Two New York City Council members want Citigroup to show its thanks for a federal bailout by sharing the naming rights to the new ballpark.

The struggling bank is slated to pay $400 million over the next 20 years to name the stadium Citi Field.

The bank made the commitment years ago, when it was flush with cash. Now that Citigroup is getting billions of dollars in federal aid, Staten Island Republicans Vincent Ignizio and James Oddo say the ballpark’s name should be changed to Citi/Taxpayer Field.

Citigroup and Mets chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon have been saying that they have no plan to alter the naming-rights deal for the ballpark, which hosts its regular-season opener April 13.

Wilpon and Citigroup spokesman Steve Silverman said they had no comment on the proposal.

So what do you think? Is this a good idea, or just posturing by legislators who should find better way to spend their working hours?

Just got a call from the Mets, who added Class AA first baseman Mike Carp to their 40-man roster. Carp was the Sterling Award winner for the B-Mets and was the club’s 2006 minor-league player of the year.

Carp batted .299 with 17 HR, 29 2B and 72 RBI for Binghamton. His .403 OBP ranked sixth in the Eastern League.

The Mets’ 40-man now has 34 players. Today’s move will allow the club to protect Carp in the Dec. 11 Rule 5 draft, which is held during the Winter Meetings in Vegas. Today was the deadline to add players to the 40-man.

Dan Murphy suffered a Grade 2 hamstring strain while playing in the Arizona Fall League, according to the Mets. Murphy first felt discomfort during batting practice on Nov. 11 and had an MRI this morning at New York’s Hospital for Special Surgery.

Murphy will no longer play winter ball in Puerto Rico. He is, however, expected to be ready for spring training

Murphy, who hit .313 with 17 RBI in 49 games as a rookie with the Mets, was mashing with the Peoria Saguaros, batting .397 with two HR and 15 RBI in 18 games, and, of course, had done so as a second baseman.

The Mets have said Murphy was working on his versatility — rumors had swirled that he did not appear comfortable as a 2B — but nonetheless they were taking a look at him there. So in regard to Murphy’s grooming at the position, and the club honing his versatility, this must be considered a setback. As a hitter, he should be fine.

The club as currently constructed has a Murphy-Fernando Tatis platoon in left field. Murphy (.871 OPS) and Tatis (.853) would rank among the most productive members of the lineup, but the Mets by all indications continue to search for another outfield bat.

What do you guys think? Murphy-Tatis or someone through a trade or free agency?

Pedro Martinez’s agent, Fern Cuza, told SI.com, “He’s definitely coming back.”

Interesting. If this is true, don’t expect the Mets to turn their backs on Pedro, the key figure in Omar Minaya’s rehaul.

Decide for yourself: Do you want Martinez back or not? Obviously it would be at a reduced rate.

Here’s the complete post with Cuza’s thoughts.

In its latest step toward becoming the Mets’ new home, Citi Field has grass. Here are the picutres, courtesy of CBS Radio.

Thanks to Evan from CBS for the link.

Albert Pujols was named MVP today by the baseball writers, who awarded the St. Louis first baseman with 18 first-place votes and Ryan Howard with 12. Brad Lidge, who finished eighth, received the other two first-place votes.

As well all know, Howard had an excellent September to help power the Phillies past the Mets and into the playoffs. For what it’s worth, however, I would’ve given the honor to Pujols, who had the most dominant season. Even though the Cards ultimately didn’t compete for a spot in the playoffs, Pujols was the main reason why they were even in the sentence deep into the summer. He led baseball in slugging (.653) and OPS (1.114), and ranked second in on-base percentage (.462), despite playing with an elbow that could’ve been surgically repaired last winter. In fact, playing with the injury Pujols posted the best OPS of his incredible career.

