Dear Jon, Get Off Jimmy's Nuts

Jon Heyman's aversion to rational inferences based on statistics is well documented at places like FJM, but his dislike of the Mets - or love of Jimmy Rollins - has never been that apparent to me. That is, until I read his latest contribution to SI:

The Mets may unseat the Phillies as NL East champions this year, but there's no sense in trying to beat NL MVP and trash talker extraordinaire Jimmy Rollins at his own game.

Quiet Mets star Carlos Beltran gave it a surprise shot when he got to camp, borrowing Rollins' exact line from last spring in declaring the Mets as "the team to beat." But as Phillies pitcher Brett Myers noted, "Sequels are never as good as the original.''

And then Rollins chimed in the next day, "Has anyone ever heard of plagiarism?''

Beltran, a nice, laconic, well-groomed fellow, stunned folks with his rare back-page fodder. But Rollins holds the patent. He gets all the credit, with only an assist from the Mets for their reaction last spring. "I thank the Mets,'' Rollins said. "They took it upon themselves to take it personally.

Beltran and other Mets types are understandably excited about the acquisition of ace pitcher Johan Santana. Yet the Mets should hold their tongues now for two very good reasons: 1) They had their chance last spring when Rollins spoke, but to a man, they were afraid to speak up, a reticence that was later reflected in the way they played -- scared; and 2) Philly beat the Mets to a pulp down the stretch, winning the last seven head-to-head games.

Beltran gave it a shot. But under the circumstances his words came off as a pale impersonation of the master.

Ok. Besides the excess verbiage (Laconic? Really Jon?), Heyman seems to imply that the Mets should have answered the challenge last spring when *The MVP* declared the Phillies "the team to beat." Jon Heyman, you're a moron. There, I said it.

I'll go out on a limb and say that the only people calling for any Met player to publicly answer Rollins statements were Vinny from Staten Island and Paulie from Bay Ridge - and they were both "first time, long time."

I can't remember a single person in the media that wanted a Met to answer Rollins. If I remember correctly, the opposite was true. Rollins was viewed as a trash talking SS on a historically losing franchise. Why waste breath in answering him? All anyone wanted the Mets to do was go out on the field and take care of business much like they did on Opening Day.

Now, after The Collapse®, Jon Heyman is talking shit about the Mets saying how they should have manned up and fired a shot back? Get the fuck out of here Heyman, you're embarrassing yourself.

Human (Post) Delay

The analysis of the Santana trade (which will never happen) will be up by Friday-ish. Until then, enjoy these links:

• An olllddddddd Yark Work piece by "Milledge" about the Milledge deal. I don't know how I missed it, but it's fantastic as is everything over at Yard Work
  
  
• Metstradamus has an entertaining (as usual) post on the Mets LHP acquisition....RICARDO RINCON!!!
  
  
• Endy's back for 2008 and 2009
  
  
• David Wright would love for the Mets to get Santana...wow Newsday, you call this news?
  
  
• Omar wouldn't talk to Jon Heyman (can you blame him?) but Jon had no problem calling the Mets frontrunners in the Santana sweepstakes

Enjoy the never-ending stream of Giants talk until 2/3

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.