In a post to MLBTradeRumors.com, Tim Dierkes reports that the Nationals will not be a part of this offseason’s Manny Ramirez sweepstakes.  He goes on to relay that the Nats are still pursuing a left-handed power bat, with names like Adam Dunn, Prince Fielder, and Mark Texeira on the list of possibilities.

Whew…bullet dodged, huh?  Because, you know, the Nationals are one power bat away from NL East dominance. I know, I know, you have to start somewhere, but you’ve got to think Manny’s a “win-now” acquisition, or at least a “win-in-the-next-3-years” acquisition, and I don’t think the Nationals as a team are exactly in either category.

So, I guess that’s one team out of that race if the Mets were interested, which I doubt they are or will be.

The LATimes is reporting that Angels owner Arte Moreno is prepared to let closer Francisco Rodriguez walk away, and will turn his attention to other top free agents, such as Manny Ramirez and re-signing 1B Mark Teixeira to a long term deal.

Rodriguez, 26, broke the saves record with 62 last year to a tune of a 2.24 ERA.

It makes sense for the Angels to let Rodriguez walk, as they had arguably the best setup man in baseball last year with Jose Arredondo, who would be a perfict fit to slide into the closer’s role. This puts the Mets in a great position to land Rodriguez, with one less team in the bidding war. I’m in favor of signing Rodriguez for a 4 yr/50m deal, but 5/75m seems a bit high for me.

Fernando Martinez is tearing up the Dominican Winter League, hitting to a tune of .364 with 12 RBIs, 2 HRs, 2 triples and 2 doubles in just 16 games.  Fernando Tatis has been doing pretty good as well, with his average currently sitting at .293 with 6 doubles.  Argenis Reyes, you ask?  Not so good, at .250.

Granted, DWL folk hero Anderson Hernandez is leading the league in most categories, so take the information with a grain of salt, but it’s nice to see FMart swinging the bat well.  We all obviously look forward to a healthy 2009 for the “teenage hitting machine”.

On MLB.com yesterday, Marty Noble discusses Jerry Manuel receiving votes for NL Manager of the Year for 2008, the turnaround of the team when he took over for Willie Randolph on June 17, and the eventual September fadeout under him.

When Jerry Manuel took over, the Mets were 34-35.  Under Manuel however, they went 55-38, and finished the year but one game behind the Brewers to miss the Wild Card, and the playoffs altogether, for the second year in a row.

Carlos Delgado, another main storyline when analyzing Manuel’s short tenure as Mets manager, had a .238 BA in 252 at-bats, with 9 home runs and 32 RBI under Willie.  Under Manuel, he hit .298 in 346 at-bats with 29 home runs and 83 RBI.

I think it’s great that Jerry got votes for Manager of the Year at all, given he was only at the helm for a little more than 3 months.

Now, it’s pretty widely agreed upon, whether it’s true or not, that Delgado might’ve dogged it for Willie and turned on the jets for Manuel while the team at large took to his more laid back attitude.  At the same time, it’s my opinion that we would’ve seen less of guys like Dan Murphy and more of guys like, ugh…Luis Castillo, had Willie lasted through the season.  Given all this, I think that 2009 will be Manuel’s true test.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Jerry.  I believe that without him, the Mets wouldn’t even have sniffed the playoffs come September.  The problem is that, for the second year in a row, they faded down the stretch, and managed to squander a golden opportunity to control their own destiny when it mattered most.  Now yes, the bullpen became a complete liability for them, and injuries to Fernando Tatis and Billy Wagner didn’t help matters, but it is what it is.  I’m confident that Omar Minaya will do his best to revamp the bullpen so at least one of those problems is solved, and 2009 will really be the big test for Jerry.  How will the team react to him over a full season, and not as just a break from Willie?  I look forward to finding out.

This piece of non-Mets news is being widely reported at cnet.com and other news outlets, that at the new Yankee Stadium, “fans” in luxury suites will soon be able to change angles on their suite HDTVs, call for instant replays, and order food and drink from phones provided by Cisco through a partnership with the company.

