 33), Giancarlo Stanton (33), DJ LeMahieu (34) and Josh Donaldson (37). 
 2. THIN ON STARTERS. Even with Carlos Rodon starting the season on the IL, the Yankees should be all right when it comes to their rotation, assuming Luis Severino (lat strain) is OK. But another injury to the group could be devastating as there’s little organizational depth in that area. 
 3. COMING UP SHORT. Oswald Peraza and Anthony Volpe spent spring training impressing the organization, including their teammates, and Volpe wound up winning the shortstop job. Still, impressive as the touted prospects have been, there’s no guarantees when it comes to the daily grind of a big-league season.

SPBYISSUE230330

Three reasons the Yankee will be good this year, and three reasons for caution

Three reasons the Yankees will succeed or fail

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Before they became best baseball buddies, Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil got acquainted while spending much of the 2017 season together in Port St. Lucie, Florida, the Mets’ spring training base. 
 Alonso was in his first full professional season, trying to figure it out with the Class A St. Lucie Mets, not quite the organization’s surefire first baseman of the future but an intriguing slugging prospect nonetheless. McNeil was older, less touted and recovering from injuries that relegated him to observer more than player during those months. 
 So McNeil was in the dugout one night when he witnessed what remains as readily recallable a Pete feat as any in their years of friendship. 
 As he sat in that same dugout years later, he pointed to left-centerfield, where the wall is marked as being 385 feet from home plate. Behind the wall is a scoreboard that rises a couple of stories. On top of that is a Mets logo that adds another several feet. 
 According to McNeil, Alonso blasted a baseball over all of it. 
 “It was the farthest ball I’ve ever seen hit,” he said. “That thing went 500 feet, I think. Landed in the middle of field 1 [in the minor-league portion of the complex] out there. That was the most impressive homer I’ve ever seen him hit.” 
 McNeil learned in that moment and during that summer what the rest of the baseball world has learned since: Alonso is an absolute force. 
 With his prodigious power, an increasingly well-rounded overall game and a personality about as marketable as any on the team, he has become the most valuable everyday Met — as demonstrated by his eighth-place finish in the NL MVP voting last year and a seventh-place finish in 2019, the highest by a Mets position player in the past decade. 
 The start to his career is such that Alonso has a legitimate chance of becoming one of the best Mets ever. He is missing just one piece: a guaranteed long-term stay in Queens. 
 Here is a look at the skills that helped him get there and what might lie ahead. &nbsp; 
<h3> A ‘euphoric feeling’ </h3> 
 Alonso’s signature move is also his most important: hitting home runs. Since he reached the majors four years ago, he leads everybody with 146. In 2021, immediately after winning a second straight Home Run Derby, he declared in an interview on ESPN, “I think I’m the best power hitter on the planet.” 
 Going deep is the one act on a baseball field with which he most identifies and which people most identify with him. 
 And you know what? You never forget your first. 
 “I was 9 years old,” Alonso, 28, recalled with great ease of a random afternoon nearly two decades ago. “I had a really tough day at the dish. It was a doubleheader on a Saturday. I had a really tough first game, and the first at-bat of the second game, I just took all the frustration out on the baseball and it went over the fence for the first time. It was just this incredible euphoric feeling. I wanted more.” 
 And so he chased more. Although he obtained that first long ball as a souvenir, Alonso was so prolific a home run hitter on the youth baseball fields of Tampa that his father, Peter Alonso, developed a routine: get the ball, throw it in the bin, get the next ball, throw it in the bin, over and over dozens of times through the years. 
 That collection of homer baseballs — in “two big baskets,” the younger Alonso said — still exists in the family’s home. 
 As he grew up, his power left an impression everywhere he played. Astros pitcher Lance McCullers, a high school teammate, remembers an uncommon “thump to the opposite gap” from Alonso as an underclassman. Added Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker, another teammate: “Obviously, him launching balls now — he did the same thing in high school.” 
 During the 2015 College World Series, a year before the Mets drafted him out of the University of Florida, Alonso banged one 421 feet, the longest ever at the host ballpark. Three days later, another at 429, breaking his record. That mark stood until last June. 
 “The thing that separated Pete from most power hitters at a young age is he always had the ability to go the other way,” said Kevin O’Sullivan, Florida’s longtime baseball coach. “He’s always had an uncanny ability to hit the ball back through the middle of the field in the air and get loft.” 
 Anyone who spends enough time around Alonso comes to have a favorite. McNeil’s is that moonshot into the St. Lucie night. Brandon Nimmo and Mets hitting coach Jeremy Barnes picked the same one: the walk-off blast against the Cardinals last May, an inevitable-feeling no-doubter to leftfield that capped a tense season series that included Alonso getting hit in the head by a pitch (and, in a later game, a benches-clearing episode in which Alonso was central). 
 “He’s a special hitter,” Barnes said, “and he can do special things.” 
 Nimmo said: “To like finish them off in that way, it was pretty special.” 
 For Alonso, though, it was hard to choose just one. His favorite homer probably is his next one, right? 
 He rattled off several candidates: His first in the majors, in Miami in April 2019, stands out, of course. So does his rookie-record 53rd that September. Two years later, he got No. 100, which also is near the top of the list. 
 And then there was Sept. 19, 2022, in Milwaukee in the top of the fourth off Corbin Burnes, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner. The ball soared 437 feet to left, one of his longest of the season. Francisco Lindor and McNeil scored. The Mets took a lead. 
 Alonso likes it because of what else happened that night. 
 “The Mets got their playoff spot that we hadn’t had in six years,” he said, “and Max [Scherzer] got his 200th career win.”  &nbsp; 
<h3> The non-homers </h3> 
 For all you kids out there, a lesson: When Alonso hits a home run, he almost never is trying to hit a home run. When he notices himself falling into that trap, which he admitted happens “way more often than you would think,” he usually is good about pulling himself back out. 
 Consider it part of his ongoing, increasingly successful effort to become a better all-around hitter and player. 
 “Every time I try and hit a homer, I strike out or I pop up or I hit a ground ball or I swing at something stupid,” he said. “As a kid and now. That’s unanimous. Doesn’t matter, any level. If you try to hit a homer, very few times you actually do it. 
 “Home runs are a beautiful thing, because it’s always a really fun surprise.” 
 His work with Barnes, whom the Mets promoted to the top job after he served as the assistant hitting coach last year, is about keeping home runs pleasant surprises, not the endgame. 
 Alonso and other hitters often reference getting their “A-swing” off. To Barnes, that is as much a mental concept as it is a physical one. It means Alonso is at the plate, ready to cover as many kinds of pitches as possible in as many parts of the strike zone as possible, looking to hit the next offering hard — probably to centerfield or rightfield. 
 His ideal swing is controlled but violent. 
 “He’s gifted to where he can mis-hit balls over the fence,” Barnes said. “The last thing we want him to do is try to do more than he has to. Because Pete at 70, 80% has the capability to leave the yard almost anywhere.” 
 Alonso views himself as a hitter, Barnes said, not just a slugger. Early last season, when he was successful enough but not as powerful as usual, he spoke of accepting line-drive singles to the opposite field to drive in a run. Homers are good, and those would come, but he’d take what he could get, especially if it meant the Mets scoring. 
 For evidence of improvement, look at his frequency of strikeouts through the years. As a rookie, Alonso fanned in 26.4% of his plate appearances — a bottom-15 mark among 135 qualified hitters.It was a lot of swinging and missing, even if the overall production was great. His strikeout rate since then has dropped to 25.5% to 19.9% to 18.7% last year. 
 Alonso’s average has followed an opposite trend. Since dipping to .231 in 2020, a relative down year, it has improved to .262 in ’21 and .271 in ’22. 
 “We want to keep him as pure of a hitter as we can keep him and not just pigeonhole ourselves into, ‘Hey, we’re going all or nothing right here,’&nbsp;&nbsp;” Barnes said. “Because Pete has the ability to do more than that.” 
 The same forward-looking mindset applies to Alonso’s approach to defense, where he has long since overcome his prospect reputation as a potential DH. “Literally an hour before the game, this guy is in a full-body sweat,” O’Sullivan recalled of a college-aged Alonso. “This guy is not a natural player — he’s really worked at his craft.” &nbsp; 
<h3> Future considerations </h3> 
 A quick pause to note Alonso’s standing on the Mets’ franchise leaderboards. 
 He already owns the single-season marks for homers, RBIs, extra-base hits and total bases. He is second in career slugging percentage behind Hall of Famer Mike Piazza. In just four seasons, he has climbed to seventh on the all-time home run list with 146. He’ll likely crack the top five early this year. In RBIs, he is 17th but will get into the top 10 with another Alonso-like season. 
 The only element preventing him from being a virtual lock to break more franchise records: He is due to become a free agent after the 2024 season. 
 “We obviously would love to see him be a part of our team long-term,” said Brandon Nimmo, whose eight-year, $162 million contract signed in December made him a core member of the team through the end of the decade. “He’s been that homegrown guy who came in right away, made an impact and has sustained it — and that’s hard to do.” 
 Alonso, his agents and Mets officials have said they will not discuss his contract status in public. 
 “I don’t feel comfortable talking about any contractual stuff,” he said in February. 
 Did the sides talk about an extension during the offseason? Or in recent weeks during camp? Is there mutual interest in doing so before Alonso enters his contract year, which will create all sorts of hubbub around this time next season? They haven’t said. 
 But we do know this: In their new era, the Mets have prioritized paying players they like and trust. Nimmo, a homegrown fan favorite, established himself as a premier leadoff hitter and very good centerfielder and was rewarded. McNeil, a homegrown All-Star, won a batting title and was rewarded with a four-year, $50 million deal in January. Edwin Diaz, who was not homegrown but had as dramatic a New York turnaround as any player in recent memory, became the best closer in baseball and was rewarded with a five-year, $102 million pact, the richest ever for a reliever. 
 The monetary message from Steve Cohen: Take care of business and the Mets will take care of you. 
 “In New York, if you can find somebody that succeeds here, you normally try to keep them here,” Nimmo said. “We’re looking to have those kind of people on our team. They’re hard to find.” 
 A figure to keep in mind for any future Alonso negotiations: $225 million over 10 years. That is the largest contract ever for a first baseman, signed by Joey Votto with the Reds in 2012. 
 Nimmo said he has talked with Alonso about the possibility of staying with the Mets for a long time. “I expect that the Mets will be trying to take care of him and get him locked up long-term,” he said. “But with also the knowledge that if he were to go to a free-agent market, he’s going to have a lot of suitors. It’s going to have to make sense for him. 
 “We have a really good thing going here. It’s creating a culture of guys who have grown up in this organization or come in . . . and established themselves here and the Mets say, yeah, we want to keep you around if you can do well here.” 
 In the meantime, Alonso will keep going deep and have a good time doing so. 
 “He’s never lost the little boy in him,” O’Sullivan said. “Even though he’s having the success that he’s having at the big-league level, he still plays the game like he’s a teenager. I’m glad he’s never lost that, because that was a really fun thing to see.”

