Sick of Manny

Look, Manny is a great player. He's a schlub in the clubhouse. He wants a lot of money, over a long period of time.

He wants this...He wants that...He'd be a good fit... I'm sick of it. I've had it up to here with all the Manny Ramirez and Mets rumors.

Mets Tailgate said it best:

If I read one more post by a Mets blogger about Manny Ramirez I'm going to scream.

Bingo. Enough speculation, enough projection. If they sign him, great. If not, well...too bad.

The team needs pitching more than it needs another left fielder. I give up.

The economy is struggling -- except if you're a Mets fan

It seems baseball will always be an "escape."

The Mets have announced they have already sold around 25,000 seats per game, for the entire season of home games, according to the Associated Press. The team has also sold all 49 luxury boxes, save for two they save for single game purchases.

If anyone has a box, want to invite me?

Link: Janish, part two

Here is the second part of the interview with Joe Janish of Mets Today, posted by Mike Steffanos of Mike's Mets

Mets add two pitchers

The Mets have announced the signings of two pitchers that will be joining them in spring training. No, they're names are not Sheets or Perez.

Righty Kyle Snyder and lefty Jon Switzer were brought on board, likely to serve as bullpen fodder at triple-A. Both ex-Red Sox, they've seen significant time in the minor leagues last season, and will look for a hot spring to possibly land them on a major league roster.

If not, I'm sure we'll see one, or both, at some time due to injuries.

Anthony DiComo also lists all the non-roster invites for spring training.

They are:
Nelson Figueroa, Michael Antonini, Dillon Gee and Tobi Stoner, left-handed pitchers Adam Bostick, Casey Fossum and Tom Martin, catchers Rene Rivera, Omir Santos and Josh Thole, infielders Andy Green, Michel Abreu and Jose Coronado, and outfielder Fernando Martinez.

18 days! 18 days!

Report: Andy Pettitte soon to be off the market, returning to Yankees [Updated]

Update: Deal is done.

Via Peter Abraham:

It’s a $5.5 million deal that could balloon to as much as $12 million based on innings pitched and roster time.

Andy Pettitte looks like he will remain a Yankee, according to Ken Davidoff and Arthur Staple over at Newsday.

The deal is supposedly worth $6 million for a base salary, with incentives that could earn Pettitte up to $12 million.

The market is slimming, Omar Minaya. Hop to it.

Links: The MexHex, Joe Janish interview

Marty Noble and Keith Hernandez team up to attempt to debunk the "17" curse. Interesting, to say the least. Click here to read the article.

Mike Steffanos over at Mike's Mets conducts an in-depth interview of Joe Janish from Mets Today. A great read. Click here to read the article.

Johan's no-no card and a case of mistaken identity or: Why you need to proofread

Occasionally, I'll post something here and I won't catch a spelling error or calling Rob Mackowiak "Rod." Hey, it happens and people make mistakes. Thankfully I have a few close friends and die-hard readers who look out for me and let me know if I slipped up.

I am also one of the copy editors for my school newspaper. Scanning over every article with a fine toothed comb is something I find both extremely necessary and somewhat enjoyable.

But for these two flubs, it looks like everyone that had a hand in it made one giant "Uh-oh!"

First up, the case of mistaken identity. This was scanned and sent in by Corey Mansfield. He said he was scanning a fantasy baseball magazine ("Fanball - Fantasy Baseball, Annual Guide 2009" to be exact) and came across this box for Carlos Beltran.

But...that's not a photo of Beltran...What I find really hilarious though, is that Fernando Tatis (the player pictured, if you couldn't tell) has his number very clearly visible. Whoops!

Next up is something sent in by Ryan Punzalan of Retire31.com.

This one is a must-have for the avid baseball card collector. It just sold for $305 on eBay, so hopefully another one pops up.

As if there wasn't a bigger jinx ever created, I present you this -- the Topps Johan Santana No-Hitter card...I wonder what went through the Topps people's heads when they found out there was no no-no.

"What do you mean he didn't throw a no-hitter?! Really? Are you sure? 100 percent? Awww...shucks..."

A life lesson learned: If you're going to make something, make sure you check it over a few times before you hit "send to printer."

UPDATE: Here's a story about the "fake" cards (like Santana's) that Topps PURPOSELY printed up. Not very funny, guys.

Thanks, Ryan and Corey! And Buzz!

Mets offer more to O. Perez

The Mets have previously offered Oliver Perez a three-year, $30 million contract. That was too cheap for Scott Boras and his client. The Mets have now upped the offer, according to reports.

Andrew Marchand of ESPN 1050 reports that the Mets are willing to give Perez a contract for four years, likely worth $10 million per.

That is way too expensive. I wouldn't mind Perez back in orange and blue, but for that much, over that long of a contract just isn't worth it. He's honestly not that great of a pitcher to command that much money.

But thanks to an over-eager pitching market, other pitchers got more than they deserved, so Perez will as well. (Thanks, Atlanta!)

The Mets are better off signing Perez for two-years and giving him more per season. I don't think Perez is a reliable enough pitcher to sign for that length of time.

Update: I just wrote this in a reply to a comment...

I don't think there are any other teams! If there were, Boras would be parading them around like circus elephants trying to drive up Perez's price. But if that's not happening, I'm pretty sure no other team if willing to offer this much money to him -- and rightly so.

Mike Birbiglia at the MVP Awards

This is one of my favorite stand-up routines.

Enjoy.

Mets sign Rob Mackowiak

The Mets have added yet another left handed bat to the spring training roster. Rob Mackowiak has caught on with the Mets, according to Joel Sherman of the NY Post.

It's a minor league deal that could be worth up to $800,000 if he makes the Mets and surpasses a certain number of plate appearances.

Last season, Mackowiak hit -- brace yourself -- a cool .132 in 53 at-bat's for the Washington Nationals.

He's a career .259 hitter, with a .332 OBP and .405 slugging over 856 games. His best full season came in 2005 with the Pirates, where he his .272/.337/.389 in 142 games (463 at-bat's).

I guess the Bisons will be decent this year.