Manuel on J. Bay

"He doesn't seem as large -- I thought he would be a larger guy," Manuel said.

Yet another useless comment from Manuel. With this one statement Manuel has somehow managed to simultaneously insult his new star player, and expose his own lack of knowledge about players around the league.

Well played Jerry, well played.

Jose Jose Jose

Interesting idea Jerry.

Only two years too late.

Attitudes

Kernan says Mets attitudes appear much improved this year. If so, it would be a very positive first step. We'll see if it translates into anything.

One up, one down

Well, as I mentioned in the comments section below, I've got to drop K-rod from my list since he was playing ball with Chavez. However, I've found a replacement:

Mike Jacobs signed a minor league contract with the Mets on Wednesday, SI.com has confirmed. The deal pays $900,000 base if he's in the majors plus $1.15 million in incentives for possible total of $2.05 million.

His slipping BA is atrocious, to be sure, but he still has power and if he improves his average he could definitely make an impact. I liked what I saw from him his first year here, and the deal is cheap.

Great Success!

"There's going to be a lot of competition in camp. That's something we've been trying to do."

-Omar Minaya

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/mets/real_competition_SG6FJyNrAVbeojeiEtfe9K#ixzz0fT5P4PyX

Keeping up with the Jonses

First, here.

Then, here.

Just to throw DC a curve

Here are 8 things I like about the Mets:

1. Santana
2. Wright
3. K-rod
4. Reyes*
5. Murphy
6. Escobar deal
7. Francoeur
8. Feliciano

*I'm disappointed that he hasn't progressed/matured as much as I would have expected by this point, particularly w.r.t. OBP, but there's no getting around the fact that he is an explosive, exciting player.

Pelfrey on the Rotation

According to the Post: If the season started today, the rotation would likely be Santana, Pelfrey, John Maine, Oliver Perez and Fernando Nieve.

“Guys got hurt. I had a bad year, but guys are healthy now and I’m going to bounce back and have a good year. It’s amazing to me how big of a question there is about the rotation [by fans]. I hear about it and I just laugh.”

It's amazing that the fans have questions? Really? After Santana you've got Pelf, whose best season was 3.72 ERA with 110 Ks and a 13-11 record. All other seasons have been ERA > 5. Then you've got Maine, who never seems to be able to physically make it through a full season, and loses focus starting in the 4th inning of every game. As for Perez I can't even comment. Last you've got Niese, an interesting prospect but completely unproven.

Why would the fans have confidence in this rotation?

Beltran

Shocker, Beltran is pissed at the Mets and will likely put himself first, and the team a distant second. So for all the excitement generated about how good Reyes is looking, this should dampen that enthusiasm about the Mets chances this year.

When might Carlos Beltran get on a major league field? Beltran is furious with the Mets and how they have publicly handled his surgery. He wonders if he should have been playing last year (in other words, was he properly diagnosed?). More important, he pushed to initially play in pain and then rush back in a lost season.

The Mets probably should not expect Beltran to prioritize the team this time around. He turns 33 in April. His contract walk year is 2011. So I expect that Beltran will take care of No. 1 and make sure he does not do anything to hurt himself for a 2011 salary-drive season.