According to David Lennon of  Newsday, the Mets have no formal offer on the table for K-Rod or Fuentes.





The Mets are waiting for medical reports for the two pitchers. The next step after that is sought of a interview process with the players and their agents...





Lennon says it can happen later this week or maybe before Thanksgiving....





Stay tuned!

SI.com's  Jon Heyman is reporting that the Mets would like to get K-Rod over the rest of the free agents options including Brian Fuentes. The Mets are seeking a 3 year deal for the right hander. The Mets according to Heyman,  might have to go the fourth year to secure him.





They can also go the route of  Brian Fuentes, who will demand less.





The Mets have plethera of  closers to chose from - Kerry Wood (FA),  Trevor Hoffman (FA),  Huston Street (Trade Option),  J.J. Putz (Trade Option),  Bobby Jenks (Trade Option) will remain all backup options....

I have been going to games at Shea stadium for many years and have seen many things. I have seen postseason shutouts, grand slam singles, botched calls, an empty-gloved Steve Finley, an acrobatic Endy Chavez, and many more. Aside from these great moments, I have picked up on the tendencies of Shea as well. It is not an easy task to hit a ball out of the park at Shea. Ask Mike Piazza, the dominant righty batter how many fly balls he tagged that just died in left field.

Next year is the opening of Citi Field. A person who strives in mathematics may infer that the dimensions of the two fields are nearly similar and all the dimensions differ by no more than ten feet. That is true, but the main reason, in my opinion, that Shea was a pitcher's ballpark is because of the gruesome wind coming through the old picnic area where the left field bleachers were . In Citi Field, there are large walls and many predict the wind will not be nearly as much a factor as it was at Shea.

That being said, lets browse the power numbers. First, lets take a glance over at the division rivals, The Philadelphia Phillies. Sure, Ryan Howard is a powerful slugger who when hot can rip the ball out of any ballpark, but in Philadelphia many home runs to left field would be flyouts anywhere else. There is a reason Todd Hundley and Carlos Beltran have the Mets home run records at only 41 a piece.

Looking back on how some of the Met players of current have been doing in a pitchers ballpark, I expect certain players numbers to improve.

The 1 player I expect to improve home runs is David Wright. Wright seems to be holding to a consistent year: 30-33 home runs, 120ish RBI, .300 ish average, a fair share of stolen bases (Very rarely getting caught) and some gold gloves on the side.

I predict, since David Wright is a powerful righty bat that some of his flyouts in Shea will now be home runs. David is a work-ethic monster who strives on building off success and thus exceeding his confidence. Once he realizes he can knock the ball out to left, he will not look back.

Not solely because I am a Met fan, but in fantasy baseball I would pick David Wright around the 2-3 range overall. He is less an injury threat than Albert Pujols, he is young, and his numbers are generally consistent. Also, the Yahoo end of season rankings but Wright in the top three overall including pitchers.

Here are my bold offensive predictions for David Wright in 2009, barring no injury:

.309 BA 37 HR 129 RBI

Also, expect more home runs from Beltran from the right side.

As sad as I am to see Shea go, look forward to a more exciting offensive statistics year for our powerful lineup and also look forward to David Wright being the 2009 National League MVP.

The NY Post's George King says that the Yankees are willing to offer A.J. Burnett, A 5 years 80 Million dollars. The Blue Jays would like him to return, but only for a 4 year deal around 14 Million per year.

Burnett, 32 in January, went 18-10 with a 4.07 ERA for the Blue Jays this past season before opting out of the final two seasons, leaving $24 million on the table.

The Yankees are crazy to open the piggy bank to another guy who has had injury problems. This could be Pavano PartA Deus.

According to Fox Sport's Ken RosenthalA , Ryan Dempster is ready to settle with the Cubs and they are close to signing a A 4 year deal worth $50 Million.A

Dempster, 31, went 17-6 with a 2.96 ERA last season while starting full-time for the first time since 2002. He filed for free agency, but his first choice has been to remain with the Cubs.

The Starting Pitcher Market is starting off large and can have a impact on other free agents like Oliver Perez. A Can You Imagine what Oliver Perez will be asking for? A He is younger and A he is a lefty and his agent is Scott Boras. All reasons to be concerned.

