THE NIEVE QUESTION

The Mets are in a bad position with Fernando Nieve, he either makes the team or they have to place him on waivers. Nieve, who gave the Mets their only win over the Yankees last year and finished with a stellar 2.95 ERA, should stay. If we see none of him next year, that will be a disgrace to Manuel.

REYES UNDER SUSPICION
Those Mets Report, Breaking News Jose Reyes doesn't deny his ties to Dr. Anthony Galea, a Canadian physician accused of supplying athletes with human growth hormone, but says he told the FBI last week that he was never injected with HGH. Reyes received blood-spinning treatment from Galea last September in an attempt to overcome a hamstring injury. The FBI met with Reyes on Thursday at Tradition Field to seek answers. "They asked me if he injected me with [HGH] and I said no," Reyes said today before a Mets workout. "What we did there, basically he took my blood out, spun it in some machine and put it back in my leg." Reyes said he was surprised federal officials wanted to interview him. "They said, 'The FBI.' I said, 'Man, what did I do wrong?' " Reyes said. "I was kind of surprised and scared, but after the interview they said there should be no problem with me." (NY Post)

CHRIS CARTER GETTING IT DONE

When the Mets acquired Chris Carter from Boston in the Billy Wagner trade, many described him as a Shelley Duncan type guy. Rem. Duncan was known for going all out all the time, with his forearm smashes and cleats first slide into second in a spring training game. Apparently Carter is living up to that reputation. (Mets Fever)

BREAKING NEWS Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that free agent left-hander Joe Beimel is still looking for a contract in the $2 million range. The Denver Post reports the Beimel is set to join the Mets within the week. In 461 carrer games, Beimel has a 4.23 ERA with a 22-29 record. Last year he was 1-6 but finished with a 3.58 ERA in 55 innings pitched. He could be of big help, despite his apparent bad luck in the W-L column.

FRANCOEUR'S GOT ATTITUDE AND I LIKE IT

Jeff Francoeur is officially sick of hearing about 2009. How sick? He is willing to put the Mets on the same footing as the world champion Yankees. "At this point, who cares what happened last year?" Francoeur said today following the Mets' first full-squad spring workout. "Even though the Yankees, they won it, but it really doesn't matter at this point. It's a new season." That point was highlighted by manager Jerry Manuel and GM Omar Minaya during a morning meeting. Players then dispersed to work out in the chilly conditions --temperatures were in the 50s with a frigid wind. "Jerry did a great job today of talking about how we need to have some fun, stay focused and stay healthy," Francoeur said. "Besides [Carlos] Beltran, you look at everyone is healthy that is supposed to be healthy, and that is huge. "We have no excuses now. We've got everybody we need here. We've got one more guy to get back hopefully in May, and if we can't win with that, then it's our fault." (NY Post Mets Blog)

MANUEL FINALLY SPEAKS

Jerry Manuel delivered his first official address of the Mets' 2010 season on Thursday morning, urging his players to move beyond last year's disappointment if they hadn't already, but also advising them not to purge all memories of their 70-92 record. Mistakes can double as lessons. The manager's words were well received by all indications; critiques ranged from David Wright's "good," to Jeff Francoeur's "to the point" to one from new man Jason Bay, who characterized his manager's talk as "sincere." Sincere? It's not a common term in baseball clubhouses. "It's the new Mets," Alex Cora said.