SPBALONSO230330

Pete Alonso's deep impact for Mets an everyday thing

Alonso's deep impact for Mets an everyday thing

animation_1679585584

TAMPA, Fla. — The man ultimately responsible for Aaron Judge’s return to the Yankees, the one who bestowed the third-largest contract in baseball history upon the outfielder in December, pondered for a half-second what Judge’s encore to his historic 2022 season might look like. 
“I think great things,” Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner told Newsday toward the end of spring training during a wide-ranging interview. “Because if you think about that he did what he did [in 2022] — and I’m not just talking about the 61 and Yankees history — with a looming free agency there, that he was still able to do what he did is incredible.” 
Judge, as just about every Yankees fan can recite by heart as part of his burgeoning legend, turned down a $213.5 million extension offer just before the 2022 regular season. Then, as Steinbrenner referenced, he embarked on a historic season. He hit 62 home runs — breaking Roger Maris’ American League record of 61 set 61 years earlier in 1961 — and captured AL MVP honors in a landslide over Angels two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani. 
Many a player in many a sport have crumbled under the pressure of a walk year that precedes free agency. 
Instead, Judge nearly won the AL Triple Crown, hitting .311 with 131 RBIs, a .425 on-base percentage and a 1.111 OPS (he led MLB in the latter three categories, among others, tying the Mets’ Pete Alonso for the RBI title). 
“I mean, that’s off the table now,” Steinbrenner said of walk-year pressure. “He’s broke the record, that’s off the table. So, and I think I was talking to [Aaron] Boone about this a few weeks ago, I think he may just have another incredible year. I really do.” 
Dating to his AL Rookie of the Year season in 2017, when he hit a then-rookie-record 52 homers, Judge has publicly shooed away superlatives about his game and overall performance. 
He can rack up the “it’s-all-about-the-team-and-individual-numbers-don’t-matter” cliches with the best of them, but, according to those behind the scenes with the Yankees, he means it 100%. If he’s ever uttered anything approaching a me-first or at-least-I-got-mine sentence, Yankees teammates, coaches, clubhouse staff, etc. have yet to hear it. 
But make no mistake: Judge, a serial preparer when it comes to the game, doesn’t lack for confidence, either. Never has. 
And that confidence occasionally will come out in public. 
“We’ll see,” Judge said with a smile of matching or perhaps even surpassing 62 homers this season. “I don’t really like putting a number on it. I like going out there and trying to control what I can control. But you never know what could happen, so we’ll see about 62.” 
If there’s one player in the clubhouse who knows what it’s like to come off the kind of season Judge just had, it’s Giancarlo Stanton. 
In 2017, his last year with the Marlins before getting dealt to the Yankees, Stanton hit 59 homers en route to capturing the National League MVP award. 
Stanton grinned when asked about the challenges Judge will face in 2023 and his advice regarding the best way to handle it. 
“Not try to hit 62,” Stanton said. “Not even worry about it. Have no number set, just put good at-bats together, get the barrel to the ball, and he can be in the ballpark [of 60] again.” 
Indeed, with continued health — Judge was able to appear in a career-high 157 games last year, which played a significant role in the season he had — the prevailing feeling around the team is that another monster campaign is not only possible but likely (various injuries, including a right wrist fracture and an oblique strain, limited Judge to 28 games in the 2020 COVID-19-shortened 60-game season, to 102 games in 2019 and to 112 games in 2018). 
Health, of course, is one factor, but there’s also this: Judge is an obsessive practitioner of his sport. By all accounts, he is one of the team’s hardest workers and has been for years. 
Like the player he is often compared to, Derek Jeter (and the comparisons often are lazy because they are very different in a multitude of ways), Judge maintains a home in the Tampa area. And like Jeter, he typically starts in early January and is a consistent presence at the club’s minor-league complex in Tampa for offseason workouts. 
But Judge surprised some longtime employees at the complex this winter with a.) his physical condition when he showed up around the New Year and b.) the ferocity with which he attacked those workout sessions. 
“You would have thought he was coming off a [expletive] year,” one of those employees said. “And you definitely [would not have thought] he had just signed that kind of contract.” 
In his manager’s eyes, what would be a fair measure of success for Judge in 2023? 
“To continue to be one of the best players in the sport,” Boone said. 
“He is obviously highly competitive. And he is one of those guys, certainly since I’ve known him, and even my understanding going back before me, the way he was in the minor leagues coming up in his early career here, a guy that’s always trying to get better. 
“That’s why he’s so good at the little things within the game, the little details, how under control he is and how fundamentally sound he is, for example, on the defensive side of the ball. 
“He’s always looking for ways to be a little bit better. And I think that’s what most great players, most great athletes do. They’re never really satisfied and know that there’s always room to get incrementally better. And that’s something he’s done a great job of really his entire career.” 
For that reason, Judge said it wasn’t difficult to quickly put 2022 behind him, perhaps enjoying it for “a day or two,” but that’s all. 
“You kind of soak it in,” Judge said. “For me, when I was reviewing the season, reviewing my swing, stuff I need to improve on and kind of soak it in, when you look back on some of the moments that happened and [say], ‘I can’t believe that happened or that situation happened.’ 
“But for me, it’s easy to turn the page because by the time we got kicked out of the postseason, there’s teams that are already a couple of weeks into their offseason and have already turned the page and already made improvements. So I can’t sit back and say, ‘I did X, Y and Z.’ I have to keep moving forward. So you acknowledge it, appreciate it, but understand we still have a long way to go and there’s work to do.” 
And that work, Judge said, is the “unfinished business” of notching World Series title No. 28. No. 27 is a distant memory for a lot of the fan base; it came in 2009, four years before Judge was drafted. 
“That’s why we play this game. You play to win, you play to be on top,’’ he said. “When you play in New York, that’s the one and only goal . . . besides [first] going out there and winning your division and putting yourself in a good spot for the postseason. That’s what drives me day in and day out.”

