The New York Mets have pulled the plug on Gary Matthews Jr. and will recall Catcher Omir Santos from AA Binghamton. Matthews Jr., or GMJ for short, came over from the Los Angeles Angels for Brian Stokes, shortly after Carlos Beltran hit the DL. GMJ has an unremarkable .190/.266/.241 line in 65 plate appearances, following a good Spring Training. Omir Santos has been horrific since moving to the minors after the signing of Rod Barajas forced [...]

In the first installment of “Doug’s Dugout,” I take three healthy swings at the following:The Closer, Instant Replay, and Ollie Perez.   First things first:  I hate the Closer.  Specifically all Mets closers over the years who have contributed to migraine headaches and a brewing peptic ulcer.  Why should Frankie Rodriguez be any different from John Franco and Armando Benitez?   They all have made me squirm in my (un)easy chair as the 11 o’clock [...]

How do you handle a 7th overall pick? Do you take the best player available, or the safe pick? Do you take the high-upside high school player, or the more advanced college player? Pitcher or hitter? I’m actually kind of conflicted on this. I’ve looked at the draft for the last few days, thinking along each philosophy. But I won’t be calling in the pick on Monday, June 7. The New York Mets will. Who [...]

I can’t begin to understand all the ins and outs of the Perez Problem – I always thought that sports agents gave their clients good advice, but Ollie is stuck with Scott Boras, who gives his clients contracts that over-reach expectations of their ability and knowledge.    I also wonder about the relationship between the Owners, the Agent and The Player when things go bad and hard decisions have to be made.  Right now this  [...]

Update 5:40 PM It’s bad news Mets fans, according to David Lennon: Murphy diagnosed with “high-grade” MCL tear of right knee. No surgery, but will be out 4-6 months. Ouch! Too bad… Original Post 12:30 AM Playing in just his second game as a second baseman, Daniel Murphy was taken out on a vicious slide into second base and had to be carried off the field with what is being called a serious leg injury. [...]

AAA International League: Buffalo 1/5/2, Syracuse 7/10/0 Steven Strasburg held the Bisons to just 3 hits and a walk today, while flashing off his 3 pitch arsenal of doom. Dillon Gee wasn’t up to the task of matching the future ace, though he pitched well, giving up 7 hits and a walk in 6 innings, along with 5 runs (only 2 earned, 2 Mike Jacobs’ errors), he took his second loss. cf Jesus Feliciano 2 [...]

Last night was a strange night in major league baseball. If you were like me, you turned to the MLB Network to watch Armando Galarraga throw a 28-out perfect game live. While that is going to be the story taking over a lot of sports talk shows today, it cannot be ignored that Ken Griffey Jr. has decided to retire from Major League Baseball. A few days ago, somebody posted a comment about how they [...]

  Everybody has a breaking point, and even though Johan Santana has not reached his, I’m thinking that a couple of more devastating losses like last night, and Johan will be singing a different tune. After the game, Santana may have revealed his frustration with the bullpen when he made this comment, “I can only do so much. I told pitching coach Dan Warthen that I felt I can go 150, 200 pitches if I [...]