2007: Year in Review or, The State of the Mets

The year 2007 can't really be chalked up as anything more than a huge disappointment for fans of the New York Metropolitans. Our team followed up a breakthrough season with a big step back, we enter 2008 with more questions than reliable starting pitchers, and it generally remains to be seen whether or not the sustained period of long-term success the Mets looked like they were set to enter at the beginning of 2007 will turn out to be nothing more than a sick illusion.

For all the good vibes coming out of the 2006 season, it's not as if the year 2007 got off to a particularly good start. After we lost out on Barry Zito to an unreasonably large contract offer from the San Francisco Giants - which this blogger is happy we didn't match - we spent January, February, and March hearing about how unstable our starting rotation was and how much Jimmy Rollins was going to completely own us this season.

In the end, I guess those predictions may have ended up being pretty accurate.

After a horrid spring training, though, 2007 the season did get off to a good start. We swept the Cardinals, in St. Louis. Jimmy Rollins booted an easy groundball to spark a comeback rally in our home opener. John Maine and Oliver Perez made the Cards and Braves look silly in their respective debuts. If the 2007 season had been a video game, the night we boosted our record to 4-0 would have been a good time to hit SIM and let the computer take care of the rest.

Unfortunately, autopilot doesn't work in real baseball, and after the Mets - already "bored," perhaps - hit cruise control, in real life that first Friday night in April was probably the high point of 2007.

This season, and this year, were underwhelming in just about every way. We didn't have Zito. The crowd at Shea sucked. Jose Reyes wasn't as good as he was in 2006. After we outscored the Cardinals and Braves by a combined 31-3 in those first four games and it looked like we might be in for a special season, the next 158 games were a story of failed sweeps and wasted momentum, blown opportunities and not a single winning streak longer than four games until the beginning of that fateful month of September. So far this offseason, we've heard about Dan Haren, Erik Bedard, and Johan Santana, but we never had a chance for Haren or Bedard and we'll be extremely lucky if lightning somehow strikes and we get Santana.

It's hard to know what to expect from the year 2008. On the one hand, we bring back a still-talented roster that will include Wright and Reyes, Pedro, Maine and Perez, Carlos Beltran and Billy Wagner. In a perfect world we'll have a hungry team, determined to right the wrongs of 2007, that will scratch and claw its way back to the top of the division. The fans that show up at Shea next season, 20% more expensive tickets in tow, will rabidly usher the old ballpark out in style.

On the other hand, we're crossing our fingers praying for the health of Pedro's rebuilt arm over a full season. We're nervously hedging our bets on two somewhat-unstable young pitchers to do what they did last year. We're hoping that the end of 2007 was mostly an aberration for Jose Reyes. Likewise with Carlos Delgado. This will a season of reckoning for Willie Randolph and Omar Minaya.


So we'll see. 2007 was not a good year in Mets history. We had some exciting moments, some good wins, but ultimately we couldn't sustain anything good and any positives were overshadowed in the overall narrative by the collapse.

And in the first few months of 2008, things aren't likely to look any better. The trade/free agent market probably won't yield anything better than Bartolo Colon. We'll be picked to finish either second or third in the NL East next season, and won't stop hearing about how far we've fallen in the last year.

But keep things in perspective. Remember the fact that three years ago at this time, the Mets hadn't had a winning season in 3 years. We had just ushered out the Art Howe era. We had just traded Scott Kazmir. Now, we enter a new year where we'd be defending consecutive division titles if we hadn't gift-wrapped the East for the Phillies last September. We've got some question marks, but overall, even without any more roster moves, we're at least in pretty decent shape. David Wright, David Wright, Citi Field, David Wright.

In a year where it will take 11 months for America to choose a new President, it will be close to that long before we have a sincere read on the true state of the Mets. Viva 2008!

Happy New Year

(Pictures courtesy nytimes.com, nycvp.com, flikr.com)

Ticket Prices, Transactions, T Shirts

Isn't it amazing? The season ends and we fans wait patiently for the hot stove to start heating up, only to tire very quickly when it feels like all the rumbling, grumblings, and rumors never actually come to fruition but are still reported and rehashed all the way to spring training. This year's Winter Meetings came and went, nothing happened, the Mets still don't have attractive prospects, or an ace pitcher. Bo-ring.


If you trusted new ticket prices as an indicator of offseason activity, though, you might swear that the Mets had found a way to acquire both Johan Santana and Erik Bedard in a three way trade while collectively giving up only Jorge Sosa, a personalized brick at CitiField, the choreography to a Jose Reyes home run dance, and 3 fungo bats.

I'm referring, of course, to the 20% increase in 2008 Shea Stadium ticket prices, announced by the Mets last week. Dave Howard, Mets' executive vice president of business operations, on the increase:

“We considered where we were in the marketplace. Our average ticket price is still the lowest among the nine major pro sports teams in the New York area. Our payroll is among the highest in baseball. We put our resources back into the team.”

Everyone else is doing it, and look, look, we just got Matt Wise!

So despite a collapse of epic proportions and marginal improvement (depending on how you see the Milledge trade, really) to the ballclub this winter, the Mets can still justify raising prices, further forcing the average fan and middle income family to watch from home.

Metsblog has a post today pointing out that at least 12 other teams are raising ticket prices by at least 15 percent for next year. So this seems like an across-the-board type thing, which is an excellent justification for the Mets raising ticket prices for 2008 in the face of an ugly 2007.

Everyone else is doing it!

Or it's just another depressing indictment of the power of money in sports right now. Sports has become such an enterprise, ESPN such a caricature of itself, that the Mets 5-year business model says it makes sense to raise prices this year, despite the fact in a real, ethical world still guided by a sense of right and wrong it's like rubbing salt on the still-open wounds of most Mets fans.

And Major League Baseball can continue making money out the wazoo while half of it's other teams raise their ticket prices, despite the fact that in a real, ethical world guided by a sense of right and wrong baseball should have it's tail much further between its legs in the wake of an investigative report that just named more than 60 of its current and former players as users of performance-enhancing drugs while also speaking to its own culpability in this whole mess.


There is no level-headed reasoning here. Raising ticket prices on Mets fans next year just isn't right. At least we'll be ready for CitiField.

***

20%, incidentally, is also the percentage of money I took home after fellow Knicks die-hard Ivan Cash and I stood outside Madison Square Garden Wednesday night selling t-shirts with a sound, socially-conscious message for the holidays:


Admittedly, the Knicks are my third team in New York. But it's a strong third. Watching fans pour in and out of Madison Square Garden on Wednesday - to watch a horrible team - only served as a strong reaffirmation that there's nothing in New York quite like when the Knicks are good. That underdog finals run in '99 remains at the top of my list of most cherished sports memories.

So Ivan and I stood outside the Garden, voices hoarse from shouting "love the franchise, hate the coach...with a hand-crafted, original t-shirt!," among other sales pitches, all in our own for-profit attempt to build further outrage toward the mess that is the New York Knickerbockers.

Ivan designed and printed these shirts himself, and at $20 apiece we sold all 30 shirts that we brought with us. It was a pretty good night. Even fans who didn't want a hand-crafted, original t-shirt signaled their support. ABC eyewitness news, CW11 news at 10, NBC, and a freelance writer for the New York Times all asked what brought us out to the main entrance of Madison Square Garden to voice our opposition to Isiah Thomas and the Knick regime.

Bad move after bad move, no defense, sexual harrassment, a franchise in disarray, no end in sight. That's what.

Earlier Wednesday, dozens of other fans gathered outside MSG to protest the state of the Knicks and sign a giant pink slip for Isiah, which also received attention from the local network news media. So perhaps "FI-RE I-SI-AH!" is finally reaching a critical mass.

We can only hope. In the meantime, hate the coach.

(Images courtesy sayhey.files.wordpress.com, cnn.com, ivancash.com)

Sell the Farm?

If a Johan Santana-to-the-Mets deal actually ends up going down, it will probably look a little something like this:

BLOCKBUSTER TRADE

Mets get - Johan Santana
Twins get - Entire Mets farm system

Alas, the great dilemma. And upon hearing the news that other teams do actually think highly of their team's prospects - one in particular who happens to be looking to trade a 28-year old 2-time Cy Young award winner - Mets fans are tied in all sorts of knots and aren't quite sure what to think.

