Earlier today, Mark Simon of ESPNNewYork.com turned in his 2013 mid-season report card for the Mets. It hasn’t been a banner semester for most of the Metropolitans, but Marlon Byrd gets an A- for his play and Simon notes that he’ll be Mets remembered very fondly if he nets a good prospect in a deadline deal. Meanwhile, GM Sandy Alderson gets a C for his efforts, though it’s really more like an incomplete as he’ll be judged more by what he does with a more flexible payroll this winter. Here’s more out of the AL and NL East..
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports looks as the offseason ahead of the Yankees’ Robinson Cano. A number of teams with potential openings at second base could get involved, including the Dodgers, Cubs, Phillies (if they move on from Chase Utley), Mets, Orioles, Nationals and Mariners. Ultimately, however, Rosenthal expects Cano to stay in pinstripes.
- Despite his performance, Red Sox star David Ortiz knows that age is catching up with him, writes CSNNE.com’s Sean McAdam. Ortiz isn’t ready to lay out a timetable, but he says that the two-year pact he signed this past offseason could be his last.
- Mets infielder Ruben Tejada is making an agency change, leaving Peter Greenberg and the Legacy Group for Barry Praver & Scott Shapiro, according to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com (via Twitter). You can keep track of everyone’s representation with MLBTR’s Agency Database.
