New York Mets Winter Report 2011-12

[sonny10305]

I was saddened to hear that The Mets will eliminate their Gulf Coast League in Port St. Lucie for 2012, leaving us with eight affiliates, including two in the Dominican Republic. And so the cost cutting BS continues and I am not amused. I dono yet about the fate of Kingsport's after 2012 the plan as of now is they will still have three Rookie League teams there. But there will be no team in the Gulf Coast League. eliminating minor league teams in the Class-A Gulf Coast League is very very depressing news for me. The minor league situation will change for the worse if they cut the number of minor league teams including dropping Kingsport which stated back in 1980 and brought us players like David Wright, Jose Reyes, Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry. I am thinking that the yes the move saves money, but maybe it also introduce a new drafting philosophy; I mean The Gulf Coast League is usually for draftees out of high school and for international signees

I wrote the other day about the Mets financial mess and it scares me to see now much they are willing to or have to give up to stop the bleeding, Just last month alone the Mets laid off nearly ten percent of its workforce. Clearly the Mets are cutting costs due to the financial woos, this news of the cutting of the Gulf Coast team just doesn’t look good as a matter of fast it looks really bad. It goes along with thoughts of why the Mets made no move to re-sign Reyes and did not go after any big-name free agents this winter and is looking more and more like it had less to do with rebuilding but more due to a financial, let’s call it crisis. So has Sandy Alderson been entirely honest with us when he has done is all about building the team for as he calls it “long term success” I wonder how that can be when pieces of player development is eliminated. Sorry Sandy but I am having a little trouble believing you are building for the future while at the same time cutting minor league club and scouts; it just does not ad add up.

As expected The Mets officially have announced the signing of closer Frank Francisco.-

Also expected was the resigning of Mike Baxter to a minor league contract,

We have heard from time to tome that Endy Chavez might someday return to the Mets but as of now he is headed to the Baltimore Orioles.

 

[sonny10305]

Fairly quite in Mets land right now but The Mets did sign catcher Rob Johnson to a minor league contract and will be invited to spring training. Josh Thole and Mike Nickeas will of course be our regular catchers but Johnson just might be some competition for Nickeas. Johnson, comes to us from the San Diego Padres were he played all of last season.

Josh Thole will be Kevin Burkhardt’s guest on Mets Hot Stove today
along with Justin Turner and his Santa hat
Mets Hot Stove is on earlier than usually today at 430pm and repeats at10pm on SNY

 

[Sausy]

Excuse me,sonny and guys..not feeling real Christmas-y right now.Came home to see on Yahoo sports the Nationals got Gio Gonzalez...fuck,we'd better hope the young talent Sandy Alderson has down on the farm is enough to keep up but this is fucking inexcusable!!!I am not so much concerned about losing one minor league club though the Gulf Coast League has been a Met fixture for years,and losing Port St.Lucie will hurt a bit..what happens to the other clubs they have agreements with is the most important concern.It's the cumulative effect though of their acting more like a budget class organization than a big market one that worries and frankly,like sonny has in a heartfelt manner made clear angers and frustrates me.

They are in MAJOR hock...Madoff or not,they need a big money investor with clout to get them to clean up their fiscal act as they are hocked to high heaven as sonny and I have mentioned with outstanding debts for CitiField and their SNY cable network for at LEAST $1.5billion DOLLARS,money they DON'T have and in this economic climate could never get holding on to the Mets.They had one in David Einhorn who they were scared wanted operating control of at least 60% within the next five years...so they blew up their best chance for a lifeline and a way out because they are so vain and egotistical they could't lose their big toy.They pushed Einhorn out and now have this mini investor scam going in which it seems if I read it right they are one of the investors of a $20 million dollar per investor group of bloc shares.....wtf are they doing?No,our Mets aren't going to quit on us,they will play hard and Terry Collins will see to it they don't hang it up and lose confidence but they will be considered underdogs who have to keep proving themselves to be taken seriously.Fucking Bud(Used Car Salesman)Selig better realize a long time friendship is not worth the destroyed credibility of a New York club with a beautiful new stadium and a very prominent cable presence.He had better even if it's under the radar pressure the Wilpons to get the hell out or settle for being a minority partner to a big monied head investor.That's the only way the Mets will go from 75-85 win clubs at best with careful budgets year to yearto serious contenders even for the new wild card who can afford to be flexible and adventurous.No one is saying the Mets need to be financially reckless,hell even the Yankees are serious about being generous spenders but reasonable and disciplined not to make the most expensive move time and again.But in this market no way they shouldn't be consistently $140-170 million higher rung spenders who also have maximum flexibility to rebuild their system from inside and outside the Mets organization.

