Month: March 2008

Mets- Detroit Tigers Deal For Marcus Thames Still Possible

Yahoo Sports is reporting that the Mets are still looking at the Detroit Tigers Marcus Thames.

The New York Mets have scouted Detroit Tigers first baseman/outfielder Marcus Thames so much this spring that they could be accused of stalking according to the Boston Globe.

The Tigers still need bullpen help and the Mets have a glut of arms in the pen. Omar Minaya really needs to make something happen. With the news of Reed Johnson getting release by the Blue Jays today that may be the direction that Minaya goes.

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The Mets Report Site Improvements

You may have noticed some changes to The Mets Report site over the past few days. I’ve been working very hard since I put this site up last month to make it the best possible source for Mets news and information. Thank you to everyone that has supported me by reading the posts and providing words of encouragement. I’d like to address some of the improvements that I’ve made recently:

  • New Page- I added a new page called “Ask A Question“. You can see it on the left side navigation menu. The intent of this is for readers to ask a question or make a comment that I can respond to in a post on the site. I hope that this leads to a higher level of engagement and interaction with the readers. It’s still okay to leave comments but you’ll get a response from me when you ask a question. Comments are for the reader community discussion.
  • PayPal Donation- Obviously, I have advertising on my site so it’s clear that this is a commercial entity. I use the funds generated from this site to pay for the upkeep of the site and the server host that I use. The PayPal donation is another forum to assist with this effort. I don’t host the site on my own and I pay for the server, database, and bandwidth that I use. The Mets Report is a part-time thing that I do because I enjoy it and Mets fans deserve the best site possible.
  • New Photos- I’m now utilizing photos from PicApp. They provide the highest quality Getty Images and other photos that are now used on The Mets Report site. I’m a firm believer that photos add greatly to the experience of a web site. Since I don’t have the budget (yet) for a team of photographers to scour the country covering every MLB team I have to look for alternative sources. Many of the blogs I see are grabbing copyrighted photos without attribution. I won’t engage in that practice. I believe that everyone has a right to get compensated for their hard work. That’s why you see a brief advertisement in each photo.

Thanks again to the loyal readers of this new Mets fan site and blog. I hope you enjoy the new improvements to the site and please feel free to comment or email me. You can find my email address on the About page.

Let’s go Mets!

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Breaking News: Blue Jays Release Reed Johnson

This morning the Toronto Blue Jays announced the release of Reed Johnson. It’s been reported over the last few weeks that Omar Minaya had spoken to the Blue Jays about a trade for Johnson or Shannon Stewart. The Jays just didn’t have room on their roster for both players. From Fox Sports:

“I don’t have any hard feelings,” Johnson said. “I don’t have much of a choice right now except to move on. It’s really all I can say.”

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Minaya doesn’t have to trade anything for Johnson now. He’s on waivers as of this morning. His current contract runs through the end of this season for $3.275 million. I’m surprised that J.P. Ricciardi wouldn’t have taken some minor leaguers from the Mets for him. He’s known as a pretty shrewd GM.Reed plays all three outfield positions and DH in the American League. Bill James has him listed as an excellent left fielder defensively. He ranks as the fourth best left fielder in baseball over the last three seasons behind only Scott Podsednik, Eric Byrnes, and Carl Crawford.

He only played in 79 games last year because of a herniated disk, and he throws right and bats right. He’s 31 years old and his career offensive stats are:

.281/.342/.410 42 HR 234 RBI 28 SB 16 CS 2083 AB 382 SO

I’ll be shocked if the Mets don’t pick him up off waivers considering the need for a right-handed bat to get through Moises Alou’s injury.

Civil Rights Game- Mets and White Sox March 29

Ben Shipgel of the NY Times wrote an excellent column about the meaning of the Civil Rights Game next Saturday to Willie Randolph. This is an important game for every minority in the game not just African-Americans. The Mets have even adopted aspects of Jackie Robinson’s legacy as a National League player from New York. We know how important Robinson’s historical career is to Fred Wilpon.

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I’ve read some articles questioning the choice of the Mets for the game based on the racial makeup of the roster. Although there are few African-Americans on the Mets roster, and Major League Baseball in general I disagree with the view that African-Americans are the only players impacted by the social change that occurred when Jackie Robinson began playing for the Dodgers in 1947. The door was opened for Latin, Japanese, and Korean players that play throughout the league now.

It was a smart choice by MLB to have two big market teams in the game to draw maximum attention to an exhibition game that’s more than just an exhibition.

Oliver Perez Inconsistent

The Indians won 5-2 today as Oliver Perez gave up four homers in five innings. Perez was consistently high with his pitches and paid the price. Carlos Beltran hit a bomb to center field and Damion Easley was 2 for 3. Read the full recap at MLB.com.

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