MLB: WINTER MEETINGS

"And the award for the best GM at the winter meetings goes to.......

TOP 5 MOST OVER USED SAYINGS AT THE WINTER MEETINGS

#1 "Taking a Flier"

Every time a reporter gathered information that a club is showing interest in a high risk player they used the term "Taking a flier".
For example, The Yankees are taking a flier on AJ Burnnet.

Investopedia Says:When an investor is taking a flier, he or she is knowingly acquiring a high-risk, speculative instrument that may end up with them taking a bath

#2 "Kicking the Tires"

I don't know who or why this expression makes sense. Like "Taking A Flier" This saying apparently means that would like to do a general investigation on a player.

Investopedia Says:Individual investors and fund managers alike partake in tire kicking. Asking your full service broker or financial adviser about a company, calling and visiting a company, and doing general investigative research prior to investing in a stock are all examples of kicking the tires

#3 "Believed to be having Internal discussions" .

To me All this means is some reporter sees 2 GM's at a black jack table and start to speculate that they are discussing some sort of baseball transaction. meanwhile they are probably just discussing the wild night they had the night before.

#4 "stepped up their efforts"

To me, this expression is just used out of desperation by clubs when they are afraid their potential client is losing interest.

#5 "Making progress"

The expression making progress is used when a counter by any party is made. That's all it means...

There are many more Over used Aggravating sayings I must have read over the week.
But these are the ones that got under my skin.


Let me know which sayings annoyed you?

METS: JJ PUTZ INJURY

Last night at 7pm Omar Minaya had a press conference where he announced the signing of K-Rod...Minaya finished the press conference and immediately his phone rang..he grabbed a pen and paper and started writing names down..as he was doing that Mets executives pushed him into their suite and the negotiations for JJ Putz got serious...

A few hours later at around 1045 pm I went to my computer and refreshed the Metsblog.com page..it said Mets acquire JJ Putz, Sean Green, and Jeremy Reed for Aaron Heilman, Joe Smith Endy Chavez and a bunch of minor leaguers...Quickly i reached for my phone and texted my phonebook about the news...I then ran and told my father the news..then while going back into my room out of excitement i jumped and landed sideways on my right foot...crack..crack...crack....ten minutes later the swelling could be seen from miles away..


I rushed to the hospital via ambulance and took some x-rays...the doctor came in to tell me the news but before she did she asked how it happened so i told her about JJ Putz and the whole thing..she then laughed and told me that she is getting married to a Putz in April and her last name will be Putz...Freaky!..and i know i am a putz too lol....so i fractured a bone in my foot that goes to my pinky toe (Seinfeld!)..and i'll be sidelined for 4 to 6 weeks..

Anyways if there is an award for die hard Mets fan or crazed Mets fan i think i win!

Here are some fun facts on Putz:
a) he had less walks in 06 and 07 combined then K-rod had in any one year of his career
b) while in Michigan University he shared a dorm with Quarterback Tom Brady

Acc to ESPN's Keith Law: “If the Mets get the healthy J.J. Putz - he missed time with rib and elbow injuries in 2008 - they might actually have acquired the best closer of their offseason, one even better than their new closer Francisco Rodriguez.”

Word is also that Johan Santana is pushing the Mets to sign Bobby Abreu...

NOW IM OFF TO THE DOCTOR TO GET MY CAST! (i think the doc's name is LaPorta so he's the guy that got traded for CC last year)

DO YOU CC WHAT I SEE?!?!?!?!

We all have been waiting for CC to make up his mind .

He did what any sane person should do.To tell you the truth i would do the same!

He waited to see if any team would come close to the Yankee bid , and if they did he knew the Yanx would up the anti. He had no intention of Pitching anywhere but NY. He just wanted the most he could possibly get.

After these long and torturous past few weeks.

Mr Sabathia realized the market is not what he and his agent expected.

So he pounced on the Yankees offer which was never going anywhere to begin with.

I actually am thankful the Mets got K-Rod for so cheap. This definitely sent a message to CC that this Yankee offer would not be trumped.

If such a high profile Free Agent got just half of what he sought after there is no way any other offer would come close!

CC's thought process must have been "this was the best He's going to get".

I also love how all of those sports columnists that said CC had no intention of pitching in NY are Nowhere to be found today.

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Whats Next?

STARTING PITCHING:

Word has is the Yankees are closing in on Lowe. You know what ? The Yankees sure can be stupid sometimes.... I want Zero part of this guy.

On the other hand, I would LOVE if the Yanx signed Sheets to a two year deal. But no more than 2 years.

I'm Praying Burnette signs with Atlanta. He simply is not worth the risk. Not for that many years with those dollar figures.

Pettitte and Cashman will probably meet in the middle and settle on a $12 Million dollar deal which is still not worth it but what the hell.

Projected rotation

1 CC (only bec the Money)

2 Wang

3 Sheets/Lowe/Burnette

4 Joba

5 Pettitte

OFFENSE:

Its no secret the Yankees are in need of some offense .

They just lost a ton of production in Giambi and Abreu.

Plus , how Confident can you be that Matsui and Posada will be healthy and that Cano will bounce back.

Why is everybody and there mother counting the Yankees out of the Texiera sweepstakes? Just because Hal/Hank Just broke the bank on the Lard Lefty , it doesn't mean diddly squat.

