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Gretzky's Mullet

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John Maine will be back with the Mets this year, 1 year, 2.6 million.

I guess this signing is good, I see Maine as a decent but unspectacular starting pitcher, but perhaps he has yet to really find himself.

Barring any major moves, he pretty much projects to be 2-3 guy in the rotation, after Santana and about equal to Pelfrey.

Frankly though, despite having solved the end of the game questions, the Mets' pitching will still be a huge question mark in 2009, as they clearly think the decidedly mediocre Tim Redding will earn a spot in the rotation. The problem they have is that they have a lot of money committed in 2009 (and very little of it to starting pitching or middle relief after Santana), and they have either harvested or traded a lot of their farm system recently (Pelfrey, Murphy, Milledge, Humber, Gomez...). They also have very little depth at positions where there is a tradeable player (though frankly they have few of those too). I hate to say it but I don't see them keeping up with the Phillies in 2009.

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Ha, pathetic attempt to jinx my team.

The Mets still need to add a lot of pitching. As it stands, the World Champions haven't lost anybody (Burrell for Ibanez is a lateral move in my opinion), though Utley missing the beginning of the season will probably hurt them. The Mets haven't really gained any ground in terms of roster calibre, as I think the improvement of the bullpen is offset by a decidedly lame rotation.

Maybe they have a shot at the wild-card, as I don't really see Milwaukee being as good without Sabathia, or possibly Sheets either.

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That was no attempt to jinx. Just because the Phillies are World Champions doesn't mean I fear them more than the Mets.

The Cubs have taken major steps back. Out of the Brewers, Mets, Cubs, Phillies, only the Mets have improved.

I'd go

Mets

Cubs

Dodgers (pending a Manny resigning)

Phillies

Brewers

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12 million per is a lot to pay for Perez, but at least he's a bona fide major league starting pitcher. But their rotation was not spectacular and hasn't really improved, save for Pelfrey's increased maturity. The bullpen is decidedly improved, but I'd say it doesn't look much better than it did during the collapse of 2 years ago, when they had Wagner. I don't really think K-Rod is much better of a closer than him, and they are paying him a lot for 80 innings max a season.

The Mets definitely need another season like last from Delgado, and more from my boy Beltran to have a shot. More consistency from Reyes (there's a Joe Morgan comment for you) would be nice too. The real problem for the Mets will be that after those 3 and David Wright, they basically have a collection of jobbers for the rest of their position players: Castillo, Tatis, Schneider and Church. Here's hoping that Church can find early season form of last season and Daniel Murphy can win the left fielder's job out of the Grapefruit league.

The Cubs haven't taken any step back the way I see it. Mark DeRosa was a decent player, but Milton Bradley has a higher ceiling provided he can keep his crap together. Felix Pie just isn't that good (as I remember saying a while back). Kerry Wood was also a bit out of place, and Marmol or Gregg would both be serviceable closers instead. After that the rest of the team seems pretty intact, Zambrano, Dempster, Lilly are still there, plus Harden when he's healthy, and they still have ARam, Lee and Soto. Hopefully Fukudome can earn his money, and Soriano will pull his head out of his donkey, and the Cubs will win their division again this season.

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Maybe I should put some money on the Mariners. Think of the ride that would be.

The Dodgers have pitching concerns the way I see it.

The only teams that have rotations good enough to succeed this season (as is) are Boston, NYY, Tampa Bay, the Angels, Cubs and Diamondbacks. Maybe also the Phillies, and the Giants have good pitching but will suck for other reasons. Everybody else will be let down by their starters.

I suppose the Dodgers are above average in that category though, now that I look at it more closely.

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http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AlZI...p&type=lgns

ARod admits to having used steroids when with the Rangers.

Is nothing sacred?

One thing I don't like about the report is the way statistics are used to damn Rodriguez: they suggest his numbers were significantly better when with the Rangers (which they are) but neglect to mention that pretty much every position player's numbers are better with the Rangers, since their stadium is so hitter-friendly. Add in also that he'd previously played at hitter-hostile Safeco for the better part of 2 seasons.

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Once again, Henry Aaron shows that he is one of the classiest athletes in baseball (or any other sport) history. From tsn.ca:

ATLANTA - Hank Aaron believes Barry Bonds should keep major league baseball's home run record.

"In all fairness to everybody, I just don't see how you really can do a thing like that and just say somebody isn't the record holder anymore, and let's go back to the way that it was," Aaron told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday.

Aaron hit 755 home runs in his career to break the previous mark of 714 by Babe Ruth. Bonds, who did not play last season, surpassed Aaron in 2007 and has 762 career home runs.

Bonds has pleaded not guilty to charges that he lied in 2003 to a grand jury when he said he never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs.

Commissioner Bud Selig has indicated that he's given some thought to returning the record to Aaron if it is proved Bonds used steroids.

"If you did that, you'd have to go back and change all kinds of records, and the (home run) record was very important to me," Aaron said. "It's probably the most hallowed record out there, as far as I'm concerned, but it's now in the hands of somebody else. It belongs to Barry. No matter how we look at it, it's his record, and I held it for a long time. But my take on all of this has always been the same. I'm not going to say that Barry's got it because of this or because of that, because I don't know."

Aaron told Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Terence Moore that he doesn't think the commissioner would like to get involved.

"There are things out there besides worrying about a home run record that somebody now holds," Aaron said. "Barry has the record, and I don't think anybody can change that."

Aaron and Selig have been friends for more than 50 years, and Selig was in Atlanta last week for the slugger's 75th birthday celebration. Aaron said he and the commissioner have never discussed the possibility of restoring the home run record to him.

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