I Am So Back

(Note: Double the content here at Y2K. Sip's written about Pedro missing Opening Day below, while I've done a bit of a roundup of Mets news from the past week. Enjoy.)

What's up guys, A Friend of Mr. Glass' here. If this post seems a little unfocused, the reason is that it began its life as a test run. See, the company I work for has the means and the wherewithal to block various websites that are not germaine to the work we do here.

It sounds worse than it is. I can't check my gmail account from work, but beyond that I had never come across a blocked site at work among the 20 or so that I check regularly. Never, that is, until late last week, when I attempted to post a column from work only to discover that blogger.com, the engine that powers this website you're reading right now, had been blocked.

The dream was over. Or so it seemed.

Bored, I decided to check out blogger to see if maybe it was just a one time thing. As you can see, indeed it was.

Now this doesn't really impact you, the readers, very much at all. I don't normally write from work, I save that for when I get home. But it does mean something to me. It means I won't have to wake up 10 minutes earlier in the mornings to edit. So that's nice.

But anyway, now that I'm back I might as well post some musings on the Mets don't you think? Here's what's going on in Metsville that hasn't been widely discussed on the site.

1. Dust settling on position battles.

A lot of readers probably don't realize this, but Yankees 2000 is huge in Japan. For whatever reason, we get a goodly amount of hits a day in the Land of the Rising Sun. It might have something to do with Bobby Valentine. Or Kaz Ishii. Or possibly Tsuyoshi Shinjo.

Speaking of which, remember Shinjo's first home run? Against the Braves on Opening Day when he threw the bat 10, maybe 15 feet in the air in celebration? Or how about that little hop he did before catching a fly ball? Or shinjyo5.net, easily the greatest web site of all time? Or those wristbands?

My god, the wristbands! RIP, Tsuyoshi.

Anyway, one guy who probably doesn't contribute to our Japanese audience is our beleaguered second baseman, Kaz Matsui. Originally the poster child for the "younger, faster, more athletic" Mets and a key component of the "defense up the middle" mantra espoused during the Jim Duquette era, Kaz has been an out and out flop. I was down on a certain New York real estate magnate for saying it when I still had hope for the guy, but truer words were never spoken than when The Donald declared KazMat the biggest bust in New York. (In fairness, Carlos Beltran is the current owner of that title.)

But after the former Japanese iron man suffered what seems like his 10th or 11th injury in a Mets uniform, it appears that the Kaz Matsui era may be over. OK, that's probably premature. But what is certain is that come Opening Day, Kaz won't be the starting second baseman. That will either be Jeff Keppinger or, more likely, Anderson Hernandez.

A lot of Mets fans think Keppinger gets a bad rap. He puts up consistently solid numbers in the minor leagues and yet is never considered a top prospect. Kepp hit .337 last year at Triple A before in 255 at-bats before a spiking injury to his leg shortened his season.

All signs point to this guy being either the next Ty Wigginton or the next Melvin Mora. That is, he's somebody that fanboys are going to love irrationally before flaming out before the age of 30 or he's going to be traded to someone else and become an All Star. As far as I can tell, those are the only two options. That is, he will never star for the Mets.

Instead, Anderson Hernandez is going to be given every opportunity to be the solution to the Kaz Matsui debacle. After an exceptional 2005 (excluding his 1-for-18 performance in September for the big club, of course), Hernandez went on to hit .307 in Winter Ball with a .386 OBP. His defense is said to be exceptional in spite of the fact that he's a natural shortstop.

So AHern, good luck, we're counting on you. If you fail, Keppinger may get a shot, but more likely he'll be traded along with Victor Diaz and possibly Brian Bannister for the Red Sox' Tony Grafanino. Grafanino will likely be an altogether serviceable second baseman for 2006, maybe 2007. Keppinger will go on to earn a batting title with Boston, father quintuplets, and become a smiling reminder of everything that is wrong with our front office.

Oh, and speaking Diaz, no chance he starts Opening Day. Expect the X Man, Xaveir Nady, who has exceeded expectations with his excellent spring (alright, I'm spent) to man RF for the Boys come April 3.

2. Tommy the Spy to start Opening Day.

Sippy Momo has written a post about this issue today (see below), but let me just say that I'm not as concerned as he is about all this. That Petey's not starting the opener kind of sucks, granted, but he's been throwing simulated games and bullpen sessions consistently the past two weeks, he's gearing up for his first actual game this week, and I'm confident that he'll be ready to pitch shortly after Opening Day.

Remember, Pedro only threw 11 Grapefruit innings in 2005 and he went on to meet all of our expectations. If his toe is comfortable, I expect Pedro to be fine. That all said, it's gonna be a wait and see start-to-start proposition, no two ways about that.

3. SNY still struggling technically, Lewis picking his game up.

As mentioned in my recap of SportsNet New York's (SNY) debut, the network experienced technical difficulties throughout its maiden evening. A week later, the situation has improved but judging from last night's 2-1 win over the Dodgers, some kinks still exist. Here's hoping they get them sorted out by Opening Day.

Meanwhile, Siafa Lewis is sounding more and more comfortable in his role as Matt Loughlin impersonator, which is good to see. Lewis interviews players throughout the games somewhat regularly, so he's had plenty of opportunities to shore up his skills, and his interviews have improved over the course of the past week. I'm wondering what will come of these interviews during the season. Maybe one a game? Maybe none? We shall see.

4. Rickey-Time in camp to school Mr. Glass.

As readers are probably well aware, the Mets have invited Rickey Henderson to camp as a special instructor. Rickey's technically available to everybody, but his prize pupil is clearly Jose Reyes.

Rickey, who purportedly thought Jose's name was Ray, is charged with helping Reyes improve his on-base percentage and improve his base-stealing instincts.

Naturally, Reyes got thrown out in his first stolen base attempt of the Rickey Henderson tutelage era. Keep at it, Rickey!

5. The Yankees suck.

Big day of Yankee bashing in area newspapers today as the steroid spotlight landed once more on Jason Giambi and, in a new but not altogether surprising twist, on Gary Sheffield. According to the Post, Giambi took steroids to appease his overbearing father, who I think I recall wept at Giambi's introductory press conference in 2001.

Sheffield meanwhile just seems to have used them because everyone else did. Fair enough. He also denied the allegation yesterday in uncharacteristically curt fashion.

The steroid use of both players is detailed in the book "Game of Shadows", excerpts of which were released earler this month, much to the discredit of Barry Bonds.

Meanwhile, according to Harvey Araton in the Times, Johnathon Damon is a massive herb, and actually argues that he's less a sellout than he is a poseur. Here's the link: http://select.nytimes.com/2006/03/23/sports/baseball/23araton.html. I'm open to either argument I suppose, but I'm still leaning toward Damon the Sellout. But that's just me.

Anyway, that's all for now. Look for a post-counterpost tomorrow on the merits of Aaron Heilman and Brian Bannister as the Mets' fifth starter. As for my book review, it's coming.

- A.F.O.M.G.