Wake me when there's news

Happy Thanksgiving! In the baseball world, those words mean that the GM meetings are close, and the winter meetings are just behind those. It's about time. Nothing has really happened yet this off season throughout baseball. It's nice to know who won the Cy Young awards, and the MVPs, but let's goooooooo already! I want to know what my team will look like in 2012! How about this?

1B- Davis

2B- Hudson

SS- Reyes (call me an optimist)

3B- Wright

LF-Bay

CF-Pagan

RF- BJ Upton-get this guy!

C- Shoppach

Rotation- Johan, Dickster, Gee, Young (when ready), ? (Pelfrey, Duda, and Murphy go in a package for Upton/Shoppach)

Pen- Beato, Madson, Byrdak, ?, ?

Bench- Turner, Chavez, Nickeas, Tejada, Harris

I have a few questions, but the point here is the only "external" FAs signed are Madson and Endy. Madson will close and he will cost a few bucks. Endy will come cheap. I think it's essential to get a young talent like Upton, on whom the Rays seem to have soured. They'd jump all over the package of Duda/Murphy/Pelfrey, as all are young and relatively cheap, and two of them can DH. Pelfrey's time has come, shedding him is part of changing the culture.

The above is weak in the rotation, but given the financial limitations, what can we expect? I think this squad can be put together within the budget. Yes, Reyes will cost. This is NY, guys, man up.

Gotta go, my alarm clock is ringing.

Pen-

Can Jose PLEASE decide already?

It's time. This is the time of year when many of the key free agents sign, since we're about 2 weeks from the winter meetings. Everything seems to suggest that the Florida...uh...Miami Marlins have the strongest offer out there to Jose, and that this offer is within the Mets' ability to compete (albeit on the edge). Are you surprised that we aren't hearing about 4-5 offers on the table for Reyes? I'm not. No matter who signs Reyes (and I hope the Mets do), that team is signing him at risk. He's a speed player with questionable hamstrings, enough said. If you listen to Alderson, he talks about having a dollar range in mind from which he will not deviate much. But he also says that you have to be careful about trading players with whom the fans identify. So, who knows? Just make up your mind, Jose, so we can all get on with our off season.

Let's explore the contingency plan if Jose moves to South Beach. Is it Tejada and Murphy, as some speculate? The thought on this one is that Murphy will provide needed offense at 2B. I say, NOOOO. First of all, who thinks that it's a good idea for a player to learn how to play a middle infield position on the major league level? Not only will defense suffer, but how long will it be before Murphy goes down again? BAD IDEA.

Idea number 2...apparently Bartlett and Hudson are available from SD. Should we take their DP combination? Maybe not...but I do think the Mets will need to look outside the organization for 2B, SS, or both if Reyes leaves. If we're still talking about changing the culture, it may be a good idea to think about Hudson, just sayin.

Other thoughts:

7 minority investors are in place...good. The Mets need money, anybody's money. It's not cool to be an NY team and operate like the Royals. This idea of bargain hunting all the time is getting a little old, especially when we have to pay NY prices.

Back to the 60's style uniforms and no more black hats. Good! It just makes me think...why the hell did they ever go to alternate uniforms in the first place? Oh well.

Giving credit where it is due-I renewed by ticket plan this week. One of the arguments many plan holders had was the "Plus Plan" concept. You know, you want Saturdays, so you get 10 of those, and 5 of the worst games on the schedule. The Mets addressed that. This year, you essentially pick the 15 games you want, and you get 10% off the face value. You pick an area, since they can't guarantee a seat, due to the variability of the package. It works. It works well. I can now go when I want to go, and they made it worth my while by offering a discount, and some surprise event that I'll hear more about later.

All in all, baseball's been over for 3 weeks. I love football, but I must admit, buying tickets this week started the countdown to February. I'm not sure what we'll get, but it's still baseball.

OMG! Dark Clouds Cover The Mets!

It's doom and gloom time. Let's take a look at the last week in Metsville (link from Eric Simon at "Amazin Avenue"):

Reyes is a free agent, and there's no way he's coming back (sarcasm intended).

The Wilpons tell us it's none of our business to whom they're speaking about minority ownership.

The Mets lay off 15% of their office staff.

The Mets still have not paid back the $25 million. And it goes on and on and on...

Yes, it is tough to be a Mets fan. The most troublesome aspect is the management of the team as if it were a small-market team, a small-market team that charges NYC prices. Here are a few thoughts on the storm clouds referenced above.

We don't know what Reyes is going to do. The media, despite their feeling that they have "inside knowledge", has no idea whatsoever about what is going to happen. Right now, it's all posturing. Reyes said this week that he wanted to stay in NY and finish his career here. To me, that's simply said to drive up the price for other teams. Think back to last summer. Sandy said he wanted to negotiate in-season with Jose, and Reyes rejected. Helloooooo, folks. That was staged. Smart people know the answers before they ask public questions. Sandy is smart. That whole Shakespearian routine was designed to give us the impression that our ownership really wants Jose, but he's intent on spurning us and going FA. It was a pre-emptive PR move, nothing more. All in all, this will take on a life of its own, and we just have to wait. There are too many variables to call this right now.

So they laid off some office workers? Um.....name a business that hasn't. It sucks. I feel for these people. I feel for people who lose their jobs at my company. But to single the Mets out and take shots at them for this is abjectly unfair.

I didn't like the comment about how "it's none of your (our) business to whom they speak about minority ownership. Technically, it's true. The Mets are not publicly owned, though the are selling a lot of bricks these days. They don't owe us this information. But Jeff, phrase it a little more nicely to your customer base.

It's ONLY NOVEMBER 5th! It may be a long off season. Heck, it may be a long regular season. I'm at the point where I don't even focus on a WS championship. Here's my focus-please, Mets, make it a little easier to root for you.