Do you know what the Jeff Wilpon, Omar Minaya and the rest of the Mets front office are saying amongst themselves right now? They are thanking their lucky stars that The New York Jets have caught this city’s and the beleaguered Mets fans attention ( as we all know more times than not if you are a Mets fan you are then a Jets fan by attrition). The fact that the Jets are just one win away from going to the Super Bowl has pretty much swept this whole Carlos Beltran Knee Gate under the proverbial rug. Can you imagine the scenario if the Jets have been eliminated from contention? Both talk radio and the local newspapers would be eviscerating the Mets like they have never done before. And if you have read yesterdays Daily News, Beltran’s agent – Scott Boras(hole) is intimating that no matter how much damage control the Omar is doing right now, his and Beltran’s relationship with the Mets front office is fragile at best. I think that it is time for Jeff Wilpon to reassess his position as President and COO of the Mets and hand the reigns over to a real baseball man, someone that will keep the focus on a winning franchise and that can take a common sense approach instead of Wilpons ” Wizard of Oz” act of Omar being in control while good old Jeffy boy is in the background pulling the levers and trying to blow smoke up our asses. Will it happen? I honestly don’t think Fred or good old Uncle Saul have the balls to uninstall Jeff from his position, because as we know they are afraid of bad P.R . Well guys just be happy that the Jets are where they are right now, and if I were you I’d be kissing Woody Johnson’s baby oiled ass right now !!!
Â
                                                                                           
                ” Jeff Wilpon sharing a tender moment with fellow trust fund baby James Dolan”
And now … ON WITH THE INFAMY !!!
Happy Birthday wishes goes out to the second  Met to win the Rookie of the year award – Jon Matlack (1950). Matlack was one of the Mets most consistent pitchers of the ’70′s going 82- 81 on mostly bad Mets teams. Legend has it in ’78 he was looking for a raise in his contract, and instead M. Donald Grant shipped him off to the Texas Rangers along with first baseman John Milner for Willie Montanez, Ken Henderson and Tom Grieve – talk about INFAMOUS !!!
One of the best Mets pitchers to ever have a losing record , Anthony Young is 44 (1966). Young was a hard luck pitcher on a bad Mets team, who could forget all the newspaper articles about him and the fans who were sending him good luck charms and well wishes. His record doesn’t do his talents justice, he was on the wrong team at the wrong time.
Seattle Mariners signed catcher Brent Mayne of the New York Mets as a free agent on January 19, 1997.
New York Mets signed free agent pitcher Allen Watson of the Anaheim Angels on January 19, 1999. During Watson tenure with the Mets in ’98 he failed to distinguish himself out of the bullpen, going 2-2 with a E.R.A of 4.08 with a lone save.
Colorado Rockies signed reserve outfielder, Steve Reed of the New York Mets as a free agent on January 19, 2003.
New York Mets signed free agent Darren Oliver on January 19, 2006. Oliver was a pleasant surprise, I know I was wondering why we were taking a chance on a washed up starting pitcher, but he was the best long reliever that we have had in a long while.
And don’t forget – there are just 76 days until the Mets open the 2010 season against the Florida Marlins at Citi Field.
19 comments
prismo
1/19/2010-6:33am at 6:33 am (UTC -4)
Just want to say “thanks” again for all your great work rusty! Your enthusiasm is contagious.
rustyjr
1/19/2010-6:43am at 6:43 am (UTC -4)
lol sarcasm will get you everywhere
I am trying to stay positive here – i believe if we can get off to a strong start and carlos can come back at 85 – 95 % healthy then we should have a great year . i just am dienfranchised by the way this front office is run
btw whats the weather forcast for today lol
prismo
1/19/2010-6:50am at 6:50 am (UTC -4)
warm warm warm
Mid 40s in NY this afternoon, then around 40 for highs the next few days. Sunday and Monday in a week might be really warm again though.
metsfan4decades
1/19/2010-8:02am at 8:02 am (UTC -4)
Not trying to go down the political path here, but being a Met fan lately is a little like this overseas war the US is involved with right now.
While you may not agree with the reasoning for the invasion and/or war, all should support our US troops, our men and women in uniform, 100%.
Same with our Met team. Many do not like ownership nor management but hopefully all will still support our boys in blue and orange. After all, it’s not their fault the Mets find themselves front and center, as the laughingstock of MLB these past few years.
