Omar Minaya should not be done -- the bullpen needs work

Via Adam Rubin:

Omar Minaya has ruled out bringing in Manny Ramirez or any other major expenditure. The lone pieces still being sought are a lefty reliever on a minor-league deal and a righty bat for the bench, perhaps via a spring-training trade.

Fine. I understand no Manny, and I had been OK with that from the start. The problem I have is with the lefty reliever on a minor league deal.

Guys like Will Ohman and Juan Cruz are still on the market, and would be excellent additions to the Mets weak middle relief portion of the bullpen. If Omar is going to short change them with a minor league deal, I think they're going to be shut out.

There is no reason they shouldn't pay a guy like Ohman or Cruz enough money to come to the team. I think Minaya is completely overvaluing guys like Duaner Sanchez, Sean Green and Brian Stokes. Heck, I want them all to do well, but I really don't think they're good enough to bridge the gap from starter to J.J. Putz and Francisco Rodriguez.

Those two guys at the end of the bullpen are completely worthless if the team can't hand them a lead. Without a solid set of pitchers for middle relief, I'm not very confident in the outlook for 2009.

The depth chart has the Mets bullpen as follows (without K-Rod and Putz):

• D. Sanchez
• P. Feliciano
• S. Green
• B. Stokes
• C. Muniz
• B. Parnell

I only trust one of them with a full inning, three batters at the least, of work. Stokes seems to be the only one who can go for more than a batter or two. Sanchez has stunk for a while now, ever since his run-in with a taxi cab. Feliciano is a situational, one or two batter kind of guy. When stretched to work an inning or two, he struggles.

Green, I don't know enough about to judge, but his numbers really aren't that good. A career 4.32 ERA and 1.53 WHIP aren't going to calm my nerves, or my heartburn, when he's pitching in the 7th inning with a one run lead.

Muniz has been riding the shuttle between triple-A and the major leagues for a while now. He's never really gotten a ton of work at the MLB level, and rightly so. He's just not that good. Parnell is a young gun, who they hope will blossom and prosper soon, but he's just not ready yet.

So save for K-Rod and Putz, the bullpen is a bit of a mess. They need to go out and lock down Ohman or Cruz (or someone else!), and soon, because this 'pen is just not going to cut it in the NL East.

More on the Citi Field deal

Reports this morning broke t he news that Citigroup might break the deal with the New York Mets for naming rights to the new stadium.

Now more and more news is coming out.

The Daily News seems to be on top of their game today. Here's an article from Greg B. Smith and Larry McShane reporting that the Mets are denying Citigroup is going to break the deal.

Citigroup executives called to reiterate their commitment to the deal after a report in the Wall Street Journal that the package was in jeopardy, said David Howard, Mets executive vice president for operations.

With April's opening day drawing near, Citigroup was ripped by two members of Congress last week for taking billions in bailout money while spending millions to put their name on a baseball stadium.

But Howard said there were dozens of other federal bailout fund recipients involved in naming rights deals and football bowl games sponsorships.

"Why is this deal being singled out?" he asked. "There is an element of unfairness in this situation."

I have to agree with Howard here. I know that Citigroup is being bailed out, to the tune of a ridiculous amount of money ($45 billion), but they've promised none of the money going to the Mets is coming from the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

From CNN:

Citigroup told CNN in a statement though that it has a "legally binding agreement" with the Mets, and that it is "using no TARP capital for Citi Field, or for marketing purposes."

Still, where was the uproar when Citigroup sponosred this years Rose Bowl? What about commercials? Billboards? Taxi cabs? You still see Citi's name plastered everywhere. As I've said before, think of "Citi Field" as one giant commercial that's not going anywhere.

I know it's tough to stomach, even for me, but it's just a conglomeration of billboards and ugly patches that Citi has to dish to the Mets.

Oh, and by the way, Adam Rubin notes that even though many people have been claiming it's a $400 million deal for the naming rights, he's heard that it's actually more like $500 million.

Sign Ben Sheets, if and only if...

By bringing Oliver Perez back on board, the Mets rotation looks something like:

1. Johan Santana
2. Mike Pelfrey
3. Oliver Perez
4. John Maine
5. Tim Redding / Freddy Garcia / Jon Niese

With that rotation, and the surplus of possible No. 5 starters on the 40-man roster, I think the Mets should bring on Ben Sheets, if and only if he's halfway healthy.

The pitcher understands that he's injured, and from what we've seen with his career, if he can get out there, he will. Yes, he spends a lot of time on the disabled list, but I feel as though the Mets have enough arms to suffice in a time of need.

Say Sheets makes only 20 starts. That leaves roughly 13 more starts to fill in. I'm confident a rotating cast of Redding, Garcia and Niese could put together a bakers dozen worth of decent starts in his absence.

