Former Met second basemen Kaz Matsui has finalized a deal with the Astros. The AP reports that Kaz will receive a 3 year deal for $16.5 million, and has a limited no trade clause.

A MVP in Japan, Kaz spent four seasons with the Mets where he hit a homerun in his first plate appearance in three consecutive seasons. Never quite living up the the expectations of the fans and management, Matsui struggled with injury off and on, going from everyday player to a platoon and eventually was replaced with Jose Valentin before being traded to Colorado for minor league catcher Eli Marrero.

During his interview today on WFAN with Mike and the Mad Dog, Omar Minaya touched on a few key points on everyones mind. Minaya stated throughout the interview that he is looking to upgrade defensively, which explains why he wanted to bring Brian Schnieder aboard. Minaya feels that the team is going in a new direction and that Schnieder would make a better fit that Paul LoDuca.

When asked what size role Ryan Church will have with the Mets in 2008, Minaya indicated that Church will be the starting RF, attributing his number last year to the size of RFK stadium. Minaya also touched on the Mota/Estrada trade, saying that his numbers were fine, but he struggled too much in key spots.

When asked about Billy Wagner’s comments about the team, Minaya said that he brought Wagner in and explained what was going on and Wagner seemed pleased at some of the ideas, but Minaya also told him to be more careful about what he says to the media.

I think that Minaya made some great points and once everyone calms down, they will start to understand him better. I agree the team needs to upgrade defensivley. What’s the point of having good pitching if there is no team behind him?

The New York Mets announced today that they have acquired catcher Johnny Estrada from the Brewers for RHP Guillermo Mota.

Estrada, 31, hit .278 (123-for-442) with 40 runs scored, 25 doubles, 10 home runs and 54 RBI in 120 games with the Brewers last year.

Give me a moment to catch my breath from laughing.

Before we call it quits here for the night, just a few more blogs from todays Round the Metsblogs.  Same topic, different voices.

To start, Mets Today, where they say what Mota did was wrong, but we should support him in his bid to play well while clean, since his success is our success. From their blog:

A nice point. Booing didn't make Beltran hit that first season here.  Booing didn't turn A-rod clutch. Booing didn't help Mackey Sasser throw back to the pitcher. But many players do thrive from crowd support.  Reyes for example, has said in interviews the “Jose” chant energizes him.  While he doesn't deserve Reyes level support, maybe at least a middle ground support given to some of the other various interchangable middle releivers is probably better than booing. They also go a bit into the Bonds issue as well, who they support your booing.

Lou over at Never Forget puts the blame on all of baseball, for their willingness to look the other way when this whole mess started.

Though Lou doesn't say it, if we are going to blame baseball, perhaps we should blame ourselves as well.  We the fans accepted the mysterious homerun rise of the late 90s just as much as the front offices.

And to wrap it up for the night, Melissa over at Blue Skies and Baseball reminds us to respect the game.  Don't boo Barry, or anyone else for that matter, but cheer for your team.Words of wisdom from her  post tonight:

Suspended reliever Guillermo Mota has been added to the roster of AAA New Orleans. Mota will remain unable to pitch for the Mets till end of May, he tested positive for a PED in the offseason.

I assume barring an injury, he'd switch places with Urdenetta. Assuming of course, Mota is ready to actually play and all come June. Smith has been doing too well for the most part to get sent down, so its hard to picture them sending him or any of the others down when Mota is ready to come up. Plus if the two of them switch, it would keep our relievers who's names no one can spell at a steady one. 

John Delcos reports that Guillermo Mota came to camp today.  He apologized to the team for his actions, who according to Delcos took it well. Paul Lo Duca told him:

Mota is currently facing a 50 game suspension for testing positive for steroids.

If the team isn't going to hold a grudge it makes it a little hard for us as fans to as well, not that that will stop us or anything.  The big question now is if Mota sans steroids can pitch just as well as Mota on steroids. As Mota starts his belated spring training and return to shape, it'll be good to keep on eye on, especially since Saunchez is out for an unknown period of time.

via his blog, the New York Daily News' Adam Rubin reports that Duaner Sanchez is heading for a second surgery on his surgically repaired right shoulder. 