And Rusty sort of touched on that here with his post. Pretty sad when the Jets success these past few weeks are probably the only reason we’re not seeing more dirt dug up and more unflattering articles on the Mets…..
njstuckintx
1/19/2010-9:21am at 9:21 am (UTC -4)
Looking at Mack’s Met’s projections for the draft, I am floored to see, yet again, that we will continue to submarine our depth of the minors. In the first 2 rounds plus supplimentals, the Mets have 1 pick. The Angels, by comparason, have 6. Ouch.
wannybackstra
1/19/2010-9:31am at 9:31 am (UTC -4)
The Angels had to lose John Lackey and Chone Figgins in order to gain that draft advantage, though. That’s a net loss.
The Mets lost their second round pick by signing Jason Bay. That’s a no-brainer for the Mets.
njstuckintx
1/19/2010-9:38am at 9:38 am (UTC -4)
Agreed on the second rounder for Bay. I’d do that every day of the week and possibly twice on Sunday.
I guess my point was that we really don’t have much of an option to build from within, as we never seem to have numerous draft picks. Seems that the Angels, in this instance, lose people, but still have people to promote up from the system. Losing Lackey will hurt for sure, but losing Chone I’m not so sure will have a great impact on them. They have depth. We have Depth Charges.
prismo
1/19/2010-9:38am at 9:38 am (UTC -4)
Yeah I saw that too. The number 7 pick (which is exciting)…but then they don’t again until the 80s.
If they didn’t sign Ollie they would’ve gotten 2 low picks for him last draft, and then if they signed Wolf to a 1 year deal, they could’ve had 2 more low picks this draft. What a bummer.
CaseStreet
1/19/2010-9:41am at 9:41 am (UTC -4)
Man, I’m liking the mariners more and more. With reports that king Felix is locked up for 5 to 6 years, it kills any rumors about trades or the future of the team.
I wonder how cliff lee will be affected. I doubt he’d try to avoid free agency. At least the yanks and sox should be out.
njstuckintx
1/19/2010-9:49am at 9:49 am (UTC -4)
Yeah, talk about turning around that team and quick, both for the short and long term.
GravediggerHebner
1/19/2010-11:03am at 11:03 am (UTC -4)
It shows that a lot can be accomplished in a very short period of time if you know what you’re doing.
trs86
1/19/2010-11:07am at 11:07 am (UTC -4)
Lets see how they play before we say they did a great job. I think they have but before we use them for a model lets let them win the AL West with an Angels team that got worse.
GravediggerHebner
1/19/2010-11:19am at 11:19 am (UTC -4)
I hear what you’re saying and you make a fair point.
But it’s hard not to be impressed with a regime that comes in and immediately the team wins 24 games more than the previous season, then going into the following season adds Cliff Lee, Chone Figgins, Milton Bradley, Yusmeiro Petit and Casey Kotchman, viable emergency back ups such as Eliezer Alfonzo, Josh Bard and Corey Patterson while subtracting the useless overpaid Carlos Silva. Figgins replaces Beltre so right now the only negative I see is the loss of Russell Branyan and the loss of the potential of Brandon Morrow.
trs86
1/19/2010-11:27am at 11:27 am (UTC -4)
True, but think about the Omar regime after 2005. We thought a lot of the same things.
Kingman 26
1/19/2010-11:41am at 11:41 am (UTC -4)
Yeah, and we had a great season, and might very well have missed a title due to one Heilman pitch and one Wainwright pitch….
trs86
1/19/2010-11:52am at 11:52 am (UTC -4)
Right but that also shows how quickly the right plan can go off course.
GravediggerHebner
1/19/2010-11:50am at 11:50 am (UTC -4)
And I was duly impressed then. But in the intervening 5 years I’ve learned a lot more about how front office organizations operate. I can see a “plan” in place in Seattle.
While I was a happy Met fan after 2005, I can’t say that I saw a particular “plan.” Unless that plan was eschew the draft completely and sign high end free agents in which case I like it short term and hate it long term.
prismo
1/19/2010-9:50am at 9:50 am (UTC -4)
Why would the Yankees or Sox be out? All depends on their season. If a top starter on either team gets injured, or the team has a poor season (no playoffs), there’s no reason to believe they wouldn’t go for Lee. The RSox could also let Beckett go and try and sign Lee instead. Also, both teams will have a lot of money coming off the books, albeit at positions they’ll need to fill.
Kingman 26
1/19/2010-10:29am at 10:29 am (UTC -4)
+ Lots and lots.