Blogging Mets

So the Mets ended 2009 without their starting shortstop, center fielder and first baseman. Now we find out the Mets will begin 2010 without their starting shortsop, center fielder and first baseman.

We’ve known about Carlos Beltran missing the start of the season for a while now. He’s still rehabbing after knee surgery. We’ve suspected Jose Reyes would miss Opening Day, but after a quick comeback from his thyroid problem, we had hope he’d be make it back by Monday. Word now is that he won’t. And now the trifecta — Daniel Murphy is out.

We’ll start with perhaps the most important player on the team — Reyes. Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman reports the Mets will put Reyes on the DL to start the season. He would be eligible to return in less than a week, and would probably just miss the first five games. If that is indeed the case, that’s not too bad at all, considering Reyes was initially looking at missing the first month of the season or more.

As far as Murphy, he has a sprained knee, and will miss anywhere from two-to-six weeks. Your first reaction might be “it’s Ike Davis time.” Well, it apparently won’t be. Mike Jacobs is set to start at first. This could not have come at a worse time for Murphy. He needs to prove himself as a competent first baseman, and he can’t do that from the bench. And what happens if Jacobs is providing the power the Mets sorely lacked last season when Murphy is ready to come back? How can they justify benching Jacobs for a guy who is basically keeping first base warm until Davis is ready in 2011? Tough break (or sprain) for Murphy.

In other Mets moves, Pat Misch has cleared waivers and has been assigned to Buffalo. That’s good news. Misch is pretty good, and will eventually land in the Mets bullpen at some point during the season.

And Oliver Perez has been moved down to the fifth spot in the rotation. It’s almost where he belongs – he belongs on another team.

The Mets have a nice problem on their hands — too many quality arms for the newly redesigned bullpen at Citi Field. They can only take 7 relievers north, and the Mets have nearly a dozen who could conceivably make the team. Here are the candidates:

Francisco Rodriguez
Pedro Feliciano
Bobby Parnell
Sean Green
Fernando Nieve
Nelson Figueroa
Pat Misch
Ryota Igarashi
Hisanori Takahashi
Kiko Calero
Jenrry Mejia

The definites on the list are K-Rod, Feliciano, Nieve, Igarashi and Takahashi. According to most reports, Figueroa will probably win a spot. Then it’s anyone’s guess for the last spot. Former Daily News reporter Adam Rubin, who will be writing for ESPNNewYork.com when it launches on Friday, tells Metsblog.com Green and Parnell will not make the team. Cranky Marty Noble writes on Mets.com that the team will wait until the last second to outright Misch, in the hopes no other team will have room on their major league roster to claim him. That leaves  Mejia and Calero to battle it out.

I agree with the five definites. They all deserve to make the team. I think sending Parnell down is a mistake. His fastball is in the upper 90s (albiet it, straight), and he doesn’t really have a second pitch, but he’s still young and good enough to get better. He has enough talent to make the squad. I would give the final spot to Mejia — he’s just lighting it up in spring training. Many people say he needs more seasoning in Triple A, but if he’s ready, he’s ready. And he appears ready.

As I’ve written in the past, Figueroa is a nice story, but he’s mediocre at best. You know what you’ll get from him, and it’s nothing special. And besides, Nieve and Takahashi are also long relievers-spot starters. Why do you need a third in the bullpen?

I agree wholeheartedly with sending Green down. He is awful. I hope the next time we see him at Citi Field, he’s either pitching for another team or watching from the stands.

I feel badly for Misch. He pitched reasonably well last season, and probably deserves to make the team. But it’s a numbers game, and he loses. Hopefully no other team will pick him up, and he can remain in Triple A until one of the Mets pitchers inevitably gets injured.

As far as Kiko Calero, I don’t know much about him, so I don’t care what happens to him. I’m sure he’s a nice guy, however.

The headline made me shake my head in sadness, unfortunately not for the first time — Dwight Gooden arrested for driving under the influence of drugs. To make matters worse, this time his 5-year-old son was in the car when he crashed into another car in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey Wednesday morning. Luckily no one was injured.

It took me back to that horrible day early in the 1994 season, perhaps the worst day for the Mets and their fans since they traded away Tom Seaver. I was working at a TV station at the time, so I got the news before everybody else. Someone in the newsroom shouted out, “Dwight Gooden tested positive for coke.” My head snapped around. “Gooden?!” I said, “Are you sure?”  But it was true. He was suspended for 60 games. And when he kept failing drug tests, he was suspended for the rest of that year, as well as the entire 1995 season.

