I sorta think so. Mike Silva tells Molina to take it or leave it.

With Bay, I suspect it’s that he really does not want to play in NY. He probably went into the off-season hoping the Red Sox would make a strong bid to resign him or that his hometown Mariners would come calling. If the rumor that Milton Bradley is going to Seattle is true, I doubt they would want to add another 30 year-old outfielder. Bay and his agent are waiting for someone else – anyone – to enter the bidding. Making a counter proposal to Minaya means the Mets are the only suitors.

I agree with Silva in that it’s his agent trying to get more money from the Mets.

Posted under Uncategorized

If it’s about salary on the Reds’ part, there’s a match. Matt Cerrone’s take is right on:

…yes, it would be crazy creative, border-line stupid, yet potentially brilliant, if a team could send, say, Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez, who will cost $18 million each of the next two seasons, to the Reds for arroyo, phillips and cordero, saving the Reds $12 million this season, and $5 million next season, while replacing them with legitimate major-league talent… yes, this is far-fetched, and total mock-GM’ing, and i can’t recall the last time i saw a deal like that happen, but, the point is, the Mets and Reds fit one another’s needs, in some way, shape or form, and i would hope they discuss a way to help eachother out, because it looks like they can…

The talent is the thing. I don’t see the Reds’ doing this without inclusion of young talent from the Mets. Say Mike Pelfrey, but hopefully not Bobby Parnell. Any one or combination of the four Reds mentioned – Cordero, Phillips, Harang and Arroyo – represent the talent fit the Mets are looking for.

I remain astonished by the amount of energy Minaya is putting into moving Castillo. Is there more of a there, there under the radar about team chemistry issues? One reason Kevin Mitchell was moved in the December 1986 Kevin McReynolds deal was to remove him from Doc Gooden. Do the Mets feel the need to remove him from Jose Reyes?

Posted under Uncategorized

The best news I heard this off season was when Bobby Parnell decided not to go pitch in Venezuela this winter. It was never a good idea. Parnell appeared in 68 games last season, including 8 starts toward the end. It was his first 7 month season. Anything beyond that just was not prudent for one of the few players who represents young talent. If it was Parnell who actually made the decision as reported. it was he whom was thinking most clearly.

Another bad idea is to not have a plan for Parnell for next season. Start? Or relieve? The Joba Chamberlain model is a good one for the Mets to use.

A downward spiral began for Chambelain when Hank Steinbrenner popped off about him being in the rotation. The Yankees baseball professionals had a very good blueprint for Chamberlain that included a limited number of innings. Just the thing for a set-up role. Chamberlain went from an untouchable to potential trade bait.

Say what you will about the Wilpons, but neither goes off half cocked and discredits their baseball people in the media. They’ve been around long enough and know how to follow the progress of young pitching talent.

So does the import of a talented, but untried Japanese fireballer in Igarashi give the Mets the leverage to move Parnell to the rotation?

Please say no.

Ryota Igarashi cannot be counted on to get big outs in the 8th inning this year. Not yet. And not at the beginning anyway. Parnell probably can. Hardened by enduring an embarrassing season as last year, Parnell will be ready to get the ball facing go ahead runs. Especially if they tell him he’s going to be doing it right now.

Posted under Uncategorized

Jon Heyman wrote yesterday that the Mets had 3 plans. First I’ve heard about that. Maybe Heyman is able to talk to Met sources in a way that others are unable to.

During the season, the guys who cover the team on a daily basis often fall into group think, and the same storyline gets advanced. The writers are together at the ballpark. They talk. The one’s who cultivate sources best, get the best stories. A recent example is the Daily News’ Adam Rubin who first began reporting the Tony Bernazard follies.

The three NY tabloids roll the same way. Ultimately it’s all about the back page. Writers from those three probably don’t many friends among the Mets’ brain trust right now. Maybe Heyman does and it’s why SI.com got the little blurb about the three tiered plan. I’d watch for Marty Noble right now, too.

Posted under Uncategorized

Marty Smith of ESPN talks the NASCAR talk with a southern accent.

Maybe it’s just me, but I often find a link between regional dialects and certain sports. Canadian and hockey. Blue collar northeast with boxing. Southern accents in college football (Its an SEC thing) and NASCAR.

So when Smith wished aloud today (I heard Smith’s drawl) that if there were more NASCAR tag behind the scenes in the garage, it might be better for the sport. Let’s face it folks, it’s hard to contemplate the NHL with fisticuffs.

