Have you come to grips with the fact the Mets will not make the post season? I have. I’m not happy about it but it is what it is, the Mets have a big fork sticking out their collective oblique muscle. So that’s why I have gone from being totally pissed off that a team that is in the throws of bankruptcy, the Texas Rangers, are wheelin’ and a dealin’ while the Mets front office is at Jeffey Skill Sets Hamptons beach house walking the shore line with metal detectors looking for loose change.

There isn’t a proposed deal mention about the Mets that makes any sense for Omar (or the Omar like figure running these things these days) to pull the trigger on.:

Octavio Dotel  for LHP Robert Carson. I would love to see Dotel in the Mets over worked and over used bullpen but not for Carson. Carson is just 22 years old and throws a fastball that cuts, slder and  a change up. His has the abilty to change speeds on his fastball from high 80’s to low-mid 90’s. Some scouting reports potray Carson a LOOGY in the bigs or if he continues to grow as a pitcher a back end starter. At this point, it’s a good thing for the Mets to hold on to Carson. If the Pirates would take Eddie Kunz then this would be a great deal for the Mets

Brett Myers for Josh Thole and Bobby Parnell. First off I want no part of Myers and his baggage not only that Ed Wade is out of his fuckng mind if he asked for Thole and Parnell for Myers after giving Lance Berkman to the Highlanders for nothing. If I were the Mets GM and Wade called me with that offer I’d slam the phone down on him.

Carlos Zambrano for Ollie Perez and Lusi Castillo. As per Jon Heyman, Jim Hendry won’t take Castillo in the deal. Even if the Cubs said yes to this it wouldn’t work out financially for the Mets. Z is owed about $55 mil for the next three years, OP and Looie have the Mets in an $18 mil hole for 2011. So as I’ve said many many times it cheaper to DFA both these slugs. If the Mets really wanted to get creative they should revist this deal in the winter and switch Castillo with Frankie Rodriguez and offer that to the Cubs. I guarantee Mets fans will be cursing the K-Rod deal (if they’re not already) starting next year.

I think where some Mets fans miss the point with Mets front office, it’s not that the Mets don’t spend money, they just don’t know how to spend it. That’s why the GM and Manager (because Omar has lost the right to sign another manager) need to be reassigned and younger, hipper more analytical baseball executive needs to be brought in. I would love to see Paul DePodesta brought in or someone like him to go with Omar in his new assignment as Senior of Scouting and Player Development.

Can someone with access to Jerry Manuel , please for the love of God, ask him why he plays Jeff Francoeur every day!

Not much from me today between running around doing errands and it being so damn hot, lots of perspiration not much inspiration today.

Loved what I saw from Johan Santana last night. I guess he got tired of of all the “what’s wrong with Santana” from the fans and media. It’s not just that he told Jerry Manuel to go sit down but he pitched a complete game shutout against a Reds team that is the best hitting team in the league.

Great post by Eric Simon on Amazin Avenue today on the educating fans on how to read saber stats and understand what the numbers tell us.  Gary Cohen got the ball rolling on this with his take on BAPIP during this past weekends telecast. Simon picked up on this and by explaining what the number tell us will hopefully convert the non-sabermetic believers .  I have to admit the one class I cut out of regularly during high school years  was math. I hate math and sometimes when I read the sabermetric sites, the charts and graphs lose me, just tell me what time it is I couldn’t give a shit how the clock was made and it seems Eric Simon is going to help me out and tell me the time of day.

Speaking of saber vs. non saber check out this video

If the Pirates take Eddie Kunz for Octavio Dotel then we have a deal

Check out my THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN Radio show from last night as myself and Dan Epstein author of Big Hair and Plastic Grass, A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging 70′s

Don’t forget the polls are open at MetsGrrl and Mets Minor League Blog to vote in the primary for Howard Megdal for Mets GM

 

What you’re shocked that Steve Phillips sounded like a total douchebag last night during the ESPN telecast? Whoever came up with the idea to add Smarmy Steve to the booth needs to be fired. Still smarting over getting canned by the Mets eh Stevie boy ? Well you sucked as a GM and you suck as a TV analyst in fact all you’re any good at is banging secretaries. When Joe Morgan becomes the voice of reason in the ESPN booth then the apocalypses is near. Jon Miller should be arrested for the fucking shirt and tie he wore last night. That outfit was gayer than a weekend on Fire Island.