Gooden was the good one. This wasn’t supposed to happen to him. When he and his good pal Darryl Strawberry were running together, we asssumed Strawberry was the bad guy. After all, he was the loudmouth troublemaker. If Strawberry tested positive, no one would have been surprised (of course, he would also test positive, years later). But Gooden? The teen sensation who was on his way to Cooperstown?

Yes, Gooden had tested positive for cocaine that forced him to miss the first two months of the 1987 season. But we all thought that was a one-time, youthful indiscretion. Instead, we found out Gooden was not the superhuman he appeared to be when he was on the mound. We would also find out years later that oversleeping didn’t cause him to miss the parade following the 1986 World Series championship — it was a cocaine binge.

But that day in 1994 is burned into my memory because that was the day it all fell apart for Gooden and the Mets. We were all hoping he would make it back, but deep down I think we all knew his Mets career was over. It was also the end of an era for the Mets. Gooden was the last player left from the 1986 team. While we had to suffer through with the likes of Bobby Bonilla, Vince Coleman and Kevin McReynolds on those early 1990s teams, at least we had Gooden to watch. But suddenly he was gone. And the Mets were unwatchable.

Although Gooden wasn’t my favorite player (it was “bad guy” Strawberry), I identified with him starting with his rookie year. That’s because we were about the same age — the first player my age it make it big. I was always rooting for “old guys,” so it was nice to see someone my age on the field. Add to the fact that he was just so damned good and seemed like such a nice guy, it was impossible to root against him — impossible to think he might someday go down the wrong road.

But Gooden did indeed go down that road, and continues to. The sight of him in that orange prison jumpsuit is a sickening one, after all the joy he brought us while wearing the Mets orange and blue. We’re both old guys now, but I still root for him, hoping he can clean himself up and get back on the right road.

After two weeks of silence about Jose Reyes and that darned hyperactive thyroid, good news out of Florida Tuesday — Reyes has been cleared to play. And there’s a pretty good chance he will be ready for Opening Day.

According to a team spokesman, Reyes’ thyroid levels have returned to normal. And curiously, Omar Minaya says Reyes won’t have to take any medication to keep his levels normal. He’s been told to stay away from seafood, which is high in iodine and can cause thyroid levels to spike.

“The good thing is that he’s back,” Minaya said. “Everybody’s excited. He’s excited. Let’s get that smile back.”

Just two weeks ago the Mets thought Reyes would be out for up to eight weeks. But now he could be ready to start the season at shortstop and in the three spot in the lineup.

“As far as Opening Day, we don’t know,” said Minaya. “We’ll see how Jose comes along. We’re going to have to build his stamina up, and where he’s going to be in two weeks, we don’t know.”

The Daily News reports people close to the situation believe Reyes will indeed be back for Opening Day. They say even though he hasn’t worked out in two weeks, he was in such great shape before the thyroid problem that it will only take him a couple of days to get his baseball legs under him.

Minaya spoke for the wishes of all Mets fans when he said, “I think it’s a good sign for us. Hopefully it’s a good sign for this season.”

For years now we have been hearing how barren the Mets farm system the is. So it is a pleasant surprise that suddenly the Mets have several young players tearing up spring training who appear ready for prime time. There is a lot of discussion about whether these players should head north with the team or be sent to the minors for more seasoning. Each player has their own issues, so let’s look at each one separately.

There is, however, one issue that unites them all — how they will react if they flop at the major league level and have to be sent back down. That has destroyed careers in the past. Sometimes a player fails for the first time in their lives, and they just can’t accept it. Others understand it’s part of the game, go back down, fix their problems and come back stronger than ever. That’s when a team’s knowledge of a player is crucial. They have to know which players can handle failure and which ones can’t. That’s nothing we as fans can know. All right now, to the players.

Jenrry Mejia
As the games go by, Mejia appears likely to stay with the big club. In eight spring training innings he has a 1.08 era, eight strikeouts and no walks. Jerry Manuel compares his cutter to Mariano Rivera’s. Way to put pressure on the kid, Jerry. The Mets need help in the bullpen, and Mejia can provide that instantly. To make things easier for him, they may want to use him in the middle innings at first, then maybe move him to the higher pressure eighth inning role.

