The Mets Police

Keep crows off your farm with this Mets Scarecrow*

 

* note this is ineffective against crows who are fans of the San Diego Padres. They will take over your farm, but that’s ok, you were cold and had to work the next day and besides the fun was out of it once the Braves won the division.

Yeah sure Coat Drive – but what are the Mets up to?  “Due to off-season construction at Citi Field, Seaver Way is closed to vehicles.”

 

 As part of their MetsGiving initiatives, the Mets are teaming up with New York Cares for the 17th Annual Mets Coat Drive  on December 6 in the Mets Team Store at K Korner at Citi Field from 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Mets personnel and Mr. Met along with New York Cares volunteers will collect coat donations to keep those in need warm during the cold winter months in New York. Fans bringing a new or gently used winter coat will receive a voucher redeemable for two tickets to a select Mets home game in 2024 (excluding Opening Day and the Subway Series).

From 12 p.m. – 3 p.m., there will be a special appearance from the Coca-Cola Holiday Caravan in Lot A. Fans will have the opportunity to take pictures with Santa and the truck’s holiday lights, receive a free can of Coke Zero Sugar, and more.

Due to off-season construction at Citi Field, Seaver Way is closed to vehicles. Free parking for the Food Drive will be available in Lot A. Lot A can be accessed by traveling to the intersection of Shea Road and Boat Basin Place, proceeding south towards Gate 8. Just before the gate, turn left and approach the guard booth where you will be directed to park in Lot A.

For fans taking public transportation, the Seaver Way sidewalk will remain open to pedestrians. Fans coming off the subway may walk through Lot G and along Seaver Way sidewalk to access the K Korner.

Mets owners Steve and Alex Cohen want you to know The New York Mets today announced several additions to the team’s front office.  Renew your season tickets asap!

 

METS ANNOUNCE FRONT OFFICE ADDITIONS

FLUSHING, N.Y., November 30, 2023 – The New York Mets today announced several additions to the team’s front office. Eduardo Brizuela has been named as vice president & special assistant to the president of baseball operations. Andy Green has been brought on as the senior vice president, player development. Kris Gross will serve as vice president, amateur scouting.

“The additions of Eduardo, Andy and Kris will bolster an already talented staff,” said Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns. “Each of these individuals bring valuable experience and perspective to Queens. We are excited to get to work on building an organization with the goal of a sustainable winning culture.”

Brizuela will assist and advise in areas including player development, roster management and construction, player acquisition and the day-to-day activity of the major league team. He spent the previous 15 years in the Milwaukee Brewers organization, originally joining as an advance scouting intern in 2009. From there he moved on to the roles of coordinator of administration for Latin America operations (2010-12), director of Latin America operations/scouting (2013-15), assistant farm director in (2016-19), director of minor league operations (2019), senior director of minor league and player operations (2020) and vice president and special assistant to the general manager/baseball operations (2021-23).

Since 2019, Brizuela has supported the Venezuelan Baseball Federation and in 2023 he served as general manager for the country’s World Baseball Classic team. During his tenure with Venezuela, he has been responsible for building the rosters, staff and work teams for the WBC, Premier 12 and U23 teams. In 2021, Venezuela clinched its first world championship in more than 60 years by winning the 2021 U23 World Cup in Mexico.

Prior to joining the Brewers, Brizuela served as an assistant coach for Polk Community College (2007-08). In 2008, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business management from Webber International University. Eduardo, his wife, Yelixa, and their three sons, David, Luca and Alec, reside in Santo Domingo, D.R.

Green will oversee the Mets player development apparatus. The Lexington, KY native has spent the previous 13 seasons as a coach or manager, most recently as the bench coach for the Chicago Cubs from 2020-23. From 2016-19, he managed the San Diego Padres, guiding the club to a 274-366 (.428) record. Green was in the Diamondbacks organization from 2011-15, managing in the minors and serving as the major league third base coach in his final season.

Green was originally drafted by the Diamondbacks in the 24th round of the 2000 First-Year Player Draft. He played parts of four major league seasons with the Diamondbacks (2004-06) and Mets (2009). The infielder graduated from the University of Kentucky with a Finance degree where he earned First-Team GTE Academic All-American honors as a senior.

