metirish

A two-year, $15 million deal from what I can gather....

This just bothers the hell out of me.....Tim Kurkjian in his selection for his ALL-Decade Team has some fine picks....Kent at 2nd base is great I think.....but what gets me about his SS pick is not just that it's Jeter it's the stupid line at the end. He batted .317 in the 2000s and finished in the top 5 in the league in hitting in 2000, '03, '06 and '09. His 1,940 hits were the second most in the decade behind Ichiro's 2,030. He won four Gold Gloves, and two World Series rings. And as important as all the numbers, he ran hard to first base on every play of the decade. Did he really , I can't think of the specific games but I've seen him not run hard to first more than a few times and that's just watching him every now and then.... http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=kurkjian_tim&id=4753935

This seems like a sensible deal by the Reds and creative too Scott Rolen agreed Saturday to a two-year contract extension with the Cincinnati Reds that guarantees him an additional $13 million while converting almost half of his 2010 salary to a deferred signing bonus. The deal, which runs through 2012, clears a little bit of payroll room for the Reds and shows how much they value the 34-year-old third baseman as a clubhouse leader. Rolen missed time with a concussion last season, batting .305 with 11 homers and 67 RBIs in 128 games with Toronto and Cincinnati. A seven-time Gold Glove winner and five-time All-Star, Rolen had been due to make $11 million next season, the final one in an eight-year, $90 million deal he got from St. Louis. Instead, he gets a $5 million signing bonus that will be paid over the next three years, a $6 million salary next season and $6.5 million in each of the following two seasons. AP

Liked it a lot, I'd agree with MM's first take above....

What The Critics Said A visual masterpiece a work of technical and artistic genius, a passionate magnum opus This film will make you feel emotions like you haven't felt in the longest time, if ever, at the movies. The realm of the possible in film is expanded forever.

And if you are going to rebuild why stop at trading Santana, Beltran , Reyes and Wright would bring back a large bounty.....tours of CF would be packed I bet.

I find it hilarious that a "club official" is moaning about only 10 people showing up for tours of CF......like that's an indication af anything..... Not fair to say the Santana trade has been a bust .....

Harper will be banging his head after reading this wondering why he didn't think of it. Bob Klapisch Here's an idea: Mets should trade Santana By all accounts, the Mets are getting closer to wrapping their long, desperate tentacles around Jason Bay, but they�re keeping their options open in case he bolts to the mystery team that�s (supposedly) offering a five-year deal. Plan B is Matt Holliday, who�s probably using the Mets to scare up the Cardinals, his first choice all along. Plan C? Here�s a suggestion: ask if anyone�s interested in Johan Santana. Of course, the Wilpon family will do no such thing. They invested $137.5 million in the great lefthander and aren�t about to admit failure. But the current Mets core is beginning Year 5 of a golden era that wasn�t and considering how poorly Omar Minaya has done this winter, the drought isn�t about to end. Even if the Mets do sign Bay, he won�t make them as good as the Phillies, who are a lock to take the East for the third straight year. The Mets would be better off measuring themselves against the Braves, who have better pitching and a better manager. In fact, even the wild card is a long shot right now, so instead of continuing to over-spend on B-level free agents ($21 million for Bengie Molina? Really?) the Mets need to think about draft picks again. They need to address their bankrupt minor league system. They need to take advantage of their current invisibility and build towards a sensible, three-year reconstruction plan. They can do it by letting other GMs know that Santana is available. It�s true, dealing the franchise�s best pitcher would be tantamount to surrender. But it would be at least be an honest admission to fans, who�ve grown weary of the all the disappointment. One club official recently admitted season ticket sales are slow, adding. �hardly anyone is showing up for the tours (of Citi Field). �There�s supposed to be 50 people (in every tour), we�re hardly getting 10,� he said. The public is waiting for a reason to plunk down hard-earned money during the holiday season. The Mets had one legitimate shot at improving themselves this winter and saw it vanish when John Lackey signed with the Red Sox. Actually, Roy Halladay would�ve been the magic bullet, but the Mets, with nothing to trade, never got past the velvet rope with the Jays. Now, the back of the rotation is a billboard of under-achievement, featuring Mike Pelfrey, Oliver Perez and John Maine. Santana was supposed to deliver the Mets a pennant when he signed in 2007, so in a sense he has failed them. But it�s the Mets who are the guilty party; they�ve sabotaged Santana from Day 1. They�ve given him no help with pitchers who�ve either been injured (Maine), have regressed (Pelfrey) or were never worth the money (Perez, $36 million for three years). So the Mets can do themselves (and Santana) a favor by exploring a trade. This isn�t to say the market would jump at the chance. To the contrary: Santana is owed $21 million this year, which means there�s only a handful of teams who could afford him -- the Yankees, Red Sox and Angels -- and even they aren�t willing to spend that much. What�s crazy is that Santana isn�t even viewed as the elite pitcher he was two years ago. Despite being two years younger than Roy Halladay, Santana wouldn�t command the same contract as the Phillies� new ace. Not now, not after elbow surgery cut short his 2008 season. Not after two years of disappointing results by his Mets� teammates. Still, the Mets have to make peace with the idea that the Santana experiment has failed, just as the Carlos Beltran, Pedro Martinez and Billy Wagner gambles all turned to vapor. Yet, they continue to chase The Next Great Star as if this was 2006 and they were one player away from greatness. This long, flat road to nowhere will probably cost Jerry Manuel his job this summer. Minaya is on the hot seat, too. Both men are victims of Jeff Wilpon�s hyper-sensitivity to the public�s voice. The Mets have over-paid time and again for their free agents, leaving the franchise top-heavy, and burdened with contracts they can�t move. Actually if the Mets were capable of making a cold business decision, they�d even dangle David Wright and Jose Reyes. Wright, in particular, could bring a bundle of prospects in return -- and who knows, he might just welcome a trade since he�s playing in a new ballpark he obviously hates. Citi Field is 37 feet deeper in right-center than at Shea, and ownership made matters worse by announcing the dimensions won�t change next season. But the Mets could never part with either Wright or Reyes. They�re Home-grown talent; the emotional attachment is too strong. Santana�s place in the Met family is cemented only by cash. The Wilpons would have to eat some of that money to trade him, but it�s a scenario worth considering as the Mets keep pretending it�s still 2006 and winning the World Series is just a matter of writing one more check.

