Meet the Mets
Another day, another stinker. The good news is that if you were one of the few who bought tickets to last night's embarrassment, you can go see another likely embarrassment for free!
This horrible start has really put the focus on Sandy Alderson and the next steps. Joel Sherman speculates that this whole thing might be a blessing in disguise, so the Mets won't be buyers in the trade market. At least one rival executive thinks that the Mets are unlikely to give Jose Reyes $100+ million, adding further fuel to the already blazing hot stove. I have a few problems with these two posts. First, there is nothing in Sherman's argument that would have changed if the Mets were somehow in contention this season. If the Mets were able to unload Francisco Rodriguez, Carlos Beltran, Jason Bay and get ANYTHING in return, I have no doubt that they would have done it regardless of the team's standing. Turning to this anonymous rival executive, he argues that Alderson won't give $100 million "for a guy who might break down." Two things: 1) has this rival executive sat in on Met managerial meetings? Does he know the Met player signing strategy? 2) What player might not break down? Even this pitching robot will blow a gasket every now and then. Alderson may be more conservative in the free agent market than I'm imagining, but this offseason should have gone to show that he's not necessarily afraid to take risks with injury-prone players (and Jose Reyes isn't even close to someone who is injury prone).
All that being said, Jason Fry does have some legitimate concerns about Met management after seeing the team's lack of patience with Brad Emaus and Blaine Boyer.
If you want actual good news, here goes: Jason Bay got four hits, two of which left the yard, in yesterday's rehab game and may be in the starting lineup tonight.
Back to the bad news. Bobby Parnell's suckiness may be due to an injured finger.
Two former employees of Carlos Beltran's restaurant are suing their former bosses for not paying them their overtime and for sharing tips with the whole staff. Communist.
If you want to know what's been wrong with Met pitching so far, look no further than the first batter.
Around MLB
Braves punch out Dodgers. Marlins blank Pirates. Halladay shelled by Brewers. Nats felled by rain.
Alleged shoplifter Mike Leake won't lose his spot in the Cincinnati rotation when he returns.
The Toledo Mud Hens will be making professional baseball history when the take the field on opening day... twice.
There are a whole lot of ways that you can customize a bat.
The Yankees are facing a lawsuit from a lady who claims that the whole top hat logo thing was created by her uncle. Good luck with that.
Beyond the Box Score has a few posts of note to pass along. First, JD Sussman points out the inherent craziness of the international free agent market compared to the MLB first year player draft. Bill Petti also compares MLB players' heights and weights across the decades.
What would have happened if the MLB season was 16 games?
And, finally, I'm not sure it has happened yet, but at what point will we reach market saturation with Brian Wilson and the Giants?