Dustin Pedroia was named the 2008 AL MVP. He beat out  MIN 1B Justin Morneau , followed by Boston 3B, Kevin Youkilis.





Here is how the voting went down:





2008 AL MVP Award Voting

Player, Club 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Points

Dustin Pedroia, BOS 16 6 4 1 317

Justin Morneau, MIN 7 7 6 3 3 1 1 257

Kevin Youkilis, BOS 2 4 4 9 2 4 1 2 201

Joe Mauer, MIN 2 8 1 3 4 3 3 2 1 188

Carlos Quentin, CWS 1 4 8 4 4 4 1 1 160

Francisco Rodriguez, LAA 1 2 6 1 6 3 2 2 143

Josh Hamilton, TEX 2 2 3 7 3 2 4 3 112

Alex Rodriguez, NYY 1 1 4 1 4 7 45

Carlos Pena, TB 1 2 2 3 2 3 44

Grady Sizemore, CLE 2 1 5 6 1 42

In the summer of 2008, Daniel Murphy burst out onto the major league baseball scene, hitting .313 in 131 at-bats. However, heading into the 2008 season Mets fans had no idea who Daniel Murphy was and what he was capable of doing at the plate.

In 2006, the Mets selected Murphy with the 394th overall pick in the MLB Amateur Player Draft. For the rest of the 2006 season, Murphy bounced around the organizations rookie league teams. It wasn't until the following year in 2007 when Murphy was given the opportunity to play full time on the team's class A minor league affiliate, the St. Lucie Mets. He finished the year batting .285 with 11 home runs and 78 runs batted in.

Murphy's solid year earned him a promotion to Double A in 2008. Once again Daniel Murphy followed up with another successful season batting .308 with 13 home runs and 67 runs batted in. As the minor league season progressed many scouts believed that Murphy would be in a Mets uniform in 2009. All of this changed, however on August 2nd, following an injury to utility man Marlon Anderson.

Faced with a loss of a key member of the bench, the Mets called on Daniel Murphy to try to fill the void that Anderson had left. Once, given the chance to shine Murphy never looked back, as he hit for a .500 batting average in his first 20 big league at-bats. Not only did Murphy prove that he was a power hitter, he also proved that he could be patient as well, as he averaged more than 5 pitches per at-bat.

Quite possibly Murphy's most admirable quality is the way he conducts himself. Unlike other youngsters, Murphy takes the game very seriously and gives every play 110%.

I am very intrigued at the chance that Murphy could be in the Mets starting lineup as soon as next year. I feel that he brings the right amount of talent and a positive attitude that could help the ball club enter the post season for the first time in two years.

1964: The New York Mets name former New York Yankees great Yogi Berra to their coaching staff. Berra signs a two-year contract and will work under another former NYY legend, Casey Stengel, who is now the Mets' manager.

According to David Lennon of  Newsday, he suggests the Mets will make considerable offers to Francisco Rodriguez , Brian Fuentes and other starters, possibly Derek Lowe.





Lennon said the club did not specify a day when this would happen, but indicated that it would happen sooner than later.. The Mets would like to give three year contracts to reliever, where right now K-Rod would like five years and Fuentes would like four years..





Also Lennon said that K-Rod is not a slam dunk candidate according to the Mets concerns over his velocity and delivery, but he also indicated this could be a ploy to lower the price..





The Mets also have other candidates that can be looked at like Kerry Wood or they can revisit the idea of a  trade for White Sox's closer  Bobby Jenks, who looks like he can be a fall back option.

Mets.com says the Mets and the agent representing Francisco Rodriguez have discredited a report in a Venezuelan newspaper that the free-agent relief pitcher had traveled to New York for a physical examination, a routine, procedural step these days when a club is about to sign a new player.

A Mets official who preferred his name not be used characterized the report in El Universal as "not true," and agent Paul Kinzer said his client was in Venezuela and that the report was inaccurate.

"Unless I know nothing about it, there's no truth to it," Kinzer said via cellular phone from the Atlanta area. He said he had spoken with his client, who had told a reporter in Venezuela of the need for a flight for business purposes. "But it wasn't for a physical," Kinzer said. "It didn't involve this."

El Universal based its report on an unnamed source who was quoted in the report as having said, "The Mets have made the best offer so far, though I know [Rodriguez] wanted more money than what was offered."

Gotta love these internet rumors....

Shea Stadium Demolition/Citi Field 11/15/08

In Major League History there are only 4 pitchers who had a total contract over 100 Million, Who are they??





1) Johan Santana $137.5 Million


2) Barry Zito $126 Million


3) Mike Hampton $121 Million (Loved the Schools)


4) Kevin Brown $105 Million





Out of those four players, the only one has had a successful season with ERA under 3.00 after he signed, Who is he?





Johan Santana !





Here is a look at his numbers from last year compared to all the other who signed previous to him:


Last 3 years Team G GS W L SV CG SHO IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP BAA

2006 MIN 34 34 19 6 0 1 0 233.2 186 79 72 24 47 245 2.77 1.00 .216

2007 MIN 33 33 15 13 0 1 1 219.0 183 88 81 33 52 235 3.33 1.07 .225

2008 NYM 34 34 16 7 0 3 2 234.1 206 74 66 23 63 206 2.53 1.15 .232

Career 285 209 109 51 1 9 6 1543.0 1274 574 534 167 427 1587 3.11 1.10 .223





Barry Zito has been a disaster in San Francisco:


Last 3 years Team G GS W L SV CG SHO IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP BAA

2006 OAK 34 34 16 10 0 0 0 221.0 211 99 94 27 99 151 3.83 1.40 .257

2007 SF 34 33 11 13 0 0 0 196.2 182 105 99 24 83 131 4.53 1.35 .244

2008 SF 32 32 10 17 0 0 0 180.0 186 115 103 16 102 120 5.15 1.60 .270

Career 288 287 123 93 0 9 4 1807.0 1596 840 766 188 745 1347 3.82 1.30 .237





Mike Hampton has NEVER lived up to the hype, getting injured at a alarming rate:


2001 COL 32 32 14 13 0 2 1 203.0 236 138 122 31 85 122 5.41 1.58 .296

2002 COL 30 30 7 15 0 0 0 178.2 228 135 122 24 91 74 6.15 1.79 .313

2003 ATL 31 31 14 8 0 1 0 190.0 186 91 81 14 78 110 3.84 1.39 .255

2004 ATL 29 29 13 9 0 1 0 172.1 198 86 82 15 65 87 4.28 1.53 .290

2005 ATL 12 12 5 3 0 1 1 69.1 74 28 27 5 18 27 3.50 1.33 .281

2008 ATL 13 13 3 4 0 0 0 78.0 83 45 42 10 28 38 4.85 1.42 .281

Career 388 334 141 105 1 21 9 2152.0 2239 1086 958 187 854 1310 4.01 1.44 .271




Kevin Brown could not even last the length of his contract, only pitched two years of it!


2003 LA 32 32 14 9 0 0 0 211.0 184 67 56 11 56 185 2.39 1.14 .236

2004 NYY 22 22 10 6 0 0 0 132.0 132 65 60 14 35 83 4.09 1.27 .262

2005 NYY 13 13 4 7 0 0 0 73.1 107 57 53 5 19 50 6.50 1.72 .341

Career 486 476 211 144 0 72 17 3256.1 3079 1357 1185 208 901 2397 3.28 1.22 .249




Yankee Fans better watch out for what they get, because if CC Sabathia is the next $140 Million Man it does not mean it will translate into success from past history.





With all his weight problems and overuse (on short rest, ETC) , they could have another Kevin Brown on their hands....Alert ----->Meltdown!

ESPN 1050 has some indications that K-Rod is heading to Queens. It was thought that earlier reports from El Universal were not true, maybe might now be true.

This is from ESPN 1050 / Coutinho Blog:

"I do know that the Mets have given K-Rod a formal contract offer and the major sticking point is contract length with the Mets hoping for a three year deal with a 4th year club option while K-Rod would like at least 4 years of guaranteed money.

"It is possible that the compromise could be a 4th mutual option year similar to the deal Tom Glavine had with the team 2 years ago. The Mets have also been promised by the both the representatives of K-Rod and Brian Fuentes that they would be given the chance to match or top any offer they deem acceptable from other teams."