Gross spent the previous 11 seasons with the Houston Astros organization including the last four as the team’s director of amateur scouting. He originally joined the club as the west coast supervisor in 2012. He worked as the national supervisor (2016-17) and the domestic scouting supervisor (2018-19). During his time on the Astros scouting staff, the club produced more major league players (58) via the draft than any other organization.

The Lee’s Summit, MO native played three seasons in the Cubs minor league system (2003-05), making 70 relief appearances at the rookie level and Class-A levels. Following his playing career, he joined the St. Louis Cardinals front office in 2008 and eventually served as the club’s upper Midwest area supervisor for three seasons (2010-12). Gross holds a B.A. in Business from the University of New Mexico where he was a four-year varsity letter winner for the Lobos baseball team. He currently resides in Houston with his wife Blair, and two children, Landry and Charlie.

The Queens Eagle covered a meeting about The Casino.  I will comment as we go along.

Gathered inside a gymnasium in Corona, supporters of the casino plan, dubbed “Metropolitan Park,” stood on one side of the room, while those opposed to it stood on the other. Each side took turns speaking – supporters explained the benefits they want to see and believe they will get out of the $8 billion project, while opponents described an alternative future, one where the 50-acres of parking spaces outside of the stadium are turned into a park, a hospital or housing.

Hey, a hospital.  Now that’s something that would improve the community.  Surely, Steve and Alex Cohen, the Mets owners who have generously donated to other hospitals couldn’t possible be against that.  Well, except the land is parkland.

Standing in the middle was State Senator Jessica Ramos, who holds enormous power over Cohen’s ability to build the casino and entertainment complex in the corner of Northwest Queens.

Though all talk of bringing a casino to Citi Field will be made moot if the state’s Gaming Commission doesn’t grant Cohen one of its three downstate casino licenses, should Cohen get the state’s go-ahead, Ramos will prove to be his next obstacle.

The lot Cohen wants to build the casino on is technically designated as parkland,

Let me jump in.  It’s not technically parkland.  It is parkland.

….and Ramos would have to introduce a bill in the legislature that specifically allows for the billionaire Mets owner’s plans to move forward on the land, which is owned by the city but is in the first decade of a 99-year lease to the Mets. Though her counterpart in the Assembly, Jeffrion Aubry, introduced such a bill – known as a parkland alienation bill – earlier in the year, Ramos said in May that her’s wouldn’t come until at least next year’s legislative session, if at all.

 

Unlike the first town hall where around two-thirds of attendees said they didn’t want a casino, around two-thirds of the approximately 200 attendees at Monday’s town hall appeared to be in support of the plan. Those numbers were boosted by members of several labor unions who had come to the event to advocate that the casino and the surrounding entertainment complex be built with union labor, should it move forward.

Some of those who were opposed to the plan, a number of whom were associated with local environmental groups, anti-displacement groups and community groups, said they felt as though they were put at a disadvantage by the entire concept of the town hall.

“It just feels like a very uphill battle, having [Ramos] already framed it as, ‘Hey, all of you on the other side here, what can you do with the billions that we’ll get from this?’ And then looking at us saying, ‘Hey, what can you propose to us as an alternative to this billionaire’s plan?’” said Tenzing Parama, who lives in neighboring Flushing. “It’s a bit disheartening.”

But some on Parama’s side of the room did come with a proposal they say would serve the community better than a casino – a park.

Hey imagine that idea.  We could build a park.   Surely, Steve and Alex Cohen can’t be against that!

The FED UP Coalition, a group that formed in 2019 in opposition to the plan to rezone Downtown Flushing’s waterfront, presented what they’ve dubbed “Phoenix Meadows,” a proposal to turn the parking lots into parkland.

The group released the plan earlier this month but Ramos said she had yet to see the proposal.

“If it’s a good idea, then hopefully other neighbors may or may not agree – and this is the place for that discussion,” she said.

 

Man, if Matt Harvey went to a Rangers game instead of working out and studying  game films, you guys would be mad at him!

Pete also recently goofed off at a parade when he could have been researching scouting reports on the opposing pitchers for next season.