.44 caliber bullets.

• At the Baseball Analysts, Rich Lederer has a two part series during which he dismantles Buster Olney's flimsy arguments supporting Jim Rice's debatable candidacy for the Hall of Fame.
• At Baseball Prospectus, Joe Sheehan looks at a number of potential breakout candidates for next season. None of them are Mets, so Sheehan can just go !@#$ himself. I'm just kidding; check it out.

  Also at BP, friend of AA Marc Normandin had a chat yesterday and he answered a few Mets questions.

• At Flushing University, Taryn Cooper asks the age-old question: Why do the Mets only have four retired numbers?.
• Jayson Stark live-blogged from yesterday's congressional hearing with MLB and MLBPA. If you really want to know what happened, Stark has all of the details. Seriously. All of them. Like 6,500 words worth.

• At the Boston Herald, Michael Silverman spoke to Jim Callis and John Manual of Baseball America about the reported offers on the table for Johan Santana. Both agree that the Red Sox's collection of talent is better than the Mets', but Callis added:

  "If the Twins wanted to roll the dice, the Mets' offer (with Martinez) could be the best deal."

• Mark Kotsay was dealt from the A's to the Braves for reliever Joey Devine and A-ball starter Jamie Richmond. The Braves also received a $5 million subsidy from Oakland. Talking Chop is not pleased.
• D'oh!. Super Smash Bros. Brawl for Wii has been delayed. Again.