False Hope

From LENIII in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

The Twins checked in with the Red Sox, Yankees and Mets just before everyone split for the holidays but nothing major appears to be heating up.

Yes, you just read the word Mets. Indications are that the Mets remain a viable destination for ace Johan Santana, and that the Twins like enough of their players that a deal could be worked out without shortstop Jose Reyes being part of the package.

Outfield prospects Carlos Gomez and Fernando Martinez have been mentioned in other reports as possible targets. Pitchers Mike Pelfrey, Kevin Mulvey and Phil Humber are considered good prospects but it’s unclear how much the Twins like them. And, it’s unknown if there are any established players the Mets are willing to part with (Reyes and David Wright seem untouchable).

This is pure speculation, but you have to wonder if the Twins would prefer to deal Santana to a National League team. Santana, a career .258 hitter, would get the chance to swing the bat. And, except for interleague play, the Twins wouldn’t have to face him during the regular season.

This is from the same guy who told us the Mets only had their name in the mix for "PR purposes" a few weeks ago.

The merry-go-round that is the 2007 offseason continues. At least we don't have to worry about trading for an overweight pitcher whose success is largely attributed to smoke and mirrors anymore - Jerry Crasnick at ESPN is reporting the Blanton talks have cooled.

If anyone's interested, Don Burke at the Star-Ledger had a nice piece about Kevin Mulvey and what it's like to have been "traded" about 500 different times already this winter. If worse comes to worse I won't be too upset with Pelfrey, Humber, and Mulvey battling for rotation spots. Not that it matters of course...whoever loses the spring training battle is guaranteed a spot in May when the bunion acts up.

Merry Christmas

From Ketchup on Your Ice Cream to you...Merry Christmas

Johan Who?

Yes Mets fans, that's right. Instead of a shiny new dominant LHP under your tree this Christmas morning the management that brought you a %20 ticket price increase is pleased to present The Jacket's newest reclamation project - Kyle Lohse.

A man who gave up a grand slam to Kaz Matsui - and no, it wasn't on opening day - is the starting pitcher that the Mets are "zeroing in on." This after they offered $40 mil/4 years for Carlos Silva only to be brushed aside by the Mariners. Yes, the career 1.368 WHIP Carlos Silva.

Omar undoubtedly has Tony Reagins and Josh Byrnes on speed dial frantically inquiring about Bartolo Colon and Livan Hernandez - just in case the whole Kyle "career 4.82 ERA, 1.432 WHIP, and 95 ERA+" Lohse thing doesn't pan out.

Thank you Mets, thank you Omar, thank you Freddy Coupon, thank you Jeffy, thank you, thank you, thank you.

And It Continues...

The Mets are like your high school girlfriend who you always thought was a bit out of your league. She would tell you she really liked you and wanted to hang out but she was sick and then you would walk into the mall and see her making out with the captain of the football team. Your only thoughts would be, "I should have known, but thanks for leading me on bitch."

Thanks for leading us on Omar.

The Mets could have just saved the money they spent flying Omar and his crew to the Winter Meetings 2 weeks ago and just shoved it right back up their asses. Maybe they could have used it to not jack up my 7-pack price by $75....just a thought.

We all know already (thanks to MetsBlog and Metstradamus) that the Mets going after Santana was one big fucking joke. Thanks again guys, hell of an organization you're running in Flushing.

You see, I was under the impression that actually trying to get Santana would increase fan morale. I guess telling the fanbase that you're committed to winning and won't trade one of your young superstar infielders for Venezuela Johnny wouldn't be the "right thing to do."

So why not just lie to everyone instead? Inspire thousands of columns and comments on MetsBlog and normal amounts of columns and comments everywhere else by duping the fans into thinking that somehow the Twins were considering a package of F-Mart and Aaron Heilman's autographed Yadier Molina HR ball for the best LHP in the game over such other offers as the shoulda-been World Series MVP and two other top prospects or the once agreed-upon top pitching prospect in the game and two top prospects. We was duped.