The highest Met finisher was David Wright, who finished seventh on the strength of two second-place votes and one third-place vote. Carlos Delgado finished ninth (his best votes were five thirds), and Johan Santana finished 14th (he actually had a second-place vote). Distant finishers were Carlos Beltran (22nd) and Jose Reyes (24th), the latter of whom got little love from voters despite nearly duplicating his 2006 season. Reyes finished seventh in ‘06. (He actually had a better OPS+ this year, 118, than in 2006, 115.)

I generally favor guys who lifted their teams. Howard had a terrific year ultimately, but his September looked even more remarkable next to a pretty pedestrian (for him) first five months.

If I had a vote, my ballot would’ve looked something like this: 1. Pujols; 2. Sabathia; 3. M. Ramirez; 4. Howard; 5. Delgado; 6. Braun; 7. Berkman; 8. A. Ramirez; 9. Wright; 10. H. Ramirez.

If you want to see the complete voting totals, you can check them out here.

Also, I’ve added a new poll at the right: Who do you think should’ve been the Mets highest MVP finisher?

Luis Alicea was hired today to replace Ken Oberkfell as first-base coach.

Alicea spent the past two seasons as first-base coach of the
Red Sox after managing Class A Lowell of the New York-Penn League in 2004-05 and Class A Greenville of the South Atlantic League the following year. He spent 13 seasons in the major leagues with St. Louis, Boston, Anaheim, Texas and Kansas City.

Alicea joins newcomers Randy Niemann (bullpen) and Razor Shines (third base), and holdovers Sandy Alomar Sr. (bench), Dan Warthen (pitching), Howard Johnson (hitting) and Sandy Alomar Jr. (catching).

Oberkfell was reassigned after the season along with bullpen coach Guy Conti and third-base coach Luis Aguayo.

David Wright won his second straight Silver Slugger award. He set career highs with 33 home runs, 124 RBI and 115 runs scored last year, captured his second consecutive Silver Slugger Award.
 
“It’s a very prestigious award and I am proud to win it, considering the people who vote for the award,” he said. “This honor will help motivate me to even an even better season in 2009.”
 
Wright, who was picked to his third All-Star Team last summer, also tied a career-high with 42 doubles last year.
 
In 2008, he came in second in the National League in RBI and hits (189), third in runs scored, third in total bases with a franchise record 334, 10th in hitting (.302), seventh in multiple-hit games (51), tied for seventh in doubles, fifth in walks (94), tied for the league lead with 11 sacrifice flies, seventh in on-base percentage (.390), seventh in extra-base hits (77) and 10th in slugging percentage (.534).
 
Last year, Wright hit .300 or better the final three months of the season: .317 in July, .310 in August and .340 in September.
 
Wright is the sixth Mets player to win multiple Louisville Slugger Awards: Mike Piazza won it five times (1998-2002), while Gary Carter (1985-1986), Darryl Strawberry (1988 and 1990), Howard Johnson (1989 and 1991) and Carlos Beltran (2006 and 2007) each earned the honor twice.

I said I’d post a complete transcript of David Wright’s thoughts from last night’s Hard Rock appearance. Here they are:

It looks like you guys are going to be able to get a pretty big-time closer before it’s all said and done. Do you think that’s the type of jolt the team needs?
I think obviously you go through two seasons like we have the last couple of years and you’re going to need a little bit of a face lift. I think there’s 30 teams out there that could use pitching and obviously we’re one of them. I think Omar’s going to work his tail off to go out there and deliver. As far as specific needs, the guys that we have here, we need to step it up. We need to do a better job next year. Omar’s going to go out there and bring us some tools in that will help us out as well.

Derek Jeter said he’d be willing to recruit C.C. Sabathia. Would you be open to doing the same thing for the Mets?
I’m more than willing. I live here most of the offseason, so if the organization wants me to be a tour guide or make a phone call, I’d be more than happy to do that.

What’s your impression of K-Rod?
I think the numbers speak for themselves. But he’s a guy that can throw two or three pitches in any count and you don’t see too many closers who have the faith and have the trust to throw two or three pitches in any count. Obviously he knows how to win and he’s been one of the most dominant closers in the game. A guy like that you can’t say enough good things about him.

