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Will Mike and the Mad Dog apologize for grilling Omar Minaya on Willie Randolph's salary? We now know he is one of the highest paid first year managers ever with his deal that will pay out $550,000 this year, $625,000 next year, and $700,000 the following year. They even engaged Willie on the matter and said “not that it is any of our business….” and proceeded to tell him he was underpaid despite the fact he is getting extremely well compensated for a guy in his situation in the real world. Their extreme lack of preparation and knowledge is astounding. They make vague assumptions on things that have no clue on and run with half baked ideas to be confrontational. Every time Omar is on, they make it a point to try and grill him as much as possible without any attempt at a fair interview. When Minaya was first hired, they were 'calling him out' because he did not actually scout Reyes and find him himself. Minaya is respected for his skills in recognizing talent, but Mike and the Mad Dog are apparently unaware that being the Assistant GM does not mean that you travel to the Dominican to actually scout 16 year old players. GMs and Assistant GMs have area scouts to do all the leg work and Omar paid his dues to get where he is. Mike and the Mad Dog have total disregard for facts and common sense and it is a miracle to me that they are who they are in this town. I'm guessing they pull down a sizeable paycheck for their senseless Met hating banter in the rare cases they even give them some time in their own town. They inserted their foot and their mouth and paid Art Howe with a tropical vacation when the Mets won the Cubs series, and they should eat their words with this one too. Although they are paid to present their ideas, however ridiculous they are, they are still part of the media. I think they are somewhat responsible for being fair and factual which is something they seemingly lack more often than not when it comes to the Mets. When you are blatantly wrong, it would be nice to admit you are wrong.

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Sandy Alomar Sr. on the possibility of coming to the Mets as a bench coach:

"I'm looking forward, if this works out, to be helpful to Willie and the Mets," Alomar said. "They're a great organization and New York is New York. It would be great to work with Willie."

The thought of seeing Alomar sewn on the back a Mets jersey is a thought that could make most people cringe. However, I think this Alomar may work out a bit better than the last one.

The Red Sox and the Yankees are most likely going to be caught up in a bidding war for Carl Pavano.

Shapiro said Pavano already has begun looking over scouting reports and statistical breakdowns of potential suitors to see where he might expect to get the most run support and how the team's ballpark affects pitchers, among other details.

Pavano will not have the nice and tidy ERA he had in Miami in either of those two parks. With the addition of a bat or two, the Mets would be happy for him to move to flushing and he can keep that ERA down and get some wins.

The Cubs are unlikely to bring back Matt Clement in 2005.

The team is likely to have a new look next year. It didn't pick up the options on Moises Alou and Mark Grudzielanek, and the future of starting pitcher Matt Clement also appears in doubt with the Cubs.

"It's tough to replace any of those guys," Wood said. "That's kind of the way the game of baseball goes. You pretty much know what you are getting with Clement. I'm not sure who would replace him."

Wood gives him a vote of confidence and that's good enough for me. Besides, with teams like Kansas City, Cleveland, Texas, Florida, Philly, Toronto, etc. interested in him, the Mets should be able to land him without any major bidding wars. Beside, with the Phillies being rumored to have interest in Clement the Mets should acquire him just to block him from landing in their opponents hands. If the Mets were so hell bent on preventing Benson from landing in Atlanta when they were falling out of the divisional race that they had to give up three guys to get him, then by that logic it should be a no-brainer to get Clement and give up nothing to prevent their division rival from getting him.

This is some of the best news that I've heard in while. Sosa will most likely be a Cub in 2005 and if he is Cub, that means he will not be a Met and that makes me happy. Sometimes the Mets cannot get out of their own way and by them not having this as a real, viable option, then they cannot make any mistakes. Phil Rogers is far more optimistic about the Mets trading for Sosa pegging the odds at 6-1 than most people.

Sexson a Mariner? According to the Boston Herald, the deal is all done.

One whisper heard here was that free agent first baseman Richie Sexson has all but signed a deal with the Seattle Mariners [stats, schedule], but that the formalities will be postponed until much later in the hot stove season. Last year, the Mariners signed Raul Ibanez too early and had to give Kansas City a draft pick when the Royals offered him arbitration.

As long as the White Sox are still interested in Randy Johnson, I just do not think the Yankees have a chance in getting the Big Unit. With the White Sox dangling either Carlos Lee or Paul Konerko and Jon Garland, there is nothing the Yankees can really counter with. The D-Backs need offense more than pitching and the Yankees best chip is Javier Vazquez, and he does not look so great right now. Posada to the D-Backs is not happening because it makes no sense for the D-Backs on any level.

Ken Rosenthal uses his imagination a bit in some off-season deals.

Brian Cashman on the Yankee payroll:

"It's more likely to go up a little bit than going down."

Did someone really need to ask that question?