19 days until pitchers and catchers

I have been invited to attend  a presentation of Bloomberg Sports new baseball statistic and analytic tool that will be offered to fans and a more intense version to all 30 MLB teams.  I hope to be giving some updates at this event through TWITTER so check out my Twitter account during the day tomorrow if you’re interested and if you’re a fantasy baseball player this is looks like a product that will interest you very much.  Check out this article by Paul Greco of Baseball Digest Daily who got a look at the product at the winter meetings this past December.

Mario Lemieux has made an offer to buy the Pittsburgh Pirates. Could Mark Messier make an offer to buy the Mets (PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!)

Over at Bugs & Cranks they want  to help find out if you have a “baseball problem” so they have seven events that you could watch instead of  watching  a Cincinnati Reds-Florida Marlins game at Golden Girls Stadium. Of the 7 questions, I answered Reds-Marlins to 5 of them. The only two events I chose over the baseball game were watching UConn- Tennessee  women’s basketball game (Gino Auriemma and Pat Summit are two of the greatest coaches in sports history) and Fulham @ Aston Vila in the EPL.  So I guess I have a serious baseball problem.

I’m getting a little worried about my Boston Celtics. KG is not close to his top condition, Rasheed Wallace has no conscience at the 3 point line, and the corrupt NBA refs are all betting against the C’s in every game. At least no one has pull a piece in the clubhouse yet. Tomorrow is a big game as the Lakers ship off to Boston, if there are three NBA refs not on the take I hope the league assigns them to this game.

Hey Johnny Damon, shut the fuck up! You want to blame someone for the reason you’re not employed by the Bronx Bastards any longer? Look in the mirror caveman.

I don’t hide the fact that I’m a Daniel Murphy fan and I take a lot of shit for that. But it’s nothing compared to the abused I took for my support of Gregg Jeffries.  It wasn’t until I met Jefferies that I realized what an asshole he was. I’ve told the story before where John Franco brought Jeffries to a club in Brooklyn one night where my friends and I were at as well and Jeffries tried to pick up every girl in the place not caring who they were with. Not the wisest move to make at a club in Bay Ridge.  It’s good to see an older and wiser Jeffries as I read in this piece by Kevin Kernan in the Post. Best thing that ever happened to Jeffries was leaving the Mets.

We’ve always paid our gas bill to the Brooklyn Union Gas Co., in fact my dad’s first job in NYC was laying down gas pipe for the Brooklyn Union Gas Co. out in the wilds of Canarsie in the early 30’s. Then one day the gas bill came in with the name Keyspan on it, no more Brooklyn Union but Keyspan was the name of the new ball park in Coney Island so I was cool with Keyspan. Then one day the mailman delivered a bill from National Gird. What the hell is National Grid? National Grid is what Keyspan and Brooklyn Union were but now since there is no more Keyspan and I guess the folks at National Gird are not baseball fans, the name has to come off the ballpark in Coney Island and a new name is needed.

The Mets who own the stadium could do the right thing and name it after Gil Hodges or even rename it Shea Stadium but I doubt they will.

On Twitter yesterday I mention how a good ball park name would be Egg Cream Stadium or get Fox’s U-Bet Syrupto buy naming rights. In fact, why don’t’ the Cyclones (forget the Mets doing this as they can’t even put a deli in $iti Field where I can get a good pastrami or brisket sandwich and a Dr. Browns soda. I think a lot of my Mets anger would go away with a good brisket and a Dr. Browns Cream Soda at $iti Field) put in an Egg Cream Bar at the Coney Island ballpark?

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Mets fans of a certain age are mourning the death of another Shea Stadium icon, Mets organist extraordinaire Jane Jarvis passed away yesterday at the age of 94 at the Llian Booth Actors Home in Engelwood NJ where she lived since 2008 when a crane accident displaced her from her Upper East Side apartment in Manhattan.

Ms. Jarvis had a slew of musical credits on her resume but to Mets fans she was the lady whose sweet tones of the Thomas organ filled our summer days and nights at Shea Stadium.

Rest in peace Sweet Lady Jane whenever I hear the Mexican Hat Dance I’ll think of you.

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With this Arctic blast coming through NYC, what could be better than a big bowl of stew. Big League Stew that is.  Duk over at BLS has put up a one stop shopping list of bloggers and MSM types who cover the Mets and yours truly and my fellow Mets bloggers are listed there so click and enjoy.  A nice crusty piece of sourdough bread goes good with that.

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   20 days until pitchers and catchers

Unfortunately  I missed Mets Hot Stove last night on SNY but from reading Mathew Cerrone’s MetsBlog this morning it looks like Omar did his best Alexander Haig impression to let us Mets fans know the “He is in charge” No wonder I had a restless nights sleep.

