Psssst….check it out, check it out Black Mets jersey’s and caps……check it out, check it out…..I got PIAZZA, REYES, RODRIGUEZ, WRIGHT……check it out…………………OH SHIT THE COPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Its almost getting to the point where I’m sympathetic of the plight of the Skill Sets.  It’s bad enough that Bernie Madoff fucked them over but how about their beloved pasty face clubbie Charlie Samuels and the way he took the owners trust and as in turned robbed the team blind?

With all the stories during the off season into spring training about the Madoff scandal and the fall out of the words of the Trustees of the victims of the scandal the Samuels’ saga has gone unnoticed until the last couple of days as the NYPD and Queens DA’s office have descended on St. Lonesome to get some answers and to build a case against Samuels.

The cops are talking to players especially Frankie Rodriguez who was so close to Samuels, he slept on his sofa during when he was bounced out of his home after his assault charge, and to Mike Piazza who also confided  with Samuels.

While the cops are in Florida getting statements, cops here in NYC are trying to match the stolen property from the Mets clubhouse to memorabilia dealers in the area to solidify their case against Samuels  .

This will be just one more bullshit distraction that seems to follow this organization.  If the Skill Sets can save their ownership of the team I hope they learn a lesson from all this and stop being so naïve and start running the Mets like a business instead of some mom and pop candy store

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This is Ronny Paulino. He allegedly is a member of the NY Mets but he hasn’t been to camp yet due to the dreaded “Visa Problems”. Paulino may be in Mets camp by the weekend but that’s the same report we’ve heard for the past three weekends. It’s a shame a team like the Mets doesn’t have the  juice to get a guy out of Dominican, in fact the Skill Sets are so broke they can’t even scrape up up some cash for the graft to spring Paulino.

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As usual Adam Rubin gets the drop on the rest of the Mets beat writers by posting the first cuts of Mets camp. No surprises except maybe for F-Mart being on the list this early. I guess it means Lucas Duda gets the shot at RF if Carlos Beltran can’t make it for opening day.

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It seems that the second base position for the Mets has become the black hole 3^rd base had once been. None of the four competitors for the job have stepped up to make it clear he is worthy of the job. Brad Emaus has yet to hit this spring but has shown a pretty good glove. Justin Turner seems to be the odd man out due to his two minor league options in his pocket  (I don’t see Turner’s name on either travel list for today) and Daniel Murphy has hit and shown some decent footwork at 2^nd base but turning the double play has been what Terry Collins wants to see before he anoints Murph the opening day Mets second sacker.  That leaves the incumbent at the spot, Luis Castillo and from reading John Harper’s piece in the Daily News today, I sure if it were up to Terry Collins he would love to rid himself of Slappy :

Furthermore, Castillo, the incumbent of sorts, has annoyed Terry Collins by moping around in apparent protest of being forced to compete for the job, to the point where the manager called him into his office a couple of days ago to tell him he better start working harder if he wanted any shot at all.

Castillo didn’t even take pregame ground balls one day last week when he was in the lineup as the DH, as Collins has had to juggle playing time to get looks at all four second-base candidates. And that didn’t sit well with the new manager, who is not going to tolerate the laissez-faire attitude that permeated the clubhouse in recent years.

Since meeting with Collins, who promised to try to get him more playing time, Castillo seems to have raised his energy level, and he had a solid game Wednesday with two walks, a bloop single to left, and a nice play going toward the hole on a ball that went off Ike Davis’ glove.

This is the Castillo M.O. when things don’t go his way or the way he wants it to, he mopes, in fact is there a bigger mope than Castillo? His attitude has sucked for a couple of years now and unless he is the starting 2^nd baseman Luis will mope and be an all-out fucking malcontent.  Why keep him around? Like Oliver Perez, he’s more trouble than he’s worth.

Just by looking at the starting lineups for today’s spilt squad games you can see the manager wants no part of this slap hitting, diminished range, piss poor attitude has been. Castillo will start today in Viera against the Nats but as the DH. Murphy will start at 2^nd base. Over in Jupiter, Brad Emaus will start against the Fish and with Luis Hernandez on the roster in Jupiter he will most likely spell Emaus at 2nd as Hernandez has made himself a dark horse candidate in the this position race.

Meanwhile over in the minor league backfields of St. Lonesome , Reese Havens works out and hopes he can stay healthy because if he does he will be the Mets 2^nd baseman by Memorial Day.   

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There has to be a reason why Sandy Alderson is keeping Oliver Perez around.  I haven’t look in detail to the Sunday night Mets bowling league but I know lefties (as I am of that ilk) possess a natural curve when they  bowl so Ollie may be better at getting the 7-10 spilt than inducing the 6-4-3 double play? I mean there has to be a valid explanation on why OP has not been DFA’d.

