Dear Mets, please get these City Connect uniforms right...
Brandon Nimmo opens up about Pete Alonso's free agency. Plus, a plea for the Mets to nail their new uniforms that have yet to be revealed.
What’s up with the Mets? 🍎
OF Brandon Nimmo “would love” if Pete Alonso signed a long-term extension with the Mets (NY Post)
Mark Vientos, if healthy, will likely get the majority of at-bats at the designated hitter position in 2024 (SNY)
Rumor Mill 💨
The Giants are reportedly in talks with free agent OF/DH Jorge Soler (San Francisco Chronicle)
A plea for the Mets to get their City Connect uniforms right… ✍️
If you haven’t heard, the New York Mets will be getting new uniforms this year. And no, the black jerseys without the white outline are not the ones we’re talking about today.
New York will be one of 10 teams to don a Nike City Connect uniform this season, which they will reportedly wear for the first time on April 26th vs the Cardinals. The Mets will join the Blue Jays, Cardinals and Phillies as the teams that will be debuting their City Connect uniforms for the first time in 2024.
There have been a lot of thoughts surrounding what these uniforms could look like with plenty of mock-ups and Photoshops that have been shared across social media over the past few months. To be perfectly frank, I haven’t seen many that I think I’d be happy with, although this AI-generated mock-up that Eddie Presti shared on Twitter in January has been the best rendition I’ve seen thus far.
If you ask me, the Mets have a difficult task here when it comes to nailing these jerseys. I would say that the club has one of the better uniform sets in all of baseball right now as they keep things pretty simple these days – white pinstripes at home, black tops for Friday home games, and road grays. That’s about it. They do still technically have their blue home tops in their circulation, but the use of those has decreased over the last few seasons (they wore them in just 27 total games in 2023). To introduce a new wild card uniform into that already very solid lineup presents risks.
We’ve already seen quite a few large swings-and-misses when it comes to the other City Connect uniforms we’ve seen across Major League Baseball. The defending champion Texas Rangers had one of the ugliest uniform combinations I’ve ever seen with their City Connects that came out last season, the Astros look like weird astronauts, and the Red Sox are out here wearing yellow and blue. While there have been some winners amongst them all – the Mariners are one of my personal favorites – the reception for these uniforms have been largely mixed.
You also have the supposed leaked Phillies uniforms that will be debuting at some point this season, which may very well be one of the ugliest things I’ve ever seen.
Reportedly leaked on eBay, I’m not even quite sure where to start with these. Regardless of what connection this may have to the city itself – and I get that that’s the point of these uniforms – you simply cannot sell this to me. These uniforms should still have somewhat of a connection to the club’s design history in some way, especially when it comes to the color scheme. People may have had mixed reviews on the Giants and Angels City Connects, but at least they looked like they still belonged to the teams they were representing. But this… I mean, look at it.
The Phillies’ main two colors are red and blue, and yet this uniform uses an entirely different shade with a much lighter blue before a gradient comes in to transition it to a blue that’s so dark it’s nearly black (didn’t we learn about the follies of gradient uniforms after the Atlanta Falcons failed experiment?) Not to mention that these jerseys also add in a green-ish yellow highlight to them, which stands out from Philadelphia’s normal color palette more than anything else, plus a big, thick, ugly font as the cherry on top.
Whose to say if these truly are what the Phillies will be wearing this season or not, this leak has yet to be confirmed by any major outlet or the team, but if they are real it is a cautionary reminder of how south these alternate jerseys can truly go.
If I’m the Mets, I’m keeping it simple here. Stay true to the orange and blue, avoid the temptation to use orange as the primary color (let’s not repeat the Los Mets uniform error), no ugly fonts or drop-shadows, keep it minimal, and use your history to inform your future. I think a modern take on a 1980s v-neck pullover has the potential to look incredibly clean and still feel like it’s the uniform that’s worn by the New York Mets organization.
Nike, it’s on you to get this right.
Hot Stove 🔥
The Royals signed SS Bobby Witt to an 11-year, $288.78 million contract extension – the largest contract in franchise history – with player opt-outs in 2030, 2031, 2032 and 2023
The Rays reportedly signed RHP Phil Maton to a one-year, $6 million contract with a club option for 2025 (Fansided)
The Yankees acquired LHP Caleb Ferguson from the Dodgers in exchange for LHP Matt Gage and RHP Christian Zazueta
The Dodgers reportedly re-signed RHP Ryan Brasier to a two-year, $9 million contract (Heyman)
Tim Anderson, Amed Rosario, Nick Ahmed and Adalberto Mondesí all are shortstops that the Marlins are considering in free agency (Rosenthal)
The Rangers signed LHP Danny Duffy, LHP Chasen Shreve and C José Godoy to minor league contracts
WOW with that crazy Witt contract the price for the Alonso and Alvarez extensions just went way up !!