SPBJUDGE230330

Is there anything more Aaron Judge can do for an encore?

What can Judge do for an encore?

Yankees Blue Jays Baseball

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spbWEBBESTPLAYERS2023

The best everyday players for each MLB team for 2023

The best everyday players for each MLB team

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Baseball salaries 2024: How the Mets and Yankees compare at each position

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Gregg Sarra

Logan O’Hoppe is on the cusp of something very special. 
The West Islip native and former Newsday Player of the Year has had a strong spring training and put himself in solid position to be the Los Angeles Angels’ starting catcher. 
His quick four-year ascent to the major-league level came through a laser-like focus and the ability to follow a few simple rules. 
“My message to younger players would be to keep your attention on yourself and getting yourself better,” said O’Hoppe, 23. “I was never a top guy on rankings, in papers, not a lot of lists of players to look out for, as none of those distractions matter. All that matters is staying the course and knowing what makes you feel at your best and building off those things. That’s what makes me feel fulfilled.” 
The Philadelphia Phillies thought he was major-league material when they drafted the then-18-year-old out of St. John the Baptist High School in the 23rd round of the amateur draft in 2018. He was the Catholic High School Athletic Association Player of the Year after leading St. John the Baptist to the title. He batted .467 with three home runs and 22 RBIs and threw out 70% of potential base-stealers. 
“He’s the top guy that I’ve ever had the pleasure to coach,” said Ralph Dalton, who has been an assistant coach at St. John the Baptist for 35 years and is director of athletics. “He’s always been the hardest worker. Every day he wanted to learn more about the game. He was always the first one to practice or a game and always the last to leave. He’s just a great kid.” 
O’Hoppe moved quickly through the Phillies’ organization and spent the 2019 offseason playing in the Australian Baseball League. 
“He was getting so much bigger and stronger,” Dalton said. “His development was quite impressive.” 
O’Hoppe, at 6-2, 185 pounds, hit five doubles and five home runs and had a .258/.389/.483 slash line with 18 walks in 109 plate appearances in Australia. 
He didn’t play during the COVID pandemic in 2020 but was included in the Phillies’ 60-man player pool at the organization’s alternate training site. 
His power surge continued in 2021 with 19 doubles, two triples and 17 home runs along with 33 walks in 438 plate appearances. He also threw out 25% (27 of 107) of potential base-stealers. He finished the season in Triple-A. 
And 2022 proved to be a monster year and a dream fulfilled for O’Hoppe. He had a .283/.416/.544 slash line with 26 homers, 78 RBIs and a .960 OPS at the Double-A level, splitting his season between the Phillies’ and Angels’ organizations. 
The Angels had acquired O’Hoppe in July for outfielder Brandon Marsh. Marsh was blocked in centerfield by superstar Mike Trout and the Phillies had a need for outfield help. Conversely, O’Hoppe was blocked at the major-league level in Philadelphia by J.T. Realmuto. The trade made O’Hoppe the Angels’ top prospect. 
“I’ve been lucky and grateful to look up five years later and see how not paying attention to the outside factors that carry no weight has gotten me where I am today,” O’Hoppe said. “My family is happy, healthy and proud, which makes me the best version of me. My goal for this year is to keep that focus to better my club and myself.” 
Surrounded by family, friends and former coaches, O’Hoppe made his major-league debut against Oakland last Sept. 28 in Anaheim and lined a single in his first at-bat. 
“We were all there,” Dalton said. “Me, [coaches] Ronnie [McKay], Casey [McKay], Ryan [Dalton], his family and a few of his high school teammates. When they announced the lineup, I had to look around and make sure it was really happening. It gave me chills. I love Logan, he’s family. He has all the makings, the work ethic, to be an everyday major-league catcher.” 
O’Hoppe finished the season hitting .286 in 22 at-bats for the Angels. 
In spring training this year, he has caught Angels two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani. 
“He’s always been the best catcher at every level with his defense for exceptional blocking, framing and throwing,” Dalton said. “He caught Ohtani in the Drive Line program in California a year ago and they were familiar with each other.” 
“Shohei is the best player I’ve been lucky enough to be around,” O’Hoppe said. “It’s a lot of fun working with him. And I don’t take any of it for granted.”

