According to Adam Rubin of the Daily News, the Mets’ “Plan B” for a power-hitting left fielder is Jose Guillen.
No, that is not a joke.
The Mets have been linked to Guillen before, as Omar Minaya seems to have a fascination with the volatile and sullen slugger. It didn’t make sense to obtain him a year ago, and it makes less sense now, for the same reasons.
Before, it didn’t make sense because Guillen was
The Hot Stove Season is underway, and already we have a flurry of buzz and rumors. One whirlwind post from Adam Rubin is chock full of information (or misinformation, take your pick), which I’ll break down here.
According to Adam Rubin, Tim Teufel is on the verge of being named the 2010 manager of the AA Binghamton Mets.
In addition, several other former Mets could be returning to the organization:
According to Adam Rubin, Mets insiders believe that John Ricco will eventually replace Omar Minaya as the Mets GM. Certainly, Ricco’s sudden plunge into the role of public speaker for the team is a supporting clue.
Also in Rubin’s report: Omar Minaya credits John Ricco for the Jeff Francoeur trade. (And here we thought it was Rubin who lobbied Minaya to acquire Francoeur … wait, I may be confusing something.)
This is an intriguing claim, considering that
It turns out that the trade for Anderson Hernandez was a message to the rest of the world that the New York Mets are BUYERS, and still have a chance to propel themselves into the postseason.
Furthermore, the installation of Bobby Parnell into the starting rotation is a move to bolster, rather than hinder, the team’s chances. (Though I think it would behoove the Mets to check the Farmer’s Almanac and try to coincide Parnell’s starts with days that it is expected to rain. They may get lucky and end up with games that are halted after five innings.)
We know the Mets have not yet surrendered, and in fact are still focused on “playing meaningful games in September”, because in an article today by Adam Rubin, in which the subject was the possible trade of Billy Wagner:
Furthermore, the Mets aren’t at the stage yet where they’re writing off 2009, so giving serious consideration to trading Wagner is still a couple of weeks away. “I think everyone still feels there’s a 10-game win streak around the corner,” a team insider optimistically said.
So there you have it — the Mets are still in this thing. Book your tickets now to watch the pennant race heat up in September … and hurry, before games are sold out !!!
In a remarkable turn of events that may change the course of American history, it has been discovered that journalists Robert Woodward and Carl Bernstein spilled the beans on Watergate as part of a devious plan to become President of the United States and/or gain Presidential Cabinet positions.
According to recently found notes from an old file box that once belonged to W. Mark Felt, Sr. ,
“Woodward wrote all that Watergate stuff not to sell papers, or win a Pulitzer, but to force an impeachment of Richard Nixon and have lobby as Nixon’s most logical replacement.”
Further,
” … Bernstein was tired of the newspaper industry — his eyes were on becoming a Presidential speech writer … he had lobby — he lobby to Nixon to be Press Secretary on many occasions.”
One of Woodward’s relatives — and a person familiar with the situation — corraborated Felt’s posthumous remarks:
“As a child, Bobby wasn’t like the other boys … when all the other boys talked about becoming firemen, policemen, or centerfielders for the New York Yankees, Bobby would say he wanted to be President. It was an obsession.”
G. Gordon Liddy could not be reached for comment.
In related news, Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams admitted that they broke the BALCO story in the San Francisco Chronicle in part to replace Barry Bonds in left field.
Said Fainaru-Wada:
“We wanted the Giants to consider us as a platoon — me from the right side and Lance from the left. We thought it was a good plan to tear down Barry and then lobby them for a tryout.”
For those of you looking for something else after seeing this headline, my apologies, and, shame on you!
And for a followup routine, the Mets played a baseball game …
The excitement in Flushing began with the firing of Tony Bernazard, an event that closed with a squabble between Omar Minaya and Adam Rubin. For an encore, the Mets held another press conference to speak about the first (but unfortunately, did not announce a steel cage match between Minaya and Rubin). But the crowd at Citi Field clamored for more, so nine men were dressed up and sent out on the field to engage the Colorado Rockies in a battle royale.
The encore for the evening began as a much more benign affair compared to the day’s earlier activities, but finished with a bang. With the score tied 3-3 in the bottom of the eighth, Rockies reliever Juan Rincon couldn’t find the plate and walked the first two batters he faced, and after a Dan Murphy sac bunt, Jeff Francoeur was intentionally walked to load the bases. With LH hitter Cory Sullivan coming to the plate, Colorado Rockies manager Jim Tracy called for LOOGY Franklin Morales, and Jerry Manuel countered with Fernando Tatis. Tatis fell behind 0-2, then laced a low changeup into the seats to give the Mets their first lead of the ballgame.
Pedro Feliciano was credited with the victory and K-Rod pitched a perfect ninth in a non-save situation.
Oliver Perez allowed three runs on four walks and five hits in five innings of work. Remarkably, most people associated with the Mets will look at it as a “positive step”. The rest of us will refer to it for what it is: garbage.
Not to be lost in the excitement was Brian Stokes’ two perfect innings in relief of Ollie to keep the Mets in the ballgame.
Nice to see Tatis tie into one and deliver such a dramatic victory. We know he’s not the guy who hit like Roy Hobbs last July, and his DPs have been maddening, but his approach to the game makes him someone who is easy to root for. After making contact on the grand slam swing, Tatis was sprinting out of the box, taking nothing for granted. Nice to see.
Dan Murphy hit fourth again and went 1-for-3 with an RBI and a sacrifice bunt. How many MLB cleanup hitters are called on to bunt?
Luis Castillo and David Wright combined to go 4-for-4 with 2 walks and 4 runs scored. The red-hot Castillo is now hitting .305.
Jeff Francoeur blasted his third homerun as a Met, a solo shot in the fourth. In seven games, Francoeur has three homeruns; the rest of the Mets combined have seven taters in the entire month (three of them by Tatis).
This win marks the Mets’ third in a row — their longest winning streak since 1986.
The rising Mets take on the Rockies again at 7:10 PM on Tuesday night. Mike Pelfrey goes to the mound against Tottenville HS graduate Jason Marquis.
Several members of the media question the emasculation of Ramon Castro, including Ed Coleman.
Similarly, Adam Rubin believes Jerry Manuel is burning his bridges with Castro, and doesn’t understand why he was tweaking Ryan Church earlier this spring, either. Oh, he also thinks Manuel is burning out the bullpen. Funny how those things are more noticeable when you’re losing.
Mike Vaccaro also wakes up and smells the coffee, pointing out that Jerry Manuel had a “personality conflict” with Frank Thomas in Chicago, and wonders if the banishment of Ramon Castro is a prelude to challenging Carlos Delgado or David Wright.
Enough negativity … how about something positive? The Yankees are slashing their ticket prices. Oh, wait, those reductions are only for the highest-priced, premium seats — the ones that, ironically, are in the direct focus of the centerfield TV camera.
Maybe today’s video will make you smile. It is Wally Backman speaking from his RV, about everything from the ’86 Mets to his theories on the DH.
Use the left/right arrows to jump from clip to clip:
