Omar Minaya: Jury Still Out

Over the last 24 hours I have received about 100 Mets-related e-mails. A few that have stood out concern Omar Minaya, the architect of the Mets' offseason. One read very simply, "Omar Minaya is god."

As an aspiring GM, one who plans to take over for Minaya in roughly four years, it is important that I start now to really analyze his moves.

Right now, not one has truly stood out.

Every move Minaya made was a product of paying more than everyone else. While yes, Minaya deserves credit for being able to close deals and land the big names, he has yet to make a single great move.

Let's take a look.

1. Mike Cameron for Xavier Nady

This was apparently the payroll trimming transaction the Mets needed to get Delgado. I'm not buying this completely. The Mets have and had a ton of money to spend.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/tom_verducci/11/29/tom/index.html

This article does a great job of explaining the Mets financial situation, if you are interested.

Either way, the Mets got Nady. If this trade was a precursor to acquiring Delgado, then Nady becomes unnecessary. After all, we have Victor Diaz in RF who in many ways appears to be a Nady clone. Both young, right handed, avg D, potential pop.

Nady did not fill a single need for the Mets. Are we to assume that Cameron could not have netted a solid middle reliever? Would the Padres not have traded us Scott Linebrink or Akinori Otsuka for Cameron?

While I think moving Cameron is OK, I don't think Minaya got enough in return, especially after trading for Delgado.

Grade: B-

2. Yusmeiro Petit, Mike Jacobs, and a minor leaguer for Carlos Delgado + $7,000,000

The end result with this one is great. Delgado is a machine. He is one of the best hitters in baseball year-in and year-out and his glove has improved over the years.

Still, either the Mets gave up too much or did not get enough.

Too much:

With the Marlins desperate to cut payroll and Delgado set to make $48 mil over the next three years, getting rid of him was Florida's No. 1 offseason priority. The Mets knew that. Everyone in baseball knew that.

The Mets' main competition for Delgado was the Orioles. But the O's, refusing to part with prized pitching prospect and J Schubes prospect of the year Hayden Penn, lacked real serious interest.

Essentially, the Mets were negotiating against themselves.

People I talk to say Petit is a #3 at best and we don't need Jacobs if we have Delgado. Both of these comments are 100% true.

But to make the argument is to say you don't want a deep farm system. Maybe give one or the other but not both. By holding onto one, the Mets could acquire bullpen help or simply continue to have strong minor league players. Either way is a plus.

Didn't get enough: If the Mets were to give up Petit and Jacobs and take on a substantial amount of Delgado's salary why couldn't they do what the Red Sox did and demand more?

With the Marlins desperate to dump Lowell's salary, they threw Guillermo Mota into the Josh Beckett deal. This is hardly a throw-in. A year and a half ago, Mota was the premeire setup man in baseball.

I wonder if the Mets could have demanded Luis Castillo or Juan Pierre, two players the Marlins plan on shipping out, and in return taken on Delgado's full $48 mil. Castillo would be the perfect fit at 2b and the top of the order. Pierre, again at the top of the lineup and in RF.

It just seems to me like the Mets out-bid themselves on this one, and were so desperate to land Delgado that they did not fully analyze the situation. I think they could have gotten more or given up less.

Still, the end result is great.

Grade: B

3. Not re-signing Marlon Anderson

Not a backpage story, which Minaya craves, this is a huge offseason blunder for the Mets. In 2005, Anderson may have been more valuable to the Mets than Carlos Beltran. He was the National League's premier pinch hitter, a solid role player and clearly a better option at 2b than Kaz Matsui. Yet he was allowed to walk for 2 yrs, 1.85 mil total to the Nationals.

Anderson played 1b, 2b and LF for the Mets last year and hit .321 as a pinch hitter. Those that followed the team on a nightly basis had more confidence seeing Marlon in the 8th inning than just about any Met not named Cliff or David.

It is one thing if this is a move to allow Anderson Hernandez play on the big league roster, which still may not be sensible, but otherwise what's there to lose for 925K per year?

This is the type of move that will go unnoticed in November but will be remembered in June.

Grade: C-

Signing Billy Wagner

Not a whole lot not to like. Wagner, as I wrote yesterday was a guy the Mets craved, a guy the Mets needed, and they got him.

Minaya waited until after BJ Ryan signed to set the market.

Had he made the move earlier, to guarantee the 4th year and a no-trade clause, the Mets could have saved 3-5 million dollars over the span of the contract, just enough to sign Marlon Anderson and some other bench help.

Still, like with Delgado, the end result is great.

Grade: A-


Overall:

Minaya has made two huge moves this offseason. Acquiring Delgado and signing Wagner generates buzz and instantaneously make the Mets a much improved team heading into 2005.

For that, Minaya has done a great job.

On the other hand, given the Mets' financial flexibility and formerly solid farm system, Minaya hasn't made a single steal since he became the Mets GM.

He gave Pedro an extra year and $18 million more than any other team would.

He gave Beltran another year and $19 mil more than any other team would.

He gave Wagner an extra year and $13 mil more than any other team would.

He gave the Marlins two top prospects in a deal that he could have gotten for the rights to Will B. and the brother of AFOMG.

Yes, all these moves have made the Mets a lot better.

But all these moves are deals that I could have made from my couch.

Money talks. With a ton of money and a desperation to contend, the Mets outbid the rest of the competition. This is not the sign of a great GM. It is a sign of a wealthy organization. Credit the Wilpon's with opening their pockets as much if not more than you would credit Minaya.

Was George Steinbrenner a brilliant baseball mind when he outpaid everyone for Randy Johnson? Now the deal looks terrible, but at the time, the Yankees were getting their Ace. So, was he a genius? Not at all. He was rich.

The Mets and Yankees and Red Sox will always have the ability to outbid teams. Baseball sucks because of that, but well, that is the way the game is.

The way Billy Beane built up the A's not as much the first time but the second time around, is briliant and almost miraculous.

Some of the deals that Mark Shapiro made to build the Indians were brilliant.

Theo Epstein making the deal for Curt Schilling was brilliant.

Hey, what Doug Melvin is getting going up in Milwaukee right now, is brilliant.

But let's wait until Omar Minaya makes a steal before we start calling him one of the best GMs in franchise history. When that day comes I will admit my wrong. But until then, I'm not sold.

Grade: B

Growing up in New York City, in the elite private schools, I had a very different education. I was surrounded by tons of kids that never had to work a day in their lives.

As we got older, they could buy really nice cars and sink $1000 bar tabs to impress their peers and attract a girl.

Then, there is young Sip, son of a starving corporate lawyer living in the projects of West End Ave. I had no Benz, heck, I still don't have a license. My bar tab usually hovered around $20, $26 if you include the two forty ounces I pounded with my fellow deprived youths before we got to the bar.

But still, despite all my shortcomings, I would compete. With strategy and charm I sunk this 5'10 frame into more loving than your average joe.

This analogy, for one, is to show you how tough I had it, and how amazing it is that I know how to read and write, all things considered.

But it is also to point out this fact: With the Mets, Omar Minaya has all the tools to build a winner. He's the guy who can afford running up the $1000 tab. He's the guy who doesn't need to pound a couple forties ahead of time because he knows he's got a bottle of Cristal waiting for him.

I can't criticze Minaya for that. It's not his fault the Mets are one of baseball's wealthier franchises. But it doesn't change the fact that when Minaya was the $20-26 man with the Montreal Expos he could do no more than build a perennial 4th place finisher.

He didn't do anything special when he was there. They never contended partially because he never had the resources, but also partially because he made the wrong moves. In fact, he made one of the worst deadline deals of all time when he traded Bartolo Colon to the Tribe for Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee and then top 5 prospect in baseball Brandon Phillips. So to call him god because he now has the tools to make it happen is selling yourself short.

And I'll say it again. Even with all these additions, the Mets are not a lock for the playoffs.

Sign Johnny Utah,

SM

Billy Wagner, Carlos Delgado and The Mets Offseason

(Note to readers: Today we have a double dose of Billy Wagner content for you. The first post, by Sippy Momo, begins immediately after this note. The second, by A Friend of Mr. Glass', can be found immediately after the end of this post, entitled "Closing the Book on 15 Years of Futility".

We hope you enjoy.)

So yesterday we got our guy...Billy f'ing Wagner. The showstopper. I smiled.

Immediately I received 12 e-mails. As you all know, most of my friendships revolve around the Mets. So as you may guess, there were a lot of happy friends of the Sip. Like with Delgado, I wanted to write some things that I love about the deal, some things I like, and of course (you know me), some things I don't like about the deal. For those of you who just went into hysterics, I'll assure you at the outset that I am a hell of a lot more satisfied with this deal than I was with the Delgado deal (see last Wednesday's post).

Things I love

1. This guy has been a top 3 closer in baseball for as long as I can remember. As AFOMG wrote below (see the post immediately beneath this one), we've just never had one of those.

I always hated John Franco. I loved him because he was a Met and bled orange and blue, but I hated the fact that his out pitch was an 81 mph changeup out of the strike zone. Also, the one big pitch he ever made, striking out Barry Bonds in the '00 NLDS, was a ball.

(Editor's Note: Not to get off topic, but as far as I'm concerned, the fact that John Franco was allowed to pitch to Barry Bonds with the game on the line may be the surest proof that Bonds was a completely different player as recently as 5 years ago. A pre-steroids player. The following season, Bonds became what we know him as today. That Franco-Bonds showdown is to me the surest proof that Bonds is a juicer.)

I hated Armando Benitez. As anyone who's seen the Mets can tell you, this guy was the greatest closer ever in games against the Milwaukee Brewers. But when it came to facing the Braves and the Bombers, Chris Berman's patented WHOOP!!! comes to mind.

I'll share a brief story with you about Armando and the original Momo, just because, heck, I think it's a great story.

So it's my sophomore year of college, the fall of 2001. In mid-August, I am sitting at Yankees 2000's restaurant sponsor and beloved second home of the Sip, Chili's, talking shop with some pals and some lovely underclassmen.

I get a call from my cousin, he confirms my suspicion, so we go for it.

$50 at 3500:1 on the Mets to make the World Series.

I fast forward to mid-September, the Mets sit 4 games back w/ 10 games to go and a weekend series against the first place Braves on the immediate horizon. We win 2 of those games and I have a shot at the playoffs. A sweep and we might be there. Bes tof all, I can hedge my bet and take home at least 70G's.