Yes, the Twins like our prospects. They like them so much that they're demanding at least 5, it looks like, in return for their ace pitcher. Metsblog added the following tidbit this afternoon, via Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated:

‘The Mets offered different packages of prospects that included either outfielder Carlos Gomez or outfield prospect Fernando Martinez but not both, declining to include the one extra prospect the Twins requested to clinch the deal according to people familiar with those talks.’

With a package including only Gomez, the Twins reportedly want 4 pitchers. No word on specific players, but you can bet that the four would most likely consist of the Twins' choice between Mike Pelfrey, Philip Humber, Kevin Mulvey, Joe Smith, Aaron Heilman, and Deolis Guerra.

Essentially, it looks like we either give up both of our remaining outfield prospects, or 65% of our young pitchers of value who are anywhere near being major-league ready. It's a decision to make.

Which is why I'm not screaming at Omar Minaya for not getting this deal done. I think that if this trade is possible, it needs to be made and we need to give Johan Santana every dollar that he requests, but there's a big decision to make here that's not necessarily easy.

Imagine a core for the foreseeable future of Santana, John Maine, and Oliver Perez in the starting rotation, with David Wright, Jose Reyes, and Carlos Beltran in the everyday lineup. That's only a hair over 1/5 of a full team, but it's a pretty formidable core. That's the type of core that, filling the blanks in with people who need only be able to throw and catch, pretty much makes you good no matter what. Think this year's Boston Celtics.

And we're 5/6 of the way there. But Santana's a pretty key part of that equation.

On the flipside, what happens if we need a 5th starter at any point this season. It's Lima time, baby!

What happens when our bullpen sucks again and Joe Smith is pitching lights out for Minnesota?

What happens when Fernando Martinez and Carlos Gomez form the core of the Twins young outfield in their new ballpark, Gomez is stealing 60 bases, F-Mart's having his breakout year, and all the currently premature Sammy Sosa/Juan Gonzalez comparisons are coming true?

The Twins are high on Gomez

Uhhh....we got Johan Santana?

It doesn't matter though. And the Celtics are actually a really good example of why this trade needs to happen, for either of the packages the Mets and Twins are mulling right now.

Boston traded like 7 young promising players over the summer for Kevin Garnett. It was obviously a sacrifice to make, but the Celtics determined it was worth it, because they would be putting a determined KG on a team with a determined Ray Allen and a determined Paul Pierce, all of them still at least somewhat in their prime. The rest of the team now looks kind of thin on paper, but the Celtics made an executive decision to put the core in place and worry about everything else later, because everything else would inevitably end up being less of a big deal than getting that strong core set. Rajon Rondo is running the point for the Celts. But what's their record?

That's right, it's 17-2, and the Celtics are going to coast to the playoffs as a top seed. What happens after that is anyone's guess, but it's pretty clear that they've built a juggernaut.

Restocking a depleted farm system isn't as hard as it used to be. Between the shorter times that players are spending in the minor leagues and the increase in attention and hype surrounding young players at all levels of a farm system, it's not hard to completely turn your farm around. Look at our own team in 2001. Alex Escobar? Within 2 years, the same system produced Jose Reyes; within 3 David Wright came up.

Look at the Yankees in '04-'05, at the height of their spend first, ask questions later phase. Within 2 years they have two promising pitching prospects, (Kennedy and Hughes) one young phenom, (Chamberlain) and a couple of outfield prospects who are probably overrated but are regarded highly.

Look at the Red Sox, who's farm was pretty barren after the first World Series title in '04. Notice how I said the first World Series title, as opposed to that second one where the youngsters played a starring role - and they also have the chips to acquire Santana if they wanted him as badly as the Mets do.

So with three first round picks this spring, a good draft gets the Mets right back on track. Add that to the potential infusion of rapidly-developing Latin talent that could come with a lot of the kids Omar's signed in the last couple of years beginning to grow up (literally). Add that to the fact that you never know when a minor-league player begins to show some strong latent skills. Add that to the fact that with a solid enough core, the chances of us really lamenting a lack of top-flight talent in triple-A for the next two years are pretty slim.

Sign Livan Hernandez to pitch out of the fifth spot in the rotation and give us innings. Find a market-value replacement for Moises Alou next year. Worry about the bullpen on a year-in, year-out basis, because that's all you can really do anyway. We can probably make this whole thing work for a couple of years until our system comes back.

And it's much easier to make the whole thing work when you've got a top-notch top 3 in your starting rotation with three top hitters in your lineup. Think Boston Celtics. If it stays on the table, this move needs to get made.

(Pics courtesy johansantana.net, nypost.com)

John Maine Likes Women's Clothing

...According the the New York Post's PageSix.com at least. It looks like Maine's having a nice offseason:

The Virginia-born ball-hurler later approached PageSix.com and asked to test-drive our frock as well. "I'm John Maine. I pitch for the Mets! I'm a hot piece of a*s!" he kept repeating. He said that he was on his way to a drag party later that night. "Come on, I'll give you $200 to try on your dress," he begged. "Just to take a picture. It'll be fun."

Apparently this all went down at the grand opening of Touch Nightclub last Thursday night - and no, according to the story Maine did not get what he wanted. But it sounds like our young starter, who usually speaks in short, generic sentences with the media, does indeed walk on the wild side every so often. It's always the quiet ones.

Does Maine not remind you a little bit of Nuke LaLoosh? (That's a Bull Durham reference, for you ignint people out there) You wonder how Maine would fare with Kevin Costner behind the plate telling him to keep his fastball down. I'm pretty sure he's a bachelor - what kind of role is Susan Sarandon playing in his life? Anyway, my point here is that like Nuke LaLoosh, Maine can sometimes lose focus on the mound and seems to at least have the part down about wearing women's clothing. Women's underwear, under his uniform possibly? Who knows.

"Whaddid I do last night?"

Mets Pitcher is a Drag (Page Six)
John Maine Loves the Little Black Dress (Deadspin)

(Image courtesy pagesix.com)

Eli Steps Up, Giants Win Key Game

Eli Manning doesn't play for the Mets. And the New York Football Giants don't play baseball.


Huge win today for Eli and my Giants though, as they top the Bears to show they're not totally imploding, again. 21-16 after 14 unanswered in the 4th quarter, key defensive stand to preserve the victory...this one kind of followed the same arc as that season-changing win over the Redskins earlier in the year. Eli didn't rebound so well in the first half from last week's debacle - he was terrible, actually, with a fumble and two interceptions, one in the end zone - but came on strong in that 4th quarter, tossing a TD and leading the go-ahead drive, all in the last 8 or so minutes of the game.

It almost seems like you can reduce an Eli Manning season to a simple breakdown of three different types of performances:

• There's the total stinker, which he's usually good for about 2 or 3 of. Last week falls into this category, along with the 2005 game against the Vikings where he also threw 4 picks. The December performance against Philly last year, where at the end of an already rough game, on a critical drive in the 4th quarter he threw one of his signature gets-blindsided-and-tosses-up-a-pathetic-floater-of-a-pass interceptions, watched it get returned for an Eagles touchdown, then followed it up with the dopiest of dopey Eli faces, falls into this category. Watch out, because one of these games might just come in the Wild Card playoff at home against the Carolina Panthers - and no we can't let that one go yet, actually, because even when young Eli plays well he still looks like at any moment he could turn into the quarterback that completely embarrassed himself and the Giants franchise on that cool January day. These games, obviously, are extremely frustrating - often unwatchable, actually - but can sometimes be offset by

• The really really good performance, in complete contrast to the total stinker, where he looks like, you know, the genuinely elite NFL quarterback #1 draft picks are supposed to turn into. He takes control of a game, looks a little like Peyton, and throws four touchdowns. The Dallas game on opening night this year would fall into this category, in addition to the Atlanta game in October on Monday night. 1 to 3 of these games each season give Giants fans hope that their team didn't totally screw them in the '04 draft, but more often than not Eli Manning just looks like
  

• Ordinary Eli. He'll be so-so, probably won't win or lose you the game, but might have a chance to win it for you with a 4th quarter surge. He can also totally suck for three quarters before the 4th quarter surge comes around, which bumps his performance up from total stinker to ordinary Eli - see today's game. He seems to have a knack for these random 4th quarter surges, which is certainly a quality you look for in your quarterback, but at the same it's never something you can count on. Often times the way he looks on the field is indistinguishable during these games from the way he looks during the total stinker, but the results are somehow different. The Denver game that he won on that lucky pass to Toomer a couple years back falls into this category. So does the one in Seattle later in the same season where he threw the tying score and set up the game-winning field goal three times but Jay Feely had some trouble ridding his throat of whatever it was he kept choking on. On the losing end, we saw ordinary Eli during the second Dallas game this year, the Dallas loss last year, and the wild-card playoff loss against Philly last year. You can never really predict how a Giants game will turn out during an ordinary Eli performance, as it will almost always depend on how the other parts of the team either prop Eli up or bring him down. One way or the other it never seems to look like he's totally in his element during those sudden 4th quarter bursts, and if he succeeds it's usually on some sort of lucky break, like the Toomer catch two years ago.
  

