There are a number of viable candidates for today's ass of the day...or even ass of the past two days. Matt Wise, Aaron Heilman, Willie's fat trap, Yunel Escobar's Knee, Alou's Calf...etc. You get the point. I'm done honoring Heilman with ass of the day.  He gets the lifetime ass-chievement award. It's pathetic. The fact that Alou strained his calf muscle by merely breathing and is not optimistic about should be our first clue that 2008 is turning into a very cruel joke.

Baseball is finally back! Its great to finally be able to say that as it has been a long off season full of rumors, injury reports and the like.

Judging on how the first 3 games went, it looks to me as if the Mets are taking this season much more seriously and are much more hungry out in the field. They are not expecting to be in first place and know that they must earn every win.

Reyes has seemingly forgotten about his horrible second half of 2007 and started off hitting .333 through 4 games along with David Wright and Carlos Beltran getting started quickly as well.

However, with the offense clicking, the Mets suffered a key injury with Pedro Martinez tweaking his hamstring and going on the disabled list. This was expected to happen sooner or later and hopefully this will be the only thing that Pedro will run into this year.

The next week will be a key time for the Mets as division play heats up with the Braves and the Phillies. I would hope the fire that we have seen with the Mets continues because we all know how the games with the Braves and Phillies could go. In my opinion, winning 4 of 6 games this early could set the tone very nicely for the Mets. The hitting will have to continue and the bullpen, even though Matt Wise already blew one game, will have to stay in tact and pitch to the best of their abilities.

Hopefully, with what we have seen so far, things will continue nicely.

Until next time...
Read More...

Kaufman’s Korner

Hello all and welcome to another edition of Kaufman’s Korner.

First, I would like to take the time to apologize for not writing since the day before Thanksgiving. I have been in the midst of graduating, moving, starting a job etc so I haven’t had the time, or urge to write. But now that I have settled in, I plan on writing a little bit more often.

In any case there are a lot of things to talk about. The Mets acquiring what many consider to be the best pitcher in baseball for a few high end prospects, some questions the team has going into the 2008 season, and a few basic predictions by yours truly as of this moment.

We all lived to talk about the Johan Santana saga. Nearly 6 weeks long, 20 trade proposals deep, rumor mill spinning more and more everyday, the Mets finally pulled off what many consider to be the biggest trade since Mike Piazza showed up in May of 1998. I think it is a great trade especially since the Mets got to hold onto what I believe are the top two prospects they have; Mike Pelfrey and Fernando Martinez. Pelfrey showed signs of coming around at the end of last year, and while Martinez hasn’t had an at bat above AA has one of the highest ceilings of any prospects in baseball. While I do believe that at least 2 of the prospects the Mets gave up will pan out to be solid ballplayers, the Mets did what they had to do to get a big name pitcher.

Johan Santana brings to the Mets 93 wins while just entering his prime, and has pitched at least 200 innings every season since becoming a fulltime starter. Pitching in the American League, he typically would win a minimum of 15 games a year while having an earned run average of around 3.50. Quite incredible considering that if you transfer that over to the National League-a typically weaker hitting league-you can possibly be looking at 18-20 wins with an earned run average at least a run lower. Imagine what that can do to the Mets record? These typical statistics not only make us say “Tom who?” but it takes a lot off a bullpen that you can expect to be worn down if Pedro Martinez throws a lot of pitches, Oliver Perez decides to not throw strikes, and El Duque is on vacation etc.

Now over the past few months Omar Minaya has made a few small moves before the big blockbuster of acquiring Johan Santana. He has signed Matt Wise, Ricardo Rincon, and Ruddy Lugo; all low risk high reward bullpen pitchers. Could these guys take the place of someone like Scott Schowenweis? That’d be amazing, yet doubtful. So while the rotation has a huge upgrade with Santana and a fully healthy (or so we think) Pedro Martinez at the top, the bullpen is still a question and could lead us to those antacid pills that we knew so well last year.

As far as the offense goes, we all know that Paul Lo Duca walked to the Nationals. So we acquired Brian Schneider to platoon with Ramon Castro at catcher; and Ryan Church to play everyday right field. I think Church will be a scrappy player who will give 110% in the field and at the plate. I see this trade panning out very nicely for the Mets, although another I question whether Ramon Castro can handle a full time catching schedule, and if Brian Schneider can hit .250. Other than that, we should see the same typical lineup, with hopefully more production from Carlos Delgado.

Now I will make a few basic predictions of what I would like to see happen.

1. Carlos Delgado will have a bounce back year. I don’t see Carlos Delgado having a year like last year, since his wrist was a major problem with his hitting last year. I believe he will fill in nicely at the number 5 spot and settle into the “secondary” RBI producer role well behind Beltran and Wright.

2. The bullpen will not lead Willie to talk about “Mama days”. I really hope this is true. If we can get a steady 7 innings out of our pitchers, give the ball to Heilman or Sanchez in the 8th inning, and then Wagner in the 9th, it will take a load off the middle relievers. Thank goodness Mota is gone.

