Gwreck

The realignment I'd most like to see is moving a team back to the AL and keeping the leagues and divisions balanced in size. If they won't move the Brewers back to the AL Central (and then KC to the AL West), Houston seems like a logical choice to get the boot to the AL West.

Thread title is redundant.

I don't understand. Are there no doctors in Florida?

Thanks!

Try "SANTANA" right now and I bet that'll work too. Supposedly they are "limited" opening day tickets. No tickets for the games against the MFYs.

Coupla thoughts: Neil Best wrote: But even more so than Darling and Cohen, Hernandez is irreplaceable, thanks both to his quirky humor and his status as one of the most important players in Mets history. I guess Best means in terms of ratings. I like Keith just fine but they could boot him right now and the broadcasts wouldn't suffer. In many ways the Cohen-Darling broadcasts are the best as the three announcers together can be bogged down by Keith's antics. (The truly irreplaceable person is Gary). G-Fafif wrote: We've just completed the second consecutive offseason during which Wayne Hagin never crossed my mind. Howie and Gary cross my mind every day -- and twice on Sunday. They equal Mets. Keith and Ron equal Mets. Ed Coleman and Kevin Burkhardt equal Mets. Wayne Hagin's an enjoyable enough announcer who happens to broadcast Mets games 150 or so times per season. He does not equal Mets. That's a pretty tough standard to meet, no? You've got 2 iconic former players and 2 announcers who have such a long personal history with the team that they're the only conceivable people on whom I *might* bet against if they were in a Mets trivia contest against G-Fafif.* Wayne has grown on me considerably over the past few years and while I still wish he was quicker to tell me how the runners are advancing on a particular play he has shown to be pretty good at his job. I could certainly see him growing into the role so that he could equal Mets in, say, 10 years or so. *Assuming Gary and Howie were given a 5-question handicap.

Catching up with Chris Woodward. Nice article but incorrectly attributes his double in the 2006 NLDS as him playing for Atlanta (???).

I've got no quibble with the top 5 but the rest? Caray and Rizzuto are terrible choices, as mentioned above, for blatant homerism/out-and-out rooting, for being caricatures and hell -- for just not even *paying attention to the game.* I was also never a fan of Harry Kalas and his overblown style but I know he has many fans. Murph is the blatant omission but I also would consider Dave Niehaus for the list.

...and I can't find it. Google gives me this link: http://cranepoolforum.net/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?p=275283&sid=fc73d4305bdc4e3ac0024a587fb7b3c4 but that's the prior board and seems to be inactive. Looks like the thread was titled "Opening Day IGT, 4/6/09, Mets @ Reds" Can't seem to find this thread in the archives either -- all of the other IGTs from 2009 are there. Any ideas?

When was the last time the Mets had a good bench? 2006?

Mets extended an offer to Beimel (says Beimel): http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/mets/2010/02/beimel-confirms-mets-offer.html Beimel is the idiot who cut his hand on a broken glass while getting boozed up prior to the Division Series in 2006. Some funny stuff here: http://laist.com/2007/04/12/better_know_a_dodger_joe_beimel.php

Do you know how many people were eliminated but for the "never on the DL" clause? -- ie. I was surprised to not see Miguel Cairo here but a review of the transaction logs tells me he spent 15 days on the DL in late June of '05 (had forgotten that) but otherwise qualified -- he was on the opening day and closing day rosters of '05.

In theory, yes, it'd be a nice thing to have at home but the All-Star game is so inaccessible to the regular fan (priced even more steeply than World Series tickets and with ~10,000 or more tickets held back for MLB) that it doesn't wind up making a huge difference where it is held.

Broke or not, it still is somewhat strange that we didn't bother to pick up one additional starter, if only for depth purposes. I can understand not going to $10 million for Sheets but Rosenthal does have a good point that it's strange that NO additional starting pitcher was acquired.

Fun times today as the Mets called, realizing that we had given up one of our two fifteen game plans and wanted us to buy more tickets. Gave him a lesson on what they should be doing instead: 1. The Mets do a pretty good job of taking care of their best customers, the season ticket holders. They do a comparatively poor job of taking care of their second-best customers, the partial-plan holder: -No price discount (every other team has this) -Deliberate exclusion from opening day or Yankees pre-sale (other teams don't do this) -Poor seating choices; stick us in row 14 but single-game customers will be able to sit in lower rows. 2. Although the playoffs rights were improved for 2010, the mysterious "pre-sale" option for 2009 was poorly executed: there were no details, no information about quantity of tickets or games available, or for which rounds, or if people with 2 or 3 plans had better chances than those with 1 plan. 3. Was also nice to have a chance to register the supposedly-unheard "outrage" with the offensive way the Mets addressed their customers this offseason, particularly Dave Howard's condescension and the handing of the mythical "percentage" price reduction.

smg58 wrote: Marcus Thames to the Yankees on a minor-league deal. Brian Giles to the Dodgers, also on a minor-league deal. We couldn't sign one of these guys for the bench? (Ok, Giles probably wanted to stay on the West Coast). But still -- our outfield bench is...Gary Matthews, Jr., Fernando Tais and Nick Evans?

The Mets recently quietly changed their postseason rights to partial plans, with 15-game plans now being guaranteed the same number of seats to one potential game per round.

I think you pick up the option as soon as Reyes shows he's healthy (June 1, maybe?) and then start negotiating for longer.

It would probably be fine in New York but it would never happen because the Mets don't have to be good or fan-friendly to sell tickets. That being said, I would obviously ask about why starting pitching was not addressed in the off-season.

Reporters are not a part of the club (despite what Adam Rubin wishes when he's alone with his thoughts) and if one actually caused the club 'harm' by keeping a player from the Mets due to releasing this information, then he shouldn't have. Wait, what? Either a reporter is part of the club or he isn't. If he isn't part of the club, he owes them no special obligation.