I'm sitting there with my house mate, a fellow New Yorker who is known in the world of journalism as "Robby X". A flamethrower in his prime from the mean streets of New York, Robby was also a die hard Mets fan and an acquaintance of my oldest friend and infamous jinx, BM.

So we get to the 9th up 4-1, and in comes Armando. The sweet sounds of Latin music reverberate in the background. It's my cell phone ringing in the other room. I look at X. He looks at me. We both know.

BM is calling. All hope for the Mets is lost.

Armando, of course, goes on to blow that save, to Brian Jordan nonetheless. That is just what he did in those spots. I hate him.

We go into the other room to check the machine: "SM, you bitch. The Mets are going to the World Series, suck my..."

175G's down the toilet. And I owe it all to Armando and the jinx.

And then there was Braden Looper. Every Mets fan had a clever nickname for him.

My favorites were:

1. The pooper
2. Blooper
3. Guy who made the most awkward face ever before delivering 94 mph 2 seamer directly down the middle

Poops was a good guy, with a great baseball background - I was a big time Wichita St. fan in its heyday.

But Wichita St. or no Wichita St., we all know this guy needed to go.

So today we have Billy Wagner and for the first time we have a gem holding down the back end of the bullpen. At last we have a guy you can count on to slam the door, to preserve those wins for Tommy the Spy and Pedro. For that I am thrilled.

2. The Mets are the talk of the town.

There is no Randy Johnson to counter our Beltran. No Godzilla to counter our Benedict Glavine. The Yankees, for the first time in a long time are stuck with no prospects and a luxury tax that is finally coming to bite them.

It's nice to be on top.

3. As I've said before and will say again, I love seeing my friends happy. I love hearing from Willie B. I love the listserve I am on with many people I am only vaguely acquainted with. But everyone is talking about the Mets. Everyone is fired up for '06. That is awesome.

4. I love the SportsCenter clips of Wagner. They have one of him striking out Chipper and Chipper just looking stupified. You dont see many of those in Armando highlights.

Things I like about the Deal.

1. Market Value

I'll give Omar Minaya credit in his ability to close deals. He has gotten all his targets. But as I will write tommorow, he has gotten the majority of his guys by overpaying.

If this deal was made 2 weeks ago, I would have said Minaya was, again, overpaying.

However, after the BJ Ryan deal (5 years, $47 mil) the market for closers was set. I thought the Mets would have to throw 4 and 48 for Wagner but they did not.

Omar finally paid the market for his guy, which is good.

2. The New Mets are not the New Yankees

Many are skeptical about this one, or uncomfortable at least about the seeming similarities between our beloved Mets and our despised Yankees. I'll admit it, to some extent I'm one of them.

But how fair is it to label us a Yankee clone? Have we really spent as recklessly as our crosstown foes? Looking at the numbers, you'll see that the Mets have shed $33 mil from last year's payroll with the likes of the Monster, Cameron, Poops and Dougy and have so far taken on $25 mil with Delgado, Wagner and Nady.

Player movement is part of baseball as we all know.

The difference between us and the Yankees is twofold. A. We aren't talking about earning our pinstripes or about how Billy Wagner is a true Met... I'm not even sure what that would mean. B. We are not assholes. We do not bring on players and tell them to cut their hair or not be a hick and we do not require our players to be perfect. They are ballplayers not politicians.

3. Addition by subtraction

We got the Phillies guy so, clearly, the Phillies lost their guy. This is huge. The Phils are a really good team that people are forgetting about. They were a game away from the playoffs last year and were young.

I think this is really huge for us.

Things I don't like about this deal

1. I'm not sure where to put this one. Billy Wagner apparently enters the game to "Enter Sandman" by Metallica, the same song as Mariano Rivera.

Sadly, "Enter Sandman" was one of my favorite songs growing up. It was the song my 13 year old basketball team at camp entered the gym to. It is an awesome song.

Then Mo Rivera came alogn and took it. The freaks and geeks from section 39 got hardons because of it, and it all of a sudden lost some value to me.

I'm curious to see how it plays out April 4th at Shea.

2. Skeptical of Wagner in many ways

A. This guy hasnt pitched in too many big games.

B. 2 of his 3 losses last year came to the Astros, in the pennant race, in September, in must-win games for the Phillies.

When this guy blows his first save to the Braves or Yankees, hysteria is going to break loose, the papers will kill him and who knows what will happen to him then.

I'm skeptical, so just be wary, this guy isn't god.

C. He's 5'10, 170 and 34 years old. Can his body really last? Will he be throwing 99 mph in '07 or will that slowly drop to 96,95,94...

D. There has been a lot written about a significant drop in velocity when he pitches on the second day of back to backers. Again, something I need to see.

Now I'm sure Willie B is going to respond about how negative I am, but truth is, with this one, I am happy. For me, I have always been a cynic. The second a player puts on a Mets jersey they go from being a hero to a goat until they prove otherwise.

That is why Mike Piazza was so perfect. Here was a guy who came in with all the expectations in the world, and he managed to play up to them.

Now that Wagner and Delgado are Mets, I need to see it out of them. That is all, Will.

All in all, I love the move and I am fired up about this whole thing. Jdubs asked me about a week ago if I caught the Elisha Cuthbert smash, "The Girl Next Door". The answer to that question is yes, roughly 15 times.

I see a lot of Billy Wagner in Danielle (Cuthbert's character). The guy has it all. In the film, Danielle is lights out, perfect, except for one fatal flaw. That kid she likes is too much of a tool, that it is just not believable. People forget about that fact because of everything else she brings to the movie.

My only concern, is that like Danielle, BW has all the stuff in the world, a 100 mph fastball, a nasty slider, but is missing something. He is coming to New York, a place where no player can shine brighter or sink lower.

In Will's eyes the player will always shine.

In my eyes, we will have to wait and see next year in NY.

But for now, lets break out the Champagne glasses. "We're players now boys, Salude!!!"

SM

As always though, I am skeptical.

Closing the Book on 15 Years of Futility

So yesterday was a good day, which was a damn good thing because the day before yesterday, Sunday, was just about as bad as they come. I was still in a serious, serious rut because I’d lost 170 bucks the night before playing in a poker game with Sippy Momo and some friends of his. It wasn’t just the amount of money I lost. It was the speed. I hemorrhaged cash. It was ugly.

So I guess you could say our story actually began Saturday night when I showed up for a friendly poker game

Hey, guys… Oh, nice to meet you, too… Wow, nice place…

only to find myself nearly two c-notes in the hole

Come again! Your money’s always good here!

in the space of maybe an hour and a half. SALT.

So, yeah, Saturday was bad, but I didn’t officially bottom out until around 8 p.m. Sunday night after Jay Feely missed those three would-be game-winning field goals.

Now look, Sippy Momo probably doesn’t want me admitting this, but the truth is that I’ve never been a big football fan. For a long time it was baseball or bust for me. This is less true today than it once was. I’ve started coming around on football this season, watching every Giants game and following the G-Men in the papers to a pretty respectable extent.

But I’m not going to pretend that the Giants can crush me the way the Mets can, not yet anyway. If in any way I needed to be reminded of that, Sunday’s horrible loss to the Seahawks provided a reminder.

Watching Feely self-destruct and Jeremy Shockey – he who had been dancing and celebrating moments before in anticipation of the Giants pulling off the biggest win of their season – and the rest of the Giants going from 60 to 0 almost as fast as I lost money in that poker game, the only thing I could think about were the following four names:

John Franco. Armando Benitez. Braden Looper. Billy Wagner.

As Jay Feely walked dejectedly off the field those three times, and as the Giants collectively walked, head down, off the field and into the clubhouse after the Seattle kicker did his job and gave the Seahawks a 24-21 win, a memory was conjured up almost instantly. More like several memories. Yes, I know that trudge. I’ve seen it one too many times.

It’s the same trudge we saw out of Armando Benitez all those years. The same one we saw out of Braden Looper so often in 2005.

Like on Opening Day when Looper wasted Pedro’s gem and sent the Mets careening to an 0-5 start.

Or when he gave up the game-winning hit to Jason Giambi that kept the Mets from wrapping up their first sweep over the Bombers at Yankee Stadium on June 26.

Or if you missed those, there was Looper on Sept. 7 against the Atlanta Braves blowing the save in a big spot not once, but twice!

In the run up to the 2005 season, I remember some columnist making the point that nothing’s worse for team morale than suffering a truly crushing defeat in a game that seems to be wrapped up. There’s nothing novel about that observation, but it couldn’t be more true.

Mets fans have grown way too accustomed to losing games in such fashion. I can say without hesitation that the Mets have never had a closer in whom I had complete confidence in all my years as a Mets fan (at least those that I can remember, the years dating back to around 1990). That’s 15 years, folks, that’s a long goddamn time. And it’s sure as hell been a lotta goddamn losses.

Now I’m not sure necessarily that what separated the Mets from the NL pennant in 1999 was Armando Benitez, even if he blew the save in Game 6 in Atlanta. And I’m not sure that we’d have won the World Series in 2000 if he’d shut the Yankees down in Game 1. Take back the grand slam by Brian Jordan in Atlanta off Johnny Franco and do the Mets make the playoffs in 2001? Who can say?

Nothing’s certain in any of those cases except the most obvious thing of all: if the Mets had won those games, any or each of them, everything that followed would have been different. Given that each of those seasons ended in disappointment, that's a start at least.

This past year, Looper blew 8 saves for the Mets. That’s eight times that he entered the game with a lead and he didn’t seal the deal. Did the Mets lose all those games? I can’t say for certain. Looking at Looper’s 4-7 record and remembering what I can from the season that was, it’s safe to say he was responsible for the Mets taking several L’s along the way, and it's certain that he was responsible for some of the most devastating ones.

For his part, Billy Wagner blew 3 saves in 2005. He’s blown a grand total of 18 in the years between 2001 and 2005, or slightly more than 3 per season. Correct the Mets’ record for Looper vs. Wagner, and the Mets instantly go from an 83-win team to an 88-win team, from 4 games over .500 to 14 games over.

That may not sound like the difference between night and day, but remember that that’s what Wagner alone should do. That quick calculus doesn’t even take Carlos Delgado into account, nor does it account for what losing Delgado means to the Marlins, or what losing Wagner means to the Phillies.

It also doesn’t account for the impact a combustible closer has on a team’s (and its fanbase’s) collective psyche. The truth is, for a long time there the Mets never had a guy who you could make an objective argument for and say he was the guy you wanted up there in the big spot.

