The Mets took a shot at finishing off their rotation last night by offering Lowe a 3 year 36 million dollar contract (a far, far cry from the 5 years 80 to 90 million which was Lowe's original asking price). The Mets play the game the way it is supposed to be played. They offer low, the agent offers high, and then they meet somewhere in the middle (or in the case of Krod, the low worked out). In this case, I think the low is going to work as well because there has been very little activity made by other teams regarding Lowe. The whole low and high conversation I just stated was a jab at the Yankees. The Yankees literally just go straight to the top with their offer so they can't be outbid.

If this goes through, then the Mets have spent 37 million on Krod, 36 on Lowe, and 12 on Delgado, plus players for Putz vs the Yankees 420+ million on CC, AJ, Tex. While those are huge, impact players, the Mets did very well for only spending, potential 85 million on three players plus another impact player via trade. (The Mets also signed Tatis this offseason for a miminal price). The only other piece it feels that the Mets might try to acquire is Orlando Hudson).

With Hudson, it is not just a question of spending money to aquire him, its also dumping Luis, and his big contract, to another team. After the potenial Lowe or Perez or Wolf signing, it will be more clear what the Mets will do about second base. Hudson is important not just for playing second base, but his bat would fit really nice in the Mets lineup, and he would be an all around good fit in New York.

Its been a while since we have looked at the Winter Leagues on this site, so its time to look at a few players. Today, lets look at Anderson Hernandez, Fernando Tatis, and Fernando Martinez. I know that Hernandez is no longer with the Mets, but I like looking at his winter stats because year after year he puts up great, fantastic winter numbers and then when the real season starts, he can't hit anything. This year, he has had 211 AB, 41 R, 77 H, 20 2B, HR, 29 RBI and a .365 batting average. This means he probably will hit .195 in 2009 and maybe get 5 RBI's (so thats probably not true, but you get the point).

Tatis is having a great winter following a great year with the Mets. He is staying strong with 148 AB, 22 R, 50 H, 15 2B, 2 HR, 18 RBI, and a .338 BA. It is very possible that Murphy and Tatis could be battling for a starting spot with the Mets this spring, or more than likely, that they willplatoon. The advantage that Tatis has is that he is not only older, but he is more consistent than Murphy. So if Murphy starts to decline this season like he did at the end of last season, then Tatis can step in full time.

The player I am most excited about right is Fmart because he is having a great winter and doing the things we expect out of him. His struggles in the minors have been from injuries and now we can start to see how balanced he actually is. This winter he has had 153 AB, 26 R, 48 H, 7 2B, 5 3B, 6 HR, 26 RBI, and a .314 BA. Look at those extra base numbers. First off, 18 of his 48 hits are for extra bases and they average out to 6 in each category. This is hopefully a sign of things to come from him and lets see if this will translate into Spring, the minors this year and possibly Citi 2009.

Chipper Jones has always been a Mets killer. He also had his buddy Andruw Jones who could put up the numbers against the Mets. The trade winds have been whirling and there are now rumors that Andruw could be coming to New York as a Met to play right field. Now if one was to place trades on a scale from not happening to packing the bags and heading over to a new city, this trade is unlikely and closer to the not happening side. According to Olney, the Dodgers and the Mets have kept the "porch light on" for trade discussions (he gives the Mets moving Castillo a 50/50 chance).

However if it does happens, a lot of dominoes would fall: The trade would only happen from a Mets perspective if Castillo was shipped off to LA. That means now there is an opening for second base on the Mets. The Mets have wanted Hudson for a while, and its not a secret, and he is still on the market. He would make a great addition to this new, intense lockeroom with Krod and Putz. So by trading for Jones we are effectivily recieving Hudson as well, and his above average bat in the lineup. Hudson is also a more ideal number two hitter behind Reyes because ever since Castillo's decline and LoDuca's Decline, the Mets have been hard pressed to find a consistent number two hitter in the lineup.

The other side is that at this point the careers of Jones and Castillo, Jones has more upside. While it wouldn't be the world's most ideal outfielder fix, its better than nothing. There is then the question of pressure. Jones has been facing pressure since going to the Dodgers to be their source of pop in the lineup. That pressure would be gone in New York because he would be in the back of the lineup. However, there is then the pressure of New York, which is generally unpredictable.

As the clock ticks down on 2008, we are about to reach January which is always an interesting month because most teams are already set. The situation this month in particular is that there are several big names, Manny, Lowe, Perez, that were expecting to be signed a while ago, and have suitors lined up, however that hasn't happen.

