It’s tough to cut through all the double talk coming from the GM meetings and I’m still trying to figure out just what the GM’s are doing in Cali besides drinking at the bar and going bowling, hell they could have held the meeting on Staten Island down the street from my house for that matter.

What is becoming clearer is the off season mission of Omar Minaya. Is to add pitching, pitching and more pitching and if a hitter (Raul Ibanez, Nick Swisher, MANNY) falls in his lap so be it.

I am intrigued by the rumors of the Famous Rays interested in Aaron Heilman and if Heilman could bring back Edwin Jackson that would be a big score for Omar.

If Javier Vasquez could be had for Gimp and his stupid contract I’d green light that one as well. What we have to remember here is the Mets are looking to bolster the back of the rotation so unless Derek Lowe really loves the colors blue and orange I don’t see him signing with the Mets when the Highlanders and Red Sox will be spending money like they own oil wells.

I still like my idea of going after Matt Capps and John Grabow from the Pirates. As much as I wouldn’t mind Brain Fuentes I hate that a player like that feels he has a team like the Mets over barrel and even if Omar were to land Fuentes I’d still go after Capps and Grabow.

Hey look two of the core are wearing Gold Gloves lets trade ‘em

Speaking of the Great Bloviator of WFAN, it seems he had his pants pulled down<figuratively that is > by Ryan Church about Church hating NYC and playing for the Mets. Read here at MetsBlog and you see how the Rush Limbaugh of Sports Talk Radio was outed as the pompous jerk he has grown (REALLY GROWN) to be. Oh yeah and Mike tells us again how D-Wright is just another player and an awful third baseman, you phony turd!

Click over to Mike Silva’s NY Baseball Digest and listen to his interview with John Manuel of Baseball America who tells us the state of the Mets Farm System is not as weak as we’ve been led to believe. Some of you Tony B haters will have to join the dark side soon as he has fortified the farm system with excellent free agent signings and a couple of fruitful drafts.     

In the latest missive from the WWL, Peter Gammons is trying to sell the fact that the Skill Sets are not swimming in cash as it appears:

{The Mets don’t have the kind of money everyone thinks, especially having to pay Billy Wagner $10M next season. They will spend to get a starter, a reliever and a bat to supplement Ryan Church in right and the Daniel Murphy/Fernando Tatis platoon in left.

No one knows what impact the economy will have on baseball, especially in New York, but someone is going to pay a price for the national debt increasing by $450B in October. The Mets are not going to jump over the luxury tax threshold, so they will continue to build around David Wright, Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran, figure Mike Pelfrey will continue his quantum leap forward, and do their best to fill in around them.}

So a team that owns a television station, has a brand new ball park in the most populous city in the country and has sold all his suites and will draw a minimum of 3.5 mil fans has no money to improve the team? And tell me what the National debt has to do with the Mets finances? Sorry Gammo I’m not buying it. I’m not ready to go out and buy a pennant because I don’t think building through free agency is the answer but don’t you dare insult the Mets fan base and cry poverty. By the way to read the whole article you have to pay to read it.

Hey, get out of that tincan you call a car
‘Coz that old thing wont get you far
Don’t take a bus and don’t grab a cab
‘Coz I got a thing that’ll drive you mad

Come on ride my train
Come on ride my train

I’m waiting for a program on my computer to get fixed so I can get some work done so while I was waiting I was looking at some interesting articles from yesterday and this morning. The most interesting piece I found was Nick Cafardo’ from yesterday’s Boston Globe which talked about MLB GM’s doing a “Swap Meet” where you sell your junk for some other guys junk or as they say “One man’s trash is another one’s treasure”

When I look over the list one name made me stare at it for a long time, Dontrelle Willis. As I stared I saw a guy who is way down on his luck and has been God-awful the last two seasons but if you can get him right, you have a workhorse and a guy with a World Series ring and he can hit a lick as well. I bet returning to the NL East and to city with the baseball passion of NYC could be the elixir the D-Train needs to get back on track.

Willis would be up for trade not just due to poor performance but the big nut that comes with him. At the Skill Sets Pleasure Palace the side walks are line with money (thanks to all of you who bought bricks) and taking in bad contracts is our specialty. But not only would I take the D-Train bad contract and bad pitching as well but I’d make this a mega deal and grab Magglio Ordonez too.

D-Train has $22 mil left on the last two years of his contact. Ordonez has $18mil owed him for 2009 with a $15 mil club option for 2010 and $15 mil in 2011.

So now the Tigers would have to take “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s Just My Very Overpaid Second Baseman” Gimp Castillo (even though they have  Placido Polanco Hey, let’s put Polanco in the deal as well and really take over WFAN with 24/7 Mets calls!!!!!) then I’d put Ryan Church and Brian Schneider in the deal (no this is not some still pent up anger or the Milledege deal. Okay maybe a little bit) and a B-Level bush leaguer. Maybe even get Brandon Inge in the package as a just to make Mike Francesa cry.

