Grapefruit League Game 20- Astros at Mets

The New York Mets take on the Houston Astros at 1:10PM today from Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie. Here is todays lineup and scheduled pitchers. Mets Lineup: Pagan(CF) Castillo(2B) Wright(3B) Bay(LF) Murphy(1B) Francoeur(RF) Cora(SS) Barajas(C) Santana(P) Jon Niese, Francisco Rodriguez, Pat Misch, Sean Green and Elmer Dessens are scheduled to pitch behind Santana. Jose Reyes was back this morning, he was working out with the team, taking grounders etc. Doc Gooden was arrested yesterday for DUI, this is a sad thing. He just can never seem to get his life together. He was such a promising prospect so long ago with the Mets and never kept up his status because of his substance abuse problems. He later was with the Yankees and had some good moments and then after baseball continues to get himself in trouble. I will have more on Jose Reyes later on today. According to Joel Sherman of the NY Post he believes that the Mets are shopping Gary Matthews Jr., the Reds may be a possibility.

Some random notes for a quiet Saturday

I can't believe I forgot about this yesterday but the San Francisco Giants and Tim Lincecum avoided arbitration. He signed a 2 year deal for 23 million. It would of been really interesting to see what would of happened in arbitration and coming out of it. It is good they settled though for him and the team. The Yankees apparently have targeted a cuban defector as the successor to Derek Jeter at shortstop. Here is the story from George King of the New York Post. The Yankees have gone down this road before with El Duque who had great success with the Yankees. They also had Jose Contreras who was not as good as they thought and Juan Miranda who has been good in the minors but has not made it to the majors regularly yet. They also bombed out with Adrian Hernandez and Andy Morales. We will see what happens but usually if the Yankees want someone they will get him. Scott Richmond of the Toronto Blue Jays suffered a shoulder injury while preparing for spring training. He was hoping to make the rotation, he will now be behind the other pitchers due to this injury. The Washington Nationals have interest in veteran right hander Kris Benson. He hasn't pitched a full season since 2006 when he was with the Orioles. His wife is the more famous one, Anna Benson who once said that if she caught him cheating she would sleep with the whole team he was on. His agent is saying he is now 100 percent healthy and had a good workout in front of several teams. This will probably be the extent of the blogging today as it is really quiet. We will get heated up though starting on Wednesday with pitchers and catchers. Everyone take a deep breath and relax and then lets get going with the Baseball season finally. I hope everyone will comment and start discussions on here as we go through spring training and then the season. I welcome any and all suggestions even if they are against me or a criticism. Just remember to keep it clean and I will get back to everyone. I almost forgot to I had a article published on www.numberonebaseball.com this morning. It is a 2010 season preview for the Yankees. I also did one for the New York Mets but I am not sure when that will be published. Please check it out and also read me on that website and keep coming back here for more news and insight, I thank you for all the support and continued support.

Joba Rules

The New York Yankees and Joba Chamberlain have gone back and forth between starter and reliever. He was a started last year until the playoffs and stated just the other day he intends on being a starter this season. He was at the Thurman Munson Awards dinner last night and had some things to say. He did state that he wants to be a starter but the Yankees have the final call and if the told him you are going to be a setup man and be ready to inherit MO's job when he retires he would be ready and able to do that. He stated he just wants to be told what to do and then stick with that. Joel Sherman of the NY Post had a article in todays paper about this and stated that Joba is going to be the setup man and Phil Hughes will be the 5th starter. I have been saying this for a while and I agree with it. The thing about Joba is he just seems different out of the pen. I have been in the Joba as a starter camp and I still believe he can be a very good starting pitcher. The thing though that the Yankees couldn't ignore and most of the fans was that he was sitting at 89-91 as a stater and looked tentative. Joba went back to the pen for the postseason and was back up in the high 90's and just looked dominant again. The Yankees will never admit it publicly but I do think they believe he is better suited for the bullpen now. It is very hard for them because of what they invested for him to be a starter. They went through all this Joba Rules stuff and now finally he is ready to be unleashed this season and what do you know he will most likely end up in the pen. The thing is Phil Hughes will have the rules but the Yankees have Sergio Mitre, Chad Gaudin and some others in the minors to cover the 5th starter role and if there is injury. I think the Yankees best team will be with Joba in the pen and Hughes starting. It will be a debate that will be ongoing but I am sure this is what most people want and will be happy as long as Joba executes in this role the way everyone thinks he will.