Ike Davis
Davis is in a position to provide the power the Mets lacked last year. In ten spring training games he has two home runs. He’s also hitting .500. Davis has never played above Double-A, so the thought is that he needs to spend a little time at Triple-A. If the Mets didn’t already have a first baseman, I would say take Davis north. But it’s too soon to give up on Daniel Murphy. However, if Murphy struggles early and Davis is tearing it up in Norfolk, I wouldn’t hesitate to make a change.

Ruben Tejada
If Jose Reyes were ready to go, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. But he’s not, so we are. Tejada will probably make the team out of spring training, but probably as a backup to Alex Cora. I say let Tejada start. We know what Cora is going to give the team — let’s see what Tejada’s got. And if he plays well, when Reyes does come back, he could be a valuable trade chip.

Fernando Martinez
Remember him? It seems like we’ve been waiting for him to arrive forever. And after injuries and a couple of disappointing stops in Queens, it appears he’s arrived. He’s batting .538 and leading the team with three homers and 10 rbis. He’s likely ticketed for Norfolk, but I say give him a shot until Carlos Beltran comes back. Just like Cora, we know what to expect with Angel Pagan and Gary Matthews, Jr. And just like with Tejada, a healthy, productive Martinez could bring in the top-notch starting pitcher the Mets are going to need.

Not that I’m advocating trading any of these players. But how many hot prospects never make it (Alex Escobar, anyone)? If the Mets can get an established superstar pitcher (a Roy Oswalt, not a Victor Zambrano), I have no problem trading a prospect.

Every off season players and agents do a pretty good job of milking owners of millions and millions of dollars that they are very willing to spend. But every now and then, a player turns down money hoping for a better offer that never comes. Here is a partial list of players over the years who turned down deals at which they should have jumped:

Ray Knight
The Mets plan prior to the 1986 World Series was to let Knight go, and turn third base over to Howard Johnson in 1987. That all changed with Knight’s MVP heroics in the Series. It wouldn’t look good to let him go, so they offered him a contract with the same salary he made in ‘86 — $750,000  (Baseball Reference says it was $645,000, but I remember $750K. Maybe he got some bonuses). Either way, Knight felt he deserved more, and turned it down. He ended up signing with the Orioles for less — $600,000, according to Baseball Reference. 

Juan Gonzalez
The godfather of bad decisions. After the Rangers sent Gonzalez to the Tigers in a huge nine-player trade, Detroit offered Gonzalez an eight-year, $160-million dollar contract. But new spacious Comerica Park was not a home run stadium like Arlington’s was, and Gonzalez didn’t like that. So he turned the offer down. Gonzalez would go on to earn just $45 million more over the course over his career.

Nomar Garciaparra
The Red Sox offered Garciaparra four-year, $60 million contract prior to the 2004 season. He wanted more, and said no. The Sox sent Garciaparra packing, and he suffered though several injury-filled seasons, earning a total of $25 million until retiring a few weeks ago.

Kevin Millwood
Prior to the 2004 season, the Phillies offered Millwood a three-year, $30  million contract with a vesting option for a fourth year. Agent Scott Boras turned it down, demanding a five-year deal. Boras misread the market in the short term. After earning $11 million in 2004, Boras could only muster-up a one-year, $7 million deal for 2005. But prior to the 2006 season, Boras conned Rangers owner Tom Hicks yet again, winning  a five-year, $60 million for Millwood.

Andy Pettitte
Prior to the 2009 season, the Yankees offered Pettitte a one-year, $10.5 million contract. But coming off a $16 million season, Pettitte thought that was too big a pay cut. He ended up signing a one-year deal for just $5.5 million, with incentives that could bring the total up to $12 million. Pettitte ended up meeting most of the incentives, making his total salary for the year — you guessed it — $10.5 million. He would have been better off just taking the money and not having to worry all year about meeting incentives.

Randy Wolf
Early in the 2008 off season, the Astros offered Wolf a three-year, $28.5 million contract. Wolf didn’t say yes quickly enough, because the Astros pulled the offer because of the collapsing economy. Wolf ended up signing a one-year deal with the Dodgers for $5 million. But Wolf made up for it, signing a three-year, $30 million deal with the Brewers this off season.