 

Tip of the Mets cap to Dave Singer at NY Sportsdog for calling out J- Man for pinch hitting for Daniel Murphy. As I posted on Dave’s site, whatever crime Ryan Church committed to get in the J-Man doghouse, Daniel Murphy must have been an accomplice as he is not getting the Chateau de Bow Wow treatment. With Delgado gone (I think he’s gone for good) can we just let Murphy play first base? Either that or offer the Orioles Jeremy Reed and Eddie Kunz for Aubry Huff.

 

My evening started out great as I was a guest on The Seven Train To Shea radio show and had a great time with those guys. But after that the night sucked as my Boston Celtics had the rigors of old legs, lack of size and lack of depth catch up with them to lose to the Magic (enjoy it now Orlando as you guys will be gone in 4 to the Cleveland Le Brons) and then the Mets loss coupled with the embarrassing announcing crew on ESPN topped off the evening.          

 

 

 

 

Speaking of The Jacket, he will play himself in the movie version of “Moneyball” with Brad Pitt playing Billy Bean.  Art Howe will also be in the film playing the cadaver they extract  the ligaments from for Tommy John surgery.

The Mets are rolling through NOCAL yesterday 9-6 win. Another strong start I felt, by Johan Santana who had one bad inning (the 6^th) in the 7 innings he pitched as he had an incredible 79/22 K/B spilt plus he got the win to go to 5-2.

The pitching and hitting is as good for the Mets as any in baseball right now but the fielding needs to tighten up a bit especially with Wright and Castillo. Yes I’m never happy I have to find something to bitch about with this team.

With Carlos Delgado on the DL (what a shock!) the Mets have to make decision on what to do with first base. I don’t see how Jeremy Reed is an option over Daniel Murphy if they want to go a righty/lefty platoon. In fact it looks like the increased playing time for Reed is more of a showcase as why would you need both Reed and Angel Pagan on this roster that now is top heavy with outfielders? Pagan can do as much if not more than Reed both with the bat and in the field plus the added bonus of being a switch hitter. Maybe  a deal with the Orioles for Aubry Huff that would have the Mets send Reed and Eddie Kunz to Baltimore could snare Huff? By the way can we let Murphy play tonight at first base? It’s been four games since his last start. FREE DANIEL MURPHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A reminder, I will be a guest tonight on The Seven Train To Shea Radio Program tonight at 7PM EDST.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As soon as I heard “Well we’ll sign C.C  then Burnett and Texiera and that will put us back where we belong” Ughhhhhhhhhhh Highlander fans. Can’t a man enjoy a Saturday morning without these blow hards? Then blow hards buddy Nit Wit chimes in “Yeah and wit Joba and Wang we’s will have da best rotation in baseball because we is da Yankees ya know” and they both laugh like retards. Now I try to ignore them and just chill with my java but of course they can’t leave well enough alone. “We ain’t like dem looosers da Mets” says Blow Hard to which Nit Wit replies “Uhhhhhhhh Da Mets suck” 

 

Now my morning is ruined. I’m ready to get my daughter to go find their daughters and do a Tonya Harding on their ass but then I decide to do my own dirty work. I pull my Mets cap a little more down in the front and turn to them and say “If I were you guys I’d worry more about the Red Sox and Rays than the Mets, since you can’t beat either of them” They see the Mets cap and reply to me how the Mets choked and how they are losers and yada, yada yada. I answer them the best way I could. I told these jokers that at least Mets fan realize their team’s flaws and are intelligent enough to look over the possibilities available to them to fix their problems and go back and forth with each other unlike Highlander fans who just say “buy whoever is out there”

 

Both dopes knew nothing about the teams farm system other then they both thought Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy should be traded and that Joba will win the Cy Young. After I heard that I was thankful my daughters lesson was over and we could leave and I did with a good feeling knowing that it’s good to be a Mets fan.

