If the 2008 season goes anything like the first week of spring training my laptop may explode. Some thoughts after one week of workouts:
Johan Santana looks so good that I’m scared. This is my over forty years of Mets Fandom kicking in again as I can never be happy and accept that a guy on my team is better than anyone else.  Santana has come in to St. Lonesome and seems to have fit like he’s been here for years. So far the dispatches out of St. Lonesome claim that he is the real deal with a plus-plus fastball and a Hall of Fame change up and the scuttlebutt is he should have NL batters on a string like a puppeteer. WOW and he’s ours.  It’s not just the media who is impressed but when a guy like Carlos Beltran, who acts as the child who is seen but not heard, comes out with bold statement and a big middle finger to Jimmy Rollins telling the baseball world that the†Mets are the team to beat†it just shows how big a move getting Santana was.
I’m glad Billy Wagner has spoken up and put Willie Randolph on notice that he will no longer pitch in 5 run blow outs and wants to be used like every other closer in baseball for three outs at the end of the game. Randolph as we all know, screwed up the bullpen rotation down the stretch last year by pitching that turd Guillermo Mota and yanking Pedro Feliciano at the mere sight of a right handed hitter. I’ve said it time and again we mere mortals think it’s pure bullshit that guys in the pen need to have their role etched in stone but the bottom line is they do and hopefully Willie Randolph realizes this.
While we are on the bullpen, an area of the organization that had more question marks than The Riddlers jacket, it looks like it could emerge as a big strength. The major area, the back end of Feliciano, Dirty Sanchez, Heilman and Wags is looking like it’s in 2006 form (please Dirty no cab rides in South Beach this year). That leaves four jobs left. RHP Jorge Sosa and LHP Scott Schoeneweis should grab two of them. RHP Matt Wise could grab one so that leaves one job to fought for by Joe Smith, Carlos Muniz, Joe Smith , Brian Stokes, Andy Cavazo, Nate Field and Rule V’er Steve Register. Righties all of them.
Most guys of my generation hate the handshake ritual of Jose Reyes. Not me I always got a kick out it but it seems that Reyes will fore go his “routine†and act like a grown up. Maybe someday I’ll act like a grown up too.
Poor Freddy Skill Sets. The guy has been a recluse the last year or two and when he comes out to get a little sun and fresh air the jackals descend on him. When asked what he considers a successful season, he says “nothing short of a World Series will do†it becomes a huge headline. What is he supposed to say?
Back to Willie Randolph between Billy Wags, Gary Carter and to some extent Freddy Skill Sets the bulls eye is on the skippers back. Wags let it be known how he feels the pen pecking order should go. Carter all but pleaded for the first base coaching job that went to Rickey Henderson and now to Tom Nieto (can you imagine Camera Carter and Willie co-existing? Think of the post game press conference as Kid would want his own after Randolph’s ) Freddy Skill Sets claims jobs are safe but we know that if the Mets get off to a slow start Willie’s head will be on the chopping block.
Not only has Petey looked impressive physically he has gotten his swagger back as well, declaring he is the best drug free pitcher of the last 10 years. Muy bueno Petey!
D-Wright looks to have listened to the words of wisdom of Keith Hernandez as he will cut down on his during the season appearances which is a good thing. Next Mex will show him the advantages of the dry martini.
$270,000 worth of jewelry? Someone has to explain to me why a man needs $270,000 worth of jewelry? Fucking mind boggling.
I am so sick and tired of the bullshit stories on steroids and HGH that the media is foisting down our throats. I wish they would treat pedophiles with the “cut your balls off “mentality like they do to players caught with PED’s. There is still no proof that any of these substances   make anyone better and can we stop with calling them “cheatersâ€.  Does a guy who goes for Lasik surgery have an advantage by making his eye sight better? Is Tommy John surgery a performance enhancer?  Athletes are the most gullible people on earth. If you told a ball player that if he made a hat out aluminum foil and wore it to bed he would run faster or throw harder, Alcoa stock would sky rocket.
One thing on Andy Pettitte. At least he knows he is an accepted member of the Highlander Gangsta Posse . As Dumbo, Mo and Captain Phony Fuck were front and center for his Jimmy Swaggart presser. How would you like to be Alex Rodriguez knowing that Captain Phony Fuck would never do that for him. Â Â Â Â
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This post was written by kranepool on February 20, 2008
There is still no proof that any of these substances make anyone better and can we stop with calling them “cheatersâ€.
I think there’s a lot of proof that steroids make you stronger and more responsive. That’s a big advantage. HGH is more of an open question.
I didn’t see the Petitte press conference. Who’s “Dumbo”?
but there is no proof that steroids give you the hand eye coordination you need to hit a baseball as we see as many of the players on the list of guys who tested possitive are mostly C and D list players
Dumbo is Jorge Posada just look at the ears
Those performance enhancing drugs do NOT give extra hand eye coordination – that is like your throwing arm or how fast you can run — it’s a God given talent. What PED’s do though is give you extra strength which for hitters will mean better bat speed and power. Now you can hit those 98 mpg fastballs where before you could not catch up. Also if you are hittng the ball harder, it makes sense the ball has a better chance of finding a hole or gap to become a hit. For a pitcher, you are talking extra arm strength throughout the arm – throwing harder, tighter, sharper break on pitches as you can snap the ball better. The thing is, you do have to have talent before taking the stuff to become extraordinary. The C and D list players that got busted wanted to become B and C players with at least a chance to be a consistant major leaguer.
but there is no proof that steroids give you the hand eye coordination you need to hit a baseball as we see as many of the players on the list of guys who tested possitive are mostly C and D list players
Steroids also make you more confident and aggressive. I’ll check on the hand/eye stuff. I remember reading something in the London Times about the effect it has on tennis players.
As for the C & D players, I keep thinking about my friend Danny Peltier who had a cup of coffee in the big leagues in the mid 90s. Could he have made a career if not for those C & D players who cheated to take his place from him?