Voodoo Dolls, Mongolian Barbecue, And The Collective "You" (With A Drizzle Of Liquid Concrete)

Bringing Fernando Tatis back, no matter how he may or may not help the Mets in 2010, is further proof that this is a regime that will never get out of his own way.

Forget that Nick Evans just threw away his Tatis voodoo doll (it obviously doesn't work.) But consider the following which Mack Ade crystallizes for us:

• Instead of keeping Billy Wagner, offering arbitration, and getting two first round picks when Wagner goes to chase the closer's job he wasn't getting in New York, the Mets trade him to the Red Sox for Chris Carter ... a AAAA power hitting first baseman ... and in the process save over two million bucks.
• Then, the Mets take most of that two million dollars and give it to Tatis to play first base. With Ike Davis most likely hitting Queens in 2011, they've basically insured that Carter, their big haul from the Wagner trade, will never spend any significant time with the New York Mets. They've also proven that their main concern with the Wagner trade was to save money ... and they didn't even do that right.

Don't worry. Maybe one day, the Mets will actually catch their tail. And maybe Carter and Val Pascucci can trade depressing stories over poker and Mongolian barbecue. Hopefully, they will save a seat for Evans and Craig Brazell at the table. And maybe they'll all flip on the Mets game in their hotel room and watch Wagner get Tatis to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to end a ballgame.

I ask you, as in the collective you, because the collective you is smarter than the collective me. What would you rather do ... spend $2.5 million on Corporal Matthews and $1.5 million (with incentives) on Fernando Tatis, or take that money and put it towards the two draft picks you would have gotten for Wagner, and just gone with Pagan in center and Murphy or Carter at first, hence start to think future while banking on the fragile present such as Reyes, Beltran and Santana to keep your head above water?

To me, Corporal is a waste of money no matter how much the Angels kick in, and while Tatis is okay (especially at a base of $800,000) outside of the odd double play or two or thirteen, he represents the Same Old Mets with the emphasis on "old" (Seems that "Same Old" label has gone from the Jets to the Mets in much the same way that Youppi went from the Expos to the Canadiens). And in the end he's pointless simply because you're waiting for Ike Davis anyway. So that's $3.3-4 million on anywhere from fair to poor instead of that money invested in the potential for great. It isn't like Matthews and Tatis are the final pieces to the puzzle ... they're merely expensive fixes for the leaks in the dam. It's like paying for liquid concrete when Mighty Putty is really all you need.

And if Corporal's UZR declines any further, I guarantee you liquid concrete will be the first think that comes to your mind as you watch another fly ball fall harmlessly to the ground.

Our Sun Be Sinking

It's meaningless late September losses to the Cubs that make me opine for the days of Craig Brazell.

Sad, isn't it?

Brazell was the guy who basically knocked the Cubs out of the playoffs in 2004 with his one and only major league home run. The Mets could have used him in the ninth inning today, as they went down to the Cubs 5-3 on Saturday. With the Cubs basically out of it, it wouldn't have been much fun to beat them anyway. But I still wonder about Brazell who, had he been given the chance, probably would have led the Mets in home runs this season. Then maybe it would have been called "Craig's Corner", and not "Utley's Corner".

Don't believe me? Brazell currently plays for the Hanshin Tigers in Japan, and earlier this week he had three home runs in two games, including two in one inning. (And yes, as much as Met fans have been crying through tissues this season, there actually exists a "Kleenex Stadium" in Japan. How unfortunately appropriate a sponsor that might have been for our house.)

Yeah, you remember Japan, right? It's where Derrek Lee's two home runs landed.

Alas, Brazell and his Quadruple A bat are a half a world away. In return is the young man you see above: Taiki Kawasaki ... step one in the restocking of the farm system. He's seventeen years old, has a high 80's fastball, and was trained at a school run by Julio Franco. Throw in Jesus Flores, a car dealership, and a poster of Orlando Hernandez and you have one hell of a joke you can tell to your friends. You just have to write it yourself.

Step two in the restocking of the farm system is a young man named Eddie Lora, the supposed completion of the Billy Wagner trade which was supposed to bring back two players, but because the Yankees put in a waiver claim on Chris Carter, now only brings back Lora. So Brian Cashman, in an effort to annoy the Red Sox, probably got them a bit more cash or perhaps another player since now Carter may have to come here in a second trade ... at least that's how it reads to me.

Everything's coming up roses, as always.