Wade Townsend Denied

Maybe Townsend may be a Met next season, they will most likely have a shot at him in the 2005 draft when their pick comes around. MLB has officially denied his request to continue to negotiate with the Baltimore Orioles. Townsend had started attending Rice to finish his classes while renouncing his eligibility to play college baseball. Can't play college baseball anyway so what's the harm in attending classes? I guess a lot. The irony of it all was that the Orioles signed him because they thought he would be relatively easy to ink. Think again Angelos.

In somewhat related news, the Orioles are not renewing the contract of scouting director Tony DeMacio. DeMacio has overseen the Orioles' last six drafts (1999-2004) and has only produced major league regulars in 1999 draftees Larry Bigbie and Brian Roberts.

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Minya hangover...So now that I've had a day to let this Minaya thing sink in and I've read around other blogs, blog comments, and newspaper articles, I still stand by my first reaction. This is a good thing. But what does Glavine think? Let's find out..

"I don't know what all this means," Glavine said. "Omar is a nice guy and I certainly believe he'll be an asset to the organization. But this is something that caught everyone by surprise. So much of what makes an organization successful is stability. What will make any organization attractive to free agents is stability.

"You're going to want to have a foundation in place and want to be part of that. With more uncertainty, more guys will look at the situation here and are more skeptical. It will take a little more convincing to come here."

"It's awfully important for an organization to project an image of stability and to have a plan and be focused on that plan. That's not always the case here. That certainly doesn't lend itself to making the situation better. If [principal owner] Fred [Wilpon] and the other decision makers think this makes us a stronger organization, then great. But we need to start portraying that."

He is 100% correct on that stability idea. This is what I've been saying all year, the Mets main goal this season was not to make the playoffs but to make a atmosphere that would attract top tier talents. They needed to put this organization on track to get that done. Guess what? That did not happen. This place became a zoo and a veritable soap opera (As The Mets Turn..or As The Stomach Turns, take your pick) over the past few years. The fact that the Mets have brought in Glavine (could have gone to the Phillies, which admittedly was not very stable), Cameron (who could have gone to Oak-town), and Matsui (who could have gone a lot of other places) was surprising. In order to rectify this problem, the Mets needed to make a move. Hiring Minaya is step in that direction. Whether or not you agree with his old school philosophy is irrelevant. He has respect around the league and is highly regarded. Make no mistake, if he was leaving the Expos and not going to the Mets, plenty of teams would be vying for his services. I do agree with Glavine on the stability issue, but the thing is, the Mets had none. They needed to do something about that. I think free agents may take this move as an indication of a desire to move in a more positive direction. By handing over 100% of control of baseball operations to one person, that dispels a lot of the gripes that prospective Mets could have. Look, no one can really know what type of ultimate power Minaya will have. The Wilpons are the owners for better or for worse and decisions will need to get passed by them. However, I truly feel with a proven baseball guy in the driver seat, the little voices are going to go away. This will be Minaya's team and Brian Cashman said, "Omar is not a yes man". What does that mean to Duquette? It does not have to mean anything. He can fit very nicely into the team's plans as well. The Orioles have had a two GM set up with Beattie and Flanagan, although it has not worked about well so far and may not be the best example. Perhaps the combo of Jimmy and Omar may complement each other since the respective expertise is in different areas. Call me an unrealistic optimist, but I think this is good. I was quite surprised how many people did not think this was a positive move. Only time will tell if this move was a good one.

Let's have some fun with other peoples' links. I was perusing SelltheMets.com and I was reading through The Vent when I ran across this funny link. Yes, those are the Mets brain trust. Fred, Saul, and Jeffie looking as cheesy as ever. As the person who posted this comment there pointed out, there are three Wilpons and three Katz's running Sterling Equities. I certainly hope they are not all involved with the Mets. The total combined evil and stupidity of three Wilpons and three Katzs would be of epic proportions. Someone, please save us.

After you go to the Sterling Equities link above, you can click on the this link to the Brooklyn Cyclones.

If think this guy from the Sterling Equities website looks like this extremely happy guy from the Cyclones site, that would be because they are the same guy. Who the hell from Sterling is NOT involved with the Mets?

Also from that Cyclone page, you can read about Jeff Wilpon.

