With apologies to The Who, I fear we are seeing much of the same we left off with last year. Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran will not be in the opening day line-up. Carlos Delgado and his Hall of Fame type numbers are gone from first base and a a journeyman will open there. Mike Pelfrey, John Maine and Oliver Perez are healthy but have had lackluster springs. And unlike previous seasons, we’re not sure whom will take the mound in the 8th.

It’s not hopeful.

But let’s hope nonetheless.

Jason Bay will be in the line-up on opening day as will another new leader in Jeff Franceour. David Wright will not be alone in the middle of the line-up. The two players that have vied for the centerfield job in Angel Pagan and Gary Matthews Jr have been pleasant surprises and one could be dealt to bring back pitching. Maybe the catching will be better and make a difference. Ike Davis, Fernando Martinez and Jennry Mejia look like they will be future All-Stars.

The minor league system is not barren afterall and under more effective and positive leadership than was during the Tony Bernazard regime. The Mets are embracing their past. Wally Backman’s back. Tim Teufel is the AA manager. They both look like future managers in Flushing.

But there’s still the start to this season.

If the club gets off to a poor start, the Omar and Jerry watch will begin. If it gets bad, the team will play as if they are waiting for someone or more than one to get fired.

I don’t think that Jeff Wilpon will put everyone through that. He’s made it clear that Minaya no longer has his favor. People are already in place to easily step into both positions. Wilpon won’t get fooled again and will act quickly and decisively.

How many people have expertise about Citi Field? I believe the Mets were spooked by the field last season. Perhaps if Carlos Delgado had remained available and hit two or three more to the bridge beyond the seats in right-center field, Citi would have been tamed a bit and not developed any mystique. The place is bigger than some parks, but it’s a fair park. Sluggers hit home runs in fair parks.

Ralph Kiner, who knows a thing or two about home run-hitting and pitcher-friendly parks — Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, where he played, was so big that the batting cage was left on the field in left-center — doesn’t consider Citi’s size insurmountable. I’m sure Adam Dunn and Mark Reynolds don’t either. Reynolds might hit it out of the place if he plays one more series there.

If Luis Castillo can reach the second deck, David Wright can hit 12 home runs there. I wouldn’t been stunned if Wright, Bay, Carlos Beltran and Jeff Francoeur combine for 50-55 at home.

Like all the injuries, David Wright’s power drop-off was an aberration. Beltran and Jose Reyes have got to be ok, though, for the offense to be ok.

This is the hand that the Mets are forced to play. The ambiguity of the season-long injuries to Beltran and Reyes leave a big uncertainty in the future of the Mets. There just wasn’t any way around it in the ability of the Mets to plan over either the shot term or the long haul.

If Minaya is able to bring in more talent that improves the club, the big questions next month will be about the health of Beltran and Reyes. It is with these two – and not in the uncertainty of the rotation – does the season success depend on. The Mets just won’t be able to win without Beltran and Reyes in the line-up everyday.

It’s been a nice long summer and its time to go back. I’ve enjoyed my little life of leisure and being able to spend so much time with my blogging. I really want to continue this and I’ll have to budget time for it somehow. When the JV and Freshman teams starts playing I’ll be getting home later two nights a week in addition to the traditional Fridays. Much of my waking time is taken grading papers and entering items into my online grading system. But it wouldn’t be a diary if I didn’t commit to it.

We’ll get one of our starting OL back today after his heat illness issues. Maybe another one whom bagged up his shoulder on Thursday. I’ll have to pad it first though. I’m putting on two groin wraps right now and everytime I do so, I can’t help but think that its likely to be similar hip pathology of players like Carlos Delgado. Most kids are wearing ankle braces these days and I have yet to tape one. That sure won’t last.

Another rain shower just came through. I wonder what it will be like at 5pm.

Staple’s piece is a thorough one and addresses potential causes of an increase in frequency of such injuries. He touches on the potential role that PEDs play but offers no definitive statement. He focuses instead on the fact that athletes are larger and perform at a higher rate of speed.

I believe these points to be reasonable, however, I’d like to submit my concerns regarding the universal increase in the intensity and frequency of current training regimens.

First of all, training programs have been incorporating a significant amount of plyometric training for both the upper and lower extremities. We’ve been witnessing this in the development of such programs over the last two decades. Plyometrics became popular after it was discovered Russian sprinters like Valeri Borzov were doing something called “jump training” and were dominant at the 1972 Olympics. Plyometrics are done at an intensity that’s puts more pressure on joints than does the sport activity itself. An example is jumping up and down off platforms that are two feet off the ground. By design they weren’t to be done often, but the frequency of them in today’s programs has increased. Moreover I am not unconvinced that similar upper body training has not increased the frequency of isolated glenoid labrum tears in the shoulder. Excessive loading on the labrum’s of the hip and shoulder might be taking place during plyometric training.

Second, the focus of individual flexibilty has changed. Techniques are often more joint intensive. Athletes have been incorporating less passive and isolated stretching in favor of more multi-joint options.
Some are designed in a way that can put more pressure on the hip complex. I used one such technique in a clinical setting – one I call the “extreme catcher” that ended up aggravating patients. I no longer recommend or use them. Put more simply, they just might be stretching too hard.

Finally, one thing that will not be changed is the presence of weight lifting programs that were once considered taboo. Last week I saw an athlete in our weight room at school perform a power clean. He is a collegiate baseball player now. Its now the norm. Baseball players lift weights like football players and we’re not going back for a wide variety of reasons. Players from now on will have more muscle size and power. However the game itself has not changed in that it is still one that is performed at high speed and repeatedly over several months out of the year. Training techniques might need to take into account that as players are now going to be performing with larger muscles adaptations in training might need to occur.