Sure, Sippy Momo used to place the blame for each Franco/Benitez/Looper meltdown on the original Momo (who on more than one occasion bore more than a passing resemblance to the prematurely-celebrating Jeremy Shockey, if Sip is to be believed), but the fact was that none of those guys were that good.

I don’t think people would argue with me on that one regarding Looper or Franco. Some people would argue Benitez. Fair enough. He was pretty automatic in midsummer games against those pesky Cincinnati Reds or those dastardly San Diego Padres, no argument there. But the guy’s track record in big game situations speaks for itself. When you develop that kind of resume, there comes a point when you forfeit all claim to being a money closer. End of story.

But Wagner’s a cut above any of those guys. He’s a different kind of closer. He’s the kind who enters the game and throws the ball 100 mph and, in the words of Roger Dorn, can "strike this motherfucker out". He’s an intimidator. He enters the game, the other team does not expect to win. They can’t help but think that the game is over.

Now raise your hand if you think the opposing team ever thought that when Looper entered the game? Or if the Braves or Yankees ever felt that way about Benitez? Or if opposing teams saw the image of Franco trotting in to “Johnny Be Good” and immedi… you know what, don’t even get me started on Franco.

The Mets made a necessary move yesterday. Some people aren’t going to like the length of the deal, but shoring up Billy Wagner addresses the team’s most glaring weakness by adding one of the league’s special talents. Wagner is in the same class as Eric Gagne and John Smoltz – guys who have proven to be automatic. All of which is to say, Omar's $43 million gamble isn't quite as bad as the $170 one I made Saturday night.

Is Wagner in the same class as Mariano Rivera? Hopefully we’ll have an answer come next October. Until then, his signing makes October baseball a much more plausible scenario for the Mets, and it should mean that that familiar trudge, the one all Mets fans know so well and that Giants fans saw out of Jay Feely three times on Sunday, will someday be replaced with the more pristine memory of triumphant applause, congratulatory handshakes, celebratory high-fives, and champagne showers.

The rut is passed,

A.F.O.M.G.

Seinfeld, "City Slickers", and the Schmoozer

So Happy Thanksgiving all. Old Sip ventured out to Boston to do turkey with the future in-laws. All went pretty smoothly and the food was pretty good.

AFOMG took over writing responsibilities over the break; if you haven't checked out his posts from Thursday and Friday, you should. Like my man K-Fed, AFOMG has some serious flow.

There was one real big story in the news of late: BJ Ryan going to Toronto. All of a sudden, Toronto is spending (they are in the hunt for Brian Giles and AJ Burnett as well), Boston has gotten better (Beckett, Lowell, Mota), and both Tampa and Baltimore are young and only getting better.

Meanwhile, the Yankees are cutting salary and for the first time ever, unable to sign any big names.

Check out the blog tommorow for why the Yankees wil finish DEAD LAST IN THE AL EAST in '06.

Today, after reading the following quote, and taking some time to really think about it, I thought, heck, I'm going to write about this.

From a Steve Somers interview with Jerry Seinfeld on the Fan (NY's local sports talk radio):

Steve Sommers: Is this a Met town or a Yankee town?

Jerry Seinfeld: It depends if you have a personality or if you need a personality. If you have one, the Mets. If you need one, the Yankees.

I've never been a big Seinfeld guy, which my friends kill me about. Truth is, every time Ive watched it, I loved it and I think I need to give it more of a shake.

But reading this quote made me curious about Seinfeld, a Mets fan, in comparison to the Yankees #1 fan, Billy Crystal.

Forget about the fact that George worked for the Yankees, which was more than anything a running gag at George Steinbrenner's expense. Go back in the vault to those first several seasons when the show was really about New York (that's not a knock on later seasons, which were good and sometimes classic, with the notable exception of the last one).

Those episodes were littered with Mets references and imagery. A Mets hat on Jerry's wall. Jerry answering his phone with "If you know what happened in the Mets game don't tell me becuase I recorded it!" rather than "Hello?", only to have his plans dashed by Kramer.

And of course, Who does this guy think he is? "I'm Keith Hernandez".

The show was rife with Mets imagery before it changed in its way. It went from being a show about nothing in New York to a show about nothing. The change wasn't all bad by any means, but it meant leaving certain hallmarks of the city behind. That's show business for you, I guess. It doesn't change the fact of those early seasons, and in those early seasons, not one of those characters would have been caught with Yankee hat on (not even Elaine, who was a Baltimore Orioles fan).

All of which brings me back to "City Slickers". So I remember watching "City Slickers" as a kid and loving it. I loved the story, the characters, that cow/calf and most importantly, that Billy Crystal was a Mets fan. Here was a guy repping my city, in this huge movie and, of course, he wore a Mets hat.

Of course, at the time, New York was a Mets city. In the late 80's the Mets sat among baseball's elite, while the Yankees were nothing more than a Don Mattingly mustache.

The symbol of the Mets then was synonomous with winning just like today. Today it's Yankee hats that are sprinkled throughout popular culture, witness the critically acclaimed frontrunner for Yankees 2000 film of the year, "Get Rich or Die Tryin". (Note: we have not seen this movie yet, but it has to be awesome. I mean come on, the guy will do anything he can to make money, or die attempting to do so... can you say best original screenplay?)

So I bring this up only because I remembered, isn't Billy Crystal a DIE HARD Yankee fan?

The answer is yes. Billy C. grew up a die hard fan of the Mantles and Dimaggios. He even made the HBO stinker "61*", which led me to sign all my papers in high school, Sippy Momo*, but that's yet again, another meaningless sidenote to help you guys get to know your author.

So what have we got? We've got a die hard Yankee fan wearing a Mets hat in a film that the whole country sees. There are a few ways to defend Billy C. in his choice of hats, but let's consider the possibilities:

1. He was a fair weather fan as a kid, loved the Yankees when they were winning then loved the Mets when they became good.

2. The Mets were a better sell, more popular and, thus more relatable to movie audiences. Basically, Crystal was selling out his true passion for box office gross

3. B.C. is full of shit, never cared about baseball and was just trying to overcome his lack of height (just like Eric K. w/ the red hair thing) by pretending to be a huge baseball fan.

All three of these defenses don't hold much for Bily C. Either Billy C. was a sellout, a fair weather fan, or a liar. Rough one.

Now this argument, light-hearted though it is, is not entirely facetious. See, people always ask me,"Hey Sip, would you take the Yankees GM job, today if they offered it to you?"

My answer is always a very strong no.

I always say to them, "I'd rather my son be a ___, than be a Yankee fan." You can fill in the blank according to your own personal distaste.

As a Mets fan I consider orange and blue to be one of the things I stand for. It is a lot of who I am. Working for the Yankees would go against every part of who I am and I could never do it. (Please read: I'm looking for a job in baseball. First Yankees 2000 reader to hook it up gets a signed Sippy Momo West Side little League jersey)

I love Kevin James (fat dude from King of Queens) not only cause he is married to Stacy Karosi (Saved By the Bell) but also because he sits there in the VIP bx to the left of the Mets dugout 10-15 times per year.

If I were celebrity, I think my cause would be the Mets. I would be at every game possible just so some kid could be like, "woah, there's Sippy Momo, he is stunningly attractive AND a Mets fan. Lets go to a Mets game, Dad."

People will make the argument that Seinfeld featured the Yankees a ton, mainly George with George Steinbrenner. Others will make the fair point that Seinfeld didn't demonstrate an encyclopedic knowledge of the Mets in his interview with Steve Somers.

This just doesn't hold up. See, I would have no problem with Billy C if he gave the dude with the sweet mustache who banged the flight attendant OR the guys from "Home Alone" the Mets hat.

This would have provided the same effect for the movie and Crystal could have come off clean. But he did not.

Jerry Seinfeld, like the Mets, has personality. He stayed true to who he was even if the show moved away from its strict New York emphasis. He never wore a Yankee hat, that's for damn sure.

Word on the street is that despite his midwestern upbringing, Johnny Utah was also a die hard Mets fan and chose Ohio St. over a close second, Columbia University.

Truth and Pride,

SM

Kool Keith and the Rearing of SNY

Note: Sippy Momo told everyone there wouldn't be any posts after this past Wednesday until Monday, but what can I say, I had time on my hands, a fire in my belly, and some things to get off my chest so I wrote a couple pieces.

For those of you who didn't check out the site on Thanksgiving, there's a lengthy tribute to the Mets directly beneath today's post about Keith Hernandez and SportsNet New York. We here at Yankees 2000 hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and that you enjoy the unexpected content.

Hey guys, A Friend of Mr. Glass' back at you today. This is going to be a fairly short post, if for no other reason than that my fingertips still hurt from writing yesterday's post.

Anyway, we're all still basking in the afterglow of the Delgado deal with 5 extra lbs to worry about I'm sure, but I was excited to read Andrew Marchand's article in today's New York Post (you can find it here: http://www.nypost.com/sports/31869.htm) declaring Keith Hernandez, old Mex, the frontrunner for the analyst spot at SportsNet New York (SNY) for Mets games next year.

Now I know that Keith rubs some people the wrong way. Some friends of mine say they find him too caustic and self-absorbed. Regarding the latter charge, I've got no argument. It's pretty plain that Keith is pleased with how his major league career played out. Some people get worked up by it, but as for me, by this point I just find it amusing.

As for the former complaint, the truth is that he can be decidedly blunt and undiplomatic. But as far as I'm concerned, so long as the SNY execs don't try to rein him in, his willingness to take players, coaches, and managers to task will be the perfect answer to the propagandistic "analysis" offered on YES.

Listening to a broadcast on YES is like pulling teeth, and I'm fairly certain I'm not just saying that because I'm a Mets fan who despises the Yankees. All the announcers are such cheerleaders. To Michael Kay and the other YES broadcasters, the Yankees can do no wrong.

Thankfully, Mets brass seems to agree that this isn't the way it should be. They respect their fans' intelligence. To that end, they've declared that SNY will have a committment to objectivity and balanced reporting. Love him or hate him, Keith Hernandez offers just that every night he goes to work.

And really that's the point. Ultimately this is about more than holding SNY's objectivity over Yankee fans' heads for YES's jingoism. After so many years of "analysis" from Fran Healy and Tom "Big Boy" Seaver (although Seaver's nowhere near as bad as Healy), it'll be nice to have the incisive and insightful Hernandez on the air every night.