From reading the Cerrone’s post, Omar seemed fixated on the lack of any good solid free agents this off season and Minaya is right about that, it was a weak crop. The Mets did corral one of the better freebird players in Jason Bay and the Mets abstaining from any of the free agent pitchers may turn out to be the right move. Time will tell. But Omar is acting like the free agent way is the only way to fortify the team.

I don’t know if the Mets ever called the Reds or Royals to engage in talks for one of my favorite trio of pitchers I’d like to see, the pitching firm of Harang, Arroyo and Meche, but I just find it very odd that Omar feels the only way to add talent to this team is through free agents and diving in the ballplayers with disabilities dumpster.

If you really want to know what a Mets fan is really like, you must read Faith and Fear in Flushing. Greg Prince has a post out this morning that deals with the identity of our team. This part of the post says it all:

Little wonder the Mets’ identity is frayed. No wonder the Metsosphere is continuously and maybe justifiably staticky, jittery and expressing discontent. We are, by nature, a gaggle of nervous crosstalkers when we don’t have an actual season to dissect. Right now it’s all nervous crosstalk for Mets fans. We, collectively, remind me of the middle-aged ladies who’d set up card tables in front of somebody’s cabana at the beach club to which my parents belonged when I was little. (That’s the Sun Life I remember.) Those ladies indulged in nervous crosstalk, too, just like us. All we’re missing is four floppy hats, a carton of Tareytons and a few hands of canasta.

Just walking by them made me jittery, and I was only six.

After reading that passage, I can’t get the image of the Brighton Beach Baths out of my mind.

Fernando Tatis has resigned with the Mets and for less than the $1.7 mil he made last year. Nice hometown discount eh? Tatis will also change is uniform number from 17 (that he should never ever have been given) to 6 4 3.

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  21 days until pitchers and catchers

It looks like Fernando Tatis is retuning for a third season with the Mets. Please hold your applause until the end, thank you. If you look at the offensive numbers on Tatis’ Baseball-Reference page you might be inclined to say this is a good deal for the Mets.  I’ll go as far as say I’m happier with Tatis coming back just for the fact that it means that Carlos Delgado’ career as a Met is done.  Last night on Twitter I was angry about the Tatis return but by this morning I’m more, “eh, whatever”. I’m tired of ranting about the off season and the mish-mosh ways of the organization, that has both the fan base and media baffled, I guess it’s time we just let it play out, we’ll have all summer to scream and yell.   

Look at this from John Smoltz point of view, what was good for Pedro Martinez could be good for him as well. Why sign with a team this early when you can workout on your own, play golf, even do some TV if you like and then wait to see the pitching landscape during the season and make the best deal you can.

As much as I can’t stand the way ownership and the front office fuck up and the on field personnel play like amateurs, there is no way I could ever, ever root against the Mets. I don’t care if a loss meant that the Jeffey, Omar, and J-Man all get the boot, I would never and have never rooted against the Mets. If I didn’t root for the Cincinnati Reds when Tom Seaver was traded and pitched against the Mets, I’m sure as hell not going to root against them now. Root against the Mets? Never in a million fucking years !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don’t understand J-Man saying that Fernando Nieve is the front runner for the 5^th spot in the pitching rotation? Not to get to worked up over the 5^th spot (when spots 2-4 are not exactly the Rocks of Gibraltar) but where does Jon Niese or Nelly Figs fit with this team? How about Bradley Holt or Dillon Gee? Why is J-Man so against competition? Why am I full of questions?

No matter what happens this season, I’m rooting hard for my boy Daniel Murphy to put up big time numbers. No one on this team works as hard as Murphy and I just hope his hard work pays off and he just hangs in there until Wally Backman gets the job with the big club. Am I a Daniel Murphy fanboy? Yes. He is everything we Mets fans want in a player. Shows up for mini-camp when he’s not required to (Jose? Jose Reyes? Are you here? Come out, come out ,wherever you are!) will be the first guy at St Lonesome waiting for the gates to open for spring training (it will be neck and neck with him and D-Wright) and is working hard to improve at the fourth positions the Mets have assigned him to. How can you as a Mets fan not root for this kid?    

No Pro Baseball Central tonight but I will be on the with Kenrick Thomas and his Real Sports Talk Radio Show on Blog Talk Radio tonight at 10PM ET.

There is a group NYRNation that is planning a FIRE GLEN SATHER rally outside of Madison Square Garden on Sunday March 7^th  at 5PM before the Rangers-Sabres game. It is getting very ugly at MSG as the Rangers find themselves in the middle of 10 teams look at the 7 and 8 spot in the NHL playoffs. In fact the Rangers are a mirror of the Mets. Underachivers, Bad Management, Clueless Owner!