I know that we will get maximum effort from whoever is here....Sandy Alderson,Terry Collins,David Wright,Jason Bay,Ike Davis,Daniel Murphy,Ruben Tejada,Josh Thole,Lucas Duda....we need everything to come together,we need our guys to buck the odds...say fuck you to the naysayers..they can keep us RESPECTABLE.But only when we see MLB push out the Wilpons like they did the embarassing Mc Courts in LA(and as a parting gift to the new owners,the Dodgers were able to re-sign their best player,Matt Kemp,to an 8 year,$160 million dollar extension)_can the Mets organization be RESPECTED.The Mets supposedly lost$70mil last year because of lower than expected revenues from ticket buying fans.Well how will a lousy reputation and more embarassing drama from the coupon clipping Wilpons going to encourage a turnaround in ticket sales,thus a positive turnaround in revenues?The Wilpons HAVE to go.And Mets fans should be vocal this year,as much as they can,that they will NOT take any more Wilpon crap!!!

 

[Sausy]

In other news,and definitely worth noting.....the St.Louis Cardinals signed old friend Carlos Beltran to a two year deal with a no trade clause.After the Mets trade to the San Francisco Giants that netted the Mets hot prospect Zack Wheeler,Beltran hit well for the Giants but their overall lackluster offense(no doubt seriously affected after losing their outstanding young catcher Buster Posey to a season ending knee injury)really put an undue burden on their terrific starting pitchers to repeat their World Championship run in 2010.Cards are a bit down after a classic,unprecented championship run in one of the best World Series ever after losing the great first baseman Albert Pujols to the LA Angels ten year,$254 million offer.Yet with rising World Series star,hometown third baseman David Freese,plus the hard hitting,solid veteran leadership of sluggers Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman...and pitchers Chris Carpenter and Adm Wainwright.Speaking of Wainwright,how classic is it that after the Beltran/Wainwright battle in the 7th game of the NLCS ending the the infamous called strike with the winning runs on base to end the game...now they are reunited as teammates!!!Hoping for the best for Carlos(lol,except when he faces the Mets)!

 

[Sausy]

Hope all is well with sonny and all...Merry Christmas to all of you,keep safe and have a wonderful time with friends and family!

 

[sonny10305]

Can ya smell it?? can ya taste it?? well I sure can
Mets pitchers and catchers report Feb. 20 that’s just seven weeks away. They have physicals the following day, with their first workout on Feb. 22. Position players are scheduled to report by Feb. 25, with physicals set for Feb. 26 and the first full-squad workout on Feb. 27. Then the first game will be played against the Nationals on March 5th.

I spoke with a few players over the holidays all of em ready and anxious to get started; some excited about the new layout of Citi; Duda thinks he will have it a lot easier with less ground to cover at right field plus he says it’s always easier to come in on a ball than back. Ike and Murph expect to be 100% healthy, Ike has pretty much done it all in workouts and expects no problems. Murph has yet to figure about his brace he will prolly need to wear it all the time, we will see how it affects his running since Murph was never a great runner anyways. I have seen that thing and lemme tell you it is pretty big and covers a lot of area but he wore one all of last year with little problem. Daniel just headed back home after spending the holidays with his Mom Dad sister and brother at his grandmothers house in Louisville; his plan is to get down to St Luice in about two weeks to start work with Terry Collins.

Well despite pleas from the Mets not to do it R.A. Dickey leaves today for Mount Kilimanjaro to climb that sucker. The Mets even sent him a letter telling him while the team has no contractual mechanism to prevent him from making the climb they want it known they won't hesitate to void his contract if he hurts himself. RAs motivation here is to raise awareness and money for the Bombay Teen Challenge, which fights human trafficking. Did I ever tell you guys what RAs kids say the RA stands for? Actually it’s Robert Allan but his kids say it stands for ‘Really Awesome’ how cute is that.
God speed RA

 

[syam24]

Appears the Mets have reached agreement with Scott Hairston to bring him back in a utility role, which he performed pretty well after a slooooow start. Buster Olney was quoted as wondering if the Rays have interest in Daniel Murphy for their first base position. That would make an interesting idea if the Mets could get back one of the Rays young starting pitchers. Don't want Murphy going anywhere, but for a good young starter, might be worth the exploration of a deal. Happy New Year, all!!!

