Omar Minaya is loved and hated. Some like him, and whats not to like about him when he has brought plenty of big name free agents into the clubhouse. Some despise him, and whats to like about a guy whose expensive free agents turn into injury plagued and overpriced wash-ups.

Our pitching is pathetic, save Johan Santana and K-Rod. Really pathetic if you compare our staff to our arch rival Philadelphia Phillies’ staff. Even Washington has a sensational rookie and Atlanta has improved.

Our medical staff is a joke, the ridiculous day to day hamstring issues and other minor injuries kept our players out for months and months, and eventually several of our players had to get off-season injuries. That is not acceptable especially when WebMD could have done a better job treating the team.

Other issues exist, but for now lets focus on the positives. Vegas thinks we won’t have another deplorable season, in fact they predict not to have a losing season. On the other hand, the Vegas Strip casinos didn’t pick us to have a winning season either. Our upcoming season projection 81-81, which obviously would suck to all of us hopeful Mets fans. 81-81 might as well be 0-162, cause if we don’t make the playoffs this over payed roster again will not live up to their value.

Mets Mets: Welcome to Mets Mets JR, it’s great to have someone here who can answer some of the many questions swirling around the minds of Mets fans everywhere.

Ladson: Ha…looking for an interview?

Mets Mets: r u ready

Ladson: Fire

Mets Mets: What are the most crucial areas for the Mets to improve this offseason?

Ladson: The most crucial areas: #1. Health #2 Starting Pitching behind Johan. We need guys who can go deep into games, and take the stress off of the bullpen. Kinda tied into number 1. #3 Corner outfield and infield production. We need to get more pop out of First Base (health one again ties into that), LF, RF, and 3rd base (even thought the third baseman was healthy!)

Mets Mets: That is a lot of holes who are the Mets looking to bring in

Ladson: Halladay makes everything okay. The Mets have star quality at a bunch of positons. The other thing about the holes is that our minor league depth makes having injuries unbearable. The best thing would be to get Halladay, and get a bunch of guys who can catch the ball in our upper-minors/bench

Mets Mets: David Wright averaged 29 home runs the last four years and then only hit 10, can you explain this dropoff?

Ladson: The reason D-Wright had a drop off was because of the right-center field gap, plus adjusting to the new park. In Shea, the ball carried great to right center (which was also 371 feet). Now, fly balls go to die in right center. Plus every time I watch David, he seems like he is pressing to hit 6-run homeruns, every time. This might also be the reason why he is less clutch than A-Rod (pre 2009)

Mets Mets: Are CitiFields dimensions going to keep power hitters from signing with the Mets in the future?

Ladson: The Mets haven’t been a franchise that has had a lot of prolific hitters. Pitching is where its at, and I love that we would be a top destination for pitchers more than hitters.

Mets Mets: Minaya the right guy to build the farm system?

Ladson: Minaya is the guy. He can’t stop the injuries, and his patience may pay off. Sure, he has made some mistakes, but Brian Cashman makes more. The key is getting to a position where we don’t have to continuously trade off our top prospects

Mets Mets: Put the NL east in order you think they will finish next year

Ladson: As of right now: Phillies, Mets, Braves, Marlins, Nationals

Mets Mets: Johan started off last year looking like a Cy Young candidate, how long will he stay at that level

Ladson: 3 years of Vintage Santana

Mets Mets: The Nets and Knicks are both trash, what chance do you give either team to land The King

Ladson: The Knicks have the only shot, out of the two. I think that there is a wildcard team: Oklahoma City Thunder.

Mets Mets: The Yankees championship means we can finally put an end to the steroid era and move on?

Ladson: I guess. The steroid era should be called “The owners got the players to cheat, to make the game better and everybody did it….so, who cares?” era

Mets Mets: What development plan are the Knicks working on when they say no to AI?

Ladson: Eddy Curry looked like he’s ready to become a relevant player again. That is why they didn’t go with AI. The young players developing thing, I don’t buy.  When they say it had nothing to do with AI’s personality, I don’t buy that either

Mets Mets: NFC east had a big day yesterday, what must the Giants do to make the playoffs

Ladson: Just win…they control their own destiny, plus have games upcoming with teams in the mix. 10-6 should do it (with tie breakers). Remember, Washington wins that game yesterday and the Giants are on top of the NFC East.

Mets Mets: Mets had the second highest payroll in the majors, how come year after year they don’t have the consistent results like the Yankees?

Ladson: Because they don’t have Yankee money. The Yankees signed guys to about 450 million in contracts. Sabathia and Teixeira in the same offseason can’t be done by any other franchise.

What no questions about Brandon Jennings?

Mets Mets: What do you have to say about Brandon Jennings?

