Buster = Douchebag

Buster should do more research before he writes his blog. Of course he did rectify his false report today, but he still got me all excited for nothing.

Assuming that the Red Sox win the bidding on Daisuke Matsuzaka, they have the option of trading him -- but procedurally, it would have to be a sign-and-trade, with a contract being set before Boston shipped him to, say, the Mets. They cannot merely swap the rights to negotiate with him, according to the U.S.-Japanese player contract agreement: "If the highest bid is acceptable to the Japanese club, the US Commissioner shall award the sole, exclusive, and non-assignable right to negotiate with and sign the posted Japanese player to the US ML club that submitted the bid."

This entire deal is getting silly and I think the Japanese are now having fun with this entire thing. We've heard the bids were weaker than expected by some reports and we've heard Boston blew everyone else away. We'll find out soon, but enough is enough. Let's get this thing cleared up once and for all.

* * *

In other news, Brian Cashman pulled up yet another impressive move.

The Baltimore Sun, citing two Orioles sources, is reporting that Baltimore will send reliever Chris Britton to the Yankees for Wright and $4 million, the amount it would have cost the Yankees to buy out Wright's contract.

The trade won't become official until the commissioner's office signs off on the deal, since more than $1 million in cash is being exchanged, the newspaper reported.

Britton is a solid reliever and certainly helps out their bullpen as he owned a 1.17 WHIP, .228 BAA, 3.35 ERA, and killed righties and held them to a .186 BAA. He is still only 23 so there are a lot of positives to take out of his rookie season and getting anything useful for Jaret Wright is certainly a good move.

Manny Acta moves on to become the manager of the Washington Nationals. Good for him and hopefully the Mets use this opportunity to promote from within.

Sometimes when it rains, it pours.

When Steve Trachsel left the Mets on the eve of the playoffs, he said it was for personal reasons that had nothing to do with his marriage.

On Thursday, however, his wife, Sarah Trachsel, filed for divorce in San Diego.

The Daily News reported that Trachsel had left the team on Oct.1 to deal with marital issues, which both Trachsel and his wife denied.

Reached at her home in Malibu, Calif., Sarah Trachsel said then that she was "absolutely not" filing for divorce.

At least you still have baseball...oh wait.

Met-land is good these days.

The phone calls to player agents sure get returned a lot quicker these days. Just a few years ago, they often weren't returned at all.

When the National League East champion Mets express an interest in a free agent this off-season, those players' agents -- often tough to get hold of during the franchise's lean years -- are very attentive.

"You get a lot different responses," said a member of the Mets front office who requested anonymity because of the team's policy of not discussing free agents. "We went from a club promising to be competitive to a team that has won a division championship. And word has spread from player to player that playing for (manager) Willie Randolph and (general manager) Omar Minaya is a pretty good thing."

The goal for me of the 2004 season for the Mets was to create an atmosphere that players wanted to come to. It was not about reaching the playoffs or anything like that, it was about baby steps. They did not quite achieve that and managed to nab big stars anyway thanks to Omar Minaya. Now? The Mets are a place that people want to come to with the Mets being one of their top choices. Money, winning, and a great atmosphere to play in? Why the fuck should someone not want to come play here.

For $20 million per year, you can name the stadium anything you want.

The sponsorship deal will be worth at least $20 million a year and will set a record for United States stadium rights. The Associated Press reported that the agreement included options for the Mets and Citigroup to extend the deal to 35 years.

The previous record for stadium naming rights is about $10 million annually the Houston Texans receive from Reliant Energy to call their home Reliant Stadium.

Nice.

11/9: Mesa beat Phoenix 5-4. Fernando Martinez went 1 for 4 with a run scored, a walk, and two strikeouts.
11/10: Phoenix beat Mesa 2-1. Fernando Martinez went 1 for 3 to bring his average up to .256. Blake McGinley went 1.2 innings and gave up one hit and struck out two to lower his ERA to 1.93.
11/11: Peoria beat Mesa 13-11. Fernando Martinez went 0 for 1 and then left the game.