And there you have it. The Eli Ratio, taken in the same order as the list of common Eli performances (total stinker:really really good game:ordinary Eli) I just generated, has in Eli's brief career hovered around 2:3:11 or so over the course of a season. It's a crapshoot as to how the playoffs will pan out, but you can count on Eli probably being good enough for a decent team around him to win 10 games year in and year out, last year notwithstanding. You figure if the ratio ever moves to about 2:5:9 or even 2:4:10 the Giants might be able to beat the reinvigorated Dallas Cowboys. 1:5:10 or even 1:4:11 could conceivably get them through to an NFC championship game, but until the middle number increases significantly and the first number goes away all together it will be hard to predict with confidence how Eli will be able to carry his regular season numbers into the playoffs and respond to January football. Thus we can't really get a read on when, if ever, Eli Manning is ready to lead the Giants to a Super Bowl. We'll just have to wait and see.

Eli Manning has to become Phil Simms before he can even think about becoming Peyton

It's always interesting to look at Eli, though, because his arrival has kind of coincided with the emergence of Wright/Reyes, and the resurgence of the Mets. Fortunes have kind of coincided as well - Eli, and by association the Giants, have showed enough promise, but crapped out in crunch time in each of the last two seasons. Just like the Mets! Jose Reyes played the baseball version of Eli Manning down the stretch this season.

Wright and Reyes are different players though, as Wright contends for MVP awards and Jose's given us at least some evidence to suggest that September '07 was an unfortunate fluke. With Eli, you're just not sure if he's ever going to make it over that hump. It could really go either way.

I cheer for Eli, but in just about anything except football I think I'd take Wright or Reyes just about any day, across the board. Eli looks like kind of a sissy, so I'd rather let either one of Wright/Reyes have my back in a fight. Eli doesn't really look like he has much game, so I'd probably prefer to go out with Wright or Reyes. You can tell D Wright has that corny-white-boy-turned-Cliff Floyd's-bachelor-prodigy thing working for him - kind of like Sinbad and the President's son in "First Kid" - and Jose's skills in that realm seem to speak for themselves. But Eli? The McLovin of the Giants, maybe...


I guess things did turn out well for Fogell in the end. I'm sure Eli does just fine for himself. If he's half as adept at using bad pick-up lines to talk to girls as he is at using trite cliches to talk to the media, do you have a map? I just keep getting lost in your eyes... probably works out a decent amount of the time for him.

And that's not to say I wouldn't party with Eli Manning, if given the chance.

Eli Manning walks into a crowded kitchen at Amani Toomer's house party. He slides in between Brandon Jacobs and Plaxico Burress, who look annoyed and suck their teeth as Eli passes and moves for the cooler. "Who wants to watch the E-Mann take a funnel..."

But I digress. Ordinary Eli helped the Giants pull out a very important win today. We're 8-4, and back in control of the NFC wild card playoff picture.

And we'll wait with bated breath to see which Eli shows up next week in a key divisional game at Philly. Be rootin' for ya, kiddo...

Eli Bounces Back, Lifts Giants Past Bears (msnbc.com)

(Pics courtesy msnbc.com, louisvillesports.org, rwdmag.com)

Day Two, Still Angry

Ryan Church and Brian Schneider aren't going to be horrible players to have on our team next season.


When that's the best thing you can say about a trade on day two, it probably wasn't too great.

We won't hate Church, or Schneider. RY Chizzle (nope) will figure in a few rallies, get a big hit or two, make a couple nice plays in the outfield, and we'll warm up to him. He'll look stoned most of the time, with his "laid back California demeanor," making it a certainty that he and John Maine will be fast friends. Schneider will be an effective platoon-partner with Ramon Castro, and while getting the majority of starts may just show the world that it is possible for a Mets catcher to throw out more than 25% of would-be base stealers.

You know what? I think I'm kind of going to like these new players. They'll each have a nice little 2 or 3 year run in Queens, which is convenient, because by then Lastings Milledge should be just about entering his prime and showing the Mets how badly they got fleeced long-term with this deal.

This isn't as horrendous as Kazmir/Zambrano, as some fans are suggesting, because in all likelihood Ryan Church and Brian Schneider aren't going to totally suck for parts of roughly a season before running off the field in unbearable pain.


What irks me more than anything else about this trade, though, is how uncreative Omar Minaya was in making it. It's being billed by it's proponents and the Mets' PR department (roughly the same crowd on this one) as a move granting the Mets "additional roster flexibility," a real need-filler.

But, and I pointed this out yesterday, Omar Minaya couldn't have demanded a Jon Rauch in this deal? Really? We just traded our former top prospect and we couldn't have squeezed even Ray King out of it?

Oh yeah, that's right, we got Brian Stokes and his 7.whatever ERA from those pesky Rays. Bullpen problems: solved.

If this move had included a middle reliever, I might just be in support of it. Former top prospect with diminished value who will probably turn around and exceed unrealistically low expectations for three solid, mid-level major leaguers who address immediate needs on our team? Not bad, creative. Omar's trying to make things happen.

But instead Omar just made things happen by letting Jim Bowden take him out to dinner and a movie and never call him again.

****

Scene: Two office settings, one in Washington, DC, one on a Mets team private jet, en route to New York from the Domincan Republic, where Omar Minaya has just spent the past 2 weeks watching 17-year olds learn to hit curveballs. Minaya calls up old friend Jim Bowden, who's been salivating for weeks at the chance to steal Lastings Milledge from the Mets in exchange for two players the Nationals have determined they can live without. Jim's expecting Omar's call. The phone begins to ring in Bowden's office.

"This is Jim Bowden."

"Hi Jim, it's Omar."

"Omar! My man! The Big O! The Minayanator! What can I do for ya?"

"Well, I was wondering if perhaps you might be ready to do that deal we talked about..."

"Ahh, you're finally ready to pull the trigger on Milledge, eh? L Millz, as the kids are calling him these days. Knew you'd come around eventually. He'll fit right in in DC. Now, who did you want?"

"Well, I know we talked about Church and Schneider, but I wanted to ask if it might be possible to include a middle reliever. Rauch, maybe? Ray King? I know you're not going to give us Chad Cordero, sorry for asking last time. But anyone you might be able to offer would be greatly appreciated. It's just that we really need bullpen help and, and, we're a little thin in that department, and Duaner Sanchez is kind of lazy so he's no sure thing and, and...you know what I'm sayin'?"

"Yeah, of course Omar. I know what you're saying. And I'd love to help you out. I just don't know if that's possible right now. We do want Milledge, but I'm not sure if we're willing to part with anything else. Quite frankly, you're lucky I even threw Church into that offer. But I know how much you like him and all..."

"Well, when do you think you'll know? Billy Wagner's angry. I need to do something quickly."

"Let me get back to you Omar. I have to talk it over with Jesus Flores - sorry. And Manny Acta - okay, I'll stop. Can I give you a call back later today?"

