
Our MLB editor files dispatches from the Winter Meetings in Las Vegas in Notes From Sin City.
While the baseball world watches and waits for Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia to make up their mind, or even just for a scrap from super-agent Scott Boras, closer Francisco Rodriguez has become the belle of the Winter Meetings ball.
Though the Mets have yet to publicly acknowledge that they have signed the record-setting reliever, it is widely believed that Rodriguez has agreed to a three-year deal with the club worth roughly $37 million and containing a vesting option for a fourth year that could push its value past $50 million.
Problem solved, right? Third straight September swoon averted, right? Hardly.
Look, there's no doubt that the Mets' biggest need heading into the offseason was to fix their wretched bullpen. And there's no doubt that Rodriguez is a big part of the puzzle in that regard. But they also play in the same division as the reigning world champions and a pair of clubs in the Marlins and Braves who are capable of winning 85-plus games if things break right.
New York has some elite talent -- Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, David Wright, Johan Santana -- but it also has a roster that is perilously thin at the margins.
Out of the rubble of another disastrous ending for the Mets was an MVP-type performance down the stretch for
With the playoff chase coming down to the wire, our MLB editor rounds up the five biggest pennant race stories in 

With the playoff chase coming down to the wire, our MLB editor rounds up the five biggest pennant race stories in 
The
Instant replay. Baseball might have instant replay, but instant replay would require instant replay. The issue of instant replay has been an instant replay for years now, only complicating the matter of instant replay. On one hand, instant replay. Of course that raises the issue of instant replay. This, in turn, creates the problem of not being able to have instant replay without instant replay. Personally, I instant replay. I've instant replayed since I was a small instant replay. Instant replay is a completely natural and instant replay thing. Baseball purists who instant replay the issue need to instant replay themselves and stop instant replaying the matter at hand.
Just because the Mets didn't fire 

