Valadius

I know. It doesn't make much sense at all. Especially when he's looking for more money than Castillo is. Although I have heard rumors that Castillo may have been the bad influence on Reyes in the second half of the season.

I would dispute the Nationals' territory. I really don't think they have any pull in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I think that's more Braves territory. I'm guessing Nike was just feeling sorry for them.

From the Daily News: ]Mets eye David Eckstein BY ADAM RUBIN DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER Saturday, November 17th 2007, 4:00 AM Mets officials dined with free-agent infielder David Eckstein in Greenwich, Conn., this week in the hopes he'll fill the second base vacancy in Flushing. By employing the same kind of treatment that wooed Billy Wagner and Tom Glavine during previous offseasons, Mets officials are illustrating how serious they are about signing the sparkplug to play second. Eckstein, the 2006 World Series MVP at shortstop, apparently is looking for a contract comparable to the four-year, $36 million deal Julio Lugo signed with the Red Sox last December, which might prove a stumbling block. That's a larger price tag than fellow free agent Luis Castillo is expected to command. Castillo has several other suitors, including the Astros. How serious the 32-year-old Eckstein is about playing second base isn't clear, but he was interested enough about getting the Mets involved in the bidding to dine with Omar Minaya, Willie Randolph and other team executives in chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon's neighborhood. The 5-7, 177-pound Eckstein did have career lows with 117 games played and 434 at-bats in '07. He missed 23 games from June 14-July 13 with lower-back trouble, but still hit .309 with three homers, 31 RBI and 10 steals for the Cardinals. Aside from signing Eckstein or Castillo, the Mets could pursue a trade for Orlando Hudson, Arizona's second baseman and a three-time Gold Glove winner, who is a year away from free agency. But signing a free agent would allow the Mets to preserve their top prospects for a run at a front-line starting pitcher. Regarding Eckstein, new Cardinals GM John Mozeliak told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on the eve of open free-agent bidding: "We're going into it looking for a shortstop, and given the fact that David is out there, obviously we have him in mind. One of the things we're doing internally is trying to get a feel for the supply and the demand of shortstops in this market. David probably is doing the same, and right now there doesn't appear to be a lot of teams looking for shortstops."

It's too bad I missed watching him pitch for us. By the time I started paying attention to baseball he was no longer a Met.

Torrealba's been signed. And it's on Mets.com. Same with Castro in the same article: http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071114&content_id=2300099&vkey=news_nym&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym

LOL. It has been speculated that we may be in the running for Erik Bedard, should the Orioles fail to sign him to an extension. Looks like they could use an outfielder - maybe offer Milledge and Humber as a starting point?

Let's look at Montana. Pickings are pretty slim here. The best pitcher, and player overall, is Dave McNally. The best position player is John Lowenstein. The best Met is Ed Bouchee, with John Gibbons the only other Montana-born Met.

Castro's officially back. He passed his physical.

I figured I ought to revive this. It would be a shame to leave it unfinished. The following have been taken care of (although anyone's free to dispute any of them): Alaska Colorado District of Columbia Hawaii Idaho Nevada New Mexico Rhode Island West Virginia That's 8 states and the District. 42 states left to sift through.

Well they didn't all play for the Cards. And that was my first thought too, Edgy, until I looked up Jesse Gonder. The only thing I can think of is made their Mets debuts one after the other.

We really need to figure out what we're doing at second base, as Castillo's already been offered a deal by Houston, as reported by the Houston Chronicle.

Yovani Gallardo.

