2014 Major League Baseball Predictions

Well we discussed this on the show last Friday, but we figured we would post it here anyway. During the show we gave our predictions for the 2014 Major League Baseball season. We each predicted who would win the divisions, get in as the wild cards and win the Cy Young and MVP's for both leagues. So here now are our official predictions for this season.

Matthew "Solly" Solomon (Host):

AL West: Oakland Athletics

AL Central: Detroit Tigers

AL East: Tampa Bay Rays

Wild Card: Boston Red Sox

Wild Card: New York Yankees

NL West: Los Angeles Dodgers

NL Central: St. Louis Cardinals

NL East: Washington Nationals

Wild Card: Atlanta Braves

Wild Card: Pittsburgh Pirates

World Series: St. Louis Cardinals vs. New York Yankees

AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander

AL MVP: Mike Trout

NL Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw

NL MVP: Bryce Harper

Steve Carollo (Host)

AL West: Oakland Athletics

AL Central: Detroit Tigers

AL East: Boston Red Sox

Wild Card: Tampa Bay Rays

Wild Card: New York Yankees

NL West: Los Angeles Dodgers

NL Central: St Louis Cardinals

NL East: Atlanta Braves

Wild Card: Washington Nationals

Wild Card: Pittsburgh Pirates

World Series: Tampa Bay Rays vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

AL Cy Young: David Price

AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera

NL Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw

NL MVP: Bryce Harper

Danny Deleany (Intern/Fireside Chat Host)

AL West: Los Angeles Angels

AL Central: Detroit Tigers

AL East: New York Yankees

Wild Card: Boston Red Sox

Wild Card: Tampa Bay Rays

NL West: Los Angeles Dodgers

NL Central: St. Louis Cardinals

NL East: Atlanta Braves

Wild Card: Washington Nationals

Wild Card: Pittsburgh Pirates

World Series: Atlanta Braves vs. Tampa Bay Rays

AL Cy Young: Felix Hernandez

AL MVP: Mike Trout

NY Cy Young: Craig Kimbrel

NL MVP: Bryce Harper

So there you have it! Our predictions for the 2014 Major League Baseball Season!

(Note: all predictions were made before the start of the regular season)

Vick Signing With Jets Could Be A Good Thing....Maybe

New York Jets owner Woody Johnson has seemed to really change his mindset about his football team. Johnson went from wanting to re-build his team to he wants to win now. His latest showing of wanting to win now, it was signing Quarterback Michael Vick to a one year deal worth $5 million. This could turn out to be either a really good signing, or it could really blow up in the Jets faces.

Here's the upside to this deal. It gives Vick a chance to be a starting Quarterback again. He lost the starting job a year ago with the Eagles to Nick Foles after Vick got hurt. Foles led the Eagles to the playoffs, which pretty much meant Vick was headed out of Philadelphia. Going into free agency, he had been the best available quarterback on the market, so the Jets decided to take a chance on him and pick him up. Of course he will be competing with 2nd year QB Geno Smith, who started every game of the season for Gang Green last season. Vick will be 34 by the time the regular season starts in September, so he may still have a few good years left in the tank. There is no guarantee that he will beat out Geno for the job, but if he does, Vick may be the better option of the two as your starter. Vick has a better arm, is a better runner and can hang onto the football and make better decisions with the ball as compared with Geno. It gives the Jets more options at Quarterback to see which one will work best for them this season. Plus Vick walks into the Jets door already kinda knowing the offensive system run by Marty Mornhinwig, which is a West Coast Offense. That's the same style offense he was in with the Eageles. I only bring this up because going into the Jets offense would be an easier transition for Vick than had he possibly gone to any other NFL team.

Sure Vick may be the better option, when he is healthy and on his game. But the downside is that Vick hasn't really been able to stay healthy during his career. Vick has played one full 16 game season, that was back in 2006. So you know that Vick has had health issues over his career so its a big risk. If Vick gets hurt, Geno has to get thrown back into the fire, which could happen late in the year when the Jets are making a playoff push. The Jets tried this idea twice in the last few seasons.

I know that the Jets want to win now, but as we have seen in past seasons with this football team, having QB's competing for the job has really blown up in their face. Remember what it did to Mark Sanchez last year. I know it was a freak accident in a preseason game against the Giants but still if it hadn't been a competition and mismanagement by the team, Sanchez most likely wouldn't have gotten hurt and would probably still be a Jet. And let us not forget the experiment the Jets tried with Tim Tebow two years ago when they brought him in from Denver.

