Not only are the Giants  interested in a relationship with Beltran but the Red Sox seem to want to pitch some woo too.

It will interesting to see where Beltran lands and what Sandy Alderson gets back in return. As Mets fans we should enjoy the last days of Carlos Beltran becuse we will miss him when he’s gone.

Now the Frankie Rodriguez has signed his soul away by joining forces with Scott Boras, Sandy Alderson should allow Boras to to be his broker in dealing K-Rod out of  Flushing.  Now when he’s dealt no tears will be shed.

What’s wrong with Mets fans not tuning in to SNY to watch Mets games? Seems the eyeballs that tune into to watch the Amazin’s have dropped off significantly and that is puzzling to me. This team is not only winning more than we thought they would but they a very easy to root for. I know it’s not the troika of Gary, Keith and Ron who are the best in the business.  I’d blame Chris Carlin, I think he scares kids when they see him on TV.

It’s hot as hell upstate  so the scout masters lodge is full to capacity as we bask in the air conditioning. Yes, we are a bunch of candy asses I admit but there ain’t a breeze to be had out here and after cooking a breakfast of bacon and eggs I feel I deserve a little me time. Besides all the kids are at merit badge classes so we have no one to yell  at.

Go NL Go

There is no reason for Mets fans to panic…….yet over the news that Scott Boras has been pitching woo to Jose Reyes. If and when it happens I’ll react but right now it’s just heresy.

Now that doesn’t mean it won’t happen and if it does don’t scream at the Mets, Reyes or Boras if it does and Jose goes elsewhere. Never forget this is a game to us but it’s a business to the team and a livelihood to the player. As great as Reyes is playing right now and that he is a homegrown Met that we all want to see stay and retire in orange and blue he is not getting more than 5 years contract from the Mets nor should they.  By the same token, Reyes should go out and get the best deal he can as he has paid his dues in baseball to reach the point where he calls the shots on where he’ll play the rest of his career and for how much money and never ever forget, it’s all about the money.

If the Mets go to Reyes in the weeks ahead and make him an offer of minimum 5/$100mil with all kinds of exotic clauses and options that could send that deal to 7/$140mil and he and whoever his representative  is turns it down, what would you like Sandy Alderson to do?  What Alderson would have to do is what he feels is best for the Mets organization. That’s his job. Same as it’s the player agent job to get the best deal for his client and it’s up to the player to do what’s best for him and his family. Unfortunately fans are the least of the equation in this process.  Just like at the ball park, we’re just spectators here.

Having had the pleasure of meeting Jose Reyes I can tell you first hand he is unbelievably charismatic and extremely likeable. I am sure it touches him dearly the fan support he has gotten to the point of obsession about him staying a Met 4 Life and I bet in his heart he would love for that to happen but he has a chance to not just set up his current family for life but his grand kids and even great grandkids as the money he can make on his next deal will help generations of Reyes for years to come. That is where Reyes’ loyalties lie.

As crushing as it would be to lose Jose Reyes, the Mets will survive. One thing about this franchise, it’s damn near indestructible from M.Donald Grant letting Whitey Herzog get away, to losing Gil Hodges to a heart attack, to trading Tom Seaver, to not drafting Reggie Jackson to the De Roulet daughters nearly killing the franchise to the current dunderhead owners, this franchise has survived all that, so even though it will suck to go on without him, the franchise will survive the absences of Jose Reyes as well

Ollie Perez has signed a MINOR yes MINOR league deal with the Washington Nationals. So when the Mets asked OP to go to the bushes he and Scott Boras said “nada” but when the best deal you can find is a bush league contract with a bottom feeder team it’s a deal.

The Nats better hope Ollie-ittes isn’t contagious or they will have more to worry about than Stephen Strasburg’s Tommy John-ed elbow .

Enjoy the bus rides, Ollie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There has to be a reason why Sandy Alderson is keeping Oliver Perez around.  I haven’t look in detail to the Sunday night Mets bowling league but I know lefties (as I am of that ilk) possess a natural curve when they  bowl so Ollie may be better at getting the 7-10 spilt than inducing the 6-4-3 double play? I mean there has to be a valid explanation on why OP has not been DFA’d.

One theory is that since he doesn’t draw a paycheck until opening day and now that he has proven he’s not starter worthy, a trip to the pen is not really taking innings away from a pitcher that needs work. I’m sure any appearance that Perez makes will be in a split squad game away from St. Lonesome. By keeping him around, Alderson could be waiting until the last possible day to cut Ollie hoping that a team suffering a pitching injury will be soooooooooo desperate they take Ollie off his hands for 50 cents on the dollar. Okay that’s a long shot.

The second theory, and I have not seen or heard this one any place so I will claim it as my own, Alderson/Collins give Perez a shot as a reliever. Perez shits the bed as usual. Alderson/Collins have a heart to heart with OP and Scott Boras with Alderson holding two pieces of paper in his hand, one is his release, the other an agreement to a minor league assignment. Alderson makes it known that he has no problem signing off on the DFA along with a $12 mil severance check but he is willing to allow Perez to save some face and show that he wants to work his way back to the big leagues by either staying in extended spring training using a sudden (wink, wink) injury or going outright to Triple A a la Steve Trachsel, thus putting all the pressure on Perez and Boras.

