metirish

David Lennon today saying that the Mets are " digging their heels in" with Manuel regarding a contract. Mets offered a two year deal worth about $1.5 million and Lennon says they do no want to offer much more than that..... Some points from the article. As always, there are financial concerns as well. The Mets are paying Randolph $2.5 million not to manage next year, and that cycle has to be broken at some point. When Randolph was hired for the 2005 season, Art Howe still had two years and $4.7 million left on his contract. Lennon speculates that Bobby V could be one candidate to come back if Manuel doesn't stay. But if negotiations do fall through, one of the names that could surface again is Bobby Valentine. The club's chilly relationship with Valentine has thawed during the past year, and the Mets' job is one of the few that might prompt him to leave Japan. Having him return to open Citi Field next April would be like the franchise welcoming home a prodigal son. Other names Lennon mentions.... ] BOBBY VALENTINE, manager, Chiba Lotte Marines. Brilliant field manager with New York experience. Has good relationship with GM Omar Minaya and seems to have patched things up with the Wilpons after his firing in 2002. RUDY JARAMILLO, hitting coach, Rangers. Was interviewed for Mets' vacancy before Willie Randolph got the job in 2005. Considered one of the best hitting coaches in the game. That couldn't hurt, given the Mets' offensive woes down the stretch. LARRY BOWA, third-base coach, Dodgers. Fiery attitude might be wake-up call the Mets need if this core stays together. Worked alongside Joe Torre in the Bronx and now in L.A., but may want to come back east. DAVEY JOHNSON, manager, Team USA. Estranged former Mets manager wore a Mets hat during this past July's Futures Game, but he has kept his distance from organization. Seems reluctant to return to majors. MANNY ACTA, manager, Nationals. With the D.C. franchise in total disarray, maybe the Nats would let him out of his contract. His coaching staff already was fired on the final day of the regular season. Close ties with Minaya and assistant GM Tony Bernazard. Of course one never knows what is going on in contract negotiations , I would not be surprised if it was announced that Manuel signed today or if it went of for a few weeks , although that will lead to more speculation and names being thrown about.

Cubs taking a beaten here tonight.

Great to see that Blackberry is presenting this game , what would we do without them.

Great , Brewers aren't pitching , hitting or playing good defense now.

I'm wondering though would Minaya want to give Manuel a contract that will see him through his own contract length.

I agree that two years is fair , and if things work out then great and if not Minaya has two years to fix it again.

reports are that negotiations with Manuel have hit a "snag" , Mets offered two years and Manuel has not accepted it yet.

So Jeff gives Omar a nice contract then asks some tough questions.

] General manager Omar Minaya was given a new contract that runs through 2012, a deal that comes four days after the New York Mets were eliminated from postseason contention in the last game of the season. The contract was announced Thursday and contains club options covering 2013 and 2014. Minaya became general manager in 2004 and was signed to a five-year deal. The Mets made it to Game 7 of the NL championship series in 2006. The next two years they missed out on the playoffs on the last day of the regular season. "We failed this year, and we want to get the redemption that we need and move forward," Mets chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon said. "We obviously were not a very good team when Omar came aboard, and he's turned this thing around, and we think he deserves another chance to keep getting us to where we want to be." Minaya understands some fans blame him for the Mets' collapses the past two seasons. "It comes with the territory," he said during a conference call. New York failed to make the playoffs after leading the NL East by seven games with 17 games left in 2007 and by 3 1/2 games with 17 to go this year. Wilpon and Minaya have begun reviewing what went wrong. "What is it that we lack? What is it that we need to get across that finish line?" Minaya said. Wilpon said "there might be some addition by subtraction" on the roster. "We're going to find out why we fell short the last two seasons," he said. "It's up to Omar and his staff to correct that, but we are asking those tough questions." The Mets also are trying to negotiate a new contract for Jerry Manuel, who became interim manager in June when Willie Randolph was fired. "My hope is we're able to get that done," Minaya said. "Right now we're just focusing on Jerry." Minaya said the Mets intend to exercise Carlos Delgado's $12 million option for 2009. After a slow first half, Delgado hit .308 with 27 homers and 80 RBIs in 84 games from June 27 on. Overall, he batted .271 with 38 homers and 115 RBIs. >

Congrats to Santana. Great work throughout the season as always Ben Grim. oh and yeah , the card is awesome.

