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.

Good to see the Mets have Gil Meche on their radar, as the stories are flying fast and furious tha the Mets and Royals are looking to become trade partners at the winter Meetings.

I like Meche as a pitcher to fill the 3 or 4 spot in the rotation. He throws a heavy fastball and a nice curve that induces a lot of ground ball outs. His biggest draw back is his walk rate. His BB/9 rate last year was 4.5 with a career mark of 3.65, which if he stays at is tolerable. Meche also had some health issues with his back and shoulder fatigue.

The Royals are looking to dump Jose Guillen and his $12 mil salary. The interesting thing with Guillen is how does it affect Fernando Martinez ? F-Mart is again sitting out time from his Winter League team, due to blisters on his hands. His manager is no other than Moises Alou who of course advocates giving your hands a golden shower to toughen them up. I bet Tiger Woods has hands like tree bark, who knew Eldrick Woods was such a freak? But, I digess…. 

What does Mets management think of F-Mart? Do they still hold him in high esteem as a top prospect and the LF of the future or do they look at them as a talent that will never reach full potential? If he still in the Mets plans as a big leaguer the could go with Guillen and allow F-Mart to finally show he can play a full baseball season without getting hurt where he loses large chuck of playing time. With the names we’ve been hearing, Guillen and Pat Burrell it looks as if the Mets are still looking at F-Mart as the long term LF option. If it comes down to either Guillen or Burrell I’d rather keep Angel Pagan. 

Of course it all goes out the window if Matt Holiday becomes signable but I doubt that will happen.

I guess I should be gracious and congratulated the Highlanders on not only winning the World Series but finally putting an end to this miserable baseball season, and thankful they ended before the season’s first snowfall.

For all of my fellow Mets fans who wanted Pedro Martinez on the team to fill a starters spot, and second thoughts? Even though Hideki Matsui has not had much success against Petey over the years, the way the at bat was going in the second inning you just knew Matsui was going to tag him. Matsui was like a boxer sizing up his opponent, jabbing, jabbing with foul balls, then just missing with a left but the jabbing again then going for the knockout with the home run.

The best line I read all morning came from Mike Vaccaro when talking about whether Charlie Manuel should have pulled Petey in third before Matsui plated two more runs with a single:

     Everyone inside the ballpark knew that Martinez had no shot against Matsui, who’d gotten so many great swings in that first at-bat, Then he pulverized a Pedro pitch that barely fell foul down the right-field line, missing a bases-clearing double by inches.

It was here, if Pedro’s name was Pete Martin and he wasn’t a proud future Hall of Famer, Charlie Manuel might have said “Enough!” and gone with a left-hander like the warming J.A. Happ to try to finish the at-bat and keep the Phillies close. But this isn’t Pete Martin. It’s Pedro Martinez. And he tried to sneak a fastball past Matsui that wouldn’t stay snuck. A two-run single followed. And the first bursts of bedlam fell from the stands.

Remember the praise I gave McCarver after Game 1? Well I would like to retract the compliment as Mac-C transformed back into Tim McFullofshit the rest of the way.

Remember back, oh about nine years ago when Matt Franco was a Met? Wasn’t it known that his uncle was none other than actor Kurt Russell? And didn’t Russell parade around in a Mets cap during the 2000 World Series? But now that his “step-daughter” Kate Hudson is shacking up with Alex Centaur-riguez he’s cheering for the Highlanders like he grew up on the Grand Concourse. And what’s up with Rudy Giulliani and his wax figure wife (and that hair Geez Louise Judy G find a stylist will ya!) looking like a couple waiting for the early bird special. And why does Rudy squint like that all time making that rat face?

Now that the 2009 baseball season is over, let’s role up our sleeves and get to work we got a lot to do. Grab a shovel!!!!

OK count me in on the Bring John Lackey To The Mets club. If 5yr/$80-85 mil gets him here to be it.

