How can you not be proud of Jason?
Defensive specialist Jason Pridie followed an intentional walk of Ike Davis with a three-run homer to give the Mets a lead they’d never relinquish, powering the team to their 14th victory of the season. Continue reading
Here is tonight’s Mets lineup facing Hiroki Kuroda of the Los Angeles Dodgers: Continue reading
Earlier today, it was reported that hedge fund giant Steve Cohen of Stamford-based SAC Capital Advisors, is the frontrunner to buy a stake in the New York Mets.
From The New York Post:
The billionaire money man is the frontrunner to buy a minority stake in the money-losing team and was set to meet last night with the Mets owners at 8 pm at Gabriele’s Steak House in his hometown of Greenwich, Conn., to discuss the potential deal, two sources said.
Mets’ owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz over the last several days have winnowed down the four final suitors and are believed to be set to name Cohen the leading and preferred bidder, the sources said.
“Cohen wants it,” a source familiar with his thinking said. “What he wants he gets. It’s a trophy to him but not just a trophy. In time, it can be a real asset.”
Not sure how that’s going to go over with Bud Selig, since other news that came out simultaneously is that Cohen is being targeted by the Feds as part of an insider trading investigation. From the Wall Street Journal:
The criminal trial involving Galleon Group head Raj Rajaratnam indeed deserves the moniker it’s been given: the insider-trading trial of the decade.
But a criminal trial involving SAC Capital’s Steve Cohen, now, well, we’d have to dig a little deeper to figure out a name for that one. The Insider-Trading Trial of a Generation? The Insider-Trading Trial of the Quarter-Century?
Right now, no official accusations have been filed, so a trial — if any — wouldn’t take place for quite a while. But if the information from two former SAC Capital fund managers — both of whom have been found guilty of insider trading themselves — is legitimate, it sounds pretty bad. Also from WSJ:
At issue is trading in a $3 billion stock portfolio personally overseen by Cohen at SAC Capital Advisors and referred to by the government in the filings as the “Cohen Account” and internally at SAC as “The Big Book.”
SAC portfolio managers funnel their best trading ideas to Cohen for this account and are paid a bonus if they generate big returns for Cohen, according to people familiar with the matter.
As part of the broad insider-trading probe, the U.S. is examining trades in the Cohen Account suggested by the two former portfolio managers, Noah Freeman and Donald Longueuil. Both Freeman and Longueuil have pleaded guilty to securities-fraud charges for trading on inside information. Among prosecutors’ evidence, they said in documents filed in a New York federal court, were records of trades suggested by Messrs. Freeman and Longueuil “into the Cohen Account.”
I have no idea whether a case like this could affect Cohen’s ability to provide cash flow to the Mets. But it’s bad enough that the Wilpons are in the Madoff mess; one would hope that the Mets would try to avoid partnering with someone who is involved in a similarly high-profile financial case. After all, it would be nice if we could spend more time focusing on the “product on the field”.
On Cinco de Mayo, the Mets were able to party up after an afternoon victory. Pass the sangria, please. Continue reading
Here is today’s Mets lineup against Giants lefthander Jonathan Sanchez:
Jose Reyes – SS
Chin-lung Hu – 2B
David Wright – 3B
Carlos Beltran – RF
Jason Bay – LF
Ike Davis – 1B
Ronny Paulino – C
Scott Hairston – LF
Mike Pelfrey – P
I thought it was What’s on second? Hardy har har. In all seriousness, not sure why Chin-lung Hu gets a guaranteed at-bat in the first frame and Carlos Beltran, Ike Davis, and Jason Bay do not. Also not sure how Hu gets an at-bat before Ronny Paulino. Once again, that mysterious Mets manager method of batting the second baseman second. But hey, maybe Terry Collins has a hunch Hu will pull a Ruben Gotay and come up with a three-hit game.
BTW game time is 1:10 PM so I hope those of you working 9-5 set the DVR.
In case you missed it, the Mets’ best reliever thus far — Pedro Beato — has been placed on the 15-day DL with elbow tendinitis. Continue reading
The cat is out of the bag: the Mets are shopping Jose Reyes.
Not that it is a surprise.
According to several reports, the Giants are interested in obtaining the Mets’ shortstop, though GM Brian Sabean had this to say:
“I can’t respond to that. Honestly, I haven’t seen or talked to Sandy Alderson since January … I haven’t talked to anybody from the Mets so I have no idea where the hell it came from,” Sabean said prior to the Mets-Giants game. “So typical of today’s world, I guess we’re playing in New York and our shortstop [Miguel Tejada] isn’t playing too well and [Reyes] is a free agent to be. It’s connect-your-dots, so there’s nothing to talk about. Talk to the clown from CBS or whatever outlet [expletive] came up with it.”
Tricky talk there by Sabean; the report was not necessarily that the Giants approached the Mets, but rather, the Giants were “talking internally” about Reyes.
But this is only the beginning of rumors and reports were are going to hear going forward, until the day Reyes is either traded or signed to an extension. Considering the financial constraints of Mets ownership and Sandy Alderson’s public statements about payroll flexibility, the former is more likely than the latter.
So assuming that Reyes will be traded at some point this season, when do you think he should be dealt? Should the team trade him now, while it’s still possible to fetch a decent package of prospects, or should they wait until the trading deadline nears? Let’s consider the pros and cons. Continue reading
This was sort of reminiscent of a game from the 1970s; it could have been John Montefusco and Jon Matlack on the mound facing lineups that include “hitters” like Chris Speier, Ken Reitz, Marc Hill, Roy Staiger, Mike Phillips, and Del Unser. Continue reading