Back to School

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Ah yes, the first day back at school. What a nightmare. You read during the summer, but none of the material you were actually assigned to read. Your friends secretly glowed up and will no longer have time for you. God help you if you don’t wear clothes on day one that aren’t cool. Yeesh. 

Where was I? Oh yes, yesterday was the mandatory day that Mets pitchers and catchers had to report to camp in Port St. Lucie, Florida. (It’s also where some position players score brownie points by showing up early.) It’s now a Met tradition (i.e. they did it last year too) to have players fill out those first day back at school blackboards, a form of infantilization that gets sweet, glorious engagement on social media. Those blackboards didn’t exist when I was a wee lad, but I have a niece and nephew so I knew of their existence before the Mets got a hold of it, so I know the prompts are a little different than the genuine products. It still provided plenty of questions. 

The Mets posted 20 players and their filled-out boards to their Instagram. They were asked to fill out their name, then which number season they were beginning to play, their position, their hometown, their hobby, who they heart, and finally, their favorite artist. You would think some of those categories would be closer to self-explanatory than others. You would think wrong.

Let’s start with their names. 18 out of the 20 Mets wrote their first and last name without thinking twice about it. There were two exceptions. One was grizzled veteran Craig Kimbrel, who simply wrote “Kimbrel” under “name”. The other was another reliever, the much younger Austin Warren, who simply wrote “Austin”. One can argue Warren bravely stayed in character within the exercise - kids too only write their first names on their boards. Kudos to Austin for getting the bit right.

Then there was the season number. There were two headscratchers. Clay Holmes wrote that it was his 15th season. This is somehow true, if you go by professional years - the 32-year-old was drafted in 2011 and began his minor league journey in 2012. But everyone else went by years in The Show, so people got confused and thought Holmes was revealing himself to be in his fifties with Paul Rudd’s skincase routine. Mark Vientos had an even curiouser answer. He claimed 2026 was his third MLB year. It’s actually his fifth - he debuted in 2022. I’m guessing Swaggy V doesn’t want to remember his first two seasons in The Show. As far as he’s concerned, his career didn’t start until his breakout 2024 campaign. I can’t exactly blame him, but why stop there? Why not erase 2025 too? Why not write that it’s year two? 

Let’s skip to hobbies. Sean Manaea wrote “Nerd things, photography”, as if that isn’t redundant (a joke). Four players wrote “golf” - Holmes, A.J. Minter, Luke Weaver, and Nate Lavender. Weaver didn’t just write “golf” though. He wrote “golf + creative thinking”, which I suppose is a creative answer. Knowing Weaver’s sarcastic personality, I’m guessing he was taking the piss. Vientos simply wrote “creative” as a hobby. Was he influenced by Weaver but didn’t want to completely copy his answer? Was Weaver making fun of Vientos? Video games was as popular as golf. Nolan McLean, Jack Wenninger, and Carson Benge all wrote that as their hobby. Ronny Mauricio wrote “Playstation.” PS5? Christian Scott wrote “chess”, which I’m guessing solicited the reaction Weaver and Vientos were looking to get for with their “creative” nonsense - Look at the brain on Christian… 

Jacob Reimer wrote “eating”, while Ryan Lambert wrote “cooking.” One can only hope that those two prospects are roommates. Jonah Tong wrote “Maple syrup enthusiast”. I assume this is part of a running bit he’s doing where he swears maple syrup goes with a grilled cheese.

The most popular person that Met players heart, or love, was their wives. Minter wrote “wifey”. McLean wrote “My dog waffles (and my wife)”. That’s a pretty brave joke to make, Nolan. Vientos was the only one who specifically wrote “my mom” (aw.) Tong wrote “Jack Wenninger.” Wenninger wrote “Jonah Tong.” Benge wrote “Bear”, which I assume is the name of a pet dog? Alex Carrillo and Reimer wrote “food”, while Lambert said “steak” and Freddy Peralta went with “eating.” 

As far as favorite artist was concerned, Bad Bunny (Luis Torrens, Mauricio) and Morgan Wallen (Warren, Lavender) tied for the most mentions with two each. Carrillo left that section blank - is he one of those weirdos who isn’t into music? The most intriguing answer to me was Swaggy V’s selection of Rüfüs Du Sol, an Australian alternative dance group. That tracks, actually. (And it’s certainly creative.)

Francisco Lindor underwent surgery on his left hand to remove the hamate bone yesterday. As mentioned before, the recovery time is almost always six weeks. Opening Day is…six weeks from today. However, it’s worth noting that the Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson and the Diamondbacks’ Corbin Carroll also need their hamates removed, and their respective teams aren’t expecting their guys to make it back in time for Game 1 of 162. 

If Lindor can post up for Opening Day, Carlos Mendoza said he’s leaning towards hitting Francisco at leadoff, followed by Juan Soto, and then Bo Bichette. The manager wouldn’t flat out say Jorge Polanco would hit cleanup, but he probably will.

Kodai Senga spoke to the media. When asked what his goal is for 2026, he said it was to “not get injured.” He acknowledged losing some confidence last season before saying “at this point, you either do it or you don't. I'm here to do it." ​​Senga told club officials during the offseason he wanted to remain with the Mets. And he did.

Scott Boras revealed that his clients Luis Robert Jr. and Juan Soto worked out this offseason at Boras’ facilities. "He has two things that he didn't have in Chicago,” Boras said of Robert, “he's got the presence of a superstar to rely on, and he has a chance to win every day. Those are the kind of things that invigorate players - it's going to allow him to have an extraordinary year, because he's a great talent." That’d be nice!

Yesterday I forgot to mention Brett Baty as one of the right field options for the Mets this year. Quite an omission. 

White Sox GM Chris Getz has misidentified old chum Luisangel Acuña as a switch-hitter four times. Did David Stearns lie to him and say that he was? There’s a non-zero possibility that he did. 

Jack Wenninger participated in a Reddit AMA. His bestie Jonah Tong will do so this afternoon.

Old chum Zack Wheeler kept his removed rib from his thoracic outlet surgery. It’s sitting in a closet in his house. The Phillies are weird man. I wonder what Matt Harvey did with his rib. Sell it for Yankee gear? I kid I kid.

The original airing of the Seinfeld episode of “The Boyfriend” starring Keith Hernandez debuted on this day in 1992.

Ten years ago today, Jenrry Mejía was “permanently” suspended from MLB after testing positive for PEDs for the third time.