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!

Kudos to Paul Lukas and the great Uni-Watch site for calling bullshit on these so called retro uni’s the Mets are hawking. As Lukas so eloquently states, these are the same pinstriped uniforms the Mets never wear only in a darker shade of white. Plus they still have the name on the back and of course the ugly ass black shadow. I guess the black is appropriate though as Mets fans we are always in mourning.

If the Blue Jays are dumb enough to trade Roy Halliday to either the Highlanders or Red Sox then Jeffey Skill Sets may have competition for the dopiest executive in baseball. Trading Halliday to their AL East biggest competitors would be like the Mets trading Johan Santana to the Phillies or Braves  Oh shit, I hope I didn’t give Jeffey an idea?

Even though this doesn’t make sense because it’s the right move to make and the Mets the last couple of years haven’t made many right moves, I still feel the Mets will be a major player in the Halladay Sweepstakes.

Mets Lifers are selling some great t-shirts that depict Keith Hernandez’ 17 and Mike Piazza’ 31 as retired numbers and shirts commemorating Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.

The Mets made it official naming their new and improved coaching staff for 2010. Razor Shines leaves the third base coaches box after a horrendous season there and will be relegated to first base where we can do limited damage.

Third base will be manned by Chip Hale who worked for the Minnesota Twins during the successful Tom Kelly era. (How great would it be to have Tom Kelly step in as Mets manager? In fact I may post Kelly’s picture and managerial stats once a week to get the drums beating)

Dave Jauss will be Jerry Manuel’ new bench coach but his real claim to fame is he is the son of legendary Chicago sporst writer Bill Jauss. Papa Jauss was a member of one of favorite all time TV shows The Sportswriters on TV which used to play here on the old SportsChannel network.

Back and hopefully better are Old School Dan Warthen and Randy Niemann  and of course HoJo .

The most important and some what puzzling hire was that of Terry Collins as the Minor League Field Coordinator. From reading his resume I can’t figure out what Collins qualifications are to get such an important job? It’s not like he is coming in with and championship pelts on his belt or a list of players that were developed under his rein plus last year he was managing in something called the Northwoods Summer League. When you look at his body of work hw sure has held a lot of jobs in baseball and not too many with success. I guess as long as he doesn’t curse out the bushers and take his shirt off he’ll be ok.

{UPDATE: Mark Harrington of The Buffalo News thinks Collins is not only a great hire but the guy to step in if (when) J-Man gets the ax this season.}

 There is nothing worse in sports than being called a quitter, remeber back to Keith Hernandez call the club that a few years ago and Mike Piazza jumping on him, so to say tha this team are a bunch on quitters is serious and one I won’t make until I see the team in action this week.

I’ll say this as Ihave to leave and board my flight. Ozzie Gullien is my hero and we cave men have to stick together.

If you saw the back page of the Daily News this morning you’d think “oh shit” but then when you read the story you say “what’s the big deal”?:

And asked if he could be certain that he’ll return to the Mets at some point during the 2009 season, Delgado said: “I can’t guarantee that. But it looks that that’s going to be the case. The most important thing is to get better, get healthy, that you can perform effectively, and that’s our goal.

“I think that’s going to happen sometime this year, but I can’t guarantee nothing.”

So he feels he can get back this year but who knows what set backs he could endure during his rehab. Makes sense no?

Joe Janish hits a home run in his post at Mets Today on Fernando Martinez and the lazy ass culture of the Mets. I went over this last night with Joe McDonald on PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL. Larry Brooks in a story in yesterday Post said the same thing that the Mets are known for non-hustle and I agree. Delgado has been a culprit as has Beltran at times, Reyes has not hustled on numerous occasions and the fan fav Mike Piazza dogged it regularly (Yeah Joe Mac Piazza dogged it!!) Now most of this non ass busting is not to maligners but down right laziness. The more I think of young Martinez not busting it the other day the more pissed off I am at him and at J-Man for not taking him off the field. As I said last night, I’m trying not to rush to judgment on F-Mart as it’s just two games but do far I don’t see what the big fuss is about this kid and maybe it would have been more beneficial to him to leave him in Buffalo for the whole season.