Alderson is a smart man; he knows OP has no shot of being a reliever so why not give him one last shot at redemption of taking the demotion that he should have agreed to last season. I mean really, how great is a Buffalo Bison-Scranton Wilkes Barre Yankees Kai Igawa v. Ollie Perez matchup?

As long as OP is not on the 25 roster come April 1 its fine by me. I can see Perez now agreeing to a minor league assignment. Alderson has given Perez every chance to show he’s not the suck ass pitcher we all think he is and Perez has not shown one iota of hope that he can pitch competitively in the big leagues. I can see Alderson laying this all out to Ollie and Boras, in fact how great would it be if Alderson made up one of those leather bound books that Boras makes up for his clients when they are free agents. Alderson could call it the Book of Suck.

Can’t you see Alderson telling Perez. “I’ve done everything you requested when you came to camp, you asked for a shot at the starting rotation, and you failed. You asked to go to the bullpen and that was a disaster as well.  I’ve held back the fans and media and taken the slings and arrows shot at you and what did I get back? A big bucket of suck.  So look me in the eye Ollie and tell me why the hell should I even give a shit about you”?

Enjoy Buffalo OP!

There is a segment of Mets fans who I bet are envious of the fans of the Washington Nats today as the D.C. rooters are reveling in the fact that their owner ponied up stupid money for Jayson Werth. Some of you miss those good old days when the Mets tossed around those dead presidents like they were Penny Saver coupons in an apartment building lobby, but I guess you all suffer from temporary amnesia since the last Championship flag to fly over a facility where the Mets work was 25 years ago.  I mean some of you are bitching about the Mets not going balls in on free agent, GET OVER IT those days a done, instead of going over the free agent lists I strongly advise you take a strong interest in the high school and college players eligible for the June entry draft

The Nationals are where the Mets were five years ago when they had to bribe players to wear the Mets uni with more years and more money than anyone else in baseball would. How did it work out? Pedro Martinez spent more time in St Lonesome than Flushing. Carlos Beltran and Scott Boras went to the Highlander with a last minute plea to make an offer as they hemmed and hawed about taking the Mets deal to either match or come close to the Mets offer so Beltran could patrol the green pastures of the South Bronx.  Then of course there are the deals that will live in franchise infamy like OP, Castillo and the Grand Daddy of them all, Bobby Bonilla’s contract of perpetuity and I’m not even counting Johan Santana and K-Rod’s deal that will take up $126 mil combined over the next four seasons and you want to know why after surveying this payroll carnage, Sandy Alderson has decided to stop the madness?

Really get over yourselves Mets fans, stop the bullshit about “oh we’re gonna suck next season” and “I can’t believe they cut Chris Carter, he was a warrior” “There’s no way they can trade Reyes or Beltran and if they do I’ll never root for this team again” WHAAAAA! WHAAAA! WHAAA!  you sound like a bunch of fucking rubes.  THIS ORGANZIATION TRADED THE GREATEST PLAYER IN FRANCHISE HISTORY AND THOSE US WHO WERE AROUND THEN ARE STILL HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whew!!! Sorry for screaming but this “whole woe is a Mets fans” shit is making my blood boil.

I have no idea if Sandy Alderson will make this team a contender or if he can build the farm system for players that can useful playing for the Mets or for barter but I’m willing to wait and see if he can. I’m much more excited about 2011 as I was about 2010. I’m not in the gloom and doom mood I was last winter with this organization, shi,t I haven’t said anything nasty about Jeffey Skill  Sets in a month, that’s what you call progress.  Alderson has a track record of success so that’s why I feel the future looks brighter than most of you do.

Rough one last night in San Diego. Kevin Corria connected twice to Jerry Hariston Jr in the end zone for 2 TD’s and David Eckstein kicked two extra points to lead the Padres over the Mets 18-6. Adrian Gonzalez had a big night of defense as he sacked Raul Valdes and Ryota Igarashi in the end zone for safeties. The Mets scored on a Jose Reyes punt return but the 2pt conversion failed.  

If I’m Ollie Perez or Scott Boras I’d welcome a trip to Buffalo as to not have to face the media and a very angry fan base when the Mets get back to NYC to open a three game series with the Fish on Friday. I’d love to get a press pass for the Friday game just to ask Ollie on question:

“Oliver? Steve Keane from the Eddie Kranepool Society” How does it feel that Mets front office, players and fan base are so disgusted by your selfishness that they would rather see you hogtied with an athletic cup shoved in your mouth stuffed in the trunk of a car parked on Fountain Avenue in East New York Brooklyn”

Ollie: “Brooklyn? Shit I don’t want to go to Buffalo what makes you think I want to go to Brooklyn”

Hey while you’re watching Big Pelf lose 1-0 to the Padres tonight how about joining me on THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN as I open the phone lines to the listeners tonight to talk Mets and all things baseball at 10PM ET on Blog Talk Radio. The call in number is (646) 727-2465. No hands waves or being told You’re Lawst on this show, we’re caller friendly

As you know I made reference to Joe Mc Donald proclaiming on PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL last Thursday that the Mets will be a 90+ win team in 2010. His reasoning was that Oliver Perez will revert to his Good Ollie personality. I did say, it was encouraging news that OP, under the urging of both Scott Boras and Carlos Beltran, has spent the off season in Arizona, training hard to lose both the stigma of bring mentality and physically inept to pitch in the big leagues.