In other news...Brian Schneider's wife is quite attractive and Matthew Cerrone was lucky enough to talk to her:

…lastly, i talked with his wife, jordan, for a few minutes, who is very sweet and seemingly quite excited to be in New York - and though they’re keeping their house down south, they are looking for a home either in Manhattan or in Connecticut like so many of his teammates…for what it’s worth, she prefers the city…

My only question for MetsBlog is why are state and borough names capitalized and not italicized but a real person's name remains uncapitalized and in italics?

We can only hope there will be enough cut-aways to Ms. Schneider in the stands with a horrified look on her face as Captain Red Ass and Da Edge combine to hot .750 with 42 HR over the 19 times the Mets battle the Nats - and you can see all these games from the Upper Reserved for only $55!!!

Thanks for systematically crushing our h

Blanton to Mets?

Via MLB Trade Rumors...Buster Olney is reporting that the Mets could have Blanton soon - if they agree to trade Gomez, Mulvey, and Heilman. I'm inclined to believe that Heilman could be just as decent a starter as Blanton if given the chance so this deal doesn't quite make sense. If this were Dan Haren it would be a different story, but Blanton is an innings eater who doesn't walk many guys. The caveat of course is that he doesn't strike many guys out either.

He also pitches in a pitchers park now as it is in Oakland, so the "Shea will do wonders for him" argument is weak. He's been an average pitcher in the AL (career ERA+ 105, career ERA of 4.10) who's good for 200+ innings. I don't think it's worth Gomez, Mulvey, and Heilman....do you?

The Real-Life George Costanza

(The key word is "tasteful")

From the Daily News:

"New York Yankees traveling secretary David Szen pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to filing a false tax return and admitted he failed to report more than $50,000 in tips from players and coaches.

Authorities said the tax loss was $10,285 based on underreporting of $53,350 over five years. The 56-year-old from Brookfield, whose reported 2005 income was $63,631, received tips ranging from a few hundred dollars to $10,000 for services provided to unidentified coaches and players during the baseball season.

"I was wrong, and for that I'm humbly sorry, your honor," Szen told U.S. District Judge Mark Kravitz.

Outside court, he asked for forgiveness and apologized to his family, employer and friends.

Szen, who took a paid leave of absence during the investigation, was fired Tuesday, said Howard Rubenstein, a spokesman for Yankees owner George Steinbrenner."

The worst George ever did was bang his secretary and give her an unauthorized raise. Shame on you David Szen, shame on you.

Wise Decision

Omar, you may not be such a moron after all. Matt Wise has been a pretty decent pitcher in his career. Before beaning Pedro Lopez in the jaw last season, Wise was considered a solid reliever and a live arm.

He has a career ERA+ of 108 so he's slightly better than average - and if the Mets had an average bullpen for the last two months of 2007 the season may have played out a little differently. I'm waiting for the 2008 PECOTA to come out but the numbers seem to indicate that his best season in 2005 may have been a fluke. His BABIP was .190 compared to over .280 in the year before and after. His H/9 was considerably lower than his career average (5.4/8.4ish) and his strikeouts were way up. The most telling sign was his sub-1.00 WHIP compared to a career average of 1.21

All that considered, even when Wise wasn't at his peak he was a better than average reliever who gave 50-60 quality innings without giving up many home runs or walks. If nothing else, it's a step in the right direction.

Freddie Coupon Pours Salt in the Wounds

Dear Fred,

Remember the letter you had Jeffy send us in October? Right after Toothless' horrific one-inning performance? You thanked us for our record-breaking support in 2007 and assured us that ownership was committed to providing the necessary resources to field a championship team.

Do you remember? Maybe this will jog your memory, "You deserve better results...Many thanks again for your record-breaking support." Ringing any bells?

So what did you do? You paid scouts to watch Jeff Fassero in Mexico. You were outbid by the Diamondbacks for Dan Haren. From all angles it looks like you'll be outbid on Santana. You've traded away our 23-year-old top prospect for the past 2 seasons for a 29-year-old who is arguably his equivalent with less upside and a catcher with a career OPS+ of 82. You don't seem to have learned from your mistakes.

