Mets Roster: Getting to know Francisco Lindor and the rest of the new guys

By early January 2021, the New York Mets had already made several high-profile trades and signings that far exceeded their usual Wilpon-era offseason haul. On December 1, 2020, the Mets signed righty reliever Trevor May to a two-year, $15.5 million contract, counting on him to be a reliable force in the back of the bullpen. A couple of weeks later, the Mets addressed their gaping hole at catcher by signing James McCann to a four-year, $40.6 million deal.

Then, on January 7, 2021, the Mets pulled off one of the biggest blockbuster deals in the franchise’s history when they traded with the Cleveland Indians for Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco. All four of these players figure to be crucial components to the team’s on-field success in 2021, and Mets fans are largely very excited about all of them.

Though many Mets fans have become familiar with what Lindor, Carrasco, McCann, and May have to offer on the field, all four players have also done some fun “getting to know you” interviews in recent weeks. These videos gave them a chance to show Mets fans their personalities and off-the-field interests. Here are some “fun facts” about four of the Mets’ biggest offseason additions that may not show up on their baseball card or Baseball-Reference page.

Meet the Mets: Francisco Lindor

Much has been made so far about Francisco Lindor’s Gold Glove defense at shortstop and his potent bat at the plate, but Lindor is also well known across baseball for his megawatt smile. In a recent interview with Mets public address announcer Marysol Castro, he shed some light on the origins of his famous grin, which apparently wasn’t always as stunning as it is now.

“I had braces, my teeth were like neighbors who had never met before,” confessed Lindor in this recent one-on-one. “Now, they’ve met, and they get along, and I put a retainer in there. They gotta stay together, they’re not separating!”

It seems like the man known throughout MLB as “Mr. Smile” has no intention of surrendering this title any time soon, even to other famous smilers on the Mets like Mr. “Happiest Man in Baseball” himself, Brandon Nimmo.

Though Lindor hails from Puerto Rico, his favorite foods are pizza and lasagna. Coming to New York, a city known for its pizza and Italian cuisine, Lindor will hopefully feel right at home.

“I’ll eat pizza all day, every day. . . breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” emphasized Lindor to an incredulous Castro, who likely expected him to respond with a Puerto Rican dish of some sort.

Off the field, Lindor enjoys spending time with his family (he has a daughter who is just a few months old) and bike riding. His Instagram account features a recent photo of him kidded out in cycling attire, and he mentioned to Castro that he has joked with his family about competing in the Tour de France one day. He also noted that in his downtime, he enjoys “watching videos about cars and watches” as well.

When asked about his favorite kind of music, Lindor responded without hesitation, “everything but country and hard metallic rock.”

On a different music-related note, Lindor was recently featured in the music video for Bad Bunny’s song, “Yo Visto Así. ” He described the experience on set as “a lot of fun. . . it was special, for sure.”

Lindor has made a name for himself, in part, by approaching his life on and off-the-field with contagious enthusiasm and excitement. He is one of the most electrifying players in the game today, and he is determined to keep up this reputation as he begins his Mets career.

“I want people to get to know that I’m just a little kid at heart that smiles and has fun and cares about other people. This is me, this is who I am,” said Lindor to close out his interview with Castro.

Mets fans have wholeheartedly embraced Lindor so far. I have a feeling that he will further endear himself to the Flushing Faithful with his on-field play.

Meet the Mets: Carlos Carrasco

Years before the Cookie Club ever existed, Carlos Carrasco was known by his Cleveland teammates as “Cookie.” In a “getting to know you” interview with Marysol Castro from January of this year, she mentioned that Carrasco’s nickname was coined when former teammates caught him eating cookies in the clubhouse.

Carrasco himself has confirmed this fact in interviews and social media Q&As, revealing years ago that a former Indians pitcher gave him the famous moniker.

When asked by Castro in this latest interview to choose between shortbread cookies, Scooby-Doo graham crackers, and Oreos, Carrasco emphatically picked Oreos. He also revealed that he prefers to dunk his Oreos straight into a glass of milk, rather than twist apart the cookie wafers.

Perhaps he can compare cookie-dunking notes with new teammate J.D. Davis, who described his elaborate cookie eating routine in great detail last year during an episode of SNY’s web series, “The Cookie Club.”

Outside of eating cookies, Carrasco is very busy when he is not playing baseball. In this same interview, he said that one of his favorite non-baseball activities is being a “handyman” and fixing things around the house.

“I do more stuff with electricity, to be honest with you guys. Everything in my house, if we need to put in some fans or move things from one power outlet to another in a different way, I do it. I love to do that. . . If something gets damaged in the house, I always repair it,” said Carrasco.

A few minutes later, Carrasco also said that he often spends his off days fixing things around the house, spending time with his family, or working on one of his many charitable projects and helping out his community. Since his major league debut in 2009, Carrasco has established two charitable foundations. The Carlos Carrasco Foundation is based in the United States and focuses on early childhood education for children in Tampa and Cleveland. The corresponding organization in his home country of Venezuela donates toys, medical supplies, sports equipment, and other necessities to Venezuelans in need.

“Not even COVID is going to stop me from continuing to help out the community,” said Carrasco to Castro near the end of their chat.

Based on what I’ve seen and read about Carrasco so far, he seems like a genuinely wonderful person and has already become one of my favorite Mets.

Meet the Mets: James McCann

From the moment that James McCann first became a Met, it was evident that he is a family man through and through. In his edition of Marysol Castro’s “getting to know you” interviews with the new Mets acquisitions, he revealed that he found out about the Mets signing becoming official while he was making pancakes for his two twin boys.

Later in the interview, he discussed how his twin boys were born 10 weeks premature, and how they inspired him and his wife Jessica to give back.

“We spent seven weeks in the Vanderbilt NICU with them. . . through the Christmas time, so we saw a lot of things while we were there. We knew at that moment in our lives that this was kind of our calling, and this was where we were going to use our platform to give back.”

Since that ordeal, the McCanns have gotten very involved at that children’s hospital, helping parents who are going through similar situations with premature babies. They plan to continue this involvement with New York-area hospitals for the duration of McCann’s time with the Mets.

Long before McCann was a major leaguer, he played in the same Little League as Jeff McNeil in southern California. The two got a chance to catch up at the 2019 All-Star game, which was the first All-Star selection for both players. Their reunion prompted the following photo, which McNeil shared on social media after McCann’s signing became official.

Though McCann’s most recent big league stop was in Chicago, he told Castro that he prefers New York-style pizza to Chicago deep dish. He later discussed his love of barbecue and that he loves deer hunting during the offseason. New teammates Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, and David Peterson have all posted about various offseason hunting trips on their social media accounts, so it seems like McCann will be in good company there.

In slight contrast to his new teammate, Francisco Lindor, McCann also discussed his love for country music, and noted that he and his wife enjoy watching The Blacklist on TV, though they never watch it separately when McCann is on the road.

Finally, McCann answered the question that Mets fans, presumably, have all pondered on their own. . . Is a hot dog a sandwich?

“No, it’s a hot dog,” said McCann. There you have it, folks. Our new catcher has spoken.

Above all else, more so than his food or music preferences, McCann emphasized his commitment to being the hardest worker on any team he has ever been a part of, including his new team in Queens.

“The thing about me that I would love every fan to know is that there is no one who’s ever going to out-work me. I know the expectations that come with playing in New York, but as high as they may be, there’s no one with higher expectations for my performance than myself. . . No one will be more prepared than I will be,” said McCann to conclude his interview with Castro.

Mets fans have to like what they’ve heard so far from their new catcher. I look forward to seeing how his off-the-field work ethic and personality will translate into on-field success.