Brilliant posts from metfairy and soup...MF , the Mets cap looks over sized....what happened? Great score card soup , I scored my first game ever this season, in the second to last row up top behind home plate. It didn't look anything like yours though...

soupcan wrote: Well, Francesa would rebut - and has - that you can't compare the four guys - or at least not Jetah. Jeets has 4 rings and has been a proven clutch performer since he broke inta the majahs. I agree its a completely assinine propostion. When Mets fans call in to debate with him he says that they are looking at Wright and Reyes through rose-colored glasses. Because the two guys were home-grown, Mets fans have an emotional attachment to them which prevents the fans from viewing the situation objectively. Even if that were true, Francesa himself has stated in the past - although I'm sure he would deny it if I called him on it - that homegrown stars are worth more to a team and its fan base than free agents. He's an arrogant, condescending, know-it-all, douchebag who still takes credit for the Mets bringing Piazza to New York. I never heard the Piazza thing , what did he claim to do?

It's just weird hearing Stockton calling baseball games , I associate him with the Giants. With all the pbp guys sitting out this month I don't know why they couldn't get one.

What a list , funny that Minaya used to promote a strong bullpen as the key to winning teams.

Were both home runs on 0-2 pitches? Darling was good last night , I think it was on the Manny home run he mentioned that the pitcher was getting tired and was liable to leave a pitch up and next pitch was up and then away. Actually it was on the grand slam that Darling talked about it.

="soupcan"]="Vince Coleman Firecracker"]Of course, if you've never listened to Francessa, this wouldn't be nearly as funny as it is. And it is very funny. Thanks. Finally got to view that link last night , quite funny. David Lennon rebuffs Francesa in his blog. ] Why not trade Jeter and A-Rod? Just listening to Mike Francesa trying to incite Mets fans by repeating over and over again how the Mets should trade Wright or Reyes. Yes, it's true, the Mets have had back-to-back collapses with both of those 20-something All-Stars on their team. So let's make a comparison to the shortstop and third baseman in the Bronx. Obviously Jeter has four World Series rings and A-Rod is a three-time MVP. But the Yankees have not won a World Series since 2000 and have not advanced past the first round of the playoffs since 2004. The Mets, for argument's sake, made it to Game 7 of the NLCS as recently as 2006. Is there something fundamentally wrong with the "core group" of Yankees? Let's take a look at the numbers for Jeter and A-Rod this season. Jeter ... .300/.363/.408 .... 88 R .... 11 HRs ... 69 RBI ... .317 RISP A-Rod ...302/.393/.573 ... 104 R ... 35 HRs ... 103 RBI .. .271 RISP Now let's take a look at the expendable Reyes and Wright: Reyes ... .297/.358.475 ... 113 R ... 16 HRs ... 68 RBI ... .277 RISP Wright ... .302/.390/.534 ...115 R ... 33 HRs ...124 RBI .. .243 RISP Oops. Almost forgot. Let's also throw in their 2008 salaries: Jeter .... $20 million A-Rod .. $27 million Reyes ... $4 million Wright ... $5 million So what core is really the problem here? Does it make any sense, financially or otherwise, for the Mets to trade one of their two, popular young players out of spite? Because they missed the playoffs twice in a row? Because Wright had a tough year in clutch situations? C'mon. Be serious. One other thing. Check out what Wright batted with RISP the previous three years: .310, .365 and .298.

HahnSolo wrote: ="metirish"]4/11 Nelson Figueroa takes the mound for his hometown team against the Brewers.With his family in attendance Nelson pitches six solid innings for the win and all in all it was a great occasion . Ten most gratifying of the year? Maybe for Nelson and the 800 family members he crammed into Wagner's suite. Sounding very sour there , it was a game that stood out for me , obviously not for you , why not share your most gratifying game.