The Mets are looking for another starting pitcher, they still have three pitchers left on their short list, the same three they have had all season on that list: Lowe, Perez, Wolf. The Mets benefit is that the other teams have their rotations ready to go and that means the Mets can have their pick at a bargain off of that list. Yesterday, that goal became much easier because the main suitor for Lowe not named the Mets was the Red Sox who picked up Brad Penny. That means their rotation is pretty much full. I wouldn't put it passed the Red Sox to still go hard after Lowe, but for the Mets, they are in a good position. The word on the street is that the Mets are going to give out offers to Lowe, Perez and Wolf later this week. This week mentally feels the same as the Winter meetings because it feels like rotation resolution is going to come soon.

With the outfield situation, things are going to get hairy for Manny. The Dodgers are starting to look at Dunn and that always seemed like a location where Manny could fall back on. A few ESPN personalities feel the Nationals could be a situation, I still have a piece of me that feels the Orioles could be interested if Manny's price really drops. I think the O's might be looking at Dunn as well. If the Dodgers do sign Dunn, its anyone's guess where Manny goes.

Earlier today it seemed that the Mets and Lowe was going to happen, and happen very soon. The Boston Globe, New York Daily News and New York Posts were all reporting that the deal was almost done and was going to be finalized between Christmas and New Years. The deal was going to be somewhere between 14 to 16 million a year for 3 or 4 years.

Then ESPN came out with their story as reported by Buster Olney. Olney just said that the Mets have not offered Lowe anything yet and that although they have had discussions, they have yet to have serious discussions with Lowe and Boras.

So there are a few things going on. The first might be that Buster and the News/Post/Globe have different definitions of "serious discussions". But in reality its just the market that we live in today for Free Agent news. My gut feeling is that the Mets are somewhere in betwene the Buster report and the News/Post/Globe reports. That they have had serious talks about Lowe and have talked to Lowe but that have not offered a contract yet. Buster says that the Mets are still seriously considering Perez and Wolf. I hope we are as close to Lowe as the newspapers suggest, but in this day and age you never know.

The Red Sox announced a while ago that they are changing their away uniforms, and I guess I was in denial or something because I didn't report it, and uniform changes I am usually on top of. Anyway, the Sox are changing their away uniforms their gray that say Boston in red with the red stripes on sleeves to two different away jersies.

The first one looks fine. Its just a plain gray jersiey with the Navy Blue Boston written on the front, so it looks like the days of ol with the Sox. If I was in charge of deciding their uniforms, I would have made this their alternate away jersey and kept the current away jersey as their primary. This new gray one is now their primay, which I hope they wear a lot because their new alternate away is really just bad.

Its not the away jersey thats really bad though, its the new hat. The new alternate away is all Navy blue with Red lettering. Its not so bad, but if I was a Red Sox fan, I would be upset about it. The new hat though is just bad. When they wear their alternate away jersies, their hat is all navy blue, like normal, but instead of the famous Boston B on the front, it is the two hanging socks, or their alternative logo. It just doesn't look right and it feels like they are messing around with Baseball history.

Now that a night has passed since the signing of the biggest free agent hitter on the market, the impact of the Yankees taking Tex has become more clear. First off, the Red Sox released a statement immediately that said that they will not step up their pursuit for any other free agent now that they lost out on Tex. I personally would take this saying with a grain of salt only because this what is supposed to be said in this situation, you have to keep your cards close to the chest. I am not worried about Lowe though because it does seem the Mets are in deep negotiations right now and we just have to keep our powerful position.

Another loser in the trade is Manny. Where does he go now? The Angels don't want him. There enough people on the Mets that do not want him for him not come here. The Yankees have no more moeny for him, and no real need in their lineup anymore for him, now that they have two power hitters in Arod and Tex. I guess he has to revisit the Dodgers, and maybe another surprise team pops into the mix. Personally, I wouldn't be surprised (and remember, you read it here first) if the Manny situations drags deep into January, that the Orioles make some form of offer. The Orioles are going to be ready real soon to win and even though their weakness is pitching, which they have not addressed at all this offseason and don't seem to be doing it, They could use a power hitter to protect Markakis in the lineup and their new star in Matt Weiters when he comes up. Also, signing a declining star is a very Orioles move to make, so it could very easily happen.