Is Brian Fuentes a step below?
I think Fuentes is right up there in the same caliber. You have a guy who has overpowering stuff and two or three plus-pitches as well. That’s why they’re as highly touted as they are because they’re not a one-pitch pitcher. They have two or three pitches they can get you out with.

Do you think closer is the team’s No. 1 priority?
I feel that not only am I lucky that I get to go out and play a game for a living, I don’t have to make those kinds of decisions. Omar goes out there and he does a great job giving us the talent. We as players need to step up and get the job done. I don’t know if there’s a No. 1 or No. 2 priority. As I mentioned before, with the way the last couple of years have ended I think there needs to be a little bit of a face lift, but Omar’s a very intelligent GM, he’s one of the better GMs, and he’s going to make that happen. We have to connect, get that chemistry and go out there and produce.

Do you expect Omar will bring in a couple big-ticket players in the offseason?
I’m sure. Being in a big market you always expect that, and the way the season’s ended the last couple of years you expect that. From what I hear, he’s one of the more harder-working GMs in baseball. He’s always making calls. I can vouch for that because I’m at dinner with him sometimes and his phone is ringing off the hook. It’s something where he goes out there and he’s extremely active and I think he’s going to bring us some pretty good players in the offseason.

(Wright said he and Minaya share dinner together a couple times a year, and maybe once an offseason.)

Do you follow all the news in the offseason?
More as a fan. Obviously, I follow it. I watch . I absolutely follow it. Not only am I interested in what’s going on with us but with other teams.

How do you feel about the team needing to add high-character players?
I’ve always been a huge fan of high-character players. I love a player that puts winning before everything else. I’ll take a player that has less talent, but a guy that has a desire to win.

I’m in a cafe on the edge of Times Square after we (myself and a few other fellow reporters) spent a few minutes with David Wright at the Hard Rock Cafe on 43rd and 7th. Wright was there for the fourth annual “Do the Wright Thing Gala,” with, among others, David Cook of American Idol fame. (I couldn’t have picked Cook out without the cameras and microphones pointed in his face. One fellow reporter summed it up best when he said there are thousands of people who would love to stand that close to Cook — my wife and some of our friends included — but we certainly weren’t exactly members of that crowd.)

We only had Wright for about four or five minutes, but he had some interesting things to say. I’ll post a complete transcript in the morning, but here are the highlights:

On the prospect of the Mets acquiring a big-time closer: “I think obviously you go through two seasons like we have the last couple of years and you’re going to need a little bit of a face lift. I think there’s 30 teams out there that could use pitching and obviously we’re one of them.”

He’d be willing to reach out to prospective Mets, a la Derek Jeter with the Yankees: “I’m more than willing. I live here most of the offseason, so if the organization wants me to be a tour guide or make a phone call, I’d be more than happy to do that.”

He likes K-Rod but considers Brian Fuentes on the same level: “I think Fuentes is right up there in the same caliber.”

He wouldn’t say whether or not closer is the team’s No. 1 priority: “I feel that not only am I lucky that I get to go out and play a game for a living, I don’t have to make those kinds of decisions. Omar goes out there and he does a great job giving us the talent. We as players need to step up and get the job done.”

Hey everyone, I’m headed down on the train to Manhattan because David Wright has a charity function tonight at the Hard Rock in Times Square. I just wanted to check in to let you know that I will have comments from Wright later this evening. It will be interesting to hear his thoughts on how the Mets should proceed this offseason.

The Giants’ Tim Lincecum beat out Arizona’s Brandon Webb and Johan Santana for the NL Cy Young. Lincecum won in just his second season in the majors.

Santana finished third, but it was a pretty sizable win for Lincecum.

Santana had this to say from his home in Fort Myers, Fla.:

“No one likes the way last season finished,” said Santana, who didn’t lose a game in July, August or September. “But, we can’t look backwards. We have to look ahead and make it better this season. I loved my first year in New York. The fans were great and I can’t wait for spring training. Right now, I’m rehabilitating my knee and everything is fine. I’ll be ready to go in February.”

