Greeting from the Catskill Mountains. Some how I got talked in to going up to hither lands for Thanksgiving Weekend and as I look out the big picture window of the lobby where it sure looks like winter and while my wife and kids go horseback riding( the last time I was on a horse was when my mother was putting dimes in the ride outside of Woolworth’s on 5 Ave in Bay Ridge) so while I have idle time I’ve read some stories on the direction the Mets are going for a closer and all I can say is I hope Omar is not the guide on the trial my family is riding on because I may never see them again.

I’m a bit cloudy on just what Omar’s strategy is when it comes to the pen. He doesn’t want to spend a lot of the Skill Sets dough on a K-Rod or Brian Fuentes and he could take out a patch up approach with Kerry Wood or Trevor Hoffman. He may trade for Bobby Jenks or Houston Street or he may just hand the job to Bobby Parnell and or Eddie Kunz. What Omar has become is the Johnny Rodz of baseball (old time wrestling fans remember The Unpredictable Johnny Rodz)

Hopefully this bullpen riddle will be clearer starting next week when the Winter Meetings kick off in Vegas.

As soon as that first snowflake fly’s I’m heading back to civilization

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Just wanted to wish all of you a very happy Thanksgiving and hope you are all surrounded by friends, family and food on this day. Even with the latest economic problems that we have in this country we are still blessed to be Americans and hopefully our new president will bring us the much needed change and hope we have been looking for.

Not much time to comment on the rumors such as Brian Fuentes asking for a 3yr/$30 mil deal which would be double the money per year he made last year. What did you expect as Fuentes and his agent know the Mets must sign a closer so why not shoot for the moon. Now it’s Fransisco Rodriguez turn to bid and it looks like who ever signs for less will be the Mets closer (I think Kerry Woods is the dark horse candidate here)

Interesting that the Mets supposedly turned down the Rockies bid of Houston Street for Aaron Heilman and Pedro Feliciano. Why would Omar turn this deal down if he didn’t have plans to use Heilman as a fall back pick in the rotation or if he has a bigger deal in the works? I can’t imagine that putting Felicano in the trade was a deal breaker, not when you still have Scott Schoenwies as the house LOOGY still on payroll and an other LOOGY Brian Shouse is on the free agent market to more than make up for a Feliciano departure.

Got to run as I have to travel a whole 6 blocks to my in laws for the day, got to beat that traffic.

Posting will be a bit spotty the next two or three days as my family talked me into a weekend trip to the Catskills but the laptop will be in tow so again enjoy your Thanksgiving and the weekend go get those sales!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Great piece of writing by Howard Megdal in the New York Observer on making a case for putting Aaron Heilman into the starting rotation something I’ve advocated for the past two years. It’s so chi-chi for Mets fans to bash Heilman for his failures as a reliever and I’m not saying that it was unwarranted especially last year while I’m a Heilman fan he disappointed me greatly by not stepping up to grab the closer role when Billy Wags went down but maybe it was a bum knee or just that his mind set is always a starting pitcher mentality-and please don’t give me the horse shit refrain that he makes x ammount of money and should be grateful to be in baseball bromide that I am so sick of hearing, think about this on your job if your boss saw you cleaning up your work area and said “wow your so good at cleaning here’s a mop and do the bathroom” how would you react (me, I’d use the mop handle on him like it was a rectal thermometer)-Heilman lost out on a rotation spot in 2006 to Brian Bannister not because Bannister beat him out but due to the Mets wanting to keep both pitchers and with Heilman already in the bullpen the logic was to keep him there.

Think of how many rag armed pitchers have stepped on the Shea mound over Heilman and none of them with anything close to the talent of Heilman and I’m surprised he kept quiet this long.

As Megdal points out the free agent market for starting pitching will be insane especially if CC Sabathia stays true to his word and plays on the West Coast, the Highlanders and Red Sox will throw money around like they were hedge fund managers. I’m sure Sabathia will be getting phone or text messages from Derek Lowe, AJ Burnett and Ollie Perez to please take that Angels offer so they can’t become filthy rich.

So what would be so bad with keeping Heilman and Niese in the 4-5 spots and taking a flyer on Freddie Garcia or signing Jon Garland and spending that money saved on a payout or sweetener in trading Gimp Castillo and signing Orlando Hudson?