Hernandez always has a read on the in-moment, in-game situation. What I mean by that is he explains what's going through a player's mind or what they're doing right or wrong as it happens, but he also puts individual actions or decisions in the context of the larger narrative of the 9-inning game, 3-game series, or 162-game season.

Between Kool Keith and Gary Cohen (see yesterday's blog, point No. 10 on the list), Mets broadcasts would offer two thoughtful, articulate broadcasters who would enhance the daily listening experience of Mets broadcasts immeasurably. Let's hope Marchand's sources are reliable and that SNY has the good sense to bring Keith on board.

There is of course one other angle to the news that Keith might be joining Cohen in the SNY booth, and that is that he would be leaving his former partner, Fran Healy, behind.

Undoubtedly, no one would be happier about this divorce than Hernandez himself, but as far as I'm concerned, there's good news and bad news (granted, mostly good news). As we all know, Fran's a bit of a hack. He's good for a phrase such as "can 'o corn" or for incorporating plugs to the team's sponsors

"There's a long fly ball headed for the Pepsi Picnic Area!"

into his regular commentary, but beyond that he's pretty useless.

The one down side about the breakup is that no one was more aware of Healy's shortcomings than Hernandez. Nobody knew this better than MikeM over at East Coast Agony, who transcribed the below hilarious conversation following the Mets' game against the Astros on April 13.

As MikeM wrote it up himself (http://eastcoastagony.weblogs.us/archives/2005_04.html):

"When Fran Healy and Keith Hernandez combine in the booth, great moments in broadcasting are never far away. I think this is because they hate each other. Tonight's gem came as [Doug] Mientkiewicz [(RIP)] was at the plate:

Healy: And here's Doug Mientkiewicz. He's a contact hitter --

Hernandez: Don't call him that! He's a line drive hitter.

Healy: Ok, he's a line drive, contact hitter.

Hernandez: That's just wrong. He's a guy who knows he isn't going to hit 20, 25 homers a year, knows what he is capable of, and goes out there with a plan and hits line drives.

Healy (after a pause): I think I've hit a nerve.

Hernandez: Yeah? Just keep going.

So it looks like we may not have moments like this one to savor any more, but that's no matter. East Coast Agony hasn't updated in months and besides, after 22 years of Fran, haven't we earned the best combination available?

For my money, that combination is none other than Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez.

The turkeys have gobbled their last gobble,

A.F.O.M.G.

A Thanksgiving Tribute to the Mets

Hey everyone, A Friend of Mr. Glass' here. If you're anything like me, you've been awake since 8:30 a.m. because you couldn't fall back asleep when there was tons of Mets coverage to be absorbed. So yeah, it's about 2:10 p.m. at the moment, and I've been up for nearly 6 hours. SALT.

But as we all know, today isn't the day to dwell on our gripes, but rather to be thankful. So in the spirit of the holiday, here are 10, no, 11 things I'm thankful for.

1. The Mets are legit again.

Think back to 2002-2004. Remember how bad that was? Amid all the grumbling about how the Mets are becoming more and more like the Yankees, there's something very important to remember. There are an awful lot of Yankee fans out there who don't know what it is to suffer, at least in any fair understanding of what suffering as a fan is.

So sure, the Bombers haven't won the World Series since 2000, and no, they haven't even made the World Series in 3 (!!) years. But they've still got some things going for them. The Yankees have won the AL East in each of the past 10 years.

What about the Mets? Well, in 2004, the Mets finished a dismal 71-91, 20 games under .500, which was actually a fairly substantial improvement over 2003's 66-95 mark. 2002 wasn't quite as bad, but the Mets still finished 9 games under .500. All told, the Mets averaged 71 wins a season between 2002 and 2004, while finishing roughly 29 games out of first place each time. That, Yankee fans, is what suffering is.

But the Mets finally turned the corner in 2005. Finishing four games over .500 wasn't the half of it. More importantly, the Mets played meanin... err, games with playoff consequences in September. Now granted, the team played like it wanted no part of October baseball, but the Mets were still worth getting excited about with as few as 15 games to go.

That's not going to sound too impressive to anyone wearing a Yankee hat right now, but as far as I'm concerned, it's a giant leap forward for the Mets, and it's a harbinger of better days to come. Which brings us to our second entry on this list.

2. Winning Now: The Mets should be serious playoff contenders in 2006 (but nobody say the 'F' word).

Yesterday, Sippy Momo gave us 10 things he hated about the Delgado deal. While I share some of his concerns, generally speaking I'm much bigger on this deal than he is. The truth is that the Mets are built to win now. Pedro Martinez was nasty in 2005. Even if he didn't quite dominate in the second half of the season the way he did in the first, with a stronger supporting cast he might have had 20 wins and a Cy Young award.

More importantly, with a stronger supporting cast, the Mets might have made the playoffs. As a matter of fact, add a big bat in the middle of the order and a closer and I'm pretty sure they'd have given the Braves a serious run for the money. With Delgado on board and, hopefully, a premier closer (Billy Wagner) to come, not to mention the continued development of David Wright and Jose Reyes (more on them later) and the much longed-for reemergence of Carlos Beltran, the Mets should seriously vie for a playoff spot in 2006.

That said, I'm not ready to start calling the Mets the favorites to win the NL East in 2006, even if on paper they probably will be. The Braves have won this division too many years in a row for anyone else to be called the favorite, it's as simple as that. Until we can all open up the newspaper on the day after the final games of the regular season and see anyone besides the team from Atlanta at the top of the NL East column, they're the favorite. So do like your mother told you and don't anyone go saying the "f" word just yet.

3. Winning Later: The Mets should be in position to contend for many, many years.

This is going to be a point of contention with some people I'm sure. To them, the Mets' playoff hopes rest on the shoulders of Pedro Martinez, and, to a lesser extent, Benedict Glavine. This line of thought isn't entirely off-base of course, but the Mets are in a position where they've got young, talented players whom they can build around for, potentially, the next 10-15 years. For more on that, refer to Nos. 5 through 8 on this list.

Yes, we had to forfeit our top pitching prospect in the Delgado deal, but for all his strikeout numbers in the minor leagues, something about Yusmeiro Petit never really did it for me. The guy averages something like 11 strikeouts per 9 innings but never throws harder than 86-87 mph.

Any fan who watched Greg Maddux and the pitcher we lovingly refer to as Benedict Glavine dominate the Mets for more than a decade knows that heat isn't the only thing that matters, but somehow I doubt whether Petit's stuff will translate into dominance once he's in the Show.

Either way, we've got younger guys in our system who represent the next wave of Mets pitching prospects, and hopefully one of them will have at least No. 2 potential. The well is never going to run dry on 3-pitchers, nor is it ever going to run dry on the Mets' finances, so let's not go crazy over Petit until he becomes the next Dontrelle Willis down in Florida (or wherever it is that the franchise finds itself in five years).

And yes, we had to give up on Mike Jacobs. As optimistic as Sippy Momo may be about Jacobs, the truth is we don't know if he's the real deal or simply the next Benny Agbayani. He's got a sweet stroke and he certainly looked legit in 100 at-bats in 2005, but sometimes you've gotta buy low and sell high. I suspect that's what the Mets have done here.

The point is that there is a young core in place, one that figures to benefit from the emergence (either next year or in 2007) of Lastings Milledge (see No. 7 below). Between the core players we have and the resources we've got to expend (maybe next year on Barry Zito?), we should be in position to contend so long as management plays its cards right.

4. Pedro.

I really can't say the Mets have had another pitcher quite like Pedro Martinez in all the years that I've been a fully aware Mets fan. I have zero recollection of Dwight Gooden when he first came up. Mostly, my memories of Doc consist of knowing that he was once incredible, but that somehow things had gone awry.

But with Pedro this past year we finally saw a little bit of that again, or for the first time as the case may be. When Pedro was on it was just so much fun to watch. The way he would fool with the hitters by mixing up his pitches and his location, it's just such a treat to behold.

Remember the season opener against the Reds? Most of our memories are bound up with the traumatizing end scripted by Braden Looper and about 800 feet of baseball flight, but go back a few innings and you had one of the most dominating pitching performances of the entire season.

Pedro allowed a first-inning 3-run homer to Adam Dunn, and all of a sudden all the bad thoughts inevitably crept into my mind (refer to No. 1, specifically paragraph 3 for why this was the case)...

Oh my god. He really has lost it.

This was in the midst of my beer bottle cap throwing phase. I was living in a pretty sweet off-campus rez with a fairly nice television set, but had developed the habit of throwing available bottle caps at the screen any time something bad happened.

But this was the next level. You look forward to the season opener for six months and then it goes rotten in the space of 5 minutes (all with 2 outs I might add). So I considered calmly rising from my seat, walking down a flight of stairs to the outside porch, retrieving a rock, returning to my seat, and throwing it at the screen.

But I didn't. And I'm glad I didn't.

Over the next several innings, Pedro delivered one of the most awesome pitching performances I'd ever seen by someone wearing a Mets uniform. He struck out 12 batters over the next five innings so technically he wasn't striking everybody out, but it sure seemed like he was.

He was throwing 95 mph, and was clearly pissed. He wasn't about to let the Reds ruin his Mets debut, so he upped his game and his passion rubbed off on all his teammates, with the notable exceptions of Looper and Manny Aybar.

And this was something we saw from Pedro all year. The passion. Almost equally important to his mastery of pitching is the joy and passion he brings to the game. Whether it was him playing with the fans on Opening Day when his image was emblazoned on the center field ad stand or running through the sprinklers or doing ridiculous commercials for Major League Baseball kids charities, Pedro just brought a smile to the faces of Mets fans.

And there's a lot to be said for that. Remember Roberto Alomar? Talk about someone who just brought a frown to your face. Pedro plays the game with the zest and passion that we fans believe all players should have, and he made watching the team extra enjoyable every fifth day.

Besides, he was also responsible for probably the best quote of the Mets' season. When asked if he would watch the regular season opening game between the Yankees and Red Sox on television that night, Pedro responded: "It's either the Yankees-Red Sox [game] or the Discovery Channel. I love that channel. I love cheetahs."

Me too, Pedro. Me too.

