All of NYC is wrapped up in the Jets run to the Super Bowl (47 % of all the television sets in the Metro NY area were tuned to the Jets-Chargers game Sunday, that’s about 10 mil TV’s WOW!!!) so Mets news is fighting for space in the NY sports media but there is a few items of interest:

If you listen to Pro Baseball Central last Thursday you heard the song Metropolitans that I played to start the show. It’s a punk/garage version of Meet The Mets and it should be the 8^th inning song played at $iti Field. But of course Mets management are tragically un-hip so it won’t happen, but it will be a staple of Pro Baseball Central. Check out the band who wrote and performs the song the 45 Adapters at their website and check out their new EP “Not One More Day”

The Mets are going to Louisiana to checkout the workout of Ben Sheets. There are about a dozen teams looking a Sheets but the Mets may have a bit of an inside track. Sheets’ named his son Seaver after Tom Terrific.

Art Shamsky’ new website is up and running and if you’re a long time Mets fan you’ll enjoy the features on the site.

I would love to have Eric Byrnes on the Mets. A guy off injury who plays balls to the wall type of game that the Mets sorely need and he’s a very good outfielder. But I doubt it will happen. Makes too much sense to sign him.

You may want to clip and save this article, if Jason Bay comes up with a bum knee this season.

What does your Dickey do? Mine throws a knuckleball

Hello? Where have you been hearing that the Mets should get David DeJesus and Gil Meche? Hello? Is this thing on?

Fork please! Carlos Delgado is as done as a Christmas goose.

When it comes to Assclowns nobody beats Highlander fans. Some of these geniuses have been calling WFAN or Twittering that they hate the deal that brought Javier Vasquez to the Highlanders for Melkey Cabrea and a couple of bush leaguers. Sometimes Highlander fans your stupidity is breath taking.

Thank you Mike Vaccaro, thank you for a wonderful column this morning.

Why do I get the sad feeling that we will see more Red Sox stories in the fish wraps this summer than Mets news?

Scott Boras has entered the building and I agree with Mike Silva, Boras needs the Mets to get in the mix for Matt Holiday just to drive the price up. The Mets, Cardinals, Red Sox and maybe the Angels are Holiday’s best bets and with Boras blowing smoke up Mets managements ass about having the wherewith all to sign Holiday it’s quite clear that playing for a winning team is not paramount to Holiday signing a contract.

“The Mets have a network and they have an infrastructure there that is, I mean, it’s a juggernaut economically,” Boras said at the winter meetings Wednesday afternoon. “We’ve seen what NESN has done and they’ve become if not a multi-billion, over a billion-dollar franchise. The YES Network is a multi-billion dollar network and franchise. The infrastructure that they’ve built with the SNY network follows. They’ve got a brand new ballpark. They’re in New York City. Their revenues are in the top three or four in baseball. I mean, the New York Mets have a lot of choices. And the Wilpon family is very successful. Sure, the Mets can sign any player they want to if they so choose to.”

There is nothing in that statement that you can argue with. If you are a Mets fan, Scott Boras just did you the biggest favor of the off season by calling bullshit on the Mets inactivity. Of course he doesn’t give a shit about you or me or any Mets fan but by calling out the ownership to get in the game, we owe him some gratitude.

The piece of baseball news I’ve heard so far these winter meetings was that Peter Gammons has left the WWL and will join MLB.com and the MLB Network. I have had the pleasure of watching the Cape Cod League All Star game with Gammons a few years ago in Orleans and he was a real gentleman. We not just talked baseball but he is a real encyclopedia of Rock and Roll history as well. Congratulations Pete!

Of all the talk of who should be the Mets catcher for 2010 until Thole morphs into Jerry Grote/Johnny Bench, the names of Bengi Molina, Rod Barajas and Jason Vartiek make Mets fans react like they found out Jeffey Skill Sets has a long lost twin brother.

Everything I ‘ve read focuses on the offensive production of the catching position when that’s the last aspect of the position I look at. Give me a guy who can call a game in concert with the pitcher, block balls in the dirt, and throw runners out to the point they think twice about running on them and I’ll say “name your price man”

I’m not saying that young Thole is not a blue ribbon farm hand but let’s let the kid learn the trade of the tools of ignorance first. Let him play as much as possible in Buffalo and as we all know you never get through a whole season with just two catchers, so you will see him at $iti Field in 2010. But the best thing to do for the Mets is go after a vet backstop to match up with Omir Santos to start the 2010 season.