So there really is a double edge sword for Jets management bringing Vick into the fold. It's either going to work out or blow up again in their face. Now if they can go out and fix that weak secondary the Jets have I would feel so much better.

NFL Free Agency Recap

Since free agency started in the NFL a little over a week and a half ago, there has been quite a bit of movement around the league. Some teams have made noise, either by re-signing players, making a trade or bringing in new players. Other teams have sat by and done nothing, either because somebody else bet them to it or they just couldn't come to terms with a player. So with all that being said, lets try and get you caught up on some of the players that have new deals and some who might still be on the move. Here are some of the winners and losers in early free agency.

Winner: Denver Broncos
Denver is coming off last year's trip to the Super Bowl with a high powered offense and an average defense. I know they lost one of their best receivers in Eric Decker, who signed a five year deal with the Jets. Sure they don't have a set running game yet as Knowshon Moreno is still a free agent, but there is still time to get him re-signed. No the reason Denver has been a winner in free agency so far is that Denver is getting the players it needs, premium guys, and at important positions. They lost Decker, no problem, they go out and pick up Emmanuel Sanders, who had been a solid threat with the Steelers a year ago. That helped out this high powered offens. What John Elway needed to do was help try and improve that Denver defense. To help out that defense, Elway brought in safety T.J. Ward, shutdown cornerback Aqib Talib and pass-rusher DeMarcus Ware. With all this that Denver has already done to better their team, they still also have $5.4 million in cap space to work with if they should try to add more pieces to the puzzle.

Winner: New England Patriots
Yes I know this may be a bit of a surprise to see the Patriots here but it needs to be said. New England still has a lot of work to do to fill the holes on their offense, that is true. The reason I put them here as a winner so far is the fact that they bolsterd their defense by bringing in cornerback Darrelle Revis. In this case, Revis turns out to be the big winner. Why? He gets to play for a championship with the Patriots, as opposed to being a single star amid a Tampa Bay Buccaneers rebuilding program.

Winner: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Going into free agency, you didn't really see Tampa Bay as being a place to go, but it turns out it has been. The Buccs were awful last year, trying to improve this offseason and had some money to spend. In total so far, according to reports, the Bucs have signed 10 players to a league-high $142 million. I know it may look bad in the fact that they lost Revis Island, but that was for the better trust me. The Bucs went out and got some players they really needed. They got themselves a starting quarterback in Josh McCown and named him their starter right away. They also added much needed pieces in defensive end Michael Johnson, left tackle Anthony Collins, cornerback Alterraun Verner, tight end Brandon Myers and defensive tackle Clinton McDonald. Will they be better this year? In theory yes, but how much better we don;t know as of yet.

Loser: Dallas Cowboys
Coming into the offseason, Dallas had some work to do, as they were going to be over the Salary Cap by the time free agency hit. So they cut a few players like Miles Austin and DeMarcus Ware. After clearing the cap space, Dallas still hasn't done much of anything with it. Their defensive line has gone from a force to now a bunch of nobodies. Dallas really needs to wake up and start trying to build otherwise it could be a long season in Big D.

Loser: Carolina Panthers
After coming off a solid 11-5 season last year, and a playoff birth too, Carolina was on the cusp of becoming a big force in the NFC. To this point, however, they have totally dropped the ball. First lets take a look at their offense. Going into free agency the Panthers would have looked to possibly add another weapon for Cam Newton to throw to. Well not only have they not gotten that weapon, as most of the talented free agents have already been signed, but they also lost their top receiver in Steve Smith. So the offense seems to have taken a step backwards. On defense they were able to keep Greg Hardy, but the secondary did lose cornerback Captain Munnerlyn to the Minnesota Vikings and safety Mike Mitchell to the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Carolina could be in trouble this season if they don't start moving on signing players.

Loser: Kansas City Chiefs
Sure Kansas City had a great year last year, making the playoffs and hanging in with Denver for the AFC West crown last year. But as the saying goes, success comes at a price. Kansas City lost a lot of talent this offseason, mostly in their line. Left tackle Branden Albert, right tackle Geoff Schwartz and guard Jon Asamoah each signed elsewhere. It is tough to lose three linemen and not feel the sting, any team would get hit hard losing talent like that. And to make matters worse, the Chiefs could not re-sign Dexter McCluster either and still have one of the tightest salary-cap budgets with less than $6.3 million to spend. So there isn't much room to work with to put a solid team together to try and regain that same success.

That's just after a week and a half, there is still more possible player movement to take place between now and the start of the season!

Breaking Down The NCAA Basketball Tournament

The time has arrived. March Madness has officially begun, as the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball tournament is set to start, with the field of 64 set in place. There are so many interesting angles to look at for this big dance, so some of the teams in this years tournament could be a surprise. We will break down the tournament by the numbers and see who might have the best chance to win the whole thing.

If you are a team in this tournament that has a seed between 8 and 16, then your odds of going deep into the tournament aren't very good. If your a 16 seed, which this year is Coastal Carolina, Albany/Mt. Saint Mary's, Weber St and either Cal Polytechnic or Texas Southern, you don't stand much a chance to go deep because no 16  seed has ever gotten to the sweet sixteen. So that's pretty much a given they won't go far. A team might still surprise you but I don't see a 16 beating a 1 seed this year. In fact a 16 has never beaten a 1 in the tournament so that's pretty much a lock. It's a safe bet to say that Florida, Virginia, Wichita State and Arizona are going to be moving on in the tournament.

A 15 seed has only made it that far once and that was Florida Gulf Coast last year. So 15 seeds are in just as much trouble. Teams that have a 2 seed have gone 109-7 all time against a 15 seed, so the odds are in the favor of the 2's in the opening round. I can't see Kansas, Villonova, Michigan and Wisconsin getting upset to start the tournament.

A 13 and/or 14 seed have made it to the sweet sixteen eight times in history. None of them have made it to an elite eight. The 12 seed have fared a tad better, having made a sweet sixteen once, UW-Milwaukee (2005) and one elite eight appearance from a twelve seed, that being Missouri (2002). I'm not saying the 12 seed this year will be better but historically, they have a slightly better shot. Teams that have a 3 seed usually play well in the opening round, going 99-11 against a 13 seed. This year the 3 seeds are Syracuse, Iowa State, Creighton and Duke, and they should have no problem moving on. A 4 seed has had a little more trouble in the opening round, going 91-25 against the 13 seeds. Michigan State, UCLA, San Diego State and Louisville are the 4 seeds this year and San Diego State may be the only one I can see having trouble with its opening round opponent, New Mexico State. All four should be able to move on though

An 11 seed has done pretty well at times in the tournament. We've had two 11 seeds reach the Elite Eight, Loyola Marymount (1990) and Temple (2001). We've also seen an 11 seed reach the final four three times, in the form of LSU (1986), George Mason (2006) and VCU (2011). Whoever is the 6 seed has gone 77-39 against an 11 seed in history. This year, North Carolina, Baylor and Ohio State will do what they have to and take down the 11 seed. The other matchup is going to be an upset. Iowa and Tennessee have to play each other to see who gets Massachusetts. Now if Tennessee can get the win then I can see them pulling another upset and beating the 6 seed, but if it's Iowa then I don't know if they can. It depends on who comes out on top in that play in game.

If your a ten seed, then you have some decent odds to go deep, since it has happened eight times in history that a ten seed has made the elite eight. This year however, odds don't favor the ten seeds in the opening round. Saint Josephs has to play Connecticut, Stamford has to play New Mexico, BYU has to play Oregon and Arizona State has to play Texas. Stamford may be the only one of the four ten seeds to pull off an upset, the other three I can see falling.

Finally we have the most even matchup of the opening round which is the eight vs. nine seeds. Twice in history a nine seed has gone deep, Boston College in 1994 went to the Elite Eight, and Wichita State last year made the final four. Eight seeds have had pretty good success. North Carolina and Wisconsin in 2000 went to the final four, Butler went to the title game in 2008 and Villanova won the whole thing in 1985 all as the eight seed. Kentucky, Gonzaga and Memphis will hang on as the eight seed while Pittsburgh will move on as the nine seed.

Wichita State comes into the tournament as the only team that went undefeated during the regular season, as they went 34-0. They become the 18th team to ever go into the tournament unbeaten, and are the first school to do so since the UNLV Running Rebels did it in 1991. There have been seven teams in history that have totally run the table, going undefeated en route to a national title, with the last team to do it being Indiana in 1976.

Louisville is the defending national champions, sitting as the four seed in the midwest region. They have a very solid chance to repeat as the National Champions but they have to go through the likes of Michigan, Duke and Wichita State to make it out of the region and advance in the tournament. The Cardinals are good but I don't see them winning a second straight championship.

