You could say with a half descent bullpen behind him, there would have been a first time press conference at $iti Field today to announce Johan Santana as the 2008 NL Cy Young Award winner but instead the award goes to the Frisco Phenom Tim Lincecum and it’s hard to argue the choice. I know it really doesn’t matter who comes in 2nd or 3rd in these awards contests but how could 9 voters not give Santana either a 2nd or 3rd place vote?

Rumors are rampant that Baseball Prospectus could be bought out by the WWL and added to it’s family of web based content. Here at the Eddie Kranepool Society we are still very independent and plan to stay that way, unless of course either Al Goldstein or Larry Flynt want to talk to to me about a buy out.

Joel Sherman at the NY Post thinks it would a good idea if the Mets hooked up with the White Sox in a deal for closer Bobby Jenks. Yes that is the same Bobby Jenks I called on Omar to pursue about three weeks ago. I give Sherman credit for putting this out on a Wednesday when that’s my day to take care of things around the house so blogging takes a back seat with me. Also Joel if you need ideas for your column just e mail me and we can work out a payment schedule like stand up comics do for jokes from other comics even though I just some dumb ass blogger (not in my basement today but in my dining room and I’m full dressed as I post this). You might as well take my trade scenario the whole way and throw AJ Pierzynski in the deal as well.

I’ll let this one go for free but if you steal my Matt Capps/John Grabow deal then I’m taking you in front of the hottest judge on TV for justice.

Before we delve into sports minutia lets not forget that today is Veterans Day and it would be worth all our while to thank the men and women of the US Armed Forces who have sacrificed for our country THANK YOU ALL.

I went to the Rangers-Oilers game last night and if you didn’t know better you would have thought the Rangers were on the 15 day 7 game road trip and not Edmonton.  The Rangers have now gone 1-3-1 in their last 5 games and the first period blues have continued. Maybe it’s just one of those bumps in the road but the way the team has looked lackluster in the beginning of games is a but disturbing. So is the defensive play of Michal Rozsival who is looking to replace Marek Malik as the ire of the Blue Seats anger.

With the trade of Matt Holiday to the A’s and Huston Street going to the Rocks added to the Padres going cheap and say bye-bye to Hells Bells Hoffman if your Francisco Rodriguez and Brain Fuentes it has to make you a bit nervous that having more supply added to the demand may cost you leverage and money when teams come a courtin’. It also puts a ton more pressure on Omar Minaya with more options out there to bolster the bullpen big time.

J-Man is chillin’ on the golf course these days while Omar, Tony B and John Rico burn the midnight oil revamping his team. Check out the wardrobe the Warlord was wearing on the links yesterday. I bet he looks damn fine in a fedora.

JC Bradburry as a great site named Sabernomics and on this site he has a post on MLB investigating the uses of HGH and what a waste of time and money it is to do this as there is no proof that HGH enhances performance on the baseball diamond.  I always felt bad for Jonathan Mayo who wrote a great inside baseball book on Roger Clemens that came out at the same time of Clemens lying and cheating scandal. As much as  I am not a fan of Clemens but I’ve always felt it was more Clemens mastering the spilt finger fastball that led to his late career success than the pharmaceuticals.

Kid Carter will manage the LI Ducks watch your back J-Man.

Dom D has a post on the Mets interest in Dan Uggla and Kevin Gregg as the Marlins prepare another of their famous tag sales. I love Uggla’s grit and bat but his glove is a liability. Gregg would look nice at the back end of the Mets pen though.

It’s time to give the post season baseball awards voting to bloggers as the BBWA are to lazy or too stupid to figure out who is a rookie and who isn’t. Edsion Volquez is not a rookie but he still received votes from three different writers in a second place slot.

Not much on the Mets front today as we await Friday when hunting season opens. No not for men in camo killing Bambi but for guys like Omar Minaya to don an orange hat and use the smell of devalued U.S. currency as a lure to rope in a few good arms for the Mets pitching staff and maybe a bat and a bench player too.  But even during this lull in the Mets off season action, you can always find some interesting things to discuss such as:

The New York Football Giants went into that cesspool called Philadelphia and showed the Philly fans that there is at least one team in NYC with a pair of balls. Far from their best performance of the season the G-Men ran the ball right down the throats of the Iggles but still allowed to keep Philly in the game with some bad fumbles (Brandon Jacobs is a stud but he HAS to learn to put his shoulder down, run low and tuck that ball up high as one day those fumble are going to cost the Giants a big game) and some spotty secondary play. I love the cover of the NY Daily News with Tom Coughlin making the play of the game when he asked for video review of the illegal forward pass against Eli Manning in the 3^rd period that was reversed and set up the Brandon Jacobs TD that put the GIANTS in front for good. Just a side note with all the well deserved praise heaped on Justin Tuck and Osi Umenorya Chase Blackburn’s play at LB has been overlooked.

