We didn't have the joy or heartbreak of the Mets to look forward to last night, but there were at least a few goings on in Mets related news. The big news of the day involved shortstop Jose Reyes. Terry Collins implied that he may, in fact, be ready earlier than had been anticipated. I'm not exactly an expert here (I don't know if anyone on the Mets medical staff is either), but going by our track record I'd much rather see us give Jose a little longer to recover and not rush him back. Trusting Sandy Alderson has been easy, learning to trust the Mets medical team has not.
The buzz around the Adam Rubin lobby is that several Mets were claimed on waivers and then pulled back. Considering the salaries of Scott Hairston, Izzy, and Tim Byrdak I'm glad to see the Mets decided to hang on to them rather than take minimal salary relief. We probably are better off this season keeping them, as our bullpen isn't among the best in baseball.
Speaking of great moves by Sandy Alderson, K-Rod will be making his first appearance at Citifield in a uniform other than ours. While we've been told they aren't top guys, the job Sandy has been doing in rebuilding the system really makes me excited to find out who we will be getting from the Brewers for the vest.
It was surprising to see UZR used as supporting evidence in an article by the NY MSM. Unfortunately, this one was about the Mets shoddy defense and not the overrated "edgy" guy on the other side of town.
Former Mets:
Mike Jacobs became the first player to be suspended for HGH use. He was then promptly cut by the Rockies.
Jeff Francoeur is a very happy man to be in Kansas City. While Frenchy has been less awful than he was in NY, there really isn't any reason to think he will be worth the 2 year extension he was given. If only Dayton Moore had stayed in Atlanta...
Fangraphs takes a statistical look at the five tool player. No surprise here, Carlos Beltran is amazing. More surprising is the fact that Carlos Lee made the list.
Around the NL East:
The Phillies once again beat the D'backs, this time by a score of 4-1. While Philly winning makes me sad, seeing Howard Megdal take a look at the way they overpaid for Hunter Pence makes me a little happier.
The Nats pulled out a 3-1 win over the Reds to take the series from them. In bad news for the Nats, Bryce Harper was injured and will likely be shut down for the rest of this season (which is almost over anyway).
Rumored Beltran target Mike Minor shut down the Giants as the Braves earned a win. I still prefer Wheeler because of his upside, but Minor is going to be good.
The Fathers beat the Minnows in a game that will mean little to anyone.
Since the Mets spent in the draft...:
The Tigers and White Sox are now the whipping boys of intelligent blogs everywhere