The Mets get hammered in this town for a multitude of offenses and in most instances, the bludgeoning is warranted but when it comes to the decision by J-Man to work Jose Reyes into the 3 spot of the lineup, the criticism is not only unwarranted but it’s also senseless.

In today’s NY Post, avid Mets hater Joel Sherman (there are lot’s of Mets haters in MSM, Jon Heyman, Bill Madden, Tom Verducci and of course their Emperor Mike Francesa) has a full page column today take the Met to task for batting Reyes third, even though he admits it’s out of necessity and just something Manuel pulled out of his ass:

 The shift is a reaction to Carlos Beltran’s knee surgery, which will cost him at least a month of the season. Without Beltran to hit third, Manuel fears the lineup lacks length if he simply has David Wright bat third and Jason Bay fourth. The order would dip precipitously at No. 5, likely with Daniel Murphy. In addition, Manuel wants to preserve Reyes’ legs and feels batting him third will translate to fewer steal attempts to limit the risk of having runners thrown out in front of your best RBI men, Wright and Bay.

Sherman goes on in the article to give his hypothesis on why this is bad idea, but gives no solution, which of course there isn’t any. If Carlos Beltran were of sound mind and knee, this would not even be an issue but as we know the best laid plans of mice and Mets never go as planed and so they have this situation to make the best of the lineup until Beltran gets back.

Sherman lays out the answer to the why part of Reyes hitting third when he mentions Daniel Murphy hitting fifth. Murphy is not a #5 hitter. He’s a perfect #2 but the problem is Luis Castillo is also a perfect #2. And there is the problem; the Mets have two #2 and two #1 in Reyes and Angel Pagan.

From the rumbling’s from St. Lonesome, Beltran is progressing nicely and should just miss just the first month of the season (I know, I know you’ll believe it when you see it) so when he comes back Reyes moves back to the #1 spot and Beltran back to #3 and the team will live happily ever after. I hope.

All this talk about Matt Holiday, Jason Bay, Curtis Granderson and Brandon Philips has me totally baffled. You could bring in all four of these guys in and it still doesn’t solve the Mets biggest off season problem PITCHING!!!!!

Of course the Mets need help in the corners of 1^st base,(I’m not abandoning my boy Murphy but I will concede a righty hitting dance partner would be nice)  LF and catcher both power wise and defensively but right now the Mets have one solid starter in Johan Santana .

The Reds are just about begging for teams with deep pockets to give them salary relief and with Aaron Harang, Bronson Arroyo and Brandon Phillips sitting there for the taking, there is no reason for the Mets not to go full bore in making a deal for this troika.

Ah, but who is in charge? As I linked yesterday to Joel Sherman’s story in the Post, Omar looks to be a dead GM walking. So who is in charge? Is it John Ricco? Sandy Johnson? Little Shit? Who damn it, Who is calling the shot out there?

If there were ever an off season where the Mets organization could really fortify the team it’s this one. So many teams are looking to either dump players with high salary or are arbitration eligible ready to cash in on a big raise or they are a year away for free agency and ready to be moved for cheaper labor. And here sit the Skill Sets who told us the money is not a problem so fuck that Bernie Madoff as he didn’t hurt this franchise because the Mets are truly solvent. Between being, what the second or third most valuable franchise according to Forbes and don’t forget the close to $20 mil a year coming in from those crooked bastards at $iti Group plus the ownership of SNY, there is no excuse for the team not to as aggressive as a Cougar at a frat party.

But who is in charge of the baseball decisions, inquiring minds want to know?

by the way can you spot the ex-Met in that picture?

Wayne Coffey in today’s Daily News has a great two page story on Dwight Gooden and his road back into baseball and leading a life free of drugs and alcohol. Coffey zones in on Doc’ 1985 season which is one of the greatest pitching season in baseball history. I love that Coffey mentions that the Gooden phenomenon back then has not been matched in this city.  No player in any sport in this city can match what Gooden and the Mets did back then. I remember that any start Gooden made was a must see event and as hard as this is to believe where I lived in Brooklyn we did not have cable. So when any Gooden starts were not on Ch 9 the choice was either get to Shea or get to a bar that has one of those huge satellite dishes to watch his starts.

