Forgive me for being a backseat general manager, but after ever Raul Ibanez home run, do you cringe a little like me? When I perused the market of free-agent corner this winter his name jumped out because of his consistency and veteran leadership (all reports are he is well-liked and respected by his brethren). His price tag of around $27 million did not seem cost prohibitive considering Omar Minaya sunk $24 million into an oft-injured [...]

Let’s kick off the first of our Fantasy Focus columns with some discussion of our beloved Mets.  We’ll take an in depth look at their fantasy performance – which refers specifically to the following categories found in a ‘typical’ fantasy baseball league – Batting Average, Runs, HR, RBI, SB for hitters and Wins, Saves, ERA, WHIP, and K’s for pitchers. Then we’ll look a little beyond the numbers and I’ll give you my highly unsabermetric [...]

The Morning Grind is the place for Mets fans to sound off on anything and everything! An open thread for ranting and raving about the Mets, completely raw and uncensored! What’s On Our Minds 1. What’s the deal with the Braves? The Atlanta Braves have been very busy in the last 24 hours… First they released 305 game winner, Tom Glavine after he made it all the way back from an injury and was ready to be [...]

For many years while the Atlanta Braves had a chokehold on the rest of the National League East, Turner Field was a veritable house of horrors for the New York Mets.  Since it opened in 1997, the Mets are 34-66 at Turner Field and have had numerous crushing defeats, including some of the season-ending variety (see 1999 season).  Last year, the Mets were 1-8 in Atlanta, easily their worst record against any team on the [...]

Ryan Church is currently playing at Port St. Lucie with fellow detainee Jose Reyes. While Reyes is expected be activated on Friday, Church should be making his return on Sunday. The question as to who gets cut from the 25-man roster is an easy one when Reyes returns, but what happens when Church returns? Is it the end of the line for F-Mart? Adam Rubin asks that same question on his blog this morning, Could [...]

The Morning Grind is the place for Mets fans to sound off on anything and everything! An open thread for ranting and raving about the Mets, completely raw and uncensored! Whats Bugging Me 1. David Wright – I’ve just realized that my freaking mood swings lately are directly related to David Wright’s cold and hot streaks at the plate. Would it be asking so much to have just a little more consistency from the face of our franchise? [...]

According to Bart Hubbuch of the NY Post, a member of the SNY production team traveling with the New York Mets has been admitted to a Pittsburgh hospital with a possible case of H1N1 Influenza, or popularly called, “Swine Flu.” This unnamed employee is in isolation, and reportedly had contact with players as part of his SNY duties. Carlos Beltran and John Maine have both been ill with apparent stomach viruses, though niether has shown [...]

This is not a knee jerk reaction after last night’s horrible defeat.  Last season after Willie Randolph was fired and Jerry Manuel took over I thought it was the right decision.  As the Mets tried to make the playoffs last season I was really impressed with Jerry Manuel.  When the Mets lost on the last day of the season I was hoping that Jerry would have been given a new contract for this season and [...]

The Morning Grind is the place for Mets fans to sound off on anything and everything! An open thread for ranting and raving about the Mets, completely raw and uncensored! That eighth inning was hard to watch last night. I think we have our new Heilman… or Mota… or you get the idea… After a bad outing on Sunday, J.J. Putz is trotted back out there on Monday and really outdoes himself with one of the most [...]