SPBLIMAJORS230330

LI to LA: How Logan O'Hoppe made it big with Angels

From LI to LA: How O'Hoppe made it big with Angels

Guardians Angels Baseball

spbWEB101_2023

Baseball 101: Expressing the sport through a wide spectrum of color

Baseball 101: A colorful game

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Before pencilling in the Dodgers for the World Series, or being wooed by Steve Cohen’s nearly-half-billion-dollar Mets’ investment for 2023, consider the Phillies’ wobbly path to the NL pennant a year ago. 
 Get off to a 22-29 start. Trail the division leader by a dozen games. Fire manager Joe Girardi. Barely squeeze into the playoffs with the second wild card (87 wins). Shock the world in October. 
 We’re not saying that’s a proven formula for repeated success. But there are a few lessons that were reinforced, namely the randomness of a baseball short series and the relative unimportance of going full throttle for a 101-win regular season, which only earned the Mets a wild-card berth anyway. 
 What does it all mean? In sorting out the National League this year, look to the ultra-competitive dogpile in the East, where the Mets, Phillies and Atlanta all have something to prove again. Take your pick when it comes to winning the division. It’s truly a toss-up. 
 Or seemed that way. Until the sport’s best closer, Edwin Diaz, was lost for the season to a knee injury at the World Baseball Classic, where he was hurt during a postgame on-field celebration. Is that enough to tip the scales in a division that was decided on a tie-breaker last season? Definitely. 
 Chances are, Cohen won’t let it, so the Mets shouldn’t be conceding the East just yet. As for the defending NL champs, the Phillies made some big upgrades this winter, adding Trea Turner on a $300 million deal along with former Met Taijuan Walker ($72M), then should get a nice pre-deadline pickup when Bryce Harper (elbow) returns around the All-Star break. Girardi’s replacement Rob Thomson also had the interim tag in mid-October, so let’s see how Philly operates in a less-chaotic environment this time around. 
 Atlanta ripped out the Mets’ heart on the season’s final weekend a year ago and should be the scariest contender of this bunch on paper. GM Alex Anthopoulos pulled off another one of his trade/extension deals in getting catcher Sean Murphy from the A’s and then signing him to a six-year, $73 million deal. That, along with Mike Siroka’s (presumed) return elevates an already loaded Atlanta roster. 
 Out West, are the Padres ready for a changing of the guard atop the division? They made a strong case last October by stunning the 111-win Dodgers in the Division Series, and San Diego’s ownership — much like the billionaires up in Chavez Ravine — will spare no expense in pursuing a World Series crown. Counting Manny Machado’s $350 million extension in February, the Padres spent more than $837 million on players this winter, pushing their payroll to $275 million (for luxury tax purposes) behind the Mets ($374) and Yankees ($292M). Xander Bogaerts was the marquee free-agent pickup, but San Diego also added some New York flavor in former Met Seth Lugo and former Yankee Matt Carpenter. 
 The Dodgers lost three key pieces in the defections of Turner, Cody Bellinger and Justin Turner, but made some financially modest (for them) pickups in Noah Syndergaard ($13.5 million) and J.D. Martinez ($10M) with Jason Heyward (remember him?) working his way into the outfield mix this spring. As non-WBC-injuries go, the Dodgers suffered a doozy in the first week of Cactus League games when Gavin Lux tore up his ACL, knocking him out for the season, and he’ll likely be replaced by Miguel Rojas as they look for outside help. 
 The Giants missed out on Aaron Judge, so pivoted to outfielders Joc Pederson, Mitch Haniger and Michael Conforto -- for a savings of about $260 million. Carlos Rodon also bolted for the Bronx, but Sean Manaea and Ross Stripling were imported to bolster the rotation. The Diamondbacks have the early edge on the Rockies in this plodding race back to relevancy, based on a bumper crop of young talent led by Corbin Carroll. 
 It’s hard not to see the Cardinals as the favorite in the middling Central, powered by their twin-MVP-caliber engines in Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado. Also on the rise in the St. Louis talented outfield scramble is top prospect Jordan Walker, a 6-5 slugger drawing Judge comparisons. Two former New York lefties again will help bolster the rotation in Steven Matz and Jordan Montgomery amid the farewell tour for longtime ace Adam Wainwright. Willson Contreras takes over for Cardinals icon Yadier Molina behind the plate. 
 Behind St. Louis, it’s got to be the Brewers, who screwed up with last year’s head-scratching trade of Josh Hader to the Padres and are trying to avoid another similar mess with Corbin Burnes, who wasn’t a happy camper this spring over his unsettled contract situation. Getting All-Star catcher William Contreras from Atlanta in the three-way Sean Murphy swap was a nifty grab to boost the offense. 
 The Cubs showed signs of trying again this winter by signing Dansby Swanson to a seven-year, $177 million deal and also bringing in Cody Bellinger, the former MVP whose offense has deteriorated in recent years (but glove remains elite). Two teams that aren’t trying? The Pirates and Reds, of course. Pittsburgh is on track for an Opening Day payroll of $75 million, with their highest-paid player Ke’Bryan Hayes making $10 million this year (43-year-old Rich Hill is next at $8 million). Cincy isn’t much better, at $82 million for this season, with Joey Votto taking up $25 million of that meager total (Wil Myers is runner-up at $6 million). 
<h3> National League rankings to begin 2023 </h3> 
 1. Padres 
 2. Atlanta 
 3. <a href="http://newsday.com/mets">Mets</a> 
 4. Phillies 
 5. Dodgers 
 6. Cardinals 
 7. Brewers 
 8. Giants 
 9. Diamondbacks 
 10. Cubs 
 11. Marlins 
 12. Rockies 
 13. Pirates 
 14. Reds 
 15. Nationals 
<h3> All the best of the National League for 2023 </h3> 
 PLAYERS 
 1. Paul Goldschmidt, Cardinals. Already the gold standard at his position, Goldschmidt went next level in winning the MVP last season, a performance that certainly wasn’t hurt by having Nolan Arenado protecting him in the St. Louis lineup. Also earned his fifth Silver Slugger to go with four Gold Gloves in his 12-year career. 
 2. Manny Machado, Padres. My top pick for MVP last year, based on a combination of his impressive stats (32 HRs, 102 RBIs) and being the primary offensive engine of a Padres team that scrambled to make up for the loss of Fernando Tatis Jr. Consider that the springboard for his new 11-year, $350 million contract. 
 3. Justin Verlander, Mets. The three-time Cy Young winner gets the nod here, even at age 40, because two of these awards came in the last four years -- and he missed one recovering from Tommy John surgery. If Verlander pitches the Mets to a title this season, he’ll cement his status as baseball’s Tom Brady. 
 4. Freddie Freeman, Dodgers. Had a chip on his shoulder last season after his controversial exit from Atlanta, and once Freeman got comfortable in Chavez Ravine, he responded with an MVP-caliber performance (MLB-high 199 hits, NL-best .407 OBP). 
 5. Nolan Arenado, Cardinals. Maybe Arenado doesn’t have to shoulder the load himself in St. Louis, but he’s capable of carrying any team, as last season’s 30-homer/103-RBI performance can attest. Also won his 10th straight Gold Glove and fifth Silver Slugger. 
 Best manager: Buck Showalter, Mets 
 Best GM: A.J. Preller, Padres 
 Best hitter: Paul Goldschmidt, Cardinals 
 Best leadoff hitter: Trea Turner, Phillies 
 Best power: Pete Alonso, Mets 
 Best in the clutch: Freddie Freeman, Dodgers 
 Best baserunner: Tommy Edman, Cardinals 
 Most exciting: Manny Machado, Padres 
 Best infielder: Nolan Arenado, Cardinals 
 Best infield arm: Oneill Cruz, Pirates 
 Best outfielder: Mookie Betts, Dodgers 
 Best outfield arm: Ronald Acuna Jr., Atlanta 
 Best catcher: J.T. Realmuto, Phillies 
 Best catcher arm: J.T. Realmuto, Phillies 
 Best starting pitcher: Justin Verlander, Mets 
 Best setup: A.J. Minter, Atlanta 
 Best closer: Josh Hader, Padres 
 Rookie to watch: Corbin Carroll, D-backs 
 Best home uniforms: Cubs 
 Best stadium: Oracle Park, Giants 
 Best mascot: Mr. Met