Ben McDonald
During the 1997 season, the Brewers offered McDonald a big  extension — three years, $18 million plus a $6 million option.  Scott Boras turned down the extension, demanding the fourth year be guaranteed. Big mistake – McDonald never pitched again due to injuries.

Dave Nilsson
The Australian-born Nilsson was an All Star in 1999. Perfect timing, because that was his walk year. But what did he do? — he turned down several big money offers because he wanted to play for his native land in the 2000 Olympics. He signed with the Red Sox after the Games, but the offer was withdrawn after he failed a physical. Boston tried again with Nilsson in 2003, but he walked away from a $400,000 deal, saying he lost the will to play.

Latrell Sprewell
It’s not baseball, but no list like this would be complete without Sprewell. He famously turned down a three-year, $21 million contract offer from the Timberwolves during a 2005 season in which he was making $14 million, saying he had a family to feed. His family must still be hungry, because Sprewell was out of the league the next year, and earned exactly $0 to buy groceries.

As I’ve written is the past, Peter Gammons is, in my opinion, the worst baseball writer out there. Here are just a  few of his offenses – he openly shills for the Red Sox. His columns are poorly written. And he is never right. His promo for the MLB Network makes me laugh — “I don’t worry about being first. I worry about being right.” Well, he’s never first, and he’s certainly never right.

Well, here’s another Gammons (left, being inexplicably being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame) gem from a recent column on MLB.com. Incidentally, I didn’t even know he had a column on MLB.com. There was a link to a Mets related story on MLB Trade Rumors, and I clicked on it. I don’t make a habit of reading writers whom I don’t like (cough, cough Phil Mushnick).

Speaking of Mushnick, it amazes me how one man can be on the wrong side of virtually every argument. Sometimes I get sucked into his column by an intriguing headline, and I’m always mad at myself afterwards.

Anyway, back to Gammons. He was writing about baseball looking into ways to make competition fairer. Here’s what he wrote:

One suggestion to slow down the economic impact the Yankees and Red Sox have on small-market teams is to break them up and move one of them into another division. The suggestion is to put the Yankees and Mets in the same division and the Red Sox and Rays in another.

“That way, the Yankees and Red Sox won’t be competing with one another,” says one official, “and reacting to every move the other makes.”

Okay, let’s look at this ridiculous statement from several different angles. First off, no one is named except “one official.” Gee, could that official be from the Red Sox, which would benefit the most from this scheme? Or is there no official at all — just Gammons trying to help out his favorite club?

Now, about splitting up the Yankees and Red Sox to help small market teams. Exactly how does that accomplish that? Unless the Yankees are in a division with four other big market teams, (say, the Mets Dodgers, Angels and Cubs) small market teams will still be in their division competing against them. Such a big market division would be geographically undesireable and logistically impossible. There would have to be a couple of small market eastern teams with the Yankees.

And the comment by that mysterious official, that the Yankees and Red Sox would no longer have to react to every move the other makes. Yeah, so that means the other big market team in the division, in this case the Mets, would have to react to every move the Yankees make to remain competitive. So that just replaces the Red Sox with the Mets as the team spending to keep up with the Yankees.

Finally, Gammons’ alignment (because I am convinced he is behind it) helps the Red Sox and no one else. Sure, the Rays are good now, but how long is that going to last? The Sox get to jettison the Yankees and win their division every year, because I’m sure Gammons would stack it with the Rays, Orioles, Blue Jays and Nationals. Meantime the Mets, the big losers in this plan, would be stuck playing the current bridesmaid role of the Red Sox.

This plan makes no sense at all — just like everything Gammons writes.

When the Yankees built their new ballpark and abandoned their historic stadium, I predicted they would begin a curse that would lead them to perhaps never win another World Series again, or at least take them many, many years to do so. As most of my predictions go, I was wrong –  they won one in their first year at new Yankee Stadium. Instead, it appears the Mets are cursed. Who knew the baseball gods would miss old Shea?

Jose Reyes fell victim to the curse for the second straight year. He is out 2-8 weeks — an odd amount of time to be out, by the way – while doctors try to figure out how the best way treat his hyperactive thyroid.  Of course, Carlos Beltran will miss at least the first month of the season following knee surgery, after missing half of last year with injury.

And then there’s Francisco Rodriquez’s pink eye. What should have been a few days away from the team turned into a week. He’s back now, but hopefully it will not push back his preparation for the season.

