Thursday Morning Applesauce: Igarashi Finds New Home, Wilpons Still Can't Afford Him Anyway

Yesterday Dan Lewis did an excellent job trying to break down the financial mess that the Mets have found themselves in due to the Wilpon ownership. I hope most of you have taken the time to read it, because it's an awful lot more professionally done than much of what the New York media is capable of coming up with. I guess it's no surprise that MLB has reportedly taken notice, I'm just a little upset that it took them this long. If and when a new ownership group is installed I think their first order of business should be to raise capital by putting Picard jerseys up for sale on the team's website. If he ousts the Wilpons, I'd buy one and put it proudly next to my Beltran and Reyes ones.

New Met center fielder Andres Torres will be the subject of a movie coming out this year. The film will document his struggles with ADHD. Everything about the guy seems to be positive, so maybe the NY media will adore him as much as they do this guy. If only Carlos Beltran had been so lovable...

Now that the winter meeting TRAID rumors appear to have died some, the plan appears for Daniel Murphy to return to second base for next season. He'll likely be paired in the middle infield with Ruben Tejada, and Tejada's move to short will likely take some of the pressure off of Murph to perform. While those two may never anchor the greatest infield ever, they are certainly likely to produce an awful lot of bang for the Wilpons buck.

Jon Rauch seems to be raring to go for his new team. While he's probably not as good a value as Murphy or Tejada, it will be nice to trot out a reliever who's a little better than Ryota Igarashi on a regular basis. Speaking of Igarashi, he appears to have found a job with the Pirates. Maybe that was the player they actually signed when they announced signing an unnamed Met last month. Rauch may be needed more often if Adam Rubin is to be believed. Rubin found "sources" from another team to give us an update on Johan Santana. Thanks Adam.

In other Japanese baseball news, the Yu Darvish bidding came to a close yesterday. Most "experts" believe he'll be headed to Toronto, but the results should leak fairly soon. Fellow posted player Hiroyuki Nakajima had his bidding won by the Yankees, but it appears a signing is unlikely. Personally I'd like to see this whole bidding process scrapped.

FanGraphs took a look back at one of the most universally laughed at trades of the last year, the Colby Rasmus trade. I don't think there is a fan alive that expected the trade to work out the way it ultimately did, so maybe Angels fans can cross their fingers for a Vernon Wells miracle next season.

Non-Mets target Josh Willingham is off the market now. He's reportedly finalized a deal with the Minnesota Twins.

A trade was completed yesterday as well. Long time AAOP favorite Jed Lowrie was sent packing yesterday to the Houston Astros. I'm really surprised at the cost of Mark Melancon, and it really makes the Angel Pagan trade look a lot better in my eyes.