By MIKE FITZPATRICK

NEW YORK (AP) – Tim Lincecum won the National League Cy Young Award by a comfortable margin Tuesday, taking home pitching’s highest honor in his second major league season. The slender kid with the whirling windup joined Mike McCormick (1967) as the only San Francisco Giants pitchers to win a Cy Young.

Lincecum received 23 of 32 first-place votes and 137 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Brandon Webb of the Arizona Diamondbacks got four first-place votes and finished second with 73 points.

Listed at 5-foot-11 and 160 pounds, tiny by today’s standards for a big league pitcher, Lincecum defied detractors – and the laws of physics – by firing 97 mph fastballs past one hulking slugger after another.The 24-year-old right-hander was 18-5 with a 2.62 ERA and a major league-best 265 strikeouts, remarkable numbers for a fourth-place team that finished 72-90.

Lincecum led the NL in winning percentage (.783), ranked second in ERA and was third with 227 innings. He made his first All-Star squad, but an illness prevented him from appearing in the July 15 game at Yankee Stadium.

New York Mets ace Johan Santana, who led the league in ERA (2.53) and innings (234 1-3), also garnered four first-place votes and came in third.

The other first-place vote went to Milwaukee lefty CC Sabathia, last year’s AL winner who was traded by Cleveland into the National League on July 7. He went 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA and seven complete games in 17 starts for the Brewers, pitching them to their first playoff berth since 1982. Sabathia came in fifth.

Brad Lidge, the star closer who had a perfect season for the World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies, was fourth.

Webb, the NL winner in 2006, was runner-up for the second consecutive season after going 22-7 with a 3.30 ERA in 226 2-3 innings.

The baby-faced Lincecum, nicknamed “Franchise,” is an aberration in almost every way. He eats junk food before starts and doesn’t ice his arm. When he was called up from the minors in May 2007, ballpark security workers in San Francisco thought he was a bat boy. Late this season, some teammates even asked for his autograph – including veteran catcher Bengie Molina.

McCormick won in the first year the BBWAA honored a pitcher in each league. From 1956-66, only one award was presented for both leagues.

Santana, a two-time AL winner with Minnesota, received a $50,000 bonus for finishing third. Sabathia got $75,000 for coming in fifth. Webb’s second-place finish increased the buyout of his $8.5 million club option by $500,000 to $2 million.

—- AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum and AP Sports Writer Janie McCauley in San Francisco contributed to this report.

Apparently Mike Piazza is writing a memoir in which he will describe his successes and his struggles, as well as the many people he came in contact with along the way. (I imagine we’ll find out even more humorous details about Rickey Henderson and Bobby Valentine.)

Anyway, here’s the story the came across the AP wire:

NEW YORK (AP) — Baseball great Mike Piazza, a home run slugger and 12-time All Star widely regarded as the best hitting catcher in history, is working on a memoir.

“I look forward to having the chance to take people behind the scenes and to talk about the many great people and characters I’ve played with and for over the course of my career,” Piazza said in a statement issued Tuesday by Simon & Schuster, which plans to release the book in 2010.

Financial terms were not disclosed for the memoir, currently untitled.

Piazza, who retired earlier this year after a career spent mostly with the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers, had a .308 lifetime batting average, 427 home runs and 1,335 RBIs.

Along with his many triumphs, he will also write about such controversies as pitcher Roger Clemens throwing a shattered bat at him during the 2000 World Series between the Mets and New York Yankees, and the 2002 press conference in which he denied rumors he was gay.

“He will also talk about the personalities and players from his days with the Mets, including Bobby Valentine, Pedro Martinez, and Rickey Henderson and many others,” according to Simon & Schuster. “In the book, Piazza will describe how he matured as a ballplayer and a man over the last decade.”

