Meet the Mets
With the Super Bowl dreams of everyone but Steeler and Packer fans crushed, it's time once again to turn our full attention to New York Mets baseball. It might not be the most comforting or promising of alternatives, but it is still the best thing in the world. Especially when the team is no longer an embarrassment thanks to Mr. Alderson.
This offseason has been one full of austerity measures, an extremely rare turn of events for the Mets. The latest Alderson signing is for Blaine Boyer, the man we can partially blame for the 2008 Met collapse.
Some interesting stuff to pass along in the minor league system. The Mets named Tim Teufel as the Buffalo manager a few days ago. Toby Hyde says that there are several Met hitting prospects who have thrived under Teufel. Hopefully, Teufel will work some of that mojo with Lucas Duda who will likely start the season at triple-A.
Turning to the lower levels of the Met minor leagues, the Mets named Rich Donnelly as the manager of the Brooklyn Cyclones after promoting Wally Backman to double-A.
Joe Janish may have jumped the shark with this one, but here goes, Ike Davis as Met LOOGY.
Beyond the Box Score gives us a look at the importance of Chris Capuano's command of his fastball.
The Mets may be looking at Ruben Tejada as Jose Reyes's successor in 2012.
Apparently, the Mets can provide some of baseball's worst postseason losses as well.
And, just in case you haven't had enough football talk lately, here's Troy Aikman saying that he considered taking an offer to join the Met minor league system way back when.
Around MLB
The Blue Jays pulled off a major coup over the weekend, unloading Vernon Wells and snagging Mike Napoli as part of the deal. The unlucky souls who are stuck with Wells? The Angels. Rather than provide links to all the reactions from the various blogs, here's a simple word cloud that will summarize what you're likely to find.
Despite him still being on the Braves' 40-man roster, Billy Wagner has officially retired.
Darren O'Day got a new contract with Texas.
The Tigers appear to have a trade lined up to unload Armando Galarraga.
And, finally, Willy Mays returns to the Polo Grounds to talk to some school kids. Best school day ever.