Last year's home run drought is solved! The centerfield wall is being taken down from 16 feet to 8 feet for the 2010 season.  Obviously, a newly healthy lineup should do most of the improvement itself, but come on, it's half as high.  Home runs are going to flying everywhere now!  David Wright is going to be a 30 homer guy again now (I can't decide which way that sentence will jinx: pro-or-con for the Phillies).

Regardless, after last season I think we all knew that some stadium changes were coming.  Whether it was a moving wall or a shrinking one, something was going to change.  Right field couldn't be changed because, well, Chase Utley would never make an out at Citi field.  As far as the other two are concerned, I'm a little surprised that neither got moved in a little.  With near-DH Jason Bay playing left field and recently hobbled and aging centerfielder Carlos Beltran in the middle, either of those fields could've used a relocation.  But who am I to judge?

Slow on the baseball front recently, so there's always the option to Phillie Bash!

Susan Finkelstein; the woman & Phillie Phan who allegedly posted a craigslist ad offereing sex for World Series tickets was in court recently (or rather her lawyer was in court for her...apparently she was in Mexico.  I wonder what sporting events were going on down there?).

Her lawyer made a--ah hem-- interesting argument in front of the judge:

Even if Finkelstein intended to trade sex for tickets - which she denies - that wouldn't make her a prostitute, her lawyer argued yesterday in Bucks County Court.  "You can be a slut; that's not illegal," attorney William J. Brennan said, comparing it to someone "who buys a woman a cosmopolitan and then has sex."

The Judges Ruling? Motion Denied

Perhaps she should try "If the condom don't fit, you must acquit" defense next.

Classic.

You know this is getting out of control when I start to get tired of it.  More Mets organizational nonsense to talk about.  Today, the insight comes from Murray Chass who shares some information he gathered talking to various agents who've dealt with the Mets this offseason.  And the consensus seems to be that the Mets are incapable of multitasking.  It's one free agent at a time and everyone else has to wait until that has been dealt.  This would explain why the Mets lost out on so many targets this offseason, because simply they were focusing on someone else at the time.  2010 is looking more and more like the year of the Mess and less like the Amazin' Mets Matt has warned me are coming.  I'll end it with some quotes from the initial story:

But more than one agent cited the Mets’ inability to deal with more than one free agent at a time as the primary reason they lost out on free agents. “We’re interested in your guy,” more than one agent recalled the Mets saying, “but we have to deal with this other guy first.”

In one instance, the Mets were a player’s first choice, an agent said, but he was one or two down on the Mets’ pecking order – a phrase used by another agent – and the player and the agent weren’t going to wait for the Mets to deal with them. They went elsewhere.

Another agent said that Omar Minaya, the Mets’ general manager, told him at the winter meetings in December that the Mets would address their catching need in January. “How can they wait and be sure what will be there?” the agent asked.

Classic Mets.

At some point, doesn't the perception just become the reality?  The ineptitude of this organization of has reached new, fantastic lows this offseason.  Every day, seemingly, comes with more news and/or insight into a front office that can't seem to get out of its own way.  Today?  J.J. Putz never received a physical when the Mets traded for him.  The team says that they knew about his bone spurs and were confident he could pitch with them.

Let me continue, they knew he had bone spurs in 2008 and pitched with them, so why not again in 2009?  Let me get this straight, Putz pitched with bone spurs in his worst season to date, so it's probably fine if he pitches through it again?  No!  That makes negative sense.  Not only that, Putz says the Mets pushed him to pitch through injury, which eventually led to his season ending surgery.  Now that my friends, is quality management.

Matt, Benny, get on here.  Defend this organization, please.  How many things like this have to happen before, i don't know, Omar gets fired?  The team gets moved West?  The Wilpon's are forced to sell?  The Middle East declares war on Flushing?  Is there any floor to this free fall?  Honestly, the Mets had better play out of their minds this season or heads are going to roll around Flushing like a spilled can full of marbles.

ESPN just released the top 200 fantasy players for the 2010 season, let's look at what guys from each team found their place on the list:

7. Chase Utley

11. Roy Halladay
13. David Wright
14. Ryan Howard

24. Jose Reyes

34. Jimmy Rollins
36. Jayson Werth
40. Jayson Bay

58. Johan Santana
68. Shane Victorino

79. Francisco Rodriguez
87. Cole Hamels

104. Raul Ibanez
109. Carlos Beltran

170. J.A. Happ

You know why I like fantasy ranking lists like this? Because it gives you a good idea of the talent levels for different teams.  Obviously it skews the rankings on a player-to-player basis, but team wise you can see talent disparities very easily.  The Phillies have 9 guys, the Mets have 6.  Still a very respectable number for the Mets, but it speaks volumes about the set-up of their current team.  They employ 6 of the top 110 players, but don't have another in the top 200 after that.  Fantasy rankings are obviously different than value or player rankings, but they value a lot of the same things -- production wise.

These rankings show a trend back upwards for most Mets and that's more than fair considering how young their stars are.  I was very surprised to see Raul and Beltran as low as they are.  This guy must be anti-old guys in his fantasy world -- well, I am too, so I can't blame him.

I assume most of you guys play fantasy baseball, what say all of you?

ESPN and MLB both unveiled their top prospect lists yesterday, now there's plenty of Phillies and Mets debate to have.  Finally!  Benny B has been bashing Phillies prospects the past few days and now we can roll that talk right on into the weekend.

I'll snip out all the Phillies and Mets prospects and the recently departed Phillies prospects in the Lee/Halladay deals -- I know how to give the people what they want.