$20 bucks a month for NEWSDAY online? Who the hell is running the show over there, Jimmy Dolan? What a MA-ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON

Matt Pignataro of Seven Train to Shea says Josh Johnson could be on the block in So Florida. If the Mets could pry Johnson from Miami and sign Lackey to go with Johan, well I’d let Jeffey Skill Set ride on the Mets Bloggers float at the parade.

Another chapter of my childhood is closed with the word today of the death of Soupy Sales. For you youngins’ Sales had a kids afternoon show on Ch 5 here in NY that feature comedy, puppets and cartoons that was goofy enough to keep kids entertained and over the top enough for adults to laugh at as well. Now I got to go, I need to find my 45 of Do The Mouse!.

 

With all that we get word via Big Daddy Freddy, that Omar is his man and Omar says Jerry is his man and all that makes me embarrassed to be a man.

 

Make no mistake, bringing back Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel is not a baseball decision but a money matter. I bet it will come out sooner than later that the Madoff scandal has hurt the Skill Set fortune much more than was reported.

 

See this year’s $140 mil payroll? Take a good look because it won’t be here nxest year, in fact there is a good chance the payroll will go south of $100 mil. Now that doesn’t bother me that much to tell you the truth, what has me upset is, when you take a dip in payroll and need to revamp at least 75 % of your team, you need someone in charge who is bright, innovative, creative and has a grasp of what the current baseball landscape is, going young and being able to find that diamond in the rough, the undervalued player who will give you the same production as a player for twice or three times the price. When I think of the baseball executive that can compete this way the name Omar Minaya is not even an after thought in my mind. But John Ricco’ does.

 

My guess is Omar will be VP of Baseball Ops but John Ricco will get bumped up as the front man/spokesman maybe even with the title GM and a nice little raise. Omar could be given the assignment to fix the farm system, lead the amateur scouting department, and work in concert with Ricco and the sabermetric folks to form an alliance that could get the Mets back to be relevant a bit faster.

 

As for Manuel, he has one year left and an option so even if the Mets start off like shit in 2010 it would be easier to relieve him of his duties as manger and reassign him in the organization. Maybe then the Skill Sets will have a little more scratch to make organizational improvements.

 

You would think the Skill Sets are not so clueless as to raise ticket prices for 2010. If they were really savvy they would not only announce that ticket prices won’t be raised but the tier pricing that is so ridicules will be scraped. Then they should go about having their marketing department work on making 2010 the most fan friendly season they can.

 

Start by embracing the history of the team. As we saw this weekend, it’s not just the stars that Mets fans cherish but the hard working understudy’s as well. Cleon Jones, Jerry Grote, Ed Kranepool, Gary Gentry and Eddie Yost go some of the biggest reactions from the crowd of Saturday night. Next year have some fun. Bring back so old Mets like Mike Jorgensen, Pete Falcone, Ron Hunt, Craig Swan, Steve Henderson or Jeff Readon, players from the 70’s and 80‘s teams on different weekends and have them sit at a table in the concourse and sign autographs and take pictures with the fans. It would make the players feel as good as the fans to interact with these players from our childhood.

 

At the concession stands on the Promenade level make up some Kids Meals deals. Sell a meal of a hot dog, burger, or chicken fingers, soda, and a bag of chips for like 3 bucks. Throw in a little Mr. Met beanie baby thingy as well. Let Nathan’s sponsor it to off set the cost.

 

Become more New York-centric. Do some TV ad’s with Mets players taking the 7 train to work just like real New Yorkers. If the Mets were interested I have an idea for a commercial that I think would be funny as hell and resonate with working people of the city. How about having David Wright sitting in traffic on the LIE and DOT workers filling a pot hole and Wright leaning on the horn, yelling “Hey, let’s go I gotta get to work” and the DOT worker yelling at Wright, “Do I come to your job and yell at you”? And Wright says “You sure do, 81 times a year” Get some of your players to come around the town in the winter. When your 2010 schedule comes out have players and management out on 6^th Ave by SNY studios and in all 5 boros, NJ and Connecticut giving out schedules and pressing the flesh with the fans. Treat the off season like a political election as you try to win the fans support. You are a big time underdog in this town roll up your sleeves and get to work Skill Sets