The train wreck that is the Aubrey Huff interview just keeps on giving. Here's more of the interview: ]************ Melissa Midwest: �How many women have you slept with?� Producer: ��Who in here knows exactly how many women they�ve slept with? Bubba: �Aubrey!� Aubrey: �I couldn�t even begin to tell ya. I couldn�t even give ya a ballpark. I know I�m over�� Bubba: �Five hundred?� Aubrey: �No, no! I�d say between 2 and 300. Huff then mistakenly calls one of the producers� shirts by the wrong color. Aubrey: �I�m colorblind, man! No shit, I�m colorblind! ************ The conversation with Melissa Midwest again turned racy. Bubba wanted her to rate the four men on the air in the order she�d have sex with them if �they were all single.� She was tittering and avoiding answering the question: Melissa: �You�re putting me on the spot.� Bubba: You wouldn�t believe the spots I�ve put Aubrey in today. We�ve got more from a professional baseball player! The players union is probably writing his papers up right now. He jacks off, he fucking charges it to the Baltimore Orioles and he thinks Hank Aaron is an asshole!� Later, when Melissa refuses to �grade� Aubrey because of his marital status (and he is shown sporting his ring and making many references to his wife): Huff: �That�s so fucking unfair! I want to do this for my own manhood!� Later� Bubba: �God, she is so beautiful! Look at that! Natural tits, Aubrey!� Huff: �WOW! You don�t even see this at the Dollhouse! Not even close!� Huff finally enters the equation and finishes second in the running for Melissa�s wish list. The staff cries �bullshit� and Melissa turns to Huff and says: �I just thought you can get pussy whenever you wanted, so�� Huff: �No, no, no! I�m married, so I don�t�� Bubba: �You�re a horrible liar, Aubrey!� ************** Apparently Huff cut a country music record as part of a Major League Baseball album. I think Jack McDowell, Barry Zito, Bernie Williams and some other musicians put out some music for charity. Maybe Huff was on that record, I dunno! But Bubba spun the song, and Huff�s eyes closed, his neck dropped back and he went into song, singing note for note. Bubba questions whether it�s really him singing on the CD. Huff: �That�s all me, bitch! Bubba: �It�s got some processing on you.� Huff: �No! That�s good shit! That�s Britney Spears� kinda shit!� The album, we learn, is called �Oh, Say Can You See� done by MLB players. �Letters From Home� by John Michael Montgomery is the song he�s crooning. Bubba says he should go into singing. It�s honestly not bad by country music standards. One of the producers also chimes in that �singing country isn�t hard.� Huff seems sincere when he talks about a lot of mothers and kids of parents in the military writing him about the song. Bubba concedes: �Aubrey, you know I like to bust your balls, but that�s pretty good!� **************** Bubba: �Aubrey Huff has a shallow ice cube. He needs a refill.� Huff (to a group of men): �Hey waitress, which one of you bitches is gonna bring me my drink?� Bubba: �Tell �em what you want, Aubrey!� Huff: �Vodka and red bull. Vodka and cranberry. No, no. Make it vodka and red bull! Make it happen! Half and half!� Bubba: �Looks like I�m driving Aubrey home! Huff: �I�ll get the wife to pick me up. The wife will pick me up!� Bubba: �The wife will pick you up? �Honey, I�m down here at a bar/studio and I�m fucked off and there�s a porn star down here. Come the hell down here and get me!�� Huff: �Orrr..I can take the cab down to the Dollhouse. It�s all good!� Bubba: (as Huff�s wife) ��Wait I�ll come get you. It�s only five minutes away you fucking drunken bastard.� Holy shit, what�s going on here?� Bubba: �Aubrey Huff of the Baltimore Orioles in here with us. He�s from Tampa. Well, he lives in Tampa part time and he�s a good friend of the show. And he�s drunk. And he�s taking off his shirt and he�s already tried to flex. Huff: �First of all, I�m not drunk. This is just my personality, motherfucker!� Bubba (without breaking stride): �And this is Melissa Midwest�� ************ After a commercial break: Bubba: �No Aubrey, here�s the deal: you�re outside drunk, smoking a cigarette and you�re telling the guys out there that you love this, that this is awesome and you could do this (a radio show) with EASE every day.� Bubba then turns off all microphones in the studio and attempts to make Huff eat his words by interviewing Melissa Midwest with no professional DJ help. Bubba: �The host, which is now, you, has to creatively get her on that canvas to do boob, ass or snatch art for us. (There is an easel and paint in the foreground). So, ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, your new host, Baltimore Orioles designated hitter Aubrey Huff!� Huff is immediately flustered and says: �This is very intimidating. This is worse than being up in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded trying to drive in a run to win the game. This is pressure packed!� He then starts to feebly attempt to convince Melissa Midwest to do body art. He crashes down within 30 seconds with dead air and Bubba starts making fun of him for his poor radio interviewing skills. Huff begs Bubba to �help me out, please help me out!� Bubba: �You know that fat fuck up in row 900, that says: �(country voice) I�d get up there and knock that motherfucker outta the park and I used to do that in tee ball!� That guy! Huff: �I�m that guy now?� Bubba: �You�re that guy!�

metsguyinmichigan wrote: We have bulletins that flash across our screens in the newsroom. That's really freaking cool, MGIM. I gotta get me one of those. Now I see the breaking news thing on Yahoo Sports. I imagine this ends his career - who wants to sign a guy who might go to jail during his contract?

Source?

It's funny that his lawyers are essentially forced to argue that he doesn't love New York, since that's what prosecutors are saying, that he's made numerous statements that he loves New York, and that he's a New Yorker.

Seriously, are they absolutely insane? The best third baseman in the NL and possible MVP AND the best prospect in the system? Wright > Santana. Sorry, Twins fans. And there's no way we'd ever trade Pedro, even if it made sense.

The very first free agent to sign with a new team is... Randy Choate. With the Brewers.

Apparently, he was at a cancer unit earlier that day, so he wore it to honor the kids. I guess because of the hair thing.

Turns out the beanie was to honor cancer patients.

Makes you wonder about the kind of conversations between Huff and Kris Benson, who were teammates last year, after all. I've found video of part of the Aubrey Huff appearance on Bubba the Love Sponge. WARNING. This is not work-safe. This is not for those easily offended. The following link takes you to a page with a video of Aubrey Huff, a married man, admiring a naked woman, painting that woman's breasts and rear end, and talking about sniffing said rear end. Are you in a safe place to view this? If so, here's part of the Aubrey Huff meltdown. http://deadspin.com/sports/aubrey-huff-loves-naked-people/aubrey-huff-admires-works-of-art-322596.php

His full name is Yorvit Adolfo Torrealba. The story on his name is this - his parents couldn't decide between the names Yorman and Victor, so they mashed them together to make Yorvit.

Now I'm confused. ESPN is reporting it's a 3-year deal: ]Free-agent catcher Yorvit Torrealba will agree to a three-year contract with the New York Mets on Thursday, according to Torrealba's agent, Melvin Roman. Roman told 1050 ESPN New York that he expects to formalize the agreement with the Mets this afternoon. Roman declined to reveal how much the contract would be worth. GM Omar Minaya did not immediately return a message seeking comment. If Torrealba passes a physical, an announcement is expected in the next day or two. Newsday reported on its website that the contract will be worth $14.4 million over three years. Torrealba, 29, is expected to be the starter. Ramon Castro will remain the backup but will receive more playing time than he did when Paul Lo Duca was the Mets' starting catcher. Lo Duca is also a free agent. Last season, Torrealba hit .255 with eight homers and 47 RBIs for the NL champion Colorado Rockies. As a hitter, he showed a large disparity on the road as compared to Coors Field. Torrealba hit .296 with six homers and 34 RBIs in Denver, while he batted just .212 with two homers and 13 RBIs on the road. The Mets, though, are signing Torrealba mainly for his defense. Rockies pitchers gave Torrealba a lot of credit for how he called a game, though he did not have a high success rate when trying to throw runners out. Torrealba only caught 13-of-74 base-stealers, while the man he replaces, Lo Duca, nailed 17-of-89. Torrealba played in 113 games lasts season, by far his most as a major-leaguer. In his previous seven seasons, Torrealba had only topped 60 games three times, peaking a 66 in 2003 with the San Francisco Giants. The Rockies and Florida Marlins were believed to be the other two teams interested in Torrealba. The Mets' first choice to replace Lo Duca was Jorge Posada, but the New York Yankees never gave the Mets a chance to offer Posada any money. Just before open free agency began this week, the Yankees extended Posada a four-year, $52.4 million offer that he accepted. Whatever the case, it's pretty much a done deal. Say hello to our new starting catcher: We've got a big problem, though. His number is #8, and I'm thinking we might retire that sometime soon. Although, having a catcher wearing #8 can only be a good thing, right?

