The Mets get ready for the exhibition schedule to begin

The New York Mets will play an intrasquad game on Tuesday and begin their exhibition schedule on Wednesday.  Matt Harvey threw live BP on Monday and there was a lot of talk about that.  David Wright brought a fan down for a lesson on the field, that was pretty cool for the kid.  Sandy Alderson spoke and here are some highlights of what he had to say. 

The Mets could realistically win up to 89 games this season and that is without everyone having great seasons.  Alderson said that Harvey will have a normal spring and start the season as the team planned.  Wilmer Flores will have every oppurtunity to win the starting job at SS but Alderson said there are a few guys in camp who could challenge him. 

The Mets had conversations with the Phillies about trading for SS Jimmy Rollins but couldn't get a deal done.  Rollins just said over the weekend that the Mets were his second choice behind the Dodgers where he ended up.  Alderson said trades during spring training are tough but he will keep all of his options open. 

The Mets are working to limit Juan Lagares throwing this spring, in an effort to monitor the strained elbow that ended his season early last year.  Harvey threw 26 pitches to four batters on Monday.  The four batters were Curtis Granderson, Michael Cuddyer, Wright and Daniel Murphy.  Harvey later announced that he can now throw a curveball.  Harvey said he is ready to face the Tigers on Friday and will throw 35-40 pitches in the game. 

It will be more interesting now as the games are about to begin.  The Mets though will get a intrasquad game out of the way first on Tuesday before starting the games on Wednesday.  harvey wil be a big story on Friday when he gets into his first game action since his Tommy John Surgery.   

The New York Yankees become very active on a Friday

The New York Yankees had completed a minor trade and made a couple of small signing so far this off-season.  Well with all the fanbase and media kind of waiting and yelling for the Yankees to do something they woke up on a Friday.  The Yankees made a three team trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Detroit Tigers to land their shortstop and they also signed the top reliever on the market in Andrew Miller.  David Robertson who is their own closer and the top one on the board no doubt but Miller had a better year last year as a setup man.  The Yankees aren't out on Robertson yet though even though it would seem that way. 

I will start with the three way trade first.  The Yankees acquired Didi Gregorius who is 24 years old and under team control until 2020 and making around 500,000.  They gave up Shane Greene who went to the Detroit Tigers and the Tigers traded a pitcher to the Diamondbacks.  Gregorius is known for his glove which is plus but not so much for his hitting.  He does have some pop and should be able to hit 10+ homeruns with the short porch in Yankee Stadium.  He has a very high hard hit ball rate which would indicate his average last year was some bad luck.  He also may have needed a change of scenery  with the Diamondbacks not playing him every day as they had some other good shortstop prospects.  He may sit against some tough lefties early on but could end up as the full time shortstop very quickly.  Brendan Ryan is the backup and he could see some time against lefties but we will see. 

Andrew Miller has been dominant in the bullpen over the last three years.  He was a big prospect who signed with the Detroit Tigers but was a failed starter.  He is basically the left handed version of Dellin Betances and that is pretty scary stuff.  The Yankees are still talking to their closer David Robertson but if they do lose him they would have Miller and Betances for the last 6-9 outs and they still have Shawn Kelley, Justin Wilson and Adam Warren if he isn't in the rotation.  Jacob Lindgren is a lefty prospect who they also love who could be pitching in the majors this year also.  If the Yankees do sign Robertson though also they will have a super pen with he, Miller and Betances to lock down the final three or four innings.  It appears the Yankees strategy this winter is run prevention and they see that by getting better defensively at short and also by pitching especially in the bullpen.  The Yankees figure that if they are going to get better offensively it will be by the players they signed last year in Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran and also from Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez and a full year of Martin Prado.  They also are very high on prospects Jose Pirela and Rob Refsnyer who could be competing for the starting second base job.