Had dinner last night with a friend on the Mets’ beat and like most people I speak with in the media he’s not enthusiastic about them having a good season.

Drove around a little last night and this place has changed over the past few years. Really built up. New hotels and restaurants, including a sushi place not far from where I am staying.

Walked into the lobby and three hotel staffers remembered me by name. Felt like Norm for Cheers. Was a good feeling.

Heading to camp in a few minutes. David Wright is at the WBC and Johan Santana is still here from when I traveled with the team on a regular basis.

Will make a run at Santana for obvious reasons, including a new one – the president of Venezuela died yesterday. Need to get a reaction from him. Ironically, the Mets are playing the Venezuelan team today.

Also Ike Davis to see what he knows about being added to the WBC now that Mark Teixeira is injured. Yankees can’t be too happy about that. I never have, and never will, be a fan of the Classic. It means so much more to players from other countries, especially Latin America than it does to players from the US. But, Felix Hernandez isn’t pitching (could it be that new contract?) and the Japanese players in the majors aren’t all participating.

Wright is on board, but many big name players are not. Have to wonder why.

No, there are no plans to ask Sandy Alderson whether he plans to jump out of any airplanes. Insert your reaction here.

Lot of Mets fans in the lobby. One lady I remember is a regular. She holds court every morning at breakfast. Had cards promoting the blog made up to pass around. Have to think differently now.

Have a great day folks and I’ll be posting regularly here now while covering the Mets beat.

Making The Grade

According to Adam Rubin, Bobby Parnell and/or Sean Green could be in at least a little trouble in making the club. Or at least in a competition. If Jenrry Mejia and/or Hisanori Takahashi sneaks into the bullpen, one or two reliever incumbents could find themselves in the minors … or traded. This is the best part of spring training for me. I love watching these battles unfold and this particular one could be very interesting. I said it back in January that Parnell might not be a lock for the bullpen, and obviously neither was Brian Stokes over whom too much was being made of. I’m not sure Mejia will be the one Parnell and Green should worry about. I still believe that in the end, both Takahashi AND Nelson Figueroa make the team, and that Parnell and Green will be elsewhere come opening day.

Another Texas Rangers Rumor

According to MetsBlog, Matt Pignataro of Seven Train to Shea believes that the Orioles and Rangers are very interested in C Omir Santos. I don’t see it, much like I didn’t see them trading Nelson Cruz to the Mets or anyone else. I do believe the Dodgers have more interest in Omir than they are letting on, and don’t count out the Yankees or Cubs either. In the end, I put the odds of Santos being traded at less than 50%. Unless you’re the Omar led New York Mets, the catching position is something that most teams get sorted out pretty quickly in the offseason, because as the great Casey Stengel once said, “without a catcher you’ll end up having a lot of passed balls”. Or something like that… Plus dedicated Metsmerized readers already know my stance on sources in the Twitter age. I need more than 140 characters to convince me of their veracity.

Who Is Chris Carter?

Well, in short, he’s the guy the Red Sox gave up in exchange for two first round draft picks and the services of Billy Wagner for their stretch run. He is also the guy who homered twice in the 9th inning as the Mets trounced the Marlins 11-2. One was off Seth McClung and the second came off of Chris Schroder. Ummm… who? Alrighty then… One last thing you should know, Carter is also the guy that has a snowball’s chance in hell of making the Mets opening day roster. That’s all you need to know. As for what the Mets think of Chris Carter? The Gary Matthews trade and Mike Jacobs signing tells you all you need to know. Pack plenty of sweaters my friend, it’s still freezing in Buffalo in April.

By the way, check out our newly redesigned Myspace page and add us as a friend. Since March of 2005 when we first began, we have grown to over 20,000 followers!

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 pathetic displays of relief pitching we’ve seen all year. After taking over for Pedro Feliciano with one on and one out, Putz comes in and gives up four straight singles and turned a Mets 5-3 win into what would become an 8-5 loss.

As AOL Fanhouse points out,  Putz’s strikeout rate is way down, he’s walked as many hitters as he’s whiffed and his ERA has risen from 3.21 to 4.76 in less than 48 hours. It is a major concern.

