*** Official Mets Springtime Fun in St Lucie Before the Inevitable Collapse Thread***

[Lil Bit Special]

We are just days away from Spring Training beginning and we've already had a few players show up...

Wright

Murphy

Evans

Maine

Pelfrey

Putz

Sean Green

Johan

Dirty Sanchez

Ollie

Kunz

Church

Schneider

Let the fun begin...

[Lil Bit Special]

http://blogs.trb.com/sports/baseball/mets/blog/2009/02/santana_i_feel_fine.html

Johan Santana just finished throwing 18 pitches during a relaxed bullpen session.

While Santana insists nothing has been decided regarding the WBC, he also said that this is "an important year for our team and I'm an important part of the team."

That's for sure. Santana is basically awaiting the arrival of GM Omar Minaya later this week to pull the plug.

[Zeebers]

ESPN reports Johan won't pitch in WBC, but again this would not be the first time ESPN is "breaking the wrong story". Hopefully he does pull out though selfishly speaking.

[Scott Dierking]

ESPN reports Johan won't pitch in WBC, but again this would not be the first time ESPN is "breaking the wrong story". Hopefully he does pull out though selfishly speaking.

The Post had the same story today.

[Lil Bit Special]

Sources for info :

Mets Blog

http://www.metsblog.com/

John Delcos NY Mets Report

http://www.newyorkmetsreport.com/

Amazin Stories- The Bergen Record

http://njmg.typepad.com/metsblog/

David Lennon- Newsday

http://blogs.trb.com/sports/baseball/mets/blog/

Bart Hubbuch- NY Post

http://blogs.nypost.com/sports/mets/

Ben Shpigel- NY Times

http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/mets/

Adam Rubin- Daily News

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/mets/

Jeremy Cothran- Star Ledger

http://www.nj.com/mets/

Ken Davidoff- Newsday- General NY baseball

http://blogs.trb.com/sports/baseball/blog/

Joel Sherman- NY Post- General Baseball

http://blogs.nypost.com/sports/st/

Ed Coleman- WFAN

http://www.wfan.com/pages/139568.php

[Lil Bit Special]

http://blogs.nypost.com/sports/mets/archives/2009/02/maine_pitching.html

Maine pitching pain-free

PORT ST. LUCIE -- John Maine John Maine , who is coming back from surgery to fix a bone spur in his right shoulder, threw off the mound here for the second time in four days and said he is pitching without pain. That is in sharp contrast to last season, when Maine said he couldn't even throw between starts because of the soreness. The spur wasn't removed, Maine added, but rather shaved down instead. "I feel a lot, lot better," Maine said.

[Lil Bit Special]

http://www.newyorkmetsreport.com/2009/02/06/f-mart-has-sore-elbow/

MLB.com reported Fernando Martinez left the Carribean World Series to have his sore right elbow examined in New York.

[Lil Bit Special]

http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/is-bullpen-filled-with-right-handers-wrong-strategy-for-mets/

Before the 2006 season, Omar Minaya remodeled the bullpen. He got Duaner Sanchez and Steve Schmoll from the Los Angeles Dodgers; signed Chad Bradford and Billy Wagner; and acquired Jorge Julio from the Orioles. With the exception of Wagner, who had a specialized role, all four of those pitchers are right-handed. Rather than pursue a left-handed specialist

[Morrissey]

http://www.newyorkmetsreport.com/2009/02/06/f-mart-has-sore-elbow/

MLB.com reported Fernando Martinez left the Carribean World Series to have his sore right elbow examined in New York.

[Lil Bit Special]

Appears to me this guy is always getting hurt, though I said the same thing about Reyes when he was in the minors.

He gets hurt every friggin year. Its starting to wear thin.

At least with Josie it was with his legs and the Mets trying to screw with his running style.

Fmart is too injury prone to even count on to ever have an impact at this point.

[Lil Bit Special]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/sports/baseball/11mets.html?_r=1&ref=sports

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla.

[Lil Bit Special]

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="

"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="

" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

[Lil Bit Special]

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/mets/2009/02/a-big-blown-call-1.html

Days before Mets pitchers and catchers officially report, a potentially costly miscommunication on the final day of the 2008 season has come to light.

In Game No. 162 against the Marlins on Sept. 28, reliever Joe Smith was summoned to replace Oliver Perez with the bases loaded and one out and the Mets trying to keep their deficit at 1-0. The problem? Smith had not been instructed to be warming up at the time. He had been up earlier in the sixth inning, but had been sitting idle for three to four batters when the call to the bullpen came, the Daily News has learned.