With $6.25 mil due him in 2010, the White Sox AJ Pierzynski could be had for a song or Eddie Kunz, let Kenny Williams choose. Pierzynski, just for the entertainment factor alone is worth bringing here but he also brings a decent bat with some pop, he is an above average defender and he’s bat shit crazy with just one year left on his deal, what’s not to like?

Bengi Molina wants at least 2 years so that sends up a red flag right there. Same for Rod Barajas. If you can get either guy for a year or a year plus an option, I’m fine with that. Jason Varitek for a one year deal? I think I’d rather bring back Paul LoDuca for a year, that is if he can get away from hanging with the cast of High School Musical. Henry Blanco anyone? Anyone? No one? Oh well, he can still throw out runners at a single bound and sure he’s 38 years old (which is 25 in Omar years) and he is Venezuelan and I believe on page 147, Section 2,  paragraph 4, Line 7 of Johan Santana’s contract it states that when a Venezuelan catcher is available the Mets are obligated to sign him.

So you see there are options out there for a catcher while young Thole grazes on the farm for awhile long until he’s ready for slaughter, errrrr…………. I mean Flushing.

METS SET SIGHTS ON STARTING PITCHING

Music to my ears. I know most of you have a deep respect for wood a la Larry David, but without pitching you can have all the ash, maple and old hickory you want, you won’t win. Pitching wins period.

The top pitcher around that the Mets could get is Roy Halliday but the cost both player/prospect wise and money wise makes Halliday a dream that won’t come true. The next on the list is John Lackey, who is doable. Contract wise that is. If it takes an AJ Burnett 5yr/$82 mil deal to get Lackey here so be it. Sure he comes with a warning label as he hasn’t made over 30 starts in the last two seasons but the Mets are dessssssssssssperate for a #2 to Santana’s #1 and the they can piece together the rest of the rotation by adding two of the usual suspects from Jason Marquis, Joel Piniero, Randy Wolf, Jon Garland, and the coming off injuries, Ben Sheets, Erik Benard, and Noah Lowry, and my trade up specials Aaron Harang, Bronson Arroyo and Gil Meche to go with Mike Pelfrey as the 4^th or 5^th starter then and only then will progress be made in Flushing.

By the way I agree with this from Mack’s Mets to make John Maine the 8^th inning set up man to Frankie Rodz and I would also make Ollie P a reliever as well and have Bobby Parnell and Perpetual Pedro Feliciano as my 7^th inning mix and match set and throw Sean Green in for shits and giggles.

Nothing gets accomplished here until the pitching is squared away.

“WHAT THEY ACTUALLY LIKE THAT BLUE AND ORANGE STUFF”?

Can’t you just imagine, Jeffey Skill Set saying that? How out of touch can you be about your fan base and the history of the close to <places right pinky to right corner of mouth> $1 billion dollar baseball franchise he and his family own?

The Skill Sets had to be hit over the head by their fan base to paint the walls blue and orange, add a Mets Hall of Fame that even the great unwashed can gain entrance to, and go back to the uniform that the vast majority of Mets fans revere.

METS-MARLINS IN SAN JUAN, WHO NEEDS TWO?

So MLB wants the Mets and Marlins to play a series in San Juan which would be taken from the Marlins home schedule. Now how does this help the Marlins? The only time they get big crowds at Your Name Here Stadium is when the Mets come to town, plus with the construction of a new ball park shouldn’t the Marlins be trying build a better relationship with their fan base so they fill the new place once it’s up? The weird thing about the Marlins fans is they support the team very heavily through TV and Radio so maybe it doesn’t matter if they play in San Juan or San Quentin.

Also in this story there is a blurb about the Mets looking at signing Jack Cust. Hopefully it’s for a bartender’s job at the Acela Club.