Couple this with a historic collapse and team-wide who gives a shit attitude last September, and you have the makings of a quite pissed-off fanbase.

But leave it to you to figure out a way to pour a little extra salt in the wounds. Leave it to to you to add insult to the injury that was bad enough on its own.

Loyal Mets fans reward for record-breaking attendance and support to the bitter end? A 20% increase in ticket prices for the final season at Shea.

What's the 20% going towards Fred? Those Mexican leagues scouts' burrito bills as they type furiously on their blackberries that Omar should give a pitcher whose last decent season came in the 20th century a shot?

But rest assured, the biggest increases will effect the most expensive seats and there will be $5 nose-bleeds available for 36 games this year! Oh goody! If you want a decent ticket you're going to get final-season-at-Shea raped...but fear not, you can always sit in UR Row V for $5.

Thanks Freddie Coupon, you always find a way to top yourself.

Love,
Just one of many who contributed to the record-breaking support

Hat tip to CSTB for the image.

Conspiracy Theorists

Speak English!

I know John Rocker's site is making the rounds in the blogosphere these days....but I feel compelled to post this anyway. The fact that the homepage hasn't been updated in over a year worries me...will John still autograph a shirt for me and mail it to my house?

T-SHIRTS/AUTOGRAPHS: Many of you have inquired about Rocker T-shirts and how to get an autograph.
T-Shirts are available for sale, and you may send an item to Debi Curzio at PO Box 670927, Marietta, GA 30066 and John will be happy to autograph it and send it back to you.

Herbs From South America

Add another well thought out excuse to the long list that includes flax seed oil and vitamin B-12. Herbs from South America. That's right. Herbs. From. South. America. Listen, we all could use a few more red blood cells. This, from everyone's favorite borderline hall-of-famer, Jim Parque:

"Either someone isn’t telling the truth, or steroids really don’t work because I was throwing 80, 81 mph before the report said I took them, and I was throwing 80, 81 mph after I allegedly took them..."

But what about the evidence Jimmy? The paper trail, the bottle of fucking Winstrol that you sent to a certain Rodamski character to "check out?" Did you want him to make sure they weren't steroids so you could feel even more self-righteous as you flushed it down your undoubtedly gilded and jewel encrusted shitter?

"Parque sent Radomski a bottle of Winstrol to ‘check out.’ Radomski determined it was ‘no good’ and discarded it.'’

[The Mitchell Report] goes on to say that Radomski had Parque’s phone numbers and address, as well as two checks from Parque totaling $4,800 that also were shown in the report.

Parque admitted to sending the checks and said he received in return ‘’a bunch of supplements, some creatine, vitamins, some stuff to increase my red-blood-cell count and some herbs from South America that were supposed to help with my injuries.'’

There you have it. Herbs from South America. There's a joke to be made in and of itself there, but I'm too tired to figure it out.

Hat tip to CSTB for the link.

Good Times All Around

Quick side note, is there a better mascot than the "generic weight with muscle arms and a toothy smile" for anabolicsteroidspharma.com? I can't think of one off the top of my head.

Johnny Franco, #45, Mr. NYC Sanitation himself was on Boomer and Carton this morning and went on the record saying that Roger Clemens shouldn't be in the HOF. Pretty damning stuff coming from the back of the garbage truck. On that note, let's take a tour of the blogosphere shall we?

It's Mets For Me has the best montage of Captain Red Ass roid rage pictures.

Fire Joe Morgan takes John Kruk to task about his litigation skills.

Can't Stop The Bleeding's Ben Schwartz comments on Yahoo! Sports use of the race card.

Can't Stop The Bleeding's GC wins the award for best post on the "paper trail."

Neil Best over at WatchDog for some reason thinks that it's still football season - and links to his fine newspaper column on the debacle.

Awful Announcing links to the YES network denial of David Justice, and mentions the strange lack of the same for Fernando Vina.

