Steve laid out a very persuasive case on Wednesday for the Mets to sell. 

I read Steve's post as I was coincidentally talking to my co-worker about cricket.  He happens to be related to Pakistani cricket legend Imran Khan.

I have often suggested that we cover cricket in greater detail.  Steve travels often to Pakistan and India, two cricket crazy countries.  Despite his reluctance, I have been working on recruiting The Riddler (England), Aussie Rod, and Gautam (India) to write more cricket.  The Mets may push Steve over the edge.

Anyway, back to Mets, our buddy Omar is in a bind.  Other teams know it and are holding him ransom.  The Mets gave up lots to get to Johan and that depleted their farm system.  F-Mart and anyone who is kind of sort of a major league has already been called up.  The Mets have to soldier on and hope Omar can pull a rabbit out of the hat as well as the injured return ASAP.

 

Yes, new SATT buddy DW should be more of a leader.  However, I don’t agree that the Mets should wait till 2010.  The Mets have won the first two games of July.  Everyone will have at least four days off in mid-July for the All Star Break.  That only leaves two weeks to get to the end of the month when many of the injured Mets will return.  I think the Mets can tread water until then. 

The Tank’s Bottom Line: I am a glass half full guy.  I am hanging my hat on the Mets aren't that far out of first place and the Wild Card.  If the Mets were chasing the Dodgers in the NL West, I might be drafting my concession speech.  But, I am The Tank and my job is to keep fighting till the end.  "Winners never quit and quitters never win!"

 

As for cricket, there are many similarities to baseball.  There is a bat and ball.  It is played in warm weather and people drink beer to stay cool. 

Posted by The Tank barely "Keeping the Faith" on the DL as my right knee still isn't a 100 percent since injuring it at the North Pole Marathon.

A few months ago, Mets GM Omar Minaya said that the Mets lacked an “edge” when playing. Yesterday former Met great John Franco on XM’s Inside Pitch said the Mets lacked leadership in the clubhouse:

“You know, there’s still something missing there.  I don’t know what it is the last couple of years.  Watching them almost every day, there’s no leadership there.  Nobody wants to step forward and be a leader.  Something is missing and it’s hard to put your finger on it.  They got some great, talented players - Reyes and Wright and Beltran, now Santana’s there – but I just can’t put my finger on it.  It seems like, to me, they’re not having fun, even when they were winning.  Playing in New York, the pressure cooker here, I’m sure there’s a lot of pressure on them, but they need to relax a little bit and look like they’re having fun.  It kind of looks like they’re not having fun and everybody’s on their own page.”

 

Franco was specifically calling out David Wright:

“With the Mets, a guy like David Wright is a guy that I’m hoping – you know, I tried talking to him and tell him to come forward and be that guy, but I think David feels that being that he’s such a young player and you have the Delgados and Sheffields and veteran guys like that, he’s afraid that they’ll look at him like, ‘Be quiet and sit down.’ “

 

I agree with Franco about the need for leadership, but not about David being wimpy. For some reason the Mets have not made David Wright the captain.

 

In phase I of fixing the Mets for 2010 (since 2009 is lost), Omar and Jerry should make David Wright the official Captain. This will give him the props needed to start to lead the team. Without it, the Mets will lack edge and will lack leadership. A good edge and leadership go hand in hand and will win you an an extra 10 games a year. 9 more then needed in each of the last two years…

 

Posted by Steve in New York

A few weeks ago I wrote that the Mets season was over. Yesterday I told Jack that I have started to watch cricket.  The clubhouse is a funeral home I have been told. Players are openly begging Omar to make a move. Omar has two decisions, buy or sell. Here is the case for both.

 

The Case to Buy

This is New York, you have to win today. New stadium with long lines at the expensive shake shack and parking costs $10. The Phillies are banged up too and desperately need pitching. While the Marlins are up recently, the Mets are “only” 3 games out of first after the Yankee sweep and the last two losses. The rule of thumb while you have major injuries is to play at least .500 ball through the DL period and catch up when healthy. Most of the key players on the DL (Beltran, Reyes, Perez, Maine, etc) should be back before the trade deadline at the end of this month.

The case to buy says that while Putz and Delgado are out until at least August, we may see the return of Billy Wagner around then, eliminating the need for a set up man, just creating a need for a power bat (if you believe Maine and Perez will be effective in the second half). In theory the Mets have what other teams want: pitching. The Mets can get Alex Rios cheap and then try to add both Matt Holliday and Orlando Hudson. (Maybe not all at the trade deadline, one may come in the off season, like Hudson.) Unloading Evens for Rios and Church and Nieve/Parnell for Holliday. Billy Beane will make the Mets pay some of Church’s salary, but he loves guys like Church and Nieve. With Rios and Holliday and most of the team back from the DL, the Mets can have a good offensive punch with solid pitching. (However, to lure Holiday to a multi year deal after 2009, the Mets will have to bring in the right field wall. Note to Mets management: David Wright’s HR power is to right field.)