Smith, hurrying after getting the unexpected news, actually smacked his head while leaving the bullpen, a source said. The sidearm reliever proceeded to walk Josh Willingham on five pitches to force in John Baker as Florida took a 2-0 lead.

That game turned out to be Smith’s final appearance as a Met. He was the lone Met to land with the Indians in the three-team deal that brought J.J. Putz, Sean Green and Jeremy Reed to Flushing.

Carlos Beltran’s two-run homer a half-inning later tied the score, but eighth-inning homers by Wes Helms off Scott Schoeneweis and Dan Uggla off Luis Ayala resulted in Florida’s 4-2 win and lifted the Brewers to the wild-card crown. Schoeneweis subsequently was traded to the Diamondbacks, with the Mets eating $1.6 million of the $3.6 million owed to him. Ayala, a free agent, signed with the Twins.

Smith had even been given a cover story in case the reliever was questioned by the media after the game about entering without warming up. Television cameras apparently never caught Smith idle before being inserted, or smacking his head, and the episode went unquestioned. The temperature was 71 degrees at the first pitch, so it wasn’t a frigid day. Still, relievers generally aren’t conditioned - physically or mentally - to sit for several batters and then enter cold.

Smith, reached at his West Palm Beach, Fla., home before leaving for Cleveland’s spring training complex in Arizona, declined to comment.

The apparent confusion was reminiscent of the final day of the Mets’ 2006 season, in Game 7 of the NLCS against the Cardinals.

During the spring training following that postseason game, Cliff Floyd described a scene of chaos on the bench during the ninth inning. As Floyd depicted it, a “confused” Willie Randolph was talked out of sacrifice bunting by bench coach Jerry Manuel with two runners on base and none out and the Mets trailing, 3-1. Instead, Floyd was sent up to pinch-hit and struck out. Jose Reyes then lined out, Jose Valentin walked to load the bases and, infamously, Carlos Beltran struck out looking on a curveball from Adam Wainwright.

That instance, Manuel described Floyd’s account as “a cloud with no rain” - meaning a non-story.

[Lil Bit Special]

http://blogs.trb.com/sports/baseball/mets/blog/2009/02/the_early_show.html

...the Mets are sending a whopping 19 players to the WBC tournament...

here is a list of players that I found:

Australia

IF Stefan Welch

Canada

3B Shawn Bowman

Dominican Republic

SS Jose Reyes

Panama

LHP Angel Antonio Cuan

IF Ruben Tejada

Puerto Rico

IF Alex Cora

LHP Pedro Feliciano

1B Carlos Delgado

OF Carlos Beltran

OF Jesus Feliciano

RHP Nelson Figueroa

United States

RHP J.J. Putz

C Brian Schneider

3B David Wright

Venezuela

RHP Francisco Rodriguez

So about 9 players who should be on our 25 man roster will be tied up with WBC stuff..

[Lil Bit Special]

http://www.nj.com/mets/index.ssf/2009/02/former_met_roberto_alomar_has.html

Former Met Roberto Alomar has AIDS, his ex-girlfriend charged Tuesday in a lawsuit, according to a report in the New York Daily News.

The report said the $15 million negligence suit was filed by Ilya Dall, 31, who said she lived with the ex-Met for three years. In papers filed in state and federal court, Dall said Alomar, 41, was tested in January 2006 while suffering from a cough, fatigue and shingles.

[Lil Bit Special]

http://www.nj.com/mets/index.ssf/2009/02/mets_fans_the_2009_nl_east_is.html

The stats geeks at Baseball Prospectus project the Mets for 93 wins this season, a full five games better than the Braves and the Phillies in the NL East. No chokes this year, Mets fans. Say hello to the playoffs!

The Yankees are projected for 97 wins, but that's a game short of projected AL East winner Boston. fortunately, the Yankees would earn the wild card ... whew!

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/fantasy/dc/

[faba]

Can I go on record as saying I hate the WBC- anyone that gets hurt or wears down in the regular season because of it

[Lil Bit Special]

Can I go on record as saying I hate the WBC- anyone that gets hurt or wears down in the regular season because of it

Yes you can go on record.

I dont like it outside of the 3 spring training games I will see with the USA team participating... at least I will be able to watch stars perform.