Take a listen to last night’s NY Baseball Digest show as Joey DeMayo dished out some great dirt on the off season plans of our Amazin’s. I listened to the show and three things made me sit up straight and listen. First, Ryan Church LOVES NY and Mike Francesa is full of shit (and cheeseburgers too) what pissed Church off was the fact that Dirty Duaner and Ricardo Rincon showed up late for games the last week of the season,  then there is a Jason Issringhausen mention. Remember Izzy?  His deal with the Cardinals is up and he could come to the Mets with a spring training invite to prove his elbow has been repaired and in good operating order, and then the one that had me going was the fact that the Mets will be in the Manny Ramirez hunt. In fact Omar tried hard to make a match when Manny was sent to LA so now that all it cost is money look for the Mets to make a move with Manny. I know I just ruined the day for a lot of you but I am and unabashed Manny fan and I vote yes for Manny to the Mets. Flame away, y’all!

Ambirorix Burgos is finished as a Met and a professional baseball player and a free man. Good riddance.

The can’t tear our house does fast enough; it seems as the back page of the Daily News show us. Click here for the multimedia show of the Shea dismantling  My wife came up with a great question the other day when she asked me “ Why didn’t the Mets let us walk on the field after the game on Sunday”?  Why dear ?, because that would be something  the fans would have cherished and Mets management is against us being happy. Really how could they not have done this? They had about 1,000 cops on duty and they could have let the fans line up with one line of fans walking from the third base side to center field and another line of fans go from the first base side to center field . I guess they were afraid that Mets fans would have the unmitigated gall to take some stadium dirt or some grass because as we all know that dirt and that grass will be used to raise funds for “charity” Yeah right.

I think I’ll be rooting for the Tampa Rays and maybe we all should as the owner Stuart Steinberg is a Mets fan and a season ticket holder and of course there is the Scott Kazmir scenario.

Howard Megdal has a plan to get the bullpen back in shape for 2009 in today’s New York Observer. It’s too bad the people who run the team don’t have the insight like people who cover team like Howard.

So today we get official word that Omar Minaya gets a 3 yr extension but according to Newsday, J-Man might be playing hardball with the Mets and if I were J-Man I’d slow down a bit as  Gary Carter is just a phone call away.

Even though the 12-0 and 9-3 games that the Mets have won this week are a welcome respite from the nail biters and “Please God Let Aaron Heilman Turn Into Dennis Eckersley” games we have been subjected to this season nothing is a better gauge of what your team is made of than when it gets down and dirty in a one run game and last night even with it’s scary moments the Mets had a (gulp!) Championship look to them. The Reyes Boys (Memo to Mark Malusis: When it comes to breaking down baseball personnel you’re clueless if you think Gimp Castillo at this point is better on the Mets than the A. Reyes/Damien Easley platoon then you’ve watch way too much of Robinson Cano) and Carlos Beltran flashed leather and arm in big D plays and Big Pelf had a bounce back game. Yes I know it was the Pirates and I swore I wouldn’t let myself get all pumped again about this team but when they do the little things that you need to win, I just can’t help myself.

I’ve thrown some stones at Billy Wagner here but you have admire the guy for saying screw minor league rehab and is forcing his way back as the closer. Wags knows the team needs him and as long as the medical staff clears him and Old School Dean Warthen gives the seal of approval then Wags will be activated on Monday. Then it looks like Eddie Kunz will go down for a couple of weeks but would come back on Sept 1.

Speaking of coming back, Ryan Church is playing in the GCL as a DH and hopefully by tomorrow will be in the outfield, same with Gimp Castillo who the rumor mill has it has been dealing with some medical issues with his wife.  I’m sure there is some kind of rule that both players have to be activated at a certain time but as it stands now there is no rush for either guy to come back before Sept. 1. As vital as Church’s bat has been early in the year with Daniel Murphy and Fernando Tatis both swinging potent bats (and don’t forget Nick Evans who has platooned with Murphy and started to hit) and Carlos Delgado’s deal with the devil still paying off, the Mets have the luxuary to let Church and Castillo take their time getting back. Depth it’s a good thing.

UGHHHHHH! Back to Work This sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But before I hit the pile of work I have here on my desk (I need some real motivation here to get to work) a few observations:

The walking wounded are ready to come back as it looks like Gimp Castillo is ready to rejoin the big club in DC tomorrow. That means most likely that Argenis “The Other” Reyes will be sent back to NOLA until September 1 or the next time Gimp falls off his Rascal. Billy Wags will grab a hot dog at Nathan’s and a round of “Shoot The Freak” while rehabbing with the Cyclones in Coney Island, which spells the end most likely for Eddie Kunz on the big league roster. Me personally I’d send back Carlos Muniz who has been a huge disappointment to me as I thought he’d excel as a late inning guy but he just gets a reprieve until John Maine is activated on Wednesday. It looks like Brain Stokes off his start Saturday will stay as the long man in what is a mess of a bullpen. If there is one critsisim of Omar Minaya that is justified it is he has not upgraded the bullpen from last year and that was the main culprit in the Collapse of “07. Ryan Church is down in St. Lonesome and if that doesn’t make his head hurt hopefully he’ll bounce back but I don’t here much optimism coming from the Ivory Tower of Shea.

