Benjamin Grimm

1. Delgado 2. Church 3. Pedro 4. bullpen 5. Reyes

He's also the guy who would rather have Kevin Mulvey than Johan Santana.

Everyone with the Mets is, of course, optimistic that Delgado will bounce back this year. (At least, that's the opinion that they offer to share with the public.) Of course, I hope he does, and I think it's possible. But given his age, there's a pretty strong possibility that his 2008 will be a lot like 2007, or maybe even worse. I read somewhere recently (not sure where... Marty Noble maybe?) that Delgado may very well return to the Mets in 2009. If he has a great season, his contract will automatically vest for $16 million. (It would have to be a really great season for that to happen, and it's not likely.) If his contract doesn't vest, the Mets can choose to renew him at $12 million, or they can buy him out for $4 million. The point here is that the cost differential between keeping him and letting him go is $8 million, and if the Mets think they can get $8 million of production from him in 2009, they might very well do that. I guess this is possible. If he continues to show signs of decline I would think the Mets will cut all ties. But if he does have a nice bounceback year they might be tempted to keep him, especially since there's currently, at least, no one set to inherit his position. The other factor they'd have to consider would be which first basemen are available through trades for free agency. (That Atlanta first baseman intrigues me. And if the Mets get him I promise to learn how to spell his name!)

Can Wise go to New Orleans?

I was wondering about this too. If Register makes the roster, who gets bumped? Wise?

Looks like the Bad Dude to me.

That IS a great cover.

Piazza's presence would matter to more than three people. It's the Ducks selling out their games that I don't think many people would care about. I don't imagine that Mike Piazza is having wet dreams about selling out a little ballpark in Islip.

Probably. Unless a bunch of the 2009 guys debut some time in 2008.

Well, because after a while the "hanging on" begins to look rather pathetic, as it did with Rickey Henderson. Mike may feel differently, but if it was me, rather than subjecting my body to the rigors of catching for the equivalent of a low-minor league team, I'd get started on the rest of my life and spend time with the little daughter that he has. He's already had a Hall-of-Fame career. The only thing he's missing is a World's Championship. And he's not going to get one of those in Central Islip.

I think that matters to you and about three other people.

If the above 25-man roster turns out to be accurate, there will only be four players making their Mets debut on the Opening Day roster: Santana, Church, Schneider, and Wise. In recent years, the Opening Day debut count has been much higher, more like 10 or 12. There's been so much roster churn lately that it's nice to see some stability. At least three of the new guys will be playing key roles, so we won't be seeing the same team as we did in 2007. But the supporting cast is mostly unchanged. The Mets are getting significant change without importing a bunch of new faces. I like it.

I can't imagine he'd play for the Ducks. If he can't get a big-league roster spot, he should retire gracefully.

I don't care where they go, as long as the station has a powerful signal that I can pick up in Southeastern Pennsylvania as easily as I can WFAN. I think WABC (770) and WCBS (880) would qualify. I'm not sure of any others. I doubt that WCBS would want to commit to broadcasting 162 games. And does WABC still do Yankee games? I thought I heard something about them moving but I don't remember for sure.

Is it possible that Vic Sage didn't see this movie?

I read and enjoyed Moneyball I think it, along with Game of Shadows, are the two recent books that I'd call "important." Anyone who wants to understand the game as it is today should be sure to read both books. The thing that gets me about Moneyball is that I don't understand the animosity towards it. (Come to think of it, I feel the same way about Hillary.) One player doesn't pan out and all these writers are dancing on Moneyball's grave? I can see some old-time scouts huffing and scoffing at something new. That's human nature. But the backlash is much stronger than I would have ever guessed it would be. I don't get the controversy.

I agree. The N and the Y should be cojoined. If there's an outline, it should outline both letters as if they were one; the letters shouldn't be outlined individually.

The apple really doesn't fall far from the tree, does it? He's really a chip off the old block, isn't he? I also got a kick out of his open regret at not obtaining Johan Santana now that it's been discovered that Pettitte took HGH, and that Pettitte had better step up. We've had more than three decades of continuous bluster coming from the Bronx, and with Hank in place, there will probably be decades more.

AG/DC wrote: Is saying it was the worst of all tme meaningful? Not really. It's subjective, anyway.

And it certainly WAS a collapse. For that last miserable two or three weeks, they were playing like they were afraid to lose. It was awful, and it was ugly. Saying that other collapses may have been worse is meaningless. As I said above, this one was plenty bad enough.

I don't see the need for this debate. The 2007 Mets collapse was awful. Whether it was the "worst" or not doesn't matter. It was bad enough to suit me.

It was cruel, but I voted funny because, if I was in the room, I probably would have laughed.

You may call him a leader, but Rep. Dan Burton would call him a "titan."

I agree that the uncharacteristic bravado on Beltran's part is notable. I don't know that it will mean much in September, but it's somewhat of interest in February.

Wow! Good "get!"