213 Miles From Shea

Over the last several days I have been watching the MLBN and I must say, it is great for Baseball fans. This is the time of the year that Sportscenter is annoying because they don't show baseball or anything about baseball except for that short 30 teams in 30 days segment. The great thing about the MLBN is the origninal programing is entertaining. While I might not always agree with what is said on the Hot Stove News Show, they do provide Baseball news, even the small news, and they do break it down. Originally, I didn't think I was going to like Prime 9, their countdown show of the 9 best whatever the topic is, in the modern history of baseball (post 1901), but it is actually a good show. (This past Monday they counted down the top 9 Cernterfielders and top 9 homers).

The other shows are entertaining as well. In Cathedrals of Baseball, not only do they go to the current stadium and show all of the archetecture, the lights, and the food, they also go around the town and show all of the former baseball spots in the city and show what is there now. The episode I caught was about Seattle and they showed where the last AAA team to play there is now a Lowes, but there is a spot outside where they still mark where homeplate is.

Overall, its great to have a channel to get that Baseball fix, and to start gettting pumped for the upcoming season.

There wasn't much winter league action yesterday, but for the teams that did play, I searched the box scores to find a few highlights. Both the PR and the DR Leagues both had no games yesterday, and there are very few Mets in the Mexican League, so the League to find stats in yesterday was restricted to the Venezuela League. Here are a few stats:
     Caracas- Fmart 0-3
     La Guaira- Chavez 1-4, 2R, BB
     Lara- Alfonzo 1-4
Like I said, not much was going on. But there are few stories to update on. For example, there are three Mexican teams that are about to move up to the next level of playoff play. Licey beat Caracas which means they are starting to close the playoff picture in Venezuela as well. On stat note of things that actually happened, Fmart started to cool off, which is alright you can't be on fire every day. Chavez is continuing his great winter, and it still amazes me that Alfonzo is still playing.

There was already one article dedicated to how busy this week has been, and looking back on it, not only were there a few omissions, but a lot more has gone on as this week gets more hectic while unsigned agents try to find find a team quickly before spring training starts. The big piece of news, that really isn't news, that was left out of the first entry today was that Tex was introduced as the newest Yankee today. It feels like he signed a long time ago, and it was easy to forget that he was never introduced. In case there was any question, he will be wearing number 25.

In other news, Jerry Harriston Jr signed with the Reds, the Orioles signed Koji Uehara, the Yankees signed Angel Berroa, and Giambi's deal is for 4.5 million over one year with a 5 million buyout for 2010 with a 1 million buyout. Know what you are doing through 2018, well Mike Scioscia does. He signed a contract through 2018. Now he has a great resume in LA. He signed in 2000, won the World Series 2002, and has won 4 of the last 5 AL West Division championships. I feel that usually its a bad idea to sign management for more than 3 or 4 years at a time. He is going to be a staple in Anaheim, if he isn't already.

The only signing updated I want to spend a little extra time is Koji Uehara for the Orioles. He is an 8 time All Star in Japan (34 years of age) and the first player from Japan to put on the Orioles uniform. Pitching has been a huge problem with the Orioles over the last few seasons, and really, they have the offense to be competiteve, but lack the rotation and the pen to back it up. So far this offseason, their solution has been Mark Hendrickson, which is really a solution at all. Uehara doesn't seem like the ideal solution as many have projected him to struggle in the AL (but have slight success in the NL) and will need help to keep his ERA at 4.00. Luckilly for the Orioles, he eats a lot of innings, which will help their pen, which is also terrible.

This has already been a busy baseball week, and it is only Tuesday. Yesterday, two Outfielders fell off of the market as Pat Burrell and Milton Bradley were both signed. Today, that trend continued as not only were there signings, there was a ton of baseball news. On the side of the signings, Giambi is close to signing a contract that will send him back to Oakland and the Indians are close to a deal with Pavano. We also learned today that Pettitte is at slight odds with the Yankees, Shelly Duncan got designated for assignment, Codero is going to throw this week (before schedule), and the Brewers are interested in Hoffman.

So there is a lot going on here. Starting with Cordero. I have been for the Mets signing Cordero since the start of the offseason, and the Mets with a few other teams are interested. Now that the Mets have a setup man and a closer, Cordero doesn't have to have a big role in the pen, so it would be low pressure, and he could start to get stronger, and really eventually give the Mets a three headed monster at the top of pen (which seems to be the theme in football with the Giants and Ravens with their running backs). With the Athletics, its interesting the moves they have been making this offseason. They brought in a big back with Holliday and now they have protection for him with Giambi. They shouldn't be expecting vintage Giambi, and I don't think they are, but this is a good move to give their offense something. Besides the Angels, the Athletics can make a move above the Mariners and the Rangers with protecting their offense. The Indians continue their strange offseason with the signing of Pavano. They got DeRosa to help their bats, and now they will be giving two former pitchers shots at stardom again with closer Kerry Wood, and now with Pavano. It would be fantastic if he re-starts his carear there if, for nothing else, the story line of the Yankees wasting money.

For the most part, last night was a slow night for current Mets, former Mets and future Mets in the Winter Leagues last night, but that doesn't stop us from reporting scores. (First word is team name, then player and stat line):
     Caracas- Fmart, 0-1, 2 BB
     Licey- A Hernandez, 1-4, 2BB
     Aguilas- Victor Diaz, 0-4
     Caguas- Casanova, 0-3, BB
     Ponce- Cancel. 2-4, R
     Ponce- P Feliciano, 1.1 IP, H, BB, 2K
Before getting to the important players on this list, I couldn't resist putting Diaz up. Do you remember him? It feels like such a long time since I've heard his name. Anyway, the big name here is obiviosly Feliciano, who could be on the chopping block as many of his fellow pen mates have already been traded alway, he has to defend his spot. So far in the PR post season he has a 1.69 ERA and last night, his stats were very good. That is the type of performance we expect out of Feliciano, of course, we don't always get it. Even on a bad night, Fmart still impresses. He doesn't get a hit, but he gets on base twice, he is a monster. After that great performance by Casnaova a few days ago, he has seemed to calmed down with two straight 0 for something days. Cancel, second straight good performance.

According to MLB Trade Rumors, Burrell is close to signing a two year, 16 million dollar deal with the Rays. This is not only a great deal for the Rays, but a great deal for the Mets. Burrell has done the Mets in many times in his carear, including many times this season, now they don't have to worry about it. The Mets don't have to worry about Burrell treating Citi like he did Shea and its just one less player to worry about with the Phillies. It has been clear for a while that Burrell wasn't going to resign with the Phillies, but this make its certain that Burrell is out of the NL and the NL East.

Now on the side for the Rays. This is a good move for them. Burrell doesn't have to play in the field, he can take the DH spot. I am a big fan of Floyd, but he is declining, and this is a good bat to pick up and make that tough lineup even tougher. He also fulfills another function that Floyd brought to the team in Veteran leadership. It is also interesting to have him on the team because he won a World Series ring against the Rays (he probably knows a lot of the downfalls of the Rays as a team).

The only downside of this signing for the Rays is that it still doesn't fullfill the Rays biggest need. Depending on where the place Price and how Percival heals, the Rays will need a closer, and there are a few still left on the market, like Hoffman. If the Rays get a closer to hold down that pen, then the team will be set (they also have internal options for closer, like Balfor, who is as good as anyone when he is on, and he plays with a lot of passion).

Keeping up with the last few days, I went through the box scores of yesterday's game and pulled out a few Mets and former Mets that played yesterday. Someone commented on the Mets Merized Online version of this post yesterday that they wish these games were on the MLB network. That would be a great idea. I remember last year once the actual Carribean Series started, Comcast Sportsnet started to show the games. The games being played right now are to get into the Carribean Series. Here are yesterdays lines (First word is team name, then player, then stats):
     Lara- Edgardo Alfonzo, 2-4, 2B, RBI, BB
     Lara- Juan Rincon, 1.0 IP, H, 2K
     La Guaira- Endy Chavez, 0-4
     Ponce- Cancel 1-5, RBI
     Ponce- Padilla, W, 1.0 IP, K
     Caguas- Casanova, 0-3
Good day yesteday for Mets bullpen players from last year. Rincon got the save and had a good solid inning while Padilla picked up his second late inning win in a row. I talked about how Padilla has always seemed 4A to me, but the Mets will need more arms in the pen to back up Putz and Krod, and if he can keep this going, through Spring, and through parts of the MLB/MiLB season, then he can find himself in New York for the latter half of the season.

Now that the Jones deal has been re-worked, the question is now where will Jones land. The more and more I read, it seems that Jones/Castillo is completely overblown. Olney seems to think so as he says that the Mets will most likely not be interested. This really does make sense because as much as we want to move Castillo, what are we going to do with Jones. I have been over hyper on this in the past week, cause I have been looking too far down the road, trading Castillo means signing Hudson, which means awesome lineup. However, then we have Jones not fitting in with the teams picture.

That being said it has been suggested that the other teams that might be interested are the Reds and the Braves. Well with the Reds, they just got Tavaras, and they won't need another OF. So that means that the Braves are really the next big option. What a turn of events if Jones lands back in Atlanta. Of course, the other side of the story is if the Dodgers lose out in the Manny sweepstakes, which is unlikely, then Jones might have to stay. In that case they just cleared room in their payroll for other assessts later on. On the flip side, the Dodgers might release Jones, I don't think that will happen do the amount of money Jones is still owned, but something might have to give. The last option of course is the “mystery team”. Here a mystery team is one of the smaller market teams that might be interested in giving Jones a spot in a low stress location. I really can't think of any teams off the top of my head that would be interested in Jones for a stiuation like that.

The
Mexico League, Venezuela League, PR League and the DR League all have
playoffs going on right now which mean there are plenty of Mets, former
Mets and minor League Mets that remain in action and several Mets had
big nights last night. The first one is Fmart, who had an excellent Regular
Winter Season this year in the DR continued to hit his stride with the
Venenzuela League (for Caracas). Last night he went 2-4, scored 3 runs,
hit a double, a home run, and an RBI. I can't wait to see what he does
with the rest of the Winter Season.

Padilla picked up a win last
night for Ponce in the PR league pitching an inning, 2 hits, one run,
no earned runs and a strike out. I never know how to view Padilla. He
has always seemed to be a “4A” player to me, but if a Met has a good
performance it is worthy of note. Also in the PR league, Casanova had a
huge night for Caguas. Casanova spent a lot of time in the system last
year as an aging catcher, but he had a good spring and he came up to
the majors for a bit when it seemed that every catcher on the Mets
roster couldn't stay healthy to save their lives. Last night he went
2-3 with 2 R, 2 HR, 2 RBI, and 2 BB. Thats about as good of a night as
one can have. Casanova right now is currently a Free Agent.

While
here in the states we are gearing up for the NFL playoffs which start
later today, the Winter League Playoffs are under way and the Venezuela
League started their playoffs yesterday. The four teams are facing off
with La Guaira against Caracas and Aragua against Lara. La Guaira won
4-3 in a close game and Aragua won out 8-4.

There are only a
few batting and pitching lines that would mean something to Mets fans,
but the most important is Krod. He pitching an inning, picked up a
save, allowed no runs, no hits, walked one and struck out one. I always
get worried when players play in the winter, but it is always a good
feeling when they do well, especially in the start of January, where
that depression of not having baseball starts to settle in, and that
anxiety for the next season starts to build. Other lines of note are
both former Mets in Endy Chavez, who went 3-5 and scored a run, and one
of my favorite players to ever put on a Mets uniform, Edgardo Alfonzo,
when went 0-4 with an RBI.

If you want to read about all of the playoff games, visit here.