 

The Case to Sell

The Mets collapsed two years in a row in September and this year the collapse looks like it will happen in July. The Mets were 9-18 in June. I fear July will be worse.

While most players are due back from the DL, how effective will Reyes and Beltran be playing through the pain? You still need some pop in the lineup with Delgado gone. Holliday won’t want to come to a pitchers park, his agent will remind him of David Wright’s 4 home runs. The Mets also need a better rotation in addition to some help in the outfield since Perez is still a head case. What is your power rotation during a 7 game series, Johan Santana can’t pitch all 7 games?

As Omar says, there are 22 teams in the playoff hunt, so the trade prices have gone up. If the prices have gone up, maybe the Mets should start to think about 2010.  In this market teams would pay top dollar for Livan Hernandez, Bobby Parnell, and Fernando Nieve. Even Ryan Church would fetch a nice premium. The Mets should consider trading Evans as well. Fetch Alex Rios and a ton of prospects that you can bring up in September as well as trade in the off season.  During the off season you can even trade Jose Reyes for a rock star Santana kind of pitcher and some prospects.

 

As a lifelong Mets fan who is use to “waiting until next year,” Steve says sell. I am sure that the optimist Tank says buy. We’ll see what Omar does.

 

Posted by Steve in New York watching Cricket until 2010…

The Tank’s Note: Proud Papa Chris checks in with an update for Chris, my little step-brother.

 

The team finished out the season strong.  Chris shared time between SS, 1B, and 3B.  He likes playing first, but he has a really good arm so they put him at short.  I need to work with him on grounders, and throwing to first.  Unfortunately at this age they don't have summer ball, but I am starting to get some of his teammates together on the weekends. He should be ready to move up next year.  I have some good photos here.

Chris's team finished strong.  They don't keep standings in this league, but I think they were probably 7 - 3.  We've already started
practicing for next year with some of the kids.  We had our first practice today.  We also switched to regular hard balls (I had to go
out and get a new mitt, Chris has worn through mine).  If anyone wants to come by and be a human target....er I mean a batter, Chris needs to
practice his pitching. :)

 

Written by Proud Papa Adam and posted by The Tank in NY.

Mariano Rivera notched his 500th career save at Citi Field on Sunday night.  He helped his own cause when K-Rod walked him with the bases loaded to make the score 4-2.  It was his first career RBI. 

 

Mariano is arguably the greatest reliever of all time.  He is only 71 behind Trevor Hoffman of the Tigers.  If Mariano stays healthy, he’ll pass Hoffman.  Even if he doesn’t, Hoffman doesn’t have four World Series rings.  Sports Illustrated insulted me and others baseball fans by saying that Hoffman was the best reliever of all time earlier this decade.  I was so offended that I haven’t bought SI since then; I even boycott the Swimsuit Issue. 

 

500 saves is a great milestone.  I was lucky to witness his 300th save on Memorial Day Weekend 2004 in Saint Petersburg against the D-Rays.  I was grateful that Robert invited me.  I met his friend Roy who needed a liver.  Roy fought valiantly until the end a couple of years ago.  Life is about special moments like 2004 and tonight.  Enjoy every moment.  Congratulations Mariano!  R.I.P. Roy. 

 

Posted by a grateful Tank in NY.  

The Tank’s Note: Adam is not only the Proud Papa of future big leaguer Chris.  Like Steve, Adam is also an Islanders fan.  This year’s draft was held in Montreal, home of the Canadiens.  Without further ado, here’s Adam!  

 

In case you missed it the Islanders had the first pick in last night's NHL draft.  Most people around hockey all agreed that John Tavares was
the #1 pick. He scored 72 as a 16 year old in Canada and holds numerous scoring records. But this being the Islanders there was the
possibility that they could take Victor Hedman a defenseman. Hedman is very good, but it takes defenseman a few years to mature both
physically and mentally in the NHL. Chris and I decided that if the Isles didn't take Tavares we'd have to consider abandoning the
Islanders and switching our allegiance to the The Whalers (aka The Carolina Hurricanes).