Metstradamus is on his soapbox...and he gets props for the best picture so far.

Lone Star Mets is pretty upset with Todd Hundley.

The McFly weighs in and has the Mets winning in 2000 4-2....game by game analysis.

And last but not least, Brooklyn Met Fan wins for best line of the morning..."Matt Franco - big whoop"

Enjoy the syringes.

Bless You Toasted Joe

Yes Joe, It's Toasted posted the "Adjusted Results" of the 2000 World Series based on the Mitchell Report. Check it out, it's worth it.

My favorite part (with regards to Game 2): "Comment: The juicers didn't help the Yankees on the offensive side, but 8 out of 9 innings were pitched by a cheater who almost killed the Mets' best player in a fit of roid rage -- and the Mets still only lost by 1. In other words, Game Two has to go to the Mets as well."

Well done.

TOAST!

From pg. 208 of the Mitchell Report:

"Paul Lo Duca is a catcher who has played with three teams in Major League Baseball since 1998, the Los Angeles Dodgers (7 seasons), Florida Marlins (2 seasons), and New York Mets (2 seasons). He has appeared in four All-Star games. Todd Hundley referred Lo Duca to Radomski when Lo Duca played for the Dodgers. Radomski estimated that he engaged in six or more transactions with Lo Duca. In some transactions, Radomski sent the performance enhancing substances by overnight mail to Lo Duca’s home or to the Dodgers clubhouse and Lo Duca sent Radomski a check a week or so later."

Now we know why Omar was so shrewd in not signing Captain Red Ass....he had an inside source all along.

In other news, Hundley was also named so I'm giving the single season Mets HR record to Piazza. There's specific accounts of Clemens injecting himself during the 2000 WS so we should give that title to the Mets as well...Of course we probably would have never got to the NLCS in '99 because Todd Pratt was named too.

Hopefully you picked up the sarcasm there. It is shocking, however, to see how many mediocre to horrible players were (supposedly) juicing. Gary Bennett?!?!? Josias Manzanillo?!?!?!?!?!?!!? Yeah, the 'roids did a lot for their ability...

If you want to read a fascinating account of grown men attempting to inject unknown substances into their asses, failing at it, and then asking another grown man to inject their asses for them then by all accounts read the Mitchell report.

If you're like me and just don't give a shit anymore, it may be worth it for the unintentional comedy value. Take this gem of a note from LoDuca's lengthy section:

"Kirk, Sorry! But for some reason they sent the check back to me. I haven’t been able to call you back because my phone is TOAST! I have a new # it is [Lo Duca’s phone number is listed here]. Please leave your # again because I lost all of my phonebook with the other phone. Thanks Paul"

TOAST! That Captain Red Ass!

More to follow.

History Repeats Itself

Since one can only subject them self to so many hours of civil procedure review...I have just enough brainpower left to copy and paste this piece by Tim Marchman from today's NY Sun. Why just cut and paste you ask? Well, because he's the journalist and put what I've been thinking for 2 weeks into just the right words:

"Every time the Mets make a fetish of professionalism (and do so at the price of talent), they regret it, as they do whenever they make a fetish of experience at the expense of youth, or play for the next year rather than the next five. When they do all these at once, as when they traded Kevin Mitchell and Scott Kazmir, the results tend towards the unforgivable. But they do the same thing over and over again, never learning from the past and never changing. General managers, managers, and coaches are fired, and the players grow old and retire, but the Mets are always the Mets — never accepting risk, always afraid of failure, and never quite as good as they should be.

The Mets should be a great team, and they can be. David Wright, Jose Reyes, Perez, and Maine all met or surpassed expectations this year, and the best of the team's veterans still have plenty left. This is a team that can succeed, wildly, for years. But for that to happen, the Mets have to trust talent, at every level and in every signing and trade."

As usual, I couldn't have said it better myself.

Your season has come!

You Pick Your New Wallpaper and/or Screensaver

With all due respect to Metstradamus and his impeccable photoshopping skills... Doesn't the real thing hurt so much more?