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OH BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Looks like Frank McCourt is looking to unload the Los Angeles Dodgers of Brooklyn as he can’t afford a baseball team and an ex-wife. Oh the possibilities here.

Could Freddy Skill Sets pull an O’Malley and head West to own his beloved Dodgers ? Think about it. Or how desperate is McCourt for some scratch that he would sell the DODGERS name to Freddy? Or just the trademark name Brooklyn Dodgers ?  Then he can get Jay Horowitz to legally change his name to Happy Felton

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22 days until pitchers and catchers

As a Mets fan, I’m starting to feel like a weary traveler standing at the airport luggage carrousel waiting for my bags, and my bags have gotten lost.

Pitchers have gone around the free agent carrousel and the Mets just stand there waiting and waiting and waiting to the point where they are the lone team standing around with nothing to show.

Ben Sheets for $10 mil is a very steep price to pay but give the A’s and Billy Beane credit for taking a chance with Sheets. Beane is taking a shot that of the three things that can happen with Sheets, if  two of the scenarios work in the A’s favor, Beane and the A’s come out a winner.  He can stay healthy and become the Ace of a very young and potentially strong starting rotation and the A’s can be big time contenders in the NL West, or he can stay healthy and the rest of the team not play up to expectation and fall out the race where by Beane can flip Sheets for a couple of top prospects, or the worst case scenario, Sheets breaks down like a ’76 Pinto and the A’s are stuck with an expensive invalid.

But then again, Beane and the A’s management are competent and have watched Sheets throw and checked his medical reports and have given him a full medical by doctors who have cleared Sheets good to go, so with the odds in his favor Beane decides to spend Lew Wolf’s money and go for a post season berth.

Jeffey Skill Sets on the other hand, will take the money saved on buying much cheaper baseball labor to build an extension of his Hamptons mansion.

At some point one of our fine beat reporters in this town should really try to get through the Wall of Horowitz and get a sit down interview with Jeffey Skill Sets to get answers on how he feels that the baseball team he runs is the laughingstock of the industry.  The Mets have gone from an organization where every player agent made sure that the Mets were involved with their client during free agency to an organization that has become Plan Z (welcome Jason Bay) The Mets wanted John Lackey but John Lackey wanted no part of the Mets.  A pitcher coming from the American League refused to even talk to a team in the NL, that plays in a pitchers ball park, in the greatest city in the world, for a team with a big income. Stunning.

Jason Marquis begged the Mets to sign him but the Mets treated him like he had cooties. Bengi Molina? He’s a Met the MSM told us, it’s just a matter of finding a pen with ink in it. Molina is back with the Giants.  Randy Wolf? Never called Flushing.  “Mr. Minaya, Joel Piniero on line 1” WHO? Responds Omar. Jon Garland? No! Chone Figgins? No! Orlando Hudson? No! Aroldis Chapman? No! If he were 45 years old then YES! Russell Branyan? No! and on and on and on…………………………

This perception of the Mets is not a figment of Mets fans imaginations, it’s real, the baseball world shakes its head and says “How the fuck?” We can rant all day and night about Omar Minaya and Fire Omar, and Omar this and Omar that. Get over your Omar hate, this is beyond Omar. Omar Minaya is a bit player in the Mets moves these days.  If Omar were the baseball boss, Molina and Piniero would be Mets and Carlos Delgado would have a 5 year deal. But nothing gets done until Jeffey Poo says it’s done. That’s why we’re fucked.

I give Johan Santana a ton of credit not just for showing up at the mini camp but for coming on WFAN with Joe Bada Bing and Tinkerbell and being positive and optimistic about this team. The right man in charge could play this “the whole world thinks you guys suck” as a rallying cry but the guy that would play that angle perfectly has to prove himself on Coney Island this summer, while Cool Breeze Jerry works on his lounge act in Flushing.

I swear to Henry Chadwick that I hope I’m wrong that Wright and Reyes explode with career years and Daniel Murphy hits like I believe he can and that Bay and Frenchy  prove to be “corner-stones”, and Beltran comes back like a track star that hits 30 HR’s  and Big Pelf pounds that strikezone like a blacksmith and this team is not just competitive but contends for the NL East crown.

As negative as I’ve been all winter and I’m sure other Mets fans will say the same thing, none of us wants to go through another summer like last year.  As I look down the line on the big decision makers though in this organization though, it is very hard to get enthused.  Jeffey is clueless and Omar is ball-less, and the manager couldn’t care less.

