Mets Catcher Brian Schneider spoke with Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts today on WFAN.

On Schneider’s fielding problems thus far:

“I went to a new glove, not making excuses, but I’m done with it. When you start to think about where in the glove to catch the ball then you gotta get rid of it. Going back to my old one. Also, getting used to new guys (pitchers) but like I said, no excuses.”

On Johan Santana:

“I think he’s thrown the ball really well so far. Just the big hits have been home runs and that is disappointing.”

On Oliver Perez:

“He just missed some spots. No, I don’t think he was rattled by the home runs (against Milwaukee). It’s tough you don’t wanna lose leads like that.”

Asked about Willie and Perez:

“I don’t see much of a difference in the way Willie treats Ollie compared with the rest of the staff.”

Asked how he handles pitchers:

“You have to handle them by their different personalties.”

On whether the players are missing some fire:

“It’s a long season, it may look like that when your not playing well but you have to pace yourself, there is fire don’t get me wrong. It’s tough for me because I’m so new here. Most of the leadership is done on the field, by example”.

On the negativity from the fans:

“There is always negativity when you are not playing well, when your not winning. But when guys are going well like Scott Schoeneweis is going well and still gets booed, that’s hard to understand. I mean three straight good appearances… No, we don’t talk about it, we already know, it effects guys”.

On Mike Pelfrey:

“I’m hoping we see some of the stuff he had in his last outing, too bad there were so many foul balls, it really got his pitch count up”.

On Aaron Heilman:

“His first couple of outings he had trouble with his release point but he’s worked with Peterson and he’s been sharp since.”

On facing his old club (Nationals) and upcoming lefties:

“I’m real excited, still have friends over there… I know with all three of these games being night games, I hope Willie leaves me in. I know I won’t be asking out.”

Mets catcher Brian Schneider with talk with WFAN’s Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts after 12 today. To listen online click here.

After today’s loss to the Brewers Johan Santana and Willie Randolph met with media. Here are some excerpts. To hear each press conference go to WFAN.com.

First Santana:
Santana’s overall opinion on the game:

“I felt good, tried to establish my fastball early in the game. Made a couple of mistakes and they hit them out of the park. They have a lot of strong guys over there.”

On the bunt play in which Brewer C. Hart scored:

“On that play, once he put the ball down I was told to throw to first base and that’s what I did. I got the runner behind me, I didn’t see him.”

On his first start at Shea:

“I was excited. Unfortunately it didn’t go the way a lot of people wanted it to. But I felt good, you’ve got to give credit to the other guy (Brewers pitcher Ben Sheets) he did a good job. He pitched real well and I didn’t.”

On hearing some Boos while exiting the game:

“If they boo, that’s fine. That’s the history they have from not being so good, I guess. I’ve seen it before, it’s not the first time I’ve seen that happen to a home player. We are not perfect. We are gonna make mistakes sometimes. It’s just how you react to it and how you bounce back. I know a lot of people are expecting a lot from me and I am trying to exceed all those expectations. If the fans feel that way, they can feel the way they want. We are trying to do our job here and please a lot of people, but we are not perfect.”

Note: Peter Botte of The Daily News wrote “I didn’t view that as a rip on the fans, more a matter-of-fact observation about what went on here at the end of last year, etc”.

Listening to the Santana press conference I have to agree with Mr. Botte. There wasn’t any “attitude” in Santana’s comments towards the fans.

Willie on Santana:

“I thought he threw well. The defense made him work harder. I don’t like to see the homeruns but he’s gonna come after you, pound the zone. He’s gonna challenge you. Hope the homerun’s don’t happen too much though (slight smile).”

On Brewers Pitcher Ben Sheets:

“He didn’t give us many opportunity’s. He set down something like 18 in a row, he was on top of his game.”

Overall:

“This is what happens when you don’t catch the ball. Overall defense was key today and we weren’t very good.”

I personally hated to hear, what sounded like just a few boos. But that was still too many for me. The fact that there were enough boos for it to be brought up to Santana in the press conference was too bad. I know, I know, people pay their money and they have the right. But I just think it’s so counter productive. We are suppose to ROOT for the home team. No matter what the players say, it gets to them and if we can help, even for purely selfish reasons we as fans should do so. But that’s just my opinion and you already know what they say about those.

