By JON VANKIN is a journalist and author. He’s the writer of 5 nonfiction books and 9 graphic novels. His writing has appeared in The New York Instances Journal, Salon, the L.A. Weekly and dozens of different publications and he has acquired quite a few awards and honors together with three New England Press Affiliation awards.
In connection along with his work, Vankin has made quite a few media appearances on such networks as CNN, CNBC, FOX, the BBC and the CBC in addition to a whole lot of radio stations and podcasts.
Vankin in his wide-ranging profession has additionally served as an editor of comedian books and newspapers. He’s the editor of the NEW YORK TIMES #1 BESTSELLING graphic novel GET JIRO! by the late, nice Anthony Bourdain. He co-wrote the hit Off Broadway musical FOREVER DUSTY, and served as a sportswriter and editor at The Each day Yomiuri, the English-language version of Japan’s largest newspaper, the Yomiuri Shimbun, in Tokyo.
Jon Vankin
Contributing Sports activities Author
The calendar has turned to February and which means Main League Baseball will probably be again earlier than the month is out. New York Mets place gamers are required to report to spring training camp in Port St. Lucie, Florida, on Feb. 17. The Mets play their first spring coaching recreation precisely one week later at Clover Park, in opposition to the St. Louis Cardinals.
And the Mets four-time All-Star, former rookie of the 12 months and home-run record setter Pete Alonso remains to be unsigned.
Alonso’s 53 house runs in 2019 set an MLB record for a rookie, and his profession complete of 226 is the third-most by any hitter over their first six massive league seasons. Based on MLB Community baseball insider journalist Joel Sherman, which may be precisely the issue. The Mets, Sherman believes, are not happy with a participant who produces house runs however lacks in different areas of the sport.
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“There must be age and/or positional worth, or protection and/or baserunning, added to it to get the massive cash over a long-term contract,” Sherman mentioned Friday, speaking on “The Michael Kay Show.” “Pete Alonso merely doesn’t match on this bucket. And it is type of like studying from an outdated guide — the place groups used to pay for homers. …There was a time when the sport would have closed its eyes and paid for homers. It does not do this anymore.”
However one other longtime MLB Community insider, Jon Heyman — who, like Sherman, can be a baseball author for the New York Publish — predicted in a Thursday column that the Mets may nonetheless stage a “dramatic comeback” in talks with Alonso, regardless that the crew’s billionaire proprietor Steve Cohen has known as the negotiations “exhausting” and claimed that contract calls for made by Alonso and agent Scott Boras are “extremely uneven in opposition to us.”
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Heyman famous the Mets weren’t initially favored to signal this offseason’s most-prized free agent, Juan Soto. In three rounds of bidding for Soto, Heyman wrote, the Mets “practically fell out” in Spherical One, and had been solely in “the center” by Spherical Two. And but, when the negotiations had been over, Cohen and the Mets obtained their man.
The same comeback is feasible within the Alonso talks, Heyman predicted.
However Sherman, in his own column Saturday, sounded a extra pessimistic tune, saying the Mets have their very own inner projections exhibiting {that a} lineup with out Alonso, however with Soto included, will probably be not less than as productive because the 2024 lineup that obtained New York into the postseason.
Extra MLB: Pete Alonso Predicted to Re-Sign With Mets As MLB Insider Calls it ‘Inevitable’
