Report: Chris Coste signs with the Mets
The Forum newspaper of Fargo, N.D., is reporting on its website that former Phillies catcher Chris Coste has signed with the New York Mets.
Report: Chris Coste signs with the Mets
Jonathan Tannenwald
The Forum newspaper of Fargo, N.D., is reporting on its website that former Phillies catcher Chris Coste has signed with the New York Mets.
According to the report, Coste's contract "guarantees him a spot on the 40-man roster," but the report also states that Coste "said it isn’t a given that he’ll be on the opening-day roster."
A Fargo native, Coste was claimed off waivers by the Houston Astros on July 10 of this year. You can check out his career stats here.
Elsewhere in the Hot Stove league, Chip Caray is done calling games for TBS. The Associated Press and a number of other news outlets have reported that Caray and the cable network "have decided to part ways."
The grandson of legendary Cubs play-by-play voice Harry Caray, Chip first hit the national stage calling Cubs games for WGN. He moved to TBS to call Braves games in 2004, then became TBS' lead national announcer when the network got the rights to the playoffs and Sunday regular-season games games in 2007.
Caray made quite a few gaffes this past October. The most notable of them came during the Tigers-Twins AL Central tiebreaker. As New York Times media columnist Richard Sandomir described it at the time:
No one in the production truck could rescue him from his 10th-inning classic faux pas during the Twins-Tigers tie breaker Tuesday night. Caray called the Twins’ Nick Punto’s sharply hit liner to left field this way: “Line drive. Base hit. Caught out there. The runner tags. Throw to the plate. On target. And in time! A double play.”
Caray's talkative style also didn't go over very well with some fans. As New York Daily News baseball blogger Jesse Spector wrote today, Caray "infuriated a lot of baseball fans this October on TBS, sparking jokes as he described seemingly every hit as 'fisted.' "
As far as I can tell, Joe Morgan and Tim McCarver have not made any public comments about today's news.
(Okay, that was a bit harsh. But Caray is certainly not alone when it comes to being slammed by baseball bloggers and Tweeters.)
The Punto play is still up on YouTube. A hat tip to the sports media blog Awful Announcing, which was at the top of the search results when I tried to find the clip.
Best of luck to you, CC....'cept when you play the Fightins' of course.— jimyd0315- All you wanted was an opportunity and that team would not be disappointed. The Mets will not be disappointed. Not too many players in history can claim to have played on a World Champion of Baseball Phillies team. Thanks for moving Ruiz into scoring position which later allowed him to score the winning run in Game One of the World Series.— Dull
- NOOOOOOO! Say it ain't so, Chris. This will be the worst Christmas, unless of course the Phils get Figgins. As for Caray, that call was priceless.— everydayguy
- Good news for Coste. They love him in Fargo, Because he actually made it. Glad to see him getting a $450,000 check, instead of a $3K a month one— Blue42
- Of course, Coste will now tell the Mets every little dirty secret he knows about the Phils.— nosmoke
- Coste was a class act and an inspiration; the definition of a fighter- we love him in Philly.— T.Paine
- now, what is it going to take to get Joe Buck fired???— cnova000
- thanks cnova...couldnt agree more. its gotten to the point that i cringe when i know im gonna watch a game hes calling
- sorry, i think my disdain made me click the mouse 3 too many times...
Comment removed.- Your dead to me.— Grandpa whenyou were my age they considered a 40% shooter a star
- I don't know. Caray sounded pretty good on Rollins' game-winner against the Dodgers - but that one would have sounded good with Donald Duck on the call. As for Coste, he'll always be a Phillie. But I can't believe he's gone over to the dark side.— wooderice
- Right on cnova000. Joe Buck is riding on Daddy's reputation. He's a painful "homer" who never has learned to call a game correctly. LET JOE GO !!— phineas
- I can't believe how much criticism Chip received this postseason. Sure, he made a few mistakes, but I don't think there has ever been a time in professional sports were EVERYTHING is being criticized to the degree it is now because of blogs, message boards, talk radio, etc. I called minor league baseball games on both television and radio for six years, and I think fans have an unrealistic perception on how difficult it is to get everything right during a three-hour broadcast. Trust me, just because you turn the volume down on your TV once in a while and your family tells you "you could do that" doesn't mean you understand what its like to work in a sold out ballpark with stat, scorebooks, game notes and a producer whispering in your ear. I too have a disdain for bad broadcasting, but that to me is the culmination of a "me-centered" broadcaster who forces the fans to focus on them more than the game with their selfish, over the top commentary (i.e. Chris Berman) For the most part, I think Chip let the game tell its own story and that's why I hope he lands on his feet.— bobo_29
- You guys are missing the point - Caray may have made a mistake, but we have to listen to Wheels & Tmac. I think Caray might be an improvement!— PhilliesPhorever
