It’s great news for Boston fans that Bobby V is headed north to be their manager. He’s the perfect guy for the job as he’ll bring the swagger and confidence back to Beantown. 

An added bonus is this will allow me to watch the Yanks/Sawks games again - something I haven been able to do for about 3 years now.

I would’ve taken Valentine back in Queens but as I told my Sox buddy, Bobby will be fantastic for the first 2-3 years but then his act might start to get tired. Still though your teams will play to or above their ability while he’s in the dugout so you take that deal no questions asked.

Who cares that Broxton didn’t sign with the Mets - he SUCKS. I’d mug rather have Francisco Cordero closing games for us anyway.

Word is Dotel is high on the wish list. Sorry, but I can’t get very excited by this… At all. He did bounce back to have a good season last year but he’s 38 and clearly well beyond his best days.

Jack Wilson is another guy who generates ZERO excitement for me. OK so he’s a great/versatile fielder - he doesn’t hit. I’m not interested in his .243 avg and .274 OBP in 79 games last year.

…Sorry, I’m just not.

I know we’ve been spoiled in recent years with wild free agent spending sprees but this winter feel extra quiet and extra depressing. 

I don’t expect to land Pujols or any big gun at all but I would like to see that our GM is doing more to improve the team than moving the OF walls.

Reyes has left the building and I guess we cant do anything until we know if he’s coming back or not. You would hope a team in NYC would have enough financial flexibility to begin adding some pieces regardless of the SS contract status but that’s not life with the Mets.

We’re subjected to updates on Metsblog about the jury for the Picard / Wilpon trial.

I really have to wonder aloud if the decision to move the walls was part of a PR move to distract us from the second consecutive winter with no improvements to speak of.

Remember before the replay was implemented some people argued allowing any replay instant would be a slippery slope? Well the proverbial slide has begun with baseball’s new CBA allowing replay to determine fair/foul balls and whether or not a player traps a ball.

I not really “pro” more replay in the game but I’m certainly not against it. 

But let’s make no mistake it will unquestionably expand from here - prob next to include confirming tags on close plays at a base or on the basepaths. 

I’m just sayin’

For some bizarre reason the Texas Rangers signed free-agent closer Joe Nathan to a two-year deal worth $14.5 million.

Did I miss something? When did the market for closers go through the roof? When did the free agent feeding frenzy around Joe Nathan begin? Because that’s the only reasonable explaination for an unreasonably high contract for a 37 year old reliever a year removed from Tommy John surgery.

I guess Nathan was a possibility for the Mets but there’s no way in Hell Alderson hands out that sort of deal to a guy like Nathan.

It’s really too bad Parnell didn’t succeed last year because we could really use the money earmarked for the closer elsewhere… Like Jose Reyes.

Word is they begin testing this spring training but I’m really not sure what that tangibly means.

I gotta believe now that steroids are banned the vast majority of ball players are taking HGH. After all why wouldn’t they? I certainly would. 

If my teammates, my opponents and the guys behind me pushing for my spot are all getting bigger & stronger than I don’t really have a choice, right?

So will everyone immediately just stop taking HGH all at once? I find that hard to believe. 

Will MLB begin announcing an embarrassing string of dozens of players testing positive for HGH? No way. The powers that be would never let that happen. There’s too much at stake brand reputation wise.

The reason they’re testing for HGH is to protect their brand longterm. It certainly isn’t any noble cause by Selig.

So wouldn’t it stand to reason baseball will cover up or take some measures to prevent 30-40 players turning up positive and getting 50 game suspensions?

It’ll be interesting to see what happens, or doesn’t happen, but BMF will be watching with a very skeptical eye.

It’s impossible to know what Sandy’s really thinking about the Reyes situation. It’s obvious he would like Jose back but what’s the breaking point in regards to contract terms?

He said years committed is more important than yeah salary which makes sense. But what really piqued my interest is this quote from Alderson:

“The greater issue is what effect it has on the relationship between the fans and the team. And, that’s always a consideration. There are a handful of players with whom fans identify and in our case Jose is one of them. It doesn’t determine what we will or won’t do, but we have to take it in to account and we are.”

Is this a savvy PR move letting the fans know he thinks and cares about us while knowing full well the Wilpons won’t spend the money on Jose? 

Or is this a clue telling us he is very motivated to do everything he can to resign Reyes???

Prob a combo of both but I gotta say statements like this really stick in my mind…