Yikes!  This is certainly a tough blow for Sanchez, but this is why Omar stockpiles arms.  Aaron Heilman did a fine job last year and if Guillermo Mota returns to form after his suspension, there are no worries. 

All hands on deck!

At SI.com, Jon Heyman writes that the Mets are closing in on a one-year deal for reliever Guillermo Mota.

Mota will serve a 50 game suspension starting the first day of the season.

Although Mota is suspended for 50 games, I think it was a great idea to bring him back. Losing Bradford should have made re-signing Mota that much more of  a priority for the Mets. Good job Omar and co.

Dan Graziano in The Newark Star Ledger tells us how Guillermo Mota has been receiving guidance from Pedro Martinez, who was the first to notice a fatal flaw in Mota's delivery that the Mets were able to fix along with assistance from Rick Peterson, bullpen coach Guy Conti and Paul Lo Duca. Mota tells Graziano how much he appreciates Pedro's mentorship…

“Pedro, he told me, 'I'm going to be
behind you,'” Mota said. “He said,
'I'll be watching all the pitches you throw.
It's going to be like you have two minds in your
head.' And he helped me tonight.”

The Mets picked had up Mota from the Indians back in August where he was struggling big time, but the Mets saw great potential in the young reliever, feeling that if reunited with his old catcher from Florida and Los Angeles he might improve along with the softer offense in the National League.

“You look at a guy with a six-plus ERA, you
don't know what he's going to do,” Mets GM
Omar Minaya said. “But the first time he pitched for
us, we knew we had something.”

Mota arrived in Flushing and found friends. There was Lo
Duca, the old friend. And there was Martinez, the new
friend. He watched Mota throw in the bullpen, and he spotted
a problem.

Pedro was able to pick out what may have caused the once promising hurler to lose his mojo.

“He was tipping his pitches, from his
mechanics,” Martinez said last night. “You could
tell what he was going to throw, just from his delivery.
When you see differences like that, a good hitter, a guy
like Pujols, he would just eat him up.”

So Martinez mentioned this, not just to Mota, but to Lo
Duca, pitching coach Rick Peterson and bullpen coach Guy
Conti. They all went out to the bullpen one day for an
intervention, and they all worked to fix Mota's
delivery so he wasn't tipping pitches anymore.

From that point on Mota was a different pitcher.

Mota is 3-0 with a 1.00 ERA in 18 appearances with the
Mets. In 18 innings, he gave up two runs on 10 hits, walked
just five and struck out 19. In the Division Series against
the Dodgers, he pitched two crucial innings in Game 1 and
two more in Game 3. And last night, with a two-run lead,
Willie Randolph called on Mota to pitch the eighth inning of
the latest biggest game of the year.

Mota appreciates the confidence Willie Randolph has put in him.

“Willie's given me so much confidence,”
Mota said. “He told me, 'We need you. We believe
in you. And we're going to give you the ball, so be
prepared.'”

Mota said he felt Randolph showed him support in Game 1
against the Dodgers. After Mota gave up three game-tying
runs in the seventh inning, Randolph left him in the game to
pitch to the dangerous Jeff Kent, and Mota struck him out.

“That meant a lot to me, that he had enough
confidence to leave me in,” Mota said.

Mota was the winning pitcher after the Mets came back,
and he hasn't given up a run in three innings since.

Mota shares with Graziano his exchange with Lo Duca last night.

With Eckstein on first base and the count 3-0 on Wilson,
Lo Duca went to the mound.

“He said, 'We gotta go after this
guy,'” Mota said. “He said, 'You
don't want to face Pujols with the go-ahead run at home
plate. Let's not lose this guy.'”

Mota would throw five more pitches to Wilson — two
called strikes, two foul balls and then the pop-up pitch.
One of those five pitches — nobody would say which one –
was called by Pedro Martinez, from the bench.

“At one point, I got Lo Duca's attention and, I
guess, made a suggestion,” Martinez said, smiling.

Lo Duca denied any knowledge of such an exchange, but he
smiled, too, in a way that made you think he wasn't
giving you the whole truth.

“I don't know about that,” he said.
“I was just putting down signs.”

It was Mota who spilled the beans. He's just happy
to have so much help.

“When you have somebody like that behind you,”
he said, pointing across the room at Martinez, “things
are gonna go good.”