3. Johan Santana will win 18-20 games. This is what this guy is getting paid to do. If he gets the run support, expect him to strikeout and set down a lot of lineups 1-2-3.

I hope you enjoyed reading this edition of Kaufman’s Korner. Until next time…
Read More...

First off I would like to wish all involved in the Global New York Mets Empire a Merry Chirstmas. I hope all you good boys and girls got what was coming to you, and all you naughty children…well hopefully you got what was coming to you also. This Christmas I didn’t ask my parents for much, and I didn’t ask Santa for anything; but privately to myself, all I really wanted was to see a certain few things from not only my beloved Mets, but from some of my other beloved sports teams. Here’s what I am hoping will be a late Christmas present.

Omar Makes A Move: This was is quite obvious. It seems like our fearless leader is having a lot of fear this off season. Our top priority going into the off season was to sure up our pitching. Since then the only moves we have made involve some guy named Matt Wise (we’ll see), and resigning Juan Padilla (and here we thought he vanished). Dan Haren has gone to Arizona for a bunch of prospects, and the push for Minnesota ace Johan Santana seems absolutely useless. We still have a hole to fill in our rotation, and numerous holes to fill in our bullpen, because Aaron Heilman can’t do it all.

The Next Anna Benson: There is no man in this network of Mets fans that does not miss Anna Benson and her brilliant off field distractions. I actually dressed up as Santa Claus for little kids this year and all I could think about was “Man, I wish Anna Benson were my Mrs. Claus.” Yeah I’ve heard that some guys have hot wives, but all baseball players have hot wives, I want my Anna Benson back, and I want my sexy Mrs. Claus back.

A New York Mets Christmas Song: Can you imagine how awesome a New York Mets Christmas song would be. I’m talking all out here, with horns, and a giant choir, and electric guitars like those Siberian dudes. Too bad we won’t have the hip hop styles of Lastings Milledge to grace our New York Mets iPod play lists. I can hear it now. “Omar’s making his list, he’s checking it twice, and three times, and four times, and five times, and six times, and he’s still not going to sign a pitcher for our roster.”

A World Series Win For Our Last Season At Shea: I think this is what we all want. Shea does have to go, especially if we want attract players further down the road. It’s also about time that New York City got into building new sports facilities for their mostly awesome teams. Shea needs to go out with a bang though. It may not be Wrigley, or Fenway, or that other ballpark in New York, but it’s our masterpiece. Shea is where we built our first baseball memories as children, and the only fitting way for the giant rainbow to go out is with its third World Series trophy. So Omar, Willie, team, get it together for us, for one more run, let our stadium go out with a bang.

In Other Sports…

A Run First Offense From The New York Football Giants: In case Coach Coughlin forgot, the New York Giants have been successful in doing two things when they win championships; defense and running the ball. This philosophy was proven in Buffalo (WIDE RIGHT) last weekend when Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw made mincemeat of the Buffalo defense. Even when the legend Phil Simms was our QB, he wasn’t Montana, Elway, or Marino; but he didn’t have to be. We won ballgames by running the ball and Simms playing smart. Maybe if Eli, who is no better or worse than Simms, was able to run his offense like that, we might win more football games.

P.S. Down with New England

Rangers Fans To Stop Speaking Forever: For the past twelve years all I have ever heard from Rangers fans is “Wah the Devils play the trap, wah boring hockey, wah, wah.” Save it big guys. Let me let you guys in on a dose of reality. For the 12th straight season your team consists of overrated, over paid, over the hill, over on the wrong side of the Atlantic hockey players. For the 12th straight season you are inferior to the Devils, and the way you guys are going you are even almost inferior to the Islanders. No matter what rule changes you guys make in the NHL, there is always one constant and that is the Devils on top of the Atlantic Division (keep in mind that we let Philadelphia win every now and again). Check the stats, more total goals are scored in Devils games then in Rangers games this season…SO TRAP THAT!!!!

A New Start For Junior At Hendrick: Daytona is less than two months away, and my boy Dale Jr. is now teamed with Gordo and JJ (I smell juggernaut). Hopefully Dale can keep his car moving this year, and his engine from exploding. That alone would be an awesome Christmas present.

The End Of Isaih: You know, I’m not really a Knicks fan, but Isaihgate is embarrassing. Everyone involved in the New York Knicks upper management needs to be fired and banned from participating in any basketball management groups ever again. Isaih, you are brining shame to what was once a great basketball organization, with your stubbornness and unwillingness to just resign. Show some dignity and walk away now, before NBA fans forget how good of a player you once were.

A Led Zeppelin Show In America: Yeah I know this has nothing to do with sports, but Zeppelin has been the background music for Ultimate Highlight Reel for the past month, so I’m going to talk about it. You need to stop teasing us. You guys brought the house down in London, and you could be the best draw at Madison Square Garden this year (because nothing else really productive goes on at MSG). Get across the ocean, awaken the God’s with your power, and make my life complete.

That’s all I got. Merry Christmas and a Happy and safe New Years.


Read More...