Edgy MD

I have one of those big brains --- like the guys on Star Trek with the vibrating veins on the side of the skull --- but I'd be lying if I told you I could see all (or most) of the angles here.

We certainly have more than one.

Well, considering how little he entered this game with, climbing from a 1% owner of a $21.1 million franchise to owning the full $800 million baby (along with family members), you would expect there was a slick shell game going on --- wealth moving around quickly as needed rather than being available outright. What you maybe wouldn't expect is that when his hands got too old to move the shells around, there wasn't a ball under any of them.

Pittsboig, I knew. I just wanted to know which games you were gonna be at.

Which games again?

I just found out Ray F. Searage is the pitching coach for the Pirates. One more reason to go to Pittsburgh.

I agree that he'll cement one meaningful big-league memory this year, though I can't say it'll be in the first week.

Michael James Nickeas Pos: c (plus occasional bouts with 1b, 3b, lf, rf, p); BR-TR. Born: February 13, 1983 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (He'll be age 28 in 2011.) Acquired: Traded by the Rangers to the Mets on August 30, 2006 for Victor Diaz. TmLgGPAABRH2B3BHRRBISBCSBBSOBAOBPSLGOPSOPS+TBGDPHBPSHSFIBBPosBinghamtonEL (AA)823182652775150533114943.283.403.396.79910584000c, 1bBuffaloIL (AAA)729281610000017.214.241.250.491700000cTotalMinors893472932881160533115050.276.389.382.77111284000NYMNL510100200000005.200.200.200.40010210000CTotalAll943573032883160533115055.274.384.376.76011494000 Wife: Rebecca... and friends! Father: Mark. Random Nickname: I dunno. "Blackie's Bro." Namesakes: None. Best Day in 2010: Getting the call after seven years in the shrubs... that had to be good. After that, it took weeks for Jerry to realize he had the guy on the roster, and the season almost ended without him getting a hit,. He finally got a few starts and a pair of knocks toward the end. Last Word: Early speculation is that he will get to fill in for the first week of the season as Ronny Paulino serves out his suspension. He'll have to fight off some vets to do that, but since he has options and they don't, he's in a good position. What do you expect of Mike Nickeas in 2011?

Sportswriters tend to think it's personal. Beltran msising the tript o the hospital? Castillo dropping the pop? Jeter diving into the stands? They've got to frame it as personal. If they don't have a soap opera, they don't know what to write about. Lupica's a tool, though.

I'm gonna fight 'em all An Irving Madoff army couldn't hold me back That mother ripped us off It's not on me to pay you muthafuckas back And I'm talking to my son at night Because he runs the Mets And you know I'm gonna blow your mind A Charlie Samuels bet And the message coming from my guys Says leave it alone! Don't want to hear about it I invested all my money with a freak from Hell Everyone knows about it From the mnor leaguers to big fat Heath Bell And if I catch your lawyer come my way I'm gonna serve it to you I got a lawyer and a case o' beer But thats what I'll do And the feeling coming from my bones Is leaking to Jim Rome! I'm going to Buffalo Far away from Queens to the Triple-A I'm calling Marky Ruffalo I bet he's got some cash that'll help me pay And I'm bleeding, and I'm bleeding, and I'm bleeding Right before the Lord All my team is being sold from me And I will own no more And the words coming from my blood Are leaking to Jim Rome!

I was looking forward to Fred using the word "motherfucker" during a press conference.

Breakdown! Leak Flap Upends Talks Between Madoff Trustee, Mets Owners By MICHAEL ROTHFELD Negotiations in a potential settlement between the New York Mets owners and the trustee recovering money for Bernard Madoff's victims broke down Thursday amid a public dispute over the leaking of information from a sealed lawsuit. "We are no longer pursuing settlement negotiations," said David Sheehan, a lawyer for the trustee Irving Picard, who filed a lawsuit against Mets owner Fred Wilpon and his associates, under seal in December as negotiations continued. After Mr. Wilpon announced last Friday that up to quarter of the baseball team would be up for sale, details of the lawsuit leaked out. Lawyers for Mr. Wilpon criticized the leaks in court papers and media interviews. Mr. Sheehan said the leaks didn't come from his office. "Defendants cannot cry confidentiality to this court while publicly attacking the complaint and continuing to frustrate the public's right to know the contents of the same complaint they disparage," Mr. Sheehan said in a letter sent on Thursday to Judge Burton Lifland. The original move to seal the lawsuit was opposed in federal bankruptcy court by several media organizations, which have filed a request to make the complaint public. The hearing to decide whether to unseal the lawsuit is scheduled for next week. Mr. Picard's lawsuit seeks more than $300 million in what the trustee said were false profits withdrawn by Mr. Wilpon, his associates, relatives and related business entities from the Ponzi scheme. The lawsuit also seeks additional money, with Mr. Picard alleging that Mr. Wilpon and his associates knew or should have known that Mr. Madoff's business was a fraud. In court papers, lawyers for Mr. Wilpon and his associates have called the accusations "baseless."

Well, he shouldn't have slept with June's sister.

Thanks for paying attention.

