After a few weeks of a layoff, I'm back with some Thursday Thoughts. There's been a few interesting tidbits to come out of Major League baseball over the last few days. Those topics include Arod, Torrealba, and our good friend Mr. Barry Bonds.

Torrealba:

First, the Mets have come to an agreement with Yorvit Torrealba, formerly of the Colorado Rockies, on a 3 year 15 million dollar deal. Being a Paul Lo Duca supporter, it hurts me to see the Mets not re-sign him. He was a vocal leader on this Mets club. It’s a shame the Mets didn’t want to bring him back but they had to do what they felt was necessary.

Torrealba is about equal in the amount of production that Paul Lo Duca would have brought to the table. Last year he hit .250 with 8 homeruns and 47 rbis. What does scare me though, is that he played in a career best 113 games last year, when normal catchers usually play 130-140 games. However, Ramon Castro has just signed a contract so that he and Torrealba will work as a platoon at the catcher position. I think the platoon will work out great, but I will still miss Lo Duca.

Arod:

Why the hell did he opt out? Jeez. I really thought he was going to leave the Yankees, but apparently they are going to work out a monster contract. Here is to more drama from him and hearing how he and Jeter don’t have sleepovers and whining about how he can’t hit in October.

Mr Barry Bonds

Finally indicted. Its about time. That guy has to be challenged on all his homeruns over the past 10 years. I really hope he goes into the hall of fame with that asterisk. It’s a shame what he’s done to baseball. I am not going to comment more, because I think we are all sick of talking about him.

Til next time..

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It was the day a lot of us were waiting for. We all knew that A-Rod had until 10 days after the World Series to “Opt out” of his huge contract and claim himself as a free agent. Well sure enough around 10:15 last night, conveniently in the middle of Game 4 of the World Series, everyone in the baseball world got word that it was true. Mr. Rodriguez is now a free agent.

With that being said, there has now been wide speculation on where he will go. Obviously there are very few teams who can afford a contract that he will be asking for, roughly 30 million a year for at least 7 years. Brian Cashman, General Manager of the New York Yankees, has repeatedly said that he will not negotiate a new deal with A-rod should he opt out of his current deal. Well, only that remains to be seen. Could it be the Cubs who play in a big market and looking to do anything at this point to snap the “Curse of the Billy goat”? Could it be the Red Sox who could let World Series MVP Mike Lowell go and decide that they want A-Rod instead? I can leave that thinking up to you, the reader. However, here are some reasons why the Mets will NOT have A-Rod on their team next year.

Number 1: The 24-1 effect. Remember what happened last time A-Rod was a free agent? He had outrageous demands which created a 24-1 effect. I doubt the Mets need anymore egos on this team being that they already had someone who had one of their worst seasons proclaim “Sometimes we are just so good, we get bored”.

Number 2: Money Money Money. With the new stadium coming and the Mets lacking PITCHING, I doubt the Mets want to throw a ton of money at one player. With Lo Duca, Castillo, amongst others, who are free agents, there are more important things to worry about than getting the best player in the game. Yes, he is the best player in the game and one of the best ever, but I am a firm believer that one player will not solve 5-6 issues.

Number 3: Let’s review what positions David Wright and Jose Reyes play. Third base and shortstop. Hmm. What positions has A-Rod played? Third base and Shortstop. Obviously, the left side of the Mets infield is taken up for the next 15 years (I sure as heck hope so). With that being said, David Wright did say during the season that he would “gladly move to Second Base” if A-Rod wanted to play for the Mets. With that being said, Dubs you are a nice guy, but Mets fans want you at Third Base, case closed.

So here you have it Mets fans, one perspective of how a Mets fan sees things. I know it will be a huge debate on our facebook group, and a quite interesting one to say the least. Needless to say, there isn’t much need, because A-Rod will not end up on the Mets next year, hell or high water.

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Howdy all! First off I would like to apologize for my absence this past week, as my computer stopped working last week. It is still in the process of getting fixed (much like the Mets lineup and bullpen). While gone I finally came up with a name for my weekly column though: Tuesday Two Cents with Jersey Dan. I hope you guys like it. Now off to the races.

