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TransMonk wrote: As it is, he's one of my least favorite (hate is a strong word) baseball players right now.Same here. I didn't like that attention whore when he was a Giant.

Updated odds: http://www.vegasinsider.com/mlb/odds/futures/

ABNS: Please file a report in the Live & Shvitzy Thread elsewhere on the CPF.

Thanks for the YLT article, A Boy Named Seo. I'm looking forward to seeing them at the 9:30 Club on February 15.

Nicely done Ceetar.

Our feelings about the MFY aside--if the money was close, where would you go? Your kids stay in the same schools, you don't have to move, so there are no personal aspects to the decision.

The Second Spitter wrote: perhaps bmlo does. I also seem to recall some discussion surrounding Bonilla's buyout being invested in such a way. "bmlo" doesn't but remember it as you do.

F anyone that votes for Mattingly but didn't vote for Keith.

How about the field conditions yesterday at Snyder Stadium? For all it's faults, MLB wouldn't permit field conditions like that for a playoff game. The Seahawks lost a player for the remainder of the playoffs because of the condition of the field.

Ceetar wrote: Vegas! Yes!

I'm going to Vegas in two weeks and might find the time to go into a Sportsbook. Here are the odds: http://www.vegasinsider.com/mlb/odds/futures/ Do you see any good bets? I was thinking Angels and Blue Jays.

Ashie62 wrote: I would say the Wilpons treat the Mets as an apartment building and the fans as tenants... Great line. The problem is that we are tenants in perpetuity.

Ceetar wrote: I'm not sure when everyone started thinking Scott Hairston was Justin Upton, but they've already signed a bunch of guys with at least a passing chance of equating what Hairston did/is worth for a fraction of the price. Maybe Bixler, Gowgill and Brown will... but we know what Hairston can do so, to me, that would be a better choice for a team trying to win. I prefer another option than Hairston with his bad fielding and struggling against RHP but I'd rather have him than "a passing chance."

Ceetar wrote: I don't understand why it's okay to have stupid wild card games on Saturday and not the Super Bowl. The SB on Saturday night makes sense. The networks say that viewership is lower on Fridays and Saturdays than on Sundays but that wouldn't be the case for a Super Bowl.

Frayed Knot wrote: The major strength of the NFL is its TV deal but the drawback is that you become beholden to that monster. Absolutely. The networks had a problem in that the 1 PM games were going past 4 PM which meant that some of the markets that got the 4 PM games had to miss the end of the 1 PM games. The solution was to start many of the 4 PM games at 4:25. It wasn't to think of ways to shorten these bloated games which would have made the fans happy (e.g. fewer commercial breaks, less time for half-time) but to elongate the broadcast day.

Anyone read this one? Off-topic, sorry: Felix Millan was one of the nicest Mets I met at Fantasy Camp. He always sat down with the campers at meals and endured our questions ("why did you choke up like that?"). One day, he saw me in uniform and asked if I was wearing 17 for him. I lied and said it was for him and Keith. Pete Schourek was sitting there and said "Felix, it's not for you, it's for Keith Hernandez."

What Second Spitter is saying is that the Wilpons are using the Mets and SNY solely to reestablish their personal wealth, lost in large part by their investments with Madoff. They are not using (as of this writing) any of the money they gain by financing, refinancing, taking out loans, and accepting loans from Major League Baseball, all in the name of the New York Mets other than to do what is absolutely necessary for the Mets--which is the minimum that they have to do. They are the only major league team not to sign a major league free agent. They are so ineptly run that they didn't trade Scott Hairston last summer and now it appears that they can't afford to resign him because he would like to have a two-year deal. To the Wilpons, the Mets are an apartment building, an office building, and nothing more. If they can cut back on the cleaning crew and have elevators skip floors to save money, they will do so. They don't care or understand that a sports team is a public trust and they have abdicated their responsibilities as the care-takers of the Mets franchise. Perhaps Sandy Alderson is playing "possum" and will sign Michael Bourn and/or Kyle Loshe at reduced rates. More realistically, perhaps he will sign Austin Kearns and/or Joe Saunders. But right now, with spring training another day closer, he hasn't which may mean that he is not empowered to do so by the Wilpons despite the recent influx of money... and that is what Second Spitter was saying. It is possible that this is part of a plan that means in 2015 and 200 or so losses later, they will have money to spend and some will say "see!" but for now, the continued ownership of the Mets by the Wilpon family is a disaster for Mets fans and if Bud Selig had a brain in his feeble head, a terrible problem and embarrassment for Major League Baseball.

Another ballot tracker: http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/newsstand/discussion/the_2012_hall_of_fame_ballot_collecting_gizmo

Spreadsheet of how the voting is going: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aqc4QTMoPrdtdDQxaDYzd1lLOGpOdUdrcnNNNWNXa2c&authkey=CPyuwqIJ&authkey=CPyuwqIJ#gid=6

Harvey, Snydergaard and Duda. Watch MLB Network's "Biggest Blast" Countdown for more of Giancarlo Stanton.

For another looks at MLB umpires, watch MLB Network's countdown of the Top 25 ejections of the year. It's a look at bad calls and umpires overreactions. The Mets are at #18, with Ike getting tossed after putting the tag on the runner on a pickoff throw and the ump missing it, and at #20 with TC getting tossed--the Mets were in Atlanta, the ump said that JV made a catch in LF and it lead to a DP but the umps met and overturned the call, putting runners on 2d and 3d. IIRC, TC was upset that they discussed this play but earlier in the week, the Mets were victimized by a bad call and the umps refused to meet or overturn the call.

You're right: most popular doesn't equate to "best run."

One of the umpires says that "this is the only job that you have to be perfect from the first day and get better at it." Too bad. They earn 6 figures for 6 months of work and get 2 weeks of vacation during the season (which means that minor league umps are used for major league games). If there's a doubleheader, the homeplate umpire in the 1st game gets the 2d game off (which is another time when minor league umps are used). I'm so sick of the umps whining about "having to be perfect" and showboating and most importantly, getting calls wrong. The calls, balls and strikes, fair and four, safe or out, are necessary to the game, not the person making those judgments. I'm in favor of any and all technology to get every call right. Unfortunately, we have a Commissioner that refuses to act with any alacrity on anything so the greatest game is destined to utilize these prima donnas for many years to come.

Great idea but I read that he's not available until mid-season. If the Wilpons truly have very limited funds to spend on FAs, then they can't use any of that on high-risk players. If he would take a minor-league salary with lots of incentives, then OK.

Frayed Knot wrote: Besides, who EVER goes a season without needing 6th, 7th & 8th starters every now and then, if not longer. Exactly. When you don't make contingency plans, you end up needing Chris Young and Jeremy Hefner. And your AAA sucks which makes the locals hate you and want another affiliate. The problem is that with allegedly limited funds, they can't put multiple-AAAA pitchers in Las Vegas because they can't afford to sign them as free agents.