Paul O'Niell, 1987, adjusted: 84 games, 7 homers, 26 RBI, .247 / .320 / .475 // .795. That'd be alright. Don't know if he does it as a Met.

Well, then, epic fail.

Well, he wasn't a draftee, but a foreign free agent. He'd be as readily or more readily comparable to foreign free agent outfielders scouted by Minaya --- Sammy Sosa and Juan Gonz�lez on one side, Tsuyoshi Shinjo and Timo Perez on the other, and Ruben Mateo and Endy Chavez somewhere in the middle. (Conclusion: Shinjo would have been awesome if he took some steroids.) But what makes him interesting to me here (and hard to find comparisons) is in being a five-tool player in the minors whose legs aren't expected to be there anymore and has to tell his story by slugging. It's going to be an interesting test of the guy. He's got to do some hard work, and make some hard decisions, but take it easy enough to give a listen to his knee when he has to. It'll be a tough corner to turn (without cheating).

Yeah, I just predicted an insane adjustment, from modest slugger to punch-and-judy-hitting on-base machine. It'll be a remarkable and a big story for years --- decades even. "Remember when Murphy stopped swinginng for the fences and became a walk addict? Maybe Abasifreke should try that."

Those are some decent numbers for 1968. Adjust to CitiField 2010, and it's .292 / .334 / .383 // .717. I say he focuses on discipline and becomes Dave Magadan, 1988, adjusted for CitiField 2010: .312 / .433 / .376 // .809. It takes a while for the team to realize what a weapon they've got. He's not intimidated by lefties, but can't manage those great walk rates. He plays some first and third and left (!!) in addition to second, geting into 112 games. He spends a few weeks on the DL mid-year when his knee flares up, but comes back and plays almost every day the second half, batting second more than a bit. Some fans hate him because his power drops precipitously. Others drool over that OBP, and he becomes a lightning rod for arguments about nu stats, even though OBP is as old as the sky. batmurphyleadoff logs on about June 30.

Seems like a minor print war happening here, with the News bending over backwards to discredit the Times, running hard with a front-page story accusing the Gray Lady of being a pawn and being fed a story by Picard. This guy sums up both sides.

Does that include not being the lefthanded hitting part of a platoon?

Not to make too much of it, but Beltran enters the season with 5&10 protection, doesn't he?

Daniel Thomas Murphy Pos: 1B, 3b, 2B, LF; TR. Born: April 1, 1985 in Jacksonville, Florida. (He'll be age 25 in 2011.) On that day, the Mets were preparing to break camp with two new lineup members --- future ringbearers Gary Carter and Howard Johnson. The number one song was "One More Night" by Phil Collins. (It was a good year for music, but you certainly couldn't tell by the number one songs that year.) Acquired: Drafted by the Mets in the 13th round of the 2006 amateur draft and signed June 9, 2006. TmLgGPAABRH2B3BHRRBISBCSBBSOBAOBPSLGOPSTBGDPHBPSHSFIBBPosSt.�LucieFLOR (A+)313112810160020.727.7691.0911.86012000001bBuffaloIL (AAA)8353441030181012.294.314.471.78516200001b, 2bTotalAll114845618402141032.400.438.6221.0602820000 Wife: None I can find. Nickname: "Muffy" --- at least until consensus builds around something else. Namesakes: Best Day in 2010: Good days were hard to by from in 2010 for Daniel Murphy. He started camp with a job, but with the disrespect of his manager and the organization's best power prospect hot on his tail. On March 30, he hurt his knee in a spring training rundown. While he was out, the prospect booted the journeyman fill-in to the curb and took his job. He began training in earnest for new position while he rehabbed his knee, and on June 2, while playing second base, he got his season wiped out by a takeout slide. Ugh. Anyyutz, the guy never stopped hitting, ripping the ball to shreds in his 13 games last summer in the minors. Later joining the Aguilas Cibaenas, his perfomrance was a sensation, slashing in at .320 / .395 / .515 // .910 over 28 games and 116 plate appearances. Perhaps his best night was this 4-5 beatdown of Licey, in which is teammates weren't as awesome as he was, and so didn't turn his prowess into victory. Last Word: The second base job competion seems to have him at or near the top of the favorites' list, and Luis Castillo looking more like a potential releasee every day, but he's one boot away from vicious CitiField boos. On the other hand, Nick Cafard of The Boston Globe shared this back at the end of November. The second base experiment with Murphy is a work-in-progress but �heading in the right direction,�� according to a scout who spent a lot of time watching Murphy in the Dominican the past two weeks. �He�s a good enough athlete where he can pull it off,�� said the scout, �but it will take time just to learn all the nuances of the position. I can see their thinking. He can hit. A sound player. This would be a nice conversion [from 1B/OF] for them at a position they need help at.�� What do you expect of Daniel Murphy in 2011?

I'm not sure if investing deferred salary money in their Madoff fund further implicates them. If I had access to that fund and believed in its legitimacy, that's what I'd do. It would smell fishier if they were getting those returns but were still putting larger amounts elsewhere, no? Maybe?

I suppose there are more fantastic things than that on this earth, but I can't imagine what they would be.