Some good news

Check it:

After throwing 46 pitches in his seventh bullpen session of the spring and speaking with his pitching coach and a member of the media relations department, Johan Santana said on Wednesday he is making progress and that his objective is to start the Mets' Opening Day game on April 6.

Heh.

SP

Well, with Santana's injury looking more serious by the day, it's certainly proving to be a good decision by Omar not to get another starting pitcher this offseason. Who needs Lowe really? We've got 8 closers, Jose Jose Jose, Beltran and Delgado. And of course B. Schneider.

Cutler

Jets should make a trade for Jay Cutler now, while he's pissed at the Broncos for trying to trade him and pick up Cassel.

Not a good sign

Well, looks like some in-fighting and poor decisions are already flaring up. Warthen and Santana are in a back and forth about who is to blame for his elbow problems.

Hmmmm, do you think Mets management could properly handle the one and only hope we have for reaching the postseason? No Johan = no chance.

Vintage quotes from athletes and coaches

"I want to rush for 1,000 or 1,500 yards, whichever comes first."
-George Rogers, N.O. Saints RB

"He treats us like men. He lets us wear earrings."
-Torrin Polk, Univ. of Houston reciever

"Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein."
-Joe Theismann, football commentator

"You guys line up alphabetically by height."
"You guys pair up in groups of three, then line up in a circle."
-Bill Peterson, FSU football coach

"I told him, 'What is it with you son, ignorance or apathy?' He said, 'Coach, I don't know and I don't care.'"
-Frank Layden, Utah Jazz President, on a former player

"Son, looks to me like you're spending too much time on one subject."
-Shelby Metcalf, Texas A&M basketball coach, recounting what he told a player who received four F's and one D.

Murphy

Gotta love the kid and his work ethic!

College Hoops Flyer

So I'd be interested in knowing if you guys know who Vic Bubas is. Basically, he was Coach K before there was Coach K. He made Duke a national power, and the preeminent ACC program of the 1960's (the late 50's and 70's were dominated by UNC).

He's now in his 80s (I actually thought he was dead--sorry Vic--until I saw this story), and has some ideas about how to make the college game better. I have to say I'm in complete agreement with every one of his suggestions. What do you guys think?

"I'd like to see a wider lane like the pros," Bubas said during a talk at the Raleigh Sports Club this past Wednesday. "The college game is too much like a wrestling match under the boards. The game needs more finesse and less power."

Other suggestions:

* A 30-second shot clock instead of the 35-second time limit men use.

"If women can get off a shot in 30 seconds, so can the men," he said. "30 seconds is plenty long."

* A designated area under the basket like the NBA has to aid officials in making the charge-block call.

"We need to help the officials,'' he said. "That call is a tough one to make."

* Expand the 3-point line from 20 feet, 9 inches.

* Adopt a rule -- like baseball -- that requires a player who enters college to play three years before becoming eligible for the NBA Draft.

And a pretty funny story:

Much has changed since the 1960s, especially the arenas. Back then there were some cracker-box gyms, like at Clemson before the Tigers moved into LittleJohn Coliseum.

Bubas recalled giving instructions during a time-out there, looking up and seeing a Clemson student's head in his Duke huddle.

"He said: 'Hey coach, that ain't gonna work!'"

"Get outta here!" Bubas bellowed.

Odds and ends (or at least more odds...)

Apparently JMan wants to shake things up a bit and has a bold new idea--bat Jose Reyes in the 3-hole. Castillo would move to the leadoff spot and Beltran would jump to 2nd in the lineup. Then Wright, Delgado, Church, Murpy/Tatis, and Schneider would round out the lineup.

It's an interesting idea and the thought is that Jose's extra-base power and speed wuold be able to drive in a lot of runs and keep pressure on the pitchers for Wright, etc.

It's bold and I kida like it, except for the fact that it means Castillo is playing...although he's supposed to be in great shape and healthy (keep your fingers crossed).

And from the WTF Files (thanks to MLBTR):

Here's something I can't believe I'm typing... can Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd make a Major League comeback at age 49? Oil Can hasn't pitched since 1991, but claims his velocity is back up in the low 90s, and his curveball is back to form. He's always dreamt of carrying on Satchel Paige's legend and pitching into his 60s. Boyd's quote:
""I have nothing to lose, and all a major league team has to lose is 15 minutes," said Boyd. "Give me 15 minutes and I'll show I can still pitch. That's all I want."

Boyd threw at the Red Sox fantasy camp, and former catcher Mike Stanley said that Oil Can's stuff is the same as it was 18 years ago, and his passion hasn't died down one bit.

Certainly an interesting story, but can he live up to his word?

Here's the real kicker about this--it means Oil Can was only 27 when he pitched against the Mets in the '86 series?!? I thought that dude was pushing 40 back then!

He's gotta look like Otis Nixon now...

Wow--but really, would anyone be truly surprised if this is true?

http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/02/10/2009-02-10_15m_lawsuit_claims_exmet_roberto_alomar_.html

"The Nutty Professor 3: The Wilpons"

Gonzo obscure actor references here. This one should really be up your alley, D.C.

I'd love to see Wilford Brimley and John C. Reilly sharing the dugout.

And these guys really don't like Jimmy Smits much, I guess.

Oh, and Leguziamo is a stroke of genius there.

I'd hate to see Terry O'Quinn in that position, but what can you do.