Speaking of the Orioles, they are the other big loser in the Tex signing. Peter Schmuck, a writer for the Baltimore Sun, said it best in his editorial this morning. The editorial takes the theme of Baltimor courting Tex, and Tex being polite, but not being into us. It really hits on important notes though that many in Baltimore, for years, have seen Tex as the next Cal and he he was going to be the next hometown star that would pick Baltimore over Home, but that just didn't happen. He will probably never get that warm welcome he always did at the ballpark now that he is coming in with pinstripes (or maybe he still will considering that the 99.99999 percent of the fans in the stadium are Yankee fans when the Yankees come). Its the end of another missed chapter in the story of the Baltimore Orioles.

My first reaction was fantastic, now I don't have to type about Teixeira anymore because I am one of those people that no matter how hard I try, I can never spell his name right.

That being said, I am shocked. I know I shouldn't be shocked, the Yankees said a long time ago that they wanted him, but I just thought that after CC and after AJ they wouldn't spend anymore. That they were done. After a 161 million dollar contract and after 82.5 million dollar contract, they couldn't afford another one of these contracts. Well they went out there and signed Teixeira for 8 years and 180 million bringing their offseason total to at least 423.5 million dollars. They have literally redefined what it means to spend money and rebuild a baseball team in one offseason (as opposed to the two offseason method the Mets did in 05 and 06 then again in 08 and 09).

The fallout for the Mets is now the Red Sox have lost their biggest target and now they need to respond, well, they "need" to respond. This is bad in the case for Derrick Lowe as the price tag on him will rise. I also wonder about if the Sox will now get involved with Perez or if they will start to inquire about Delgado (same goes for the Angels). More importantly, the offseason will now get moving again as the Tex signing will allow Boras to focus on his other clients. Remember that article I wrote a few days ago about the East Coast Lure, its starting to look more and more like a New York lure as now Krod, Putz, CC, AJ and Tex have all landed in the Big Apple, which is quickly become the center of the universe for Baseball.

I still wear my Jewish Heritage shirt that I got years ago at Shea Stadium (in fact, I wore it yesterday) It says Lets Go Mets at the top of the shirt, and then at the bottom it says Lets Go Mets in Hebrew Transliteration (Hebrew Letters that spell out Lets Go Mets in English). The other day I was wondering around the Brooklyn Cyclones website, and I came across some merchandise they sold for their Jewish Heritage Night, and its pretty impressive:



What is unusual about this Jersey, that all of the players wore on that night, is that instead of just saying Cyclones in Hebrew Transliteration, they actually tried to spell Cyclones in Hebrew. It roughly reads "Tzi-clo-niem" which sounds very similar to Clyclones (the root cyclone in hebrew is a cognate in English) and the suffix, niem, is the equivialent of us adding "s" to the end of the word to make word plural. Its just very unusual to see a team try to say something in actual Hebrew.

As a side note, there is also a Brooklyn Cyclones video game you can play on their website, where if you make contact with the ball, you hit a homerun and you can the pitches off of the Cyclone Scoreboard. They really have an involved site, and its always fun to drop by now and then.

David Wright announced today that he will be playing on Team USA in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. In 2006, Arod and Chipper Jones took over the third base for USA but this year, Arod will be playing for the Dominican Republic and now Wright will take that spot. Wright joins Sizemore, Braun, Pedroria among others who announced over the last week that they will play on Team USA.

There are many other Mets who are planning on playing for other WBC teams. Beltran, Delgado, and Feliciano all look to return to the Puerto Rico team, which they all played for in 2006. Reyes looks to do the same for the Dominican Republic team and Johan Santana and Krod look to return to Venezuela.

While the WBC is slightly controversial, I have always been a fan because there are several teams that basically run like All Star teams, and they don't always win (Japan is the perfect example). The main criticism of the WBC is that it screws with a teams ability to get ready for the season. However, for the Mets, while it does cut down on the time for the players to learn to play with eachother, the main players that will be in the WBC already have set roles on the Mets and now the Mets can spend more time looking at the young players in the system and to see who could come up during the season or get a spot on the team from the start.

Earlier today MLB.com was showing the 1969 clinching game live and free. I watched a few minutes and its very interesting to see how baseball has changed so much, yet it hasn't changed at all. Which of course is the charm and a major part of the appeal of America's pastime. The part of the game I caught was when Frank Robinson was hit by a pitch from Koosman, but he wasn't, it was called foul, then Weaver came out to argue.