5. David Wright (or, I wish I had David Wright's life).

What more can you say about David Wright? In 2005, DW had a .306 average, 102 RBIs and 27 home runs. The kid can flat out play. Those commercials for MSG in which he talks about "bleeding orange and blue" almost make me cry. A hot blonde waitress at the bar formerly known as Trilogy (beloved by prep school gangsters and high school chicks looking to date I-Bankers in the late '90s, early '00s) was desperate to go out on a date with him (which she was supposed to do, courtesy of a bartender who knew Cliff Floyd, although I don't know one way or another if it ever happened). After losing best friend Joe McEwing during spring training, D-Wright seriously upped his cool factor by buddying up with Floyd and Mike Cameron, as well as Doug Mientkiewicz (RIP).

The best part is that he's 8 days older than I am (which is also really depressing on a personal level). He figures to only improve, and could very conceivably become a high-30s/low 40s home run guy who drives in 120 runs a season. Think about it. He batted 7th for 40-some games and still drove in 102 runs, good enough to finish 10th in the league in RBIs. He finished 8th in hitting. The sky's the limit with this kid. Even if something about his eyelashes makes it looks like he wears eyeliner.

6. My friend, Mr. Glass.

He may not have put up the eye-popping numbers that Wright did. He may not have had an on base percentage higher than .300. He may not have walked more than 27 times despite having 696 at-bats. But those numbers pale in comparison to the one in the games played column for Jose Reyes: 161.

The same Jose Reyes who earned the nickname Mr. Glass after suffering somewhere between 5 and 7 leg injuries in something like a 16-month span. The same Jose Reyes who Mets fans were beginning to doubt would ever remain healthy through an entire season. That same Jose Reyes was healthy enough to play in all but one of the team's regular season games.

And he was no slouch either, in spite of the saber-nazis' grumblings. Over the course of those 161 games, Willie Randolph's "young colt" dazzled fans with his speed and lit up the stadium with that toothy grin every time he dove head first into third with a triple. Wright may be a better player than Reyes is, but the truth is I'd rather watch Reyes play.

When you see Wright play, you just appreciate his talent so much. You sit back and you're amazed at your good fortune that a player of his ability, with so much potential still ahead, somehow found his way to the Mets.

Reyes is different. No doubt, he's got a world of talent in him, and you really get the sense that he could be one of the greatest shortstops of his era if he can stay healthy. But with Reyes you just love to see him play the game.

There's something about the way he turns singles into doubles and doubles into triples. Something about the way Shea Stadium or the bar or living room you're watching the game from gets this buzz every time he gets on base. Everyone in the place gets terribly excited because you just know he's about to take off and crash into that bag 90 feet ahead of him in a cloud of dust. There's something about the anticipation as you await the umpire's call

Safe!!

that makes watching him play the game fun on an instinctive level. You don't have to be a baseball fan to enjoy watching Reyes play the game.

On top of all that, for all the grief he gets from callers on WFAN, Reyes improved in several offensive categories as the season progressed. After not walking once through his first 110 at-bats or so, he ended with 27. After stealing 11 bases through the first two months of the season, he ended with 60, tops in the National League. I also read that his post-All Star Break OBP was somewhere in the .330 range, although I can't verify that at the moment.

These are signs that he was still getting used to major league ball at the beginning of the season (not surprising given that he'd been injured the previous 2 years), and also that he was improving throughout the year. That development will continue next year, but in the meantime it's just fun to think of the player he is, and the player he could become.

So Mr. Glass? Here's to you, pal.

7. Lastings Milledge (or, How Omar got rich and the Mets' farm system did not die tryin').

First things first, there's a long way between Lastings Milledge and stardom, not to mention that there's a long way between Lastings Milledge and Shea Stadium. So let's not get ahead of ourselves here. But in Milledge we have a guy who pretty much every scout projects will be a star (and some call him a superstar in the making) who figures to take over RF if the Xavier Nady/Victor Diaz tandem fails to impress in 2006, or in left in 2007 once Cliff's contract has expired.

The truth is that I don't know anything about Milledge that you don't. I've never seen him play, but I know that he's been a beast at every level of play that he's seen so far. He's a guy whose debut we can anticipate almost as anxiously as Wright's or Reyes' (though, thankfully, without the same desperation -- see No. 1 if that is unclear at all).

Is Milledge, the Mets' top prospect and thus Omar's best bargaining chip, certain to remain with the Mets? Of course not. But the fact is that the Lastings Milledge era took a giant step torward realization yesterday with the Carlos Delgado acquisition. Getting Delgado on board drastically reduces the need for Manny Ramirez, and also makes the economics of such a deal almost unfathomable.

Milledge should be safe unless a No. 1 starter is made available at the trade deadline next year, or if Rick Peterson, Pitching Guru, doesn't issue one of his 10-minute edicts regarding a 2006 version of Victor Zambrano, which hopefully he will not do.

8. Aaron Heilman (all is forgiven).

I'll admit it. In April 2005, I hated Aaron Heilman. Let me take you back to Opening Day. I was still negotiating a parking spot in the veritable third world country that exists in the hinterlands of Shea Stadium (for those interested, the going rate is 3 Beast Lights and 324 Dominican pesos, or 10 USD, whichever is more readily accessible) but if I'd been in the stadium in time to see the player introductions, I would have booed lustily like everyone else in the stadium did when Heilman's name was called.

See, Heilman wasn't just a No. 1 draft pick turned bust. He had, for me, become a constant reminder of Scott Kazmir. The day that Kazmir made his major league debut for the Devil Rays, Heilman made his 2004 season debut for the Mets. Kazmir shut out the Mariners through five innings in his big league debut. Heilman? He lasted 3.2 innings, allowing 4 earned runs on 8 hits.

It was like a cruel joke played by the Mets front office.

But then something happened. Somebody got the crazy idea that maybe, just maybe, it made sense to have Heilman throw at the arm angle that made him a successful pitcher at Notre Dame, that made him a No. 1 draft pick, rather than the over-the-top motion that the Mets had impressed upon him.

From that point on, things just clicked for Heilman. He worked his way out of Willie's doghouse and posted the second best ERA among relievers in the National League after the All-Star Break. Today he is a central part of the Mets' plans for our bullpen next season.

To some extent, Heilman is emblamatic of the franchise he pitches for. He lost his way for a good while there, and just when everyone else had started to give up on him, he found a way to right the ship and matter again. Let's just hope he (and the Mets) can keep it up.

9. Willie-time.

You know, a lot of Mets fans really seem to hate Willie Randolph. Some of that is because he was a Yankee for so long, but most of the people worth listening to take his decisions to task.

These arguments are not entirely worth ignoring. Willie's not perfect. He started Kaz Ishii for way too long. He batted Wright seventh for way too long. He somehow batted Miguel Cairo second for a good portion of the season. He decided to play Gerald Williams and Jose Offerman ('nuff said). And he found a place in his doghouse for my boy and yours, Doug Mientkiewicz (RIP).

But you know what? I still like Willie.

An admission first, I'm kind of biased on this one. Let me take you back to 1992. I was 9 years old that season and pretty damn cute. After the games the Mets (somehow) won I would go with my Dad down to the area above their dugout, identify the player who had the game ball, look cute, and hope he flipped me the ball. This trick works really well. I probably got about 10 game balls that way.

Anyway, one time I did this and Willie Randolph had the game ball. He pointed to me, flipped it my way, and I was all set to go home happy when some big drunken lug next to me reached over and grabbed the ball mid-flight. I was crushed. The drunken lug was elated. He high-fived his friend and got out of there.

Another ballplayer might not have cared, but not Willie. He put one finger in the air...

Hold on, kid!

... went into the dugout, grabbed a ball and a pen, signed the ball, flipped it my way...

Thank you!

... and we both went on our merry way. I wish I could say I was looking at that ball right now. The truth is I have no idea what happened to it. But it was a class move up and down.

And that's kind of what Willie Randolph has done to the manager's office at Shea. He's not the firebrand that Bobby V (RIP) was, nor is he the empty vessel that was Art Howe. But he's a classy guy. His players respect him. They play hard for him. Besides, he gets his subs fresh toasted and snubs Joe Torre when he does it, what's not to like?

10. Gary Cohen and SportsNet New York (or, the passion of the Fran Healy).

For my money, nobody's better at calling a ball game than Gary Cohen. He and Howie Rose were an absolute pleasure to listen to in car rides this past year (my first as a driver), and it is with great excitement on my part that he's been named the play-by-play announcer for the Mets next year when their new sports network, SportsNet New York (SNY, aka The Metwork), debuts.

Can't you just hear him now though?

There's a long fly ball hit to deep center field. Jones is back... at the warning track... looking up, at the wall... and it's outta here!

Gary Cohen's homerun call is simply the best in the business. I get goosebumps and a smile just thinking about it. Something about the way he says that final phrase

And it's outta here!

like the air and the vibrations are coming from the lower depths of his stomach. It's a guttural cry that captures the excitement of the moment. It'll be fun having it on the tube next year.

As for Fran Healy, well, we've had some good times and some bad, old friend. You've been calling Mets games my entire life. No question about it, I'll miss your trademark calls

Groundball to Reyes... got 'em!

But this was the right time to let you go. If you love something, set it free. I'll pour some out for Fran tomorrow night, and I encourage all of you to as well. But in the meantime, be thankful that Gary Cohen is finally getting his due on the air.

11. The Mets blogosphere.

2005 was a big year for me and the Mets blogosphere. Beyond finally getting involved with a blog of my own, I discovered several sites that have enhanced my knowledge of the Mets and the game of baseball in general. I'm especially grateful to the hosts of the following sites:

http://www.metsgeek.com (no hard feelings for taking down my post referring people to this page, and congrats on the quote in the New York Times)

http://mets.nyfansites.com

http://www.metsblog.com

http://eastcoastagony.weblogs.us (why don't you guys update anymore?)

Also noteworthy are mets.com and msgnetwork.com. These sites are the only thing that get me through the winter months without being able to watch the boys every night. Finally, I have to pay my respects to the Godfather of all Mets blogs, metsonline.net.

Metsonline.net was the original Mets blog, the (hard e, say it like "thee") source for all things Mets-related. It got shut down for having Mets logos or apparel or some such thing on the site.

Anyway, thanks again to all the people who run those sites, and all the people who make up the Mets online community (even you, "Fire Willie").

And lastly, thanks to all of you who read this blog. We're not as big as those other guys yet, but, hey, we got big dreams. Maybe some day.

Gobble gobble,

A.F.O.M.G.

Delgado: Not Too Bad or Salt?

So I woke up this morning to 933 e-mails about the Mets acquiring Carlos Delgado.