 

One thing to remember Mets fans, there are a lot of us. More than the media reports. There are millions and millions of us and tomorrow night the hardcore segment of Mets fandom ( what I like to call the Mets Weather Underground)  will meet again at Two Boots Tavern  Check out the details:

 

No Cure for a Depressin’ Season Like An

AMAZIN’ TUESDAY

 

Mets Fans Unite Again at Their Home

Away From Home for Road Games

 

NEW YORK — When Mets fans look back on 2009, they’ll remember the injuries, they’ll remember the losses, they’ll remember the game-ending unassisted triple plays…but most of all, they’ll remember AMAZIN’ TUESDAYS, the monthly gathering of Mets fans communing for literary readings, game watching, consciousness raising, pizza eating, Rheingold drinking, cocktail shaking, Yankee baiting, memorabilia gawking, and seven steps support as needed.

 

Two Boots’ second AMAZIN’ TUESDAY is comin’ up August 25, 7:00 PM, when the Mets are in Miami, attempting to do to the Marlins’ playoff chances what the Marlins did to theirs the past two years. It’s not much of a rallying cry, but when you’ve got great pizza and great speakers, do you really need one?

 

The co-bloggers who bring you Faith and Fear in Flushing, Greg Prince and Jason Fry, co-host the evening and will share some of their trials and tribulations as Mets fans (many of which are captured in the book of the same name). They welcome two distinguished writers who also bleed blue and orange: Dana Brand, author of the brand new book, The Last Days of Shea; and Caryn Rose, founder of the popular blog Metsgrrl.

 

No setting could be more ideal for such a spiritual gathering than Two Boots Tavern, as proven by the previous editions of this series of reading, rooting and Ray Sadecki contemplation. Two Boots owner Phil Hartman specializes in drinks and pies that pay homage to the great Mets of the past, and if his walls could talk, they’d surely shout “Let’s Go Mets!” Per Phil’s passion, not only is admission free, but so is the first beer, provided you donate a Mets baseball card.

 

The Two Boots restaurants and pizzerias have been a bastion for Mets fans for 22 years. Each of the ten locations features not only unique Cajun-Italian pizza and a convivial atmosphere but the Two Boots talisman — a framed photo of Mookie Wilson, Keith Hernandez and The Count (from Sesame Street). At the new Two Boots Tavern, highlights include a Hubie Brooks subway poster from the early 1980s, and a shrine to Bill Buckner. For AMAZIN’ TUESDAYS, the first beer is free, in exchange for any Mets baseball card (even Bobby Pfeil’s).

 

Phil’s hi-def TVs will, as always, will be tuned to the Mets game. Real Mets fans know the season, no matter how over, is never over until it’s over.

 

AMAZIN TUESDAYS

Date: Tuesday, August 25

Location: Two Boots Tavern, 384 Grand Street (@ Suffolk St.), 212-228-8685

Time: 7:00 PM

Admission: Free; also first drink free in exchange for any Mets baseball card.

Hosts: Greg Prince and Jason Fry, Faith and Fear in Flushing

Featuring: Dana Brand, author, The Last Days of Shea; Caryn Rose, Metsgrrl

Pizza of the Night: The Stork (creole chicken, wild mushrooms, cheddar & mozzarella) for 1973 reserve outfielder George Theodore

Drink of the Night: The Teufel Shuffle (martini shuffled, not stirred) for 1986 platoon second baseman Tim Teufel

 

Stop listening to the Minister of Mis-Information Omar Minaya. Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, John Maine and J J Putz are NOT COMING BACK THIS SEASON!!!!!!! For some reason Omar hasn’t gotten it through his head that all the talk of the injured has been undermining this team for the past month. While it’s not just Omar’s fault, J-Man was the early culprit in this stupid “Hold the fort until they get back” losers mentality but he finally figured out how unproductive that attitude was. Now add D-Wright to those slow learners that this “blame it on the injuries” lament is for losers which is what the Mets are right now.

Instead of Minaya spewing his bullshit on SNY and in the press he should be sitting down and figuring out how much of the deadwood on the player development side will be thrown out for salvage come the end of the season.