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

 

 

 

{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

 

Paul Greco at Gotham Baseball has a great overview of Mets and Highlander prospect playing in the AFL. Reading the scouting reports on some of our prospects in the league there it looks more and more that the demise of the Mets farm system has been greatly exaggerated. I was upset over the thumbs down from the scouts that Eddie Kunz received as he has had an uneven performance so far in the AFL. I watch Kunz pitch in Brooklyn and his pedigree as a top collegiate closer made me think he’d emerge a lot faster as a viable pitcher in the bullpen especially with the fact that he throws a good sinking fastball that you’d think would translate into ground ball outs. I’m not ready to give up on Kunz yet and hopefully neither are the Mets. As we learn with Big Pelf, you need patients sometimes with young arms.

   

So far the Highlander will sign every single free agent on the market and will go into the season with a 1.4 trillion dollar payroll. Not only will they sign CC Sabathia to 10yr/$200mil contract but they will give Manny Ramirez 4 yr/$190 mil deal and then sign Derek Lowe, AJ Burnett and Ryan Dempster to $100 mil deals each. Then Pack A Day Hank will buy the San Diego Padres franchise just to get Jake Peavy. He will then sell the Padres to Mark Cuban (because he can’t buy the Cubs) at discount as Cuban agrees to let the YES Network televise  Dallas Mavericks  games so this way the NY/NJ/Brooklyn Nets can go to public access TV. Hank will then remove all of brother Hal’s vital organs to sell to pay for Mark Texiera’s 20 yr/$500 mil deal. And with all that the Highlander will finish no higher than third place in 2009.

 

Daniel Murphy is REAL and he is SPECTACULAR.

 

Murray Chass is a cranky old bastard who hates bloggers but I am trying to follow President-Elect Obama’s message of reaching over the aisle for unity (just like when I saw the Pope and had a feeling of calm and patients and understanding like I do now with the Obama Presidency this won’t last long because people will continue to piss me off like the assholes who walk along the subway platform with those ridiculous fucking backpacks on wheels that people trip over daily. What the fuck are you carrying around that you need a backpack on wheels? There’s something wrong with you mentally if you are toting around some much unwanted shit that you can’t carry it on your shoulder but have to wheel it around and to the woman who took exception to me kicking her wheelie-backpack this morning at the Staten Island Ferry terminal, I’ll be on that 7AM boat again on Monday so bring your husband, son, grand son and other person you like and make sure they bring their wheelie backpacks too so I can kick them all the way to Whitehall Terminal. Man did I take the long way to link this Murray Chass column sorry for that marathon rant.)    Chass writes about George W Bush wanting the Baseball Commissioners job badly but The Used Car Salesman, while denying it while he relocated the office from Manhattan to Milwaukee grab the job. One more reason to despise Bud.

 

I like that Omar is headstrong on adding pitching which is where his priority should be but do you get the same feeling I get that Omar is lying in the weeds when it comes to Manny Ramirez? I could see a scenario where Omar waits to see what the offers are and goes to the Skill Sets asking permission to match or better the offer. If its 4years or more Omar will pass but it it’s 3 yrs I could see him offering up 3yr/ close to 90mil with incentives and some creative bookkeeping. 

I’m sure this is just a smoke screen, Minaya at his sandbagging best as Jeffey Skill Sets told us in his message to the fan base, that there will be “addition by subtraction” but now his Brain trust tells us different. Here’s an idea for Omar, Tony B, and John Rico, stop with the fucking mind games and roll up your sleeves and get to work.

Yes, Greg Prince, Next Year can not get here soon enough for me either.

I think my head is still swiming from the managerial screw up by both Good O’ Cholly and Joey Specs so read the lay of the mis-managerial land from Beyond the Box Score.

Eddie Kunz is not having a good go of it in the AFL as lefties are whipping his ass and it has me worried