Of course, our good friend Willie B has already purchased his World Series tickets. His e-mail this morning read: "I'm sure Sippy Momo is going to find a problem with this deal."

Well, of course, me being the cynic that I am, I do have my problems with the deal... but also a bunch of things that I love and like about it as well. Without further ado...

1 Thing I Love About The Deal

1. Timeliness: This is the only thing that has me salivating about this trade. For the same reason that signing Pedro helped lure Beltran, I think this signing will help show Billy Wagner that the Mets are trying to field a winner.

As I've stated before, Wagner should be the Mets' No. 1 priority and I think that this will be the bait he needs to become a Met.

5 Things I Like About The Deal

1. Delgado is a monster. He adds another huge bat to a lineup that will become one of the better ones in baseball. He is coming off a great season in a pitcher's park, so at least we know that Shea won't be too big of an adjustment and we are not getting Chase Utley's 30 Citizen's Bank Park homeruns.

2. Trading Yusmeiro Petit doesn't bother me. As much as chicks dig the long ball, I dig power pitching. I think it is what wins in the post season (I have this theory that the colder weather slows down bats just a mili second making 95 seem like 98). I'm no scout, but for about three years now real socuts have been forcasting Petit is a 3, which the Mets already have four of, and which are almost always available via free agency.

3. The deal brings optimism to people like Will B. and makes Mets fans really excited about both this off-season and for the season.

4. It's nice to make the first splash ahead of the Yankees. In a city where the Yankees always seem to get their guy, this year that just isnt happening. They have no farm system and will be in the third year of the luxury tax (every year, the further you are over the luxury tax barrier, roughly $110 mil, the higher the percentage per dollar over the threshold you pay) . If I remember correctly from my sports law class, the third year is 40 % meaning the Yanks would owe 40 mil if they have their same $206 mil. Thats a lot of YMCA's.

They are so stubborn about Robinson Cano and Ching Ming Ding Ling Sing because they are trying to mask the fact that finally they just can't spend anymore, it is becoming too expensive. Otherwise, do you honestly think the Yankees wouldn't have traded those two for Beckett and Luis Castillo?

5. Delgado does not have red hair. We have all seen what that done to Eric K.

10 Things I Hate About You (The Deal)

1. Again, Minaya gave up too much. Buster Olney, apparently our clone (Editor's note: somewhere Buster is undoubtedly wondering if it isn't the other way around), has a nice piece about this on espn.com: http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=olney_buster#200511233

About two weeks ago my father told me that the Marlins needed to cut payroll. He has a pal who works with the team. If the desperation was so great that he knew, than clearly something was there.

The Mets got Delgado minus 7 million dollars. That is still 3 years/41 mil or roughly 14 mil per season, which is a ton of money for a 34 year old.

The Marlins would have given us this guy for a bag of peanuts. They got him for his cheap year( 4mil) and were now stuck with a highly overpaid contract. They were dying to dump his salary to the point where they could almost give us someone to take it. I know this because I read it somewhere.

Instead, we give two of our five best prospects for him.

Not to mention, there wasn't a long line of teams dying for Delgado. This wasn't like Josh Beckett, an ace pitcher, that every team in baseball should have sought after. Beckett warranted prospects because there was a huge demand for him. I just don't think it was there with Delgado.

2. I'm not happy about trading Jacobs. As I've said here before, this kid could turn into something. Sure, this deal makes the Mets better now, but who knows 5 years from now.

We have already seen a glimpse of what Jacobs can do. This isnt some kid in AA. He is a guy that proved (granted, for only about a month) that he could be a special hitter. I would have liked to see him get his cracks, and have the Mets go get a RF or 2B if they were looking for power.

3. I'm not exactly sure where we hit Delgado. It makes sense to hit him 4 or 5, but I dont want him and Floyd back to back. No need to let another team bring in a lefty to face them in the 8th, every single game.

3-4-5-6 could be Beltran, Delgado, Wright, Floyd. I know AFOMG doesnt like this move, having Cliffy hit 6th, but I think this is what it is going to be.

Unfortunately, due to matchup problems, I think this deal blocks the Mets from hitting Beltran 2, Wright 3, which bothers me. This is Willie's decision though, not us here at Yankees2000 so we will see.

And now, still, the Mets dont have a 2 hitter...Don't say Kazuo/Cairo

4. With what looks like a second consecutive huge offseason, the rest of Anerica is slowly starting to bunch the Mets with the Yankees. Quoting the camper:

"The Mets are going to sign every ***** alive."

I guess this shouldn't bother me. After all, the Mets are getting better, and they're still not at the point where they're signing players just so their fiercest rivals don't. But I don't want to feel or have this team be perceived as the best team money can buy, which unfortunately, it will be.

5. Could we have gotten in the Beckett sweepstakes? Could we have given Jacobs, Petit and say Mike Pelfrey or Phil Humber for Beckett, Lowell (who would play 1b) and Luis Castillo?

I would die for this deal. I think Beckett is the man. After throwing down 10 bucks at 50:1 back in June '03 for the Marlins to make the World Series, and then watching it unfold before my very eyes, I became a huge Beckett guy.

I grew his patented chin goatee and went on a streak with the co-eds of Upenn like nothing you have ever seen. (Sorry parents)

Castillo immediately solves our problem at the 2 spot and along with Lowell would give us baseball's best defensive infield.

We could then move Trachsel, Seo or whoever for bullpen help. In this scenario, the Mets are a much better and more complete team.

6. This deal is just another indication of the sorry state of baseball. That the Marlins would trade a 30/100 guy to a division rival just because they can't afford him, sucks. This isn't how sports should be.

Baseball is now the only sport with salary dumps. Sure in basketball teams try to move bad contracts, but that is for the purpose of strategizing around the salary cap.

Baseball is a real business and that's just not how it should be. Hopefully, Bud, if you're reading this, you'll take notice and try and do something about it. It may cost some owners some money, but this just isn't the way things should be.

7. This deal comes on the same day that I took the clicker from the living room, preventing my mother from watching her dvr'd shows that she wanted to watch... on her birthday. Talk about bad karma.

I never like to let my mother be right, at least in person, so I'm apologizing to you, mommy, via this blog. I messed up and I do so frequently.

But be thankful. At least I don't have red hair.

8. Timeliness: We all know the baseball offseason sucks, and now with Delgado on board and the pursuit of Wagner winding down, it appears the Mets' major offseason moves could be done by the first week of December, leaving nearly four months until pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training.

Sure, there will be minor moves along the way. As the people at ESPN can tell you, these are the deals you never notice but that are felt in a big way come the grind of the 162-game season. The Mets have already lost Marlon Anderson and his ridiculous running stride to the Nationals, so there are holes to fill. That said, it's never quite as exciting when the Mets get a Marlon Anderson on board as it is when they get a Carlos Delgado.

9. You know that feeling when you feel awkward on someone else's behalf? That's kind of how I feel about Carlos Delgado, his agent, David Sloane, and Omar Minaya. Delgado and Sloane publicly served Omar last offseason, rejecting more money and shared Latin heritage to sign with the Marlins.

A year later and Omar has orchestrated a trade bringing Delgado to Los Mets. Does he want to be here? I can't say. All I know is that the conversations Omar has been having with Delgado must have been awkward as shit.

10. I hate the way you talk to me, and the way you cut your hair. I hate the way you drive my car, I hate it when you stare. I hate your big dumb combat boots and the way you read my mind. I hate you so much it makes me sick, it even makes me rhyme. I hate the way you’re always right, I hate it when you lie. I hate it when you make me laugh, even worse when you make me cry. I hate it when you’re not around, and the fact that you didn’t call. But mostly I hate the way I don’t hate you, not even close… not even a little bit… not even at all.

As you can see, we here at Yankees2000 were quite taken with the Larisa Oleynik whopper "10 Things I Hate About You". This movie, which brought Heath Ledger to our mind, body, and soul with such lines as "she's without" and "don't let anyone ever make you feel like you don't deserve what you want" (maybe that was Omar's mantra about Delgado all along!) stole our hearts and, in no small measure, inspired this blog. For which, on this the day before Thanksgiving, we here at Yankees2000 give thanks.

A Happy Thanksgiving to all. Without another frontline starter/bullpen the Mets will still come up short. There are talks of a Benson and Brian Bannister for Javier Vazquez swap which I think would be nice.

A friend of mine had the privilege of teaching Anna Benson poker before the World Series, not really sure how but a sweet story nonetheless. He said she is not that hot in person and that she curses every other word she says. Time to get that no class strumpet out of NY.

All I got. I'm out of here for Thanksgiving so we will back and running next Monday. In the meantime, A Friend of Mr. Glass' may decide to post so keep checking back in.

Truth,

SM

The Evil Empire North?

I rolled out of bed this morning at roughly 11:30, brushed my teeth, grabbed some water and went to my computer.

Priority #1. Making sure Yahoo still credited Green Bay Packers WR Antonio Chatman w/ 14 yards instead of 15 (The yardage Al Michaels announced the catch as) which had left a team I need to catch 1 point short of a win this week... HUGE!

Priority #2. Confirm the Josh Beckett/Mike Lowell deal for Hanley Ramirez, Anibel Sanchez and a A pitcher. CHECK! Again, huge. In case you didnt get the memo, we dont like the Yankees at this site (or redheaded males from Scarsdale).

Priority #3. Make it later priority to pick up flowers for Mama Sippy Momo. Today is her birthday and damn do I love her

Priority #4. Check the e-mail.

So I checked my e-mail. Back in my better days as a member of the employment line, I used to be an e-mailing machine. See, I didn't do all that much at my job and found e-mails as a way to pass the time, maybe catch a laugh or two, after I had sucked out every ounce of information that ESPN and Yahoo Sports had to offer, and after I had given a thorough read through of the bible, the New York Post.

So I had about 33 e-mails from this one group of friends of mine, they all seemed well.

Then I had one from Sippy Momo Sr. which read:

Are the Red Sox becoming the Evil Empire North? Is that why Theo quit?

Sippy Momo Sr.

At first, I brushed this question off as a father trying to relate to a son (no disrespect, pops). About 2 minutes later though, I thought some more and a million things ran through my head.

1. Why did my father sign his e-mail with his full name? No Dad or D? That just gave me a little chuckle.

2. But had the Red Sox, America's favorite underdog, become the Evil Empire North?

The answer to that is no.

