Mike and the Mad Dog

I watched the Mike and the Mad Dog show on the Yes network yesterday because I wanted to get some info on Willie, watch the press conference, hear the interview with Omar Minaya, and hear the interview with Willie Randolph. It was tough to stay tuned in. Mike and the Mad Dog have half a brain combined together and are completely clueless. I usually stay away from them for that exact reason. They are unabated Met bashers and try to be as hard as possible on Omar Minaya and extremely critical of every Met move. They ask him nonsensical questions and make statements as if they actually know anything. Mad Dog was fixated on Bob Brenly for some reason and kept asking him why he was interviewed for the job despite reaching out to Minaya. Minaya tried to politely say that Brenly stunk, that's why. Dog was insistent that he should have been brought in because he won a World Series. Brenly got fired because he was not a good manager and it is not like he did not have Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling to plow the D-Backs through the playoffs anyway to assist him in the World Series victory. I'm not saying he does not deserve any credit, but I do not regard him as an above average manager. Then both of these guys proceed to flip through magazines and open mail during the show. I'm not even sure they pay attention to or know what exactly they are saying. Such crap piles out of their mouth, then they get one idea in their head and run with it. Fancessa said the Mets should pursue Delgado and give him a four year, $48 million dollar contract, which is a figure that he has no chance in hell of reaching this off-season with lukewarm interest from around the league. He continued his man crush on him for several painful minutes. Mad Dog was also relentless in grilling Minaya and talking the entire show about Willie's pay. He's fist time manager with little experience and he wants to give him a three year, $3 million contract. That is nuts. It is unclear what Willie is actually making. Depending on what you read, the figures are a bit over $1.5 million up $2 million for three years. You know what? That is just fine. I do not buy the fact that since you are a manager in NY you automatically command a higher salary. Does a player deserve to make more whether he plays in Oakland or New York? New York may be able to afford and outbid them, but they are by no means due to receive more pay just because of their geographic location. The cost of living figures into our regular Joe salaries, but I'm pretty sure no ballplayer has to worry about the cost of living regardless of where they live. The Mets made an offer, he accepted it. Willie is OK with the figure and everyone else should too. He won't have any trouble buying a new car or some new clothes with his salary. If he wins, the money will be there for him. He'll get paid. Mike and the Mad Dog bad. Very, very bad.

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"I'm one of them," Willie Randolph said yesterday, donning his royal blue Mets cap, wrapping himself in royal blue pinstripes. "I hope Mets fans understand that. I've come full circle. And to me, managing this team is the culmination of a lifelong dream."

Willie earns some brownie points for me by taking his future wife on their first 'legitimate' date to a Mets game.

So it begins, the Willie era. Hopefully it ends better than the Art Howe era did. I have to say Willie handled himself well in the press conference, WFAN interview, and the ESPN Radio interview. He sounded competent and confident. I can see how Minaya was impressed with him in the interview. Now we just have to hope he knows his stuff when it comes to actually managing.

Some info from the Post:

GM Omar Minaya expects the Mets to be able to be players for the major free agents (Carlos Beltran?).

Said Minaya, "At least we're going to try to be players with who I would consider the major free agents. I don't plan on saying no to anybody." Also, don't be surprised if the Mets make a run at Anaheim right fielder and trade bait Jose Guillen.

Met hitting coach possibilities include Rick Down, Gary Denbo, Pete Incaviglia, Chili Davis and (albeit a long shot) Rudy Jaramillo. As for bench coach, Sandy Alomar Sr. and Terry Collins are in the mix, while Don Zimmer is a long shot.

It will not take much to get Guillen I suppose since the Angels are not very high on him, but he should be the last resort for a big bat in the outfield. As for the coaching choices, they are certainly interesting. Pete Incaviglia?

As for the other people on the staff, the Daily News suggests that Rafael Santana may be a suitable first base coach. They also pointed out that the Mets also spoke about incorporating personnel from their minor-league system, where the highest-regarded coaches appear to include Edgar Alfonzo, Dave Hollins, Howard Johnson and Ken Oberkfell.

In the not so fast department, Al Lieter wants to test the free agent market. I guess Al returning to the Mets is not as much of a slam dunk as once thought.

Scott Boras states that Carlos Beltran will be looking for 10 years and indicated that Beltran is interested in a few teams though he declined to name which ones.

ESPN Insider has the Mets, Yankees, White Sox, and the Red Sox as potential suitors for the righty.

The NY Times suggest that Javier Vazquez could be traded to the Texas Rangers for Alfonso Soriano. The Star Telegram says the rumors are just that and Soriano is likely to stay in Texas for the 2005 season.