 

[sonny10305]

In the oh know they didn’t department the Met signed Omar Quintanilla to a Minor League contract and invited him to Spring Training, The Mets believe this will give us some middle-infield depth behind Ruben Tejada, Even thou at one time he was a top shortstop prospect with the A's. I am bothered by the fact that when he was in AAA with the Rockies Quintanilla tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance and served a 50-game suspension. I guess Quintanilla will alternate with Justin Turner as a lefty-swinging infielder off the bench, Justin is a righty, and he could also back up Tejada and even Daniel Murphy. As I recall his defense is just ok nothing special there, plus he has no real power to speak off, crappy plate discipline in fact I did some checking and apparently he hit just .045 in 11 games with the Texas Rangers last season.
Now I know we have no money but come on is that the best we can do? How about giving an opportunity to a guy like Jordany Valdespin, seriously, this would be a great chance for him to show he has what it takes to compete in the majors. I saw him in Brooklyn with the Cyclones got to know him a bit and love the kid. I don’t understand Alderson’s move here I think Jordany would have made a better choice for us that that ex druggie. Ok so maybe he would not hit .300 but he would have done .280 at least. Add to that his combination of speed and power, it just pisses me off why the Mets would choose Quintanailla over Jordany I mean he is right there right now in our system and would be for sure a better shortstop option. Lemme tell ya this Quintanilla is gonna make no difference for the Mets. Mark this down take it to the bank and cash it by the middle of the season Omar will be back in the minors and Alderson will think WTF was I thinking?

As Syam wrote and in another ho hum move the Mets Scott Hairston took a physical in New York and is expected to re-sign with the team. Oh goodie I am wondering where he will fit in on our full roster when Scott Hairston is added.
Oh. and Syam mentioned Murph be traded for a pitcher, if they did that for sure I would have to have Alderson's head examened. As to you Syam for thinking it might be "an interesting idea"

David Wright, will host Vegas Night to benefit Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters on Friday, January 13, 2012 at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. There will be cocktails, hors d'oueuvres and dessert with a live/silent auction and casino gaming including craps, roulette, blackjack, horse racing and poker. David says attire is "Vegas casual."

As I do every year I will head out to Citi today to give at the Mets annual Winter Blood Drive you still have till about 5 today to get out there and donate just go to the Caesars Club at Citi Field. best place to park is in Lot G on 126th Street.

Kevin Burhardt’s Mets Hot Stove returns tonight at 7 on SNY KB will have among his guests Mets new closer Frank Francisco, he also plans a lot of NL East chatter. I said to Kevin I was glad he was back cause I figured he was going to climb the mountain with Dickey. His response..Yeah, that aint happinin

If you are following the RA Dickey mountain climbing story you should know he arrived yesterday in Tanzania along with Mets bullpen catcher Dave Racaniello and Rockies pitcher Kevin Slowey, the boys plan to climb the entire just under19,000 feet. As I mentioned yesterday Dickey is hoping to raise awareness and money for the Bombay Teen Challenge, a charity that helps victims of sex trafficking. Panasonic announced that it will be supporting Dickey’s trip up Mt. Kilimanjaro by providing him with digital still cameras and a laptop computer, so that he can help document the climb and even communicate via twitter and face book. The climb is expected to take an eight day ascent and a two day descent.
Here are Dickey Kevin Slowey, and Dave Racaniello, getting ready to start the climb which begins tomorrow.

 

[syam24]

Latest rumor I read is that the Mets have had some conversations with Ronny Cedeno as possible backup shortstop. That is a MUCH better option than the Omar Quintanilla dude. I don't think Omar will be on the Mets unless everyone is on the DL. My thoughts on Murphy as far as a trade to the Rays for a pitcher would be who that pitcher is. The Rays have a plethora of starting pitching, and I would hold out for one of their top 3.

 

[syam24]

.....and oh, OUCH!!! Dont! Stop! Don't! Stop! don't stop, don't stop....

 

[sonny10305]

Yes syam Ronny Cedeno is a Met now and is expected to be our backup middle infielder. The plan yet made official will prolly keep Ruben Tejada and Daniel Murphy as the starters, but Cedeno would be a good alternative at either position. I do wonder what this will mean for Turner. As for Cedeno he hit just about .250 for the Pittsburgh Pirates last season, playing mostly as a shortstop but also some second base. He ain’t much of a hitter and he strikes out a lot but he is strong defensively.

