God almighty I’m so sick and tired of this and it seems I’m not the only one. Bob Ojeda it seems took an ax and gave Jerry Manuel 40 whacks. The night before when asked about the Toxic Ollie situation, Ojeda gave a great reply by saying he fought through three work stoppages to get guys like Ollie Perez the right to make a decision to either go to the minors or not because of tenure. Ojeda then said that he will keep his opinion on what Ollie is doing to himself which to me says while he defends OP’s deciosn to invoke his refusal to go to Buffalo, he would love to ring his neck for being a selfish prick.

Mike Silva over at NY Baseball Digest has a post about the Mets players not taking losing personally and how they get this from the manager and management, here is my comment that I posted on Mike’s site:

 The players are taking their queue from management as the owner has not countered the claims that the team has money trouble. When players see Ollie Perez come back just as bad as when he left and know the only reason he’s here is the money he’s due. Same with Castillo. Now the team has 3 catchers on the roster as no one will pull the plug on Rod Barajas with either a trade or his release. Same with Jeff Francouer. Then you have Alex Cora who for all his “leadership” qualities produces next to nothing on the field.

Same reason Jerry Manuel still has a job the Wilpons would rather lose and pay a manager than try to win with a new manager while paying his replacement.

 The fans are on to this con set by the Wilpon’s no wonder they were friends with someone like Bernie Maddoff.

Even when this team wins, we don’t enjoy it as Mets fans are preoccupied with the awful in game moves by Jerry Manuel. Now it seems he is losing the clubhouse, especially after Grandstand Cora took Mike Pelfrey to task for his jovial behavior in the clubhouse. That should be the managers’ job in fact why not just make Grandstand the bench player/manager since he so full of piss and vinegar? The guy should do something to earn his $2mil a year than to just be a grouch. Oh and speaking of Grandstand Cora, it seems as per Kevin Kernan that Johan Santana and Frankie Rodriguez were sharing a smile as well in the clubhouse but Grandstand Cora must have had his hearing aid off:

After Tuesday’s loss to the Diamondbacks, Rodriguez and Johan Santana were seen laughing in a corner of the clubhouse. A few minutes later Mike Pelfrey was joking with a group of reporters. Alex Cora yelled in the direction of Pelfrey’s locker and reporters to “show some respect.”

I just want the Skill Sets to be honest with us about whether or not they have the coin to compete for big ticket items. If they can’t, it’s no disgrace; in fact it may be to the Mets advantage. Just think, how happy was the fan base when we saw the home grown infield this season? How great is it to watch Ike Davis and Jon Niese and Josh Thole?  The franchise is 323 games BELOW .500 since its inception so losing is not a deterrent for Mets fans but indifference; lack of a plan and deceit from ownership will not be tolerated. So com’on Skill Sets free your conscience, the truth shall set you free.      

So now what, well there are reports today that the Mets are looking to move Jeff Francouer. That’s a good start. Next should be sending Rod Barajas somewhere and letting Josh Thole catch when RA Dickey, Jon Niese and who ever the fifth starter is and then give Johan Santana and Mike Pelfrey to Henry Blanco. Let Chris Carter be the 4^th outfielder, I know his arm is atrocious but his bat is wasting away on the bench. I love defense but I’m willing to sacrifice some of it for offense. Then it’s time for the obvious move, relieve Jerry Manuel of his position as manager. It doesn’t make sense to bring in a big name manager right now, give the job to Ken Oberkfell or Tim Teufel as interim managers but if Omar Minaya is more than a figurehead he needs to go into the clubhouse along with Jeffey Skill Sets and let the team know it’s time for a change and jobs are on the line no matter what kind of contract you have.      