Sad weekend with both Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes passing away. Mac was a no hold bared comic who was extremely funny and that’s because he spoke the truth and didn’t give a shit who was offended. Hayes made one of the great records of the 70’s with the theme from the movie SHAFT (“Who’s the black private dick that’s a sex machine to all the chicks-SHAFT-You’re damn right”)  and later gained fame as Chef on South Park R.I.P. Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes!!!!

This whole PSL bullshit has me shaking my head. Today I read a story in the Post about NY Football Giants fans dipping into their retirement accounts and taking out loans to buy the PSL at the new Stadium. I understand that these folks have had the tickets for years and years but when you start raiding your IRA and 401-K for tickets to a sporting even that is just fucked up. Really I love the Mets more than any other team I root for but the Wilpons can kiss my Royal Irish Ass if they jack the price of tickets so high that I have to go into my pension for a loan to watch them. Anyone who does that needs their fucking head examined.

I love the site The Gowanus Lounge because it post shit like this that makes laugh until it hurts. I love when the Yuppies who took over Park Slope and gentrified it get riled up when they see unsavory behavior like this. Back in the70’s there would have been a line. for that.

Sure now that I’m back from Boston those egg heads a MIT figure out a way to hack into the Charlie Card.

I tune into the end of the Nats-Brewers game yesterday when I got home from Shea and Bob Carpenter and Don Sutton got into a discussion that proved they were both retarded.

L Millz was up in the top of the 12^th and Carpenter was going on about the shadows on the field and how tough it was to see the ball as a batter. Carpenter then made a statement that made my head snap, “Can you imagine these shadows if the Brewers make the post season and they have to play at 4 PM” HUH? Bob, the post season starts in OCTOBER where sunset in Wisconsin is at 6:30 PM not at 8:05 PM as it is now so  they shadows will be different if any and besides maybe it will be a cloudy day when the Brew Crew play did that ever cross your mind?  Shit, it could even snow for that fact and the roof will be closed. Did I tell you how much I love Gary, Keith and Ron?

Mets are on a 1PM today which will be a big help in me getting through the mounds of paper work on my desk.     

Well I see the roller-coaster is still running strong. Win one, lose one. Last night was the same up and down ride. Petey started rocky then found the low strike zone and induced ground ball outs. That was good. D-Wright sucked in the field and on the base paths. Yeah that’s right I wrote D-Wright sucked last night, I’m allowed to. That doesn’t mean I’ve fallen out of my man crush on Sugar pants (My WRIGHT 5 jersey is on a hanger awaiting my appearance at Shea on Saturday night) but the facts are he made an awful error at third and an inexcusable base running mistake by not knowing how many outs there were. If Carlos Beltran did that there would have been an opening at WFAN as Joe (Bada Bing, Bada Boom) who have had an aneurism but for the Golden Boy we look away. Not right, right Wright?. If Warlord Jerry feels David needs a day off then just give him one. I admit that as the “team leader” it nice to defer to him but if J-Man feels he needs a mental health day then give him one this afternoon

The Mets should be embarrassed by the on going Ryan Church concussion episode as they really have failed Church from the first time he suffered a concussion in spring training to his second one in Atlanta. Just by doing a Google search of “concussion experts” I found a page to the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine page where the deal in the treatment and study of brain trauma. Also I found a story on former SF Giants catcher Mike Matheny who suffered a concussion in a home plate collision and then suffered from more problems from taking fouls balls of his mask behind the plate. In the article Dr. Micky Collins has a quote that I feel sums up the Church case to a tee:

“With a single concussion, you’re going to recover“,  The problem is when you have a  concussion and undergo these chemical changes, you’re a lot more vulnerable if you have second  before the first is recovered”

Shame on the Mets for not doing their homework on this matter.

Daniel (Oh Danny Boy) Murphy is making his presences felt early in his call up to the point where he and Dan Evans will form a platoon in LF with Fernando Tatis playing RF it looks like and Endy Chavez doing what Endy Chavez is equip to do be a fourth outfielder and defensive specialist.

Thank God the Rockies signed Livan Hernandez because I’m sure Omar had him penciled in for Saturday nights start.

Speaking of which don’t give me Claudio Vargas or Brian Stokes or Nelly Figs. No give me Jon Neise  and let me see the future.

Word is Scott Schoeneweis and Dirty Duaner have both cleared waivers and that Brian Giles was claimed off the wire to a team with no name (M-E-T-S ?) I wouldn’t mind taking a flier on Giles for Schoeneweis.

Once I figure out what bag my camera is in I’ll post some picks from Fenway but now I intend to relax and watch Johan Santana try to salvage this series from the Pads.