Mike Silva at NY Baseball Digest has a post and a link from Buster Olney on the Padres playing a tough negations game with Trevor Hoffman. The last guy who I would want to come pitch for the Mets would be the most overrated reliever of the 20^th and 21^st century Trevor Hoffman. Hoffman would not survive 5 minutes on 126^th and Roosevelt Ave.

I’ve linked to Randy Newsom before at Dugout Central and Newsom has another great report from Venezuela posted. Newsom is a pitcher in the Cleveland Indians system and is a very entertaining writer.

I have no idea if the great footballer and Sunderland manager Roy Keane and I are related (he is from Cork my family is from Silo) but one thing we Keane’s have in common, we hate losing and we lack patience so when I read this story about Keane being very frustrated with the lads on the Black Cats and taking Sky Sports commentators to task I started to think me and Roy have to cousins.

Well what do you know,  the ground at Willets Point are contaminated I’m shocked, SHOCKED!!!!!  After reading this it may be more than the prices keeping me out of $iti Field and if I do show up it may be in a bubble.

I went to see FUERZABRUTA last night at the Darryl Roth Theater on 15 St and it was on of the best and most entertaining shows I’ve seen in a long time. It’s a must see show!!!!! (Holy shit I think I’m morphing into Larry King)

I saw this link from the Shyster Ball site it’s a story on former Red Sox pitcher Bill Lee being honored into the Red Sox Hall of Fame. I always like Lee and in fact my daughter needed something from my book case Saturday and while we were looking for a book on the 50 states I saw a copy I had of Lee’s The Wrong Stuff that hadn’t read in years. I may just dust it off and give it a look.

Allan Schwartz has a piece in the NY Times today about the Mets finding it tough to get rid of the dead wood that wash up on the shores of Flushing Bay that became the 2007 Mets bullpen. As much as I’m a Aaron Heilman fan his time in NY has come and gone he really needs a new start and I’m sure there is a team out there that would trade for him to stick in the back of their rotation as he does have some nasty movement on his pitches and he’s cheap. Scott Schoenweis could be dealt as well due to the fact he throws baseballs with his left arm. Not very effectively but left handed just the same. Duaner Sanchez if not traded should just be non-tender he is ineffective and just too goddamn lazy for me. That three relievers gone without even me getting up off my couch and laptop so how hard could it be for Omar to dump these guys? Tip of the Mets cap to Eagle for the link.

Eddie Kunz has checked in from the AFL and puts a positive spin on his fall season and that of all the Mets prospects who’ve joined him:

{I have been pitching very well and making all my pitches work for me. Now I know the numbers are not shoiwing it but this is a league to work on things and get better so era and those things don’t matter that much at all. I am getting stronger and a better feel for my piitches as well which is nice. The rest of the mets on the team have been doing really good also. Murphy is still hitting the ball very well and getting alot better at 2nd base with his defense. Josh Thole is hitting alot better and still is doing a great job at catching. Bobby Parnell is still throwing the ball hard and getting people out, while working on things and getting better as a pitcher. Jason Vargas is also doing very well throwing all his pitches and keeping hitters off set and changing speeds, he gets stronger with every outting and looks great.}

I hope Eddie is right as he does seem very confident that what he’s working on in Arizona will help him come spring. The more you read about Jason Vargas the more you realize he is becoming a valuable part for the bullpen plan for 2009

a new site that covers Mets and all baseball is INFIELD CHATTER, stop by and check it out as there is a great free agent primer post and word the Braves not looking to trade top prospects for Jake Peavy

I’m happy for Willie Randolph that he was named to Ken Macha’s coaching staff in Milwaukee. After watching Willie’s time with the Mets I feel this is the best spot for him as a coach as he has proven to be a terrific teacher but he isn’t much of a communicator that seems to be the major part of being a manager or head coach in pro sports today. All the best, Willie

Oliver Perez has no bigger backer than Howard Megdal and Howard has written a great piece on why the Mets should do the right thing and resign Ollie to a long term deal. Howard makes some great points in his article especially when comparing OP to Derek Lowe. I have to say I’m up in the air with re-signing OP. I’d love to have him back in the fold but at what price? If Ollie had an agent who wasn’t a ruthless prick like Scott Boras this would have been worked out already and you would think that OP would want to be a Met as his career which was as close to the dumpster as you can find was revived with the Mets.

I haven’t seen anything written on what kind of contract OP (or should I say Boras) is looking for but one would think it would nothing short of 5 years and in the 30Mil-plus category, for a pitcher who would be a number 3 or number 4 starter on the Mets. The one positive is that Boras and Omar have a good relationship or as good as you can have when I guy wants to hold you up so I would hope that some kind of deal could be worked out as this is a case where both the pitcher and the team need each other.

Check out more on the Ollie Perez debate at NY Baseball Digest.