At least last season, the Mets started at full health, and the injury curse hit them continually throughout the year. This year they won’t even break camp with the full team intact. Not a good sign for Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel, who need a stoing start to keep their jobs. And not a good sign for us Mets fans, who need a strong start to get the awful taste of 2009 out of out mouths.

On the bright side, Johan Santana says he felt good following his first exhibition start. David Wright is looking like the Wright of old,  driving the ball with authority. And John Maine says he is pain-free. Promising younsters Ike Davis and Jenry Mejias are tearing it up, but they will likely still start the season in the minors. However, it’s nice to know there’s help waiting down on the farm if the Mets falter. 

Losing Reyes for the start of the season is definitely a setback, but his condition is not dire. Once doctors find the appropriate treatment, he should be fine. And then the Mets can work on figuring out how to break this curse.

And yes, when I use the word “retard” I understand I risk incurring the wrath of failed Vice Presidential candidate and bailer-outer as Alaska governor Sarah Palin, who has taken it upon herself to take ownership of the word.

Speaking of Palin, it was very interesting that when White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel used the word, she called on him to be fired. But when Rush Limbaugh said it, she said he was being “satirical.” And then there was her reaction to the very funny “Family Guy” Down syndrome episode (left) that poked fun at Palin (and clearly not her son Trig, which Palin doesn’t seem to understand). On her Facebook page, she addressed her criticism to “Fox Hollywood,” not Fox, which pays her to appear on Fox News. And instead of criticizing Fox on her own, which she won’t do because they sign her paychecks, she quotes her daughter saying bad things about the show. Sarah Palin is truly a disgusting human being.

Anyway, back to Molina and his retardation. I suspected this in January when he spurned the Mets offer and resigned with the Giants. He said the Mets never really wanted him, despite the fact they offered him more money than the Giants. I’ll say that again — the Mets offered more money than the Giants.

Now he just won’t shut up about it. Here’s what he told the Daily News on Thursday:

“Yesterday, I was talking to my cousin, she’s from New York, and she said, ‘Do you think they just did it for the heck of it, just so people don’t say they didn’t (try to make a big signing)?’ In my opinion, I think they did, because I think if they really wanted me, they would have made a better offer so I could be happy to go to New York. … If they would’ve offered me two years, I would’ve been there already. It didn’t work out, and I’m very happy I stayed on the West Coast.”

I’ll say it again, because sometimes you have to repeat things with retards, and sometimes you have to shout: THE METS OFFERED YOU MORE MONEY. I understand Molina didn’t want to move his family across the country with just a one-year commitment from the Mets. That’s admirable, and very non-retarded behavior. But to keep saying the Mets didn’t want him despite offering the most money is just ridiculous.

The Mets offering him two years when no one else did would have been bidding against themselves, always a stupid move. It’s also a stupid move to sign a 35-year-old slow-footed catcher to a two year deal when there is a promising youngster (Josh Thole) who should be ready in 2011.

The Mets have turned the page on Molina. Why can’t he? Oh yeah, that’s right, he’s retarded.

*****

In other news, the Cincinnati Reds may or may not be interested in Gary Matthews, Jr., depending on which Tweet you believe. Thursday night ESPN’s Buster Olney went on Twitter to say:

Heard this: The Reds are interested in acquiring Gary Matthews, Jr. from the Mets in the event Angel Pagan wins NY’s CF job (as expected).

But an hour later, John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer used the annoying, useless website to write:

source on Gary Matthews Jr.: Zero interest. Listed 5 OFs in camp he’d take over Matthews.

It would be nice if the Mets could flip Matthews for someone useful, considering he’ll start the season as a fourth outfielder if Pagan wins the job, and a fifth outfielder when Carlos Beltran comes back. Maybe then the Mets can pull off my much written-about deal involving Bronson Arroyo or Aaron Harang and Brandon Phillips. Probably not going to happen, though.

And by the way, I love how writers now use Twitter to report on every little rumor they hear. Then when it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t count because they didn’t write it in their columns. Shouldn’t reporters be held accountable for what they post on Twitter, just like they are accountable for what they write in their newspapers or websites?

*****

Speaking of newspaper columnists, Jay Greenberg of the New York Post wrote his annual “Best/Worst” column on New York athletes this week. I’ve never been a big fan of Greenberg’s. I just don’t like his writing style or his opinions. But I do like lists, so I read this one. And it reinforced my feelings on him. One of his “Most Overrated” athletes was Jason Bay.