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I still don’t know what to make of the sslllllllllowwwwwww cooking hot stove but all this idle time has me making up deals in my head. Some of course are ridiculous like how about Aaron Heilman for Luis Puljos? Or Gimp Castillo and prospects for Roy Halliday (I came up with those after I ate some odd looking mushrooms) but one I came up could fly at least in my simple mind:

 

Gimp Castillo, Aaron Heilman, Brian Schneider a prospect and money (half of Castillo’s ill gotten gains) to the San Fransisco Giants for Bengi Molina and Randy Winn. The Giants get a second baseman for half price, plus a back end of rotation pitcher in Heilman and choice of a B level prospect (from a list the Mets provide) and they get relived of close to $15 mil in salary relief.  The Mets get a big upgrade at catcher plus a switch hitting bat for RF which in turn makes Ryan Church a bargaining chip for pitching.

 

Go ahead and flame away!

 

Saw these pics on Dom’ D’s Mets info laden site of Bailout Park. There is one shot of the bullpen that I hope is still under construction because I don’t see the Kevlar roof that will be needed to protect the relievers from the angry mob of Mets fans.

 

Mike Silva has a great post on his site on the 2^nd base black hole and the lack of leadership that is needed on the Mets. When we think of leaders we always go with fiery types like guys Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter but sometimes leaders are guys like Eli Manning who is far from being a spitfire in the personality department but he has stepped up and become the leader of the New York Football Giants by stepping up his game and remaining clam when tough and tense times occur. It also helped him immensely that two of his biggest critics and the biggest wash women on the team Tiki Barber and Jeremy Shockey were gone from the team and in turn Manning flourished. That’s why I would have loved to see Omar deal off Carlos Delgado to get not only max return off his stellar half season but them maybe David Wright would feel more comfortable to exert his leadership to the team. There is a part of that feels a team with mostly younger players would be more beneficial to the Mets winning than having older players. Maybe it’s still the hangover from the Famous Rays season but I like watching young guys bust their ass day after day than old ones drag their saggy butts around all season.

 

The Angels look like they are gearing up to offer C C Sabathia a Johan Santana like contract. I really don’t care where Sabathia goes but as long as he doesn’t end up in the Bronx just watching Mike Francesa look like more of a horse’s ass than usual will be a great holiday gift.

 

How come no one talks about Nick Evans? Talk about a forgotten man. Another reason why I’d move Delgado as a platoon of Dan Murphy and Evans at first would be more than adequate and then if the Mets made my Giants deal you could keep Church and Winn together with Endy Chavez and Fernando Tatis leading a strong bench (Omar go get Willie Bloomquist please)

 

Check out Toby Hyde’s Mets Minor League Blog as he has a post on Tigers catcher James Skelton who could be available as a Rule 5 draftee. Skelton is very slight in built especially for a catcher (5’11” 165lbs) but he has a good batting eye and could be converted to a 2^nd baseman a la Craig Biggio. It never ceases to amaze me how progressive thinking the Mets bloggers are compared to the organization which sometimes is stuck in the old time baseball mentality.

 

Do you think the message has sunk in to the Mets brain trust’ heads that there is no way on earth Mets fans want to see Gimp Castillo at 2^nd base on opening day 2009?

  

 

 

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I admit I have no patience especially when it come to the Mets and the way they go about their business both on and off the field, but for some reason so far this off season I’m content with sitting back and waiting for Omar Minaya to make his move because from the look of the off season landscape no one else is jumping in either. Of course the Highlanders have to make their splash with the Nick Swisher deal and looking to pay CC Sabthia by the pound, by the way I’ll take off me “Highlander Hater” hat for a moment to say if I were a fan of the team from the South Bronx I’d be screaming for them to make signing Leo Mazzone to a big free agent contract and put him in charge as an origination Pitching Czar. Then Baby Boss Hal should tell Billy Connors he has till the count of ten to clean out his office in Tampa and hit the road. But I’m not a Highlander fan (Thank God!) and I have enough to do here sticking my nose in the Mets business.

 

I highly recommend you listen to Mike Silvas’a NY Baseball Digest podcast from last night as he had Ted Berg of SNY and Howard Megdal of the NY Observer along with Phil Alder of WCBS88 in what was an in depth and informative look at the needs of the Mets and Highlanders. Definitely a must listen.