A former catcher, Jeff was the Montreal Expos’ fourth round pick in the secondary phase of the 1983 Winter Free Agent Draft and spent that summer with Jamestown -“A” of the New York - Penn League.

Rumor has it, he was drafted as a favor to his father and never played before he was released a week or so later. Jeff Wilpon’s name does not appear in the team’s statistics for that season. That does not sound like he spent the summer with them. Maybe he spent the summer in the stands watching the game and eating some hot dogs, but certainly not in uniform.

Lastly from the Cyclones web page is the following:

Sterling Equities has been an owner of the New York Mets baseball team since 1980. Sterling became the full owner of the team in 2002, after completing the acquisition of all shares of the New York Mets. Members of the Sterling Equities family have been deeply involved in the management of the team throughout the duration of ownership. Fred Wilpon, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board of Sterling Equities, has been President and Chief Executive Officer of the Mets since 1980. On completion of the acquisition, an Office of the Chairman was created. Members of that office are Fred Wilpon as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Saul Katz as President; and Jeff Wilpon as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. In addition, members of the Board of Directors of the New York Mets include: Marvin Tepper, Senior Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Sterling Equities, Michael Katz, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Sterling Equities, Richard A. Wilpon, Senior Executive Vice President of Sterling Equities, L. Thomas Osterman, Executive Vice President of Sterling Equities, David Katz, Executive Vice President of Sterling Equities and Arthur Friedman, Senior Vice President of Sterling Equities.

Deeply involved in the management of the team throughout the duration of ownership? I think I just lost my breakfast. That is the last thing we need to see documented. I'd rather it be speculation and not know for sure. Too funny, really it is. So does working for Sterling Equities automatically make you well suited to run a baseball team? What's that you say? No? Really, that's odd, because the entire damn company is running the Mets.

Ok, and for all of those can still stomach more horrifying links, click here. It is a site dedicated to proclaiming that Mo Vaughn is a babe. Yes, you read that right. This link was brought to my attention unmercifully when reading a post from Damien on his page JediKaos.net. If someone told me about it, I would not have believed it without seeing it myself.

Is anyone else concerned about Norm from the Shea Hot Corner? His last post about a month ago is deeply disturbing:

What's worse, many of the players have given up and have accepted their fate. I guess I have too. For the foreseeable future I'm living with the in laws, have no control over the TV, am dealing with a Commadore 64 computer hooked up to a dial up connection, and I root for the most pathetic team in baseball. Someone put me out of my misery.

It's been about a month since that last desperate post. I hope he's still alive and kicking.

Tough loss for the Mets yesterday. Heilman actually had another solid outing until the seventh inning came around and he got lit up. He is actually showing that he may have a major league future. Despite his poor performances last year and this year in AAA, scouts never doubted his ability to pitch in this league. His stuff is there, it is just a question of putting it together, keeping the ball down, and going after hitters and not throwing around then. No one said he would be an ace just a #4 guy who will eat innings, basically he'd be Steven Trachsel at best. Although he gave up six runs in 6.1 innings, he still had a positive outing in my opinion.

Victor Diaz hit is third homerun in yesterday's loss to the Braves, but left seven people on base. He's still got my vote to be in the Met outfield next year.

Is anyone else deriving some joy out of the Cubs monumental meltdown? After having to sit through a game with their smug fans at Shea while watchcing the Mets hand them their second consecutive loss, I'm on board with Astros or Giants taking those loveable losers down.

NY Post begs the question...can Valentine be far behind?

Minaya, who will likely oversee the Mets' managerial hunt, has enjoyed a very good relationship with Valentine and the two share a mutual admiration for each other. With that in mind, it's certainly plausible that Valentine, currently managing the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan, could emerge on a list of managerial candidates.

He's not my favorite candidate, but anything is better than Howe. This move would result in even more egg on the Mets' face. Hiring after firing him just two years earlier? Who does that? Also, he just flat out over manages. I was not a fan of his style and he is not what is best for this team.

The Mets to the Meadowlands? I can never see this happening. The fact is, it just makes no sense. Yes, they may have a better shot at getting their stadium built, but they will seriously take a revenue hit. Has anyone tried to get to a Devil game or Net game during the week and be there by seven? I cannot see this happening and I'm against it despite being pretty damn close to where I live.