The Mets have seen, over the past two seasons, that every game is extremely important. If they can get 15 good starts out of Sheets, he might be worth the money. (Notice I haven't talked contract figures yet.)

I'm not quite sure what I'd be comfortable seeing the Mets offer Sheets. They still have a few more cogs to fit in the machine, such as a left-handed arm and possibly another bat, so I don't think they're chomping at the bit to sign him. Still, they should explore all their options and see how much he's really asking.

He'd be playing on a competitive team, much more so than Texas, a team he's been talking to of late, and would be on the big stage to try and set up for a nice payday after one or two years.

Sheets should adopt a lyric from ABBA: "Take a chance on me!"

Did I really just quote ABBA? Yikes.

Citigroup backing out?

Via Reuters:

Citigroup Inc is exploring the possibility of backing out of a nearly $400 million marketing deal with the New York Mets amid concerns over how lenders are using government bailout money, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

MetLife, you better be preparing your bid -- the stars are aligning for you.

Joel Sherman is behind the times (so is Drew Silva)

From The Post, published Feb. 2 at 9:01 p.m.:

The Mets New York Mets have signed leftyy [sic] Valerio de los Santos to a minor league contract, the Post has learned.

From me, published Jan. 29 at 9:13 p.m.:

Tony Armas Jr. will be returning to the Mets organization and Matt DeSalvo, Valerio de los Santos and Bobby Kielty will be the newcomers to the the team.

And now from MLB Trade Rumors...
Feb. 2 @ 9:19 p.m.:

The New York Post's Joel Sherman reports that the Mets have signed left-hander Valerio de los Santos to a minor league contract.

And the same guy, on Jan. 29 @ 7:20 p.m.:

According to the Associated Press, via ESPN.com, the Mets have signed outfielder Bobby Kielty, right-handers Tony Armas Jr. and Matt DeSalvo, and left-hander Valerio de los Santos to minor league contracts.

Someone people missed the memo.

Oliver Perez and Mets agree to deal, in principle

According to Jon Heyman over at SI.com, the Mets and free agent pitcher Oliver Perez have agreed, in principle, to a deal.

Heyman believes the numbers to be for three years and $36 million.

Update: The Post has it too. Same figures. No option, vesting or otherwise, on the deal. Probably because no other team was vying for him.

While it's good to have him back, I'm still iffy on the rotation. Perez is decent and will be a nice addition to the weak rotation, but I don't think he's the anchor the Mets need.

Yay, I guess?

Zeno's Paradox: 'Mets closing in on deal to keep Perez'

So says Ken Rosenthal:

The team is "trying to hold the line" on a three-year deal for Perez, one source said, but a vesting option for a fourth year remains possible.

Oh, just sign him already. This is getting ridiculous.

Or as Donna Chang would say, "ridicurous."

2009 Mets outlook [Video]

On Saturday, I traveled down to Stamford, Conn. to meet with a few bloggers and talk about the Mets past, present and future.

Head over to OnTheBlack.com to watch the video with Joe Janish of Mets Today, David Doyle of Mets Report, Kerel Cooper of On The Black, and me, of The 'Ropolitans (officially the hardest URL to say or spell).

It was a great time, and I thoroughly enjoyed chatting about the team and blogging.

Click here to view the video.

It's officially baseball season to me

With the Steelers thrilling win last night, football season is over, which opens the door for baseball to take over my mind.

February is typically the most boring month of sports, but with pitchers and catchers reporting in 11 days, I'll take what I can get.

----

It's time for staring at pictures of baseball in Florida (while I'm freezing my butt off in Connecticut).

It's time for baseball.

It's time for people I've never heard of to take All Stars deep.

It's time for baseball.

It's time to start talking predictions and statistics.

It's time for baseball.

It's time for the crack of bats and the thump of balls hitting mitts.

It's time for baseball.

It's time to read about pitches breaking and pitchers working.

It's time for baseball.

It's time to get back in the groove, to anticipate games from the moment you wake up until the first pitch is thrown. To cheer the good times and remember to breathe through the tough times.

It's time for baseball.

It's time to live and die with 25 men, a wooden bat, a leather glove and a tiny little ball with red stitching.

It's time for baseball.

Play ball!

Super Bowl prediction

Slow day in the baseball world, so let's talk Super Bowl.

I have the Pittsburgh Steelers beating the Arizona Cardinals by a score of 28-17. I think the Steelers are just too good of a team to fall to the well-timed hot streak that is the Cardinals.

Not that the Giants last year didn't do exactly what Arizona is doing right now.

I'll never forget the New York Football Giants, 2007-2008 Super Bowl Champions. It was fun being able to say "reigning champs" all year.