spWEBNL2023

2023 MLB preview: National League forecast, power rankings and best-of

NL forecast, power rankings and best-of for 2023

World Series Phillies Astros Baseball

Every year, for what seems like most of our lifetimes, the American League conversation kicks off with praise for the East division, often considered the competitive gold standard, both for its spending and heated rivalries. 
 The missing part to that equation? Postseason success. 
 Maybe we’re jumping the gun a bit. This is March after all. But only the Red Sox have won a World Series over the past decade (in 2013, ’17) with the Rays making it at the end of the pandemic-shortened 60-game schedule in 2020 (losing to the Dodgers). 
 Notably absent from that conversation is the Yankees, an early October flameout since 2009, as Hal Steinbrenner keeps getting less bang for his buck. The cost of players may be rising with inflation, but the Commissioner’s Trophy still can’t be bought in a cash transaction, as hope springs eternal in the more frugal East enclaves like Tampa Bay and Baltimore. 
 Regardless, Steinbrenner &amp; Co. remain the favorites in this division, as well as challenging the Astros for that label in the entire AL, based on the owner’s checkbook. The Yankees retooled by investing an MLB-high $537 million on free agents this winter, the largest chunks going to the newly-minted captain, Aaron Judge ($360M), and Carlos Rodon ($162M). Meanwhile, the Red Sox — their traditional partner in the East arm’s race — were getting booed at winter fanfests for being tighter with the payroll, and specifically letting homegrown shortstop Xander Bogaerts jump to the Padres. 
 The Sox did manage to dodge a full-out fan revolt by signing Rafael Devers to an 11-year, $331 million contract and also brought in Japanese slugger Masataka Yoshida ($90M). Beyond that, Boegarts replacement Trevor Story is likely out for the season due to elbow surgery, and Boston is piecing together a rotation headlined by the eternally fragile Chis Sale, who pitched five innings last season. 
 The Blue Jays did get to the playoffs a year ago, but ultimately were a disappointment based on sky-high expectations and firing manager Charlie Montoyo in July at least returned them to the right track. The lineup is still stacked, so Toronto shifted its focus to defense this winter by bringing in Kevin Kermaier and Daulton Varsho and shifting George Springer to rightfield. The Orioles perpetual rebuild continues, but with so many top-rated prospects now getting to the major-league level — namely catcher Adely Rutschman and future ace Grayson Rodriguez — they could start making some noise soon. The Rays welcome back Tyler Glasnow (Tommy John surgery) to lead another solid rotation (sound familiar?) and Wander Franco will be counted on as the offensive engine. 
 What is there to say about the Central, other than producing the October punching bag for whoever wins the East and West divisions? The Twins won the Carlos Correa sweepstakes this winter, bringing back the All-Star shortstop who opted-out of his previous Minny deal, but only by default when he flunked physicals on more lucrative offers from the Giants and Mets. How Correa’s ankle performs/survives is one of the more intriguing storylines in this division. 
 Speaking of Yankees’ cannon fodder, the Guardians seem to have built a foundation around perennial MVP candidate Jose Ramirez, with former Mets Andres Gimenez and Amed Rosario, along with Steven Kwan and Oscar Gonzalez. But when your major offseason acquisition is Josh Bell (2 yrs, $33M), there’s only so much winter optimism that can be generated. The White Sox lured away Yankees’ target Andrew Benintendi on a five-year, $75 million contract, but former MVP Jose Abreu bolted for the Astros. Chicago’s other big signing, Mike Clevinger, got way too much unwanted attention this spring for domestic-abuse allegations before he was ultimately cleared by MLB. In case you forgot, Aroldis Chapman pitches for the Royals now. Can former No. 1 pick Spencer Torkelson rebound with the Tigers? Coming off a 66-win season, I’d question the attention span of even Detroit diehards. 
 Sometimes it feels like the West is best known as the place where Shohei Ohtani happens to play baseball. And with Ohtani entering his walk year, the division will now partly consumed by how much longer he stays with the Angels, who need to stay in contention to help their case — and the Los Angeles/Anaheim franchise hasn’t made the playoffs since 2014 (the only time in the last 13 years). Obviously Mike Trout’s health is a big part of that, along with winter pickups Tyler Anderson, Gio Urshela, Hunter Renfroe and Carlos Estevez. 
 The Angels again have the two best players in the division, but the Astros are the defending world champs with another strong chance to repeat. Losing Justin Verlander in free agency to the Mets is no small thing, but Houston’s rotation is still fronted by a shutdown trio in Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier and Luis Garcia. The Astros also let Yuli Gurriel walk in favor of signing Abreu to a three-year, $58.5 million deal, to make their lineup even more dangerous. 
 The only way to keep track of who’s playing for the Mariners at any given moment is to keep refreshing your Twitter feed — GM turned president of baseball ops Jerry Dipoto suffers from a chronic case of roster shuffling. But Seattle did add some long-term stability by signing Julio Rodriguez to a 12-year, $210 million extension and capitalized on the Luis Castillo trade deadline coup by locking him up on a five-year, $108 million deal. The Mariners are looking to sustain the momentum of making the playoffs for the first time since Ichiro Suzuki’s rookie year (2001) but will probably be looking at another wild card. 
 Jacob deGrom pitches for the Rangers now. The only drama involving the A’s this season is the countdown to their presumptive move to Las Vegas. 
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<h3> American League power rankings to start 2023 </h3> 
 1. Astros 
 2. Yankees 
 3. Blue Jays 
 4. Mariners 
 5. Rays 
 6. Guardians 
 7. Angels 
 8. Twins 
 9. White Sox 
 10. Rangers 
 11. Red Sox 
 12. Orioles 
 13. Tigers 
 14. Royals 
 15. Athletics 
<h3> All the best of the American League for 2023 </h3> 
 PLAYERS 
 1. Shohei Ohtani, Angels: It’s tough to wrest this spot away from Ohtani as long as he remains baseball’s only two-way player, and an All-Star at both jobs. He finished runner-up to Aaron Judge for the MVP, but what Ohtani does deserves its own special category, since no one else can hit 34 homers and pitch to a 2.33 ERA (28 starts). 
 2. Aaron Judge, Yankees: The newly-minted captain took a stratospheric leap among the baseball ranks last season, starting with passing Roger Maris with 62 home runs and leading topping MLB in every key offensive category. Also proved himself to be a solid centerfielder. Look for more improvement in the margins this year: base stealing, two-strike hits. &nbsp; &nbsp; 
 3. Mike Trout, Angels: The only thing that can slow the three-time MVP is failing health, and Trout was limited to 119 games last season with a chronic back condition that is likely to impact him to some degree going forward. He still finished with 40 homers and a .999 OPS. 
 4. Yordan Alvarez, Astros: Aside from Judge, Alvarez may be the scariest hitter in the AL, and he was right on the MVP’s heels last season, batting .306 with a 1.019 OPS. Finished third in the MVP voting, but there’s no one more important to the Astros’ chances of repeating as world champs. 
 5. Jose Ramirez, Guardians: A switch-hitting power threat that can play three positions? Yes please. Ramirez is primarily a third baseman now, and the four-time All-Star is finally getting more help in Cleveland’s lineup -- which is going to make him even more dangerous this season. 
 Best manager: Terry Francona, Guardians 
 Best GM: Erik Neander (president of baseball ops), Rays 
 Best leadoff hitter: Jose Altuve, Astros 
 Best power: Aaron Judge, Yankees 
 Best in the clutch: Andres Gimenez, Guardians 
 Best baserunner: Cedric Mullins II, Orioles 
 Most exciting: Shohei Ohtani, Angels 
 Best infielder: Alex Bregman, Astros 
 Best infield arm: Bobby Witt, Jr., Royals 
 Best outfielder: Daulton Varsho, Blue Jays 
 Best outfield arm: Nate Eaton, Royals 
 Best catcher: Jose Trevino, Yankees 
 Best catcher arm: Jorge Alfaro, Red Sox 
 Best starting pitcher: Jacob deGrom, Rangers 
 Best setup man: Wandy Peralta, Yankees 
 Best closer: Emmanuel Clase, Guardians 
 Rookie to watch: Anthony Volpe, Yankees 
 Best home uniforms: Tigers 
 Best stadium: T-Mobile Park, Mariners 
 Best mascot: Rally Monkey, Angels