Baseball America has all the free agents listed out and what class they fall into.

Type A
Moises Alou (ChC), Wilson Alvarez (LA), *Tony Batista (Mon), Carlos Beltran (Hou), Adrian Beltre (LA), Armando Benitez (Fla), Jeromy Burnitz (Col), Orlando Cabrera (Bos), Miguel Cairo (NYY), Vinny Castilla (Col), Royce Clayton (Col), *Roger Clemens (Hou), Rheal Cormier (Phi), Carlos Delgado (Tor), J.D. Drew (Atl), Cal Eldred (StL), Steve Finley (LA), Nomar Garciaparra (ChC), Mark Grudzielanek (ChC), Chris Hammond (Oak), Dustin Hermanson (SF), Richard Hidalgo (NYM), Jeff Kent (Hou), Steve Kline (StL), Corey Koskie (Min), *Al Leiter (NYM), Esteban Loaiza (NYY), Derek Lowe (Bos), Matt Mantei (Ari), Edgar Martinez (Sea), Pedro Martinez (Bos), Mike Matheny (StL), Kent Mercker (ChC), Dan Miceli (Hou), Damian Miller (Oak), Kevin Millwood (Phi), Matt Morris (StL), Jeff Nelson (Tex), Magglio Ordonez (CWS), Russ Ortiz (Atl), Carl Pavano (Fla), Troy Percival (Ana), Odalis Perez (LA), Placido Polanco (Phi), Brad Radke (Min), Joe Randa (KC), Edgar Renteria (StL), Richie Sexson (Ari), Paul Shuey (LA), *Ugueth Urbina (Det), Jason Varitek (Bos), Omar Vizquel (Cle), David Wells (SD), *Woody Williams (StL), Scott Williamson (Bos), Jaret Wright (Atl).

Type B
Terry Adams (Bos), Antonio Alfonseca (Atl), Roberto Alomar (CWS), Rich Aurilia (SD), Danny Bautista (Ari), Dave Burba (SF), Chris Carpenter (StL), Matt Clement (ChC), Craig Counsell (Mil), Deivi Cruz (SF), *Mike DeJean (NYM), Elmer Dessens (LA), Brook Fordyce (TB), Chad Fox (Fla), Alex Gonzalez (SD), Juan Gonzalez (KC), Cristian Guzman (Min), Jose Hernandez (LA), Orlando Hernandez (NYY), Todd Jones (Phi), Barry Larkin (Cin), Curtis Leskanic (Bos), Cory Lidle (Phi), *Jon Lieber (NYY), Jose Lima (LA), Tino Martinez (TB), Brent Mayne (LA), *Jose Mesa (Phi), Doug Mirabelli (Bos), Greg Myers (Tor), Hideo Nomo (LA), John Olerud (NYY), Antonio Osuna (SD), Todd Pratt (Phi), Steve Reed (Col), *B.J. Surhoff (Bal), Jose Valentin (CWS), Robin Ventura (LA), Ron Villone (Sea), Todd Walker (ChC), Gabe White (Cin), Dan Wilson (Sea), Paul Wilson (Cin), Esteban Yan (Det), Eric Young (Tex), Gregg Zaun (Tor).

Type C
Sandy Alomar Jr. (CWS), Carlos Baerga (Ari), Kris Benson (NYM), Henry Blanco (Min), Ricky Bottalico (NYM), Jermaine Dye (Oak), Shawn Estes (Col), Julio Franco (Atl), Troy Glaus (Ana), Todd Greene (Col), Ben Grieve (ChC), John Halama (TB), Roberto Hernandez (Phi), *Todd Hollandsworth (ChC), Travis Lee (NYY), Al Levine (Det), *John Mabry (StL), Ramon Martinez (ChC), Jim Mecir (Oak), Eric Milton (Phi), Mike Redmond (Fla), Desi Relaford (KC), Rudy Seanez (Fla), Aaron Sele (Ana), Ismael Valdez (Fla), Todd Van Poppel (Cin), Bob Wickman (CWS), Tony Womack (StL).

As per Baseball America:

For a Type A player, the compensation is the signing team's first-round pick plus a supplemental first-rounder. For a Type B, it's the signing team's first-round choice. For a Type C, it's a supplemental second-rounder. However, if the signing team picks in the upper half of the first round, that choice is protected and it loses its second-round selection instead. Also, Type C players who have been free agents in the past don't yield any compensation.

Does anyone else think they just give Greg Maddux the Gold Glove every year despite actually checking the stats? Tommy G. should have earned the Gold Glove.