NEW YORK — All offseason long, most of the talk and banter surrounding the New York Mets was about what the ball-club potentially planned to do at the designated hitter spot. Find a useful bat from within their current big-league club, or in their farm-system? Or go out in free agency and sign a DH?
Despite his insistence on using the designated hitter as a rotation spot in the lineup for his current roster of players to get at-bats, with Mark Vientos being the primary beneficiary, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns reversed himself last Thursday by signing veteran slugger J.D. Martinez to handle those duties.
The designated hitter position has long been a vexing problem for the Mets as they have gotten little production from it. The DH has traditionally been for players who can hit but have defensive liabilities. Former Mets Dominic Smith and Daniel Vogelbach were DH underachievers. J.D. Martinez is a vast upgrade based on his track record.
J.D. Martinez, recipient of 2018 American League LatinoMVP award – Image Credit: Emma Sharon/Latino Sports
It was reported Martinez turned down a more lucrative contract from the San Francisco Giants to sign instead with the Mets for a contract which everyone is describing as team friendly. Martinez’s agent, Scott Boras, is famous for getting top dollar for his clients, and demanding they accept the best offer he receives.
So why didn’t Boras insist on Martinez playing for the Giants? Boras is being strategic. Martinez’s presence in the lineup should boost the offensive statistics of Mets first baseman Pete Alonso, as every Mets fan knows, will be a free agent at the end of the 2024 season. Alonso’s agent is, you guessed it, Scott Boras. Big contracts net agents big commissions.
Mega-agent Scott Boras – Image Credit: MLB
Citi Field is turning fifteen years old, so Mets CEO Steve Cohen decided it was time to spruce things up. The Mets have refurbished the ground level concourse, the first base Hodges Gate entrance, and have expanded the Delta 360 lounge behind home plate to resemble a luxury hotel VIP concierge club for high-roller customers.
As part of the renovation, the Mets have relocated the team’s Hall of Fame to behind the outfield seats near Shake Shack. The Hall of Fame plaques, however, can be found by the top of the Jackie Robinson Rotunda escalator.
The Mets Team Store has more than doubled its size by expanding into the space which formerly housed the Hall of Fame. This provides more room for all kinds of Mets merchandise, and of course, more revenue opportunities. When I asked some Mets business officials if they would stock the store with visiting teams’ paraphernalia, especially for the Subway Series, and the NJ Turnpike rivalry with the Philadelphia Phillies, the reaction was surprising. The Mets were willing, but Major League Baseball officials frowned upon the concept.
Outside of Citi Field – Image Credit: Henry Ordosgoitia (Henry O.)/Latino Sports
USA Today has cited Citi Field for having the best stadium food two years running. The Mets will continue their program of introducing fans to the cuisine of mom-and -pop restaurants as part of their Taste of Queens program. Glendale’s Benny’s Cuban Café, Poprice (a Fresh Meadows Korean restaurant, and Jamaica’s RyRy’s Kitchen (serving Caribbean favorites) are this year’s trio. Bon appetit!
Citi Bike stations installed at Citi Field
The Mets, Citigroup, and the New York City Department of Transportation held a press conference outside Citi Field last Thursday to announce there would be one hundred Citi Bike docking stations located between the Jackie Robinson Rotunda and the Seaver Gate.
Everyone on the dais stressed the importance of bike riding as being beneficial for both one’s health and the environment. I agree with that sentiment. It is why I am hoping the Mets will also install bike racks so customers who have their own bicycles can pedal to the ballpark and leave their bikes outside.
Fun at Citi Field outside of Baseball
Aside from baseball, Citi Field will be hosting two major concerts this summer, one with Journey as the headliner, and the other with Green Day at the top of the bill. Major League Soccer’s New York City Football Club, who hope to be playing their home games across 126th Street from Citi Field in the near future, will be having six matches at the Mets’ home in 2024.
NYCFC in 2022 regular season contest at Citi Field – Image Credit: Latino Sports
Getting back to food, on September 28th Citi Field will host New York Bagelfest.
No High School Basketball Championship game for Public School Athletic League?
The Public School Athletic League boys high school basketball championship game between Brooklyn’s South Shore High School and the Bronx’s Eagle Academy, which was scheduled to be played last week at St. John’s University’s Carnesecca Arena, was cancelled when it was learned South Shore had a player on its roster who was past the ceiling age cutoff of eighteen. There were numerous high schools in the 2024 PSAL playoffs who had to forfeit games because of either age, or academic ineligibility, regulations.
The New York Post did an excellent job reporting on the PSAL scandals, but they went largely unreported by the local media. This was not surprising since high school sports get scant attention here. PSAL officials, to the best of my knowledge, have never sought out media coverage, even in good times. I have always found their philosophy to be “no news is good news.”
If this kind of scandal had occurred in the Philadelphia Public League, it would have been a front page story of the Inquirer, and also would have been the lead item of every television newscast in the Delaware Valley.
Wally Szczerbiak blasts NCAA for Selection Sunday decisions
It was gutsy of former NBA star, and MSG Networks Knicks studio analyst, Wally Szczerbiak, who was on loan to CBS for March Madness, to criticize the NCAA for putting the University of Virginia in the Big Dance ahead of St. John’s and a few other schools, after the Cavaliers were run off of the court by the Colorado State Buffaloes.
University of Virginia suffers First Four loss to Colorado State – Image Credit: NCAA
Virginia scored a paltry fourteen points in the first half to make them a subject of ridicule. I wonder if NCAA officials called CBS Sports CEO Sean McManus to whine about his on-air candor.
Update on the Brooklyn Nets (26-45)
I am not sure if the NBA maintains this statistic, but I wonder how many games the Brooklyn Nets have been trailing an opponent by at least twenty points in a game at some juncture this year.
John Cena goes nude on stage for Academy Awards presentation
That was very gutsy of wrestling star John Cena to go out practically nude on the stage of the Dolby Theater in LA as part of this year’s Academy Awards presentation. The always-game Cena was part of a bit with host Jimmy Kimmel to pay tribute to the 50th anniversary of the late Robert Opel streaking on the Academy Awards stage as David Niven was presenting an Oscar. Wearing only a flesh-colored thong which was covered by an oversized envelope, Cena presented the Oscar for Best Costume Design.
50 years on New York airwaves for Chuck Scarborough and Jim Kerr
Congratulations to WNBC news anchor Chuck Scarborough, and morning radio legend Jim Kerr, who are both celebrating fifty years on the New York airwaves.
You can read more of Lloyd Carroll’s columns posted weekly on The Queens Chronicle.