Fortunately Charles Wang...er I mean Garth Snow did the right thing and chose Tavares. He's not the savior, but the Isles have a very good
young group of players. They also traded up for the 12th pick and took a very good defenseman in Calvin De Hann. At a time when Charles Wang is trying to get the $3.5 Billion Lighthouse project pushed through and the team threatening to move, they couldn't afford to screw this draft up.

 

This was very similar to Pittsburgh's situation a few years back when they signed Crosby (who I hate btw, Ovechkin is a much better player).
The Rangers first pick was at 19 and they chose a center form Boston, Chris Kreider. At 20 the Devils took a center from Sweeden, Jacob Josefson (I've really had it with soft European defenseman).  I was originally planning on heading out to the Coliseum for the draft, but I was able to get Mets/Yanks tickets at the last minute.  I was in 416.  These are close to The Tank’s and Jack’s seats are very close to where their
seats are at Yankee stadium.

 

Written by Adam and posted by The Tank in NY.  BTW, I agree totally with Adam that Ovechkin is better than Crosby.  The only non-Canadiens jersey I have is Ovechkin’s t-shirt that I got at the NHL Store on sale a few months ago.  He’s that good. 

Thursday was a very emotional night.  I was sad as I was mourning the loss of Mila’s sister Mara, Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, Michael Jackson, and the Iranian demonstrators.

 

Life goes on and it was a thrill meeting David Wright, Steve and Kathleen’s favorite player, at DW’s annual charity event. 

 

 

It was also great meeting fellow American Idol David Cook.  I told David that I had sung karaoke on every continent except South America and the North Pole.  He replied that he had only done it on TV.  We enjoyed a lighter moment below.

 

 

Steve was telling me a story about Ron Darling on the way back from the Baracklyn Cyclones game.  Ron and I are pictured below.

 

 

The Tank’s Bottom Line: Enjoy every day like it’s your last.  Keep the Faith!

 

Posted by The Tank reporting live from Bridgewaters at the South Street Seaport in NYC. 

I am sure you know my now that Cleveland traded for Shaq. The question is what does this do for LeBron James free agent rumors. The Knicks think that they can get him, the Nets think that they can get him, as do about 4 other teams. LeBron, the Akron native, has indicated that he wants to stay in his home state. But what LeBron wants more than anything else is a title. Cleveland has made a move to try to get a title, a title that will help keep LeBron.

Bottom line, LeBron is going to make a lot of money in 2010 and beyond. He is not going to go to a team that is not a contender. So the Knicks and Nets are out.

 

Posted by Steve in New York

The NBA Draft is tonight in NYC.  The dreams of a few dozen young men will be made and broken.

 

Who will be drafted first?  Will the Knicks and Nets needs be addressed?  Some but not all.  In the meantime, the Nets appear to have cleared another hurdle to move to Brooklyn.  This will help them get LeBron next year as Jay-Z is a minority owner of the Nets.  More on LeBron in a future post.

 

Fingers crossed that Syracuse’s Johnny Flynn lands with a team and is able to contribute right away.  I’ll miss him at the Cuse but wish him well.  Let’s go Orange!

 

Posted by an excited Tank in NY.

Last night, Kathleen, the Tank, and I went to visit good old Coney Island and see the Baracklyn Cyclones take on the Hudson Valley Renegades. The Brooklyn Cyclones decided to rename themselves for one night and and pay tribute to our new president. They also were giving away 2,500 bobble heads of Barak Obama. According to the news, the line was around the block all the way down surf and down to the boardwalk well before the game. Steve and Kathleen arrived about 20 minutes late so we missed the first ball by Obama Girl and did not get the bobble head since it was a complete sellout, actually they oversold the tickets by 1200 tickets.

As we waited for the tank, a member of the Renegades was named Burt Reynolds. I kid you not.

 

The Cyclones jumped to a 3-0 lead by the bottom of the second and we decided not to go to our foul pole seats but rather hang out behind the seats on the 3rd base line near the picnic tables and BBQ stand. We found the tank around the bottom of the 3rd and hung there for the rest of the game. Most of the single A ball players were the Mets prospects Steve and Kathleen met in spring training.

The game goes fast since most of the kids jump on the first pitch or two, and the Cyclones ace Brandon Moore pitched a 4 hit 7 inning shutout. At the bottom of the 7th Steve and Kathleen sang “Take me out to the ballgame.”

 

We decided to get a jump on the super slow N or Q train and left with 2 outs to go in the 9th (seeing Burt Reynolds one last time). On the way out we took a photo of the President himself (well, sort of. :) ) The Cyclones did win 7-3….

 

 

Reported live from Keyspan Park in Coney Island by Steve (and the Tank).