I’m glad that Doc is back in baseball as he is working for the Newark Bears but with this new found thinking of management bringing back players who actually have a winning pedigree with the Mets in coaching positions, you would think there would be a spot for Doc.

I know I’m late with this but kudos to Mike Silva and Joe DeMayo over at NYBD for breaking the story on the hiring of Wally Backman by the Mets to manage the Brooklyn Cyclones. Not only is great to have Wally back in the family but to manage Brooklyn makes it even sweeter.

By the way all of the folks who are attacking Mike and Frank Russo over his report that Carl Crawford has asked out of Tampa need to grow up. What, you think Crawford is going to retire a Ray?

To me the biggest question of the off season is still how much power does Omar Minaya have, Joel Sherman shines some light on the subject:

Rival executives and agents described a man not fully in charge of baseball operations regardless of what Mets ownership says. One NL official said that lag time between discussing business with Minaya and the time it took him to respond suggested he had to run the information through a committee.

An agent said, “You might not like what Omar had done in the past, but he was always aggressive and decisive. He looked old, beaten and without a plan this time.”

Executives and agents said they thought Minaya has yet to be told a true budget by ownership, and that is leading to the belief that the Mets do not want to spend big. A second agent said, “The Mets are not a destination spot right now, especially if you are a hitter. You would be going to a questionable team playing in a huge park. So if you’re Jason Bay, why would you leave the Red Sox for the Mets unless you were blown away (financially), or if you were Matt Holliday, why would you leave St. Louis for the Mets unless you were blown away?”

If this info is right then the Skill Sets fucked up again by not firing Omar and not giving the job to either John Rico or going out and hiring a younger more aggressive GM. This is what bugs the living shit out of me with Jeffey Skill Sets, all along he states that Minaya has “full autonomy “ over the baseball ops but according to Sherman’s sources he has to run his moves though a committee so in effect you’ve cut Omar’s balls off. Great move Jeffey, you little shit.

Love this quote from Johan Santana on The Jacket acting like a yenta on the radio talking about Johan’s knee:

 “How did he know that my knee hurts?” Santana said before last night’s interleague series opener with the Orioles. “That’s the question that I have. You guys tell me, how did he find that out?  Because it is crazy. Not even the trainers know. Not even me. I didn’t know my knee hurts. Just put it that way.”

Okay, I’m convinced his knee is fine.

Dave Cameron at FAN GRAPHS did an analysis of Johan’s velocity this season and it seems it’s not the factor we are to believe it to be

The announced attendance at Camden Yards last night was 20, 626 but it looked as if there were maybe 15,000 ass’ in seats and of those 15K half were Mets fans.  Inter league play has reached it’s expiration date let it die a natural death.

Joel Sherman is 1000 % right that when you compare former Highlander and all around piece of shit Mel Hall being convicted of sexually assaulting a 12 yr old girl and Sammy Sosa’ name coming out on a list of positive test for steroids  it’s incredible there is more angst toward Sosa that a child molester. People need to get a grip.

Can we just release this fucking list of the dopers and get all the hand wringing and chest banging out of the way? Yes we know the era of the mid 90’s to 2003 will be known as the Steroid era and we all know the moralists out there who have never ever done anything to gain an edge on an opponent or co-worker are all up in arms. I know I’m supposed to get all hot and bother by players “cheating” (I still can’t figure that one out) but I’m not so can get move the fuck on already.

Ben Shpiel spoke with J-Man on the one year anniversary of Willie Randolph and the 3 AM Rub Out and Manuel taking over the Mets.  I like Warlord Jerry but he does some things that irks me like talking out his ass when it comes to Murphy and Church and the fact that this team is fundamentally retard when it comes to playing baseball is his responsibility and he never takes it, I like the job he has done so far in his year as skipper but I feel that anything short of an NL Pennant he will be relieved of his duties as I can see the wheels in motion for Bobby V the Sequel in 2010.

I have to agree with Joel Sherman as he points out that we shouldn’t get too wrapped up in spring training results. I know how tough it is though as just seeing the images on line and on TV shows plus the calendar ready to turn to March just makes us giddy knowing that the witch’s tit weather is almost behind us.