spWEBAL2023

2023 MLB preview: American League forecast, power rankings and best-of

AL forecast, power rankings and best-of for 2023

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PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — For the first time since Pete Alonso’s rookie season four years ago, the Mets have a legitimate chance of adding a homegrown impact bat to their lineup this season. They just don’t know yet which one(s) it will be. 
 Their brink-of-the-majors prospect quartet of catcher Francisco Alvarez, third baseman Brett Baty, corner infielder Mark Vientos and shortstop Ronny Mauricio means major opportunities for potential in-house offensive improvement. You’ll be hearing a lot about some of them, maybe all of them, throughout the year. 
 So let’s focus on the next wave. Here are quick looks at another foursome, further away from the majors but maybe even better. All are likely to open the year in the lower minors. 
  &nbsp; 
 1. Kevin Parada, C&nbsp;(High-A Brooklyn) 
 Alvarez has been considered the Mets’ catcher of the future for years, but the 21-year-old Parada has a chance to make that interesting. He was their top draft pick last summer — 11th overall — after emerging as a prolific hitter and one of the best amateur backstops in the country at Georgia Tech. 
 Thought to be a bat-first, glove-way-second catcher, Parada surprised club officials during his stay in major-league spring training with vast improvement in all areas of his defense, including throwing and framing. 
 “He looks like he is going to be a well-above-average major-league defensive catcher, which is not the report that we got coming into the draft,” said Kevin Howard, director of player development. “We just thought he was an offensive-first guy, and he’s looking like he really can be just as good on defense as he is on offense.” 
  &nbsp; 
 2. Alex Ramirez, OF (Brooklyn) 
 So natural was Ramirez gliding across the grass during his several weeks working with the major-league staff in camp that Wayne Kirby, the Mets’ outfield coach, felt compelled to make the loftiest of comparisons: Ramirez’s fielding ability reminds him of Andruw Jones, a 10-time Gold Glover. 
 Kirby used words such as “graceful” and “all natural” in describing Ramirez, 20, who received a $2.05 million signing bonus in 2019. 
 “The defense that he plays in center is so natural, comes so easy to him and at such a young age — he’s got such great instincts out there,” Howard said. “He’s going to be an everyday centerfielder in the major leagues.” 
 Ramirez’s hitting isn’t as advanced. He batted .281 with a .782 OPS during a 2022 season split between Low-A St. Lucie and High-A Brooklyn. The Mets have high hopes for him once he smooths out his swing and grows into his stick-figure frame (6-3, 170 pounds officially). 
 As manager Buck Showalter put it, “He’s going to be a big man.” 
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 3. Jett Williams. SS&nbsp;(Low-A St. Lucie) 
 Parada and Williams get mentioned together a lot because the Mets selected Williams at No. 14 overall last summer, three picks after Parada. Williams isn’t quite as developed because he is younger and turned pro after high school — and will play the entire season at 19 — but draws praise for his maturity and strength. 
 “He’s about as strong and explosive as it gets for a kid his age. He’s not scared of any kind of work,” Howard said, adding of Williams’ approach at the plate: “He’s sound in his mechanics and he’s really, really consistent with his approach. He doesn’t let anybody get him outside of his approach no matter how he’s pitched. He doesn’t panic when he’s behind in the count.” 
  &nbsp; 
 4. Blade Tidwell, RHP&nbsp;(Brooklyn) 
 Probably the Mets’ best pitching prospect, with a front-of-the-rotation ceiling that the Mets haven’t seen any minor-leaguers fulfill in several years, Tidwell is positioned for a potentially quick climb through the minors. 
 “He’s going to be as fast as a riser gets as a starter in the minor leagues,” Howard said. 
 The key for Tidwell, who will turn 22 in June and was a second-round pick in the draft last year: Build on the fastball/slider combo that made him so attractive to the Mets coming out of the University of Tennessee. 
 His changeup “is actually looking really good,” according to Howard, and it helps that he can locate his pitches well and hold his mid-90s fastball velocity deep into games. 
 “He’s probably got as good a chance of being a [No.] 1 or a 2 [starter] as anybody in our system,” Howard said. “If he stays healthy, I think he’s going to be a high-end starter.”

SPBMPROSP230330

A look into Mets' future: 4 names that can be stars

TAMPA, Fla. — As the 2023 minor-league season gets underway, one player’s progress will be closely monitored by Yankees fans more than any other: Jasson Dominguez — aka “The Martian.” 
 Dominguez dazzled the fan base — and the Yankees themselves — throughout spring training, allowing both groups to dream about what is to come and how soon that will be. 
 But there is more in the system than just Dominguez, and 2023 won’t be only about the players showing up on the various lists put out by publications specializing in minor-leaguers (Dominguez, obviously, is featured prominently on all of those lists). What follows is a list of players to watch this season in the Yankees’ system, some of whom are closer to the majors than others:&nbsp; 
 1. Jasson Dominguez, CF 
 Did you expect the list to start with anyone else? Dominguez, 20, came into his first big-league camp with no chance of making the roster, but the switch-hitting centerfielder made quite the impression before being sent to minor-league camp. 
 Dominguez went 10-for-22 (.455) with four homers, nine RBIs and a 1.565 OPS in 11 Grapefruit League games. He also looked the part in centerfield, though some talent evaluators believe Dominguez ultimately will end up in one of the corner outfield spots. 
 Regardless, Dominguez, who jumped three levels of the system in 2022 and ended the season with Double-A Somerset, more than put himself on the club’s radar. 
 Dominguez, who played all of five regular-season games with Somerset, likely will start 2023 there and, with a good start, should be bound for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before summer. An appearance in the Bronx as a September call-up is a distinct possibility. 
 “Last year from spring on, he just continued to get better and better all season long,” Aaron Boone said after Dominguez was sent to minor-league camp. “I think he’s obviously carried that into spring. Kind of showed all of us that reason to be excited about what his future is.” 
 Boone’s message to the prospect? 
 “[His] first big-league camp went really well, he fit in really well. He performed really well,” Boone said. “Now the work doesn’t end. Make sure your focus is going down there and getting after it and continue to get a little bit better at all the small things. We all believe he can be impactful up here. It’s just continuing to gain experience.” &nbsp; 
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 2. Andres Chaparro, 1B/3B 
 You won’t find the righthanded-hitting Chaparro, 23, ranked terribly high on any “top prospects” lists, but make no mistake: The corner infielder is considered a legitimate prospect both inside and outside the Yankees’ organization. 
 Chaparro, an international signing out of Venezuela in 2015, has wowed talent evaluators with his bat at times during the last few years. His exit velocity on some balls coming off the bat has been in the neighborhood of 115 mph. 
 He started last season in rookie league ball and, by year’s end, was with Double-A Somerset, where he hit .289 with 19 homers and a .963 OPS in 64 games. He had a standout spring training offensively, hitting .321 (9-for-28) with four homers and a 1.174 OPS in 15 games. He is considered an average fielder at best, but Chaparro’s bat could put him on the periphery of the majors by season’s end, especially if the Yankees find themselves looking for some offensive pop. 
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 3. Yoendrys Gomez, P 
 The 23-year-old, signed out of Venezuela in 2016, gets mentioned often by rival scouts. The righthander had command issues in 2022 after his season started late (in June) after he recovered from surgery to repair a torn UCL. But he finished strong with Double-A Somerset, going 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA in four starts. Gomez struck out 19 and walked six in 16&nbsp;1⁄5 innings with Somerset and is likely to start there this season. 
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 4. Spencer Jones, OF 
 The lefty-swinging Jones, the Yankees’ first-round pick last year (25th overall), drew immediate comparisons to Aaron Judge because of his size — 6-7, 225 pounds. In limited spring training, Jones, 21, raised some eyebrows with his performance in the field and at the plate (4-for-12 in seven games). 
 After signing last summer, Jones played only three games in rookie ball in the Gulf Coast League before being sent to Low-A Tampa in the Florida State League, where he hit .325 (27-for-83) with three homers and a .905 OPS in 22 games.