I hope you all have come to the realization that this season is kaput. The time now is to turn to who in the farm system is worth promotion to either see how they fit here in 2010 for to let them strut their stuff and entice other organizations to talk trade.

But the biggest movement here will be clearing out the front office. The only thing that will save Omar’ ass is the Skill Sets will in no way shape or form fire him and pay him to lay on the beach in the D.R. but at some point the Skill Sets may have to think of finding a baseball executive that Omar would report to.

Freddy Skill Sets realized a few years ago that he sucks as a baseball man but he didn’t have the heart to tell his little boy Jeffey that he wasn’t a baseball man either. The time has come for Freddy to have a heart to heart with the little shit and give him a dose of tough love that it’s time for Jeffey to stay out of the baseball business. That’s not to say that all contract and money spent won’t go through Jeffey as he is the owner and he is in charge of the money being spent (you think he gives his daddy grief about Freddy’s good buddy Bernie Madoff ?) but this off season I don’t want to hear that Jeffey is wining and dining free agent and calling agents and stalking Omar about personnel moves. The Mets need a President of Baseball Operations to run the entire spectrum of player personnel, pro and minor league along with amateur scouting. If Omar has a problem with that then let him resign and leave the money behind. I doubt that he would do that and as I stated the Mets won’t fire him so hiring a boss for him is the next logical step. The first name that comes to mind is Sandy Alderson who left the Padres earlier this year. Gene Michael would be another great choice and with the Bronx Robber Barron out of the picture maybe a substantial raise would lure him one boro over. Buck Showalter would be controversial and maybe not a fan favorite but his track record shows he can build a team and maybe it’s time for guy to rattle the cages in Queens. Could Andy MacPhail be fed up with Peter Angelos and come to NY to carry on the MacPhail NY baseball family legacy ?

The bottom line is it’s time to take the keys away from Omar and put Jeffey in the corner and bring in a Baseball CEO to save the franchise.

Isn’t this great?. The first day of Vernal Equinox and it is snowing like a mutha’ here in NYC. Thankfully, it’s not sticking and the forecast tomorrow is for sunny skies and 50 degrees which is fine to conduct my first practice of the baseball season with my 13 year old Babe Ruth League team and to show that I’m more Gansta’ than Jerry Manuel I’m holding practice at a park next to the Berry Projects on SI. I might even wear my sweatpants down to my knees.

Last night on Pro Baseball Central we talked about the Mets roster, the Mets announcer’s tournament at Amazin’ Avenue, St Patrick’s Day, Kilts, what’s under the kilt, booze and rubber ducky’s. To hear what you missed check out the podcast at Pro Baseball Central web site.

Jon Niese was sent to minor league camp today and that sucks for the kid who had visions of making the team as the 5^th starter. So now it’s just about in stone that Livan Hernandez will get that spot but you can be sure we will see Niese sooner rather than later this season.

Ollie P makes his first spring start for the Mets and from what David Lennon says his mechanics while with Team Mexico were so messed up that Old School Dan Warthen had to deconstruct Ollie through video, instruction and a good old fashion ass kicking (ok I made that one up) just another reason for teams to get together and abolish the WBC.

Brain Costa at the Star Ledger has a nice piece on Bobby Parnell and his quest to make the Mets in the bullpen. What will be interesting to watch as the cuts come down is how much influence J-Man has on whom goes and who stays. Manuel has talked up Parnell and Nick Evans as two kids he adores and wants on his squad but money and player options may determine who comes North and  who keeps going further North to Buffalo.

It’s hard serving to masters isn’t David?  But not to worry as help is on the way for Team USA as Evan Longoria is headed to LA to fortify the Team of the Land of the Corporate Bailout. Craig Calcaterra of the fabulous Shyster Ball site explains with some kind of fantasy mumbo-jumbo. I could never get into that si-fi stuff all that make believe crap as I live in the here and now in real life, oh shit is tonight my fantasy baseball draft? Yikes! Got to go prepare!!!!!!!!!!!!!