Let’s start with the obvious fact — Bay has not played a single game as a New York athlete. Why not wait until you actually watch him before saying he’s overrated?

Then Greenberg writes the Mets signed Bay after a “career year.” That is just a ridiculous statement. People may have a different definition of “career year.” But what it generally means is that a player puts together a great year that is out of the norm of his usual production, and then is unlikely to match that production again.

To me, the classic “career year” signing was Adrian Beltre. The Dodgers waited six disappointing years for this guy to live up to his potential, and then he finally did in 2004, leading the league with 48 homers, driving in 121 runs, and batting .334 — by far career highs. He turned that one year into a five year, $64 million contract with the Mariners. In those five years, he never topped 26 home runs, never drove in 100 runs, never batted above .276. Somehow the Red Sox gave him $10 million for 2010. But that was a “career year.”

Now let’s look at Jason Bay’s alleged “career year.” He hit 36 home runs and had 119 RBIs — both career highs. But starting with the 2005 season, Bay hit 32, 35, 21 and 31 homers, so 36 is not an outlandish total for him. His RBIs in those seasons were 101, 109, 84 and 101, so again 119 is not out of the ordinary.

Bay hit .267 last season — a career low, and 13 points below his .280 lifetime average. How can a guy have a career year when he hits for the lowest batting average of that career?

Like many columnists, Greenberg is not giving the Mets enough credit for signing Bay. No, he is not the superstar game-changer that Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez or Ryan Howard are. But he is a very good player who can be a key cog on this Mets team, or any other team, for that matter. Let’s give the guy a break and actually watch him before trashing him.

*****

Oh yeah, and the Mets have shut down Jose Reyes and sent him to New York for tests on a potentially hyperactive thyroid. Happy times.

Well, it’s just spring training, but they are still games, so here are my impressions from the first exhibition game of 2010.

 – First, I’m glad MLB Network carried the game, since I live in Los Angeles and don’t get SNY. And by the way, it’s really cool to roll out of bed and watch games at 10am. This way, when the game is still over, I still have most of the day to waste. During the season (I buy the MLB package), the 4pm start time is a pleasure as well. I can watch the whole game, and still go out at night. Also, it helps not to work.

– If this game is any indication, we will spend the rest of the season listening to John Mellencamp sing “This is Our Country” in those car commercials. I didn’t realize until now how little I missed those ads.

– The Mets seem to be taking that “Prevention and Recovery” motto a little too seriously. They benched most of the starters because of  a rainstorm a few hours before the game. I hear during the season they may draw the line at morning dew.

– Nelson Figueroa pitched a pretty good game, getting out of a tight spot in the 2nd by striking out the side. He is being considered for the fifth starter spot, and I think that’s a mistake. Figueroa is a nice story — a local guy who is a career minor leaguer getting a chance to pitch for his boyhood team. But Figueroa is adequate at best. You know that given 30 starts, he’ll end up 10-12 with a 4.50 era.  There is no upside (to use an extremely worn sports cliche) with Figueroa. At least Jon Niese can become something more than just adequate. Figueroa is all right to have around as a long reliever or down in Triple-A in case a starter goes down with injury, but relying on him every fifth day would not be a good thing.

– When are the Mets going to move Wilmer Flores to second base? Flores is one of the bright spots of the Mets farm system. He plays shortstop, but the Mets already have a shortstop, a guy named Jose Reyes. If the Mets are truly committed to Reyes past next season when his contract is up, why haven’t they move Flores to second already? What are they waiting for? Could they have plans for a future without Reyes? That’s a lot of questions.

– Speaking of Reyes, there was an interesting conversation during the broadcast about his planned switch to third in the batting order. Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling would prefer he remain in the leadoff spot, saying he is the sparkplug for the team. And they questioned whether Angel Pagan can provide the kind of spark that Reyes has. Playing devil’s advocate, Gary Cohen pointed out that Reyes petered out at the end of 2007 and 2008, and perhaps since he won’t be stealing as many bases from the third slot, he may not get as tired as the season wears on. I think it’s a good thing to try, at least until Carlos Beltran comes back. If Pagan (or whomever) can’t get the job done, then move Reyes back to the top of the order when Beltran limps back to the lineup.

– I have no idea who won the game. I had a guitar/harmonica lesson. I really don’t care about spring training games.