The "big" news of the day is the Mets putting Fernando Martinez and Daniel Herrera on waivers to make room for Ronny Cedeno and Scott Hairston. Herrera was likely to be on the 40-man chopping block at some point, but the Martinez move is a bit of surprise, and probably says a lot about the state of his knees. It seems like only yesterday he was destroying the low levels of the minors. Of course, that wasn't yesterday, it was, in fact, six years ago. Toby Hyde has an elegy for Martinez here, and speculates that he might not get claimed. I think that is wishful thinking, as he is still a former top prospect with a potential plus bat. Some 2nd division team with a 40 man slot will likely claim him. Meanwhile, Grant Brisbee thinks that Martinez is a metaphor for the Mets. Dammit Brisbee.
In other news, an anonymous New York Met slagged ownership in New York Magazine. Let the wild speculation on who it is begin! My vote is for Mike Pelfrey.
We all have a lot more columns like this to look forward to over the next year. I will probably even write a few myself. Probably won't be as eloquent as Greg is here, though. I may also use more profanity.
Bobby Valentine continues to stock his coaching staff with former Mets coaches, yesterday stealing away Randy Niemann to be the assistant pitching coach in Boston. Niemann's tenure with the Mets goes all the way back to pitching out of the pen for the 1986 team, though he was most recently a bullpen coach and a rehab coordinator.
Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus has posted his Top 11 (well, 20) Mets Prospects. It's sub only for the capsules, but you can see the list for free. Goldstein really, really likes Juan Lagares. And I feel vindicated that he ranked Akeel Morris over Juan Urbina. Vindication!
The mysterious Ceetar of Optimistic Mets fan opines that we should all still root for the Mets. As if we knuckleheads have any choice in the matter. Well, we real knuckleheads.
The BBWAA released their Hall of Fame balloting for 2012 and as first predicted here (okay, not really), only Barry Larkin will join Ron Santo at Cooperstown. Jack Morris was next with 66% of the vote, and with a jump like that looks like a shoe-in for election within the next two years. I can't go nuts about this anymore, but really, where's Frank Tanana and Jimmy Key then? (not to mention pitchers like Cone, Brown and Gooden, that were far superior to Morris) And of course there was the usual hand-wringing over writers handing in blank ballots. (at least one was excoriated on twitter for it)
Brisbee does double duty in Applesauce today, comparing Larkin to Alan Trammell and not finding much to separate them. I do think Larkin was a better, was Trammell would certainly be a worthy HoFer, as would his double play partner, who definitely got royally boned.
The Cubs have added Paul Maholm to their rotation,signing the lefthander to a 1 year deal worth a tick over 4 million. That's like Darren Oliver money, y'all. In all seriousness, though, this could mean there is something to the Matt Garza to the Tigers rumors, or it could just be the Cubs filling out their rotation depth.
In good news, Rockies pitcher Juan Nicasio, who was severely injured by a comebacker in August, has started throwing to hitters again. Hope to see him back in MLB this year, as he's a pretty good prospect in addition to now being a pretty good story.
Finally, I am going to wrap things up with two new features:
Mets Video Highlight to Tide You Over Until Spring Training: IKE DAVIS CATCH REEL!!!!111
I literally watch this at least once a week, and it is never not awesome. And yes, I used literally there to actually mean literally. The catch reel is that awesome.
Non-Baseball Link of the Day: Inside David Foster Wallace's Private Self-Help Library
This is old (from April) and long (really long) but it is well worth a bit of your time. Especially if you are bored at work or something.