"K-Rod's camp is getting a little jumpy here for a number of reasons. First of all, the closer market has expanded with Trevor Hoffman and Kerry Wood joining Bobby Jenks, Fuentes, and K-Rod as viable alternatives. But the problem is that there are not many big market teams in need of a closer aside from the Mets and the Angels should they lose K-Rod. With teams like the Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox and Cubs not shopping for a high priced fireman the market has already come down and will diminish even further as we approach the Winter Meetings in December."

"So, the price K-Rod gets now might be the best price and one that may not be available come mid-December. And Omar Minaya has always tried to address his team's most glaring need with the best talent available whether that is Carlos Beltran, Billy Wagner, or Johan Santana."

Guess the Mets are ready to sign the dotted line by this week, More to come.....

CBS 880 has more overhead shots of Shea/Citi-Field

St. Louis Cardinals star Albert Pujols has won his second National League Most Valuable Player award. Pujols won by a comfortable margin over Philadelphia slugger Ryan Howard. Milwaukee's Ryan Braun was third and Los Angeles outfielder Manny Ramirez came in fourth after playing just two months with the Dodgers.





Pujols hit .357 with 37 home runs and 116 RBIs despite playing much of the season with a sore right elbow. The Cardinals finished fourth in the NL Central.





The St. Louis baseman got 18 of the 32 first-place votes. He also won the award in 2005.





Here is how the voting went:


2008 NL MVP Award Voting

Player, Club 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Points

Albert Pujols, STL 18 10 2 1 1 369

Ryan Howard, PHI 12 8 6 1 1 2 1 308

Ryan Braun, MIL 2 3 5 5 2 2 3 2 1 139

Manny Ramirez, LAD 2 4 7 2 3 2 1 2 138

Lance Berkman, HOU 2 4 4 1 3 3 4 1 1 126

CC Sabathia, MIL 4 5 1 2 2 3 1 2 121

David Wright, NYM 2 1 4 3 3 2 5 2 1 115

Brad Lidge, PHI 2 2 4 3 2 3 1 2 104

Carlos Delgado, NYM 5 1 2 5 2 3 96

Aramis Ramirez, CHC 2 4 1 1 4 3 1 66




Wright came in 7th and Delgado came in 9th...............

ESPN's Buster Olney latest says that the Mets need pitchers in their pen that are capable of striking out the opposition.





He says the eight teams that made the playoffs were in the top ten in strikeout ratio.The year before that, five teams ranked in the top ten.





The Mets relievers finished 17th in strikeout ratio of  7.48 per nine innings, most of that was because of Billy Wagner's absence. Wagner struck out 52 batters in 47 innings..The rest of the pen only had a strikeout ratio of 7.22.  If you take Billy out of the equation (which will happen in 2009), the Mets would of ranked 23 out of 30 teams..





The Mets are looking to fill  Billy Wagner's shoes and strikeouts,  here are the candidates:





a?? In 2008, Francisco Rodriguez struck out 77 hitters in 68.1 innings, and in his career, his strikeout ratio has been staggering -- 587 punchouts in 451.2 innings. But there is a concern among scouts, generally, that K-Rod's growing reliance on his breaking ball might eventually lead to a breakdown, and they wonder if we're already seeing signs of wear: His WHIP of 1.288 was the highest in his career.





a?? Brian Fuentes racked up a whopping 82 strikeouts in 62.2 innings, confounding hitters with his unusual delivery. In his career, he has averaged more than a punchout per inning (480 in 422 innings). He is naturally more potent against left-handed hitters (20 strikeouts in 53 at-bats in '08), but he gets a lot of missed swings against righties, as well (62 in 203 at-bats). Each time a player from a small market comes under consideration from a Boston, Philly or New York team, there are the inevitable questions about whether the player can survive in that atmosphere -- but sources say that the Mets are confident that Fuentes would thrive pitching in New York.





a?? Kerry Wood did what Kerry Wood usually does when he pitches: He struck out a lot of guys, and compiled 84 in 66.1 innings. The concern with Wood, as always, is about his durability.





a?? Trevor Hoffman had 30 saves in 34 chances for the Padres in 2008. But given the Mets' preference for power relievers this winter, Hoffman -- whose fastball is now in the low-80s -- would not seem to be a fit.





a?? Brandon Lyon is going to get some play as a possible closer in the market, after picking up 26 saves in 2008, but he allowed 75 hits and struck out 44 in 59.1 innings; he's not really a match for New York.