Awwwww who am I kidding this will never happen, I’m so fucking delusional,   forget that motto of Prevention and Recovery that real motto of the New York Mets is “Same Shit, Different Day”

If you are a Highlander’s fan I am sorry to give you the bad news that the Era of the Bronx Robber Baron is over. It ended after Friday night’s game when that skanky Lady GaGa paraded herself into the Highlander locker room in her underwear after a loss to the Amazin’s. I can guarantee you that not only would Pee Wee Cashman been fired on the spot but Hank and Hal would have been put up for adoption if the Boss was still in charge. For an organization that takes such pride in its uniform to have a no talent trollop like GaGa wearing the Highlander jersey must have Marilyn Monroe rolling in her grave.

John Maine has become a problem. I had Tweeted that no way Maine goes back to the rotation if or when he comes back to the big league team and should be used as a reliever. But as General Manager Candidate Howard Megdal pointed out to me, Maine is still not throwing hard and he has not shown he’s suitable for bullpen duty as he does not show the ability to get up and get warm to come into a game. As always Howard is right on the mark and that’s why he needs to be named the nest GM of the NY Mets.

Mike Silva tackles the Maine question as to DFA or trade John Maine for a reliever from a team looking to start selling off talent. I think it comes down to John Maine’ Mets career is just about done.  In fact if the Mets can’t trade Maine and they do DFA him it will show they are serious about winning, if you don’t produce then you’re gone. Its PRO baseball no one gets hot dogs after the game.

Very nice feature in todays Daily News on Big Pelf and how between embracing fatherhood and working with Harvey Dorfman on the mental side of the game. Big Pelf also talks about his estranged dad  and how that has motivated him to be a better father to his son.

Happy Fathers day to all the Dads out there I don’t know about you but everyday for me is Fathers Day

I guess we are so used to seeing an authoritarian pitcher in Johan Santana that when he’s not striking out guys at a 9K per game clip or watch that walk rate creep up last three years we ask “Have we seen that last of Dominant Johan”  when we should be asking “are we watching the re-invention of Johan”

Mike Silva has a great post on this today at NY Baseball Digest looking at the different scenarios that have made Santana less than the dominant pitcher we know and love.

I will say this for Santana, he has terrific focus and he is one of the smartest pitchers in baseball, if he has to compensate for a lack of velocity and the inability to over power a batter, I’m confident he can figure out a way to go after the hitters with a different strategy. We are seeing his Fly Ball rate dropping and his ground ball rate inching up so you could see Santana concentrate more in keeping the ball lower in the strike zone and pitching to contact.

We also have to understand that at the age of 31 most likely we have seen the best of Santana. That’s not to say he’s done or on the down side not in the  least, what we could be seeing is a solid pitcher but he may not be the can’t miss option he’s been for the majority of his career.

Last night on THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN, Mike Silva of NY Baseball Digest was my guest and we spoke about the state of disrepair  of NY Sportstalk radio. Mike mentioned a piece we was going to run on his NYBD site and today it’s up and it really scorches the sports radio earth. I hope Mark Chernoff has asbestos boxers on today.

Tonight at 10PM ET join me for THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN on BLOGTALK RADIO. My guest will be Mike Silva of Mike Silva’s NY Baseball Digest website and the popular radio show on BLOGTALK RADIO, NY Baseball Talk. Mike and I will discuss the New York baseball scene and the state of sports talk radio in NYC.  

If you can’t join us live tonight, you can hear the podcast right here at Kranepool Society (lower left hand sidebar is the link) or at the show page at BLOGTALK RADIO.

Mike Silva of NYBD writes about David Wright and his burden as spokesman for the Mets. Silva talks of how Wright has to deal with the responsibility of dealing with media queries night after night. As I wrote in the comments section of his site, I would rather deal with the NY media than Little League parents any day. Wright is a big boy who has been in this town long enough to know that winning brings relief of serious media interrogation.  The only way you get the media and fan base off your back is to win. Do you think Derek Jeter could ever get away with his stick up his ass attitude if he didn’t have five World Series Rings?  No way!