Hal wants to make a mark and follow in daddy's footsteps his first year behind the wheel. If you remember his remarks last month , he said , and i paraphrase "Everybody is a target".

If the Red Sox Sign Tex I will gag. It just can not happen. PERIOD.

There are several fallback options however.

For example Adam Dunn would be a great fit.

And then there always is that fellow named Manny...

Whispers of Rick Ankielle are being floated around and being linked to the Yankees. I am lukewarm on Ankielle. Not so sure he could maintain his offense.

Once again we have no way of knowing whats going to happen until it happens. We are reduced to the waiting game.

I personally enjoy reading completely false rumors . throughout the day. Its fun to see people make complete fools out of themselves by just trying get any story possible.

Until Next time my friends....

METS: K-ROD

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, Ted Berg of SNY and Joel Sherman of the NY Post report that the Mets and Fransisco Rodriguez have agreed to a 3 yr 37 million dollar deal with a vesting option for a 4th year at 14 mil (pending on IP in final yr or final 2 years of contract)..Sherman also writes that K-Rod will be in NYC tomorrow for a physical and possibly a press conference..

The Angels will get the Mets first round pick the year (25th overall). but that should be made up if Oly Perez signs elsewhere..

Great pickup by Omar..and i don't think he is even close to finishing..he still has teams interested in Aaron Heilman for a reliever like Houston Street and said after getting his closer he will look to improve the starting rotation...and Sherman says that the Mets will now move on to Derek Lowe..

THE HOT DOGS JUST WENT UP ANOTHER DOLLAR AT CITIFIELD.. lol...

For Joel Sherman's complete column on the signing click here...

UPDATE: Mets sources say deal is awaiting a physica...
Omar Minaya has a press conference at 6pm today..prob on SNY or ESPNEWS...

KEEP IT UP OMAR!

JETS: PLAYOFF SCENARIOS

With the Jets recent disappointing play in the past 2 games..the following are their playoff scenarios:


Out of the 3 teams noted above the Jets have the easiest schedule since SF is better than BUF and KC may be a bit better than SEA but the west coast trip prob makes up any difference..

For the Jets its simple win out and you win the division..
It may all come down to the last game at the Meadowlands (if both the Jets and Phins win both of their games)..since first division tie-breaker is head-to-head..if Jets win they will have won both games vs the Phins and they would hold the tie-breaker against the Pats if they won out since they split the season series 1-1, it would go to the second division tie-breaker which is division record in which the Jets are 3-1 and the Pats are 3-2...

The longest road to the division title is the Pats who down't hold any tiebreakers amongst the three teams as of now...

The other option is the wildcard:

As of right now this seems unlikely since the Jets are a game behind both of these teams and don't hold any tie breakers against them:
a) Conference record - Jets 4 losses, Ravens 3 losses, Colts 2 losses
So if the Ravens lose a conference game and the Jets win out the will be tied in record and conference record..
b)So, the second wild card tie-breaker is record in common games (min. four) in which they both beat 2 common teams and both lost 1 game in which the other team won...
So, it then goes to margin of victory in which the Jets are currently +62 and the Ravens are +116...so there goes the wild card..

For a complete run down of all the NFL playoff tie-breakers click here..

There are other scenarios but as of now these are the clear ones if you can even call them clear!

PS In 1993 the Jets were 8-5 going into their last 3 games and they lost all three to the Cowboys, Bills and Oilers (Bills went on to play the Cowboys in Superbowl)(Oilers started season 1-4 and finished 12-4, got a bye and then lost to KC in playoffs)

J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!!!

DAY 1: MLB GM MEETINGS

Today was day one of the MLB GM meetings in Las Vegas...YAY!...here is the summary:

Mets GM Omar Minaya met with K-Rod and according to reports over a steak dinner offered him a 3yr deal.. one report has a 4th yr option...One story out of Vegas has K-Rod willing to accept a 2 yr deal as the Yankees would be interested as Rivera's contract will be up by then..
Also teams are waiting for the Mets to sign K-rod quickly so that the asking price for Fuentes, Wood, Hoffman etc..drops...
So, if the Mets sign a closer not named K-Rod..then K-Rod will probably only get a 2 maybe 3 yr deal at at most 8 mil per year...so maybe its best for him to agree to a deal sooner than later

Minaya also met with Brian Fuentes at 12:30pm and then Trevor Hoffman shortly after..
Also in Las Vaegs is Jeff Wilpon which might mean that the Mets are looking to get things done instead of waiting 6 weeks after the meetings like they did last yr when they landed Johan Santana..

Another developling story is the Brewers offering CC a 6th yr and acc to one report putting an opt out clause after the 2nd or 3rd year....as he will be 30 at that point and if he really misses the west coast he can opt out..

Amongst all this specualtion there has been one deal that has been confirmed and that is a Gerard Laird to Detroit trade that has a couple of minor leaguers going to Texas..

The Jermaine Dye deal is being knocked down and as of now is a false story....

Also the Phillies are looking into trading for Delmon Young..you know the guy that was traded for Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett and a reliever...so who will this "talent" be traded for next..rumor is it is Phillies top SS prospect Jason Donald....

Also one guy that is getting lost in the mix is John Smoltz..he played through injuries last year before shutting it down..I am very skeptical to see where he goes and for how much...

UPDATE: SI WFAN SNY Jon Heyman is reporting that the Mets have offered K-Rod a 2 yr deal with a 3rd yr option at roughly 12 million per yr