The countdown has begun for the January 1st, 6PM launch of baseballs very own television network and guess what it looks like EVERYONE will be able to get it!

Itll be a premium channel, so youll have to subscribe, but unlike the NFL Network baseball is rolling MLB TV out across all the big cable companies in addition to sat giant DirecTv. In fact with coverage of over 50 Million homes MLB Network will be the largest ever launch in pay TV history… NFL Network STILL hasn’t hit the 50 M mark.

Newsdays Neil Best sez theyre building a studio 3 and 42 (in tribute to Ruth and Robinson) in Secaucus, NJ. The studio will include a mini stadium, complete with brick wall from which theyll discuss strategy and perform demonstrations similar to the NFL Live guys on ESPN.

They plan on broadcasting up to 8 hours of live studio shows this summer so I can only imagine what kind of bonanza this network might be for us baseball junkies.

Im not sure exactly how theyll fill out the rest of their broadcast schedule but I hope and pray they wont be running any infomercials for the Awesome Auger or whatever schlock that Billy Mays guy is peddling

Maybe theyll give us something cool like reruns of the old Baseball Bunch With Johnny Bench and Tommy Lasorda as the Baseball Wizard! That would kick ass.

What we do know is MLBNet will:

• Have a live nightly desk during the season from 6 o’ clock on with Matt Vasgersian as the main host. (sounds cool)

• Deliver World Baseball Classic coverage this spring (that’s awesomeness)

• Broadcast a Thursday night game of the week which will be blacked out in the participating teams’ home markets (we always trade down when we lose SNY coverage)

I know Im a baseball dork but I CANT WAIT for MLB Network to launch!!!

I can only hope Selig doesn’t manage top screw this up…

Despite all the awfulness that goes on in the world, including the terrorist attacks in India, BMF would like take a moment to celebrate what I’m thankful for.

First and foremost I consider myself lucky simply to be alive, along with my family and friends. The more I live the more I realize how precious life is.

But in true BMF style I’m thankful I’m a Met fan and NOT one of those miserable yankee fans or wretched Phillie fans.

Good grief could you imagine having to cheer for those franchises? Rooting for the yankees is like rooting for IBM and being a Phillie fan means existing in a cesspool of drunk, angry and hostile fans. No thanks.

Despite the rings those teams own they can’t touch the Met fanbase in passion, knowledge, and dedication.

So on this Thanksgiving holiday BMF would like to say, “Thank God for the NY Mets!”

Reports surfaced yesterday that Minaya and the Mets are, or at least were, in hot pursuit of ex-A’s closer Huston Street.

Of course OAK dealt the young gun to the Rox who despite losing Brian Fuentes to free agency are surprisingly willing to re-deal Street – they’ve got Manny Corpas as a closer in waiting

According to the Post’s Joel Sherman COL wanted Feliciano in addition to Heilman, which Omar deemed as too high a price to pay.

Honestly if I were the Met GM I would’ve pulled the trigger on that trade - which is perhaps why I’m not the GM.

No disrespect to the “Other” Pedro, since he’s been our best middle reliever for a couple of years running but I see him as more of a role player where as Street is a potential rock star who can slam the door in the 8th or 9th as needed.

As for Heilman despite my post last week praising him for standing up for himself to start I very down on the guy and I’d be more than happy to see him move on from NY. I just don’t see the guy getting his mental game right here in the Big Apple. Too many years in the bullpen have broken his spirit and the best thing for all involved would be a change of scenery. Quite frankly if other teams still affix value to him then I say let’s ship him out ASAP!

Still I guess you have to admire Minaya for waiting out the Rockies to see if they’ll take a mid-level prospect instead of Feliciano in a potential Heilman deal. Of course I’d rather keep Feliciano who has greater value as a lefty but I maintain that as solid as Pedro has been he shouldn’t stand in the way of landing an arm like Street.

But that’s just my opinion.

Me thinks Orlando Hudson will be a NY Met before it’s all said and done this off-season… or at least “me hopes”.

Despite reports of a Met offer to Raphael Furcal there is no such deal in the works as the Mets continue to focus on pitching. (in case you missed it those reports came from Furcal himself to “El Caribe” newspaper)

But if and when Omar does turn to second base Orlando Hudson, aka “O-Dog” has made it known his first choice is Flushing and he seems like a great fit to BMF.

Word is Danny Murphy’s knee is fine (phew!) but any possible plans to put him at second seem to be evaporating. I wonder if Omar has decided to slot Murphy into left because he views second base as an easier position to solve with the likes of Hudson or Castillo as opposed to LF where it’s anyone’s guess and there’s no easy solution at hand. Or maybe Murphy just doesn’t have the chops to play second although I’d heard he was playing very well defensively until the injury.