 

 

Welcome to Meaningless September. For the first time since the days of Battling Art Howe the New York Mets will play exhibition games that count down the stretch of a MLB season. But, that doesn’t mean there isn’t Mets news, even during these days of suckitude we still have:

 

DAVE THE LAWYER SEZ “HELL NO, WE AIN’T BROKE”

 

I haven’t seen this clip and I can’t watch it at work as there are new filters on my internet connection but when I get home I’ll take a gander of Dave The Lawyer shilling for the Skill Sets by debating Erin Arvedlund who has a book coming out on the Madoff scandal and has said the Skill Sets will sell the team by next year. To be fair, this is Ms. Arvedlund’ opinion and with that, the Skill Sets Legal pit bull tears into her and to all of us skeptics to let us know the Mets are solvent:

 

   The figures she’s thrown out are inaccurate and substantially overstated,” Howard said during the interview. “We have said from the outset that the losses incurred from the Madoff fraud have not and will not affect the operation of the Mets. The team is not for sale — whole or in part. It is family owned and it will be family owned for the long term.

 

“It’s a passionate long-term investment. There’s no need to sell. There’s no reason to sell. There will be no sale and I can’t state it any more definitively than that. Her source is bogus and her claims are false and irresponsible.”

 

Talk is cheap Davey Boy the proof will be this winter.

 

THANK YOU BABY JESUS, CARLOS BELTRAN CAN WALK AGAIN

 

And that will be proven tomorrow night on the Poor Man’s Rivera as Beltran will man centerfield of KeySpan Park for the powerhouse Brooklyn Cyclones. Once Beltran proves he can run hit and field he will be promoted to the big club to finish out the season. Normally I’d say let him sit and come back strong in 2010 but this could prove to be a great opportunity for the Mets to show that Beltran is healthy and ready to make some team in baseball a fine centerfielder. Don’t take it the wrong way, Beltran is a great ballplayer but he will be 33 years old in 2010 and has been breaking down the last two years and the Mets have to get younger and can fill a lot of holes by dealing Beltran. It won’t be easy as he has $37 mil left for the last two years of his contract and he has a no trade clause but the Mets have to seriously think about moving Beltran this winter.

 

“I’M GOING OFF THE RAILS ON A CRAZY TRAIN”

 

At first glance,  James Kannengieser’ post on Amazin’ Avenue about dealing for The Notorious M.I.L.T.O.N Bradley, sounds preposterous  but when you think it over it’s the kind of move that would benefit the Mets greatly not to mention bring hours of entertainment to Mets bloggers. I wouldn’t trade Frankie Rodriquez for Bradley though I like Kannengieser’ thinking about trading Luis Castillo. If I ran the Mets I’d dangle dealing Ollie Perez for Bradley. Maybe both the Mets and Cubs could get a tax break under the Americans With Disabilities Act. It’s not a no-brainer by any means as Bradley is so fucked up he makes Tony Bernazard look stable, but in order to be competitive next season it will take bold moves like this. But as we all know there isn’t a pair of balls in the whole Mets front office.

 

“FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS, IT TOLLS FOR OLD SCHOOL DAN WERTHEN”

 

I feel sorry for Old School Werthen, this pitching staff of his ain’t worth a shit and he looks to be the fall guy for that. The Mets are walking batters a record clip and we all know walks suck. My question is, doesn’t Old School or Jerry Manuel get mad enough to tear some new assholes other than Ollie Perez’? Perez is a easy guy to rip as he’s not a deep thinker but how about ripping into Big Pelf, K-Rod or Brian Stokes for the amount of walks they give up? Sure it’s one thing to rip the ball out of OP hands on a 3-0 count how about when Big Pelf fucks up tonight he gets the same treatment?

 

“BURRRRRRRRRRR IT’S COLD OUT, WISH I HAD A JACKET”

 

Dave Signer shows the effect of the loss of Rick Peterson and how the pitching staff has taken a hit since his departure. I was one of the brigade of bloggers who called for Peterson’ head and from what I’ve learned since his axing, while a great pitching mind and his tactics are proven successes (see Kazmir, Scott and Hudson, Tim ex-pupils who have sort him out since hurting their arms) but the problem it seems with Peterson is he doesn’t shut up. That was the reason he was let go by the Mets as the pitchers were sick and tired of his brow beating ways. Peterson it would seem, would be more of an asset as a Pitching Coordinator for an organization that being an in uniform employee and isn’t that what Freddy Skill Sets wanted from Peterson to begin with? This much is true, the Mets need an organization pitching guru desperately and maybe it’s not far fetched to bring The Jacket back in that capacity.

NEWS: FREDDY SKILL SETS METS ARE NOT FOR SALE!