"You know Jim, I'd really like to do this right now. Give me Schneider and Church and it's cool."

"You sure Omar? I don't want to take advantage of you or anything..."

"Really Jim, it's okay. The fans are going to love me. They love everything I do."

"Okay, man. It's your job..."

****

And that's how the Mets got Brian Schneider and Ryan Church. Two average major leaguers in exchange for a former top prospect who's still got a high ceiling despite some manufactured "character issues."

Really? We couldn't have gotten Jon Rauch? Really?

(Pictures courtesy media.philly.com, cantstopthebleeding.com)

Mets Trade L Millz, Matt Gets Angry

A brief quiz:

The Mets today traded 22-year old outfielder and former first round pick Lastings Milledge. The trade involved one of the following four teams:

a) The Oakland A's, keepers of Dan Haren
b) The Minnesota Twins, keepers of Johan Santana
c) The Baltimore Orioles, keepers of Erik Bedard
d) The Washington Nationals, who have acquired Milledge in exchange for...

Brian Schneider and Ryan Church? Not exactly the ace we were looking for.

Ryan Church: Just what the doctor ordered

And by that I mean, our General Manager just made a very shrewd deal that, while "helping to make us better offensively and defensively," (Omar's words) involved sending a 22-year old top young player away to a division rival in exchange for an above average outfielder pushing 30 and a "big on defensive" catcher who can't hit.

Paging Mike DiFelice...you couldn't have kindly reminded Omar Minaya that getting such a catcher wouldn't cost one of our premier trading chips?

Paging Lastings Milledge...it's really a bummer that the chance you'll be given to prove you too can hit .270 over a full season will be granted with a team not named the Mets.

I'm no fan of "win-now" moves, to begin with. I think that winning now and taking the future into account can almost always be compatible. And if you do make a win-now move, it better be for Manny Ramirez, or Barry Zito circa 2006, or Dan Haren last winter, (yeah, we probably could have made that move a year ago) or any of the other players Lastings Milledge's name has been tossed around in connection with. This was a win-now move, and we got, well, Brian Schneider and Ryan Church, for a player who could have produced at an acceptable level this year, and who could have quickly turned into another young anchor for these Mets within the next few years. Now we can watch him turn into a young anchor for the Nats, paying us back 19 times every year alongside Ryan Zimmerman, Nook Logan and the rest of the gang as they move into a new ballpark of their own.

The more optimistic fan right now will suggest that we not view this trade in a vacuum; "Omar's got somethin' up his sleeve! Let him work his magic!"

I will suggest that we stop viewing our General Manager as some bizarre magician wizard person, all-knowing and ready to spin Ryan Church around as the answer to our need for an ace. We don't have that ace right now. We have Ryan Church. When you trade one of your top young players for a couple of so-so 30-year olds, the trade should be viewed in a vacuum unless something better happens. If it does, I'll give credit where credit is due.

The luster's worn off, Omar Minaya. This move just makes no sense. If this was all Lastings Milledge, formerly one of the most coveted young players in the game, could get you right now, in November 2007, why wasn't it worth it to just let him play next season? For the third time, he couldn't have put up Ryan Church-like numbers? If nothing else, he couldn't have played himself into being as a more valuable trading chip for next July? For the third time, Brian Schneider and Ryan Church? You couldn't have demanded a middle reliever out of that deal?

I'm just trying to take away any positives I can find right now. Marty Noble seems to like the trade, which has only made finding a justification for it that much harder.

Right now, there's not a whole lot else to say. Peace up, young Lastings.

R.I.P.

(Photos courtesy mets.com, thecrockedpot.com)

Don't Let The Door Hit You On The Way Out

That's right - I'm talking to you, Tom McCarthy. You were 2006 and 2007's radio play-by-play guy for the Mets, and you're now going back to Philadelphia to call Phillies games again. Peace out, kid. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

The name Tom McCarthy certainly didn't mean anything to me when in late 2005 the Mets announced the replacement they had selected for Gary Cohen, who at the time was preparing for his first season in the Mets TV booth during what was then going to be SNY's inaugural season. For all the heartbreak, the Mets - Fran Healy and Ted Robinson excluded - have at least always had good broadcasters, so I figured that the team had done it's homework and found an acceptable replacement for Gary Cohen, also known as the God of all things play-by-play.

Tom McCarthy even looks like a knock-off version of this guy

Tom McCarthy was okay. Nothing more, nothing less, just okay. He kind of sounded like Gary Cohen, except crappier. His home run call was particularly crappy. All in all he was like a poor man's Gary Cohen, with a Michael Kay home run call.

All the while the Mets TV broadcasts, a weak point in the FSNY/MSG/Matt Laughlin days, have in the past two years been as good as, if not better than, anyone else in the business. Gary, Ron, and Keith have become somewhat of a trademark, and as I've mentioned previously on this blog the Mets are fortunate to have put together such a great TV announcing team.

But the WFAN/Mets relationship is perhaps as significant as that of any radio station/baseball team combo. 660 am WFAN is THE flagship station for New York sports, where WCBS 880 is just another corporate news station, doing games for the corporate Yankees. And it's carried Mets games for the entirety of its 20-year existence. Lets Go Mets! F-A-N! (doo doo doo) Anyone who's ever listened to a Mets game on the radio knows what I'm talking about. Plus they play "Meet the Mets" at the beginning of every broadcast. Mets extra.


Mets baseball on the FAN, most always preceded or followed by the sweet voice of Met fan Steve Somers, has always been a first class production. And for the most part, the broadcasts have always had first class commentators calling the game. Bob Murphy. Bob Murphy and Gary Cohen. Gary Cohen and Eddie Coleman. Gary Cohen and Howie Rose. Howie Rose and Eddie Coleman. Howie Rose and Tom McCarthy? It was just kind of a downer.

Plus Tom McCarthy is a total Phillies fan. He did their games, plus the pre and post-game shows, for the 5 seasons preceding his arrival in the Shea broadcast booth, and now he's going back there, under his own volition. He issued the following statement with regard to his most recent career move:

“I’m excited to be back in Philadelphia. I enjoyed my two years with WFAN and the Mets. Both are first-class, as are the Phillies. I’m looking forward to returning and can’t wait for spring training to get here.” (metsblog, via Phillies team press release)

Personally, I'm of the school of thought that team announcers should be partisan. Incredibly partisan. I want the people calling Mets games for the Mets TV network and the Mets radio network to be passionate Mets fans. Now, it's different for a Joe Buck, or a Tim McCarver, where the former is a Cardinals fan, the latter still has an axe to grind with the Mets, and the two of them make up Fox's - and in turn baseball's - premier announcing duo. National television announcers should at least not be blatantly slanted.

But Bob Murphy (RIP), Gary Cohen, Howie Rose - these guys all love(d) the Mets. They're not unreasonable, and they're fair in their commentary - unlike John Sterling, or anyone else who's ever called a Yankee game - but at the same time you can hear that extra note of excitement in their voice when something good is happening for the Mets. And when any one game gets out of hand you can usually catch a few old Mets fan-related anecdotes from these guys about their longstanding allegiance to the orange and blue.

Some commenter on metsblog said Tom McCarthy grew up a Mets fan. BS. If that were the case he would not have had the stones to turn around and do Phillies games for 5 years before finally getting his Mets gig. I understand that broadcasting jobs are hard to come by, but I would consider that an irreconcilable difference.

The point is that Tom McCarthy shouldn't have been with the Mets, and the Mets shouldn't have gone for Tom McCarthy. He did a decent job, but he certainly wasn't good enough for the Mets to have given a former Phillies broadcaster, who at the very least had just compromised his Mets fanhood for the previous 5 years, their top radio broadcasting spot.

So peace out, Tom. Take your generic video-game voice with you back down to Philly and enjoy yourself. Hopefully the Mets and WFAN can find a first class replacement for a second class announcer.

(Pictures courtesy mets.com, sports.gearlive.com)

Omar Minaya Makes Lemonade

This hot stove season, young as it may be, has already been frustrating for us Mets fans.

I think that may just come with the territory of cheering for a team that, traditionally down on it's luck, blew a 7 game lead in the last month of a season in which they were supposed to go to the World Series, but what do I know? I'm only speculating here.