As to Murph I hear what you are saying about our need for pitching, no one knows and understands the importance of pitching to a team than me but I just don’t see what the Mets could get for a talent like Murphy, it just would not be worth his loss offensively. We will see how well he develops in spring at second base but no one will try harder than he will, NO ONE! Offensively he is gonna be a powerhouse this year, I really do believe that, had he not gotten hurt last year he would have been the NL batting champ and not Reyes no doubt about that. So no unless science can find away to bring Seaver or Gooden I can’t see giving up Murphy. Keep in mind as well Sandy Alderson said the Mets won’t sign anyone who commands more than $1.5 million, of course this year the free agent market ain’t what it was and there are some guys now who made more than $1.5 million in past now may be looking for less now. But not Murph I want him to stay a Met but will be open to anything that advances his career even if that means loosing him, for me Murphy's future is more important than my being able to watch him play everyday even thou that is something I really want to be able to do.

It does not look good for Willie Harris coming back, the Mets said they would be interested in him and Hairston but now that they resigned Scott they have yet to even contact Harris

I am excited to her that the Mets have signed Jeff Stevans and Corey Wimberly two kids who you are going to hear a lot about soon. I am hoping they will both go to Buffalo so I can follow them and watch them develop. Stevens now has a career 3.25 minor league ERA and will be very good for our bullpen. Corey Wimberly has had some ups and downs (kinda reminds me of Nick Evans) but he does have a ton of speed and finished last year with a .297 career minor league average including both a batting title and stolen base title to his name.

I hope you guys watched Mets Hot Stove, Kevin Burkhardt is going to be doing a segment each week about the other teams in the NL East. Last week he did the Nationals and really opened my eyes to the power staring pitching lineup they have now. That NL East is gonna be one hot division this year.

 

[sonny10305]

I wondered what would happen with Fernando Martinez and now he has been placed on waivers in order to clear room on the 40-man roster for Scott Hairston and Ronny Cedeno. The kid never really had a shot with soooo many injuries. I mean good grief that kid was always hurt. I first met him in Buffalo and was very impressed by him I have to think somewhere in my comments I have written I thought he was gonna be a breakout.
But with all the injuries he has never played a full season I don’t think since 2008.
Me I would have stuck with him a while longer ya know as part of our rebuilding, I have watched him play and felt some day that kid would make it, he is too young to give up on I think he is only 22 I know we needed to make room on the roster but for me we had a better choice when it came to designating players for assignment, Josh Stimson just to name one.
So what happens to F-Mart now, close to 30 other teams will now have the opportunity to pick him up and give him a shot. Of course if he clears waivers, he could end up back in Buffalo, but somehow I don’t hold out much hope for that cause I figure if he clears it won't cost another team anything to give him a shot. As far as a trade, once Mets put him on waivers a trade route was done. Plus I imagine if there was hope of trading him, they would have designated him for assignment. I am gonna keep in touch and follow that kid cause I really like him and will let you guys know how it goes for him.
The other player affected by this is Daniel Herrera I guess the Mets felt better keeping Jeremy Hefner and Armando Rodriguez there was no consideration about not having a second left-handed reliever in the bullpen.
Two dumb moves if you look at from the money issue which the Mets seen to have some problems with,
F-Mart is only 22 years old, and he’s not owed anything above the MLB minimum. Herrera is 27 and he to is a minimum-salary guy. Meantime Cedeno and Hairston are over 30 and will make better than a million bucks. So in the spirit of rebuilding and cost savings can we all say HUH???

RA Dickey is doing well in his quest to climb Kilimanjaro he has already gone 22 miles, ascended a little over 14,000 feet, and crossed through five ecological zones. Cute hat RA

 

[syam24]

So FMart is pretty much gone. Read that a "source" told Buster Olney that he guarantees at least 5 clubs will put in a waiver claim on Martinez. For his sake, I hope he can get over his injury issues, but he does supposedly have arthritic knees which will be a chronic issue. Too bad we didn't see the future and could have traded him while his value was high for some talent. Glad to see R A Dickey is doing well in his quest to the top.

 

[syam24]

.....and the winner is the Houston Astros who have claimed F Martinez from the Mets. Good luck to F Mart, hope he has a nice career. (hopefully not at the expense of the Mets)

 

[sonny10305]

RA Dickey is so close to the top he can literally see the peak, just about 4,000 feet to go.

