Since the Mets aren’t the only team with rumors and speculation following them around:

ESPN reports the Mariners have fired their GM, Bill Bavasi, with VP Lee Pelekoudas taking over. Seattle currently has the worst record in baseball. Bavasi was stuck with an aging team and a depleted farm system, which he was unable to turn around.

Hmm…aging roster, depleted farm system, looks like Omar has a pen pal.

The Rangers released Sidney Ponson, who was DFA’d back on the 6th. According to the AP, Ponson was cut for his poor attitude. He was 4-1 with a 3.88 ERA in 9 starts, much better than his performance last year with the Twins. Ponson had been signed to a minor league contract by Texas.

Hot Foot’s own Andrew Beaton was the first to let us know about the good time the Texas Rangers had sliding on the tarp during yesterday’s downpour at Shea. In this video you can see the fun they had and hear the chants of ‘Lets Go Rangers’ from the fans who loved watching it.

Hat tip to mvn.com for the video.

Following last night’s rainout, the Mets play a rare single admission doubleheader against the Texas Rangers today at Shea. The first game is slated for a 1:10 PM start. John Maine (6-4 3.60 ERA) will face Kevin Millwood (4-3 4.91).

Keys to the Game:

• Avoid the longball. The way your going to beat this Ranger team is to score alot of runs off their horrid staff, and to not allow the longball to their big boppers. Four out of their first five hitters have double digit home run totals. If Maine is able to keep these guys at bay, we’ll be in good shape.
• Johnny, Throw Strikes. This year Maine has been getting very high pitch counts early in games, and has not been able to go deep very often. The bullpen is rested thanks to Pelfrey Santana and Ollie, but it would be nice to get some length from Maine for his own sake. Plus, he needs to get a hit today to keep up with the other guys.
• Win it for Willie. We all know Willie doesnt deserve to be fired, so go out there and win some ballgames and maybe he wont get the undeserved boot.

For a lineup, head over to John Delcos’s blog for TheJournalNews.

As always, head on over to The Hot Foot Bleachers to chat during the game.

As interleague play resumes, the Mets take on the Rangers for a three game series.  Let’s take a look at the Rangers so far this year:

• Record: 34 - 34
• 378 runs scored, 1st in MLB
• .286 batting average, 1st in MLB
• 5.04 ERA, last in MLB
• Relievers have a 5.23 ERA, worst in MLB, .6 runs behind second to last team

So, it’s pretty clear they have a pretty dominant lineup, let’s take a look at their offense:

Josh Hamilton was acquired in the offseason for SP Edison Volquez.  Hamilton has been nothing short of studly.  He is batting .316 with 17 HRs and 71 RBIs, with his HR and RBI total leading the American League.  However, Hamilton has competition for best hitter in the Rangers outfield.  Milton “The Human Board Game” Bradley is batting .333 with 14 HRs and 45 RBIs, but missed the beginning of the season.  Bradley, while talented has always had temper issues such as earlier this season when he stormed up to the announcing booth when he disagreed with something that they said.  Other stars include their middle infielders Ian Kinsler and Michael Young who are batting .311 and .299 respectively.  Also, 3B Ramon Vazquez is batting .331 with 3 HRs and 16 RBIs. 

Unfortunately for the Rangers, their pitching has been as bad as their hitting has been good.  Here are the three SPs that the Mets will be facing:

Game 1: Scott Feldman (RHP) vs. Oliver Perez

Feldman, a Hawaiian native, has been a reliever in his professional career until this year.  First called up to the majors in 2005, he never made a MLB start until this season.  Overall this season he is 1-2 with a 4.31 ERA, but he has excelled as a SP with a 3.93 ERA as a starter through 8 starts.  The key to hitting Feldman so far has been getting to him late in games, from pitches 76-100 batters are hitting .277 off of him, while they have struggled low in the pitch count.  Mets batters need to foul off pitches and work the count, to get Feldman working and so they can eventually get to the Rangers bullpen, as mentioned above is by far the worst in the league.

Game 2: Doug Mathis (RHP) vs. Pedro Martinez

If you’re looking to explain the woes of the Rangers rotation, Mathis is a nice place to start.  The 25 year old rookie has been clobbered thus far, owning a 7.52 ERA through seven appearances with four of them as starts.  In his four outings as a starter he has an 8.83 ERA.  Almost everybody, women and children included, have been teeing off vs. Mathis.  Righties are batting .350 while lefties are batting a cruel .383.  One interesting note about Mathis is that in only 58 plate appearances, he has walked lefties 10 times, while in 43 appearances he has only walked righties thrice.  Lefties should be patient, he must be uncomfortable pitching to them evidenced by the mashing and walks against him. 

Game 3: Kevin Millwood (RHP) vs. John Maine

Mets fans should be familiar with  Millwood and his work - he pitched for the Braves from 1997 through 2002.  After having a career year in 2005 with the Indians when he dueled his way to a 2.86 ERA, Millwood has since been a Texas Ranger and has struggled.  This year, he has a 4.91 ERA through 12 starts.  He has always faired farely well against the Mets, going 7-5 with a 3.38 ERA over his career.  This year, righties have been the ones causing trouble vs. Millwood with a .348 batting average, compared to a .275 average vs. lefties.  Would I be insane to think our switch hitters should bat righty? Millwood will likely be the toughest of the three starters the Mets face, but that isn’t saying much.   

