Meet the Mets
Jose Reyes is back in New York for more thyroid tests. A doctor from New York Columbia Presbyterian Hospital estimates that he should miss anywhere from a few days to a month. Unsurprisingly, various blowhards have started speculating that HGH usage might be the cause of Reyes's health issues. Will Leitch calls out these gasbags.
Jeff Zimmerman at Beyond the Boxscore asks readers to project Jason Bay's performance. In the comments, he predicts Bay will struggle to hit even twenty home runs because of Citi Field.
John Sickels profiles Daniel Murphy and thinks his MLB line of .275/.331/.437 is his true talent level.
Kerel Cooper, Joe Janish and Dave Doyle discuss the Mets' offseason in a video blog at On The Black.
Section 518 explains why the Cablevision/ABC mess matters to Met fans. Jeff Pearlman also gives his take on the battle, and I couldn't agree more with his final paragraph.
Brian Joura explains why the Mets might be the Fighting Whiteys this year.
Oh, and the Mets beat the Nationals yesterday, 6-5. Ollie threw strikes but got shelled, Frenchy threw out two runners at the plate, Hisanori Takahashi impressively struck out six in three scoreless innings and Omir Santos hit a bizarre inside-the-park grand slam. It's a 420 foot bomb in the boxscore. Joe Janish provides a nice recap and some analysis at Mets Today.
Around MLB
Ken Davidoff hands out the New York baseball Oscars.
Think Jerry Manuel is bad? Fire Jim Bowden laments that Jim Riggleman is the Nationals' manager. An actual quote from "old baseball man" Riggleman (which is somewhat out of context here, but click through for the whole thing):
I'd be bluffing if I told you I knew what I was talking about.
Erik Manning proposes batting King Albert Pujols 2nd in the Cardinals lineup.
Fonzie Forever gives us an extensive look at top righthanded pitching prospects.
Via The Book Blog, here is a tool for superimposing batted balls from one stadium to another.
From Adam Rubin's Twitter:
Jason Marquis says he doesn't know what Mets offered him, because he told agent to share only "serious" offers. ... Marquis faces Mets Sun.
BURN!