Ladson: Brandon Jennings is the most invigorating talent in the NBA, since LeBron (including Kevin Durant). He has turned a boring to watch franchise into a must watch franchise (ESPN is picking up their game Friday). The other thing is that he is already near the top of the league, as far as point guards go. It’s early, but I don’t miss many Bucks games

Mets Mets: What do you attribute his breakout to the year he spent in Europe?

Ladson: Jennings breakout year? He played against pros in Europe and worked hard. I find it hard to believe that more kids don’t go over there. He got to play against Travis Best and Earl Boykins in Euroleague. Can’t find those guys in college. Plus, he’s incredibly humble. He puts in the work, and he doesn’t have the bling bling associated with being an NBA Rook

Mets Mets: How long before we see an NBA franchise in Europe?

Ladson: You will never see one that competes in what we call the NBA today. You may see an NBA Europe

Mets Mets: Will Dubai and other international rich people own a majority of American sports franchises within the 25 years

Ladson: Someone from Dubai will attempt to buy something, and it will cause a discussion. If someone from Dubai wanted to buy the Mets, I would want it in a second

Mets Mets: Why does Nike not just pay Lebron to play alongside Kobe

Ladson: It’s not worth it… They would probably make more money if they were in two cities. Vitamin Water has them both, and they were ecstatic when Kobe and Bron almost faced off last year. There needs to be some rivalry there

Mets Mets: What is your feelings on T. Henry of France?

Ladson: It’s a missed call….that’s it. The problem is that missed calls in soccer can result in 3 weeks of rioting, or a referees death.

Mets Mets: Was Clemens on roid rage when he threw the bat at Piazza?

Ladson: Clemens wasn’t on roid rage. Here is my diagnosis of what happened there. He hit Piazza in the head with a pitch, and it was accidental. Then the media makes it out to be on purpose, and create a fake rift between the Yanks, the Mets, Clemens, Piazza, etc. Then, that night Clemens got so fired up, that he unconsciously threw the bat at Piazza. 2 things about that moment (which is one of the most important moments in Mets history): Clemens should have been tossed, and if he isn’t tossed, the Mets should have cleared the benches. Clemens literally ripped the heart out of the Mets there.

Mets Mets: Should the NFL scrap challenges and just let the booth make all the correct calls every time?

Ladson: No…never. Three problems with it: One, the refs usually get it right the first time. Two, it would slow the game to a standstill. Three, not every stadium has the same areas they can put cameras. The different types of views, etc. wouldn’t be uniform across the whole league.

Mets Mets: So it is ok in football to have a totally wrong call but no challenges/timeouts when a team’s whole season comes down to a piss poor spot or blown call on the line

Ladson: yes.

Kim Kardashian

Mets Mets: Who are currently the 3 hottest girls in the world?

Ladson: lol….hmmm. Megan Fox, Kim Kardashian (until she has a kid), # 3 is tough

Mets Mets: lol

Ladson: Jessica Alba? No.. Not anymore

Mets Mets: Thanks for joining us today. New York fans be sure to check out the sports handicapping blog 2kallday.com

We are a pathetic 6-9. We had better show up big time against Washington because we are already 5 games behind the Marlins and the season just started three weeks ago.

In more inspiring news:
Even if the Mets don’t score a whole lotta runs for Johan Santana, at least he still shakes their hands.

We lost the momentum in the come from behind debacle to open this series with the Cardinals and so it is no surprise the they beat us again 5-2. Today’s loss had very little fireworks except for letting Pujols drive in a couple of runs and their starting pitcher Joel Pineiro shutting us down for pretty much the whole game.

We need to salvage a win in this series.

And our bats better be ready to help out Livan b/c Kyle Lohse is no slouch.

Señor Met

Señor Met: “Well Mike, If you look up on the video you will see I was looking for the New York Mets Idol that will sing during the 2013 All-Star Game at CitiField.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbm_bf-8YGo

Reporter: One more question Señor Met, what is Gary Sheffield thinking about?

Señor Met: Gary is a great guy who is about to hit the 500 home run milestone with Mets, obviously a huge addition to our ball club. Pappa Jerry is saving the 500th for the opening home stand at pitcher friendly Citi. I haven’t had a chance to bump into him yet, but WTF was Detroit smoking? Seriously, 5 home runs in the preseason and your gonna pay him $13.6 Million, but he wasn’t worth keeping for another $400,000?.

Pop Open the Cristal!

Johan Predicts Mets Going to the World Series (Read: “Championship Season”)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IarTimTdes

Boston’s National League team record of 1,220 runs scored in 1894 might be in jeopardy.

Or tying the 1957 Cincinnati Reds record of having 7 players start in the All-Star Game. The Mets won’t need the fans to stuff the ballot box like they did for the Reds.

Opening Day Score 2009 New York Mets