Summary:

While they won’t be an easy opponent, they are a very beatable team.  They’re lineup is scary, best in the league, but their pitching is equally poor.  The Mets should be able to pounce on their weak pitching, especially their weak bullpen.  The Mets should be able to win two out of three, especially if Oliver Perez wakes up this morning and know how to pitch - which we should not take for granted.  Oh, and if we wanna win that Billy Wagner guy is going to have to remember how to pitch. 

We’re in good shape, as long as they don’t have the real Texas Ranger, Walker Texas Ranger:

In an article for SI.com, Jon Heyman explains that weeks before the Mets acquired Johan Santana, the Texas Rangers came very close to a deal for the star pitcher. Many believe that Santana’s unwillingness to go a bad team and pitch in a hitter’s ballpark played a major part in the deal falling through.

Who could blame Johan for not wanting to go to Texas? That might be one of the worst 5 teams to be on right now..

Former Met and Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan has agreed to a four year contract with the Rangers to serve as their President, according to ESPN. According to the article, Ryan will spend some time getting a feel of the players, coaches, and organization in general before changing things up. From Ryan:

“I don’t want to come in and make wholesale changes without knowing where we are in this organization and this operation”

Ryan started his career with the Mets, including the 1969 World Series team, but threw all seven of his no hitters elsewhere.

Good luck to Ryan. It must be extra exciting for GM Jon Daniels, who was a Met fan in his younger days.

Hall of Famer and former Met ace Nolan Ryan is back with the baseball community. The AP reports that he has been hired as President of the Texas Rangers.

Ryan has been involved with the Astros organization, working more with the minor league teams. He played with the Rangers at the end of his career, during which time he put the smack down on other former Met Robin Ventura (a White Sock at the time).

Ryan has 324 wins, 5714 strikeouts, and seven no hitters. He made his MLB debut as a Met and was a member of the 69 World Series team. He had 14 games as a Met with double digit strikeouts and a 3.58 ERA with the team.

I’d assume Ryan will have to sell his stake in the two minor league teams, since both are part of the Astros family. Either way, best of luck to Ryan. He’ll have his work cut out for him, helping to get a Rangers team that hasn’t done much so far this decade to a more competitive level.

According to AP The Cincinnati Reds dealt OF Josh Hamilton to the Texas Rangers for Pitcher Edinson Volquez and a minor league pitcher.The 26 year old Hamilton batted 292 with 19 Home Runs and 47 rbis after making at back from the substance abuse program.

Gorden Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times reports that the Cubs are currently the team to beat in the race to sign OF Kosuke Fukudome. The White Sox, Padres, Mariners, Rangers and Giants have reportedly had serious interest in signing him.

The report also has a couple of trade rumors regarding the Cubs. As it stands right now, Mark Prior appears likely to land in his hometown of San Diego if dealt this offseason, though the Reds have also been linked to the 27-year old southpaw.

Also, Wittenmyer notes that the Toronto media have had reports out that suggest the Jays may pursue Cubs closer Ryan Dempster, who is prepping a return to the rotation next year.

Its December 27th and it appears that the Rangers are getting antsy. The Star Telegram reports that Rangers owner Tom Hicks has told Scott Boras that if his client does not accept their offer by this weekend they will explore other options.

The Mets, according to a source at The Daily News, have yet to make an offer. The Yankees are being rumored in the papers to have interest in Zito if they can trade away Randy Johnson, however some have argued that the Yankees are not as willing to make a run at Zito as some may make you think. Zito has not pitched well against the Yankees or many of their AL East rivals, which could hold some weight in their decision. The Yankees have found themselves overpaying for quite a few free agent pitchers over the past few years and with a front office now more closely controlled by Brian Cashman than George Steinbrenner, its less likely the Yankees would make a 'at all costs' deal under his regime. 

The decision to pass on one player, Carlos Beltran, could have actually been their biggest mistake. After a rocky start with the Mets, Beltran has comfortably settled into his new environment and solidified the solid core of young stars in Queens. Its still anyones guess whether or not the Yankees will make a play, and its in their best interest to play coy than drive up the price. What it does do is add another dimension to how Boras treats his negotiations, and in classic Boras style play the teams against each other.

So now we wait to see what will happen first. Will the Zito negotiations now drag out until if and when the Yankees can find a suitor for Randy Johnson? Will the Yankees deny any interest in Zito and remove any leverage Boras might have playing to that angle? Stay tuned.

The Dallas Morning News is reporting that the White Sox have traded P Brandon McCarthey and OF Dave Paisano to the Rangers for P John Danks, P Nick Masset and P Jacob Rasner.

Interesting trade. From everything you heard, the Sox have been making room for McCarthey for years and to just trade him like this is odd. Texas got away with highway robbery in this deal.

For those of you who think this bodes well for us in the Barry Zito sweepstakes, you are out of luck since the Rangers 5th starter at the moment is John Koronka

Jerry Crasnick on ESPN reports that free agent right-hander Vicente Padilla has reached a preliminary agreement on a $34 million, three-year contract with the Texas Rangers.

Hat tip to Gary from MetsZone.net for the news.