Mets Grrl in her continuing endeavor to make $iti Field a better place for Mets fans and to help straighten out this clueless ownership has a third installment of her letter writing campaign this time to have the Skill Sets acknowledge the history of the NY Mets in $iti Field. This prove how pathetic the Skill Sets are when it comes to knowing it’s fan base that you actually have to pressure them to celebrate the franchise history.

You may have read the Tyler Kepner piece in the Times the other day where he reports on Nolan Ryan and Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux are going back to old school tactics with the Rangers pitchers throughout the organization to go deeper into games and not be a slave to pitch counts. All I can say is HALLE-FUCKING-LUJAH!!!!!! I would hope the Mets would get in on this retro trend as well. It has to start in the low minors as it’s time pitchers learned how to pitch and how to pitch out of trouble. Too many guys stand on that mound when they are in a jam ready to shit themselves while looking toward the bullpen for help. I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about the minor league teams records and winning the fucking Sally League Championship, how about teaching not only pitchers but all players in the organization the proper way to play baseball. You can shove the NY-PENN League Championship Banners up Jeffey’s ass.

For a much calmer look at pitch counts check out Mike Silva’s NYBD and his thoughts on this.

The opening was very nice I hear (I Tivo’d the pre game and I’ll watch it tonight as I ran a practice for my Babe Ruth League team last night that I wanted to do an hour and lasted two hours instead ) as The Franchise and Mike Piazza staged a sequel to the closing of Shea with the first pitch at $iti. At least The Franchise stayed for the game as Piazza I guess scared of having to answer any questions about PED’s took a powder after the ceremony. Should have brought Jerry Grote in instead, he never ducked anything.

You know what’s missing from $iti Field? Signage  Not enough advertising signs <eye’s rolling>

Okay yes I get it the food is wonderful at the new ballpark. The team can’t catch and has pitching question marks and clutch hitting is still a foreign substance but the food is really good <both eyes rolling> Maybe the team will perform as good as the Shake Shack or Box Frites some day.

I guess Big Pelf couldn’t build off his last start where he started like shit but finished strong. I wasn’t concerned until I heard J-Man on the post game saying he was concerned about Big Pelf so now I’m concerned and I guess you should be too.

Like a lot of Mets bloggers I was a Heath Bell fan and thought the Mets handled him badly but you know what Heath? Time to shut the fuck up! You too Duaner, especially you Duaner. If you put half the energy into to training that you do in running your mouth you might still be here. Sanchez has questioned why he had to prove himself in spring training as he is clueless that he never stepped up when counted on last year. Enjoy San Diego fellas’ and the dog days of August when you’re in last place.

I know with the novelty of the new stadium (I’m going Saturday and I’m leaving my scorebook home as I know I’ll be spending more time out of my seat than in it) and everyone is milling about but the site of ass-less seats behind home plate can not make the Skill Sets happy.

I love the cat running on the field last night. I didn’t get a good look at the fleet feline until this morning when I picked up the Daily News and I did a double take as the cat looks just like one of our cats (Sandy) I have to frame that back cover.

I hope Omar read the game summary of the Dodgers-Giants game last night.

I don’t give a rats ass about the numbers and Hall of Fame credentials Pepsodent smile and all that, my favorite Mets catcher of all time is was and may forever be Jerry Grote. Not even close. Go ahead flame my ass about this I don’t give a fuck you hear me all you Piazza and Carter fans.  My guy Grote was the original Captain Red Ass.  Nobody fired a ball back to a pitcher (including The Franchise) with purpose like Grote did.  Add in the fact that he wore a wool baseballall cap with the bill turned up (no protective helmet for him) that my young whipper snappers readers was a man’s catcher.

So why the “Get off my lawn” diatribe you wonder? Well the good folks at The Hardball Time have an outstanding post on the comparison between Mike Piazza, Pudge Rodriguez and <head bowed> Johnny Bench that fired my middle aged ass up this morning

For all my love of Grote I also have a deep respect and admiration for JB. In fact last time I was up in Cooperstown I bought a Reds t-shirt with BENCH 5 on the back. Check out the posting as it breaks down all three’s offensive and defensive numbers   

Still, the guy I want behinf the plate for my team is Jerry Grote.  Now GET OFF MY LAWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!