Happy April 1 2011!!!

It's the REAL opening day now! Yeah, there were a few games yesterday, but today, the Mets play! HOORAY!

So, here are a few tidbits, and thoughts on the season that is underway:

1) Mets - at best, can hope for a .500 season.

1a) I'm not sold on Mike Pelfrey. He'll be ok, but FAR from an ace. he would be a #4/#5 on a good rotation (3 would be a reach imo)....on the Mets, he's the ace. go figure.

1b) I'd be surprised if Beltran and Reyes are still Mets by the end of the season. If they have a chance to get prospects, they'll jump on it. unfortunately. Reyes - man. my first jersey ever... and he's going to be on a different team :(

1c) Krod also gets traded. no way he stays a met and finishes 55 games.

2) Because the Mets aren't going to be great, how about the O's, since they're my home team now.

2a) O's will be lucky to break 75 games. Everything has to finally start going right for them to get to 500 because of the division.

2b) that means Weiters needs to start hitting, Jones needs to start hitting. Markakis needs to return to his pre contract numbers. Matusz, Arrieta, Tillman, & Burgesen need to be AWESOME.

2c) Lee, Vlad, & Hardy need to be at their best, fighting for a big payday in the offseason.

2d) Brob needs to stop getting hurt....

2 in closing: that's a lot of ifs...

3) I'm rooting for the Pirates, Cubs, and Indians to do well.

4) i'm worried about my fantasy team.

Wait. Castillo's gone, but...

Ok, so, Luis Castillo just got cut. BUT!... err, really? Ollie's still around?!?!?

I'm sorry but, as bad as both of them are, Castillo as of the moment before he was cut, he had a more realistic chance of being the better 2b option vs any of the other 2bman in the running, vs the chance that Ollie beats out all the other lefties in bullpen.

Castillo was actually having a better spring than any of the other guys. and it was so bad that Collins had to put another name into the mix (Hernandez) because Emaus, Murphy, and Turner just weren't doing it...

Meanwhile, with all the other lefties in the pen, Byrdak, Misch, O'Conner, Tankersley are all competing with Ollie. Byrdak is going to be the go to lefty (think Feliciano of '11), and if we're looking at someone to fill in with the Takahashi '11 role, Misch is clearly better than Ollie.

Anyways...

just my rant of what else doesn't make sense in metland.

Springtime.

So, I started this blog last year, thinking I'd actually make regular posts. And like every spring, I'm filled with optimism, because it's a new year. So here's a new dedication to starting this all over again. I will regularly talk about baseball here, rather than just brooding over it in my head.

1) I don't play for real baseball. I play fantasy baseball. It takes a lot of hard work, a pinch of luck.

It's like for real, only it's fantasy! But seriously, I love being a stathead geek and picking and choosing favorite players of mine. I think my greatest joy is finding the 'sleepers'. The guys who nobody else notices, but I see as someone who's poised to break out. And i pick them with like the 20th round pick, and he plays like he should've been picked 10 rounds earlier. I think I did that with Choo with the 20th round in 2009 or picking Jorge De La Rosa in the same year off the waiver wire.

2) What a year for the Mets. They have two guys that should obviously be dropped (Oliver Perez & Luis Castillo), but they won't. I think ollie deserves all the criticism he gets, and hope he never pitches in the major leagues ever again. not that I'm wishing bad on the guy, but I wish that no other fan base will ever have to bear with his wild inconsistencies and selfish play ever again. As for Castillo, I can't blame the guy for taking the contract. Omar should never have given him that contract. He was ALWAYS going to be a slap hitter. decently high OBP. Old legs, that are losing speed. And bunting way too often. He should never have been treated the way he was, as it was Omar's own fault for giving him the contract, and not moving him when they could.

AND, I hope Jose Reyes stays with the mets for life. I hope he shows a career high OBP (370's? please?) Show's his legs that got him 78 steals in 07. and plays the defense he's wow'ed everyone with.

AND, I hope Wilpon eventually sells the team to good owners who are real baseball people and won't meddle in the day to day operations, and will provide solid financial base to make a good team. a solid 125-150 mil payroll that a big market team should have every year, and the smart GM to find the people worth giving the contracts to.

3) I hope the Orioles finally start contending this year. The AL East is such a tough division, but If Matusz becomes the ace that he can be, Burgeson, Tillman & Arrieta can be the good pitchers that they can become, they have a shot. I think the offense will come this year, but the real worry is the pitching. The young pitching really needs to come into its own.

Here's to spring.

Here's to optimism.