From ESPN (top 100):

14. Domonic Brown
23. Jenrry Mejia
24. Michael Taylor [OAK]
40. Kyle Drabek [TOR]
41. Wilmer Flores
64. Ike Davis
73. Fernando Martinez
99. Travis d'Arnaud [TOR]

From MLB (top 50):

14. Domonic Brown
17. Kyle Drabek [TOR]
35. Michael Taylor [OAK]
47. Phillippe Aumont

Hmmm, where do I take this.  There's not a single Met in the MLB.com Top 50, awesome.  However, they get tons of love from ESPN.  Also, it hurts me to see Michael Taylor up so high, I still love that guy.  The fall of Fernando is epic down there at no. 73.  Obviously this doesn't definitely answer the Domonic Brown v. Fernando argument, but it absolutely swings it in Dom's favor.  So let's here it Mets/Phillies guys.  What do you think of these rankings?

If we've learned nothing in the past year or two, it's that everyone in Flushing has their head up their butt, or someone else's for that matter.  What else would begin to explain the team trading a relief pitcher and committing $2 million to Gary Matthews Jr.?  Nothing, that's what.  Once upon a time, Matthews put together a career year, made a ridiculous catch (easily, the catch of that year) and finagled a 5 year, $50 million contract from the Angels.  Some steroid allegations we're made and let's be honest the man has fallen off the statistically positive face of the earth.

From Rob Neyer:

Purely in terms of value, the Mets have given up something for nothing. 

Brian Stokes is nobody's idea of a star, but he's cheap and he's got a 3.82 ERA in the National League. 

Gary Matthews essentially forced Bill James to invent Loss Shares. 

Yes, that's a joke. Bill started thinking about Loss Shares long before Matthews signed his $50 million contract with the Angels. But according to Wins Above Replacement, in the first three years of that five-year deal, Matthews has been worth negative $5.2 million. 

Perhaps I was too kind. One might argue that the Mets just gave up something for lessthan nothing.

It's a classic Mets acquisition!  Yes, $2 million is nothing to a big market team to the Mets, but why waste it?  Why not sign someone on the market for a quarter of that who might actually play at the level of a replacement player instead of costing the team even more money than you're paying him!  Omar Minaya's expiration date just jumped up a few days, if not weeks.

Ruben Amaro has been quite active this week after two weeks or so of nothing.  Hell, I think I've been talking Mets most of the past two weeks, but they've given me plenty of material to bash and laugh about.  This week brought forth a flurry of signings and extensions for the Phillies.  We've already talked Shane Victorino and Joe Blanton, now there's Jose Contreras and potentially Carlos Ruiz.  Also, the official departure of Matt Stairs.

Jose first.  Contreras has been a particularly weak pitcher over the past few years, throwing over 100 innings, but constantly sporting a 4+ ERA.  In no way is Contreras a fantastic option, even in his prime he only had an ERA under 4 once and a WHIP under 1.3 twice.  However in the current depleted market, assuming the money is small, he's a safe signing.  Throw in the fact that he's pitching in the National League for the first time (his 17 innings in Colorado at the end of last year don't count) and there's at least some upside to hope for.  Whether he earns a rotation spot remains to be seen, but it's not a big risk to see what he can't bring to the table.

Phillies Nation is reporting that Carlos Ruiz has signed an extension to avoid arbitration (despite the fact that I haven't seen evidence of this anywhere else), so it's worth mentioning here.  I'm assuming that Chuuch Ruiz found himself a multi-year deal for two reasons: the dearth of MLB-ready catchers on the farm and his postseason play.  Carlos certainly has his faults as a catcher and struggles at the plate, but his workman like attitude everyday and propensity for postseason success has made him a fan favorite of sorts.  I don't know how many people will be upset when he goes, but most enjoy him while he's here.

Finally Matt Stairs is set to be a Padre.  The deal is a minor league contract, while a major league invite and a chance to fill the same role he played so well here in Philadelphia.  Jerry Crasnick reports that Stairsy had dropped 31 pounds in an effort to improve his play and his chances of making the big club.  I hope the old veteran finds a spot on the big club and extends his career, even if only for another year.

Joe Blanton just inked himself $24M over the next three years.  Big Fat Joe avoids arbitration this year to add on the next two years of free agency after.  I'm still upset with Joe for being the $8 million dollar reason that the Phillies couldn't retain Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay, but we've been over that already.  Blanton was a solid piece in the World Series run and pitched great last season.  This contract is deserved for a good middle of the rotation guy and eats innings on a team that desperately needs it.

More importantly/excitingly(?)/significantly, Craig Calcaterra of NBC's Circling the Bases writes that a source reports a 3 year, $22M extension for Shane Victorino.  Shane avoids arbitration and gets a raise that acknowledges his strong play over the past few years.  Not only was he a great player, he made Mets fans absolutely crazy which is worth half that salary alone.  Carlos Ruiz will be the only arbitration guy remaining for the Phillies if this move indeed passes through.

Sticking with the theme of Minor Leaguers, Toby Hyde over at Mets Minor League Blog explains why we should not be giving up on Fernando Martinez even though he has failed so far to live up to the hype of a top 25 prospect.  Obviously, health has been the main issue with him.  He just can't stay on the field. However, F-Mart has been pounding the ball in the winter league playoffs recently going 5-6 with a 2 run HR & 5 rib-eye steaks.  Let hope this is a sign of good things to come in 2010.

Hyde also compares F-Mart to Dominic Brown, the Phillies highly touted prospect:

Pretty comparable with F-Mart flashing slightly more power...plus he's one year younger to boot.

Regardless, this is going to be an important year for F-Mart.  If he is going to prove he can stay on the field at the MLB level, he has first got to prove it at the Minor League Level.  I have always liked this kid, and I am rooting for him.  But time is running out.