Mets receive good injury news

Kevin Kernan of the NY Post had a story on Jose Reyes in todays paper. He was at a private workout with Jose yesterday. Jose has been working out at this complex in Long Island and is doing great according to the article. He will be reporting to spring training in about a week or so ahead of everyone to continue his rehab. He stated that he feels great and can't wait to hit a triple. He knows that he is going to be fine this season and credits the trainer who set up the program for him. It is funny though that even as the Mets got good news with injuries there was another bad injury story. J.J. Putz who pitched for the Mets last season claims the Mets never gave him a physical last season after he hurt his elbow and that they screwed the whole injury up. He even implied that they may have told him to hide his injury from the media. The Mets of course said this isn't true. The thing is who believes the Mets anymore when it comes to these kinds of things. I wouldn't worry about that so much as it involves their image which is already damaged. The important thing for the Mets is to get their sparkplug and ignitor back and it appears they will be getting Jose Reyes back. He will go a long way in determining if they can get back to being a good team or not.

New York Mets mini camp

The New York Mets started a 3 day optional mini-camp today in Port St. Lucie,Florida. Oliver Perez, Johan Santana, John Maine, Daniel Murphy and others were there. Johan Santana and Oliver Perez will begin throwing off a mound tomorrow. Johan Santana remains a optimistic person and had this to say. " I believe, if we stay healthy our team is much better." He said that if the team stays healthy they will be good and that they are looking forward to the season starting. Mets manager Jerry Manuel was in attendance and said the team needs to get off to a strong start. He also said he considers Angel Pagan the frontrunner to be the centerfielder in Carlos Beltrans absence. I think that is the right move as Gary Matthews Jr. is a bench player and should not be more. He also said at catcher he considers Omir Santos the starter but it wasn't a ringing endorsement. He did talk up Josh Tole and said it isn't out of the question that he could start. I just don't see the Mets going with a rookie catcher but who knows. If they don't sign anyone they really don't have a starter, they are all backups and then the young kid. He said he is anxious to see Kelvim Escobar and Ryota Igarashi pitch, he considers the 8th inning very important. These are the guys that will be competing for that role. Jerry Manuel said the 8th inning role will be determined by someone that will throw strikes, he considers that a key in the park they play in. He said that they have to play good defense also. He said that the free agent market wasn't very good and that was a challenge they had to add another starting pitcher. Jerry Manuel said that he won't act any different because of the pressure to perform this year. He knows his job is on the line but doesn't seem too fazed by that right now. Here is what the GM Omar Minaya had to say. " I do believe that we are going to have a good team. I think that a healthy New York Mets team will contend for a playoff spot. I think it is fair to say that the Philadelphia Phillies have improved themselves. We have a lot of work to do but I think these guys are committed, Jerry is going to be committed to get back on track to what we did in 06, 07 and 08. Is this guy for real, how can they not be committed and also didn't they lose in the NLCS and then blow playoff spots the following 2 years. I think you want to improve on that not get back to that point. Omar did say they are still considering Carlos Delgado. He was asked a question by Kevin Kernan of the NY Post about the team being a joke. He did seem to be taken aback but said he didn't consider them to be a joke but that you have to win. I personally just think the Mets are poorly run from top to bottom and that is why they have the reputation that they have. They just don't seem to get anything right that they do and they always look worse and worse. The only way for them to get away from that is to go out on the field and win. It is hard to see this team doing that though without getting at least another pitcher, other then Johan Santana you really have to worry. I also need to say that most of the information coming from the mini-camp was via Ken Davidoff of New York Newsday and his blog. I have given my opinions but obviously wasn't there so have to rely on others that were.

Some news and notes from around baseball

It has been a pretty quiet Sunday unless your totally into the NFL. If you are then what a game tonight between Green Bay and Arizona, I will get into the NFL tomorrow with my recaps and the upcoming matchups for the divisional round. The Yankees don't have anything doing although there have been rumors about them being in serious discussions to resign Jerry Hairston Jr. who came to them at the trade deadline last year and could be the right handed caddy to Brett Gardner in LF and could also play all over the infield giving the regulars some rest. I don't know if anyone really cares, well I am sure all the woman do but it looks like Derek Jeter is getting married to girlfriend Minka Kelly. The story was in the NY Post and then it started making the rounds on the internet. International free agent Aroldis Chapman has signed with the Cincinatti Reds according to reports. It looks like the deal could be for 5 yrs and 25 million and has a 6th yr option which could push it to 30 million. Khalil Greene who was a starting SS for the Padres for 5 yrs will try and revive his career with the Texas Rangers and join Vlady Guerrero who just signed a 5 million dollar deal with incentives to be their DH yesterday.