Smith is onto something as many of NASCAR’s best images involve a couple of guys going nose-to-nose or throwing haymakers.

None of this bothers a guy like me who grew up with who understands that pitching inside, getting hit and occassionally emptying the bench is part of the game. Yes, there is unwritten etiquette like hockey fights.

I hope political correctness won’t prevail, but I’m doubtful that anyone will be trading punches with Danica Patrick next year.

Posted under Uncategorized

I’ve enjoyed hearing Mark Healy’s take on the Mets since I started blogging in 2006. Yesterday’s piece in Baseball Digest is the most thorough one I’ve read yet on the current state of the Mets. It’s a must read.

Posted under Uncategorized

After yesterday’s take down, John Harper is protraying Omar Minaya as a shrewd operator.

One day a blade of grass, the next day a horses ass.

Now it appears Minaya is being lauded for his deliberate approach to trying to sign Jason Bay. And Harper is correct in observing that there are signs that the Mets could be bidding against themselves. The Red Sox have publically said they are moving on. Once the Mariners finish with their Cliff Lee deal, they could turn to Bay – a man who has made no secret of his desire to play in Seattle.

It might be that its just the Mets and Mariners. Bay really wants to play in Seattle, but the Mets have the best offer on the table. His agent could be using the Mets to get the best deal he came from the Mariners. It looks like Minaya senses this.

Posted under Uncategorized

Critcism of the Mets ventured to the absurd this morning when John Harper – a fellow who should know better – suggested the Mets missed Tony Bernazard. In a strange, sort of need his agressive way…way.
Bart Hubbuch was more subtle in calling Minaya “blindly optimistic.” What in the wide, wide world of sports do they expect? That Omar be “hysterically pessimistic?”

The press corps had their Minaya meltdown this summer and are looking for the Baker Act option.

Nonsense.

This most clear assessment of conditions on the ground came from another Harper column earlier this week when he correctly observed that the Mets were never in the running for anybody. They want to be playing in October and do not want to be part of a bad situation.

With this set of cards, the smart play is first realize there is indeed a core of top players already on the roster and that there’s a fair pool of free aganet talent to mine to improve the club.

In the mean time, the Mets realize that they are a target rich environment for bad press.

Posted under Uncategorized

Worth sharing.

Posted under Uncategorized

You need to be able to do that in New York, but as John Harper explains this morning the Mets cannot do that.

Compared to the Red Sox and Phillies, then, what exactly is there to like about them?

Harper offers a path to success:

For that matter, the Mets should take a hard look at how the Phillies have built a powerhouse ballclub. Most important, they did it with a farm system that produced the likes of Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, and Cole Hamels, as well as another wave of top prospects that allowed them to deal for Lee and now Halladay.

Because the Mets have so few top prospects at the upper levels of their farm system, they couldn’t begin to fill the holes created by all their injuries last season, and they are at the mercy of a weak free-agent class this offseason.

Is it 1982 again? Or 1992?

No. Not with three all-stars in the everyday line-up, one of the games’ dominate starters and a big time closer. An average year from the three keeps the Mets relevant and maybe even contenders. But the building will have to be less dramatic. Save the signing Of Jason Bay or Matt Holiday, the Mets will need to bring in some of the guys who got let go on Saturday. They also will need to go get someone like Joel Piniero or Jason Marquis. And yes, the catching will benefit from Bengie Molina, although not at three years.

But there is a problem in Harper’s perscription in that this isn’t the way the Mets current player development philosophy works. By budgeting so little money for US free agents, they limit the number of players they can draft. To few of the kids with leverage that are getting big deals in the current market are not selected.

Note the core group of Phillies that Harper cited are US born player – Hammels, Rollins, Utley and Howard are US born players. Under the Tony Bernazrad regime, latin players were emphasized and favored. This will have to change.

As Harper pointed out, people in the game know how dysfunctional the Mets are right now. Change will have to come.

I think the Mets have done alot this off-season in changing the culture with the hiring of Terry Collins to direct on-field operations in the minors. The hiring of Wally Backman to manage their high profile Brooklyn team is a signal that they are looking to not only be different, but appear different.

Major league talent is on the way this off-season. There will be a new look in the clubhouse. It will be up to Jerry Manuel to get the team to play competitively or he’ll be let go early. Minaya’s contract situation makes his future more uncertain and less predictable. But the heir apparents for Manuel’s job will be in Florida in Mets uniforms starting in February.

Posted under Uncategorized