Meet the Mets
I must say that I am happier with a Barajas/Blanco combination than any combination involving Omir Santos. Speaking of catchers, check out this gem of a headline from the Daily News. I never really envisioned Josh Thole as an adverb.
Also, while we're talking about Thole, Ted Berg, assuming that Barajas was not Citi-bound, argues that the Mets should still consider giving him the starting position. I'd be interested to see what he thinks post-Barajas.
The Brian Cole trial ended in a hung jury yesterday.
Rob Neyer addresses his Fernando Tatis lapse while not explaining what exactly happened.
Howard Megdal reminds us that we still have 162 games of baseball to look forward to this year, no matter how they end up.
Brian Mangan brings Jordany Valdespin, the Met minor leagues' best pure athlete, to our attention.
Around the NL East
Cody Ross won his arbitration case and will earn $4.45 million.
We should expect Jair Jurrjens' MRI results sometime today. Could the Braves medical staff be as bad as the Mets'?
The Nationals will probably get 10 minor league starts from Stephen Strasburg before calling him up in June to add one additional year before allowing him to reach free agency.
Around MLB
Some good Jim Leyland stuff to pass along. Randy Marsh apologized to him for the terrible call that could have cost the Tigers a postseason berth. But, even better, Leyland is worried about the new public smoking ban in Detroit.
John Sickels is going through a midlife crisis of sorts with statistics.
The White Sox are not out of the Johnny Damon pursuit.
Beyond the Box Score presents some really interesting player comparisons. It's amazing the amount of hype that Damon gets compared to Mike Cameron.
Here's some incredible historical work on why the Boston Braves were wearing swastikas.
Eri Yoshida, a female knuckleballer, earned herself a win in the Arizona winter league.
The Orioles' Brad Bergesen managed to hurt his arm while filming an Oriole commercial. That's not exactly a good omen for your season, is it?