My point is that we want to see something. We're irrational. We want results - now. Where's Johan Santana? Weren't we supposed to get A Rod? And Miguel Cabrera? Why didn't we trade for Brad Lidge?

And we forget that the free agent signing period is only 8 days old, and that the World Series has only been over for three weeks, and we're hard on Omar Minaya because we all placed varying degrees of blame on him for the debacle that was 2007, and he almost gave Yorvit Torrealba 15 million dollars, and he treated Paul Lo Duca like crap.

And we forget that it's not as simple as just "getting" Johan, or Eric Bedard, or Scott Kazmir. We forget that signing A Rod might not have been the best idea (I still think giving a 32 year-old a 10-year contract is unwise. While the treatment of Paul Lo Duca has certainly been shameful, in making Paulie Walnuts a martyr we conveniently ignore the fact that a 36-year old catcher made an initial contract demand of 3 years and upwards of $20 million. He can say all he wants how badly he wanted to stay, but a reasonable deal for Paul Lo Duca would have taken an awful lot of downward negotiation to actually work out. The man was slimed, but from a baseball standpoint it might have made good sense in the end to say "thanks for the memories, Paulie."

After the Torrealba deal did fall through, though, we were left in a bit of a catching quandary, to say the least. Despite the signings of Ramon Castro and Luis Castillo, taking care of two of our immediate priorities, we still had a need that had to be filled and could have potentially detracted from the all-important search for pitching. Who wants Michael Barrett? Jason Kendall? Gerald Laird? Whoopee! Ramon Hernandez and Bengie Molina are going to be hard to pry away from their respective teams, methinks.

So instead Omar made a very shrewd deal, getting another serviceable, mid-range talent catcher in Johnny Estrada (who we didn't have to sign for 3 years and $15 million, and who can be non-tendered in December if something better comes along) for...

We won't be seeing this next year

Guillermo Mota! That's right, I didn't misspeak and mean to say Carlos Gomez. Or Phil Humber, or Kevin Mulvey. Guillermo Mota - the late lead-blowing former steroid user and weakest link from last year's atrocious bullpen. Not a top prospect. Not anything remotely valuable. Omar traded Guillermo Mota, and swindled the Brewers into giving us an acceptable, switch-hitting catching option to platoon with Ramon Castro when they could have held firm and parted with nothing more than a bag of balls, which quite frankly many Mets fans probably would have been okay with.

Yeah, we all want an ace. We want to see marked improvement in our Metsies before '08 begins. But give it time. You don't think our GM with a zeal for flair and pulling off the big deal isn't trying to make that happen, if not for the sake of the team, then certainly for his own self-preservation?

We often lose sight of the fact that we no longer have a complete moron as our GM. We forget that having a GM who understands the value of not making a move just for the sake of making a move is a very good thing, and a fresh departure from years past. In our own passion for winning, and outrage at the way this season ended, we forget how lucky we are for a change to have some very good, or at least remotely able, minds at the top of our organization.

Omar was able to bend the book on conventional wisdom, and dealt from a weakness to fill a need - that is brilliant, and so un-Steve Phillips it's got to put a smile on your face.

The jury's still out on just how good a hot stove season this will end up being, but give credit where credit is due. You're pretty happy right now. This small move was enormously encouraging.

(Photos courtesy images.orblogs.com, thefeed.blogs.com)

Yorvit Torre-Not Gonna Play For the Mets Next Year

The Mets flirted with Yorvit Torrealba, took him out for a second date, asked him to marry them, and were all set to walk down the aisle, while jealous and heartbroken ex-girlfriend Paul Lo Duca sat on the sidelines, watching it all unfold in front of his sad, tear-soaked face. Ramon Castro was the bridesmaid, and there was a good chance he might just get in on a little bit of the post-wedding reception, no-longer-premarital action.

It was a match made in heaven...well, not really

But before Yorvit could make it to the altar, the Mets entertained some serious second thoughts. They wanted true love. They feared a short-lived, tumultuous marriage, even though they longed for someone to grow old with. They took a gander towards the wedding party and saw Yorvit's mother, who time had not been kind to.

In the end, they just couldn't go through with it. Before you could say ".250 career hitter," they were out of there.

Outside the world of metaphors, the Mets did get cold feet with regard to Yorvit Torrealba this weekend, and the free agent catcher will not be playing in Queens for 3 years and $14.4 million of the Wilpon family fortune. As I indicated at the end of my last post, while I still favored bringing back Lo Duca, I had come to terms with the deal, and even supported it a little bit. Metsblog dug up more positive commentary from Rockies fans toward the end of last week about the uniquely-named backstop, and a little Torrealba/Castro platoon was looking okay. The support, though, never left the "I'm cool with this because it's going to happen either way and I'm going to convince myself it's okay because there's nothing I can do about it" realm.

So I'm not too disappointed - my emotions, to be sure, are not in as poor shape as the Mets catching situation. What do we do now? Paulie may have really wanted us, but you've got to think he's a little too proud to let us go crawling back to him at this point.

Because apparently every single Mets failure over the last 2 years was completely the fault of Paul Lo Duca. Metstradamus sums this up pretty well, so there's no need to say the same thing twice, but Lo Duca is being made a total scapegoat. It's clear that he was never Omar Minaya's first choice, and apparently he didn't come around enough to Salsa music over the course of the last two years to make Omar, Tony Bernazard and co. view him in a more positive light.


Look, I like Omar Minaya, but he absolutely wins d-bag of the month of November for this one. Say you're not interested in bringing back Paul Lo Duca because he's a 36 year old catcher and could break down over the life of his new deal. Come up with some other excuse. Or just do as your grandmother always said and don't say anything, if you don't have anything nice to say. But instead the Met front office just threw Lo Duca under the bus so they could to justify giving a career .250 hitter three years and $15 million.

And now, because Torrealba failed a physical, or was part of the Mitchell investigation, or whatever, we have no catcher. And we don't even deserve a 36 year old catcher who could break down over the life of his next contract, and won't get him, although it now really looks like he's the best option at this point.

Because we need to use our trading chips for pitching, and the free agent market is now officially void of viable regular catching options. My vote is to let Ramon Castro, who's deal didn't collapse - if you will - start and pray it works. Find him a decent backup and hope he and Castro outperform the Alberto Castillo/Tim Spehr pre-Mike Piazza platoon from 1998.

We're going on three years since the start of the Pedro/Beltran era, two since Billy Wagner and Carlos Delgado joined the party. New Yorkers have short memories and an even smaller degree of collective patience. Go get some good pitching, Omar, and prove you're still worth anything.

(Pics courtesy angrychicken.typepad.com, superbweddings.com)

Not Such a Head-Scratcher?

Reports from metsblog, which is good enough for me, but which apparently originated through David Lennon and Ken Davidoff in Newsday, seem to be matching the Mets with free agent catcher Yorvit Torrealba. My first reaction?

Omar, what the hell are you thinking?!?

Why?

To begin with, the rumors have the Mets signing Torrealba at 3 years and $15 million. This is 1 year and $9 million more than the Rockies (who Torrealba played for this year) offered, which for one seems unnecessary. That's New York Knicks right there. Allan Houston. Tim Thomas. Overpay for marginal talent.

Last year, Yorvit (he does have a cool first name) hit .251 with 8 homers and 47 RBI in what was considered a "career year," but away from Coors Field that came out to just .212 with 2 home runs. Torrealba is apparently solid behind the plate, but threw out just 19% of baserunners, so as far as throwing out base stealers, he wouldn't be too much of an upgrade over Paul Lo Duca and his 23% rate. The move really doesn't seem to make sense because even while paying no attention to Yorvit's ridiculous Coors Field/road ballpark splits, Lo Duca, on a down year, still outperformed him in nearly every major offensive category (.272/9/54).

So what's up here? Apparently the Mets are tepid about resigning Lo Duca, especially on his agent's terms, which are reportedly higher than what the Mets would like to offer. Despite the energy and leadership Lo Duca brings to the team, Omar Minaya seems to see Paulie Walnuts and his Italian temper in a different, "Lo Duca's a nuisance and I don't want him back"-type light.