I’ve been looking around at the team as it now is constructed and have tried to make the case for 90 wins. It all starts of course with the pitching staff:

#1 Santana 15-17 wins

#2 Pelf/Joel Piniero/Bronson Arroyo/Aaron Harang/Gil Meche 10-12 wins

#3 Pelf/OP/Maine/Doug Davis/Jon Garland 8-10 wins

#4 one of the above at #3  8-10 wins

#5 Maine/Neise/Neve/Holt/Stoner/(Gulp!) Smoltz 8-10 wins

That comes to 49-59 wins from your starting rotation

Now from the seven relievers you figure will be in the pen:

Frankie Rodz

Ryoto Igarashi

Bobby Parnell

Kelvin Escobar

Sean Green

Pedro Feliciano

Lefty to be named later

You figure you can and average of 4 wins from each. That’s an additional 28 wins, brining my projection to 77 to 87 wins.

Now say I leave the bullpen projection alone but I up the ante on the #2 pitcher to 12-14 wins and the #3 to 10-12 wins, that would put the team’ record between 81-91 wins. Of course all this is predicated on the Mets signing one of the remaining free agent pitchers, of which just Joel Piniero is desirable if he comes cheap or can trade for the one of the Arroyo/Harang/Meche troika.

So what do you think? Am I out of mind thinking there is a way the Mets could be a 90 win team and contend? Am I drinking the Omar/Jeffey Kool Aid? Has Joe Mac brainwashed me?  Or am I just tired of freezing my ass off this winter and dying for spring and summer and baseball season? Could be the cold has made me delirious.

It’s time to tell Jason Bay and Bengi Molina we’re not interested. Call both their bluffs in fact just tell Bay’s agent “sorry we’ve had second thoughts” then call Molina’s guy and Rod Barajas guy and the first one to say yes to a 2yr incentive laden deal gets that deal.

The reason I’m ready to “Bay-O, Bayyyyyyyyyyyy-O we’ve got no deal so you gotta go home”, is I want the Mets to sign Johnny Damon to play LF in 2010 and 2011

Now I’m not saying that Damon is better than Bay, he’s not, but the drop off is not so fierce that you could get Damon for half the money you’d spend on Bay and with less commitment. Then of course there is the all important intangibles. Damon is a dynamic presences in the clubhouse, he has dissed publicly by the Highlanders so you know he is going to come to camp ready to make a big statement, and he wears two world championship rings from two of the highest profile team sin sports. Not to mention the good will you would build up with Scott Boras for making his client look good after he (Boras) dropped the ball with the Highlander negotiations.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the last team Jason Bay wants to be a part of is the New York Mets. There is no mystery team, there is no competition for his services, now would be the time to tell Bay and his agent we’re going in another direction and announce the signing of Johnny Damon to a 2yr/18 mil deal with incentives to get the money over $20 mil. Damon is a winner and those types of players are in short supply I Queens.

Enjoy Camden Yards Jason.

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!

 

 

After yesterday’s ass whipping by the Braves a game where another player went down with a leg muscle strain and a player who allegedly is getting released by today pitched like his usual shitty self the thought came over me as maybe the Mets should get involved in a reverse pennant race, the race for the top pick in the 2010 Entry Draft.

 

Right now the Nationals again lead the way for the first overall pick in the next draft with a 26-65 record and lead the Mets by 17 games for that pick. Unless the Mets assign the rest of the big league team on the DL (not a bad idea, eh?) and bring up the whole Buffalo Bisons team then the Mets have no shot at beating DC for the top pick. The next team in line would be the Cleveland Indians who at 36-57 lead the Mets by a mere 8 games. Now passing the Indians could be done with the help of keeping Tim Redding not only on the team but putting him in the rotation and giving D-Wright the rest of the summer off and pitching Ollie Perez on two days rest.

 

Say this happened, no not Wright’s vacation or Redding and Perez every other day but say the Mets tank to the point of finishing with the second worst record in baseball, they would have a shot at drafting Bryce Harper.

 

You’ve all read about Bryce Harper, who has been hailed as the next great thing since the birth of Jesus. Harper just 16 years old will skip his junior and senior years of high school by obtaining a GED and enrolling in Junior College with the sole purpose of being drafted number 1 in the next draft. Now where this gets interesting is if the Nationals have that pick would they draft Harper who will probably ask for part of the franchise to sign after dealing with Scott Boras in their dealing with Stephen Strasburg? Can the Nationals shell out big bucks for two potential super start players? Would Freddy Skill Sets call in his marker with the Used Car Salesman to rig the draft so the Mets could get their hands on Harper? Am I drunk? Oh sorry no,  but when your team is 10 games off the pace and players are dropping to wayside every game the only thing to hang your hat on is securing a top 10 draft pick. Sad isn’t it?