8 days until pitchers and catchers

If you haven’t seen the video of Keith Hernandez working with Daniel Murphy and Nick Evans at first base, click here. Again my opinion on Murphy is certainly biased but if the other 24 players on the Mets roster that comes North has the same desire and work ethic as Murph, things may be a lot better than we think this summer at $iti Field. At the end of the video Hernandez tells Murphy and Evans that if they ever need him for anything to tell Jay Horowitz and he will drive up to St Lonesome to lend a hand.

Two things here, one what the hell took so long for the Mets to utilize Mex in this capacity and two, if Mike Piazza never asked Hernandez’ advice when the Mets were looking for him to make the transition for catcher to first baseman, then he’s a bigger asshole than I think he is.

Nice to see Mike Jacobs back in the org. I hope he likes chicken wings.

The biggest problem I have with Mets management is not so much with it’s ineptness of its baseball ops but more with its dishonestly. When it comes to the teams finances someone is lying  either the media or the team and most likely it’s the team.  With the management not being aggressive on free agents and not making deals that would make the team better by taking on pitchers like Aaron Harang, Bronson Arroyo, or Gil Meche, who have big contracts that teams would love to get out from under, it proves that the coffers of the Skill Sets are not as robust as they claim.

It seems that’s the only reason Omar and Jerry Manuel are still here, it’s more of a “it’s cheaper to keep ‘em” scenario than a performance  factor. The Skill Sets can’t afford to pay Minaya and go out and hire a top of the line GM, so what we get is lots of layers of front office types that makes dealing with the Mets tedious and exhausting.

Everyday there are more and more stories about the teams finances and I’m sure there will be more and more of the cash flow stories throughout the season.  All it will take is for one snitch to blab the inside scoop on what’s going on in the back rooms of $iti Field to bring this to light.

Perfect example of the Mets money woes, Chein- Ming Wang is ready to sign with the Washington Nationals who are putting together a nice team for 2010.

Just sit back and listen to this song and enjoy your snow day!

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.

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?

 

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.

Now that the site is up and running again and that fact that I’m jonesing for a  posting, lets call this a late night lighting round:

Once upon a time, Marco Scutaro was Mets bloggers favorite player, mostly due to his success in Triple A. I wish I had the posts I wrote from back then as I was calling for Scutaro to be brought up from Norfolk to play 2B for the Mets and when was called up, I thought I had some juice. It was my Big Balls moment.

But Scutaro played sparingly for two not very good Mets teams and it was about that time we were fed up with Robbie Alomar and felt Scutaro had the tools to takeover at 2B. But the Mets but him on waivers after the 2003 season and Billy Beane claimed him for the A’s and it set off a bit of a bloggers firestorm around these parts. Ahhhhhhhh good times!

Now Scutaro has signed with the Red Sox, a move made by” cut from the same Billy Beane cloth”, Theo Epstein  to play shortstop for the Old Town Team.  It’s good to see both me and Scutaro are still kicking around.

In another move to kick Omar Minaya in the nuts, the Mets have signed former Reds GM Wayne Kivsky to be an Asst’ GM. If you listened to our PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL show last week, Joe McDonald said he had info that the Mets have a plan in place if (when?) the Mets get off to a bad start, to ax Omar and J-Man and put a new GM and Mgr. in there place. Looks like the GM part of Plan B is in place.

First, Placido Polanco goes back to the Phuck-Phaces and now Chone Figgins signs with the Mariners. And Rogers Castillo sighs in relief.

The news I’ve been waiting to hear, the KC Royals are looking to move RHP Gil Meche and LF David DeJesus and both would look great on the Mets. Then I’d go trade for Aaron Harang and sign either Joel Pinerio or Jason Marquis to give myself a fighting chance to be a contender in 2010.

That’ it for now but I will leave you with something I posted on Facebook:

“Why do I have a feeling that the NY Mets will start the 2010 season like the NJ Nets? If there was a stock called “The Mets will suck in 2010″ I’d empty my bank account to buy it”

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.

I don’t know what the pundits wanted Joe Giraridi to do other than pitch AJ Burnett on three days rest. Do these experts know the other choice to pitch is Chad Gaudin? The same Chad Gaudin who was cut by the Padres this season and a guy who has not thrown a baseball that counts in a month? You think Girardi enjoys being short in the starting pitching department? And why is he the bad guy here? Joey G has done a lot of things this post season to draw the ire of Highlander fans but their anger at JG on pitching Burnett on short rest is not his fault. The wrath of the fans should be on Pee Wee Cashman for not having the foresight to get a veteran starter (Gil Meche, Aaron Harrang to name two who would have been available) at the trade deadline. And by the way, when you sign a deal like Burnett did to pitch for the Highlanders who have to know what you do from April to September doesn’t mean jack shit, it’s what you do in the  post season where you earn your dough. Last night Burnett came up a few bucks short.

Anyone want to bet that Phil Hughes will be in the starting rotation in 2010? But it won’t be in the Bronx that’s for sure. Probably Pittsburgh or Kansas City I’d say.

On the FOX Pre-Game show last night, a show by the way, that makes Public Access TV look like Masterpiece Theater, host Chris Rose, who is so far over his head here he needs to go back to showing clips of golfers getting hit in the balls with their clubs, ask his panel of “Mad Men” extra Mark Grace, “Sufferin’ Succotash” Eric Karros and Charo’s  younger brother Ozzie Guillen, “if Derek Jeter is the greatest Highlander player ever”? At first the Gang of Three were as stunned with the ridiculous question in fact I was waiting for Guillen to throw out an F-Bomb and a scream out “PENDEJO”!!!! but no Oz said that not only was “Jeter God” he was the greatest Highlander ever. Well, I think that’s what he said because when Ozzie started talking I press the Closed Caption button on and my TV and on the screen it said “Are you fucking kidding”? Karros and Grace then agreed with Oz and I just sat there trying to pick up my jaw that his the ground. Jeter better than The Babe? Joe D? The Mick? The Iron Horse? Chicken Stanley? All right he’s a better hitter than Stanley but seriously has everyone lost their mind? His name is Derek Jeter not Derek Jesus.

Taking off my Mets cap and putting my Mets fandom aside for a moment, as a baseball fan I have to hope the Phuck Phaces win tomorrow night to not only set up a Game 7 but for the sheer joy of watching the flop swear flow from Highlander fans. Loosen them collars folks!