Welcome back!! It’s spring time and the World Baseball classic is in full swing.  Who would have thought that the Netherlands would be such a force?  At least we know that Jose Reyes (and the rest of the Dominican team) won’t wear themselves out! 

 

Time to look back at my year end review; wow I wasn’t even close!  No Lowe (in case you missed it he is with the Braves), No Hudson-instead we are going to stick with Luis Castillo!  Ollie’s back-but I was sorry to see Joe Smith go; however, I couldn’t be happier that Schoeneweis and Heilman are gone.  The Mets chucked Duaner Sanchez too.  So, what will the Mets look like in their new digs?  For the time being it’s named Citifield, but we’ll have to see how Obama digs that since the gov’t owns Citibank now…can you imagine-”Please welcome, the New York Mets brought to you by the United States of America!”  Wow-that gives new meaning to the words, “America’s team”. 

 

Infield..scarily familiar. Delgado, Castillo, Reyes and Wright. Who could have a problem with SS and 3rd? They’ll be there for another 10 years.  It was rumored that the Mets shopped Delgado, but no takers- one can only wonder, will he be as happy this year as he was when Willie was fired last year? And Castillo, losing 20lbs makes those achy knees feel a lot better, eh Luis? The way the Mets are praising this guy so far you’d think he was the second coming of Rogers Hornsby.  At least the B.S. of him hitting lead off is over, I guess that was Jerry’s way of keeping the press from talking about the end of last season. 

 

Outfield..Church, Beltran, Murphy/Tatis..right to left. No surprises here. Maybe the LF platoon but not really.

 

Catcher.. no news..Schnieder and Castro with Cancel in the wings. Snooze

 

Starters..Santana (who has already given us Mets fans a scare but will be ready to pitch opening day), Maine, Pelfrey (the calf injury doesn’t sound serious).  Perez (head case, but usually pitches well against the Yankees and Braves) and who knows who’ll take the ball on the fifth day; Tim Redding looked like Schoeneweis and Heilman together when he gave up those homeruns in that preseason game against the Marlin’s the other night, as it turns out he has a bum shoulder …no worries with Johan’s ability but of course we’ll all wonder about the elbow-and I can only imagine the calls to the Fan when he has his first bad outting; Maine says he’s pain free and messin’ with a curve to give hitters something else to think about, Pelfrey, please don’t let last year be a fluke, Ollie, please don’t be a flake and will the fifth starter please stand up? From among Jon Niese, Tony Armas Jr.,Elmer Dessens, Nelson Figueroa, Freddy Garcia and Livian Hernandez somebody HAS to grab the spot right? Please? Somebody?

 

Bullpen..K-Rod is the closer and J.J. has the 8th, this we know. Sean Green, Feliciano. That leaves one or two spots depending on if the Mets carry 11 or 12 pitchers. Carlos Muniz, Brandon Knight, Eddie Kunz, Bobby Parnell, Brian Stokes or somebody we don’t know yet will have a big spring to grab those slots.

 

Bench..Alex Cora seems to be the backup infielder so far. Nick Evans and Angel Pagan are back to battle for outfield spots. Evans plays first too so a plus for him. Marlon Anderson is in camp again. Really? Sheesh. But so is Jose Valentin, can he channel 2006 again? And isn’t it about time we stop hearing about what a great player Fernando Martinez is and start seeing it? Really, what is he like 45 now, feels like I’ve been waiting for him for 25 years already. Seriously, Martinez won’t be 21 till Oct. Just in time for the World Series, right? Let’s hope.