Minaya brings up Bay in front of Sox fans

A couple of interesting things from Omar Minaya at today's roundtable discussion at Fenway Park:

He tried to avoid it, but in the end he couldn't help but mention Jason Bay in front of the fan base from which he'd just plucked their left fielder: "I didn't even want to bring it up. I just brought it up in the situation. It's about getting good players. Jason Bay did a great job here and we're just fortunate to be able to have him.

While Theo Epstein sidestepped a question asking how the Red Sox stacked up against the Yankees, Minaya was blunt: "You have to respect the Phillies. The Phillies are world champions. They won the National League twice. We just have to go out there and win games and hopefully we win more games than them. But they are the champions and you have to respect that."

And, on a totally unrelated note, I love this tweet from Jerry Crasnick: "In 1947, the Yankees signed Whitey Ford for $7,000. Kate Gosselin just spent $7,000 on her new hairdo."

Just a little this 'n that

This year's Hot Stove, Cool Music event features Mets GM Omar Minaya during the roundtable discussion at Fenway Park. It will be interesting to see what he has to say. (It will also be interesting to see what Bill Janovitz has to say after the music portion in the evening.)

Matt Holliday switched his number from 15 to 7, so tweets Matthew Leach. Passaic, N.J.'s own Mark DeRosa wore it last year, essentially by virtue of getting traded to St. Louis before Holliday.

The Rangers may have finally figured out how to pitch to Vladimir Guerrero: In batting practice. They've reportedly offered the former MVP a $7 million contract. Among American League teams, only Seattle has allowed more home runs (28) and RBIs (84) to the aging slugger than Texas has (24 and 68, respectively). And Vlad's .396 career batting average against Rangers pitching is his best mark against any team.

Not sure what to think about the Milledge deal

I'm confused by this deal. Two things are obvious, or seem so:

1.) Johnny Estrada will be flipped elsewhere.
2.) The Mets aren't getting Johan Santana.

Brian Schneider will team with Ramon Castro, perhaps as something close to a straight platoon, since they bat left and right, respectively. And since the Mets just signed Castro to a two-year deal, Estrada is the one out. He can also be non-tendered and become a free agent, which makes the deal to get him basically a Guillermo Mota contract dump. Nothing wrong with that, either.

As for Santana, I don't see how the Mets could land him if, as reports have said, the Twins aren't wild about the Mets' pitching prospects and now they've dealt one of their younger outfielders. Would Omar Minaya trade Carlos Gomez away now that Milledge is gone? I doubt it. It looks like Church and Gomez will team up to be the right-field platoon ... and then both will start the 40 games Moises Alou misses.

This does balance out the Mets, as Marty Noble points out, though Bill Ladson's source may be misguided if he thinks Church will be the everyday right fielder. I'm not so sure of that. Shawn Green is definitely gone now. Church is effectively Green, minus four years. In 14 more games, Church hit five more homers, drove in 24 more runs and hit .019 points lower (.291 to .272), which really isn't too bad. Church is a better defender, too.

It makes for an interesting dynamic in D.C. It's clear Milledge has talent at the plate, and his defensive shortcomings were one reason the Mets were willing to deal him. But he's also had attitude issues, and so putting him on a team with Wily Mo Pena and, perhaps more importantly, Dmitri Young will be interesting. To his credit, though, Young had a stellar season under the radar, causing no problems on or off the field. He really didn't have a history as a malcontent, but in the sports and entertainment worlds these days, one bad year can make or break your reputation. Plus, it's not a bad outfield -- on paper -- with Pena, Milledge and Austin Kearns around in right.

