Centerfield

I remember Heath had a few complaints here and there. One was that he wanted to go back to his old style of pitching rather than the Peterson approach, which he eventually did to mixed results. Another, I believe, was that he once said he wasn't sure what his role was in the bullpen. I'm not sure either, but if I had to guess, I would say he was the guy the Mets brought in when they wanted the other team to score lots of runs.

SteveJRogers wrote: ="metirish"]Orestes Destrada is a great name,not to mention the fact that I have seen his name all over the place since this news broke..never heard of the guy before. From the "Why do these facts remain in my mind" department (if this is the same Destrada that we are talking about) -A Lefty hitting catcher with at least the MFYs during the late 80's -An original Marlin Orestes Destrade's baseball card was in every pack I purchased as a child. That may not be true, but it seemed like it.

HoJo's Guide to Playing the IF: "Hit 30 HR's so no one cares about your errors."

smg58 wrote: I have no problem bringing Valentin back as long as we also add somebody who can hit left-handed pitching. I'm cool as long as that somebody is Soriano.

Willets Point wrote: Au revoir, Tom. Is this just wishful thinking?

I thought that was what happened.

He can room with Rickey.

Speculation from Philly is that they may offer Soriano 5 years, 80 million. http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/sports/15954717.htm I would guess that is more than what the Mets would be willing to give him.

At what point do we tell him we already have an Onion thread?

It seems inevitable that someday SNY and MSG, if they can bury their differences, would have to merge. It makes no sense that SNY has baseball, but crap in the winter, and MSG has basketball/hockey, but crap in the summer.

Shortstops who play in New York that are better defensive players than Jeter: Jose Reyes Alex Rodriguez Anderson Hernandez

metsmarathon wrote: ="metirish"]When I googled Welcome A-Bordick I got this as the first link... http://cybermessageboard.ehost.com/getalife/viewtopic.php?p=18794&sid=17bead61f93d92cd69aebf07321fb493 kinda funny. man... i must've missed that thread the first time around... and who was it, anways, that poster? I'd like to know too.

Sign Soriano to play second base. Re-sign Glavine and Floyd. Sign either Schmidt/Zito/Matsuzaka or trade Heilman-Milledge for a front of the rotation guy.

It's amazing how little is known about guys who don't play in New York or Boston. I remember being surprised when it came out that Sammy Sosa was a phony and how the Chicago media felt vindicated that he was finally outed. I never heard a peep about Pujols being a bad guy until the Glavine quotes. And now this...I guess you just can't hide when you're in New York. I will say this, my wife called it a long time ago. She says anyone who smirks like that must be an ass.

I didn't mean for my snide comment to turn into a Steve Slam-Fest, but maybe you could just take things down a notch. Less is more Steve.

Is it ok to root for players to test positive? Let's start some rumors. I hear he's on HGH and one of the side effects is that it turns him into an asshopper.

I'll admit it was a bit illogical of me to be upset that it was Steve who started the Game 7 IGT, but I think the CPF should give serious consideration to non-tendering him this winter.

Reports say Pedro is ahead of schedule: http://redsox.bostonherald.com/redSox/view.bg?articleid=164639&format=&page=1 Quote: The word from associates close to Mets starter Pedro Martinez is that the three-time Cy Young Award winner is ahead of schedule in his rehab from rotator cuff surgery, and that he could return to action ahead of schedule, meaning before the All-Star break next season. Former Red Sox doctor Bill Morgan and Mets doctor Richard Altchek used an innovative technique during the surgery in which they reattached portions of Martinez� shoulder in such a way that he would not lose flexibility, allowing him to retain full range of motion once his recovery is complete. His velocity should also improve upon the mid- to high-80s fastball he was throwing last summer. Although the surgical technique may not have been available five years ago, this procedure repaired the same tear in the rotator cuff that Martinez developed in the middle of the 2001 season with the Red Sox. Martinez, fearing that the operation would turn out as disastrous to his career as it proved for his brother Ramon, opted for rest and rehab instead. This is encouraging. I wonder if Pedro had surgery on the toe as well. Now would be as good a time as any to clean it out since he won't be throwing for a while. I'm encouraged that they feel his velocity should improve.

="Yancy Street Gang"]I thought it was Mulder. Wow, that's weird. I've now seen Yancy introduce that joke twice in the course of one week. Once from the Mulder side, once from the Scully side.

I'm ok with the wave, I just don't see why it's worth the effort. I have a much bigger problem with "Everybody clap your hands...clap clap clap clap clap." It makes me want to scream. And everyone already knows how I feel about "Yankees Suck." The only crowd-coordinated thing I've seen that I like, other than "Let's Go Mets" is the "Ohhhhhhhhhhhh" thing Duke fans do at the Cameron Center. You can actually see how frantic this makes opposing players. I've always thought it would be cool to do something like that when an opposing pitcher is on the ropes. I can see a pitcher getting rattled after the "Oh" becomes deafening after throwing ball 3.

If you're twenty years older than everyone else on your team, you might be a LOOGY. If your work day is shorter than your commute, you might be a LOOGY.

I just want it to be clear that I am willing to play for any major league team.

I had the same questions as Yancy.

Meanwhile, in Adam Rubin's article this morning, he mentioned that Delgado again declined to decline his right to demand a trade. Rubin speculates Delgado may be trying to put a little pressure on the Mets to pick up his 2009 option.

Over the weekend, I read some articles about filling holes for next season. Instead of guys like Soriano or Carlos Lee, they're talking about guys like Moises Alou and Julio Lugo. Alou is 40 years old, and Lugo is a guy who doesn't hit for much power and doesn't get on base. I'm guessing both could be had relatively cheap, but with last year's team coming so close, I'd really like to seem them open it up and go for it all rather than trying to cut corners. After the 2000 season, the Mets failed to upgrade their offense and attempted to replace Hampton with cost-effective options Kevin Appier and Steve Trachsel. And in 2001, they didn't return to the post-season. I'm hoping they don't make that same mistake this off-season. I hope they bring in an impact player at either second base or LF, then the other can be filled in by a cheaper option. I'm hoping they pursue Jason Schmidt aggressively. He's not a bona fide ace, but he's a second-tier guy, and at 33, I would think he has a few years left in him.