So there you have it, a rough breakdown of the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament by the numbers. As the tournament goes along we will update you with all the happenings and any major upsets that may take place.

New York Jets Add Eric Decker, But Still More Work To Be Done

Thew New York Jets have started taking steps in the right direction in free agency. First they cleared some cap space and dead weight on the team by cutting both Antonio Cromartie and Santonio Holmes. Those moves freed up about $17.75 million for the salary cap for this season. With that being done the Jets need to work on rebuilding the secondary and giving whoever is going to be the starting quarterback weapons to throw to. They took care of one of those issues yesterday.

The Jets have come to agreement with Wide Receiver Eric Decker on a five years deal worth $36.25 million, with $15 million in guarantees, according to USA Today. Now I really do like this signing and for a number of reasons. First off is that Decker, who's only 26 years old, was the best available free agent on the market at wide receiver. Last year, Decker had 87 catches for 1,288 yards and 11 touchdowns. During his four years with the Broncos, Decker had 222 catches for 3,070 yards and 33 touchdowns. Some may argue that those numbers are a tad inflated because he had Peyton Manning throwing to him, but still you have to be a talented receiver to be able to catch all those passes.

Decker had more touchdown catches than any of the Jets receivers, Stephen Hill, Jeremy Kerley and David Nelson had combined. But that had to do with Decker playing with Peyton Manning a year ago. Still this is a needed improvement having Decker in the fold. There is still work to be done by the Jets on offense if they are to compete. Sure they have Decker and Jeremy Kerley as the top targets at receiver, so it makes for something for the Qarterback, whether its Geno Smith Mark Sanchez or somebody else, to throw to. But that won't be enough for the Jets to thrive.

They need to add one more solid receiver. i know they still have David Nelson and Stephen Hill in the mix, but I don't feel comfortable enough with that receiving core. Gang Green can add another solid receiver in the draft, possibly. Some of the names that have been thrown around that the Jets are looking at in the draft are Clemson wide receiver Sammy Watkins and USC wide receiver Marqise Lee. those guys could be a decent fit for the team, if they are still available when the Jets make their selection with the 18th pick in the draft. Also they could try and take a flyer on some of the other wide outs still on the market. Both Julian Edelman and Emmanuel Sanders are still on the market. Both guys had more than 700 yards receiving a year ago with the Patriots and Steelers respectively.

So what the Jets do with adding receiving weapons is going to take a little time to see how things play out.

But offense isn't the only area the Jets still need work on, as the secondary can use a retooling or two. Something can be done with their 18th pick in the draft to help out with Cornerbacks and Safeties but the team should also look at the market. Most of the big name free agent defensive backs are already signed. Just like they did with Ed Reed at the end of last year, the Jets may take a flyer on Champ Bailey, who could fill the same kind of role that Reed did at the end of last year. Bailey would be worth a look. Same thing can be said about former Dolphins safety Chris Clemons, who would be a good fit playing alongside Dee Millner.

Even though there is still a lot of work to be done for the Jets, they are starting to take a step in the right direction.

Henrik Lundqvist Closing In On Rangers History

Another night, another win for New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist. Or so we think. Lundqvist and the Rangers beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-0 Sunday afternoon, giving Lundqvist his 300th NHL win and 49th career shutout. The win puts Lundqvist into elite class, becoming the 11th goalie in league history to win 300 games. He and Martin Brodeur of the Devils are the only two active netminders with 300 career wins. But from a Rangers perspective, the win and shutout are more inpactful for the franchise.

The win puts Lundqvist just one behind Mike Richter for the franchise record for wins. Richter won 301 games in a Rangers uniform, a record which Henrik can break this season. By pitching the 3-0 shutout, his 4th zero of this season, it was the 49th of Lundqvist career, which ties him with Ed Giacomin for most shutouts in Rangers history. Both of those records, franchise wins and franchise shutouts, can fall before the end of this season.

There are 17 games left in the regular season for the New York Rangers. Lundqvist has started 49 games to this point, and has a chance to start at least maybe 10 of the remaining 17 games this year. So the franchise record for wins will fall, and in all likelyhood it will fall within the next two weeks. The Rangers play four games this week, three of which are on the road. They are in Carolina on the 11th, In Minnesota on the 13th and in Winnipeg on the 14th before returning home to play the Sharks on the 16th. If the Rangers are smart they make sure Henrik gets win 301 and then sit him till the 16th so he can break the franchise record for wins on home ice at MSG.

