Adam Rubin of the Daily News is reporting that the Mets will no longer pursue Rudy Jaramillo as hitting coach and that Howard Johnson will remain in that position. Three years ago, Minaya had interviewed Jaramillo for the manager’s job that went to Willie Randolph. He felt it would not be right to put him on Randolph’s staff now. The Mets’ staff will remain intact with the exception of Rickey Henderson. That vacancy could be [...]

We all know that our days at Shea Stadium are now numbered.  I remember this past season, being asked to take a survey on the music played throughout the stadium.  I received a light-up Mets pin for participating.  So speaking of music, I decided to reflect on some of the sounds and songs played during the games at Shea in 2007.  Some songs are player-related, and we may not hear them again if the player is not [...]

I don’t think it’s the age as much as it is the fact that Omar has soured on Paul Lo Duca. Despite being 35 years old, Lo Duca still has plenty of gas left. If Jorge Posada bolts the Yankees, you will definitely see Minaya make a strong effort to pursue him, and he is the same age as Lo Duca. Last season, Posada allowed over 100 stolen bases which was the second worst showing in the majors. He set [...]

It was a strange season for the New York Mets in 2007… When the season first started you almost had a sense that the Mets were going to haul in a ton of awards by the time the season was over… We all thought we had a Batting Title in the bag… At the end of April we had Jose Reyes (.356), Carlos Beltran (.356), and Moises Alou (.349) all leading the National League in batting and [...]

Since the Mets are no longer in the hunt for anything but a good golf course or restaurant this postseason (OUCH!), Mets related topics to write about are becoming scarce. In light of this situation I figured I would just muse about several topics in Major League baseball. First off the bat is one of the few relevant Mets topics so far this off season…the possible hiring of Texas hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo. Many of [...]

This week as I conclude this short series I wanted to focus on the pitching. This is probably the one area that Omar Minaya will have to concentrate most of his efforts this off-season. The Mets starting pitching and bullpen both failed to meet expectations in 2007 and barring some significant changes, it may be in for a repeat performance if things remain unchanged. On the starting pitching side, don’t expect much help from free [...]

Will the Mets still have basically the same five guys in the rotation in 2008 with Pedro essentially replacing Glavine at number one? Will that be enough to win a division? It’s very difficult to say whether a rotation of 1. Pedro Martinez, 2. Orlando Hernandez, 3. John Maine, 4. Oliver Perez, 5. Mike Pelfrey would be enough to win a division in 2008. A lot depends on what moves and improvements teams like the Phillies [...]

Now that it has been two weeks since the Mets have been *gulp* eliminated from playoff contention and the playoffs are well underway, I feel able to blog with confidence again. As a NY resident for the better part of 30 years, I know that about this time the cold is slowly creeping from bitter to 10 below zero. People have forgone “Black Friday” and the malls are filled with the sound of Christmas music. [...]

I must say that I was disgusted this morning by an article I read in Newsday. It was written by Wallace Matthews, who decided to throw what little professionalism he had as a writer, out with the trash last night. I still can’t believe that a solid newspaper like Newsday allowed such a hate-filled tirade against the Mets to be printed in their paper. I think his article was degrading and insulting and sounded more like [...]

The Mets recently granted free agency to pitcher Jon Adkins, who was one of the players that we received when we traded Royce Ring and Heath Bell to the San Diego Padres. Adkins wasn’t exactly terrible for New Orleans and posted a 3.99 ERA in 48 games, while posting a 2-4 record with 5 saves. The other player we received in that deal was outfielder Ben Johnson who had an injury plagued season in which he batted [...]