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Jasson Dominguez and three more Yankees prospects that could be future stars

Four Yankees prospects that could be future stars

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Neil Best

Pitchers and batters have spent spring training adjusting to baseball’s new pitch-clock rhythm. But they are not the only ones who must acclimate. 
 Announcers, too, will encounter changes large and small. 
 For example: In a sport that traditionally has allowed for expansive commentary and storytelling, well, not so much anymore. That might not be a bad thing. 
 “The job has gotten more difficult over the last few years because of all the dead time in the game,” SNY’s Gary Cohen told Newsday. “I think we've had to work a lot harder to come up with fresh stuff. 
 “I think the new rules this year are going to change things considerably. We're not going to have as much spare time to gab. I think we're going to have to keep it a little tighter.” 
 Cohen said the rhythm of spring games reminds him of what it was like when he began on Mets radio in 1989. 
 He was anti-pitch clock until about five years ago, when he came to see the game was suffering because of its ever-slowing pace of play. 
 “Players have more information to process, so they took more time to think it through, whether it's the hitter or the pitcher,” Cohen said. “Now they're going to have to condense those thoughts and I think the game will be much better for it.” 
 The announcing booth will be right there with them. 
 “We won't be able to have some of the more lengthy conversations we've had in the past,” Cohen said. “We'll have to have those same conversations but maybe edit ourselves a little more.” 
 Howie Rose, the lead Mets radio announcer for WCBS-AM, told Newsday, “With the rules changes, it’s a matter of saying, OK, look, if I've got this story to tell I’m either going have to be more succinct than I might have been last year or don't tell it at all. Or just give a CliffsNotes version.” 
 Rose said the countdown of the pitch clock will be an added element for radio announcers to describe, since unlike on TV, fans cannot see it for themselves. 
 He said at times he has felt like Marv Albert as he counted down the clock. 
 “When you're calling the game, you're not only calling the play now, you're calling the cadence of the pitcher and hitter,” he said. “It requires a lot of concentration. 
 “But that concentration is something I'm delighted to utilize at the expense of something we don't have to do anymore, which is report those ridiculous changes pitch by pitch (for fielding shifts) . . . &nbsp;We don't have to deal with that nonsense anymore.” 
<h3> Gary, Keith and Ron to set a new mark </h3> 
 When Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling call their first regular-season game for SNY, they will set a new longevity mark for Mets announcing teams. 
 This will be the trio’s 18th season together, surpassing the 17 of the original group of Bob Murphy, Ralph Kiner and Lindsey Nelson. 
 “It’s incomprehensible,” Cohen said. “As somebody who grew up listening to Lindsey, Ralph and Bob and for whom that was the soundtrack of my summer and was the sound of Mets baseball for their first decade-and-three quarters, it's beyond belief that that's even possible. 
 “Those guys were in a class by themselves. They established what it meant to be a Mets broadcaster. They also handled all the radio and TV, just the three of them, which is phenomenal. To be even mentioned in the same breath is stunning to me, much less surpassing them.” 
<h3> Howie Rose hopes to mentor new partners </h3> 
 Howie Rose, 69, is older than the combined ages of his two new under-30 Mets radio partners, Keith Raad and Patrick McCarthy, which is fine with him. 
 Perhaps not the part about being old, but rather the part about having a chance to help young talent. 
 “I’m very much in the camp of fulfilling the obligation that I think everybody of my generation now in this business has, which is to pay it forward,” Rose said. “There are very few things I enjoy about this business any more than mentoring.” 
 Rose said he is proud of his former partner, Wayne Randazzo, who left for a TV job on Angels games. Now he will restart new partnerships from scratch. 
 “The challenge of seeing young broadcasters improve is one I absolutely love,” he said. “My only concerns about my job are doing it to the standard which I have to this point, and I want them to be ready in case such time comes where I can't anymore and it's time to walk away. So, yeah, that motivates me.” 
 Raad will be Rose’s primary partner, with McCarthy filling in for games Rose skips, mostly on road trips to the West. 
 “One thing I've told them is, don't judge yourself or analyze yourself daily,” Rose said. “Do it weekly or biweekly or even monthly, because you're going to sound better on May 1 than you do on April 1. 
 “It's just a fact of life the way this stuff works when you're breaking in. I'm excited as can be about the upside for both of them. I think they've got huge upside.”

Media

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Players aren't the only ones on the pitch clock. Announcers are, too. 

Announcers must adjust to pitch clock, too

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Chris Majkowski was leaving his mother’s house in Albertson on the morning of Aug. 7, 1993, when he heard an urgent question — and a warning. 
 “She says, ‘Where are you going? You better be back in time!’ ” he recalled. 
 Where Majkowski was going was to Shea Stadium, but only to set up his fill-in producer/engineer for that day’s Mets radio broadcast. 
 Per orders, he was back in time for his sister Lisa’s wedding and missed both ends of the Mets’ doubleheader split with the Pirates that day. 
 “That was one that was non-negotiable,” said his identical twin brother, Paul. 
 Chris has not missed working a regular-season or playoff game since — although in 2020 he did road games remotely at Citi Field under COVID-19 protocols. If you are scoring at home, that is a streak of 4,632 consecutive Mets broadcasts entering Opening Day. But that is only the start of his resume. 
 Add the Rangers, Knicks, Jets, Giants, St. John’s and more — to the tune of up to 275 to 280 game days a year — and it is likely that no one has witnessed more games involving New York-area teams over the past 30 years. 
 No wonder Gary Cohen, then working on Mets and St. John’s radio with Majkowski, in the late 1990s dubbed him “The Immortal.” The nickname, a tribute to his competence and reliability, stuck. And it has helped make him far better known than a typical radio engineer. 
 Chris said Paul, a partner at the Rivkin Radler law firm, has joked, “I could become a Supreme Court justice and you would still be the one with the cool job.” 
 Majkowski, 56, grew up in Albertson with Paul and their two older sisters, rooting for the Mets, Jets and Rangers. (Paul is an Islanders fans, so not all of their DNA is a match.) While a student at Herricks High School, he listened to “One on One,” a sports talk show on Fordham’s WFUV that featured future broadcasting stars such as Mike Breen and Michael Kay. Then he went to Fordham himself, with future Giants announcer Bob Papa as his first sports director. 
 Majkowski initially sought a career as an announcer, too, but about a year after graduating, he got a chance to try the production end and found he was good at it. He worked a variety of jobs around town that got him experience and visibility. Then, in 1993, WFAN installed a young engineer who was overmatched and gone within weeks. Fortunately for Majkowski, he already had made an impression. 
 When he went to Shea for an early- season game — “I’ll be honest, I stopped in for the free lunch,” he said — he ran into then-WFAN executive Eric Spitz. 
 “Spitzie put two and two together and said, ‘Hey, wait a minute; he can do it,’ ” Majkowski recalled. 
 He met with Cohen and Bob Murphy and got the job. His first game was May 7, 1993, a four-hit, 4-0 shutout of the Marlins by Dwight Gooden. 
 “Immediately, it was obvious he knew what he was doing,” Cohen said. “And he got along with Murph.” 
 Asked to describe his job, Majkowski said, “What does the engineer do? He gets them on the air, he keeps them on the air and he makes everybody as happy as they can possibly be.” 
 Both Cohen and current Mets radio voice Howie Rose say that understates his importance. 
 “He’s far more than just an engineer,” Cohen said. “He’s really the producer on the scene. He knows the game about as well as anybody. He has fantastic recall.” 
 Cohen added, “He’s had to juggle some personalities over the years. You know, me and Murph and Howie, we all have our curmudgeonly sides, and so does Maj, but he’s always been able to keep us all in line.” 
 Said Rose, “It’s a m&eacute;lange of factors that makes him as valuable as he is to us. For one thing, he loves baseball and he loves the Mets. So he’s invested in it.” 
 Rose called Majkowski’s streak “amazing.” 
 “We all come down with the occasional malady during the course of a year that as we get older, sanity dictates would require a day or two off,” Rose said. “But somehow he fights through it.” 
 While Majkowski has no shortage of friends, his schedule has limited his ability to socialize outside the sports world. 
 “When you say ‘social life,’ I’m not and I have never been married, so that helps,” he said, referring to the job demands. “But it can be a little bit of a roadblock to having a meaningful relationship at any point.” 
 Does that bother him? “Maybe at some point it did, but now that I’m this far in, it’s probably a little bit too late to start worrying about that,” he said. “Either that or I’ll call it quits and I’ll be a big hit at the retirement community.” 
 Majkowski’s favorite Mets teams are those from the late 1990s and 2000. His favorite moment? Robin Ventura’s “grand slam single” in the 1999 NLCS. 
 “I always felt most connected to those teams around then, 1998, ’99, 2000,” he said, recalling an era in which he and WFAN’s Ed Coleman might be out for a drink after a game and run into the likes of Al Leiter or John Franco. “That whole dynamic has changed over the years.” 
 On he goes, now with game No. 5,000 in sight, perhaps in 2024. 
 “He’s remarkably dedicated and good at what he does,” Rose said. “He’s a great guy to boot. If he were not in the booth, I would feel lost.”