The shutout record is a little harder to predict when it will happen. However with the way Henrik has played this year, there is still a strong chance the record is going to fall this season. To snag one shutout over the final 17 games of the season, it can be done, but will it actually happen who knows.

With what King Henrik has been able to do, not only this year but in his career on Broadway, he is a lock to have his #30 raised to the rafters at MSG once his career is over. He has been able to win 300 games, and counting, in nine pro seasons. This while only losing 191 times in that same time span. And this is just in the regular season. Lundqvist has gone to throw in a 41-33 career playoff record with 9 shutouts. The shutouts and wins are the most ever by a Rangers netminder in the playoffs. Those kind of numbers are the stuff of legend, and dare I say it, hall of fame worthy!

NHL Trade Deadline Recap and Analysis

To most hockey fans, NHL Trade Deadline day is a fun filled, exciting day to see what players are going to be moved and to where. Clubs are gearing up for the final playoff push, picking up players that could be helpful in their march to the post season. In total, between February 28th and the 3PM deadline on March 5th, there were 32 trades made involving 40+ players. Some moves were minor  while others had some big names on the move. It would take way too long to recap every single trade that was made through the deadline. However we will take a look at the big trades that were made and how they will affect the teams involved.

The Buffalo Sabres have made a few splashes during the deadline. We all know about them picking up Halak and Stewart from the Blues for Miller and Ott. Both guys who went to the Blues will be a help to St. Louis for their run to the playoffs. After that deal, Buffalo had two more big moves up their sleeve. First was shipping Jaroslav Halak out again, sending him and a 3rd round pick in 2014 to the Washington Capitals for Michal Neuvirth and Rostislav Klesla. Neuvirth played only 13 games in DC behind Braden Holtby so by sending him to Buffalo he will get more playing time, splitting time in net with Jhonas Enroth. With the Sabres adding Klesla he could possibly add another solid presence on the Buffalo blue line, when he gets called up to the big leagues. Washington benefits bigtime by adding Halak to their team. tehy now have two solid starting goalies who could split time in net with Halak and Holtby. Both guys could provide stable goaltending come playoff time.

Besides seeing Halak moved, there were three other big goalies traded during the deadline. Devan Dubnyk was sent from the Predators, as he hadn't played there very much since he was traded there, to the Montreal Canadiens for future considerations. With Price hurt at the moment the Habs needed another netminder to hold the fort down along with Peter Budaj till Price gets healthy. The Florida Panthers were involved with the other two big moves among goaltenders, trying to set that position for the future down in Sunrise. The biggest move was sending Jacob Markstrom and forward Shawn Matthias to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for forward Steven Anthony and netminder Roberto Luongo. Moving Mathias for Anthony may have been thrown in to help complete the deal, as Mathias can provide the Canucks some scoring punch. Markstrom can be a solid backup and fill in nicely for Eddie Lack in the Canucks net. With Luongo going to Florida, he goes back to where his career took off. Luongo had been having problems with Canucks management, something that has been going on for a while now, and Vancouver felt it was the right time to make the move and unload Luongo. The Panthers also pulled the trigger on another big goalie trade, sending starting netminder Tim Thomas to the Dallas Stars in exchange for goalie Dan Ellis. Again another solid move by the Panthers, getting a solid backup in Ellis to play behind Luongo. With Thomas being traded, we know that Luongo will be the number one man in Florida. Also Dallas does benefit from adding Thomas to the lineup. He will more than likely be playing behind Kari Lehtonen in net, which will be a big help for the Stars in net as they try to make the post season.

Besides the netminders, we also saw some bigtime scoring stars get moved around at the deadline. The Anaheim Ducks traded Dustin Penner to the Washington Capitals from a 2014 4th round pick. Good move by the Capitals to add another scoring punch in Penner and not give up other than a pick to a loaded Ducks team. We saw the Edmonton Oilers trade Ales Hemsky to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for a 5th Round Pick in 2014 and a 3rd Round Pick in 2015. This helps try and boast a Senators offense, which at the moment is around 14th in the league in goals per game average. The Los Angeles Kings got a big boost to their offense as the picked up Marian Gaborik from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Matt Frattin, a 2nd Round Pick 2014 or 2015 and a Conditional 3rd Round Pick. this will really help the Kings out. even though the currently sit in a playoff spot, LA averages 2.32 goals per game which is 27th in the NHL so Gaborik will be a big boost when he's healthy.