Oh, but it gets worse…

According to Cisco CEO John Chambers per cnet:

…it wouldn’t be long before these other features are added throughout the ballpark and available to fans either on individual terminals at their seats or via their cell phones.

The Yankees are already working on a widget that can be downloaded onto cell phones to provide some enhanced content.

He said fans will eventually be able to order concessions from their seats as well as Yankee merchandise. They might also play Yankee trivia games or get other tidbits of information about the team pushed to their phones. Fans will also be able to get information about tickets to future games or ways to swap tickets with friends. The technology will also allow fans to chat with others both inside and outside the stadium.

The article goes on to talk about plans by Cisco to expand these features into other Major League stadiums.

Oh goody!  I remember hearing about how the Mariners set up a network in their park that connected to people with their Nintendo DSes for who knows why, and the trend is only getting worse with news like this.  I don’t know about you, but I’m not exactly looking forward to a world where, in my twilight years, having brought my grandchildren to their first Mets game, I tell them all about the good old days of baseball when all we were able to do at parks was order food with our cell phones while they’re ignore me, playing the new XBox 12,720 on high def TVs on the backs of the seats in front of them.

Please, Mets, don’t do things like this at Citi Field!  The last thing I need is to look around after a huge play only to see half the crowd cheering while the other half are ordering hats via text message.

The AP has reported that our very own Mike Piazza will start writing a memoir, to be published sometime in 2010.  The book will include Mike’s take on his rivalry with Roger Clemens, Bobby Valentine, Pedro Martinez and Rickey Henderson, among others.  It will also address the 2002 press conference where he denied rumors that he was gay.

Don’t know why they’d want to have that as part of the book’s selling point…unless this picture hints at..well..nah, couldn’t be! 

Over at Yahoo!, Jeff Passan has a solid and useful ranking of all the free-agents this winter. 

The rankings, comprising of 183 players, list Ex-Mets catcher Vance Wilson as ‘Mr. Irrelevant’ at #183 on the list.  Wilson played on the Mets from 1999-2004 primarily as a backup.   

In case anybody was worried, a plethora of Ex-Mets join Wilson near the bottom of the list.  They include:

• #176 Ricardo Rincon
• #174 Matt Wise
• #172 Trot Nixon
• #170 Tony Armas Jr.

If there were anything that the Mets were really good at, it would be piling up a long list of the worst players in baseball.  Way to go guys, represent the orange and blue while negotiating for your minor league contracts, assuming you’re that lucky. 

So, as was reported earlier here on Hot Foot by Dan Lerner, the Oakland A’s have acquired OF Matt Holliday from the Rockies for a trio of young A’s players. The players reportedly going to Colorado are OF Carlos Gonzalez, who will now be with his third organization in three years, reliever Huston Street, who lost his closer’s job this summer and pitcher Greg Smith, who lost 16 games. Yet, Billy Beane managed to package these guys for a premium player like Matt Holliday.

I know many might say Gonzalez is a blue chip OF prospect, but the fact that he has been traded twice in the last two years doesn’t say a whole lot about what the organizations think of him. Gonzalez was unimpressive with Oakland, hitting .242 in 305 ABs. Street lost his job to rookie reliever Brad Ziegler, and has proven to be very injury prone over his first few years in the league. Finally. Smith only had a 4.16 ERA, but he is a junkballer who is going from the best pitcher’s park, to the worst pitcher’s park. Good luck with that one, Dan O’Dowd.

Trevor Cahill, Brett Anderson, or Gio Gonzalez should have been one of the guys going to Colorado for a great player like Holliday. The A’s have a surplus of outfielders and realized that Gonzalez was expendable. Pitching is never expendable, and Beane held on to all his potential aces. Even if he doesn’t sign Holliday, they would still receive two draft picks in the 2010 draft. Once again Beane proved why he is one of the most valuable GM’s in the league.

There is plenty of talk about what the Mets could do, I am here to offer my humble opinion on what I think they should do.