Before the game, Jerry Manuel asserted that Putz, and not Parnell, was his 8th inning setup man. You may want to rethink that Jerry…

Putz didn’t dash out of the clubhouse as he did on Sunday, and made a brief statement after the game.

“Everything was coming out of my hand good. They were like three-hoppers up the middle,” Putz said about the hits. “Tip your hat on those. They were just hit in the right spot. I was pounding the strike zone with my pitches.”

He was pounding the strike zone alright, no doubt about it. But he was pounding the zone with flat as a pancake fastballs that barely hit 92 MPH on the radar gun. His velocity is down from 98 MPH and his fastball has no life, no zip, no explosiveness.

Manuel said he would temporarily move  Putz out of the setup role, but eventually he would regain the role after working a couple of things out.

At this point, do you trust Putz?

Is it time to strongly consider Bobby Parnell for the setup duties?

Maybe we should consider expediting Billy Wagner’s return if he’s throwing as hard and as good as everyone is saying he is.

Today’s Hot Point Issues

1. What was Jerry Manuel expecting on Saturday when he trotted out that ridiculous lineup on a day that we were already at a disadvantage with Tim Redding on the mound versus Mets killer, Josh Johnson?

The Mets owe all the fans in attendance a refund for Saturday!

Imagine shelling out $300 bucks for a family outing to CitiField… the only chance you’ll get to do it… and then seeing Ramon Martinez, Jeremy Reed, Brian Schneider, Dan Murphy, Fernando Tatis, Angel Pagan, Fernando Martinez and Wilson Valdez  on the field.

Is this the guy that vowed to manage the season with an “every game counts” mentality? That’s what he preached to his players all spring right?

Well shouldn’t he practice what he preaches?

If there was such a thing as managerial malpractice, Manuel was certainly guilty of it on Saturday.

My advice to Jerry Manuel when filling out a lineup card… Garbage In, Garbage Out!

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2. How many more losses before we blow-up the Tim Redding experiment and send him to the bullpen which was the original plan anyway?  

The Mets have lost all three games he’s started, he has an 9.09 ERA that makes Oliver Perez look like Sandy Koufax, he’s more hittable than than a piñata, and his strikeout to walk ratio is equivalent to the number of moons our planet earth has.

He has been dreadful, and going back to the “every game counts” mentality, isn’t time for a change?

Isn’t it time to start considering other options, including trade options?

Houston, Colorado, Arizona, San Diego and Oakland are all out of it already with each of them in double digits in games back. As I look at their rosters I see a boatload of starters that would give the Mets rotation a shot in the arm.

We hear Jake Peavy’s name mentioned a lot, but how about Chris Young?

I’m sure that the D’Backs would love to unload Doug Davis who seems to keep pitching one solid game after another. He has a 3.65 ERA and is holding opposing batters to a .245 average. Or better yet, what about Dan Haren and his pristine 2.54 ERA to go with his 71 strikeouts and 9 walks! Could you imagine having a starter who averages less than a walk per game? We should be all over him…

Those are just a couple of guys that can be had with some of Omar’s persuasive phone calls.

Do something already!

Today’s Hot Point Issues

1. Last night the Mets made a bold move by trading catcher Ramon Castro plus all of his remaining salary to the White Sox for one time pitching prospect, Lance Broadway.

On the surface, the trade looks terrible, but is it?

In my opinion, the real benefit to the trade was now what we gave up or got back, but what it allowed the Mets to do, that is; keep Omir Santos on the 25 man roster.

2. Sports talk radio and the Mets blogosphere is still buzzing about F-Mart’s boneheaded play when he failed to run out a fair popup in front of home plate.

But now the discourse centers around how Jerry Manuel handled the situation, and what many perceived as a very weak response with dangerous repercussions. 

Could Jerry Manuel have handled this better?

3. Last night at Citi Field, the much detested “Sweet Caroline” was replaced by our beloved Mets standard “Meet the Mets”. It was a long time coming and nobody knows if the switch is permanent, but what are your thoughts?

Much ado about nothing?

Fire away…