Last week at this time, it was Armageddon outside my house with rain and wind. Today, the sun is shining and the temperature’s soring to the mid-70’s today so this will be a real quickie post as  I’m going out to play, I may even break out the shorts, but before I head out a few items:

Looks like Mike Jacobs is the in line for the 25^th spot on the roster as he not only will give Daniel Murphy a run at first base bit he is valuable and an emergency catcher. Jacobs has no problem stepping in if asked to catch, in fact he has order a catchers mitt and is working down in the bullpen to hone his skills. Carlos Delgado was a catcher at one time but he made it known under no circumstances would he go behind the plate.  One more reason why I’m glad Delgado’s gone.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports has a must read column on the shakedown artists at the World Anti-Doping Association who keep trying to embarrass MLB to the point it sends more cash it’s way for the witch hunt of chasing athletes for PED use.  I know the Congress and the President  have a lot on their plate these days but someone needs to reign in the FBI agents wasting money and man power chasing down Barry Bonds, Roger  Clemens and other athletes about their use of PED’s.  You want to say Bonds and Clemens are assholes ? You get no argument from me but if you’re going to start putting people in jail for that then Glen Beck needs to be on Death Row.

Jenry Mejia pitched yesterday and is slated to go again today. Not a good sign if you ask me. Looks like Manuel is pushing for Mejia to join the Mets bullpen when the right move would be to let him start in Buffalo. Also John Maine goes today against the Cardinals, time to step up Johnny.

The Nationals have sent Jesus Strasbug  to their minor league camp.  Look for Jesus to be resurrected sometime in May, as it will buy the Nats an extra year of control over the Savior.

Johan Santana BELIEVES!!!!! Someone has to I guess.

   20 days until pitchers and catchers

Unfortunately  I missed Mets Hot Stove last night on SNY but from reading Mathew Cerrone’s MetsBlog this morning it looks like Omar did his best Alexander Haig impression to let us Mets fans know the “He is in charge” No wonder I had a restless nights sleep.

From reading the Cerrone’s post, Omar seemed fixated on the lack of any good solid free agents this off season and Minaya is right about that, it was a weak crop. The Mets did corral one of the better freebird players in Jason Bay and the Mets abstaining from any of the free agent pitchers may turn out to be the right move. Time will tell. But Omar is acting like the free agent way is the only way to fortify the team.

I don’t know if the Mets ever called the Reds or Royals to engage in talks for one of my favorite trio of pitchers I’d like to see, the pitching firm of Harang, Arroyo and Meche, but I just find it very odd that Omar feels the only way to add talent to this team is through free agents and diving in the ballplayers with disabilities dumpster.

If you really want to know what a Mets fan is really like, you must read Faith and Fear in Flushing. Greg Prince has a post out this morning that deals with the identity of our team. This part of the post says it all:

Little wonder the Mets’ identity is frayed. No wonder the Metsosphere is continuously and maybe justifiably staticky, jittery and expressing discontent. We are, by nature, a gaggle of nervous crosstalkers when we don’t have an actual season to dissect. Right now it’s all nervous crosstalk for Mets fans. We, collectively, remind me of the middle-aged ladies who’d set up card tables in front of somebody’s cabana at the beach club to which my parents belonged when I was little. (That’s the Sun Life I remember.) Those ladies indulged in nervous crosstalk, too, just like us. All we’re missing is four floppy hats, a carton of Tareytons and a few hands of canasta.

 

Just walking by them made me jittery, and I was only six.

 

After reading that passage, I can’t get the image of the Brighton Beach Baths out of my mind.

Fernando Tatis has resigned with the Mets and for less than the $1.7 mil he made last year. Nice hometown discount eh? Tatis will also change is uniform number from 17 (that he should never ever have been given) to 6 4 3.

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.}

NEWS: FREDDY SKILL SETS METS ARE NOT FOR SALE!

You know what,  if this is true then Bernie Madoff did a real half assed job of stealing. If you’re going to rip off rich people then damn it leave them fucking destitute. First I’m calling bullshit to all this “the Skill Sets are in good shape financially and the Mets are not for sale” Yeah right, that’s why they are selling off players and taking back cash like they were empty Budweiser cans. That’s why they would rather trade off Billy Wagner as to not have him take arbitration and then get stuck with him for millions of dollars. That’s why the payroll will go DOWN next season. That’s why Omar Minaya is now a “cheaper to keep her” rather than divorce her GM and the whole inept front office will be back for the same reason. Hire Bobby Valentine? Are you nuts? He would want to be paid in American currency not Mr. Mets bucks. So you will get another season of Jerry Manuel’ stand up act and the Bingo Traveling All Stars in 2010. Oh yeah , please get your season ticket renewals in soon or Freddy Skill Sets will have to hitch hike home from Aspen.

NEWS: JOSE REYES MAY NEED SURGERY

The shocking part of this story is the Mets medical staff found out now and not the night before opening day 2010. Around here that’s called progress.

NEWS: HIGHLANDERS CLAIM CHRIS CARTER FROM RED SOX WHO WAS HEADED TO THE METS

Look, it was the right move for the Highlanders as it forces the Red Sox to keep Carter on the 40 man roster and not free up a space for another pitcher (Paul Byrd?) but it’s still a scumbag move by the home office of scumbags, the Highlanders. It doesn’t change the Billy Wagner deal but it does hurt the Mets as they wanted to see what they have in Carter as either a first baseman or an outfielder. I’m sure Daniel Murphy and Angel Pagan just became big Highlander fans.

NEWS: PAT MISCH IMPRESSIVE IN FIRST START AS A MET

Finally a bright light in this dismal season as Pat Misch pitched a beauty at Wrigley yesterday. Misch pounded the shit out the strike zone and got groundball out after groundball out. He only struck out two batters but he threw strikes and pitched to contact and let his fielders do the work, outstanding job. But of course this being the Mets of 2009 a good job gone bad is the norm but it’s tough to get on Brain Stokes who has be terrific at the back end of the pen that last few weeks but I guess when you’re used nearly everyday this will happen.

NEWS: DJ AM THROWS OUT FIRST PITCH AT METS GAME, FOUND DEAD A WEEK LATER

I’m starting to wonder why friends are offering me Mets ticket for free.

NEWS: SCOTT KAZMIR WEARS A HALO

So now what do I do with my RAYS KAZMIR 19 t-shirt? I’m thinking of having a week where I wear all the shirts and jerseys of players no longer on those teams. For the Mets I have ALOMAR 12, VAUGHN 42, ALPHONSO 13. Then I have Giants jersey SHOCKEY 80 Rangers JAGER 68 it’s like my own little old timers day.

The trade of Kazmir is not a shock as the rumblings have been there that Kaz and pitching coach Jim Hickey did not see eye to eye and that was proven when Kaz went to Rick Peterson for help after his shoulder injury. No one claimed Kazmir as his contract and injury record make it a prohibited claim but that never stops Artie Moreno of the Angels, now there is an owner committed to winning.

NEWS: METS STILL IN THE BRYCE HAPER SWEEPSTAKES

Well, maybe. The Mets are 12 games behind the Nats for the worst record in baseball and 11 back of KC for the next spot. After that there are seven teams all jockeying for a spot in the 2010 First Year Player Draft Jamboree. I don’t see either Washington or KC giving the big bucks to Harper. The one team that would worry me is Baltimore who if the standings finish like they are today, would pick 3^rd and might meet the demands of Harper. So we have to root for more loses Mets fans so new owner Jay-Z can make his big splash at his new job of Mets CEO.