First priority, the biggest issue with this team the last two seasons, and why they could not seal the deal, is because they have had an atrocious bullpen. It is simply inexcusable to have the team put in the position it has without being addressed. It breaks my heart to think that we could likely have been in the playoffs the last two years if it wasn’t for the fact that the Mets failed to go after several available middle relievers who were there for the taking, and performed as they were expected to.

Lets take a look at some of the better middle relievers available this year.

Here is your list of free agent middle relievers this season:

• Chad Durbin
• Damaso Marte (6 million club option with a 0.25 million buyout)
• Russ Springer
• Will Ohman
• Darren Oliver
• Eddie Guardado
• David Weathers
• Dennys Reyes
• Juan Cruz
• Arthur Rhodes
• Kyle Farnsworth
• Jon Lieber
• Jeremy Affeldt
• Keith Foulke
• Doug Brocail (club option)
• Matt Herges
• Al Reyes
• Tom Gordon (4.5 million club option with a 1 million buyout)
• Trever Miller (2 million club option with a 0.4 million buyout)
• Scott Eyre
• Alan Embree (3 million club option)
• Guillermo Mota
• Bob Howry
• Mike Timlin
• Juan Rincon
• Matt Wise
• Kip Wells
• Shawn Chacon
• Steve Kline

I would target Jeremy Affeldt, Scott Eyre, Damaso Marte, and Chad Durbin.

Affeldt had an impressive 3.33 ERA last season and a 3.51 in Colorado of all places last season. Eyre’s 1.17 WHIP last season makes him attractive, and he’s a veteran with a decent track record of success. Marte had a down year in 2008, but he’s a solid arm, with and ERA of 2.38 and 1.10 WHIP in 2007. He’s also able to pitch long relief and even start which makes him even more valuable. Durbin was quite good for the Phillies last year, with a 2.87 ERA, and would be addition by subtraction as well, taking him away from the defending World Series champs.

The Yankees signed Sergio Mitre for $1.25MM, and the Astros signed LaTroy Hawkins to a one-year, $3.5MM contract. These are both solid relievers and give an indication of where the market rates will reside.

If the Mets were willing to spend as much money as they have on Luis Castillo, they shouldn’t cheap out when it comes securing talented relievers. Aaron Heilman and Scott Schoenenweis should be shopped, and Heilman’s value as a starter still seems to be a selling point. I’m not quite sure what Schoeneweis could possibly be dealt for, considering his inconsistency and decent sized contract.

I don’t want to hear about how these pitchers are too inconsistent, and that bullpens are impossible to predict. I think this is one of the biggest myths in baseball. Sure some folks seem to find lightning in a bottle, but its more the case that most folks don’t pay enough attention to them in the first place. Middle relievers are like offensive linemen in the NFL, they are the great unsung heros, without them you are going nowhere fast.

Do you Bet on the Mets? I do with BetPhoenix.com Sportsbook.

Over at Newsday, Ken Davidoff tells us what’s going down during this week’s GM meetings. He says that multiple sources have told him that the Mets have reached out to Sam and Seth Levinson, who represent free agent outfielder Raul Ibanez.

Ibanez, 36, hit .293 with 23 homers and 110 RBI i 2008.

I’ve always liked Ibanez, and if he could be had for 2 yr 18m deal or so, I’d fully endorse it. The guy is an RBI machine who hits alot of doubles and pops some homers along with it.

In a fantastic article for MLB.com, Marty Noble tells the story of and talks to Mets OF Ryan Church, who, if you’ll recall, was considered the Mets’ MVP until his second concussion of the year, on May 20, completely derailed his season.  He talks about recovering from post-concussion syndrome, his excitement for the 2009 season, and as an added bonus, debunks one ridiculous rumor that Mike Francesa’s been spreading.

