Thursday, February 18, 2010

Spring Training...Where are the Off Season Moves?

Glad Spring Training is upon us.  It is a better yard stick than those pesky groundhogs that predict the seasons for us.

However, I am inclined to think that when they peered out from their holes, (Pete and Phil, repping PA and NY - and somewhere there is a Staten Island "Chuck"?) they probably also had a prediction for the Mets: Six more weeks of inactivity.

If you were to grade the Mets pick-ups from the close of the World Series to now, I would give a C.  True, Jason Bay is on the squad, but he still is unproven.  Now, I know he had a great year with the Sox, but he struggled a bit when he was with the Pirates...  Today Kelvim Escobar, it's reported, can't grip a baseball.

Wonderful Omar.  What's next?

One thing that lights the ire (pun intended, with all respect to Jim Morrison) of Mets fans is that the Nationals had a pretty agressive year and picked up a few semi-solid free agents.  Superstars? NO!  But can each of these players in their role - be that limited or expanded - help the lowly Nationals advance? Yes.

Chess isn't won with two moves, but rather all positions working in concert with each other. That's what gives teams those cherised W's.

Irony though, the Nationals, formerly known as the Expos, was where Minaya hung his cap before the Mets.  Did Omar leave his playbook in Montreal?  Did the moving men box and bring it to the Nation's capital?  If you are just jumping on the Mets bandwagon, you may not know that at one time Omar was a wheeler dealer.

I'm not sure, but I bet the clubhouse men in DC have a lot more uniform making and locker assigning than the Mets do.

Let's hope for a solid season and some momentum pick-up.