So now do the Nats go with Jesus Flores as their catcher (whom they plucked from the Mets in the Rule V draft in December 2006)? He was a very limited backup last year because the Nats had to keep him on the 25-man roster or offer him back to the Mets. I'm not even sure he reached Double-A in the Mets' system, so he could be ticketed for the minors for more seasoning. The options on the free-agent market are slim. There seem to be only three who would be worthy of regular (at least four or five games a week) No. 1 duty: Michael Barrett and perhaps Rod Barajas and Paul Lo Duca. But Lo Duca wants, I believe, a ridiculous four-year deal and has also said he wants to go to a team "committed to winning." I don't doubt that the Nats are committed to winning, but I'm sure Lo Duca really means "on the verge of winning." The Nats could be in that position by the end of a hypothetical four-year deal for Lo Duca, but unless their pitching takes immense leaps and bounds forward this year and next, that's unlikely.

I don't see this deal quite as one-sided as Keith Law does, in part because he's going on potential. Yes, Milledge has the potential to be the best player in the deal, but he's not. Yet. At the moment, it's an even trade that helps both teams. We'll wait to see how well Milledge develops before truly evaluating it. Ever since the Scott Kazmir deal, Mets fans are ready to leap off the ledge when a prospect is discussed in trade talks, but they're not all going to turn into stars. Alex Escobar was once the top prospect in the Mets system and seen as a five-tool guy, and his career hasn't gone anywhere.

Milledge's will go somewhere, but until it does, you can't kill the Mets for dealing from a position of strength (and outfield is probably their strongest area throughout the system) to fill two key -- and starting -- needs. Teams these days are holding onto their prospects because they're cheaper than free agents and established stars, not because they're becoming gun-shy. Boston gave up some pretty solid players in Anibal Sanchez and Hanley Ramirez to land Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell, and they may do it again to land Santana. The Yankees won't discuss Joba Chamberlain, but that's really as simple a decision as it was to designate Derek Jeter the shortstop of the future from 1995 on. But if Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes remain to form the top three of the Yankees rotation in the new stadium in 2009, only then will there truly be a new way of thinking when it comes to dealing prospects.

Because the Mets are one of those teams where money isn't as much of an issue, they may be better off signing a marginal free-agent pitcher instead of betting the farm (system) on a trade. The Twins have better offers from the Red Sox and Yankees for Santana, and the loser of that sweepstakes (which could be both teams, should Minnesota back down) could still use the package for Oakland's Dan Haren. The O's will probably hold any team hostage before dealing Erik Bedard (the way the Marlins are in regards to Miguel Cabrera), so as a Mets fan, I'd rather see the team hold onto Gomez, Fernando Martinez, Mike Pelfrey, Phil Humber, Aaron Heilman, et. al. and take a chance on a Bartolo Colon, Carlos Silva or Livan Hernandez. Silva will cost a bit, but Colon should come cheaply with an incentive-laded contract that will pay him more if he stays healthy and pitches more. Hernandez would fill nicely Tom Glavine's 200 innings and should come at a rather reasonable price -- that is, cheaper than Silva.

You snooze, you lose -- and miss Hughes

Those grand plans I laid out last week -- four games in four ballparks in four days -- never came to be. I made it halfway, unable to raise myself out of bed on Tuesday morning to hit the road (and figuring four hours of sleep before a late-night shift in charge of the room would not be a good career move), but bounced back on Wednesday to see Phil Hughes' rehab start for the Trenton Thunder. Thursday would be another cop-out because I stayed home to help my dad and uncle install the ceiling fans we'd asked them to take care of for us.

Hughes is still a prospect, a rookie with just two Major League starts in his career, but his appearance in Trenton was as big as the rehab appearances made previously by Bernie Williams, Hideki Matsui, Derek Jeter and others. OK, maybe not as big as Jeter's, but it was an event. It was a Wednesday afternoon, a park filled with summer camp kids, but the media turned out in force. Or something close to it.

The big right-hander looked good, recovering after a rough first inning to cruise into the fifth. By then, the heat and humidity had chased me into the press box for a break, and I happened to be standing directly over the center of home plate to get a perfect view as Hughes snapped off a majestic curveball to freeze a helpless Binghamton Mets batter for strike three. At the lower levels of the minor leagues, the good pitchers tend to make most hitters look silly at times. But as they move up the ladder, only the better pitching prospects consistently baffle the hitters to such an extent.