You know what,  if this is true then Bernie Madoff did a real half assed job of stealing. If you’re going to rip off rich people then damn it leave them fucking destitute. First I’m calling bullshit to all this “the Skill Sets are in good shape financially and the Mets are not for sale” Yeah right, that’s why they are selling off players and taking back cash like they were empty Budweiser cans. That’s why they would rather trade off Billy Wagner as to not have him take arbitration and then get stuck with him for millions of dollars. That’s why the payroll will go DOWN next season. That’s why Omar Minaya is now a “cheaper to keep her” rather than divorce her GM and the whole inept front office will be back for the same reason. Hire Bobby Valentine? Are you nuts? He would want to be paid in American currency not Mr. Mets bucks. So you will get another season of Jerry Manuel’ stand up act and the Bingo Traveling All Stars in 2010. Oh yeah , please get your season ticket renewals in soon or Freddy Skill Sets will have to hitch hike home from Aspen.

NEWS: JOSE REYES MAY NEED SURGERY

The shocking part of this story is the Mets medical staff found out now and not the night before opening day 2010. Around here that’s called progress.

NEWS: HIGHLANDERS CLAIM CHRIS CARTER FROM RED SOX WHO WAS HEADED TO THE METS

Look, it was the right move for the Highlanders as it forces the Red Sox to keep Carter on the 40 man roster and not free up a space for another pitcher (Paul Byrd?) but it’s still a scumbag move by the home office of scumbags, the Highlanders. It doesn’t change the Billy Wagner deal but it does hurt the Mets as they wanted to see what they have in Carter as either a first baseman or an outfielder. I’m sure Daniel Murphy and Angel Pagan just became big Highlander fans.

NEWS: PAT MISCH IMPRESSIVE IN FIRST START AS A MET

Finally a bright light in this dismal season as Pat Misch pitched a beauty at Wrigley yesterday. Misch pounded the shit out the strike zone and got groundball out after groundball out. He only struck out two batters but he threw strikes and pitched to contact and let his fielders do the work, outstanding job. But of course this being the Mets of 2009 a good job gone bad is the norm but it’s tough to get on Brain Stokes who has be terrific at the back end of the pen that last few weeks but I guess when you’re used nearly everyday this will happen.

NEWS: DJ AM THROWS OUT FIRST PITCH AT METS GAME, FOUND DEAD A WEEK LATER

I’m starting to wonder why friends are offering me Mets ticket for free.

NEWS: SCOTT KAZMIR WEARS A HALO

So now what do I do with my RAYS KAZMIR 19 t-shirt? I’m thinking of having a week where I wear all the shirts and jerseys of players no longer on those teams. For the Mets I have ALOMAR 12, VAUGHN 42, ALPHONSO 13. Then I have Giants jersey SHOCKEY 80 Rangers JAGER 68 it’s like my own little old timers day.

The trade of Kazmir is not a shock as the rumblings have been there that Kaz and pitching coach Jim Hickey did not see eye to eye and that was proven when Kaz went to Rick Peterson for help after his shoulder injury. No one claimed Kazmir as his contract and injury record make it a prohibited claim but that never stops Artie Moreno of the Angels, now there is an owner committed to winning.

NEWS: METS STILL IN THE BRYCE HAPER SWEEPSTAKES

Well, maybe. The Mets are 12 games behind the Nats for the worst record in baseball and 11 back of KC for the next spot. After that there are seven teams all jockeying for a spot in the 2010 First Year Player Draft Jamboree. I don’t see either Washington or KC giving the big bucks to Harper. The one team that would worry me is Baltimore who if the standings finish like they are today, would pick 3^rd and might meet the demands of Harper. So we have to root for more loses Mets fans so new owner Jay-Z can make his big splash at his new job of Mets CEO.

Looks like the shake up we have been looking for will be internal as OP, Angel P and Jon Neise are ready to pitch in and F-Mart goes back to Buffalo and Tim Redding and Fernando Nieve go back to obscurity.

I’m sorry I’m missing Manny Being Manny in Flushing tonight and you can boo him and call him a cheat but if he were the Mets left fielder life would be a lot easier and first palce would be closer to reality than a pipe dream.