Eddie Coleman, who covers the Mets for Wfan spoke with host Richard Neer this morning.

On Pitchers Mike Pelfrey and Nelson Figueroa Eddie basically stated the obvious saying that they “both pitched well enough and deserve another start”.

On Duaner Sanchez:

“Last night he pitched a scoreless inning in Triple A. Today will be a big day for Sanchez because he is scheduled to pitch back to back days for the first time.”

On Aaron Heilman:

“That’s what I like about Willie, he gets you right back on the horse and Heilman looked real good last night. He is important to this team and a lot of the criticism is unwarranted.”

On Jose Reyes:

“For me there is a concern (strained left hamstring) because Reyes in the past, is a “I’ll play, I’ll play” type guy. But last night, right away he said he wasn’t gonna play today. So it makes you wonder, it’s a concern.”

On Carlos Delgado:

“He pulled a base hit last night but he has been going the other way and that is good to see. No real power yet but I think it will come. The Mets as a team haven’t hit many homeruns, it’s to early to tell if Citi Feild has anything to do with it, they haven’t played many home games. But I think Carlos is still a 30 homerun guy.”

On Angel Pagan:

“He has certainly been legit with everything so far. Everything they have asked of him he has excelled at. He’s played the field well, timely hitting, base running. He has just been strong since spring training. You might see him in the lead-off spot today.”

Not much news here but Eddie’s take on Reyes quickly saying he won’t play today is a concern for me and I can assume for all Mets fans. Also, Sanchez throwing in back to back games for the first time today in triple A is definitively something to keep an eye on. If Duaner can get healthy this could be an elite bullpen.

Today, Fox Sports Baseball Analyst Eric Karros was a guest on WFAN’s Mike and the Mad Dog program. While speaking about the Mets Karros sounded downright gloomy. After stating that he was not surprised that Pedro Martinez suffered an injury, he went on to say:

“are you gonna win with Pelfrey and Figeroa, right now that’s tough for me to swallow, way too many questions”.

When asked if Oliver Perez is a strength:

“Well, if he pitches like he has in his first two starts then you can start to print-up the playoff tickets now. But will he revert back to the guy we saw in Pittsburgh”.

Overall Karros did not seem optimistic about the Mets chances this season based mostly on a “lack of pitching depth” and a “strong division”.

One other note, while talking with callers about Aaron Heilman Mike and the Dog pulled up this stat that I found interesting, Heilman gave up two homeruns over his last 32 appearances last season. One in August and one in September.

A few notes from Willie Randolph’s weekly Mike and The Mad Dog call…

• Nelson Figueroa is on standby and Willie indicated that he would likely take Pedro Martinez’s place if he is DL’ed which Willie also said is most likely.
• Oliver Perez should be the home opener starter the way things are lining up.
• With off-days they may be able to get through without needing to replace Pedro, but Figueroa is the likely starter if they do need one.
• On Oliver Perez : “I thought he had a decent spring. He had some issues with his arm slot at times. I think Ollie is oblivious from everything that goes around him”
• Willie considered putting Raul Casanova in tonight for Ryan Schneider to give him some rest but Schneider talked him out of it.
• Said Ryan Church needs to show him more from a left-handed standpoint, but he has a “beautiful” swing and just needs to get into a “nice little rhythm”
• Mike Pelfrey was “lights out” in the bullpen but has to transfer that to the game. “I think this kid is gonna be fine. His sinker is so powerful. I think this kid is gonna win some games for us”
• On John Maine : “When you look at John you can see him coming into his own. He was in the best shape of anyone in camp. He is starting to really feel himself. He got a little swagger going.”
• On last nights game : “I keep telling our guys to stay through the middle and taking small bites. Be patient. Last night we had that kid on the ropes but we took some overaggressive hacks”
• On Ruben Gotay and Brady Clark : “Gotay really is one dimensional. Gotay doesn’t play the outfield, he doesn’t play the corners. I like Gotay a lot but he didn’t fit into this team. I think Clark right now is a better bat off the bench. Clark can get on base, he can walk, he will scrap and battle. With the left handed dominance in our line up we need a Clark in there to give us an at bat.”
• On the bullpen : “A guy who could be a sleeper for us, even though he gave up the home run last night is Wise, he has a great change up, maybe the best on our staff. He struck two guys out and then he hung a change up there. Sanchez coming back, getting him in the loop is gonna help. I think he will be back towards the end of April.”
• On the Marlins : “We need to get some payback on some people and this is one of the teams.”
• On carrying “The Collapse” : “No, I put my finger on the pulse of this team early on. Everyone let it go, spring training. We understand where we been but we don’t dwell on it. We got some serious payback coming. They know what they have to do and they want to rectify it this year”

In his video blog for WFAN, Evan Roberts states that the Mets are the team to beat in the NL and declares them champions for the upcoming season.