All I have is my ace pitcher preaching to me like Bob Marley, I hope he’s right. It’s hard to find Three Little Birds when it’s so damn cold outside

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Only 23 days until pitchers and catchers

So the Oakland A’s have made a competitive offer to Ben Sheets and want and answer not later than tomorrow. Okay, what is a competitive offer and how many competitors are in this race? From all the innuendo we’ve heard on Sheets, the Mets, A’s and Texas Rangers are in the loop. Rumor is Sheets’ management is looking for an $8 mil base plus incentives for this year and an option for 2011. Now as much as I would love to have Ben Sheets on the Mets, but $8mil for a pitcher who could be a either a stud or a cripple is a tough decision to make. But then again the Mets did give Alex Cora $2mil bucks to be a leader on the bench.

I can not see any way that the A’s would give Sheets $8 mil even the Rangers, as they go through a transition of ownership, would have a hard time paying that kind of coin.

If I’m the Mets I call Sheets’ agent and offer $6mil guarantee with incentives that could go to $10mil if reached (post season starts include in that) and a mutual option for 2011. Then take the other $2 mil and give that to John Smoltz.

If they can do that, not only solidifies the pitching staff but I’ll get off managements back for a while and maybe even praise them for a job well done.

So far the Mets Mini-Camp has proved that OP is great shape and that Johan Santana will again try to help Ollie as much as he can both with his pitching and with his psyche. Jon Niese took the mound for the first time since he ripped his hammy and felt pretty good. Daniel Murphy is a camp and is doing what most fans wish all the players would do, work hard and try to get better but he still catches hell. Wait until he gets traded and becomes a solid ML’er, I will be insufferable or more insufferable than I already am, if that’s possible. 

Kevin Kernan seconds my position that the injury excuse from last year was a smoke screen to how badly last years team executed all facets of the game.   Time for Jerry Manuel to Man Up this spring and prove that he can manage and teach and to prove that he is just not waiting to get canned so he can go back to Sacramento and collect a check sitting on his porch.

I still baffles me how the Skill Sets don’t get upset or try to change the perception of their organization after time and time again being told they run one of the worst organizations in baseball. At some point you need to show some spine and fight back. Everyone from media to fans to bloggers keep kicking the organization in the ass waiting for them to fight back. It’s at the point now where I feel like a bully for calling out the Skill Sets as often as I do, they just take all these kicks in the ass and ask for more. It’s more sad than strange. Com’on Jeffey show some fucking fight will ya!!!!!!

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Before we look at some Mets-Minutia and the fact that there are 24 days until pitchers and catchers,   a few football thoughts:

I guess this is not a great revelation but Peyton Manning is not just a great QB but he is an immortal football player. His dissection of the Jets secondary was surgeon like.

Sorry Lito Shepard for the kiss of death yesterday.

There is a fine line between confidence and assholeness and the Jets were heading to asshole-ness. None other than Peyton Manning made that known in his post game interview when he said his team knew when to keep their mouth’s shut. You know the rallying cry all week in Indy’s locker room was shutting up Sexy Rexy and his team, which is what Manning did.

I’m not a fan of Brett Farve as I feel is a lot over exposed and a bit overrated but I have new found respect for after yesterday. Farve is one tough sumnabitch.

Get ready for two weeks of Archie Manning career retrospective with the Saints and stories of the son of New Orleans, Peyton going against his daddy’s team and the team he grew up with.

12 men in the huddle late in a Championship game is unacceptable. Brad Childress is lucky he doesn’t coach in NYC, Philly or Boston  if he did he’d have to enter the witness protection program.

Back to baseball

Mets mini-camp opens today and Jerry Manuel will grace the club with his prescience. Adam Rubin (of course!) is on the scene with the first dispatch.

Mike Silva thinks that Ben Sheets is there for the taking for the Mets if they are creative.

Last week there were two great columns about Mariners GM and former Mets Scouting Director Jack Zduriencik who has made his mark and his team a contender this off season.

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No one is talking baseball in NYC today as the Jets have taken over this town as they ready themselves  for the AFC Title game against the Colts.

Even though I’m a die hard NY Football Giants fan, I hope the Jets win today as I know too many Jets fans who have never seen thier team win a cahmpionship and that’s sad.

What I can do without and it is one of the biggest flaws that NYC has are the front running bandwagoners.Every local news cast is full of these assholes who all of a sudden discovered football and are Jets fans. They were Highlander fans in October and now Jets fans in January. Must be nice to pick and choose who and when to root for a team.

As much as I rant against the Mets here, I love this team more than an grown up should. In fact it scares me a bit how much I care about the NY Mets.  Sure I’d love to see them win championships and be the talk of the town like the Jets are now and the Bronx Bastards seem to always be but right now I’d settle for a team and organization that is respected and plays good hard fundamental baseball.  I don’t think that’s too much to ask for is it?

Jets 19

Colts 17

Lito Sheppard with the game winning TD with .30 seconds left in game

Saints 35

Vikings 17

The Who Dat’s vs. Gang Green in South New York City Fl.

who is that player in the pic? and don’t cheat

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