And thus, we move in a different direction. Minaya doesn't want to get a Gerald Laird, Ronny Paulino (Ramon Castro, v. 2.0 - not as good as the original), or Ramon Hernandez because they would all have to be acquired via trade. Such a trade would have probably involved one of the Mets few valuable prospects, which we obviously need if we're going to make any meaningful adjustments to the pitching staff beyond Carlos Silva or Livan Hernandez. As far as free agent catchers go, we lost out on giving 37 year-old Jorge Posada a 5 year deal (sweet Jesus, thank you God) so it's not too difficult to see how Omar came to the conclusion that Yorvit Torrealba was our best option.

Process of elimination, baby. Apparently Torrealba won't be signed to serve in the same capacity Lo Duca would have; who knows who will start on Opening Day, but with Ramon Castro working out a deal as well the plan is supposedly for Castro and Torrealba to split time behind the plate next season.

Which is odd, again, because reports have us going 3 and $15 million for a part-time player. Castro's contract is supposed to be somewhere in the range of 2 years and $4 million.

So, on the face of it, Omar Minaya has certainly taken a turn toward trying to lose his job. Until you consider what lies beneath, if you will. From Troy Renck of the Denver Post:

“Torrealba’s main value is that he has passion, he has leadership qualities and he worked wonders with their pitchers. He knew when to give them a pat on the back or a kick in the butt…"

Renck goes on to add, regarding Yorvit's media-savviness:

“He was very accessible to me, I had a great relationship with him and I found him to be very open, very candid and very insightful. He didn’t try to butter everything up. When a guy pitched poorly he explained to me why he pitched poorly without ripping him. If he felt like he called the wrong pitches he took credit for that…

In the playoffs he loved the attention, he gravitated towards the spotlight. He held court at his locker at several times…Now, how he’ll deal with 10 or 15 reporters, during like what the Mets went through last year, that I don’t know. I mean, he can be a little moody, but, to me, it’s a by-product of his passion…

He cares deeply about winning. So, sometimes when he gets upset, it’s not to be a jerk, it’s because he is genuinely upset and he doesn’t want to say the wrong thing, because he cares so much about winning – and I think that’s what his teammates respond so much to.”

So a reporter from Torrealba's hometown paper paints him as a solid teammate who's passionate, is good with the media, can lead, works well with pitchers despite his struggles throwing runners out, and relishes the postseason stage. Sounds good to me.

What to make of this? Personally, I'd like to see the Mets just bite the bullet and bring Lo Duca back. I've always liked the guy; I wrote this in his defense over the summer when he was taking some heat. While his stock has certainly dropped since then, and I no longer think it would be a "grave mistake" or whatever it was I said at the time to let him go, why not take advantage of the fact that he really wants to keep playing with us, negotiate him down, and give him like 2 more years? His numbers weren't so hot this past year, but for Christ's sake he's a frigging catcher. He's cool, he's kind of a throwback, there to be gritty and provide leadership, mainly, which he certainly is and which he certainly does.

But it sounds like Torrealba does the same things. At the same time you don't really lose all that much production-wise, he's 7 years younger, and this move allows Ramon Castro to move into an expanded role, something many fans were clamoring for this past year.

Gonna miss this

If we're over-paying for Yorvit Torrealba I hate to think what we'd offer A-Rod if we wanted him and he wasn't on the verge of going back to the Yankees (c'est tres bizarre, that whole saga). Still, I guess the bottom line here is that we're not bringing Paul Lo Duca back, which is sad but not criminal, and this turnaround move makes the most sense for a variety of reasons. I'm warming up to it.

In an interesting twist, the Rockies are supposedly one of the teams looking to bring in Lo Duca if the Mets don't retain him (metsblog). If nothing else, how gambling, 18 year-old girl chasing Paul Lo Duca fits into the Christian Coalition's good character clubhouse next season should be an entertaining storyline to keep an eye on.

(Photos courtesy mlb.com, cnn.com)

Time To Get Creative

I have no idea what to think about this offseason. I certainly don't know what the Mets are going to do. I don't have much of a read on what's possible, beyond what metsblog tells me at least, and I'm really not quite sure what I think should be done.

The Mets are in an interesting spot. I don't agree with the alarmists who predict a 4th-place finish next year and a near future full of mediocrity; some people are stupid, and with no moves we return a very good team next year, which will hopefully be pretty pissed about what happened at the end of this year. We've got a solid foundation.

Let us not be mistaken, however: that doesn't mean we don't need to make moves. Once again, Atlanta's always in the rear-view and Philly will be formidable; nothing will be easy in '08. And I think it's definitely true in this day and age that part of getting a team to play with fire is generating the right buzz to spark that fire. A lot of the right buzz can be generated with the right offseason moves - look no further than the 2006 season, where the Mets came in hungry after adding Billy Wagner, Carlos Delgado, and Duaner Sanchez to a team that had won 83 games the year before.

So, it's on you Omar. Know what I'm sayin'? Time to get creative.

Johan Santana might be out of our reach, or is he? Word on the street is the Twins need hitting and are willing to part with pitching. We might not have the prospects to get it done, but what if we send our three best prospects (Milledge, Humber, Pelfrey...apparently the Twins have some interest in Carlos Gomez as well) along with Carlos Delgado - of whose salary we would pay a significant chunk - in exchange for Santana?

He might have more value than we think

Is it likely? Probably not. Could it happen? Sure. Carlos Delgado looks a lot better on an AL team right now, maybe he pushes that deal over the top.

Supposedly the Padres are willing to trade Jake Peavy. God knows why they'd shop a cheap ace in the middle of his contract, but hey, that's their problem. The Yankees offered Melky Cabrera and Phil Hughes, which is laughable considering the fact that L Millz, RBIs aside, posted similar numbers in just 59 games (7 HR, 29 RBI, .272 avg. versus 8, 73, .273 for Cabrera) to what the Melk man put up for the full year.

Lastings Milledge already has a few cool nicknames. And a rap album. Melky Cabrera has a stupid first name, and an even dumber nickname. With no rap album. Suck on that, John Sterling.

Phil Hughes might be more highly regarded than Mike Pelfrey, but the extent of his big league work has so far been just as disappointing without being much more, well, extensive. And how would San Diego feel about getting two pitchers who may be a notch below Hughes (Humber/Pelfrey) but still have similar upside in addition to Milledge and a proven major leaguer. Heilman? I'm just speculating here.

We can trade with the Twins and not get Santana. Like I said, the Twins like Carlos Gomez, and apparently stud youngsters Kevin Slowey and Matt Garza are available. The Indians are open to trading embattled lefty with good stuff Cliff Lee (hmmm...where has that idea worked out before), while embattled righty with good stuff (5-15 with a 5.72 ERA last year, but he's highly regarded for a reason I guess) Edwin Jackson is also apparently available from the Devil Rays...sorry, the Rays. Speaking of the Rays, maybe, in looking for some semblance of buzz in the Tropicana Dome, they want an all expenses paid two years of Carlos Delgado, plus prospects, for, well, you know who I'm talking about. And, mystifyingly, apparently he's available too.

This guy - you might remember him - who we included in a stupid trade a few years back, but could apparently have back for the right price.

Or we could always just re-up Lo Duca and Castillo, grab a couple of arms for the bullpen, (the Nats like Kevin Mulvey and I like Jon Rauch) sign Carlos Silva, Livan Hernandez, or someone else to throw 200 innings out of the rotation, and go to work. I'd be okay with that. David Wright is going to hit at least one big home run off of Brad Lidge next year, so screw you Phillies fans.

We shouldn't sign A Rod. There, I said it. We don't need him and we can not only succeed but get much better without him. Let's forget about moving David Wright, committing $300 million, and get on with it. There are other battles we can fight, and don't come at me with that "losing attitude" crap. We don't need A Rod.

There's an offseason full of other potential options on the table, though. Time to get creative.

(Images courtesy blog.nj.com, thecrockedpot.com, tampabay.rays.mlb.com)

Shea-Rod?