The following is part of the transcript of the Aubrey Huff interview: ]Huff: �Let�s talk to our lady friend�� Bubba: �Now Aubrey, do you jack off a lot on the road, like when you�re not with your wife.� Huff: �It�s all I do. It�s all I do. You guys have no idea how much downtime there is in baseball. You wake up from a hangover about 1 o�clock.� Producer shouts: �In the afternoon?� Huff: �Oh, yeah! Lemme tell you this. When you are hung over, how horny are you? I�m horny, when I�m hungover, I�m horny. So I�m just gonna beat off. And that�s all I do.� Bubba: �And do you have your own room or do you have a roommate.� Huff: �No, I�ve got my own room. C�mon, I�m not gonna beat off in front of my own roommate. C�mon Bubba!� Bubba: �What time is the team bus to get to the field, like 5?� Huff: �Four o�clock.� Bubba: �So for three hours you�re just jerking the fuck outta yourself. Huff: You know what they have now in the hotels is the (paas??) for $34.99, you get the whole section.� Bubba: �Who does that get billed to, you or the Orioles? Huff: �No, that�s my own gig. When you check out and she (the hotel clerk) says, $34.99 and she looks at you as you�re checking out: �Ahh, you beat the shit outta it, didn�t ya?� �Yeah, pretty much! Yeah, I jacked the fucking shit outta it!� � Bubba: �So they did the room and you do the incidentals.� Huff: �Yeah, incidentals are all us, which include porn. And jacking off.� Bubba: �� We�ve done a lot of major league baseball players� interviews and I�ve never heard one this candid. �I jacked the shit outta myself for three hours! What else is there to do?� Not that �I�m studying the pitcher I�m going to go against.� Producer: �So now I know the other ones are bullshitting us and Aubrey is telling the truth.� Huff: �Exactly!� Producer: �Do you guys do any studying or is there any of that going on? Or is the catcher the only one that�s really gotta study anything? Huff: �The guys that are studying -- it�s bullshit. See ball, hit ball. You know what I mean? You�ve done it your whole life. You see the ball, you hit it. All this studying? Honestly, you�re gonna look at a piece of, a TV? And say this guy, this guy is going to throw me this way? No, he might throw you a different way! Who cares? Just see it and hit it!

Looks like it will be a two-year deal: ]Mets reportedly close to signing C Torrealba November 15, 2007 NEW YORK (TICKER) -- The New York Mets reportedly are close to a deal with free agent catcher Yorvit Torrealba, a move which would fill the team's hole behind the plate. Several media outlets reported early Thursday morning that the Mets are on the verge of inking Torrealba to a two-year contract worth $10 million. The Mets have not confirmed the deal, but Melvin Roman, Torrealba's agent, indicated to the New York Daily News that his client is close to agreeing to a deal. "All I can say is Omar (general manager Omar Minaya) and the Mets have done a tremendous job," Roman told the Daily News. A seven-year veteran, Torrealba batted .255 last season with career highs of eight homers and 47 RBI in 113 games with the Colorado Rockies. The 29-year-old Torrealba came up with several clutch hits this past postseason for the National League champion Rockies, batting .256 with a homer and nine RBI in 11 games. A native of Venezuela, Torrealba likely would be the starting catcher for the Mets in 2008, filling a void left by free agent Paul Lo Duca. New York's starting backstop for the past two seasons, Lo Duca often clashed with the local media and made negative headlines multiple times for off-field incidents, including a reportedly messy divorce lawsuit with his wife in August 2006. A Brooklyn native, the 35-year-old Lo Duca appeared in 119 games this past season while platooning with Ramon Castro, who also filed for free agency this month. But Castro apparently is ready to return to the Mets, as the Daily News also reported Thursday that the nine-year veteran agreed to a two-year deal worth $4 million. According to the newspaper, the Mets will not formally announce the deal until the 31-year-old Castro passes a physical.