In addition to Hudson wanting to be a Met he’s also a VERY solid player, (he’ll hit .290 with Gold Glove defense), as well as a great clubhouse presence, so despite a tendency towards season ending injuries I’d say he’s definitely worth the investment.

Of course there’s still the small issue of Luis Castillo to be dealt with. Senor Castillo is owed 18M over the next 3 seasons and despite his passionate plea to re-dedicate himself to getting in shape and winning the fans back over I think it’s a good decision to move on if at all possible.

To do so you’ve likely got to trade him before negotiations begin in earnest with Hudson simply to maintain leverage in any potential Castillo deal. Point blank a player will always have more value if he’s currently your “starter” as opposed to an expensive bench player everyone knows you need to unload.

I’d be all for swapping him to the ChiSox for a Javy Vazquez if there is any truth to those rumors.

Jose Guillen on the other hand seems like a bad idea. He’s a problem child and the last thing we need is Guillen having a meltdown and becoming public enemy number one for the Shea Faithful.

And yes I will continue to call us the “Shea Faithful” even after CitiField opens!

The Mets can eat most of Castillo’s contract for all I care. We’ve got the money and the truth is we need a fresh start at second.

and I gotta say, O-Dog would be kick ass as a Met!

BMF would like to take a moment away from free agent season to point out how utterly ridiculous things have gotten with the merchandising already.

Our Mets are auctioning off the pants shown here and the bidding starts $75. The auction currently shows zero bids but with 6 days left there’s plenty of time for things to heat up and send the price north of $100. Which would be a steal, right? I can only imagine what kind of price these pants would fetch if they were autographed!

I guess if you can’t afford a pair of Shea seats you can at least settle for some game used pants… that were worn by a retread… 4th outfielder… who finished the year on the DL.

Don’t get me wrong, BMF became a HUGE Tatis fan this past season so it’s nothing personal but… I mean seventy-five bucks for dirty pants?

Now if these pants belonged to Wright, Reyes, Beltran, Santana or another potentially HOF bound player I could dig that a little more but Fernando Tatis????? Do people really want to own his pants?

And what am I supposed to do with these pants once I get ‘em?

I guess for 75 bucks I should try ‘em on and maybe slide across my living room floor… except that might rub some of the “game used-ness” off and that’s really what I’m paying for isn’t it?

Then again who really wants to wear another man’s sweaty unwashed pants anyway?

So I guess I’m supposed to frame ‘em. That way for years to come I can show off my framed, un-autographed gray pants with no discernable team markings on them whatsoever.

Actually the Met road grays do have thin blue piping down the leg so that would limit it to only about 9 possible big league teams that could’ve worn the pants.

Of course with these being road pants they were never worn at Shea but that’s OK cuz maybe they saw some action in Cincinnati!

I fully respect memorabilia collecting and the Mets have a TON of cool stuff they’re hawking from Shea but in my opinion the Tatis road pants are really pushing the envelope.

Now watch them sell for $350

(Shout to Lodigs for the Tatis tip!)

Congratulations to Aaron Heilman for declaring he wants to start or be traded. Normally I’m against player demands but I can’t be mad at Heilman in this instance.

In fact BMF applauds him for sticking up for himself. The poor bastard has been jerked around ever since ‘05 when he was relegated to the pen. Heilman, who was drafted as a starter, rose through the minors only to have Randolph, Peterson and Minaya banish him from even competing to start.

Initially he impressed in a set-up role but he’s frustratingly regressed with his ERA spiking to 5.2 in ’08. Heilman’s smart to assert himself now, because quite frankly if he delivers another unhappy/unproductive season in relief he may never get the opportunity to start again.

At least now there are still some organizations who believe he can start, which is more than can be said about the Mets who are, at best, split on this topic. Word is J Wilpon believes in the pitcher but I don’t think Omar does and in all honesty neither do I.

I don’t put it past him to become a respectable starter but he needs a fresh start. Someplace where the fans aren’t on his ass and ghosts of past failure don’t haunt him the way they will in Flushing. Face it folks, it’s time for the Met/Heilman marriage to end.

I’ll leave the trade details to Omar to work out but I believe we can get something useful for Heilman and I’ll wish him the best of luck when we do. It straight up isn’t working with him here and considering the Mets need some shaking up Heilman is perfect candidate to go.

But I want to end this on a positive note because I like Heilman. And no matter what you think about the guy as a baseball player he deserves to give it his best shot in the big leagues and that’s definitely in the starting rotation.

***

Murph2 Hurt in AFL?

It may be a bit dramatic to say a Danny Murphy knee injury is the “last thing I wanted to hear this November” but BMF was not happy AT ALL to read the potentially very discouraging news.

That’s right, everyone’s favorite new Met, Danny Murphy tweaked his knee and is back in NY to have an MRI – ugh!

The kid hasn’t played since Nov 11th and the trainers are concerned enough to want a picture of what’s going on inside.

My fingers are officially crossed…