The local Metro area teams made a few moves at the deadline. the New Jersey Devils picked up Tuomo Ruutu from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for Andrei Loktionov and a Conditional 3rd Round Pick in 2017. The New York Islanders made two moves. First they sent defenseman Andrew MacDonald to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for a 3rd Round Pick in 2014, a 2nd Round Pick in 2015 and forward Matt Mangene. not a bad move for MacDonald, would have liked to get a little bit more for him, but I'm not totally upset with the trade. The other trade the Islanders made got me a tad upset.The Islanders traded Thomas Vanek and a Conditional 5th Round Pick in 2014 to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for F Sebastien Collberg and a Conditional 2nd Round Pick in 2014. The Islanders dropped the ball so badly with this deal, as it seemed to be more of a last minute move by the Islanders. They hadn't made any noise early on deadline day with this trade and it feels like it was a way to dump him off. I would have really liked to see the Islanders pick up more for Vanek in the trade.

Finally the New York Rangers made a pair of moves. The Rangers picked up Raphael Diaz from the Vancouver Canucks for a 5th round pick in 2015. Solid move to help out the blue line. The biggest move made during the deadline the Rangers were able to pull off. They traded Ryan Callahan, a 1st Round Pick in 2015 and a Conditional 2nd Round Pick in 2014 to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Martin St. Louis. This was a big move for the short term for both teams. Tampa Bay gets two future draft pics to build their team with and get a solid defensive forward for their playoff push. Sure they lose one of, if not, their best player in St. Louis, but he wanted out of Tampa. There had been some kind of riff between St. Louis and GM Steve Yzerman. Some of it had to do with the St. Louis being left off Canada's olympic roster by Yzerman caused a riff, but I feel there's more to it than that. The Rangers benefit from the trade by adding a big time scoring punch in the form of St. Louis who can still put points on the board at 38 years old.

So there, in a nutshell, is what went down during the NHL Trade Deadline!

Noah Syndergaard Impressive Early In Camp

There's been a lot of hype around spring training this year for the New York Mets, with good reason. A lot of hype has been floating around young phenom Noah Syndergaard, a kid who has a fastball that can max out around 98 and a curveball that can break off a table top. Syndergaard has impressed in his bullpen sessions and an intrasquad game last week, which is really nice to see, showing Mets fans and baseball fans at well, that he's good. But there was no way to tell just how good he was going to be until he faced actual big league pitching. Well we got that question answered yesterday in his spring training debut against the Atlanta Braves.

Syndergaard pitched two scoreless innings in the Mets’ 6-2 victory, fanning two Braves hitters in Jason Heyward and Evan Gattis. The kid allowed one hit, a single by Ryan Doumit, and didn't walk anybody. He was not perfect, but he was brilliant at times. Syndergaard’s first four pitches to Heyward were fastballs: 95 m.p.h., 96, 97 and 97, which is serious gas folks. Syndergaard missed with his changeup and then his fastball, running the count full. Then he fired a 98-m.p.h. heater that Heyward could only flail at. Then fact that he was able to do that is telling me a lot in a short body of work.

First off it tells me that this kid is no joke, he is the real deal and will be as good if not possibly better than advertised. Now it's only in two innings of work early in spring training so its nothing to really get all that hyped up on just yet. I believe that Syndergaard is going to live up to those expectations when he finally does hit the Majors, whenever that may happen. With the Mets starting rotation the way it looks on paper right now, there is a chance he could be up with the big club before the All Star break and stick with them the rest of the year. But that's getting a little ahead of ourselves here.

Lets remember he has only pitched two innings against big league hitting in a game. He had a little trouble getting behind in counts but, as any good pitcher can do, he can work the kinks out of that issue by the time the season kicks off. The way he was throwing the fastball in the first game, it was almost as if he was daring the Braves to try and hit the pitch. It was a hard pitch and Syndergaard didn't have much trouble locating that pitch. He can hit his spots and if given proper time to mature can be a big impact on this Mets ball club.

Will this kid be able to, at 21 years old, pitch in the Big Leagues? That's for Mets management to decide. But when he does come up, and Matt Harvey comes back healthy, the two of them and Zach Wheeler are going to be a force to be reckoned with at the top of the Mets starting rotation.