John Harper revealed that Tony Bernazard made the entire organization emhasize hitting the ball the other way. The grip this man had on the Mets continues to amaze me.

The fact that he could control a major league manager’s philosophy like that is surprising. The minors, yes. But not at the major league level. Why Omar Minaya let him get away with it is beyond me. But the fact that he did shows that Bernazard was out of control and had the Wilpon’s snowed.

Organizational moves since Bernazard’s departure indicate that Jeff Wilpon is taking a bigger role. Minaya did not want Wally Backman, but he’s back now. The philosophical change could have only been prompted by Wilpon. Recruitment of Mets alumni from the 1980′s seems to be ongoing. Maybe they finally realize that having these guys around is a good thing.

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I’ve been following Toby Hyde’s career since he joined Matt Cerrone’s network. He’s been like a baseball prospect, advancing every year based on past performances. Toby has talent to be sure, but he’s accomplished alot on work ethic. He’s starts a new season in Savannah and I hope he will continue his comprehensive posts on the Mets minor leagues. Have a great season, Toby.

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Its the cover-up and not the crime.

So through Johan Santana we learn that all is ok with Kelvim Escobar’s shoulder. “On target” was the description only one day after hearing that he couldn’t even grasp a baseball.

So which is it?

Fans are able to understand that Escobar was an uncertainty to begin with, but will be intolerant of an attempt at controling the spin. They will need to get out in front of the story today.

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The video clip of Keith Hernandez tutoring session with Daniel Murphy, Nick Evans and Chric Carter gave a rare glimpse of what it was like to be with him on the field.

A private man, Hernandez has clearly gotten comfortable with the camera and agreed to be miked up for an SNY session. But the brief piece revealed his hypersensitive sense of awareness.

When modeling the position, he talked about multiple things he was able to note while coming off the base and with a man on third. Hernandez’ uncanny ability to rely on peripheral vision, while making athletic moves was what seperated him from all others who have played the position.

This attention to detail of what was occurring during games often shocked teamates. It’s often hard to explain and I really don’t think that Hernandez, an extremely modest man, understands that he.

We are all lucky though as he it to Mets’ telecasts.

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The new car smell is long gone. The excitement of a new love has calmed to content. Or something like that. And Fernando Martinez comes to his third big league spring training.

For a change, timing couldn’t be any better for Martinez. Not only is he not supposed to make the club, the Mets don’t want him to. The departure of Tony Bernazard has allowed the Mets to put a more realistic spin and plan in place for their Latin prospects. One cannot discount the drama that surrounded the Mets since Bernazard’s ouster as over shadowing the slow progress and health concerns of the Mets’ top prospect.

But Martinez quietly went about having a very good winter and will arrive in Florida next week without either fanfare and questions about making the club. Let alone starting.

Maybe now Martinez gets to come to camp to just play. If his body is still maturing, we can hope that his injury troubles are behind him. Some things need to go well for Martinez, but he will be able to do so this spring without past expectations and fascination.

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I agree with Michael Baron’s well thought out take this morning. Says Baron:

…in regards to the pitchers Sherman mentioned, Garland was always destined for the west coast, unless of course a team like the Mets blew him away with an offer, but i think people would’ve been equally as critical if they had done that with Garland or Davis, because neither are talents any team should overpay for because neither talents can transform a franchise…the Mets were in on Pineiro but ultimately, the Mets wouldn’t increase their offer, and for a guy who i believe will not succeed outside of St. Louis, i’m not going to jump on Omar Minaya for that either…

Baron was using Joel Sherman’s column for talking points. He makes the good points that Mets are not the same destination it once was. The club was going to have to overwhelm most free agents to be in the picture. The talent in this market – save Jason Bay and John Lackey – did not warrant that. The Mets would have upped their offer to get Bay. Lackey’s health should have been a question of concern that kept them out of a bidding war with the Red Sox.

But Baron makes another point that I have been making in that Jason Marquis was the best fit that never seemed to be considered. Unlike other players, the New York native made it known he wanted to play for the Mets. If Marquis has a good season for the suddenly improved Washington Nationals, the non-signing will prove to be another hammer of media segues.

Still, the relative one-year bargains that Doug Davis, Jon Garland, and Bengie Molina are non only indicative of the market the Mets likely predicted but were also just that -bargains. Its easy to feel that the Mets could have “over paid” or easily made a offer worthy of accepting.

You can be assured that the team that ultimately the Mets are compared to in the Yankees would have paid the price to get a player they either wanted or needed. Yet the Mets did not make any of those determinations, and it reveals they better be thinking in other ways as I commented on a few days ago.

What ever the plans, the Mets are committed to it now. They have to bank now on the return to form of Oliver Perez and John Maine. Mike Pelfrey will have to improve. The Omir Santos – Henry Blanco catching tandem has to suddenly compare favoritably to the Nationals acquisition of hall of famer Ivan Rodriguez as Dan Warthen was public in his condemnation of last year’s catching. The bashing of Luis Castillo by his own club needs to have not been accurate.

It’s alot to hope.

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Howard Megdal runs costs numbers and fairly criticizes the Mets on the way they’ve handled planning for 2B this season. Says Megdal:

But Adam Kennedy signed last night for $1.25 million. $1.25 million! Or put another way, for $750,000 less than Alex Cora. $1.25 million less than what the Mets will pay Gary Matthews

In the event Castillo opens the season at 2B, Megdal’s point makes even more sense. They’ve spent the off-season either trying to trade him or letting the perception live on that his play and/or him were such a negative. Doing so decreased any value that Castillo might have. This is yet another example of being deaf to their own signals.

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Joe Janish does a good job in extending my own remarks. I agree with him that Putz probably should have been shut down when persistent pain surfaced in his elbow. I’m hesitant to comment in depth as I was not there to hear Putz’ own feedback of how he was feeling. There is no way of knowing what he was saying to the Mets staff as he was aware of his own contract situation.

Reagrding Putz further, a question should be asked at as to whether of not the Mariners were candid with the Mets about Putz’ health. That does not absolve the Mets, however, from doing their own physical exam like they did before signing Pedrom Martinez in 2004. Did they receive his medical records? If they recieved accurate ones, they should have been concerned as it would look much like Janish’s timeline. Putz was apparently hurting enough when he arrived in camp for it to be an issue during his spring training physical exam. Consideration via hindsight does not reflect well on the Mets. But the Mariners were indeed aware of Putz’ history and can be said to have knowingly traded damaged goods.

The rehabilitation for removal of foreign bodies from of the elbow is relatively short, and in hind sight a more prudent decision would have been for an arthroscopy when pain persisted. A noteworthy comparison is that a similarly injured Johan Santana is doing so well right now. I have no way of knowing why that decision was not made.

Dr. David Altcheck took over for Dr. James C. Parkes after the 1991 season. Altchek was a departure from the conservative Parkes in that he appeared to recommend surgery for players much quicker than would have Parkes. Whe Joe McIlvaine returned to the Mets as GM in 1993 he asked Altcheck why there appears to have been so many surguries. The Mets contracted their physician care out to a hospital that payed them a lot of money for a few years before they turned to Altcheck before the 2004 season.

In the cases of Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes and Putz there seems to be a change in philosophy to opt for surgery. I doubt that that philosophy is driven by Altcheck. Last season the Mets also clearly displayed similar hesitancy in placing these same players on the disabled list. Observers are probably wondering outloud about how long Santana was hurting before it was decided to perform surgery on him.

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