Mets acquire Young Jr., send McHugh to Rockies

The Mets have acquired outfielder Eric Young Jr. from the Rockies in exchange for pitcher Collin McHugh. 

"I'm excited to now be a part of the Mets family" Young said in a tweet after the trade was announced. "I can't wait to meet/play with my new teammates, and play in NY!"

Both McHugh and Young Jr. were designated by their respective teams last week. 

Young, 28, hit .242 in 57 games with the Rockies this year. He served primarily as an outfielder, but has experience at second base as well.

McHugh appeared in three games (one start)  for the Mets this season, posting a 10.29 ERA in 7.0 innings. He spent most of the year with Triple-A Las Vegas. He was 3-2 with a 2.87 ERA in 9 starts.

Young Jr. has been on the Mets' radar for quite some time now, and the team has finally snagged him. Of-course, he won't turn this franchise around, but it is nice to see Sandy Alderson making a decent move. Young is very versatile, and is dangerous on the base-paths. He should give the Mets the speed that they've been lacking. I'm confident that he will get a great deal of opportunity to prove himself here in New York. 

As for McHugh, he just never proved himself at the Major League level. After being a semi-hyped up prospect coming up, Mets fans quickly gave up on him once they realized he was going to be nothing more than a No. 5 pitcher. Going to the Rockies may hurt his numbers due to the hitter-friendly confines of Coors Field, but I wish him the best of luck.

Mets promote Brown, DFA Cowgill

The Mets have promoted outfielder Andrew Brown to the roster from Triple-A Las Vegas. Collin Cowgill has been designated for assignment in a corresponding move. 

Brown hit .349 with 7 home runs and 41 RBI with Triple-A Las Vegas in 2013, and appeared in six games for the Mets earlier in the season.

Cowgill, acquired by the Mets over the winter from the Athletics, hit a mere .180 in 61 at-bats with the club while playing mostly center-field. 

Cowgill got off to a fast start on the season, but quickly cooled down. I had high hopes for him when the team acquired him from the Athletics over the winter. His aggressive style of play reminded me, and others, and Lenny Dykstra. Cowgill definitely showed flashes of that spark at times, but didn't really get a great opportunity to play here. Giving a guy 61 at-bats to prove himself is not fair at all, and I have a feeling that a team will claim Cowgill and utilize him to his full potential.

As for Brown, he is basically the definition of a "Quadruple-A" player. When he signed with the Mets over the winter, I didn't really know what to expect because he didn't have much major league experience. His .346/.432/.660 line at Triple-A looks impressive, but let's see how that translates in the Major League level.

Wheeler makes MLB debut, temporarily optioned to Triple-A

Last night, the Mets started a new chapter in their franchise when prized prospect took the mound against the Braves. Zack Wheeler threw six scoreless innings, and struck out 7 batters. He also earned his first win of his career in the process. 

When the game was over, Wheeler was bombarded by a beer shower from his teammates. Here is the link for the video. Courtesy of SNY.tv http://web.sny.tv/media/video.jsp?content_id=28148847

When the game was over, Wheeler was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas. However, he will be called up before his next scheduled start for the big league club. 

"The purpose of this move, which is available to us due to his 12th man rule, is to be able to keep a full compliment of 25 players, in spite of the fact that - at least temporarily - we are in a six man rotation." Sandy Alderson explained. 

Alderson: Harvey will throw 200-210 innings in 2013

In a Q&A session with fans at Citi Field on Saturday, Sandy Alderson said he expects Matt Harvey to pitch between 200-210 innings for the Mets this season. In 14 starts this year, Harvey has thrown 97 innings, and is on pace to throw almost 240 innings if he makes 35 starts this season. The 24 year old is 5-1 with a 2.04 ERA on the season, and has collected 102 strikeouts.

You really hate to have these conversations because nobody is left satisfied. From a long-term view, this makes sense for Harvey to prevent injuries. However, fans would be incredibly upset to see him shut down in, let's say, the end of August, because of some myth that he will hurt his arm.

Now, the Nationals were under heavy scrutiny when they shut down Stephen Strasburg last season despite being in contention and playoff-bound. Luckily the Mets, a team that may reach 100 losses on the year, do not have that same issue. If the team is struggling, and Harvey is beginning to show signs of fatigue, then I'm all for shutting him down. I'm very interested to see how this all plays out for Mr. Harvey.  

What is Bob Costas thinking?

Yesterday, during a break in golf coverage of the U.S. Open, NBC Sports showed highlights of the Mets' walk off celebration triggered by Kirk Nieuwenhuis' three run homer. After the clip, sportscaster Bob Costas  made some rather odd criticisms of the way the team celebrated.

"And a team 14 games under .500 celebrates as if it just won the seventh game of the World Series...Another indication of the ongoing decline of Western Civilization."

So, Costas is saying that the team shouldn't celebrate after a walk-off win? I don't care if a team is in first place or sitting in the cellar of the division, they should still be happy about winning a game in walk-off fashion. 

And what about the fans? The fans show up to the games and love when their team succeeds. Are they not allowed to experience walk-off fashion fun just because their team is out of contention?

I understand that Bob Costas follows old-school journalism, and according to that concept team's that celebrate like the Mets did yesterday are classless. But for all the average fans out there, to go out and watch a baseball game, have fun, put on a nice smile, and enjoy the experience is what it's all about. 

Mets bring up Torres, demote Burke, DFA McHugh

The Mets have purchased the contract of pitcher Carlos Torres from Triple-A Las Vegas. To make room on the 25 man roster for Torres, the team optioned Greg Burke to Triple-A. To make room on the 40 man roster, the team designated Collin McHugh for assignment. 

According to Mlbtraderumors., Torres had the ability to opt out of his contract last Wednesday, and he did so. He had offers from the Rockies and Giants, but the Mets decided to keep Torres despite opting out of his contract. Torres posted a 3.89 ERA in 12 starts for Las Vegas this season. He signed a minor league deal with the Mets over the winter.

Burke had a 3.15 ERA in 21 appearances on the season. McHugh posted a 10.29 ERA in 3 appearances (1 start) for the Mets this season.

Well, it's obvious that a major bullpen shakeup is about to take place. Burke's demotion is somewhat surprising because he was solid during his stint with the team. With that being said, I expect him to be back up with the team relatively soon. The Mets have already optioned him twice this season, and they are going to need to be more careful so he doesn't run out of options.

As for Torres, he is basically a 30 year old journeyman pitcher who probably won't contribute much to the big league team. His track record isn't pretty, and I'm surprised the Mets didn't try to work out of a trade in order to get something for him while his value was relatively high.

Finally, McHugh has struggled in the big leagues, to say the least. He was once regarded as a well-hyped prospect in the Mets' system, but his brief MLB stint has exposed his weaknesses as a pitcher. It wouldn't surprise me at all if he is claimed off of waivers, because he is still young enough to get his career on track. I hope the Mets end up keeping him, because he could be a nice spot starter for this team down the road.