1. Adrian Houser turns 31 today!
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2. Jason Vargas turns 41 today! Drafted by the Marlins in 2004, he was traded to the Mets in 2006 and then, after a brief time with the Mets, got traded in December 2008 to Seattle in a complex three-team trade. Endy Chavez, Aaron Heilman, Sean Green, JJ Putz, and other swapped places. Vargas then went to the Angels and later the Royals before coming back to the Mets for 2018 and 2019, when he and then-manager Mickey Callaway lashed out at Newsday reporter Tim Healey. He finished his MLB career with the Phillies after a trade for catcher Austin Bossart who never made it past AA.
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3. Melvin Mora turns 52 today. Signed as a free agent in 1998, Mora made his MLB debut with the Mets in 1999. He scored the winning run in game 162 against ex-Met Brad Clontz. 1999 was good times. Good times.
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[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWdb-53aF4k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWdb-53aF4k)
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Fast forward to the playoffs. Game four of the NLCS against the Braves at Shea Stadium, bottom of the eighth and Atlanta was up 2-1. The Mets had Roger Cedeno at first and Bobby Cox brings in his closer, the lefty John Rocker and Ozzie Guillen replacing Walt Weiss (this will become important) to face lefty John Olerud to get a four out save. Melvin Mora walks and then Mora and Cedeno steal second and third. Olerud hits a weak grounder which gets past Guillen, two runners score and the Mets rally from behind to win game four.
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[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVas9AN7y2Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVas9AN7y2Y)
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Melvin Mora hit .429/.500/.643 in the 1999 NLCS, which was the last time in his career he was in the playoffs. In 2000, Rey Ordoñez broke his arm and Melvin Mora was traded with Pat Gorman, Leslie Brea and Mike Kinkade to the Baltimore Orioles for Mike Bordick on July 28th. He played the next 10 years with Baltimore, won a Silver Slugger in 2004, and played for the Rockies in 2010 and ended his MLB career with the Diamondbacks in 2011.
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Feel free to discuss whatever you want in this thread.
3 comments
My hope is that if he’s hitting well by July, the Mets will lock Alvarez up long term. If the free agents don’t want to come here, show the guys on the roster that we take care of our own.
It’s February 2nd.
Realistically, do the Mets make another acquisition?
Acquisition defined as a trade or major/minor league signing.
I’m not asking who you want the Mets to sign or trade for (but feel free to discuss if you want), I’m only asking if you think the Mets will make any more acquisitions between now and pitchers/catchers.
My son, who I cursed by making him a Met fan, attended, through his wife’s job, the Braves Gala. All the players and their wives at a big fancy party together. My son spotted Luis Guillome sitting all by himself (“Nobody knows me here”) so he took advantage to have a long conversation with him. He said he really felt the affection of the fans and, yes, everyone he met asked about catching the bat. Strangely though, he said he was very unhappy in NY and asked to be traded 3 times. He declined to elaborate on his unhappiness but did say that he got a house with a yard in Georgia for what he was paying for an 800 square foot apt in NY