Remember everyone complaining about the Mets not having any heart? Not playing with any emotion? Not caring about choking away a 7 game lead in the middle of September?

Apparently the solution was to get rid of the two guys who may have actually gave a fuck.

I was on board with the Milledge trade when it happened...now, I'm not so sure. The thought of Captain Red Ass and Da Edge combining to hit .500 with 20 HR against Met pitching in 2008 isn't particularly appetizing.

But rest assured loyal Mets fans, this upstanding gentleman who exited the clubhouse after the quite epic collapse looking like this should be fully healed and ready to go just in time for spring training.

No more stories of barely legal girls from Oneonta instead of smoking hot playmate wives. No more articulate rap songs praising the benefits of deep knee bends. Just someone named Carlos telling the media that this team is so good that sometimes they just get bored.

The Team! The Time! The Utter Humiliation!

Who to Believe?

Everyone's favorite VORP-hater Jon Heyman reports today that the Mets round out the three teams left in the Johan hunt - the other two being a couple of teams from the AL East you may have heard of.

"And the Mets offered different packages of prospects that included either outfielder Carlos Gomez or outfield prospect Fernando Martinez but not both, declining to include the one extra prospect the Twins requested to clinch the deal according to people familiar with those talks."

Again, what are they waiting for? What other prospect do we have worth holding onto other than F-Mart and Carlos III? I'd throw in the Twins choice of 2 from the group of Pelfrey, Humber, or Mulvey. After all, the Mets would be acquiring a pretty decent starter in return.

But wait, Heyman's not done just yet, he's not content with simply giving us hope - no, he has to throw us into a full blown frenzy:

"Some Mets people actually thought they had the best offer at the winter meetings, even though Minnesota originally didn't see a way for the Mets to contend for him. Eventually, Mets GM Omar Minaya or his bosses may conclude that the deal is worth making not only to improve their on-field product, but also to change their 2008 spring storyline from their epic collapse to the '07 season."

Unfortunately this is the Mets MO - make a trade to save face or "change face." However, this is the one time it would actually not be a bad idea. If we have the best package - the for the love of everything holy get this goddamn trade done - as in right now. Please don't outsmart yourself Omar, we beg you.

All this hope and unbridled enthusiasm is summarily shat on by Matthew Cerrone at MetsBlog, who claims that the Twins want Gomez, Pelfrey, Humber, Mulvey, and more. I'd love to believe Heyman and think it's a hangup over one guy...but is Johnny Santana worth every pitching prospect we have (they probably want Deolis Guerra too) and Gomez or Martinez?

Tip of the cap to MLB Trade Rumors for both links.

Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself

I realize this is a week old...but I felt the need to put it up anyways. From Shoot Your Hopes and Dreams:

"Nats GM Jim Bowden has traded for both Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes in the last 4 days. On their own I love both trades. In tandem these acquisitions are a disaster waiting to happen. Ordinarily I'm the last guy to worry about team chemistry, but not since Hitler met Goebbels has a pairing had this much potential for damage. (No I'm not literally equating World War II with a couple of thugs. Don't waste your time in the comments section).

Despite his considerable talents, the Mets organization soured on Milledge's cocky attitude to the point were they preferred mediocrity to his presence in the clubhouse. While Milledge rubs people the wrong way, Elijah Dukes is a complete sociopath. He has six arrests under his belt. His wife has a restraining order against him for threatening to kill her. He just knocked up the 17 year old foster child of one of his relatives. Not a good dude."

Good times all around! And just think, we get to see it all unfold (probably from below in the standings) in the NL East!

Toying With Our Emotions

Yes that's right, you heard me correctly, Johan Santana wants to be a Met. In fact, he's dying to be a Met. He's painted his summer villa in Venezuela orange and blue. He's been spotted in midtown in a #41 throwback. He's even made sure to alert the press that he always wears his seatbelt while riding in taxicabs.