I hope the Mets PO-PO is right that the Mets will ditch the black next season. Hell, why wait until next year, which by the way will be the 50^th Anniversary of the team existence, DUMP THE BLACK NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Especially those nasty two toned black and blue hats, I skeeve that awful head wear.

According to MLB the New York Mets have the highest number of foreign born players with 18 of the 25 players on the opening day roster born somewhere other than the USA. I mention this because it has come up on my Google Reader in about 50 different articles. For someone born and raised in NYC it gives me a good laugh. On the block where I live you have myself; born to Irish immigrants and my wife whose maternal grand parents come from Italy and here paternal grandparents come for Poland. My next door neighbors are from Albania. My neighbor’s right across the street from me are from India, the family next to them are from China, and then there are Mexicans, Koreans and Russians at the end of the block so it tells me that the Mets are a real New York team.

The Brooklyn Met Fan says we should not rush to judgment on Dwight Gooden’s latest arrest for DWI, BMF says that the story of what really happened will come out but Gooden is listening to attorney’s and not making a statement as of yet. As I posted in the comments section of BMF’s site, as most readers here know, I’m a big Gooden fan and having met him a few times he was just a great guy but when you drive while intoxicated I have a huge problem with you.

In much better news, Jose Reyes is back in St. Lonesome and it seems just his presences in the locker room has amped up the team. What Jerry Manuel has to watch for is Reyes trying to get two weeks of lost time into two days. Reyes is adamant about being in the Opening Day lineup, we all hope he is.

Mike Silva has posted a story on the old Mayor’s Trophy games between the Mets and Yankees which I never remember being a big deal.

Josh Levitt of Jorge Says No fame has started up another site, MLBfreeagency.com the site as you’d imagine will focus on current and up coming free agents and all around good baseball talk. It’s well worth your while to check it out and bookmark the site.

Johnny Maestro, one of he great Rock and Rollers of the 60’s first with The Crest’s (16 Candles) and then with the Brooklyn Bridge (The Worst That Could Happen “Girl, I heard your getting married/heard your getting married/you know that’s not my scene” )

Whose music was a stable of NYC, especially Brooklyn, died yesterday at the age of 70. R.I.P. Johnny

1 day until pitchers and 1,000,000 catchers march

Even though I nearly busted my ass walking down my ice covered driveway this morning (my kids took the tea pot and a broom outside yesterday and said they are starting the Staten Island Curling Club with my driveway acting as the home arena) it’s good to know that the Mets catchers have seen their shadows (I picture all these backstops standing around like birds on a wire) so that could only mean 6 weeks of spring training.

Speaking of catchers, yesterday the stories out of St. Lonesome had Henry Blanco as the one catcher with a roster spot sewn up but Omar Minaya says he’s not an everyday player. His tag team partner though changes everyday. One day the stories are about Omir Santos, then today we read about how Josh Thole can hit in whatever league he plays in plus he worked this off season with Bob Natal the Mets Catching Coordinator on his receiving skills. Now we are hearing that the Mets are working on signing Rod Barajas to either a minor league deal or a bargain basement ML deal. It’s to the point now that every pitcher in camp will have his own personal catcher.

JR of JR’s Sports Briefs did a video of the Mets Blood drive at $iti Field the other day. Usually the Mets do this drive in the spring but I guess with the shortage of blood in area hospitals they decided to go with a winter drive as well as a spring one as well.

Mike Silva is looking for the Mets promotional schedule on the team website but it’s no where to be found. I’m sure when they do decide to release the list of promotions it will be the same as every year, opening day schedule magnet, a couple of bobble head days,  drawstring bag day, notebook day, various t-shirts and lunch bag day.  Now I won’t kill these giveaway days as I have more Mets swag than I my basement can handle and I am a sucker for bobble heads but it would be refreshing to see something a little more imaginative from the Mets promo department. I don’t expect that though.

I don’t know why this bothers me but it does

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.