One theory is that since he doesn’t draw a paycheck until opening day and now that he has proven he’s not starter worthy, a trip to the pen is not really taking innings away from a pitcher that needs work. I’m sure any appearance that Perez makes will be in a split squad game away from St. Lonesome. By keeping him around, Alderson could be waiting until the last possible day to cut Ollie hoping that a team suffering a pitching injury will be soooooooooo desperate they take Ollie off his hands for 50 cents on the dollar. Okay that’s a long shot.

The second theory, and I have not seen or heard this one any place so I will claim it as my own, Alderson/Collins give Perez a shot as a reliever. Perez shits the bed as usual. Alderson/Collins have a heart to heart with OP and Scott Boras with Alderson holding two pieces of paper in his hand, one is his release, the other an agreement to a minor league assignment. Alderson makes it known that he has no problem signing off on the DFA along with a $12 mil severance check but he is willing to allow Perez to save some face and show that he wants to work his way back to the big leagues by either staying in extended spring training using a sudden (wink, wink) injury or going outright to Triple A a la Steve Trachsel, thus putting all the pressure on Perez and Boras.

Alderson is a smart man; he knows OP has no shot of being a reliever so why not give him one last shot at redemption of taking the demotion that he should have agreed to last season. I mean really, how great is a Buffalo Bison-Scranton Wilkes Barre Yankees Kai Igawa v. Ollie Perez matchup?

As long as OP is not on the 25 roster come April 1 its fine by me. I can see Perez now agreeing to a minor league assignment. Alderson has given Perez every chance to show he’s not the suck ass pitcher we all think he is and Perez has not shown one iota of hope that he can pitch competitively in the big leagues. I can see Alderson laying this all out to Ollie and Boras, in fact how great would it be if Alderson made up one of those leather bound books that Boras makes up for his clients when they are free agents. Alderson could call it the Book of Suck.

Can’t you see Alderson telling Perez. “I’ve done everything you requested when you came to camp, you asked for a shot at the starting rotation, and you failed. You asked to go to the bullpen and that was a disaster as well.  I’ve held back the fans and media and taken the slings and arrows shot at you and what did I get back? A big bucket of suck.  So look me in the eye Ollie and tell me why the hell should I even give a shit about you”?

Enjoy Buffalo OP!

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Caryn Rose known to all Mets fans as Mets Grrl will join me  tonight at 11PM ET on THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN on Blog Talk Radio

Caryn and I will discuss the issues facing the NY Mets on and off the the field.

If you can’t join us live tonight, you can listen to the podcast at your leisure here at Kranepool Society (lower right hand side bar) or at our show page on Blog Talk Radio or on iTunes.

THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN is a proud memeber of the Seamheads National Podcasting Network

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Jonah Keri’s new book “The Extra 2% How Wall Street Strategies Took a Major League Team From Worst to First” (Ballantine/ESPN Books Hardcover) hits books store today, a day many baseball devotees have been waiting for.

The book chronicles the rise of the Tampa Bay Rays, under the management skills of Stuart Sternberg and Mathew Silverman, using their expertise in economics learned from their days together at Goldman Sachs.

The Rays were once the most disrespected franchise in baseball, on and off the field. You could say the Rays were an undervalued commodity being that their continuous last place finishes; their reward was drafting very high in the June entry draft and getting the best choices of the top American amateurs out there. Upon taking ownership of the club, Sternberg and Silverman put together a draft strategy, and acquiring players who were proficient in the defensive end of baseball.  

Sternberg and Silverman also changed the culture of the franchise by bringing in a positive dynamic to the front office and administrative staff who were beaten down under the Vince Namoli regime. They also did an intense rebranding of the team, first dropping the name “Devils” and going with just Rays as the team nickname as well as ridding themselves of the weird color designs on the uniform.  

While Sternberg and Silverman have been successful with the Rays on the field, they are still fighting an uphill battle off the field, dealing with issues of an antiquated and hard to get to ballpark and a depressed economy in Central Florida, which has kept attendance down.

Sternberg has also been linked to becoming owner of the NY Mets as he is not only a Brooklyn native and Westchester resident but he is a lifelong Mets fan and season ticket holder still to this day.    

As a Mets fan, this book is of great interest to me (and it should be to you as well) as the franchise is entering uncertain times due to money problems of ownership that has been chronicled all winter and that we have a new front office headed by Sandy Alderson whose management style is the bench mark for what Sternberg and Silverman have used in Tampa.

