Meet the Mets
How's the Mets financial situation looking? If you guessed "grim", congratulations! You win the once in a lifetime opportunity to donate $20 million to the "Save The Wilpons" fund! Hey, the package is basically the equivalent of being a glorified season ticket holder but at least you get business cards and access to Mr. Met, right?
Rich Coutinho provides his version of the Mets' Christmas Wish List. I know what I'm wishing for: a supportive ownership group that wants to win and has deep enough pockets to help make things happen.
Around the Majors
One trade went down on Friday, as the Cubs dealt lefty setup man Sean Marshall to the Reds in exchange for lefty starter Travis Wood, outfielder Dave Sappelt and prospect Ronald Torreyes. Looks like the Reds are really gunning for the playoffs in 2012. Meanwhile, it looks like the Cubs will continue to dismantle and rebuild under the watchful eyes of Theo Epstein and Co.
Bobby Valentine and the Red Sox announced the rest of the team's 2012 coaching staff and the most familiar name to Mets fans is Alex Ochoa, who was named Boston's first base coach. Ochoa, an outfielder and former five tool prospect with the Mets organization during the late '90's, never really translated his tools into skills in the majors but had a solid career as a reserve before retiring and becoming a coach in Boston's minor league system.
The Yankees and Red Sox were the only two teams who received bills for going over MLB's luxury tax threshold.
Rangers catcher Yorvit Torrealba pulled a Jose Offerman during a Venezuelan Winter League game, as he struck an umpire after he flailed away at strike three.
The Cardinals made a nice move bringing in Carlos Beltran to help replace Albert Pujols in their lineup and this article further points out how big a bargain Carlos could be for St. Louis. As much as I don't like the Cardinals, I'll be rooting for him to win a ring considering all he did for the Mets in his tenure. He's a true class act and he deserves it.
Finally, just how good is Gio Gonzalez and did the Nationals overpay to acquire the lefty? I agree that the walk issues are something to watch but between his strikeout rate and his durability, he's still very valuable and he's going to help the Nats a lot in the near term, as well as the long term.