Yup syam it’s goodbye to F-Mart gone to the Astros and the waver is irrevocable so the Mets cannot pull him back.I wish him well with the Astros, he is a great kid if he can stay healthy he will do well.
Daniel Herrera did not meet that same fate yesterday we thought he was gone but he has cleared waivers and will remain with the Mets, what happened was Herrera did not have the right to declare free agency once he passed through waivers. So at least we saved one of em, as I said yesterday I was not thrilled losing a left hander from the pen

The Mets also brought back Miguel Batista on a minor league deal that’s ok cause I figure he will give us decent at AAA depth.Also in minor league deals the Mets also brought in reliever Fernando Cabrera and shortstop Sean Kazmar.

So supposedly that will be all for the Mets they are saying now that they are done at least in the major league level could still se some action on the minors

So our Opening Day lineup will prolly be Torres in center, Murphy at second, Wright at third, Davis at first, Bay in left, Duda in right, Tejada at short and Thole catching.
The bench will look like Mike Nickeas, Scott Hairston, Ronny Cedeno, Justin Turner and Mike Baxter

Starting rotation expect Johan Santana, R.A. Dickey, Jon Niese, Mike Pelfrey, and Dillon Gee

In the pen, Francisco, Rauch, Ramirez, Byrdak, Acosta, Parnell and D.J. Carrasco

Johan Santana has been throwing for 3 weeks on flat ground about 25 throws. He hopes for 110 feet tomorrow He said he has not spoken to any other pitchers who have had anterior capsule surgery today he long-tossed today in Port St. Lucie and hopes to be throwing bullpens with other starting pitchers Feb. 22 He also said he wouldn't guess whether he would be ready for opening day, for him right now it’s just gonna be one day at a time He is not kidding himself thou admits he expects it may be tough for him. I am thinking we will, have a much better idea of what to expect from him when we see him actually pitch. Can’t wait.

 

[sonny10305]

The Mets have re-signed Mike Pelfrey to a one-year, $5.68 million contract for the 2012 season; Yeah well let’s hope last years “ace” will turn it around for us. For sure an ace he ain’t, even thou he was considered the top prospect for the Mets big Pelf is now pretty much not more than an end of the rotation pitcher. Thing is he has shown spurts of brilliance but he has been extremely inconsistent.
To give him his do he has become an innings-eater, starting over 30 games in each of the past four seasons while throwing over 180 innings or more as well. And while he isn’t Ollie by any shot he does drive us all nutz when just when you think he is turning a corner, he takes a giant step back instead. I still believe his troubles to be with his head not his mechanics I have said that over and over. So I have to think this will be Pelf’s last season with us, for one thing he will be eligible for free agency next season and if he doesn’t get it together in 2012 forget about the Mets re-signing him. RA Dickey on the other hand is still our man he has became the most solid and consistent pitcher in the rotation for over two years now over the past few years.

With the family biz shut down for the holiday weekend my dad and I went to Florida for 5 days to visit my sister and of course check in on the Mets. It’s still a little chilly in this part of Florida especially at night and early mornings but it warms up nicely in the afternoon. We headed to Digital park, not many guys are here yet and there is a ton of construction going on. Terry Collins is there along with Johan Santana who has begun working on his pitching and the only position player so far is Daniel Murphy who said months ago he was gonna be the first player to camp this year and so he is. He looks terrific I think he is in the best shape of his life and man oh man is he ready to get started, talk about a kid in the candy store. Wally Backman is there as well I was so happy to see him again having gotten to know him so well in Brooklyn with the Cyclones, when he saw me he held out his open arms with that great smile to welcome me which was pretty awesome. Wally will be managing the Bisons this year in Buffalo Tim Teufel is in camp as well.

Tickets to spring training games went on sale on Saturday at Digital Domain park I was there with Murph Tuefel, Collins and Backman and watched as the fans got a treat when the guys showed up to say hi and sign autographs. Mets pitchers and catchers are required to report by Feb. 20 with the first game on March 5th. I was surprised by the massive construction going on at the Park I sure hope they can get it finished in time. What they bare doing is replacing the right-field line bleachers with premium stadium and the scoreboard will be updated with a better video board. Thing is it looks like a lotta work has yet to be done they just finished pouring concrete into the brick walls last week, and only the wooden framework was ready. But they are confident it will be ready in time. In addition The Mets have agreed to extend their lease from 2018 to 2023 manly cause of the renovations. There is also talk that the improvements also could help with efforts to bring in a second team to the facility. The Mets have spoken to at least two teams about the possibility of moving to Port St. Lucie.