Rampant speculation, entirely baseless rumors. Outlandish trade and free agent proposals aplenty, from every armchair GM calling into WFAN or writing their own blog. Welcome to the hot stove - it's only one month until the Winter Meetings.

A Rod talk has been widespread and deafening, and its only been a week since his untimely opt-out announcement. Of course, the Mets already have a third baseman, and a shortstop for that matter, but that hasn't stopped fans, baseball pundits, anyone really, from counting the Mets as a legitimate part of the Rodriguez mix. My own most recent post before this one considers the possibility of one big A Rod-related move the Mets could make this winter.

And make no mistake, readers of Warning Track Power, few and far between as you may be: I'm an idiot. There is no way the Mets should trade Jose Reyes. Even for Johan Santana, even if Alex Rodriguez would be his replacement. He is one of two Met players on the current left side of the infield that make up a star fundamental and homegrown core to be built upon, not leveraged...you've heard the argument, but that doesn't make it any less valid. If the Mets are indeed going to pursue Santana, it should be with their current prospects, i.e. Gomez/Milledge/Humber/Pelfrey, or they should just hope he makes it to free agency next winter. If not, we should find a way to win without him (Santana); I'm sure it can be done.

Don't trade Jose Reyes. Ever.

As for A Rod, I also said I wouldn't favor an acquisition of this year's presumptive MVP if it didn't in turn mean Reyes for Santana. Once again, I lied. If the Mets do go after A Rod, it should and should only be with a three-way commitment to him, David Wright, and Jose Reyes. This would require a position switch for one of David or Jose, but if it's feasible to move Wright to first and trade Carlos "I'm bored" Delgado, (the only position switch that should possibly accommodate an A Rod signing) going after Rodriguez under these terms at least seems worthy of consideration.

There are several reasons for going either way on this. At the end of the day, I have no gut feeling. I'm torn. Consider that:

An infield with Wright, Reyes, and A Rod would be monstrous. Wright might be better suited for first base anyway, that infield would put up absurd offensive numbers. Reyes, Wright, A Rod, and Carlos Beltran in 4 of the first 5 spots in the batting order would be a pretty sweet offensive core for the next several years. A Rod would break several MLB records in a Mets uniform and there would be a good chance that one of the greatest players in the history of the game would go into the Hall of Fame wearing a Mets hat. I've never liked A Rod, but this all might just be a manifestation of the really-hot-girl-who-you-don't-like effect. She starts to seem a lot more likeable when you find out you might have a chance with her.

Like Amanda Peet in "Saving Silverman"...kind of

On the flipside: 10 years, $300 million. We can afford it sure, but A Rod is 32 right now. That means he will be between the ages of 37-42 for entire second half of his contract. 42 is old. That's the downside of his career. $150 million would be going to a player on the downside of his career putting up declining numbers.

This deal would look really good for a few years, but what about after that? A Rod would probably break the home run record in our uniform, while also passing Pete Rose's career hits mark in those last 5 years. Is that worth $150 million? That's the $300 million question.

To me, it's also the only serious reason why signing A Rod would be a bad idea. Make no mistake, it's a big consideration, but as far as moving David Wright, I don't think it's such a bad plan. Kevin Youkilis, Albert Pujols, and Craig Biggio all serve as counterpoints to any arguments about position switches and their negative impacts. And for all the fuss about A Rod's ego, potential to be a cancer in the clubhouse, and postseason failures, I have a feeling a lot of the problems with him are going to go away with him leaving the Yankees. I think the financial question will be a huge question for whoever A Rod's next team ends up being, but as far as the other "issues" go, I really don't think they're that big of a deal and I think they were exacerbated by the competing arrogance and total lack of support that met A Rod's arrival in the Bronx.

In the end, though, I guess I would rather spend that $30 million per season elsewhere. A Rod would be the big splash move that's not going to come regarding the pitching staff this offseason, because our prospects aren't good enough to get Johan Santana - even Scott Kazmir - and, well, we've been through the other scenario and why it should never happen. Omar Minaya might be feeling pressure to make that big splash, but I'm just not sure it's worth that amount of money. We have a left side of the infield. David Wright just won a gold glove. We need pitching.

But oh that tricky catch-22: there's not any non-overpriced, better-than-mediocre pitching out there that's legitimately available to us this offseason. Should we do what we can and save the money for the impressive crop of free agent pitchers hitting the market next year? Maybe we can get any of those overpriced, mediocre pitchers we need while also signing A Rod. I don't know.

I know I could still end up going either way on this, which is good, because it's going to take forever to play out. Screw you, Scott Boras.

(Pictures courtesy usatoday.com, celebopedia.com)

The Nuclear Option

I've vacillated on this point and turned it over in my head, considered the possibility and agonized over how it would make me feel. I've thought at length about what it would mean for the Mets, in '08 and going forward.

The idea's been referenced - brought up in the blogs, on the message boards, in the daily way-too-early off-season conversations and thoughts of many a Mets fan. I'm hardly the first person to think of it; really it's not an altogether ridiculous or unrealistic proposition, and while it's not completely obvious the idea certainly doesn't come out of left field - switching up our metaphors, maybe we could say it comes out of the left side of the Mets infield, which would be dramatically altered if...

You'd think, given A Rod's millions, that, you know...Cynthia Rodriquez?!?

We signed Alex Rodriguez to play short, then traded Jose Reyes to the Minnesota Twins for Johan Santana.


The scary part, as I mentioned, is that the Mets could probably make it happen if they wanted to. SNY, Citi Field and all, they're certainly one of the few teams right now who could afford A Rod, regardless of whether they were to then turn around and use Reyes to acquire Santana. (If they just signed A Rod, a move by itself that would be considerably less likely in my opinion, David Wright would probably move to 2nd or 1st) As far as trading Reyes for Santana, we all know the scenario with Johan. He's the best pitcher on the planet, he hits free agency next year, the Twins won't be able to afford him, many people think he's getting dealt this offseason one way or another. You're telling me the Twins don't take a 24 year-old shortstop who, absent a terrible September, is still the most electrifying player in the game, blah blah his contract for the next four years is far below market value?

This move (the two would have to be a package deal for me to consider either of them) would obviously blow up the look of the Mets. One of the two best homegrown Mets players since Doc and Darryl would be gone. David Wright would hit his prime in A Rod's shadow; that could be a good thing or a bad thing but he's a team player and I think he blossoms into the Mets' unquestionable leader over the next 10-15 years regardless of who's playing around him. We would obviously only make the move with Minnesota if we were granted a window to negotiate with Santana, and knew we could sign him (though I can't substantiate this, I've heard Johan Santana has expressed a desire to pitch in New York, for the Mets, and would presumably be eager to sign with us long term for the right price). Johan Santana would obviously demand an A Rod-like contract of his own, and at the end of the day, without going into Yankee territory payroll-wise we'd basically become the Red Sox, i.e. big-market club who hovers around $100 million for a long time before biting the bullet and going up to around $140 million because the money's there and it's just a question of being willing to spend it. Make no mistake - with Carlos Delgado ($16 million), Pedro ($11 million), Orlando Hernandez (6.5 million), even Guillermo Mota ($3.2 million, aye) coming off the books after next year, along with the aforementioned new ballpark and on-the-up-and-up cable network (one needn't look further than the YES network for an accurate model of yearly revenue growth for a sports team-oriented cable TV station in a big market), the Mets have the ability to afford Johan Santana and Alex Rodriguez.

There's a laundry list of reasons why signing A Rod and trading Reyes for Santana might be a bad idea, certainly why it's unnecessary. Build around your homegrown and existing talent - just look at three out of the four teams in the two League Championship Series this year; that's also what made the Mets successful last year. But homegrown talent is just as valuable if it's dealt in the right moves for the right players on other teams. Perhaps a package to the Twins lands Joe Nathan too and helps solve our bullpen issues.


Look, you can make arguments either way on this. We might be selling our soul, we might be making the right move for the sake of the franchise. I love Jose Reyes; I think he's coming back strong next year. And I think that no matter what happens this off-season we've got the talent regardless to go back to the playoffs in '08.

Interesting to see, though, if we pursue the nuclear option.