This from MetsBlog:

"…having talked with a variety of people over the last few days, ranging from those who are connected to the team to people connected to player reps to those who work in media and for teams who are following the negotiations, from what i can gather, Johan Santana prefers to be on the Mets, where he can a) be in New York City, and b) get out of the hitter-dominant American League…

…the Twins are well aware of this, and are willing to accommodate his request, while also trying to maximize the level of talent they get in return…

…so, over the last few days, if not longer, the Twins have been speaking on and off with the Mets, who are willing to flood them with young talent, but who refuse to provide a major-league ready, immediate-impact player, like Jose Reyes…"

It's Mets For Me had this to say: "It maybe that similar stories can be found on other less-than-impartial sites around the interwebs, ("Santana wants to be a Devil Ray" "Santana wants to be a Rockette"), but invoking Santa's blanket no-trade and hoped-for preference is a recipe for an internet feeding frenzy in Flushing fantasyland. That sound you just heard was not grandpa's bladder, it was hope springing eternal. Well played, Matthew, well played. Let's get frenzied!"

Cerrone goes on to add that the hangup may be that the Mets are unwilling to give Santana the 7-year contract extension that he is looking for. If this is true (which admittedly there's probably much more to the story) why should this even be an problem?

When the Mets were looking to add an impact arm after the 2004 season and Kazmir debacle, what did they do? Oh that's right, they went out and overpaid for Pedro and gave him what everyone thought was too many years. Actually, it was too many years, but the move needed to be made and it re-energized a franchise that desperately needed a boost.

Santana in 2007 is not Pedro in 2004. There aren't any health questions, there aren't any size questions, there aren't any questions period. If this is the only hangup and a deal doesn't get done because the Wilpons all of a sudden wish to exercise financial restraint, there should be a mutiny.

And It Begins...

(Does it still hurt to look?)
Actually, I'm sure it's happened a lot already but this is the first I've seen a columnist in - Tampa Bay of all places - to reference the 2007 Mets collapse in relation to what it would take for the local team to miss the playoffs.

From Martin Fennelly of the Tampa Tribune:

"It would take a Mets-like collapse for the Bucs to miss the postseason. That's not the point."

If it's any consolation this fine journalist showed his true writing ability when he busted out his herb garden line in discussing Sage Rosenfels dismantling of the Bucs earlier today:

"Is it ever a good thing when someone named Sage picks you apart? Parsley, Rosemary and Thyme would have had a field day, too."

Over/Under on how long that line has been renting space in his frontal lobe? +/- 30 years.

Regardless of whether the parsley reference clouds your ability to objectively judge Mr. Fennelly as a writing talent, this is what Mets fans have to look forward to until someone pulls an even bigger gag job...i.e. never.

Ladies and gentlemen your 2008 New York Mets! The Team. The Time. The Mockery!

Apparently Mel Rojas Had Other Plans

(Jeff Fassero in 1998)
From the Daily News (via MLB Trade Rumors):

FASS TRACK: Surprisingly, the Mets were interested enough in the idea of bringing aboard veteran lefhander Jeff Fassero to have him throw for scouts. Fassero, who turns 45 next month, was out of baseball last season and will gear up for an attempted comeback by playing in the Mexican winter league.

That's 45, as in forty-five, as in fucking old.

What were Jeff Fassero's numbers the last time he graced a major league diamond you ask? A sweet 7.80 ERA, 2.067 WHIP, and 58 ERA+ in 15 IP last season for Christopher Russo's favorite team.

Great job Mets! Everyone thought we needed a frontline starter and a reliable bullpen presence. So instead, you go ahead and consider adding a pitcher to the bullpen who has been roughly 25% worse than the league average since he turned 40 and who will probably give up 2 baserunners per inning for his first 10 appearences in April and then retire. Shrewd, shrewd move.

Is this team fucking serious? But after watching the bullpen absolutely turn to dogshit in the last half of 2007 the best this team can come up with is paying someone to be in Mexico to watch Jeff Fassero? Take that cash, buy a handle of scotch and airmail it first class to Bill Smith c/o Minnesota Twins and get on the goddamn horn instead.