Martinez closer than we think?

The NY Post Mets blog says F Mart may be the starting LF at CitiField by the All Star Break. Interesting.

SS Reyes (S)
2B Murphy (L)
3B Wright (R)
1B Delgado (L)
CF Beltran (S)
RF Church (L)
LF FMart (L)
C Schneider (L)

Left handed pitching is going to give us all kinds of problems this year, F Mart or no.

Roger Clemens' Balls

Unfortunately, I'm not talking about what he pitches. I don't care if this story is true or not, it's still hilarious and disgusting and so fitting. Clemens is such a douche and what a great story to come out about him.

Phew...

Looks like we dodged the Sheets bullet. Apparently he might undergo season-ending (or at least severely season-shortening) elbow surgery.

In some cases past performance IS a good indicator of future returns.

A promising sign

Nice to see the Mets seem to be looking for a straight salary dump. What does that tell me about their financial situation?

Why are the Mets not trying Murphy at 2B this season?

That is all.

About Citi Field...

No big deal. The Mets can always try and get a new marketing deal. How does Lehman Field AIG Field Merrill Field Wachovia Field WaMu Field Mets Field sound?

Hold on there...

Looks like the Wilpons may want to hold off on cutting any more checks. Apparently Citi Group is considering backing out of their 20 year, $400 M marketing deal with Mets. That's quite a shortfall!

Here We Go Again...

SHK, better load up on your Prozac:

Ollie's back for the next 3 years at $12 mil a pop.

No 4th year option for either side though.

I sooo would've preferred Sheets but go figure, Omar went with the guy whose last name ends with a "z."

Oh, well.

Abreu is a bag

And yet, this is pretty impressive. From the Slimes:

Ed Wade is the last man to sign Bobby Abreu to a contract. It was nearly seven years ago, when Wade was the general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies and Abreu was an emerging star. To keep him out of free agency, Wade signed Abreu to a deal that eventually paid $80 million over six seasons.

Abreu drove in at least 100 runs in every year of the contract. The only other players to do so in each of those years were Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez.

Offense?

Manny and Abreu are--amazingly--still available in February. Are the Mets considering moving on either one? Both would make a huge impact on the lineup. And both are, let's face it, Manuel's kind of player. Whatever that means.

UPDATE:

Well, never mind.

What the...

OK, I don't watch much tennis anymore. In the days of Mac and Connors it was fantastic, but Sampras' decade of bland dominance pretty much ruined things.

But I couldn't help notice this madness on Drudge.

I mean really, Roger, try and man up. That's just embarrasing.

And kudos to Nadal for handling it with class. I mean--awkward!!! How do you respond to that??

He must've been a little tempted to go with a, "lighten up, Alice, you can still make me pancakes in the morning."

New role for Reyes

Manuel plans to give Reyes more responsibility next season. It's an interesting managerial decision that I like. If this type of move doesn't force the guy to get more serious - and along with it the rest of his pals - then nothing will. If we're not trading him, might as well try to push him to the next level. I like it and hope it works out well.

Manuel has also revealed how he plans to give Reyes more responsibility and a greater leadership role this season.

Reyes has been criticized at times for immaturity or lack of focus, but either despite that or because of it, Manuel believes Reyes is ready for a bigger leadership mantle.

"No question," Manuel said. "He has to be. I consider him to be coming into [a leader], yes. No question. I think that's the next level for him, is to add responsibility to him. That to me is maturation.

"You can be 50 years old and have no responsibility so you never mature. But if you have some responsibilities, then the maturation process takes over. And I think the more responsibility he has, obviously the more maturity he has, the better player he becomes."

To that end, Manuel plans to have Reyes handle the entire infield's defensive responsibilities, not just those of the shortstop. That might involve where players are positioned or alerting teammates to defensive calls. In essence, Reyes could essentially become some type of defensive infield captain.

Every once in a while,

when you read the comments over at nypost.com after the articles, you pick up a really solid idea from some average joe out there in cyberspace. To wit:

TRADE LUIS CASTILLO, DELGADO , SCHNEIDER , FOR PUJOLS

Posted by: Ameer in NJ on January 26, 2009 6:49 PM

Thanks Ameer! Great idea.

Sing it Joe, sing it

This tell-all from Torre has some real gems that those of you who need to mock your Yankees colleagues will greatly enjoy.

Signings

A couple of real barnburners:

Alex Cora is already signed, sealed and delivered.

Freddy Garcia is imminent.

Oh. Good. Eeee.

What's wrong with the flyin' mowers we got?

They kill pretty good. What's some of them other deadly flying things?

Are you a fan of Top 10 lists

And a fan of the NFL?

Then you'll love to read this one.

Just when I thought I'd heard of every shred of evidence that the Jets franchise was cursed, #3 really hit me hard. I actually needed to verify it.

Which I did.

Here.

If You Want to Have Any Respect for the Organization, Don't Read this Link

Otherwise...

http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090114&content_id=3743789&vkey=news_nym&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym

Some people don't like the Mets CitiField inaugural patch

See here.

Money quote:

They could've held a coloring contest among preschoolers and still ended up with a better design than the one above.

Luckily, if the Mets decide to answer the outcry by taking another stab at the design, they won't have to look far for a few pointers. Here's the patch the Yankees will be wearing for their inaugural season at new Yankee Stadium this year: