Color Me Jealous

I've written about five scenarios for the Mets off season:

• Sign Reyes and a Top SP
• Lose Reyes sign Pujols and trade Davis
• Sign Reyes and get a Closer and Setup man
• Sign Reyes and trade Wright
• Lose Reyes, trade Wright and bank on 2013

Then I started thinking how unfair it is that my most ADVENTUROUS option only brought the Mets NEAR a $140 Million payroll. This is New York, right? Isn't that a realistic figure for a New York team?
Then I looked at the Yankees. Their off season starts with re-signing one of their top players, just like ours but UNLIKE the Mets it doesn't END there. Let us look at the following as more of a CHECK LIST than an option list:

• Re-Sign C.C. Sabathia
• Sign another Top SP (Yu Darvish OR C.J. Wilson)
• Look at closers and contemplate Rivera's departure after the season
• Talk to Pujols about playing the outfield
• If he won't do it decide between Swisher, Kubel, Cuddyer and Willingham

Before you tell me the Yankees can't possibly do all these things remember that they DO have money coming off the books, they ARE coming off a disappointing playoffs and they DID miss bringing in their big fish last year.

Could the Yankees re-sign C.C. Sabathia, sign Yu Darvish and Albert Pujols and put a guy Matt Capps into their bullpen? I'm betting they COULD. Even if they wouldn't, it makes me angry that they could.

P.S.

My sincerest sympathies go out to the Lowe family. Though I did not know John I still know that losing a loved one, especially before his time is unfair. You have my thoughts and prayers.

David Groveman
(Phlavio Phega)

An Alternate Approach

What if I were to suggest the Mets start their offseason... NOT signing Jose Reyes? GASP! What? But... He's Jose! We LOVE Jose! YOU love Jose! How could you? Well... I'm just trying to think pragmatically about what is available and what is easier/harder to find through free agency. For instance is it more or less hard to find a leadoff hitter, or a middle of the order guy?

I've already given you all my Plan A: Sign Reyes and Win Posting Rights/Sign Yu Darvish. I think the plan would make me and most Met fans a touch more optimistic about the 2012 season and beyond. HOWEVER... I'm going to be working hard to come up with some other plans that might involve thinking outside the box a little more.

Step 1: Buy the Biggest Impact Bat Out There
Albert Pujols is in his low 30s and still likely to be among the top 5 players in the game for the next... 5 years? Let's ignore that the Mets are not a likely landing zone, the Cardinals are likely to retain him and that he'll cost a good deal MORE than Jose Reyes. If the Mets sign Pujols and not Reyes... their roster's overall hitting takes a hefty up-tick. It does add the SLIGHT problem of then not having a spot for our dear friend Ike Davis to play. Not to worry, I found him one... though some fans may not like it.

Step 2: Trade Ike Davis to the Tampa Bay Rays
It hurts to trade home-grown talent. ESPECIALLY cheap and productive talent like Davis but you need to understand the market with trades. The Rays are not a wealthy team and a player, like Davis would be valuable as much for his bad as for his low contract. The big piece I'm asking for is just as cherished by the Rays. David Price is 26, he's a lefty and he's DANG good. Why in the world would the Rays trade Price? Well... Price's price tag is about to be on the rise... and quickly. His FIRST arbitration is supposed to exceed all other first arbitration cases thus far... (Kershaw's will be higher still). ALSO, the Rays have a pretty well-stocked system in regards to pitching and Davis fills one of their problem areas cheaply and effectively. Now... if I'm the Mets I'm including another prospect with Davis for a prospect back from the Rays. (Ike Davis + Zack Wheeler for David Price + Tim Beckham or something similar) The Mets would target Tim Beckham or Hak Ju Lee (The Rays top SS prospects) in an effort to replace the void left by Jose's departure. This would give Mets a better chance of developing a useful MLB talent between Tejada, Valdespin and the player we acquired.

By doing this, the Met payroll STILL winds up being around $110-120 Million Dollars and the team... at least on paper, seems to be a touch more potent. (Overall) We might lose a pitcher from our AA stock-pile in the trade with Tampa but we get deeper at a position where our options are limited and

Lineup:
1. Angel Pagan, CF (S)
2. Reese Havens, 2B (L)
3. Albert Pujols, 1B (R)
4. Lucas Duda, RF (L)
5. David Wright, 3B (R)
6. Jason Bay, LF (R)
7. Josh Thole, C (L)
8. Ruben Tejada, SS (R)

Bench:
Ronny Paulino, C (R)
Fernando Martinez, OF (L)
Daniel Murphy, Util (L)
Justin Turner, IF (R)
Joshua Satin, IF (R)

Rotation:
1. David Price, LHSP
2. Johan Santana, LHSP
3. Jonathan Niese, LHSP
4. R.A. Dickey, RHSP
5. Dillon Gee, RHSP

Bullpen:
Bobby Parnell, RHRP
Pedro Beato, RHRP
Taylor Buchholz, RHRP
Manny Acosta, RHRP
D.J. Carrasco, RHRP
Josh Stinson, RHRP
Daniel Herrera, LHRP

Now... I'm not saying this is the right approach. I'm just looking for alternate plans. With this plan we have Pujols' bat in the heart of our order, Price at the front of the rotation and Valdespin and Beckham in the minors as a long-term solution for SS.

Is this Albert Pujols autograph a fake?

I've been looking to acquire an Albert Pujols autograph for our collection of MLB players and came across this ebay auto:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Albert-Pujols-autograph-signed-The-Bigs-auto-case-UDA-/220844978503?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item336b62f147

The owner of the auction said this in the item description:
"This auction if for an Albert Pujols signed The Bigs case. There is no game or game book. The Upper Deck Authenticated authentication hologram number is pictured, and it does not come with the UDA COA, but obviously it has the UDA sticker on it, and is obviously the real deal. It was given to players in the St. Louis, Missouri area, at the Albert Pujols charity golf tournament. I will ship via USPS mail with tracking."


Then when I entered the code on Upper Deck's website to check the hologram authenticity this is what I got:

We are unable to locate SHO20950 in our hologram database.

Note: Items that were produced prior to 2002 are not included in the online database.

Please contact our Customer Service Department at (800)551-8220 or via e-mail at ud_store@upperdeck.com to confirm the authenticity of your item.

Welcome to UDA's Hologram Data Center. To view and verify the authenticity of Upper Deck Authentic Memorabilia, please enter its corresponding hologram ID number below and click on "Submit."

A photo of the item will appear, as well as a brief description of the item, and will reveal immediately if the entered hologram ID number properly matches the piece to which it was originally applied. Please note that this database only contains items from January 2002 to present at this time. To find out information on older items, please contact us at 1(800)551-8220 between 8:00AM-5:00PM, Monday-Friday PST. 

So you tell me......would you buy this item based off of what he has described in his auction listing? Look for the clues!