If the Yankees had the prospects to make this deal, it would have been done months ago. Every small team in baseball knows that if they want to dump salary, they go to the Bombers.

The Red Sox payroll still remains roughly 60% of the Yankees. The difference between them equals the salaries of the Royals, Devil Rays and about half of the Tribe. It's enough to fit an A-Rod and a Matsui (the good one, not ours, although you could fit an A-Rod and two Kazuos if you were so inclined) in there.

What is evil about this trade is the shape of baseball today.

Major League baseball has almost established itself into two sections.

1. The Major Leagues
2. Their farm systems

In the majors are all the big teams. The Mets, Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Cubs, Dodgers. These are the big city teams with the big money.

In the farm you have the Marlins, A's, D-Rays. These teams have no money and payroll restrictions.

So after five or six years of quality play for one of these farm teams, a player enters his prime and is either traded for rookies or lost to free agency to, surprise, surprise...one of the bigger teams.

Think of what those three aforementioned farm teams alone have lost or will lose in the last 3-4 years, including this one.

1b. Jason Giambi
2b. Luis Castillo
SS. Miguel Tejada
3b. Mike Lowell
RF. Aubrey Huff
CF. Juan Pierre
LF. Julio Lugo (we'll throw him in there, the guy has speed)
DH. Carlos Delgado

SP. Mulder
SP. Hudson
SP. Beckett
SP. Burnett
SP. Pavano

RP. Foulke
RP. Baez
RP. Benitez

This may be the greatest team could have ever been put on a baseball field.

Is there a single one of these players that would have left any of the big teams I listed above? Not one. None of them would let them go.

It'd be like someone telling me that the Mets had to choose between signing David Wright or Jose Reyes and losing the other.

Is this really what baseball has become?

Major league baseball is now the one major professional sport in the United States without a salary cap. Competitive balance has returned to every other sport but not baseball.

Unfortunately, Major League baseball (The Real Evil Empire) has the defense that the small market teams like the A's and Indians remain very competitive.

This argument stinks. You should check the archive, "Thank God The Yankees Play Baseball" from October 26th. It highlights the fact that if the Yankees could do what they do financially, in any other sport, how they would never lose.

It just so happens that baseball is a game that in any given series of three, The Charlotte Bobcats could beat the San Antonio Spurs 2 out of 3.

This would not happen, in basketball or football. And I'm not sure, Sans Goat, that anyone really cares about hockey.

Basically writing this blog has saddened me. It made me think of my father's second question, to the e-mail that he so appropriately signed with his full name:

Is this why Theo quit?

I hope not, but I'm worried that it might be.

Could it be that baseball's owners are just truly greedy? That they care about the money more than the game? That their team is an investment instead of their pride and joy?

Me and my friends always joke about how if any of us get rich, we will buy a team and we can all run it. But people like us aren't the one's that make that money. It is usually nerds that do that. The nerds that we used to give swirly's too in the bathroom.

Note: Unemployed people that blog and live with their parents is not nerdy, nay, it is the new chic.

So are these Scarsdale born, red headed owners using baseball to get back at us?

I don't really know, but again, this is all making me kind of sad. And I gotta hit the road, call the deli for the SM special, Roast beef sandwich, sour cream and onion chips, rasberry snapple and you know it... A NEW YORK POST.

As the great Ghost Face Killer once said, "Word up Mommy I love you,"

Sippy Momo

The Yankee Way?

Reminder, blog is updated every weekday by 2 p.m.

I never liked Brandon Walsh. Why not you ask? I think it was just that he was too good. He never made mistakes, always got the girl, had all the accolades, etc.

Is Brandon a good guy? Of course he is, but he is hard to relate to. Its easier to relate with the bonehead shenanigans of Steve Sanders or the little brother complex of David Silver.

But Brandon. He did things the right way. You might even say, he did things... "THE YANKEE WAY."

Derek Jeter is the Brandon Walsh of the Yankees. He is squeaky clean, extremely talented, beloved and a killer with the ladies. It is for the reasons that he is so hatable -- he is too perfect.

At the same time, Derek Jeter was a godsend for the Yankees. He became their unquestioned leader in a 10-year period leading up to the present, during which the Yankees became every idealic name you could use to describe an organization:

"America's Team," "Best franchise in sports," etc.

With Derek Jeter -- he of the squeaky clean and classy image and, yes, superior talent -- at the forefront, we were re-introduced to the "Yankee way" of doing things.

The "Yankee way" is often written about in the papers. It is the all-class, all-winning, no-facial hair, fun-loving-but-serious organization.

This idea was cultivated in an era of profound success. Indeed, the reason this concept solidified to so great an extent was that the Yankees were always winning in the late 90's and they happened to be led by a ton of great guys.

Jeter
Williams
Rivera
Posada
Pettitte
T. Martinez

Its hard to find anything wrong with these guys. They were great baseball players who were good guys. They didn't beat their wives or cheat (well, they didn't cheat on baseball. As for their wives, your guess is as good as mine until Jose Conseco releases the sequel to his hit smash "Juiced" entitled "Still Juicing: The Yankee Years"). They did things the "Yankee way" and all of a sudden the Yankees became a team built on the aura produced by some combination of history, present success, and destiny.

As for me, I think the "Yankee Way" is crap.

To read about it all the time sickens me because it no longer exists, especially in recent times.

But how 'bout these players doing things the "Yankee Way."

Jason Giambi taking steroids... The Yankee Way.

Randy Johnson hitting reporters (can I call them colleagues yet?)... The Yankee Way

Jaret Wright with a glob of chew... The Yankee Way

Gary Sheffield calling out his teammates, attacking fans...The Yankee Way

This concept is so outdated it is sickening. Yes, the Yankees were a class organization in the late 90's and basically put together the perfect lineup of talent and quality people. That may be why the team won 4 World Series' in 5 years.

But things have changed. Talent and quality have been replaced with greed and money.

You think the Yankees went after the Big Unit because he was a good guy? Of course not. Unit has always been labeled an introvert, terrible with the media and reclusive in the clubhouse.

Did they bring in Jason Giambi for his morals? No, the guy killed the ball while partying like a rockstar.

How about trading for Sheffield? This guy has been tagged one of the game's bigger assholes since his first day in the league.

It's time that this idea of the "Yankee Way" of running a franchise is finally wiped out. It is truly hypocritical.

There is no greater indication of this hypocrisy than with the current Bernie Williams situation.

As an angry, bitter Mets fan, there is bascially nothing bad to say about Bernie Williams. Ok, thats not true. Bernie Williams throws like a girl.

But here is a guy that was a great hitter, great leader and terrific guy in the New York area for more than ten years. He represented everything the Yankees claim to represent.

So now Bernie's career has reached its twilight. He is looking to come back to the one uniform he has ever worn, in a limited role, so that maybe he can win another championship or maybe because he just isn't ready to hang up the spikes yet.

He is not looking for a ton of money. All he wants to do is be a Yankee. He wants to continue representing the Yankees the way he so proudly has for over a decade.

Their response? We'' think about it, Bernie and let you know if you are a good fall back.

See Bernie Williams just isn't good any more. He could never throw, but now he's lost his range as an outfielder and has a slow bat.

Would I want him on the Mets? Not at all.

But hasn't this guy earned his right to be a Yankee? To be their 4th or 5th outfielder? To be a switch hitter off the bench?

This isn't like the Knicks situation with Patrick Ewing, where the team needed to move on and he was ready for that. (Editor's note: I completely disagree with this claim.)

The Yankees don't need to move on from Bernie Williams, but they might possibly force him to do that.

This is because Bernie Williams doesn't fit the mold of the new "Yankee Way," where baseball is a business and greed has replaced morals.

This to me, just isn't right.

Uh huh, yeah.

Sippy Momo

Publice Enemy #1 and The Happy Mets Fan Speaks

Reminder, blog is up every day at 2 p.m.

I'm gonna be honest here. After throwing back a few too many steveweisers last night, blogging about the Mets -- which, according to one asshole from Wash U, is not COOL -- was not at the top of my priorities this morning. But, heck, we love you guys too much to leave you hanging, so somebody had to do it, and I thought, "hell, I'm unemployed, what else have I got to do?"

Turns out, the answer to that question is nothing, so I saddled up and was all set to write still another piece comparing some aspect of the Mets or Yankees to "90210" or "Laguna Beach", but then I got to thinking again. The thing that makes this site worth it to me and A.F.O.M.G. is the fans who check us out every day, so I thought, "hell, I remember what it's like to have things to do, why not turn the site over to some of our readers for the day?"

So today we unlock the doors, and who better to let into the factory first than Yankees2000's Public Enemy #1, Eric K.

Eric is a close friend of a good friend of mine, JD and of the greatest soccer player ever to walk the fields of Washington University, J Farb. Eric, a redhead from Scarsdale is sooooo cool and such a huuuuge Yankees fan that he loves to talk about how uncool this blog is.

So here he is, Public Enemy #1, Eric K. For those of you who know him and for those who don't, stop by the site next week to learn more about him in 5 potentially mind-blowing blogs. Due to my lack of coolness, (Note: I blog, am unemployed and live w/ my parents - Whoops) all I have is this blog to throw back at him. Well take that Eric K, CYBER BEEF. So here are the five topics.

1. Red hair -- What it does to a kid's self esteem
2. New York transplants from Scarsdale -- Can we trust them?
3. Redheaded Scarsdale kids who become Yankee fans to help them feel better about their red hair induced low-self esteem
4. Yankee fans w/ red hair... Sexy
5. If I wear all black will people not notice my red hair?

Good thing for me, the big bad Kuehne is too cool to read this site, otherwise beef might go down.

Good thing for him it doesn't. I know people.

So now that all this negativity is out of the way, I wanted to reflect on Yankee2000's most positive friend and today's guest blogger, Will B. (Note: how uncool is blogging?)

Will B always sees the glass half full.

See, with the Mets, Giants and all of Will's sports teams, good things are always to come.

Are the Mets going to win the World Series next year, Will? Of course they are!

Is the Pedro signing the greatest of all time, Will? Definitely!

On yesterday's comment board Will, complained about the negativity on this site, specifically, in regards to the Mike Cameron deal.

People refuse to acknowledge that [the] Mets might, possibly, be doing something right. If Billy Beane (as much as I love him) pulled a move like this to free about $6 million dollars to sign Wagner and get to keep Nady by trading a superfluous player--as much as everyone loved him, the sequel to Moneyball would already have hit the presses. Mets fans are the worst. Their negativity is a blight on the franchise.

