The trade is done. Move on and hope he and Scheinder help the team. W/Delgado ailing, the offense will need their help.

Having said that, Delagado will be a concern all season, not only because of his health but also because of his diminishing skills due to age. So they just need to plan on having someone like Abreu get a really really long look in camp this spring. And Wright, Beltran and the others just need to step it up all year.

I think the Mets rotation is good enough to withstand the weaknesses in the lineup.

The warning signs about this Spring:
1. Delgado, Now he says he had pain during the Winter. Did he tell the team. If not, he did a major disservice to the team. If he did, our medical staff needs an upgrade.
2. Castillo/Beltran/Chavez: They are falling further and further behind the getting ready curve. I understand not rushing them but when do they get in baseball shape, and did they work hard over the Winter or didn’t they?
3. ElDuque: If he’s done so be it. But why is Sosa being used in a releif role when the Mets should be developing some competition for this job? If Pelfrey is designated and Sosa throwsonen inning who is next starter when Pedro needs rest or something else happens? Seems like same bad planning as last year.
4. There seems to be the same who cares attitude we saw last year. This goes for Minaya and Randolph.
5. Yup, its only March, but warning flags are rising all over this team. Your in real trouble when your healthiest player is Alou, the oldest regular in the league and the most fragile guy historically.

As for Church/Anderson collision. Anderson was the one out of position. That was Church’s ball.

Somehow, even with no current Mets in the Mitchell Report, their start has been less than stellar. What did these guys do over the winter – obsess over the plight of Clemens? Campaign against Hillary?

Santana seemed surprised that guys were getting hits off of him, Delgado and Alou are taking longer and longer to get into ‘shape’, and Beltran is another slow starter. Apparently only David Wright and Jose Reyes used the off season judiciously.

Are Omar and Willie scanning the free agent list? Maybe they should.

I see Ollie being like last year. He is wild. That is who he is. The coaches need to fix his mechanics and he needs to stay on top of it.

With this rotation I have no problems if Pelf is #5 because El Duque is hurt. That situation will sort itself out. If El Duque is healthy he is #5 and Pelf goes to AAA. If he is hurt, he is DL’d and Pelf stays. I think Pelf got hammered last year and got a useful but painful lesson on what he needs to do in the majors. If he stays he will be a 500 pitcher. He still needs to work on his secondary pitches and learn how to pitch, but he will be ok if he is our #5.

Congrats Mike C., you’ve just described Estrada. After offseason elbow surgery, he might not be available for opening day.

“if you can’t get on base, you ain’t gonna win.”

Hey, we agree again! Estrada’s OBP in ‘07: .296. Schneider’s: .326. No one is saying Schneider can hit, but if you think Estrada is that much better offensively than Schneider, you would be wrong. Not to mention, despite no longer being the exceptional defensive catcher he once was, Schneider is still way better than Estrada behind the dish, or any catcher we’ve had since Hundley.

And under what circumstances would Estrada ever be hitting 6th? Even if Alou or Delgado did go down, Church would be moved up in the order before Estrada would.

It may sound ridiculous to some, but the guy I worry about most in the rotation is Santana. Maybe it’s because I’ve never really watched him pitch before. People say he’s the best pitcher in the game, but he’s going to have to make quite a few adjustments coming over to a new league. I just hope he’s healthy and that he doesn’t put undue pressure on himself. A lot of people are expecting him to take us over the top.

But by far my biggest worry right now with the Mets is Delgado. I was pleased to hear how’s he’s slimmed down. I thought maybe he could return to form if he was better conditioned physically, but things don’t look good with him right now. I hope the Mets are thinking of a full-time replacement in the event that Delgado goes down. Haven’t seen Abreu yet so I don’t know about him.

Some of you may laugh, but I wonder if Gotay could learn the position. I love the kid’s bat. I wonder who would be best suited to play first from among the group of Valentin, Easley, Anderson and Gotay.

,

And if you can’t get on base, you ain’t gonna win.

He should absolutely never be allowed in the field, he is a butcher and an accident waiting to happen and letting him play the field… even in spring training… gives Willie’s gut instincts crazy ideas about him possibly fielding at some point.

It’s so backward. The dude’s a solid pinch-hitter, don’t get me wrong, but he is a hand grenade out there in the field… even though Willie would start him over Milledge because, Christ I dunno, Lastings used the wrong salad fork or something at dinner and the “rook” needed to “know his place”.

It’s just so backward.

No, Estrada is not an all-star. He’ll hit .270-.280 with sporadic power… but for a National League catcher, that is just fine.

The Schnide can’t hit for a starting job in AAA, for God’s sake, if not for the fact that Minaya remembers him fondly from when they were Expos together and forgets that… he… can’t… hit.

Beat-up old guys who can’t stay healthy and… dudes who can play okay defense and be good in the clubhouse and can’t hit. It sucks.

I totally agree with you regarding Gotay, he should be our starting 2B.

However, the season hasn’t even started yet. We’ll see how Delgado answers the bell when it’s go time. And while I did not like the Castillo signing, the dude played well down the stretch. 4 years may have been excessive, but I expect him to be good this year.

Duque, well, he’s our 5th starter and Pelfrey covers us there, so I’m not sweating that.

The Church/Anderson collision was a freak occurrence. Had nothing to do with Church playing out of position. He was just playing hard.

I’m not going down the Milledge/Church road again. You like Milledge and think Church sucks, fine. But Estrada? Estrada had ONE good year and is just as bad, if not worse, than all of the injury risks we already have on this team. I believe Estrada is coming off surgery himself.