With reports indicating that Carlos Delgado could be traded, a comparison is in order. Giambi hasn’t hit all year. Delgado has been out for some time, but was hitting .298 and had a whopping .915 OPS. Couple that with the way he finished last year puts to rest any question about Delgado’s bat.

Still he hasn’t played and the Mets have said little about his return. I cannot see how an NL team would pick him up but an AL club with the need for a bat might be interested. Like Wagner, it will have to be a baseball decision to move him. Does the player they get project as a high draft pick would?

Thats an off-the-charts wow factor of 10.

I’m not sure what to make of the possibility that Cleveland would have sent Victor Martinez to the Mets for Jon Niese and Jennry Mejia or Brad Holt. There’s just too many things to speculate on.

But the one whisper that never seems to go away is that the Wilpons may be in trouble financially. Its the 800 pound gorilla in the room that no one talks about in polite company. The empty seats I saw around home plate during yesterday’s game has become a familiar sight. The team’s poor play coupled with extremely high ticket prices and a poor economy is the perfect storm for any professional sports franchise. Maybe they just cannot add salary of any sorts until the ones for Billy Wagner and Carlos Delgado come off the books after this year.

A number two starter is the greatest pressing need for next season. Yes, that means the Mets should attempt to sign John Lackey with the money they’re saving by the departures of Wagner and Delgado. Lackey will likely get a contract similar to the AJ Burnett contract. But the Angel’s right hander is what the Mets badly need to be competitive in their own ballpark. Lackey’s a gamer and is used to the big stage.

And yes, I know we woudn’t be having this conversation is the Mets had committed their assets to Derek Lowe and not Oliver Perez.

At any rate, the Mets need not be sellers unless its a player whom has no future with the club. That can easily be accomplished over the waiver wire in August. The most practical way to look at the Mets fortunes are to see that they will be acquiring some significant talent over the next few weeks. Their own. When Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and Billy Wagner return.

No realistic assessment of the club can be made until the their talent is on the field. The removal of Tony Bernazard is a weight of significance of the shoulders off the entire organization that will be felt even at the major league level. One only need to look to the confrontation that occurred between Bernazard and K-Rod on the bus to see what kind drag Bernazard’s presence had been on the big club. My own sense is that K-Rod took on the bully for the team. It would have to be a player of his stature to do so.

I don’t think the Mets will be affected by the questionable status of Minaya. Liked and respected by players and coaches, Minaya also will not burden them with his problems. I would imagine that Minaya frequently may have had to play good cop to the volatile Bernazard with some players.

Still one club’s efforts over these next few hours are worth following as there is a match. The Tampa Bay Rays are reportedly be willing to deal Carlos Pena, Carl Crawford and Steve Kazmir to move some salary to possibly acquire Victor Martinez and Cliff Lee. Any or all three make sense and its conceivable that the Mets would get involved in a three-way deal.

Having said that, there is something that troubles me about the Mets and it does not involve people in uniform. Bill Madden’s column this week revealed again the odd influence that Tony Bernazard has that clearly serves to undermine the manager. We’ve been down this road before with Bernazard as his role in making Wille Randolph’s job was documented last season.

If Bernadard is again constantly whispering in the Wilpon’s ears and roaming around the clubhouse as a clubhouse lawyer, don’t expect any good to come from it. Even when we get all those players back.

A further trouble is that the Mets have rarely been decisive in player development until having their hand forced.They cannot let Murphy go the year with the label of being an outfiled pariah that sours on fans and kills his hitting. They’ve done this before. Nvermind what this does in the clubhouse. It is here where the Manual – Minaya realtionship will be tested. If it has too much Tony Bernazard, its too bad for all parties concerned. Its conceivable that Murphy could go to Buffalo to save his season and career.

If the Mets had done just this with Gregg Jefferries in 1989 with a Juan Samuel and a Mookie Wilson still in their prime, it could have been the Mets and not the Cubs whom won the division. Sammy at second with Mookie in center batting 1-2. Lets do this and go get the division title

Over dinner one night in St. Louis in 1989, I pressed this upon Mookie Wilson and he said it was too late for that. The next day he was traded for Jeff Mussleman from Toronto and Frankie Viola was acquired from the Twins. Wilson knew it had already been done and wanted to have a last dinner with the turds before he left.

So with Daniel Murphy the Mets cannot repeat themselves. While Jefferries was a bit of a social recluse, Murphy seems to have the support of his teammates. Hopefully they won’t let him get down as he finds himself in and out of the line-up depending on the defensive needs of the club.

Citi Field is big and Murphy might give way to Ryan Church and Jeremy Reed. Even the elevation of Fernando Martinez makes sense at a certain point. The Mets are faced with the reality that their outfield is going to have to be more athletic now. The Mets need to make sure they dont lose Murphy in the mean time.

NOTE: From my just a though category. Look for the Mets to consider giving Casey Fossum a start. He wasn’t bad last year, pretty good in the spring and frankly the best starter they had out of an abysmal Buffalo staff.

Is anyone but me shocked at how flippant the Mets seem with pitching….Darren O’Day: why bring him in at all if he’s going to be lost when the first stress is put on the roster. The Mets wasted good company time and mound time on someone they knew might pitch so little they want folks to forget about it. …….Nelson Figueroa is another story. Why burn him? Geez, it seems almost reckless.

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Yes, I do miss it at times. I’m sure everyone does. Shpigel captured the moment well.