(Photos courtesy atomicarchive.com, msnbcmedia.com, cnn.net, emlbhome.com)

Fighting With Your Family

I lied, I'm not going to write about Joe Torre. The one-week window for writing about current events has come and gone, and I've been far too lazy on my off-season, pre-hot stove blogging schedule to put something up about a story I really don't care about all that much.

I will say this: imagine you have this job, right, where even though you've been given all the tools to be good at it, you've still had nothing but success. Even while you've had such unchecked success, your boss won't stop looking over your shoulder, criticizing you at nearly everything that resembles a wrong turn. Even though your boss is a jerk, you still continue to be successful. When it comes time to renew your contract, though, you're offered less money.

If the Yankees wanted to fire Joe Torre, they should have just come out and done it. On the classiness meter, what the Yankees did do was kind of like the old "it's not you, it's me" excuse for breaking up with someone. You're too afraid to be straightforward, so you employ some backhanded method that still achieves your ultimate goal. Brilliant!


But like I said, I don't really care about Torre. As long as he stays away from the Mets, and as long as Mets fans stop suggesting that the Mets bring him to Queens along with Jorge Posada to catch, Andy Pettite for the starting rotation, and Mariano Rivera to turn 37, 38, 39, and 40 while blowing more and more saves over the length of the 4 yrs. and 40 million it would take to get him.

From Marty Noble's weekly mailbag on mets.com:

Just so happens that a general manager candidate has become available. He's a winner and is well respected; he knows the Mets manager, works well under pressure and he probably would be able to add a left-handed starting pitcher, a switch-hitting catcher and a closer. Is Joe Torre's future with the Mets? Would adding him and at least three players with 12 rings help the Mets?
-- Frank S., Queens Villge, N.Y.

I used to feel like Marty Noble was disrespectful to the people who submitted questions to his mailbag. To be honest, he's always come off as a smug jackass who, while admittedly a very good and engaging writer, can't stop shoving his knowledge of the Mets down your throat. It's in this case, though, that I wish he would be more like the smug jackass and less like whatever kind of writer gives stupid questions anything more than stupid answers.


Margaret from Jackson, NJ, sent in this query:

What's your opinion -- Torre for the Mets' general manager? Maybe with him there Willie Randolph will be allowed to manage the team.

Whaho, that's clever Margaret! Throw in a jab about how Omar is overbearing because he feels like he should have a say in choosing coaches, while also proposing the brilliant idea of bringing in over-the-hill Yankees and their old ex-managers to solve our problems and reinforce our already deep New York inferiority complex.

I say "Fighting With Your Family" because it's so disappointing to read this crap coming out of the mouths (off the fingers?) of fellow Mets fans. Maybe the internet is ultimately a bad thing, at least for sports fans, because by reading stuff like this we're torn apart by each other's unpleasantly surprising stupidity, where in the good old days we'd just go to the ballpark, cheer, and be blissfully ignorant of how dumb significant chunks of each of our team's fanbases can be. Last week Juan G sent this in...

Don't you think that Omar Minaya is the person primarily responsible for the Mets collapse? He was told last year that he needed to improve the pitching. Instead of going after some big-name pitchers, he said that he was not going to do that. Then, he still did nothing when the July trade deadline came and went. What was the result of his not doing anything about the pitching? One of the most disastrous collapses in Major League history. Don't you believe that he is primarily responsible?

...which isn't stupid, so much as just completely ignorant. Big-name pitchers like Barry Zito, right? Who Minaya went after, hard, but didn't offer $127 million over 7 years to because he's really not that good. Maybe Barry's 11-13, 4.53 line this year could have stopped the collapse. Or maybe we should have gotten Gagne at the deadline? Because Eric Gagne, the Canadian version of Guillermo Mota, wouldn't have sucked as much as everyone else in the bullpen - curious that for the most part he's been conspicuously absent from Boston's postseason bullpen mix - and wouldn't have cost us two or more of our four prospects/young players who are worth anything right now (Milledge, Pelfrey, Humber, Gomez).

Criticize Omar for trading Heath Bell, or Matt Lindstrom, or whatever. Not without their appropriate reasoning at the time, but still moves that didn't pan out. But dammit I'm sick of this "didn't get a big name" crap. The pitching market last Winter said Jeff Suppan was a big name, but Omar stayed away because he's not an idiot. And questionable bullpen moves last offseason aside, the team that Omar Minaya put on the field this year should have won 92-95 games and gone back to the playoffs as two-time NL East champs. The majority of the screwing up was done in the dugout, on the field, but certainly not in the front office.

I'm not the first Mets blogger to write about the mailbag. And there's probably someone out there who thinks I'm dumb, along with "the Sip." (Big shouts to Yankees2000, my favorite Mets blog out there) But it's just so infuriating when members of your family say stupid things.

Are the winter meetings here yet?

(Photos courtesy newsday.com, sny.tv)

Blue and Orange Envy

Not gonna lie, a part of me has always been jealous of the Red Sox, even before they started winning. The history, ballpark, united devotion to one team of not just a city, but an entire geographical region...it's always been somewhat of a cause for envy.

Then I watched them win a World Series while still waiting on the Mets. Then I watched them come back from 3-1 to win another AL pennant just three short weeks after the Amazins' completed the most amazin' 17-game collapse in baseball history.


I root for the Red Sox when the Mets are out of it. I was born in Massachusetts, I loved the Red Sox in the '04 postseason as if they were my own. I'm happy for the Sox right now and I'll be going for them in the World Series, even against Kaz Matsui's hard-not-to-like Rockies, and several friends of mine who call Colorado home and have never known a winning baseball team until now. But at the same time I know that they are not my own. I'd of course be ten times happier if it were the Mets who were headed to the World Series. Any joy I feel for the Boston Red Sox in the god-fatherly sense; perhaps more accurately it's like the feeling you get when your best friend starts dating a beautiful girl.

I love my Metsies and I can't wait for '08. And as happy as I am for my #2 right now, I'm still jealous.

Congratulations Red Sox. More to come on Joe Torre and fighting with your family.

(Photo courtesy espn.com)

Warning Track Power

Perhaps you noticed the name change. After deciding that "Bleeding Blue and Orange" had to go, (it's not original...touche, "Steph") I spent about a month trying to decide on a new name. If you've read my blog, you may have noticed that despite no change in the URL, the name for the last week or so has been "Foul Territory." Well I don't like that either. So from now on it's going to be "Warning Track Power." Thought of it just now. Seriously, I did. Good right?

That's it, Warning Track Power. Throwin' that out there. If somebody else has this name already I don't give a damn. My blog is better.

My blog, which in case you were unclear, is henceforth going to be called Warning Track Power. Consider yourself warned.

Monday Night

Lots of good TV tonight. Just finished watching "Heroes"...that show is nuts. It's really the only show on TV that I make any sort of commitment to so I get pretty into it.

There was Heroes, there's Red Sox/Indians on FOX, my Giants are currently taking on the Michael Vickless Falcons in Atlanta. And oh yeah, there's another League Championship Series, too. Up 3-0 in the NLCS, the Colorado Rockies will play for a World Series berth in just a little bit.

Speaking of the Rox, how scared are you of Colorado right now if you're the Red Sox or Indians? In what was once again supposed to be an AL year, the team that's one game away from representing the National League in the World Series has won 20 out of their last 21 games. Everything's going right for those dudes from Denver, with Kaz Matsui leading the charge.


Sorry I haven't written in a while. I'm kind of taking it easy while there's no real Mets news to speak of. The Phillies still suck. And how about those Yankees?!? You know about that already though. Stay tuned the next couple days while all the boss' men decide Joe Torre's fate. I'm so glad I'm not a Yankee fan; I like my soul.

Bear with me while I get back on it. Don't know how much Mets I'll be talking until the Hot Stove starts, but before too much longer I'll launch into some additional analysis of where the Mets stand right now and what we'll need if we're to even think about preparing for glory in '08.

So much better than "your season has come"

Giants up 21-10 at the half. Eli's gone for 208 yards and 2 TDs so far. Good for that soul of mine, and the old fantasy team.

(Pics courtesy about.com, cbc.ca)