The Extra 2 % can be obtained through Amazon, Barnes & Noble (both on line and the good old brick and mortar) and all book stores. No matter how you buy your books these days (Kindle and Nook) I recommend highly that you either buy or download The Extra 2 % today.

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The Greatest!!!!!!!

This off season Ed Marcus (a/k/a RustyJr) of Real Dirty Mets took on the project of asking his readers to send in their list of the Top 50 NY Mets of All-Time. What’s great about the list that Ed tabulated as we enter the 50^th season of Mets baseball, there are three generation Mets fans, the oldtimers (my crowd) who have lived through the best and worst of this franchise, the early to mid 40’s Mets fan who aligns very close with the old timer but didn’t witness the ’69 Championship but reveled in ’86. Then there is the young guns of the Mets fandom, the 20-30 something’s who are sick and tired of the previous generations (especially the old-timers) talking about the halcyon days of the franchise.

When I look at the list (Ed has the list of the top 50 posted today but you should look in the archive of that site to read the essay he put together on each player which are well researched and well written especially for you neophyte Mets fans who need a history lesson) there were some pleasant surprises and a few head shakers as well.

At the last game at Shea Stadium, Felix Millian(#50) was introduced and fans my age were clapping and imitating Millian batting stance complete with choking up half way up on our makeshift Mets magazine/bat. More surprising to me was Little Al Jackson coming in at  #35 who has been in the organization as a player/coach/instructor from day 1. Robin Ventura was a shocker at #9 as he played only three seasons with the Mets with 1999 his best, the other two were so-so although like I told Ed I still have my “Mojo Risin’” t-shirt from the 1999 post season.

Of course I feel Ed Kranepool should have placed higher but that’s my personal bias. I can see Mike Piazza at #2 even though I’m not a big Piazza fan (Jerry Grote is still the best catcher in Mets history with Gary Carter close second) and of course the #1 choice will always be the #1 choice as he is then, now and forever THE FRANCHISE, George Thomas Seaver

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The Mets will be holding audtions next Monday March 14th at 11 AM for singers to perfome the Star Spangled Banner at Mets home games this season. Here are the details:

FLUSHING, N.Y., March 7, 2011 – The New York Mets today announced they will hold their annual Anthem Search Monday, March 14 at 11:00 a.m. at Citi Field for the opportunity to sing the National Anthem prior to a 2011 Mets home game.

The first 100 to arrive are guaranteed an audition and an opportunity to perform a song of their choice – excluding the National Anthem – a cappella. 

Finalists from Monday’s event will advance to the final round of auditions at Citi Field in the weeks ahead where they will be judged on their performance of the National Anthem.  Each winner will perform the National Anthem before a game later this season.

2008 Mets Anthem Search winner Pia Toscano is currently competing on Season 10 of American Idol. The 2011 Anthem Search winners will join the ranks of previous Anthem singers for the Mets including Marc Anthony, June Carter and Johnny Cash, Kristin Chenoweth, Glenn Close, Sheryl Crow, Art Garfunkel, Wyclef Jean, Billy Joel, Cyndi Lauper, Aaron Neville, *NSYNC, Rihanna, Carly Simon, Matthew Morrison, the casts of West Side Story, Hair, Mamma Mia! and South Pacific, and many others.

The auditions are free and open to all ages.  Those under 18 years of age must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.  Parking is available in Official Lot G (entrance on 126^th Street).  Attendees should enter Citi Field at Hodges VIP.  For more information on the Anthem Search, log on to Mets.com, LosMets.com or call (718) 559-3119.

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Mets stay home in St. Lonesome to play the Tigers at 1:10PM with R.A. Dickey making his second spring start.  Bobby Parnell, Tim Byrdak, Ryaota Igarashi, Mike O’Connor and Jason Isringhausen will pitch today and tomorrow as Terry Collins and Dan Werthen try to formulate the Mets bullpen. Ollie Perez will be on the bus to Kissimmee to face the Astros in what could (should) be his last appearance as a Met.

Luis Castillo will start at 2^nd base today but it looks more and more that his days a Met are numbered. Collins loves Daniel Murphy and more and more it looks like Murph is the leader in the 2^nd base starter’s competition.

F Mart gets the start in RF and is hoping to add to his en fuego spring as does Jason Bay in LF. Carlos Beltran was thought to have been in the lineup today as DH but he reported to DDP and told Terry Collins he’s sore, so Willie Harris starts as DH. Too early to panic on Beltran but it seems he if he’s ready for opening day, he won’t be in the lineup every day.  Scott Hairston will play a big role early in the season for the Mets.

I wonder if Nick Evans getting the start at 1B is to let him show his stuff against the Tigers as a possible landing spot for Evans?

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