Greetings, everybody! I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving and are enjoying a restful weekend! Now, let's get to the abbreviated Saturday morning goings-on:
Meet the Mets & Around the Majors
The Cubs are rumored to be making Matt Garza available. I'll admit that I personally underrated Garza last year by a lot and I'd love to have a pitcher like him on the team but I still would have trouble dealing Matt Harvey or Jeurys Familia away for him. With the way the team is currently made up, especially if Jose Reyes isn't re-signed, I don't think Garza is the sole piece that's going to put this team over the Braves and Phillies.
We all know that R.A. Dickey is awesome. That's a given. So how will he surprise us in 2012? Let's cross our fingers and hope for "2012 NL Cy Young Award winner".
The Winter Leagues in the Caribbean are under way and the Mets have a lot of representatives from their system playing down there.
Soon to be 27 year old Mets farmhand Brant Rustich is on the comeback trail and should be ready to pitch this spring. The team's 2007 2nd round pick was drafted out of UCLA as a potential hard throwing closer who could be put on the fast track to the majors but injuries, arm numbness and ultimately a diagnosis of thoracic outlet syndrome had forced his career to come to a screeching halt. Now healthy, he could become a contributor to the big league pen in the near future should he stay healthy and if his stuff and command come back.
Josh Satin could very well win the 25th spot on the opening day roster in 2012. Here's a review of his breakout 2011 season.
Bobby Valentine and Gene Lamont are the finalists for the Red Sox managerial job. Just a guess here but I'm guessing the odds are pretty high that we see Bobby V in the Sox dugout come opening day.
Could Joe Torre be headed back to La-La-Land? The answer may be yes and it could be as a part of a Dodgers' ownership group. In fact, apparently many prospective owners have asked Joe to join their bids.
Carson Cistulli took a look at Ryan Braun's ever-improving plate discipline skills. It's a real shame to think about how David Wright has gone in the complete opposite direction these past three seasons.
Finally, a judge has ordered that Jason Halman, the brother of slain big leaguer Greg Halman, be detained for two more weeks on suspicion of murder.