Of all the losses the Mets had to endure during the season, from John Maine to Billy Wagner to Fernando Tatis, Ryan’s injury was probably the most detrimental to the club.  It’s even harder to think about when you remember the play he got hurt on:  trying to take out Braves IF Yunel Escobar in a bid to break up a double play, which would have won the Mets that game as the winning run would’ve scored…

Before the concussion, Church was hitting .311 in 157 at-bats with 9 home runs and 32 RBI.  After coming back on August 22nd, however, he hit just .219 in 114 at-bats with 2 home runs and 13 RBI through the end of the season.

I highly suggest you check out this article, as it also discusses legitimate fears that Church had of his health deteriorating when he recalls the symptoms he had to deal with while trying to recover at home.

He was great to watch when he was healthy, but was brutal when he came back.  Here’s hoping that he’s able to return to early ‘08 form, if that is in fact the “real” Ryan Church.

• Being that we currently have Marlon Anderson in the super-sub role, I’m assuming Damion Easley will be let go.  Frankly, as much as I’ve grown to love some of our bench players, most of them looked half a step slower than the year before, so I’ve grown a bit weary of players like Marlon and Endy Chavez.  Sure, Endy’s responsible for“The Catch” , but he looked way out of his league with a bat in his hands.  I say we also focus on shaking up the bench a bit, see if it can generate some excitment as opposed to bleeding ulcers.
• Is anyone else not crazy about Brian Fuentes?  He’s a 33 year old pitcher who carries a losing record, has a lifetime ERA of 3.41 and is coming off his best season in a year where we desperately need a closer.  It seems that he’s generating more buzz than what his stats would normally generate, which could lead to an expensive contract and a bit of buyer’s remorse a year from now.  Hopefully our Mets will explore every option, including other alternatives such as Juan Cruz (also coming off a career year).
• Huston Street.  Buy.  Low.
• Carlos Delgado.  Sell.  High. 

Obviously the Mets are looking for starting pitching so it would seem to me Omar Minaya would be looking for pitchers with proven track records and or some decent upside. But with this report coming out of Chicago it seems he is seeking neither. Dave Van Dyck of the Chicago Tribune is reporting that a source at the GM meetings yesterday in Dana Point, Calif. said the Mets are interested in Chicago White Sox hurler Javier Vazqez.

Van Dyck says he does not know what the Mets may have to part with for Vazquez but it is reasonable to assume that money will be the major component if a deal could be struck. Vazquez is owed 23 million over the next two seasons.

One from a well-placed source at the general managers meetings said the Mets had interest in Javier Vazquez.
The source did not know what the Mets were offering in return, but it might not be much if they would take the entire $23 million owed to the right-hander for the next two seasons.

Now, I understand that Vazquez has a live arm and Omar had him when they were both in Montreal. But when he was in NY with the Yankees and since with the White Sox Vazquez has proven he cannot handle a big market or big games. When with the Yankees his regular season numbers were decent but his playoff appearances were dismal. In the 2004 playoffs vs the Twins he gave up five ER and seven hits in just five innings. Then vs the Red Sox he got the win but gave up seven ER and nine hits in 6.1 innings. Then this year the Rays destroyed him. He allowed six ER and eight hits in just 4.1 innings.

So please Omar look for players who haven’t already shown everybody that they can’t handle the big stage. It’s not like the Mets have a pitching coach who could fix these guys in ten minutes.

1. Oliver Perez, Damion Easley and Matt Wise all filed for free agency today.

• The Perez situation should drag on for awhile. Being that Perez is represented by Scott Boras the contract demands will likely be substantial. Additionally, Perez may end up a Type-A free agent, meaning that if the Elias Sports Bureau determines that Perez was in the top 30% of starting pitchers over the past two seasons, the Mets would receive two first round picks, one from the team Perez signs with and a supplemental first round pick, should Perez bolt. It is probably in the Mets best interests to collect the picks on Perez and sign another Type-A free agent. I will offer a much more thorough analysis of the Oliver Perez situation as we hear more from Omar and Boras.
• I would like to see the Mets sign Easley as he is a reliable bat off the bench and gives the Mets some flexibility but I have a feeling Omar may want to get younger on the bench.
• I would be surprised if Wise, who spent the majoriity of the season on the DL, was with the Mets next season.