Sorry that I came across like I only care about my sponsorship , obviously what happened was terrible and my deepest condolences to the families of the victims.

Can't believe I sponsored the jerk.

When I think of this award I think of guys like Tatis not guys like Lidge.

Very strange with Lidge , it would be more surprising for him to win this than with the Cy Young award. Sorry I thought you meant he was up for the award , I see now that he won it...jeez.

This from Marty Noble ] NEW YORK -- Few people had witnessed more games at Shea Stadium or watched them more closely than Bob Waterman of the Elias Sports Bureau. So it came as no surprise on Monday when Waterman divulged a secret he'd discovered over the weekend, Shea's final weekend before being dismantled. From his seat in the pressbox, Waterman noticed that the middle panel of the center-field wall -- the one with the No. 410 on it -- was a darker, richer, presumably less-faded blue than those on either side of it. His suspicion proved true -- the panel had been changed. And someone fessed up to it on Tuesday. Barry Meisel, the president of the MeiGray Group, had removed the more faded predecessor and brought it to his New Jersey home as a souvenir. The MeiGray Group paid for the right to remove and sell most of the removable pieces of Shea, and Meisel, who formerly worked as a sportswriter for the Morristown (N.J.) Record and The New York Daily News, has a place in his heart for Shea and a place on his basement wall for the panel. The entire outfield wall is gone now, removed on Tuesday, the second full day of the de-Mets-ing of Shea. One party made a point of asking for the panel of the wall in left field where Endy Chavez made his memorable catch during the 2006 National League Championship Series. Some of the sod is gone as well, including the area behind the plate where the Mets logo had been painted. That will be part of Meisel's lawn -- at least until it must be mowed. Meisel said that some of the seats already have been removed from field level and that cranes will be used, beginning on Wednesday, to move seats from the upper deck to the field. And, sadly, also gone is a sign of great importance, one that had been posted in the clubhouse. It warmly worded: "No media beyond this point." Who might have taken that? Vince Coleman? Mark Bomback? Manny Aybar? Then this from Greg ] Your Soul...$41,000 by Greg on Wed 01 Oct 2008 01:40 PM EDT A conversation with Laurie has raised between us a very good question: Why are the Mets selling Tom Seaver's locker? I know why: because they can. For $41,000. Why would the Mets sell it, though? Why wouldn't you preserve the locker of your only indisputable Hall of Famer and display it somewhere at Ebbets Faux? Why wouldn't you fix it up, recreate its 1969 persona, embellish it with era-specific equipment and a few Tom tchotchkes and place it somewhere where Mets fans could ooh and aah over it? And if it doesn't fit in with the Ebbets Faux motif, why wouldn't you make sure it meets the public eye? Why not donate it to the Queens Museum or the Museum of the City of New York or the Sports Museum of America? Why not Cooperstown? It is understood and accepted as common business practice that you close a stadium, you sell off as much of it as you can. Better than it winding up in a Dumpster. Fine. But everything must go? There is no space at Ebbets Faux for a few key Shea mementoes representing the history of the New York Mets? You can't keep Tom Seaver's locker on the premises? Or at least on the premises of somewhere where it might be appreciated? Is nothing � besides the cherished tradition of blowing a playoff spot on the final day of the season � sacred to this franchise? I find it rather sad that they would sell certain things like Seaver's locker. Will there be anything in the new place to remind us of Shea and it's history? Fonzie when asked Sunday if he would like anything from Shea.... ] "My locker," I'd take it home and put it in my trophy room. That way, every morning I'd come down and see my locker and remember." I guess he can bid on it.

Lots of games today , last night when I tuned to TBS to watch the play-in game my wife looked at me and said....how can you watch more baseball after what happened to the Mets....I handed her the remote......I hope I get it back tonight.

="metsmarathon"]how much would it tweak the yankees to see the dispatched joe torre win the whole damned thing? that said, i think the yankee fans would like it. so i vote cubs. Between Torre and the 84 wins Hank must be pissed.