One thing that hasn't changed about baseball is commentary still sounds like it can belong on the radio more than the TV set, which is fantastic because baseball is the only game you can watch by listening to it. When the whole arguement about the hit by pitch was going down on the field, the Mets fans were letting the Orioles have it which led one of the announcers to say, "As long as Mets fans are concerned, Baseball is a particpating sport." Its nice to know that our passion goes through generations.

The ondeck circle is one thing that has changed over the years. Back then, if you watch any game from back then, no one really stands at the circle. They almost take a knee, and they might move the bat a little, but are looking more at the pitcher. Boog Powell was on deck and he was actually the only left handed batter in the game at the moment because of the pitchers. The biggest difference was advertising. There was very little of it being said by the announcers. The commericialism in the sport of baseball really has grown a lot in baseball and thats really a testament to how much commericialism has grown in America and part of American culture over the last 40 years.

The Nationals signed Daniel Cabrera yesterday to a one year, 2.6 million dollar deal where it seems that they beat out the Pirates and the Mets among others to get the big pitcher. How big is this signing? Well right now it seems pretty small. Living in Baltimore, I am very familiar with Cabrera's stuff. He is a big guy, really he's huge not only is he tall he has a big frame as well, and he is also a very nice guy (I've met him at a fan event several years ago).

Cabrera's weakness over his career has been his control. At sometimes he is dominant, shutting down every batter he faces and not walking anyone. He also has had games where he has walked five batters in the first inning. The signing with the Nationals had to come down to a guranteed roster spot. If he gets a spark this year at the Nationals, he could be a real force in the NL. He can however just as easily be a scrub in the NL. He is one of those players that I will be rooting for even though he is not on the Mets because I really want him to succeed.

That being said, I am glad he is not a Met. As much as I would love to see him get a great level of success in a Mets uniform, I feel that New York would eat him alive while he tries to find his way.

This offseason, the signings, the trades, they all seem to be heading over to the east coast. When you think about it, all of the big moves, or the trades for All-Stars, have been heading over the East Coast, and its been happening all offseason. Here is just a few of the players that already have found themselves in new East Coast homes::
    1. Krod
    2. Putz
    3. CC Sabbathia
    4. Burnett
    5. Javier Vasquez
    6. Raul Ibanez
Now that list might look small but think about it this way too; the other big names, Manny, Tex, Lowe, all might be ending up in the East Coast by the time the offseason is done. Another way to think about this is that there have only been two big names that have landed on teams not on the East Coast and that would be Kerry Wood and Furcal.
To see if there is an East Coast Lure, we will have to wait for the end of the offseason and see what other big names fall and where they land.

Baseball America released their top 10 prospects for the Mets in 2009 today, and I think its worth it to also review the 2008 list at the same time to really get the full picture of what is going on with the Mets in terms of prospects and the farm system. In 2008 the Mets system looked like this, 1 through 10:
     1. Fmart
     2. Deolis Guerra
     3. Carlos Gomez
     4. Kevin Mulvey
     5. Eddie Kunz
     6. Brant Rustich
     7. Phil Humber
     8. John Niese
     9. Nathan Vineyard
     10. Rob Parnell
      Best Avg Hitter: Fmart
      Best Power Hitter: Fmart
      Best Fastball: Brant Rustich
      Best Curveball: Phil Humber
      Best Changeup: Deolis Guerra
We all know the story with this group of prospects. Soon after this article was published, Deolis Guerra, Carlos Gomez, Kevin Mulvey, and Phil Humber were all traded to the Twins. So the Mets system looked prety depleted. Then injuries hit and the Mets had to start diving into the system to get help, which they found in Nick Evans and Dan Murphy, both not on this list. With all of the shakeups and trades, how does the list look now? Here is the 2009, the current, list:
     1. Fmart
     2. Wilmur Flores
     3. Jon Niese
     4. Brad Holt
     5. Rob Parnell
     6. Jefry Marte
     7. Jenrry Mejia
     8. Reese Havens
     9. Nick Evans
    10. Eddie Kunz
     Best Average Hitter: Wilmur Flores
     Best Power Hitter: Fmart
     Best Fastball: Brad Holt
     Best Curveball: Jon Niese
     Best Changeup: Dillon Gee
As you can see, there are a lot of differences on this list compared to the old one, and thats a good thing. The Mets system has really developed a lot in the past year, but the bad thing is many of these players, like Fmart, Niese, and Flores are all very young. Flores I believe recently turned 18. There si a lot stuff being passed around about him, and he could be very special. If Fmart can stay healthy, he too will be very special. These could be the guys of the future for the Mets, we need to wait and see. Murphy is not on this list because of his success last year, he isn't considered a prospect anymore. I was going to critize the ordering of this list, but now that I look at, I really do agree with this list and its very exciting. Prospects are always very exciting.