Mets' talks with Bay, Molina affect each other The Mets hope to resolve their pursuit of Jason Bay very shortly - this week, ideally - but think their negotiations with Bengie Molina will drag on longer. That reflects how far apart they are in their talks with Molina, and it also reflects a strategy - and the notion that in the Mets' minds, the fates and salaries of Bay and Molina are tied together. On Dec. 10, the Mets made offers of four years for about $65 million to Bay and two years for about $10 million to Molina. According to a Mets official, if the team fails to secure Bay, it will strongly consider raising its offer to Molina. But if Bay signs, the Mets will hold a harder line with Molina. The thinking ties back into the Mets' desire to improve their team's offense. Club decision-makers opted to go for Bay and Molina with the thought that the duo would raise the offensive production from two positions that gave the Mets little in 2009. Bay, 31, wants a fifth guaranteed year, and the Mets have indicated a willingness to offer a fifth year at a lower annual salary. Bay has established himself as one of the better-hitting corner outfielders in the game. In 2009 with the Red Sox, he had a .384 on-base percentage and .537 slugging percentage, hitting a career-high 36 homers. Molina, 35, doesn't have as impressive a resume. He does hit for power; he slammed a career-high 20 homers for the Giants in 2009. But his on-base percentage has been below .300 two of the past three seasons. This past year, he recorded a woeful .285 OBP, which means he'll be in line to kill many a rally for the Mets or whichever team signs him. If Bay signs with another team - at the moment, he doesn't appear to have any comparable offers from other teams - the Yankees will have to reassess the market for outfielders. The Angels are looking to trade Juan Rivera, whom Omar Minaya acquired from the Yankees when he was the Expos' general manager in 2003. The Mets have maintained contact with agent Scott Boras regarding Matt Holliday, but the communication hasn't been steady. The Mets think Bay's tendency to pull the ball will make him a better hitter at Citi Field than Holliday, who is thought of as more of a gap hitter. I can easily see us getting neither of them....

I read online that Bay's agent is trying to get Boston back in the picture....

By Jon Heyman, SI.com The trade sending Mike Lowell to the Rangers has been called off after a medical examination showed he needed thumb surgery, sources comfirm. Texas canceled the deal in which Lowell was being traded for hitting prospect Max Ramirez. Lowell also had hip surgery last winter. The Rangers might consider Lowell for a lesser price later but more likely will look elsewhere for a righthanded bat. Boston had agreed tp pay $9 million of Lowell's $12 million salary.

Going purely on memory and a whole lot of pain from that memory here you go 1 - Santana 2 - Wright 3 - Beltran 4 - Feliciano 5 - F Rodriguez 6 - Castillo 7 - Francoeur 8 - Murphy 9 - Sheffield 10 - Pagan 11 - Stokes 12 - Santos 13 - Figueroa 14 - Parnell 15 - Cora 16 - Nieve 17 - Livan Hernandez 18 - Maine 19 - Pelfrey 20 - Tatis 21 - delgado 22 - Thole 23 - Reyes 24 - Fernando Martinez 25 - Green 26 - Sullivan 27 - Takahashi 28 - Misch 29 - Niese 30 - Schneider Had a real tough time ranking once I got past the first 6 or seven....

They weren't when I last checked which was several hours before the poll closed....I should now ask how Jeromy Burnitz and Green are the best we had in RF during the noughties.

Some thoughts though, and this didn't just hit me by the way Jeromy Burnitz was the best we had in RF for the noughties?....

You're definitely probably correct Val

Very nice....don't like the thing on top of Johan's cap though.

So , what's going on here?. Maybe Bay and Molina would really rather go elsewhere?. Only one team seems to be in for them and yet nothing is signed, strange.

" The Promenade Club: A Guide To Keeping Riff Raff Out"...by Saul Katz

" Ticket Plans: How to Alienate fans" - Dave Howard

" Hitting 101: How Being D Wrights Friend saved My Job" by Howard Johnson

" They love me: Why building a new stadium finially won the fans over" by Jeff Wilpon

"The Error of My Ways : Why I moved from the outfield to 1st Base" by Daniel Murphy

"Frankie, Daniel, and Omar: The Story of one GM's fall from Grace"

" NY Mets: A History" - by Fred and Jeff Wilpon.