Hughes' rehab appearance and the opponent meant that the two most powerful general managers in baseball were sitting in adjoining rows behind the plate -- Omar Minaya and an assistant or two were seated directly in front of Brian Cashman and his crew. Minaya managed to look cool in a long-sleeved dress shirt and canvas cap; Cashman seemed to be roasting in jeans, a polo shirt and what appeared to be a pair of $7.99 sunglasses from Target. Reggie Jackson was also there, but I missed him -- probably because he stayed a bit closer to the action.

But after a late night at work and another shift that evening, I had to head home and work in a nap before departing for the city, so once Hughes' day at the ballpark was finished, so was mine. I drove home just as a few raindrops began falling on Waterfront Park, and I disengaged the cruise control on the Turnpike when the deluge began.

It didn't turn into the week I envisioned, but the two games were worth it -- and they satisfied my happy feet for the moment. I've yet to make the time to get the photos online, but again, when I do, there will be some samples here.

This week has been about big-league ball, with the Mets home again and playing well. We went out to Shea on Tuesday and I'm up bright and early tomorrow for the nooner against the Pirates. Taking mom for her birthday. More on Shea later.

Minaya knows when to let go

This week's New York magazine has a great article on Omar Minaya and the Mets. It delves into Minaya's professional history and his plan of action after returning to the Mets at GM back in September.

I took particular note to the paragraphs that talked about Al Leiter's departure. I'd heard a lot before, from Leiter's 20-minute-plus discussion with Steve Somers on WFAN back in December to various articles -- particularly in today's Daily News, where Leiter blames his departure, in part, on "Mike & The Mad Dog" on FAN. I mean, c'mon, Al. Please.

Then, on Michael Kay's show on the way home tonight, a caller talked about the running back situation with the Jets and compared it to the Knicks in 1994 with Patrick Ewing. This caller felt that the move 11 years ago would've been to trade Ewing when they could've gotten several top players and/or first-round picks in return. He wondered if maybe the Jets should've done the same -- trade Curtis Martin, last season's NFL rushing leader, for a player to fill a need and a first-round pick and a later-round pick or two. Promote the promising Lamont Jordan to starting running back. Kay agreed he had a point, adding that he felt the downfall of the Boston Celtics was their determination to hold onto the past and not cutting ties with Larry Bird, Robert Parrish and Kevin McHale when they could no longer carry the team deep into the playoffs.

Minaya's doing what the Jets, Knicks and Celtics probably should have done. He's said goodbye to 39-year-old Al Leiter and 57-year-old John Franco, two longtime Mets who deserve a special place in fans' hearts, but not on the roster anymore. It won't surprise me if he does the same this offseason with Tom Glavine and Mike Piazza, unless, of course, the right deal comes up in July. It might be tough to replace Piazza with anything more than a weak-bat, strong-glove kind of backstop, but a good defensive catcher presumably will be the final piece needed to shore up the defense up the middle. Sign Charles Johnson for a year, finally make that trade involving Mike Cameron or Cliff Floyd, and use the money for a big bat in the outfield. Next winter, we should see Brian Giles and Lance Berkman on the market.

Piazza has long been my favorite Met since I looked up at the bar TV at Craigville Pizza and Mexican in Hyannisport, Massachusetts, and saw the trade announced on SportsCenter. But now there's David Wright, Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran. There's Pedro and Kris Benson and you just can't have a 37-year-old catcher as the heart of your order in the National League and expect to have a shot at going far into October. Come November, I'll be ready to let go. He's done enough to have that interlocking "NY" on his Cooperstown plaque in seven or eight years.

March is here. Exhibition games have begun, tickets to six Mets games and a Giants game are already in my possession, with more untold games to plan. Opening Day is four weeks from Monday.

It just can't go by fast enough.