Seeing Krod and Putz get introduced over the past two days, it has really hit me how great of a situation are pen is in. Granted, two players doesn't make the pen, we need more pitchers, but its the first time in a while that we have a setup man and a closer. More importantly, they both are determined to win and this is going to be great.

Also, having both Krod and Putz adds so much dimension to the pen because both can be closers. If one is having a bad game, the other can come in. Several games in a row that are close and need a closer? Don't worry about a closer getting tired, we have two! We are covered. The 2006 Mets were good because not only did they have a closer and setup man the entire year, but their record in one run games was fantastic, that hasn't been true for the last two years.

The other thing they both add, that the Mets didn't have with Wagner/Sanchez and Wagner/Heilman is they both have swagger. Krod is firey out there and Putz, although quieter, also has a lot of passion when he pitches. This could be the beginning of a great thing for the Mets. Having confidence in the back of the pen means that there is not only less pressure on the starters but there is less stress on the batters. The batters no longer have to score often and a lot because a lead late in the game is going to hold up and is going to translate into a win. These are the advantages that we have been missing for two seasons and think how great we can be with these guys in the back of the pen and our line up without stress. Its go time. I'm ready for spring.

I love a lot of things about Minor League Baseball (I am actually in the second year right now of a two year research project about minor league baseball and how it relates to the communities that they are in) and one of my favorite tings about MiLB is their plethora of logos. Sports logos are fascinating and with over 160 Minor League and Independent League teams, the amount of baseball logos are incredible. Naturally, the first thing I looked at when I found the Mets were sending their AAA team to Buffalo was their logo.

Now, in my opinion, this logo is pretty weak. Its an entertaining picture but as a logo its pretty lacking. However, they recently revealed their new logo:



This logo is just awesome. That Bison looks incredible and it really plays well to New York with the not only the city skyline, but its on a baseball, just like the Mets. This is the attitude I like to see in a logo. Usually new logos leave something to be desired because they do not have that classic feal but this logo just sends off energy, a lot more than the previous logo.

With the creation of the NFL Network, it was only a matter of time until another one of the America's major sports got its own network, and starting January 1st, Baseball will have the MLB Network. It feels like we have been moving to this point for a while ever since the creation of mlb.com tv a few years ago. They started to show original shows and even would play games online during the winter. Well now it seems that online project has reached a full time channel.

Starting in January, some of the headlining shows will be Hot Stove, which will pretty much be like watching mlbtraderumors.com with insiders puting their own two cents in. There will be a Prime 9 show that focuses on the top 9 whatever in a certain category. Ken Burns' Baseball will highlight great old memories of baseball and Baseball Season's will show highlights of special seasons in baseball (the picture they have on their site about this show has a picture of Cal Ripkin during the 2131 game). Other programming will include basbeall's classig games of course and special events like the home run derby.

As you can imagine, this channel will really pick up speed in the Spring. They have the exclusive rights to 16 WBC games, will be going to all 30 clubs Spring Training Homes in 30 days and will have a show on every night during the baseball season that seems to be like ESPNEWS with only baseball stuff included. Two of the commentators on that show will be Harold Reynolds, formly of Baseball Tongiht, and Al Leiter (one of my favorite all time players).

This should be a very exciting season, especially for us out of town fans. The channel will be getting a national game of the week as well (joining Fox, ESPN, and TBS) which makes it easier for us to see our favorite teams out fo state and also to get a better insight in the wide world of Major League Baseball.

As you can probably guess, or probably saw, this week, the Mets and the Yankees dominated the back pages of the papers in New York because really, they did take the Baseball world by storm this week. For the most part, the Yankees got more attention than the Mets, because that is how reality goes. I was shocked though when I saw this back page from the 11th:



Usually, the papers are hyper-congratulatory for the moves the Yankees make and usually when the Mets do something good, they are quick to criticize or remind how similar things have not worked out. This was a shock because it was a literal slap in the face saying that hey, you might have gotten the best free agent starter, but that doesn't change the fact that you still lost out on Johan, the best starting pitcher right now.