 

I can’t imagine the Mets will let either Fransisco Rodriguez or Brain Fuentes get away from them in a bidding war with the Brewers or Rangers. From all reports it looks like K-Rod is the pitcher of choice to close games for the Mets but unlike the Highlanders and their bid for Sabathia, Omar is playing this very close to the vest waiting to see if there is any competition for Rodriguez’ services. It’s intriguing watching this first month of the off season as clubs are being so cautious on making bids or dealing I don’t know if it has as much to do with the current economic problems or if it’s parity that has most teams thinking they have a Tampa Bay shot in hell of reaching the World Series that they would rather go young and cheap to win?

 

I listened to half of Chinese Democracy this morning while walking to work and so far I like it. It’s not 14 years in the making masterpiece of rock music but it’s very good.

 

I’m sure Diane Sawyer is adding her Ashley Dupree interview to her scrap book of great interviews. “Here I am interviewing President Bush, and here I am with Nelson Mandela, and here I am with the young lady who is famous for banging the Governor of New York”.

 

One of the best things going for the Mets and Highlanders is that football frenzy has taken over NYC as Giants and Jets fans have visions of a Super Bowl match up in Tampa this February. I’m not ready to take a seat on that bandwagon just yet but I’ll throw this out there. The MVP of the NFL this season will be a NY quarterback.

 

If Charlie Weiss were a man of honor, he would place his resignation on the desk of ND president Rev John Jenkins and have him donate his remaining salary to Catholic Charities. You can not lose to Syracuse at home with a lame duck coach and expect to keep your job.

 

I’m very disappointed in Paulie Malignaggi as he didn’t put up too much of a fight losing to Ricky Hatton but what has me crazy is I can’t get that song out of my head that the band who follows Hatton to all his fights played Saturday night to the tune of Winter Wonderland:

 

“Walkin’ along

Singin’ a song

Walkin’in a Hatton wonderland”

 

The New York Rangers better come out tonight against the Coyotes like they have bottle rockets up their ass. With Scott Gomez back in the lineup that helps immensely but the defense especially Dimitri Kalinin who I am really starting to dislike a lot,  better protect his zone and man up. Can someone contact the Man Behind the Curtin (Slats Sather) and tell him time tomake a move? 

 

 

 

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No new Mets news today as we await Omar making his first move of the off season with an offer to any of the free agent closers showing up at the $iti Field (how long do you thing the name $iti Field will be atop the new ball park? Maybe we should start a pool for the day Citigroup goes belly up and the ball park name goes to bankruptcy court. Then what would the Skill Sets do for naming rights? Maybe Gold’s Horseradish Park?) with baseball cap in hand looking for a deal or is there a trade in the works? Stay tuned I guess.

As for me, I’m stocking up can goods and water for LBJ 2010 as Boogie Down Donnie Walsh is a man with a plan gearing up the Kinckerbockers for not just LeBron but one more big ticket item as well. I heard Frank Isola on Daily News Live say that Steve Nash is on the Walsh/D’Antoni radar too bad Knick fans have to wait two years for this vison to come to fruiton.

How about the balls on Stephon Marbury saying “no mas” to playing last night infact if he refused to dress the Knicks would have had to forfeit the game last night to the Bucks. Not that it mattered. If I were Jimmy (The Cable Guy) Dolan I send “Starbury’s” sorry ass to the concession stand in the blue seats to sell hot dogs and beer tonight.

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I’m cold, tired and very cranky (I know so what’s so different today from any other right?) and I have to leave work early so my wife can work at our kid’s school’s Chinese Auction. From what I gather at this auction you buy tickets and put them in buckets and there are different tables with prizes and if you hold a winning ticket you get to pick a prize off the table in play. Last year she won Rangers tickets and a free pizza every month for a year at a local pizzeria. That free pizza cost me about $50 bucks a month because not once did we go and just eat pizza. So with all that let’s look at the Mets news of the day and some other minutia:

 

Mike Carp has been added to the 40 man roster so he will not be exposed to the Rule V draft. I’ll go on after the applause dies down……………………………….Thank you.

 

Joel Sherman reports on the very flush closers market and so does Jason Stark on ESPN. In fact Stark adds in his report that Pirates closer and the object of my reliever affection Matt Capps could be trade bait. Wait a minute did Stark read that somewhere? Nah , I’m just paranoid.