Sherman also touches a subject that if you say you didn’t think about, you’re full of shit.

And with all that what did I do yesterday afternoon? I watched the Giants-Indians on TV. I saw on the channel guide that the game was going to be on MLB Network at 3PM. So I turn to channel 213 on my DirecTV and instead of seeing Tim Linceum and Grady Sizemore I get a tape of guys in flannel uniforms running the bases. Now even though I’m not getting excited about the results of spring training doesn’t mean I won’t watch the games so now I’m in a fit screaming “Ah what the fuck” about 10 times until through the magic of DirecTV Sports Package I go to Sports Time Ohio and there it is, Cactus League baseball. Now remember what I said, don’t get to involved with spring training games<must go to lunch at 1:30 at Mudville 9 on Chambers St to watch Mets-Marlins today on TV> Oh and check out that link to Awful Announcing as they have a list of all the spring training games the MLB Network will show, which is like a game every day just about, but yeah don’t get wrap up in …………………..

Yes it’s great that Gimp was hitting and the President of Big Apple Tours (Ryan Church) has as well but let’s not stake out a spot on Broadway for the parade just yet. I will say this though, there were a lot of hits that were to the opposite field which vindicates J-Man’s 80 pitches in 5 minute drill to the point Billy Mays will be pimping the video soon on an infomercial near you.    

Mets Geek has a great post on Nick Evans with all the facts and figures you need to say “why no love for Nicky E”

Just when I was coming to grips that Manny won’t be a Met and sipping on a large glass of “we have enough offense” Kool Aid, I’m getting palpitations just reading how Manny and Scott Boras are begging the Dodgers to sign him and if he does sign for 1yr or 1 yr with an option it may take me few days to calm down. I’m talking sitting in a closet with no contact with human life kind of sulking. Yeah I agree I got to get out more.

Don’t forget PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL tonight 9PM EST tune in and call in (646) 595-4462.

Let’s hope this is the last day of the Ryan Church as a platoon player stories because I’m bored of it all ready. If it keeps up I’ll start up my sign Manny posts again.

Thank you Joel Sherman for giving us a Freddie Garcia update even though I don’t like what I’m hearing.

Yes Tom Renny is a nice man and a good coach but his firing today is not a shock but a move that is maybe two weeks overdue.  Not only are the Rangers losing at a disturbing pace but they are close to unwatchable. When they get down by two or more goals you might as well turn the dial because there is no fight in these Blueshirts to comeback. So now John Tortorella comes back to the organ-I-zation with a Stanley Cup and a Jack Adams Award on his resume and a 180 degree difference in personality from Renny. I hope Torts makes the Rangers to gassers until they puke in their first practice together.

Add to that news that Manny/Boras have turned down the Dodgers latest proposal of 1 yr/$25 mil deal which means the Manny to the Mets talk will never die as you have figure that Boras had to talk  Manny with Omar. He had to right? RIGHT?

More Mets news today as the off season levee has broken. It looks like the deal with Citigroup for the new Pleasure Palace is under fire and Citi Group may look to void the deal due to pressure from Congress. Is the karma changing in Flushing? Will we see the ball park named after Gil Hodges or will it keep the Shea name atop the façade?

Mike Silva has a great post on New York Baseball Digest on how the Mets strive to be good and not great and as I commented on Mike’s post as long as the Skill Sets strive to be just good me and the rest of the Mets bloggers will continue to fight them to strive to be great. That doesn’t mean to spend like our neighbors in the Bronx but to have a plan stick to it and make any necessary move to attain greatness. Signing Manny would work well to achieve that goal. The Skill Sets remind me of the landlords I deal with who get violations on their buildings and cry to the court that they have no money to make the necessary repairs to meet the city code. Usually these buildings have address on Park Ave and Central Park West and are worth umpteen millions of dollars and just like with the Skill Sets I give them a big yawn when they cry to me about how hungry they are when they have not just loves of bread under their arms but the whole damn bakery.

Joel Sherman in his HARDBALL blog talks up Ty Wiggington who makes so much sense for the Mets it’s guaranteed the Mets won’t sign him.

Excuse me now while I pry my eyes out with a fork.