Jose Reyes

Minaya Out of Answers In Attempt to Improve Hapless Club

Roy Halliday is a Phillie today. John Lackey is in Boston and Matt Holliday may end up staying in St. Louis. The fourth big fish to be had this offseason, Jason Bay, is still out there.

The Mets have an offer on the table to Bay, the player they had the most chance of landing this offseason.  The question is, will they close the deal on this much-needed asset?

This past week, New York Mets beat writer, Brian Costa, of the Star Ledger was kind enough to allow me to submit to him questions regarding Mets Hot Stove rumors.

To obtain the questions I scoured the forums, as well as the chat room here at Mets Merized to try to come up with the best and most frequently asked questions regarding the team’s future.

I’m confident that this interview will give you, the fans, valuable insight on the team’s plans for the 2010 season. Enjoy!

The 2009 Mets season was caertainly a season Mets fans around the country would like to forget. Near the begining of the season a lot was expected of the Mets, Sports Illustrated even predicted them to be the World Series Champs.

This season went down the drain when the Mets suffered the losses of key players Carlos Beltran, John Maine, Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado and many more. The Mets had to play guys like Nelson Figueroa and Wilson Valdez in their absences.

Mets fans would just like to put this season behind us and see what Omar can do for the team this offseason.

While fans throughout New York City and Northern New Jersey celebrate the 27th World Championship of the New York Yankees, there is a strong and awful odor coming from somewhere nearby.

People stop in the streets, sniff the air, put that "this-is-gross"-look on their faces, try to hide their noses underneath their shirts, and move as quickly as possible to a car or building, anything that will protect them from the smell of rotten eggs in burning garbage.

The smell wafts across the streets of Manhattan, terrorizing the people like a Godzilla stomping the citizens of Tokyo.

After going through a horrific, injury-plagued 2009 campaign, the New York Mets head in this winter's Hot Stove with many questions and seemingly too few answers.

Everyone's knee-jerk response to solving their issues revolve around signing a couple big ticket free agents and praying for health. It seems like the 2010 version of the Metropolitans will be a playoff contender, but still a cut below a dominant Phillies club.

(Apologies to Jonathan Swift)

Does the name Pedro Martinez ring a bell, Omar? It should.

You were smart enough to bring him to New York, and it was a brilliant move, because it started a whirlwind movement by Latin players who wanted to come to New York to be in his presence.

Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, Johan Santana, all expressed publicly that coming to the Mets to play with Pedro was paramount in their decision to want to play in New York.

The fact that Omar had the chance to re-sign him this year at a much lower cost to the organization was a wasted effort on Omar's part.

The Mets have a lot to work on this coming off season, and like most winters, transactions should be a constant priority.

Here is my list of what I think are the most pressing items for management to consider:

1)  Do not issue long term, high dollar contracts to any player.  In this time of financial difficulty, no player is worth acquiring if that goes with the demand of being locked in for a long term deal.

Ex-Nats Skipper Could Help Mets Get Back On Track

The Washington Nationals fired their manager, Manny Acta, today, opening the door for the NY Mets to bring their former third-base coach back into the fold.

Why would the Mets - who are struggling mightily to stay afloat - want to bring in a manager who had won only 26 games in the first half this season?