What About Ryan Church?

According to Dayn Perry over at FoxSports the Mets couldn't even make the top 5 trade candidates for Johan Santana.

No team could use Santana more than the Mets, but they don't have the tempting young arms needed to get something done. Also, now that Lastings Milledge has been jettisoned, they can't even assemble an attractive package of position players...

There's nothing like reading for a week about how L-Millz's stock had dropped so low that the only possible deal was for him to him being turned around for Brian Schneider, Ryan Church, and Youppi - and then hearing that if Omar had kept him the Mets could be in the mix for say, the greatest LHP of the past 4 years.

So who do we believe? Dayn Perry, Metstradamus, and the 16 fans who sat along the right field line that fateful day - or Wally Matthews (wait...never believe Wally Matthews) and those who told us that Lastings had gone from the man who the Mets wouldn't trade for Manny into Youppi bait?


I'm beginning to think the only memories of Santana at Shea will be from the random interleague game I managed to attend on June 18th, 2002 when an unknown Twins reliever put up 6 innings of 3 hit, 1 run baseball to become what Mets fans believed would be another name on the long list of "nobodies" who shut down the awe-inspiring offensive juggernaut that was Vaughn, Alomar, and Burnitz.

Quote of the Day 12/8/07

"In [Guillermo] Mota, Riske and Torres, we've picked up three relievers who are used to pitching at the end of games, and they're used to pitching multiple innings, too," Melvin said. "We think that's important." - Brewers GM Doug Melvin

Well I guess if you want to play with semantics everytime Mota came into the game it turned into the end of the game...but still.

Brew Crew fans, I offer my condolences 4 months in advance.

Hope Springs...

All the thanks to Riding with Rickey for this...If he makes them, I'll place my order. Kinkos won't give me a reasonable price for blowing up the "Choked to Death" NY Post cover - featuring the unluckiest non-devastated taxi rider in the city.

Lastly, someone needs to get on the Lastings Milledge Facts and re-coordinate the color scheme...navy and red perhaps? I'm sure Metstradamus would be up to the task.

In other news concerning the still Victor Zambrano-less Metropolitans, Omar is upbeat and confident something will get done...to improve the team that is.

From David Lennon in Newsday:

"The fact that we are having dialogue, you know you're in the game," Minaya said. "But it's really hard to tell. I can tell you when these things develop, they develop quickly. There's a lot of back-and-forth going on and we're pretty much in the back-and-forth area."

Minaya found Aaron Heilman to be in great demand, and a National League official confirmed that there was talk about swapping him for Rockies lefthanded reliever Brian Fuentes, as first reported by Foxsports.com. Minaya is likely to need Heilman, however, in a bigger deal for the top starters on the market.

Now pay attention here: Lennon throws some of those scented wood shavings on the pile of vomit that was the Bartolo Colon/Livan Hernandez rumors. Is everyone paying attention? You can come in off the ledge now. Yes, I'm talking to you 'Damus, Rickey, and just about every other Met fan with half a brain.

If the Mets are unable to do that, Minaya did not sound very enthusiastic about the free-agent market, so it doesn't appear that adding Livan Hernandez, Bartolo Colon or the rehabbing Freddy Garcia is an appetizing fallback position. Rather than package pitching prospect Kevin Mulvey, the Mets could always give him the chance to win a rotation spot and skip the free agents.

Annnndddd...We're Back!

Well, it's been quite a hiatus with law school and whatnot. We're back now, and prepping for what promises to be a FANtastic 2008 farewell to Shea - complete with washed up cuban defectees in the starting rotation and a team that is marginally worse than the one that giftwrapped and delivered the division to Chateau Rollins only 2.5 short months ago.

Either way, here's the link to why the Mets won't be landing an O's pitcher - courtesy of Metstradamus and all of his (perfectly acceptable) pessimism. Well, there go the dreams of the Victor Zambrano reunion.