Well not only is this insane, but it may be an absolute jinx.  I mean, it’s barely March.  While we are all certainly optimistic about the upcoming season, I didn’t think anyone would be crazy enough to make a statement like that and videotape it.  If the Mets have a poor season, don’t think I wont remember this video Evan.     

Eddie Coleman on his blog for WFAN takes a closer look at the NL East and how the teams stack up in 2008.

Among the most significant moves Eddie details are Florida taking the biggest hit, dealing Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to the Tigers for LHP Andrew Miller and OF Cameron Maybin and four others.

The Nationals acquired Lastings Milledge from the Mets and Elijah Dukes from Tampa Bay, and signed catcher Paul LoDuca. They lost Brian Schneider and Ryan Church in the Milledge deal. Eddie believes the Nats won’t win the NL East but will be a pain in the butt to the front-runners.

The Braves took Tom Glavine away from the Mets. They lost Andruw Jones as well as Edgar Renteria, hoping Yunel Escobar will be major league ready. The Braves bullpen took a hit, losing Oscar Villarreal, Jose Ascaino, Ron Mahay and Chad Paronto.

The Phillies lost CF Aaron Rowand, Tad Iguchi, Michael Bourn and Geoff Geary. They picked up Brad Lidge who could be a huge X factor. They added Geoff Jenkins to replace Rowand and signed So Taguchi who led all N.L. pinch-hitters with a .406 (13-32) average.

Eddie doesn’t see a clear front runner in the East at this time, and aside from the Marlins downgrading significantly, nobody has drastically improved or regressed.

Meanwhile, over at Promote The Curse, Cheddar Ben sizes up the entire National League.

WFAN just read the list.

They are now broadcasting the press conference live.

MLB.com just posted the full report HERE.

Paul LoDuca joined Joe Beningo and Evan Roberts today to discuss his feelings on the events of the last few weeks. When asked why he though he wasn’t asked back to the Mets, Lo Duca said he felt like he “was never their #1″ and that he just fell into their lap. He also notes that he does think he may have been too outspoken in the clubhouse.

Evan inquired as to how much communication the Mets and Lo Duca had during the off season, he expressed that he was upset at the lack of communication between the Mets and himself. He also noted that the rumors of him wanted 3-4 years is obviously false since he just signed a 1 year contract with the Washington Nationals.

Lo Duca described his visit to Washington yesterday, telling Joe and Evan how welcome he felt by everyone in the Nats front office.

The link to the full interview will be posted when it is made available by WFAN.

The interview was very interesting and informative. I really commend Paulie for how he handled the situation. I must say, when he discussed his trip to Washington, you could head his mood instantly brighten. As much as I am going to miss him, I am glad he is optimistic about his new spot. Good luck, Paulie.

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?

Omar Minaya will be on WFAN with Mike and the Mad Dog at 4pm today.

The Mets WFAN broadcaster Tom McCarthy is leaving the station, headed back to Philly according to the Phillies official website. Prior to joining the Mets team, McCarthy was a Phillies broadcaster (’01 to ‘05). His new deal, according to the press release, is for five years.

There is no word yet on who will replace him in the WFAN booth.

My cable provider (who shall remain nameless) often has issues with the SNY signal, so I was a subscriber to MLB Radio, and always enjoyed the great broadcasts from Tom and Howie. He shall be missed.

Thanks to Aaron on LI for the tip.

Peter Abraham of the Journal News was on WFAN with host Steve Somers early this morning. Abraham discussed the news of the day, that being Joe Torre signing on to manage the Dodgers.

Abraham believes that it’s going to be a three-year deal for Torre and that it could get done within the next 24 hours.

Click Here to listen to the interview.