The Mets officially announced today that right-hander Vic Black is headed to New York as the player to be named later in Tuesday's Marlon Byrd/John Buck trade. With the addition of Black and second baseman Dilson Herrera, the Mets will receive two players who were 11th (Herrera) and 17th (Black) among Pirates prospects at the time of the trade, as ranked by MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo. Here's more on Black and his new team…
- Black technically has 72 hours to report to the team, so the Mets will stall his arrival so that he can immediately join the Major League roster come Sept. 1, according to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York (on Twitter).
- Much has been made of manager Terry Collins' job security, but Andy Martino of the New York Daily News reports that pitching coach Dan Warthen is also highly likely to return for the 2014 season. One team official told Martino: “Dan does a great job. If our pitchers don’t succeed, it is because they don’t execute a pitch. It is never because Dan Warthen failed to prepare them. He works hard at what he does.”
- David Wright expects the Mets to make significant moves to improve the team this offseason, even in the wake of Matt Harvey's injury, the third baseman told Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post: “With the money we have coming off the books this year, I expect us to go out there and make this team better whether it’s through free agency, whether it’s through trades,” said Wright. He added that he still believes in GM Sandy Alderson's vision even if Harvey isn't able to pitch in 2014.