The bullpen, yeah we got one, yeah it’s got issues; but like a Chevy it gets the job done, even if you have to tinker with it at bit. Everyone has quickly jumped on the Scott Schoeneweis bandwagon as of late. Have fun riding that wagon, because who knows how rough it will be, and who knows if it will crash or not. Let’s be realistic here, the man has shown up for two months this season, and was just despicable for the rest of the season. His ERA is still above five, and his WHIP is still above one and a half. There is no reason for us to get outlandishly excited over this recent stint of success. Let’s see where Schoeneweis is at the end of the month.

So the Schoeneweis train is full, and that is because everyone is starting to get off of the Wagner Wagon. What is everyone’s problem with Wags? He is having one of his best seasons ever (like I predicted at the beginning of the season), and has shown nothing but composure this season. Last week against Atlanta Wags loaded up the bases with none out, and Brian McCann coming up to the plate, followed by Andruw Jones. What followed was composure that only the best closers in the game show. Wagner throws great pitches and induces McCann to ground to David Wright who fires home for the force. Wagner then throws some more great pitches and gets Jones to ground into a game ending double play. If Wagner weren’t a great closer, the Mets most likely would have blown that lead. His 26 saves 1.58 ERA and 61 strikeouts can close ball games for my team any day of the week.

So does anybody want to tell me what happened to Joe Smith? The man was lights out at the beginning of the season, and then sometime a little before the All Star Break he hit a brick wall that was more solid than a Mo Vaughn turkey sandwich. Hence Smith was sent down to AAA. Normally this wouldn’t bother me, but normally Guillermo Mota wouldn’t be a middle reliever on my baseball team. Let’s face it, off the juice Mota is garbage. If Smith can get back on track in New Orleans we can bring him back up and get Mota out of there.

Pedro Feliciano: Ain’t nothing wrong with that.

Finally we get to the Met that everyone loves to hate: Aaron Heilman. This guy is having a career year, keeps us in games nine times out ten, usually cleans up the messes that Mota or Schoeneweis leave him, and yet we still ridicule him because of Game Seven of the 2006 NLCS. Get over it people, Heilman is a solid player, pitching in a role that he was thrown into last season. As far as I am concerned he has pitched very well since becoming our set up man and is the least of our bullpen worries.

Point being, this bullpen, if managed the right way can be just as good as Boston’s or any of the other top pens in the league. Now that Jorge Sosa is in the pen he will get a lot of work. Sosa, Feliciano, and Heilman looks like it could work out to be a great bullpen combo. If heaven allows it, and Schoeneweis continues to produce this bullpen could turn lethal. If Smith learns how to pitch again, we can get the steroid train out of there and have one of the best pens in the game. This last month and a half will make or break this pen, and make or break our chances of winning a third World Series.

Afterthoughts

Former New York Yankee shortstop and commentator Phil Rizzuto died today. Scooter was a legendary face to the game of baseball his whole life. He was one of the premier shortstops of his day, and his voice is among one of the most famous in baseball. His play-by-play was so exciting that he was used by Meat Loaf to do the “play-by-play” on his 1979 classic “Paradise By The Dashboard Light.” The Scooter will be missed.

While on hiatus last week, many Major League Baseball milestones were achieved.

Barry Bonds hit #756 last Tuesday. Thank God that is over, and the Giants won’t be on national television anymore this season

A-Rod hit #500 last week. I like A-Rod; he’s a great player that puts up with way too much garbage. I hope we get to see him hit many more home runs (just not for the Yankees).

Tommy Glavine wins #300. This seemed to take an eternity to Mets fans. What was pretty crazy about this win is that it took place in Wrigley Field, which opened in 1914, and only last Sunday saw it’s first 300 win milestone. Glavine is also the first Met to win 300 games while in a Met uniform. Glavine also could be the last pitcher to ever win 300 games, with these boneheaded pitch counts, and five man rotations and such. Congrats Tommy.

On a personal milestone note I must tip my cap to Cardinals OF Rick Ankiel. As much as I despise the Cardinals I cannot be happier for this guys success. If five years ago you were to tell me that Rick Ankiel would be an OF hitting home runs for St. Louis, I’d tell you take another shot of JD and keep dreaming. This is a great story for baseball, and I could not be happier for the guy.

Football is back, and the Giants are already driving me nuts. Six wins is a stretch for them. Thank God NASCAR goes until November.

Speaking of NASCAR, can somebody please instruct Dale Earnhardt’s crew on how to properly build an engine for a stock car? Four blown engines this season, and two in three weeks is just embarrassing.

That’s my two cents…Let’s Go Mets. Read More...