If you take a few minutes and rummage through yesterday’s two big trades, it’s hard to find a way either will hurt the Mets. In fact, both should only help them.

Let’s take a look…

Matt Holliday (COL) traded to Oakland (reportedly) for Huston Street, Carlos Gonzalez and Greg Smith
Positives:
1. It keeps Holliday away from NL rivals, namely the Phillies and the Cardinals, and the Mets probably didn’t have enough to trade for him
2. It weakens the Rockies, who, despite a disaster in ‘08, did make the World Series 13 months ago
3. It puts Street on the active closer market (he was probably available on the A’s, but reportedly the Rockies are looking to move him)
4. The A’s are unlikely to re-sign Holliday in 2010, putting his bat on the open market next offseason
5. If it doesn’t out for Oakland, he may be available in July
Negatives:
1. The Mets didn’t acquire Holliday, a three-time all-stars and one of the five best hitters in the NL
2. According to several reports, the Rockies got a haul, and probably retooled for the not-too-distant future

Josh Willingham and Scott Olsen (FLA) to Washington for minor-leaguers P.J. Dean, Jason Smolinski and Emilio Bonifacio
Positives:
1. The deal weakens the Marlins in the short-term, removing a 20-HR bat from their lineup and a starter with a 4.00 ERA from their rotation
2. The Marlins hardly received an overwhelming package — P.J. Dean is a 20-year-old low Class A pitcher, Bonifacio is a speedy second baseman with no power and little history of success with the bat and Smolinski is a 19-year-old Class A second baseman
3. The deal signals the Marlins are still shedding payroll; both Willingham and Olsen are both now arbitration eligible
Negatives:
1. It clears the logjam in the Marlins outfield and rotation
2. The Nats should become a more formidable foe
3. The Met hitters won’t have Olsen the Marlin to beat up on anymore (Olsen is 1-5 with a 4.74 ERA vs. the Mets during his Marlin career)

Final thought: One thing I’ll say…If the Rockies-A’s trade is real, Street, despite a rocky ‘08, is almost as strong a potential closer for the Mets as K-Rod and Brian Fuentes. He has a high strikeout rate in his career (more than one per inning), has a superior WHIP (1.07 career) and simply doesn’t give up home runs (18 in 269 career IP).

Street is a classic buy-low case. The Mets could try to deal for Street — who made just $3.3 million last season and has two more years yet before he hits free agency — and save their money to fill holes in the rotation, the outfield, the bench, and the ‘pen.

Again, we shall see…

Willie Randolph was hired as the bench coach for the Brewers, who bypassed Randolph this week to hire Ken Macha as their next manager.

It’s definitely the right move for Randolph, who will be part of a good team and that should improve his value around the league quickly.

Here is the AP story:

Randolph hired as Brewers bench coach
Associated Press
Nov 8, 2008

MILWAUKEE—The Milwaukee Brewers hired former New York Mets manager Willie Randolph as bench coach on Saturday.

The 54-year Randolph was fired as the Mets manager on June 17. His career record was 302-253 and he led New York to the playoffs in 2006. His .544 winning percentage ranks second to Davey Johnson (.588) in Mets history.

“We are very pleased to add Willie to the organization as he brings recent National League expertise and success to our coaching staff,” general manager Doug Melvin said. “His reputation as a player is a quality that will be valuable in his teaching and coaching of our talented young team. Willie is a professional both on and off the field.”

Ken Macha was hired Oct. 30 as the manager, taking over from Dale Sveum following the team’s first postseason appearance since 1982.

In addition to his managerial experience, Randolph spent 11 seasons on the coaching staff of the New York Yankees as third base coach (1994-2003) and bench coach (2004). He was a part of four World Series championship teams with the Yankees.

The six-time All-Star second baseman had an 18-year playing career spent primarily with the Yankees (1976-88). He also played for Pittsburgh (1975), Los Angeles (1989-90), Oakland (1990), Milwaukee (1991) and the Mets (1992).