Tomorrow I will write about what Ike Davis is up to.

Wally and Tim



Wally and Murph



Murph yup it's cold out here





The Construction

 

[syam24]

An Ollie sighting, I read where our "beloved" Oliver Perez had signed a minor league contract with the Seattle Mariners. At least he'll be well out of sight and mind there.

 

[sonny10305]

Yeah Syam better them than us
I guess they are willing to obtain the seven years of bad luck that goes with his signing.

Ike Davis has been working his tale of at home and with a trainer at a facility in Arizona says he is ready to go, no pain no worries about coming back strong. He has not played since after rolling his ankle in a collision with David Wright on May 10 leaving him with cartilage damage. In fact what he is doing now is actually more demanding than actual baseball games and there has been no issue with the ankle. Ike has simulated just about anything that could happen in a game but one and that is if he rolled on that ankle which is the only thing he is yet to do. Is he scared or worried? nah just anxious to get that first time over with. His main objective this month has been working on building back muscle, he lost some of that over the summer. As he explained it when you can't run or do anything with your legs for a certain amount of time, you kind of lose your muscle, but it's easy to get back, and that is what he is concentrating on now and he feels he has gotten it back. He has also begun cage hitting this month.
So what about the changes at Citi, Ike said he looked at it a little bit but until he actually sees it in person it’s hard to really know what it's going to look like or see how it's going to be, but anything helps cause it is a big ballpark and the new dimensions and elimination of Mo's Zone nook in right field will for sure help him put some more runs on the board instead of hitting the ball off the wall and especially as a lefty it will be nice to see those balls in left field go out for a change

Kevin Burkhardt returns to Hot Stove tonight he has been taking a few shows off here and there to call football games which SNY has been gracious enough to let him do. KB will be talking on the phone to Mike Pelfey and Bobby O will be there to talk about the rotation. I don’t mind listing to Bobby talk about pitching or catching it’s when he tries to talk about things like hitting or defense that make me nutz.

I have a ton of pictures of Ike preparing for the new season here are a few to show give you an idea of how hard he is working on his return. I should mention however that although it's hard work he is having a lot of fun doing it

 

[Ninja108]

On a sad note...Gary Carter's time appears to be running out.
I hope he and his loved ones will be at peace in his final months.

 

[sonny10305]

Yeah Ninja I was so sad to hear the latest news on Carter he seemed to be getting better and now his condition has gone to extremely grave. His most recent MRI revealed several new spots/tumors on his brain, over the last dew weeks Gary’s condition has visibly worsened, and he began complaining of severe headaches, fatigue and balance problems. The doctors are now deciding whether to cease giving Carter any more treatment.
The Mets need to retire his number 8 this summer the same time as the 50th anniversary to honor Carter’s place in their history. I am not saying that due to his illness but because of his popularity, stats and accomplishments.




I hope you guys got to catch Mike Pelfrey on with Kevin Burkhardt last night. Mike sounded like a man with a mission and I was impressed by what he said and he has given me some hope hat he may turn it around this year. He said that he thought last year, he have up way too many homers, he talked about how he understands the need to keep the ball in the ballpark, he also admitted that he wasn’t happy with the year he had and expect a lot more out of himself. I believed listening to him talk that he understands to be successful he needs to get his ball down more, it needs to have more sink, basically saying that he can’t throw the ball high and expect people to hit it on the ground. Gee Mike, ya think
Kevin also announced that The Mets have invited pitcher Matt Harvey and Center Fielder Matt den Dekker to spring training and although I knew about Harvey was surprised to hear about den Dekker I would have preferred Zack Wheeler and do not understand how was he not invited, I need an answer to that one.


My heart is full of pride over the news that Daniel Murphy is the inaugural “Thurman Rising Star Award” winner. Murph will join Yogi Berra, Mark Teixeira, R.A. Dickey, Chris Mullin and Dikembe Mutombo. The ceremony will take place in NYC on 1/31. Murph is truly one of the hardest workers in the game he has already arrived and started work ahead of everyone else in St Luice plus he just happens to be one of the nicest and most humble guys in the game. Congrats Murph

R.A. Dickey returned to the United States on Tuesday after successfully climbing Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money and awareness for the Bombay Teen Challenge, an organization dedicated to rescuing young women from forced prostitution. Dickey said the group surpassed their goal of $100,000 with the help of a gift from Jeff Wilpon.