 

Jon Heyman and Joey DeMayo of NY Baseball Digest say the Mets are in full play for Orlando Hudson. Joel Sherman says Gimp Castillo had a sit down with Omar Minaya and Tony B to beg for forgiveness for being a fat lazy turd and for stealing money and wants to do the right thing by the Mets and show the fans that he is not a fat lazy turd and get back to his All Star level. And to that I say, is the turkey ready yet?

 

Lot of comments on the site from my post about having an old time candy store at Financial Institution Ready to Go Under Field (No I’m not tpying that out every time. I’ll go back to $iti Field next)  I was shocked SHOCKED (Eagle!) of someone not liking chocolate egg creams. How in the world could you not enjoy a chocolate egg cream? The reason they had wine at the Last Supper was because John the Baptist forgot to go to Waldbaums and buy the U-Bets syrup, otherwise there would be seltzer bottles on the alter of churches and gold  chocolate syrup dispensers.

 

Here’s all you need know about the misdirection of the NFL under Goody Goodell. He has no problem reinstating an out and out thug like Pacman Jones and then sits back and does nothing as NFL players show up on the Tuesday police blotters all over the country but if a TV announcer brings up point spreads and that botched touchdown at the end of last weeks Steelers-Chargers game that has bettors screaming FIX Goodell becomes a tough guy. Sure Commissioner, people tune in to watch the NFL because they love the beauty of three hours of  kick, run and tons of commercials for hard on pills it’s not that they wager tens of millions of dollars on the games. Most of it illegally and that money gets funneled down to keep the drugs, booze and prostitution that your players enjoy so much flourishing. I know what you mean Commissioner I enjoy going to Aqueduct in January because I love watch the cute little horseys run around the track.

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STRIKE 1-Chase Utley and Pedro Feliz are going under the knife. Utley with an injured hip and Feliz with  back trouble. Jimmy Rollins would have been on that list but I coudn’t catch him.

Strike 2-The Bronx Robber Barron has turned over the keys to his South Bronx Castle to his baby boy Hal (Michale) which means that Hank (Fredo) will run a casino instead. Shout out to Hank, if Hal wants to take you fishing, run for the hills.

Strike 3-Rob Neyer makes note that Mike Musisna and Sandy Koufax have something in common, both winning 20 games and then retiring. Let this be the last time Mike Mussina and Sandy Koufax are mentioned in the same sentence.

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It looks like a foregone conclusion that the Mets and Aaron Heilman are headed for divorce court under the irreconcilable difference statue as Heilman is still fighting his starting pitcher persona and the Mets feel with just two pitches Heilman is more effective as a reliever. From last years results and the fact the Heilman did not step up and grab the closers role by the throat for his welfare and that of Mets fans it’s time for Aaron Heilman to back his bags and look for greener pastures.

 

The site We Should All Be GM’s has a very good Q & A with one time Met Eric Valent. Valent is now a minor league coach for the Phillies but rates his hitting for the cycle as a Met in 2004 as his big league highlight.

 

There will be a long dragged out debate about Mike Mussina and whether he is Cooperstown worthy. If he wasn’t a Highlander then guys like Mike Francesa would just hand wave it off as ridiculous his chances but as we all know every player who has worn the Highlander pinstripes is Hall of Fame worthy. It’s a shock to me the Joe Verbanic doesn’t have a plaque upstate.

 

If Mussina was to be granted a spot in Cooperstown I wouldn’t argue it as he hasn’t been dominant but he has been one of the best pitchers of his time and he was very good for 18 years, but is very good enough to make it to the hallowed halls of the HOF? Well that’s up for debate. I will leave this out there, who would you pick if you were in a must win situation, Mike Mussina or Jerry Koosman?

 

I’m not ready to panic after last nights Ranger ass kicking at the hands of the Canucks and although Tom (speaks in tongues) Renny claims he gave King Hank the high sign to flee the crease to the comfort of a corner spot on the bench, Hank was well within his rights to abdicate his spot as the Rangers left him in a gun fight with a pea shooter last night.

 

Daniel Murphy is back in NYC and after stopping off at the Mets offices at $iti Field to pick up the ten bucks for the co-pay, he will have an MRI on his ailing knee.

 

          

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