God do I love Willie. See, I kind of agree with him on this trade, I don't mind it. Nady may not have had the numbers to back it up, but the kid has a bat. Granted, he is already 27, but let's see what this guy can do as a regular player (provided that's what he was brought in to be).

But what I love about Will is the analogy to "Moneyball".

I mean COME ON, Will. Billy Beane has to put together a team with a $50-60 mil payroll. The Mets do not. Sure, if Billy Beane could move Jason Kendall's contract, that would be a miracle. But the Mets moving Mike Cameron did not make or break the team's finances. And yes, the Mets shed a $6 million risk, which I am happy with. But the Mets could still have gotten Manny or Billy Wagner without shedding it to begin with.

But that's Will. The consumate good guy. So today, with my lack of anything to say other than about Eric K, I'm going to pass the mic over to Willie B who talks about someone who deserves some attention here at Yankees2000:

Greetings to Sippy and his crew. Sippy and I go way back to the days when I was his Robin Ventura of New York Ivy League basketball. Interestingly to note, my career very poetically culminated by winning the MVP at the tournament held at Sip's high school, but I digress.

Anyway, in all this talk of comebacks, the hot stove and "Laguna Beach", something has been lost on this Mets-loving audience. I love LB (and Talan and Jason) and Killa Cam as much as the next guy, but I wanted to bring a different story to your attention today. Somehow lost amidst the insanity of the picturesque milieu of Sippy Momo Jr. and Sr. embracing after Mike Piazza's game winning home runs is the lighter side of the Mets, a side that is no less a part of the team than Bobby V. wearing a Groucho Marx mask, Mr. Met being the team mascot, and the litany of embarrassingly bad free agent signings.

There is no greater example of Mets tomfoolery these days than Rick Peterson. Never mind the psycho-sexual death grip Rick Peterson holds on Jeff Wilpon. Never mind the total lack of statistical evidence that Rick Peterson makes a positive impact on a team's pitching staff. Never mind Rick Peterson's infamous boast after watching a tape of Vic Zambrano before the Zambrano-Kazmir trade of "give me 30 minutes with this guy and I'll turn him into Cy Young."

No, what really drives me batty about Rick Peterson and harkens back to the insanity of the Roger McDowell days is his obsession with titanium accessories. In addition to wearing his pants higher than Steve Urkel and always wearing that Mets jacket no matter the temperature, last season, Peterson convinced the entire Mets roster to hitch their fortunes on an increasing number of titanium fashion products.

Making some dubious claim about improving the electrical flow in the body, Peterson has stocked the Mets clubhouse and forced the Mets players to drape themselves in titanium, all of which culminated in a New York Times article over the summer where Peterson revealed that he himself wears titanium underwear.

Why do I bring this up today? Well, as part of my Mets e-mail newsletter (the "Flushing Flash" for those not in the cognoscenti), things have reached an all-time low. The e-mail hawked two products, the Mets kids club -- which is a great way to get your favorite young Mets fan hooked on the team and team-licensed titanium necklaces.

Wait, what was that second part? Team-licensed titanium necklaces? It's one thing if Peterson wants to get his ballplayers in whatever mindset he feels is appropriate, but when the team starts hawking merchandise that on the scale of veracity is on par with used cars, pyramid schemes and Sippy Momo's claims to young co-eds that he'll treat them right, the "Class-o-meter" at Shea is a wee bit low.

Come on, Mets, we're on the verge of turning it around. If we start trusting Peterson to be our marketing guru, the results are going to be a lot more disastrous than trading Scott Kazmir. Sure, we seem to under the spell of Rick Peterson, but let's stop the insanity before there's a scandal about Peterson, some Buddhist life coaches, some young high school pitchers and EAS sales reps meeting under the bleachers for a "tutorial."

More than trading for Manny, salting Season 2 Stephen or imagining throwing back some brews with Turk Wendell and Dennis Cook circa July 1999, I humbly request that the No. 1 priority of Yankees2000 becomes stopping the runaway train of Rick Peterson before it's too late.

Truth from Willie,

SM

This Just In From B.O.A.F.O.M.G.

Hey guys, it's A Friend of Mr. Glass's. This is a real banner day here at Yankees2000. Those of you checking out the site for the frist time today should read the following two entries as well. Our content today consists of the first post from Sippy Momo titled "RIP Killa Cam", the second post from myself titled "Rick Reed for Matt Lawton, Anyone?" and now this third brief post.

I received the following e-mail from my brother (Brother of A Friend of Mr. Glass's) in response to the piece I wrote and decided it had to be posted. I think he and I are on the same page on this one. Here's the e-mail:

Good post. Yeah, this deal, as my 70 yr old Torts professor would say, stinks out loud.

Good point about the ... AND?!?! Seriously? Ugh.

That really about sums up the reaction. The only reasonable explanation in my view is that Omar got wasted last night, got home, drunk dialed the Padres' GM, made this deal, woke up this morning wondering how Xavier Nady made it onto the Mets roster, at which point he slowly reconstructed the prior evening's events, and moaned "FFFFFUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKK" as the realization crept into his groggy consciousness.

That's the only acceptable explanation, as far as I'm concerned.

- B.O.A.F.O.M.G.

The reaction from a lot of Mets fans has been positive, but the Mr. Glass family is presenting a united front. Are we being too negative? We welcome any feedback.

Rick Reed for Matt Lawton, Anyone?

Note: Sippy Momo also posted his thoughts on the Mike Cameron trade. His entry appears immediately beneath this one. Also, this site is updated every week day by 2 p.m. We appreciate your support and hope you'll add Yankees2000 to your daily website-checking regimen.

Hey guys, A Friend of Mr. Glass's here, giving you consecutive content for the first time here at Yankees2000. This is going to be brief and it's going to sound familiar to those ESPN Insiders out there who have read Buster Olney's piece on this trade, but let me do as I did yesterday and take you back into the Mets' recent past.

It was the summer of 2001 and everything was looking terrible for the Mets. Sure, the announcer still bellowed out "Here they are, your 2000 National League Champion New York Mets!" as the players ran out on the field, but by July 2001 it felt like years had passed since the Subway Series.

The Mets would ultimately go on to make things exciting for their fans, but long before Armando Benitez and John Franco ripped Mets fans' hearts out, a deadline deal was struck by Slippery Steve Phillips that left many scratching their heads. On paper, the deal read a little something like this:

"The Mets acquired OF Matt Lawton from the Twins for P Rick Reed."

In the minds of Mets fans, the deal read a little something like this:

"The Mets sent away one of their most consistent pitchers for OF Matt Lawton and... and?... AND?!?!"

Only there was no and. Rick Reed for Matt Lawton straight up. Oooh baby. In the weeks leading up to the trading deadline (back when the team was flatlining and seemingly wanting no part of a third consecutive playoff appearance), Mets fans were dreaming of the possibility of cashing in at the trading deadline and restocking the farm. It didn't do us much good, but one thing we had was a lot of pitching to offer a contending club. The thinking went a little something like this:

Pitching wins championships! Contending teams need consistent pitchers! Rick Reed = trade deadline gold!

Well, that was a nice thought, only Steve Phillips decided to trade him for a guy who sucked for two months and then, four years later, was caught in violation of baseball's steroid policy. The point though is that the Mets didn't get optimal value for Rick Reed, as far as the fan base was concerned.

And that's kinda how I feel about this deal too. Sorry to ape Buster on this one, but the truth is that there are plenty of teams who need a centerfielder (most notably the Yankees and Red Sox, who play in big markets with a fan base that expects them to contend every year) and few quality centerfielders available via free agency. Mike Cameron = offseason gold!

Well, that too was a nice thought, only Omar "Lord of the Living Room, King of the House Call" Minaya got involved. What did he manage to net for the second best centerfielder (behind Johnny Damon) available? A 27-year-old who's never had an OBP over .321, never hit more than 13 home runs in a season and never driven in more than 43 runs. Sure, he set "career highs" in 2005, but please refer to the previous sentence when assigning value to Nady's "career highs".

None of that is to say that this is a disastrous trade. Nady could blossom as a regular in RF. At the worst, you gotta figure that he and Mike Jacobs would form a pretty formidable platoon at 1B (whether we think Jacobs should be platooned at all is another matter altogether, but we're talking worst case scenarios here; I certainly don't mind the Mets having an insurance policy, and I guess Julio Franco doesn't fit the team's "younger, more athletic" mantra when you get right down to it). One thing you can't take away from Nady is that he's consistently handled left-handed pitching, and that's a serious plus. The Mets got younger and cheaper.

But did they get better? Did anyone out there think that the most we would get for Mike Cameron was Xavier Nady?

When you first saw the link saying the Mets had traded Cameron for Nady, didn't you expect to read an article telling you the Mets had gotten Nady and a prospect or two?

I certainly did.

It was just a headline! They didn't have room to mention the prospects we got! They didn't have room in the headline for that live bullpen arm that only Rick Peterson, Pitching Guru, could tame!

Only no. Cameron for Nady. That's it. No one's going to confuse this trade with P Scott Kazmir for P Victor Zambrano, but still I can't shake this sense that we didn't get optimal value for Mike Cameron.

Will this move be parlayed into a trade for Manny or Delgado? Depending on who you read, that's either possible or likely. Between Cameron and Piazza alone, the Mets have saved about 18 million dollars. Of that, 10 is earmarked for Billy Wagner. Another 5 to 6 is going to a catcher. Mets brass won't hesitate to take on some payroll if it means making the playoffs.

If the Mets do pull off a blockbuster and turn this trade into Manny or Delgado, does this trade become better in retrospect? We can't say. It depends on who the Mets give up. (Note: at least with me, the trading of OF Lastings Milledge will not go over well, even for OF Manny Ramirez. Would the Mets make the playoffs with Manny next year? Almost definitely. There's a lot to be said for that, and I won't argue any differently. I guess I just love the idea of Wright, Reyes, and Milledge leading this franchise for the next 15 years).

As for now, to me it just feels a lot like the summer of 2001 all over again, only this time, with the team on the edge of the playoffs, the stakes are so much higher, and missteps will loom so much larger.

- A.F.O.M.G.

RIP Killa Cam?

Reminder, blog is updated every weekday by 2 p.m. EST

On a cold rainy day in Bevery Hills, the worst of the worst happened. In an attempt to make ammends with her mafia father, Antonia Marchette drove over to her father's house to deliver a sign