Time to cook lunch yummmmmmm sloppy joes while standing ankle deep  in mud

 

You know either Gimp Castillo or Carlos Delgado is going on the 15 day DL and this spells reprieve to Omir Grote Santos to stay on as either way Fernando Tatis ,Alex Cora Daniel Murphy and Gary Sheffield have the right side of the infield covered.

 

If I were Shrek or Brain Schneider I’d be asking the manager if he needed more coffee or his dry cleaning picked up just to curry some kind of favor with him as J- Man is smitten by Santos as are his teammates. When you get a post game shaving cream pie in the face that’s considered love in baseball.

 

Maybe we should give D- Wright a break eh Mets fans?. Sure he is not driving in runs at a pace we’d like and his extra base hits have been few and far between but back in 2007 he had the same kind of start and ended up with 73 xbh (30HR, 42 2B  1 3B) along with 34 stolen bases. As we saw last night on SNY pre game show no ones works harder than Wright so think about that the next time you asshats boo him.

 

Not only am distracted by the flu epidemic and low flying planes but the Rangers are getting ready for a Game 7 tonight in DC. Hopefully Coach Torts can control himself tonight and he plays both Sean Avery and Colton Orr and guys like Nik Antropov and Nik Zeredev step up like men. I have a very shaky feeling about tonight  as the coach looks a bit unstable and I’m one more Markus Naslund penalty in the offensive zone from throwing the remote through the TV,  but I’ll be glued to the tube for this one with my Walt Tkaczuk poster by my side.  

 

VIEWS: Who’d a thunk it? Wasn’t this supposed to be a competition between Tim Redding and Jon Niese? Redding in my opinion is being held back more for conditioning reasons and I guess that Omar feels Niese needs more work. How much better is Livan over Niese? When the name Livan Hernandez is brought up the first words out of the Mets mouths is “he’s an innings eater” which is the equivalent as the blind date that has “a great personality” As long as Livan is the 5^th starter and not the 4^th or God forbid 3^rd, the Mets will be okay.  What is not talked about enough is the lack of depth in starting pitching if the Mets lose two or more starters to injury. That’s why Dillon Gee got the start the other day as he has leaped over Nelson Figueroa, Brandon Knight and Tony Armas on the depth chart. Bradley Holt is above those slugs as well.

 

NEWS: GOOD OLLIE SHOWED UP LAST NIGHT IN ST. LONESOME

 

VIEWS: Get used to it. Some things can’t be explained. Trying to figure out which OP will show up at any time is like trying to understand how Keith Richards is still draws breaths.

 

NEWS: MURPHY WILL BAT IN THE 2 HOLE

 

VIEWS: The only guy I know who would disagree with this is Willie Randolph. (let that be the last Willie Randolph mention) Sure Gimp is a most suited for the either of the first two spots in the lineup but the fact is Murphy is too good to bat in the bottom third of the lineup so Gimp has to take a spot in the 8 hole. Does Castillo mind batting 8^th? Who cares?

 

NEWS: METS SIGN KEN TAKAHASHI

 

VIEWS: The Mets were rumored early in the off season to have interest in Takahashi who signed with the Blue Jays but was released. Takahashi will join the LOGGY’s On Parade in Buffalo with Casey Fossum, Adam Bostick, Jon Switzer and Heribert Ruelas. You can be sure one of this group will be called up the first time the Mets and Phillies get together.

 

NEWS: JOHAN SANTANA DOES A MEAN JAY HOROWITZ IMPERSONATION

 

 

VIEWS: Great job by Zoe Rice to get this clip of Kevin Burkhardt interviewing Johan Santana and Santana doing his impression of Jay Horowitz. I think it’s safe to say that Santana is enjoying being a Met.

 

NEWS: TOM SEAVER AND MIKE PIAZZA TO THROW OUT THE FIRST PITCH AT $ITI FIELD

 

 

VIEWS: Seaver is The FRANCHISE and Piazza played a huge role in the revival of the  franchise but where is the love for Ed Kranepool? The man still holds or is in the top 10 in all of the Mets lifetime offensive records, he’s an original Met not only did he play at Shea but the Polo Grounds as well why isn’t he involved in this piece of history? I know this will piss off all you PIAZZA 31 Groupies out there but Ed Kranepool is much more a Met than Mike ever was. It should Steady Eddie on the mound with Seaver and for that matter Keith Hernandez and Jerry Koosman should be there as well before Piazza, oh and no way does number 31 get retired before 7 17 or 36.