DAVID WRIGHT REPORT

Today's history lesson is on David Wright -- specifically, pronouncements on David Wright's outlook, both in the short-term and beyond. Many people are saying definitive things about how he will perform in 2010. His overall Mets legacy has been written in stone for years, seemingly from the day the Mets failed to win the NL East in 2007. I think, just as it is for the Mets as a team this season, anyone making such proclamations is doing so on scant evidence indeed. Let's start with the issue of what can be expected from David Wright in 2010. There appear to be two camps: Doomsayers who believe 2009 represents the new level of play from David Wright, and those who believe 2009 was a complete aberration, and Wright will return to his previous levels. Count me as far closer to the latter camp. Wright was not merely excellent from 2005-2008, he was remarkably consistent. By OPS+, he was at 139, 133, 149 and 141. By home runs: 27, 26, 30, 33. Even his strikeouts were remarkably stable: 113, 113, 115, 118. Still, the reason I can't simply assume that unbroken trend of excellence will continue into 2010 is that it is no longer unbroken. 2009 happened. And there's still no explanation for it. No injury has been diagnosed, no theory of Citi Field, either through direct statistical evidence or indirect psyching-out, holds much credence, and no other reason has come forward, either. In other words, just as with the other top Mets players, David Wright's trajectory for the upcoming year is still to be determined. Of course, that storyline writ large over his entire career is still in flux as well. That may be hard to fathom, given the years of relentless pounding Wright has taken for failing to provide leadership with the Mets, whatever that means, and the team's well-publicized failures in reaching the playoffs, let alone winning a World Series. But there are plenty of examples detailing just how quickly this can turn around. I was watching the Fourth Inning of Ken Burns' indispensible documentary, Baseball, last night. It is part of the offseason regimen to keep me properly fixed with national pastime until April -- part of my baseball methadone, in other words. What was fantastic to hear were the discussions around Babe Ruth as a hitter, circa 1922, when he was the age David Wright is now. John McGraw of the Giants had figured out how to stop him in the postseason. There were questions about whether his leadership would be enough to help carry the Yankees, who had never won a World Series, to a title. Through his age-27 season, Ruth was a .238 hitter in the World Series with one home run and 15 strikeouts in 63 at-bats. Of course, just a season later, Ruth hit .368 with three home runs against the Giants, and the Yankees won their first World Series. But consider how much grief Ruth got for postseason failures -- and that was even with his unparalleled success as a World Series pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. Obviously, this story repeated itself with Alex Rodriguez in 2009. Unlike Wright, A-Rod also had a steroids issue to deal with, repeated off-field distractions, and the biggest contract in the game, which needed justification. One World Series win was all it took, thus re-affirming my theory that Patrick Ewing's entire Knicks career would have looked different if John Starks could have simply shot the damn ball in Game 7 of the 1994 NBA Finals. But the final comparison I wanted to make was to Mike Schmidt, who is generally regarded as the best third baseman in baseball history. Schmidt was a dominant player for four years, from 1974-1977, then fell off dramatically in 1978, in his age-28 season. Even worse, he failed miserably in three postseason appearances with the Phillies, all losses, hitting just .182 in 44 postseason at-bats without a single home run. Considering that David Wright is often blamed for the twin collapses of 2007 and 2008 -- never mind his batting lines in those respective Septembers of .352/.432/.602 and .340/.416/.577 -- one can only imagine how set various media and fans alike would be on castigating Wright if he'd failed at Mike Schmidt levels. Of course, Schmidt went on to have a monster 1979, and after the Phillies won the World Series in 1980, his spot in history was secure. So, strange as it may seem given the thousands of words already spilled about the finest everyday player in Mets history, the Wright story is still to be written. Wright is younger than Schmidt, A-Rod or Babe Ruth were when they altered the trajectory through which history viewed them forever. It says here that the smart money is on David Wright's doing his part to make a similar leap. Far less clear is if his surrounding team can follow, or if 2010 and beyond will be a larger-scale version of Wright's excellent Septembers, cast to the dust bin of history by the failings of his teammates.

DREAM ROTATION 2010
I'm sure Jerry Manuel will put Oliver Perez in the opening week rotation, as Santana has been working with him all winter, every day to improve his game. But, that said, Perez may not improve at all. If he fails to do so, he's done. If he's put in again, Jerry could be done. Below is a the dream 2010 rotation, one that does not include Perez, but everything else the Mets have to work with. I doubt this rotation would ever come in play, and I would not be surprised if Mike Pelfrey is traded before the end of the season, but here it goes anyway:

~INAUGURAL POST~

A new blog has been created. I hereby set forth as the author of what I plan on presenting and proving to that degree as THE BEST METS BLOG ON EARTH. You may be aware of the popular Mets blogs out there, from Seven Train to Shea to Mets Fever to Phuck Philly. But this blog will take it to the next level- providing insider photography, detailed analysis, expert predictions and even awesome T-Shirt deals. Those Mets is your all-in-one Shake Shack consuming, honest complaining, Yankee hating megaphone. This blog will shatter competition and is soon to take off as the supreme Mets blog on planet earth.

Lets get things started with a fact: The number 4 defined last year. In its opening season, Citi Field drew over 3.1 million fans with a game average of 92.7% of seats filled, 4th best in baseball. The Mets finished in 4th place in their division. 4 key players were injured at almost all times. Carlos Delgado hit a season low 4 home runs. These are facts we musnt deny, nor shy away from. But folks, we can't put up with 4 anymore. 2010 must be a injury-free year of 1st place. Too bad Omar failed yet again. This off-season was another year in 4th place. According to both ESPN and Sporting News, the Mets had the 4th best offseason in the Majors. After the Yankees, Angels and Phillies. Sure, we got Bay and picked up some solid pitchers incluing Minor Leauge sensation Clint Everts and left-hand star Hisanori Takahashi who was awarded as the best pitcher in his league in 2007 and finished last year with a 2.94 ERA. Still, the Mets missed out on Lackey, Halladay and Holliday- the three prayers Mets fans made at the end of the 2009 season, all traded elsewhere.