While I like to see the Yankees get criticized, it does reveal those sour feelings that are lingering. After this was printed, the Yankees continued to try to improve their team by spending by giving another rich contract out to AJ Burnet.

Although it is hard to break concentration from our new amazing back end of the bullpen, we have to take time to look at the Mets Rule V picks so far.

According the Metsblog.com, at this time the Mets have selected Darren O'Day and Rocky Cherry in the MLB Rounds.

Then they selected Carl Codenthal and John Madden so far in the AAA round.

No one has selected Mets players at this time. (The only recent Met we have lost in the Rule V Draft that was "substantial" was Jesus Flores in 2006 to the Nationals, furthering their collection of exMet Catchers).

So, who are these guys? Will we end up keeping them?

For the first person, Darren O'Day, that answer points to yes. He his 26 from the Angels and is a side arm relief pitcher (Joe Smith replacement?) In 30 Appearances last season, he pitched 43 innings, had 29 K's, and posted a 4.57 ERA. (With the Angels). What is striking to me is that he was a sidearm pitcher that had a good amount innings above the number of appearances. He could become a key piece for 7th inning or earlier relief. The downside is he is still rehabbing a labium injury, and will more than likely start off on the DL and stay there for some time. Its a good move if he gets healthy and if he doesn't. He has to stay on the roster for the full season, then the Mets can move him in 2010 to the minors if need be. A quasi-loophole in the rule V draft system if you will (although there is another loophole of him needing to be active for 90 days, I'm not sure, there are a lot of rules involved with the rule V draft).

The next pick, Rocky Cherry, was from the Orioles. He did a good job in AAA but struggled in the majors. He went 0-1, 2.75 ERA over 30 games in the AAA. In the majors he lasted 17 innings, allowed 15 Runs, 15 Hits, 16 BB, 15 K's. So there is promise there but a lot of struggles. Spring Training will be a telling sign for Cherry if he stays with the Mets or goes back to the Orioles.

Both of these picks go back to Omar's typical style of getting pitchers that other's do not have hope for, and bringing them up to speed. It worked in 2006, and it looks like it might work again in 2009.

The other two players picked, Carl Codenthal is an outfielder from Atlanta, John Madden is a RHP from the Padres.

The Mets took the next crucial step in rebuilding the pen as they added JJ Putz to set up the new closer, Krod. The last time the Mets had a reliable 8th and 9th inning duo was the first half of 2006, when Sanchez was still healthy (before cab crash) and he was followed by Wagner. What happened that year? The Mets were almost a guranteed win with a run lead or any lead by the time the eighth inning rolled around. That time has come again.

The Mets now have two closers to pitche the 8th and 9th inning and will be going into Spring Training with that part of the gameplan already in place. This allows the Mets to do so much more. Lets start with the Spring Training. The attention can now be spent on looking at the battle for the fifth starter spot and finalizing the roles in the pen (It has been a long time since pitchers in the pen had definitive roles for gametime). When it comes to the actual regular season games, no longer do Starting pitchers have to hope to last 8 innings, and then hope for a revolving door of 9th inning pitchers can finish off the game. The Mets gain so much confidence with this duo.

The more amazing thing about this trade is that the prospect load to get Putz was pretty light. Carp had promise, but our system was flooded with players like him (Evans and Murphy are both developing in sinilar ways). It has been amazing that over the last two years, we have been able to get Santana and Putz through trade and have not had to give up Fmart, Parnell, Kunz, Niese, and now Holt and Havens. This is a testament to Omar and when he is on, he is on.

Of course there is the question of what's next. I still would like to sign Cordero, only if he is cheap. I am not to thrilled about getting another Catcher to start, because Schnieder calls games very well, and I rather have that ability behind the plate rather than a slightly better bat (I am one of those people who believe that the Catcher is the most dynamic player on the field). In terms of SP, we do need another starter, and now that we didn't have to shell out big bucks for Krod and a setup man, you have to think we would be going for Lowe or Perez. Personally, I would take Wolf. Someone for a shorter time commitment, that won't cost too many prospects since he is only a type B (actually, he wasn't offered arbritation so he might cost no prospects) and then when Ollie signs with another team, we can continue to rebuild our farm system.

Anyway, this has been a great week for the Mets and New York, as more and more big names are flocking to the evil empire as well. One could expand that to the East Coast as it looks like Mark Texaria will end up on this coast as well as Lowe, and Burnett (who looks to sign with the Yanks)