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4,632 games in a row, Chris Majkowski remains all wired in as Mets radio booth engineer

Mets radio booth engineer's job: He's all wired in

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Burger-naming rights presumably were not included in Aaron Judge’s new nine-year, $360-million contract with the Yankees. But feel free to draw your own conclusion about the “99 Burger” that will be served at the Stadium this season. 
 “I think there was definitely some inspiration,” senior executive chef Matt Gibson told Newsday on Wednesday at an event to introduce the new offering. “He hits home runs, and I think this burger is a home run, to be honest with you.” 
 Fans will decide that, but only 99 burgers’ worth per game. As part of the marketing of the Judge-inspired meal, the Yankees will severely limit the number available, complete with a deli-style counter that will start at 99 and tick down from there. 
 “Maybe there’s going to be the 100th fan in line and they’re not going to get one, and potentially they might be first in line the next game,” Gibson said. “We just wanted to see how it worked and we thought it would be fun.” 
 The “99 Burger” will be priced at $19.99, in keeping with the theme. 
 The “99” features two smashed 4-oz. American Wagyu beef patties, “New School Quality American” cheese – which does not resemble your childhood Kraft patties – “secret sauce,” caramelized onions and pickles on a brioche bun. 
 “You’re going to eat this and you’re going to walk away happy,” Gibson said. “But you should be able to eat dinner or your next meal. You’re not going to get a bumper sticker or a free T-shirt for finishing this. We’re excited for it.” 
 Gibson takes burgers seriously. So much so that he has a tattoo on his arm of an “In-N-Out Burger” cheeseburger, an homage to the famed West Coast chain that he grew up with. 
 “We’re only making 99 so we can make sure we keep them fresh,” he said. “As soon as you order, we make the burger, so it’s not sitting in a window. It cooks very quick because it’s a smash patty. We’re hoping to make a splash with it.” 
 The Judge-ian burger is one of a number of new food items this season, including cheesy garlic bread from Christian Petroni, a Food Network star who takes his Bronx roots so seriously he has “The Bronx” tattooed inside his lower lip. 
 Petroni said he has been “crying for three weeks straight” simply driving to the Stadium to train the food preparation team. 
 “I can’t believe this is even real life,” he said. 
 Adding to Petroni’s pinch-me vibe was that he was standing next to celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson, whose “Streetbird” is a returning provider of Stadium food. 
 Said Petroni, “To even be in the same room as someone like Chef [Samuelsson]&nbsp;is a big deal for me.” 
 The “99 Burger” and everything else sampled at Wednesday’s media event will be available for purchase to any Yankee Stadium ticketholder.

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Take a bow, Aaron Judge: Nothing wimpy about '99 Burger' at Stadium

Take a bow, Judge: Nothing wimpy about '99 Burger' at Stadium

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No, the new centerfield scoreboard at Citi Field cannot be seen from space, according to Mets officials interviewed by Newsday on Thursday. 
 As far as we know. 
 “It’s big, it’s definitely big, maybe not that big,” Oscar Fernandez, vice president of technology solutions, said after a hearty laugh. 
 Andy Goldberg, the team’s chief marketing officer, added, “Oh, god, no. But it’s big.” 
 “Big” does not quite capture the bigness of it. 
 It is the biggest in Major League Baseball at 17,400 square feet — three times the size of the pretty big old one, which totaled 5,300 — and uses 19 million LEDs. 
 Throw in its sister videoboard in rightfield and they combine for 21,500 square feet of display area. Add up the entire stadium, and it features 40 million LEDs. 
 The main board, 2&frac12; years in the planning, was the featured attraction of the annual “What’s New at Citi Field” media event. Well, that and a culinary extravaganza showcasing new and returning food items. 
 But back to the scoreboard . . . The key to it, said Fernandez and Sean Olsen, VP of technology infrastructure, is not only size but flexibility. 
 In the past, there were static elements that limited options. Now the entire board is digitized and can be sliced and diced in any fashion operators desire. 
 It also can show a single image to properly chronicle important moments, as stadium workers demonstrated. 
 “It’s why bigger was better, because you’re creating that moment of domination for a fan,” Fernandez said. 
 Said Olsen, “Whether you’re sitting in the upper decks or you’re sitting down in the field level, the view is just amazing. You’re not going to miss anything.” 
 In addition to its functionality, the centerfield board is an example of how teams add new elements each season for their entertainment value alone. 
 “People who come here, they want to see something new,” Goldberg said. “They want to be amazed. People love watching the baseball, but there are other things to do at the ballpark. Let’s entertain them. Let’s have fun. 
 “A guy once told me who runs a summer camp, ‘If I don’t have a new thing every year for the kids, they’re not coming back.’ Let’s have a new thing every year.” 
 Mets owner Steve Cohen even weighed in on the size of the board, writing on Twitter, “The scoreboard is incredibly large and crystal clear. I believe Lindor and Alonso will watch it instead of the pitcher to hit.” 
 The Mets have added new areas for casual mingling — a must in modern facilities — and a super-premium, field-level speakeasy, “The Cadillac Club at Payson’s,” in rightfield. 
 On the other end of the pricing scale, they plan to offer $15 tickets to college students, details of which have not been announced yet. 
 “Kudos to our ticketing department to understand that our fan base spans a broad swath,” Goldberg said. “It should be fun [for college students]; it should be a party for them. 
 “And there’s a group that wants that luxury experience. We have to offer that to them, especially in the New York area. That area is going to be spectacular.” 
 The Mets Hall of Fame &amp; Museum is featuring the 1973 National League pennant-winning team on its 50th anniversary. 
 Goldberg said he does not expect the new pitch clock — and with it presumably shorter games — will hurt concession sales. 
 “The way people eat and drink, they do it in the same fashion,” he said. “The pitch clock won’t change anything. By 9:30, people are done.”

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Mets unveil new scoreboard, MLB's largest, at Citi Field

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Newsday's 2023 MLB preview

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