Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.
At $149,373,987, the New York Mets had the National League's highest payroll in 2009. Their fourth place finish in the NL East, 23 games back in the standings, might suggest that the cash Omar Minaya dished out wasn't money well spent. A closer look reveals a team harassed all season by injuries and a group of hitters that could never find a long-term answer to produce runs.
In the outfield, Carlos Beltran had a potential All-Star season broken up, playing in only 81 games due to a knee injury. In fact, only Jeff Francoeur amassed more than 500 at-bats among Mets outfielders, and he was a mid-season import from the Atlanta Braves.
The infield wasn't spared either as mainstays Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes had their seasons cut extremely short due to injuries. Even staff ace Johan Santana ended his season early with elbow issues.
The good news is that most of these players are expected to be healthy and ready to go for spring training.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That the Mets can't even break a lengthy team-wide home run drought without something going wrong. Brian Schneider went deep Sunday afternoon at Citi Field, snapping an 80-inning span without a big fly for New York. Three pitches later Fernando Tatis left the yard again. So why did that elicit boos from the Met fans?
Because Tatis homered so soon after Schneider that the infamous mechanical apple -- an all-new heavier model than the one used at Shea Stadium (seen on the right at Citi Field) -- didn't reset in time for it to rise immediately after Tatis' drive. The apple did eventually emerge, but not before the ire of already edgy Mets fans had been raised.
"You come to Citi Field, Mets fans expect to see the Apple," said Elizabeth Cruz, 24, of Maspeth. "It should go up every time. It was disappointing."
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Some NL-Only owners last night got a nice little (understatement) boost in steals last night, assuming that's where Dexter Fowler is mostly owned. The fleet-footed 23 year-old rookie stole 5 bases in the first five innings against the Padres -- giving him a National League-best 9 on the season.
Unbelievably, as noted in this morning's Starting Five, Fowler didn't even set a team record and it hasn't even been a full year since a Rockies' player had 5 steals. That doesn't mean it's common, though. Only 17 players have done so since 1954.
Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a quick once-over.
Meet the ... Chokers. Sorry, folks, but until they can actually close out a regular season, that's the label they're getting. Fortunately for us fantasy folks, we don't really care about total team performance in the regular season, provided it doesn't impend on individual players' abilities to post statistics. And in that sense, the New York Baseball Mets are quite the enjoyable team to watch. They have a slew of top-tier players on the squad and generally almost always provide a ton of fantasy value. Not much will change in terms of that this year, although you may be surprised as to where it will come from.
Yes, it sounds like a strange injury ... even something that isn't so serious. But an infection can turn into something serious, painful, and at the very least, really annoying. But an infected thumb was serious enough to send Mets catcher Brian Schneider to the hospital in hopes that he can get it cleared up and avoid a DL stint. The good news is that if this is taken care of, Schneider will probably be able to play this weekend against Atlanta.
Schneider had just recovered from a forearm bruise which kept him out of the lineup for three games before coming back on Wednesday against the Nationals. But after flying back to New York on Thursday, the Mets needed a back-up catcher as they only had Raul Casanova on the roster to catch that game. Gustavo Molina will join the club Friday to give the Mets two catchers.
This basically means that the Mets have gone from Schneider and Ramon Castro (who's been out since day one with a strained hamstring), to Casanova and Molina. Considering that Schneider has shockingly been one of the club's best hitters, and not so shockingly very good in handling the Mets' staff, a disabled list trip would be a huge blow to Schneider and the Mets. Could the return of the recently retired Sandy Alomar Jr. be far behind?
And how much trouble are the Mets in if that's the next option?
If you're new to these proceedings, click here and here to catch up on what you've missed.
If you're not into the extended catch-up, you've missed a six-run Mets fourth and a two-run Josh Willingham home run and some entertaining fat men dancing. Johan Santana's on his way to his first Mets win, we'll see if he can get it after the jump.
Hopefully you're moving over from the Innings 1-3 coverage but if not and need to catch up, check it out here.
Johan Santana's been everything the Mets expected to this point but he's getting everything he can handle from Mark Hendrickson. On a basketball court, that wouldn't be surprising but we're playing baseball here. Let's see how both men do as they start facing people for the second and third time. For now we're scoreless and heading into the top of the fourth.
If you're looking for a feeling of rebirth, there ain't much better than Opening Day. Blank slates abound, last year's failures are but a fleeting memory and everybody's in first place. Nope, it doesn't get much better than that.
Unless, of course, you have all those things plus your first look at the best pitcher in baseball wearing your team's uniform for the first time in a game that counts. It's Johan Santana's Mets coming out party and the Marlins are playing both host and cannon fodder for the man who has launched World Series dreams all across Queens.
I'll be here for every one of his pitches (and Mark Hendrickson's too!). Sit back, relax and enjoy the show.
Paul Lo Duca's long quest to find a new home has finally ended: today he chose the Nationals over the Blue Jays and signed a one year deal pending a physical sometime this week. This takes place just a couple weeks after the Nats swapped Brian Schneider to the Mets to take Lo Duca's job. If you're keeping track at home, that means that for the Nationals, the trade now essentially boils down to Lo Duca for Schneider and Ryan Church for Lastings Milledge. That's Jim Bowden 2, Omar Minaya 0.
Lo Duca certainly isn't the player he used to be and his .272/.311/.378 line from last year paired with the fact that he's going to be 36 shortly after opening day really hammers that home and it's not hard to see why teams were shying away from him. What this move will do is let them keep prospect Jesus Flores (minor league stats here) in the minors for another year without having to rush him to the bigs.
What the move also does is add the fiery Lo Duca into a clubhouse with Elijah Dukes, Lastings Milledge, and Dmitri Young. I assume that the Nats will be better in 2008 than they were in 2007, though even if they don't contend for the NL East championship, they're going to be the most fun team in the league to blog about.
Talk about trades you didn't see coming, this one is fairly shocking.
The Mets have completed a significant deal, sending outfielder Lastings Milledge to the Nationals for catcher Brian Schneider and outfielder Ryan Church, according to major-league sources.
The deal, first reported by WFAN, will reunite Mets general manager Omar Minaya with Schneider and Church, two players he had with the Expos. Schneider, 32, will become the Mets' starting catcher, replacing Johnny Estrada, whom the team recently acquired from the Brewers for reliever Guillermo Mota.
Here's a little perspective for you: At the end of the 2005 season, Milledge's name has been floating around in a one-for-one trade rumor with Manny Ramirez. Now, he gets back Brian Schneider and Ryan Church.
I for one do not understand this from a Mets perspective. Minaya was supposedly stockpiling all of his chips for an ace pitcher, and now he has one less chip. Moreover, Milledge is traded for a catcher after the Mets had already acquired a catcher in Estrada, so I have no idea why this trade was necessary. This trade only works for the Mets if Church turns around and is wheeled as part of a deal for a top flight pitcher ... but wouldn't Milledge have been a more valuable chip?
And not to mention that Milledge remains in the N.L. East and gets to exact revenge on the Mets 19 times a season. Winner: Jim Bowden. Losers: Met fans (as usual when these types of trades happen) every time Milledge comes to town.
Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through 
Yes, it sounds like a strange injury ... even something that isn't so serious. But an infection can turn into something serious, painful, and at the very least, really annoying. But an infected thumb was serious enough to send Mets catcher 
