Nothing good starts after 2am.

Whenever I was out with friends, had a few too many adult beverages and thought about doing something that I probably shouldn't I looked at the clock, if it was after 2 am, I knew it was probably not a good idea. The New York Mets should have looked at the clock.

Pro sport franchises take notice. General Managers get your interns to collect news clips. The New York Mets are giving every franchise in every sport a lesson in how to completely screw up a firing. And in the light of the terrible press that this firing has generated already today, Fred Wilpon, the Mets' owner, has thrown GM Omar Minaya under the bus, telling ESPN 1050's Andrew Marchand that the decision to fire Willie, and the timing of the firing were the sole decisions of Minaya. Sorry Fred, you sign the checks, the final decision on this stuff has to be yours.

Step One - Let a Bad Situation Fester:
Mets COO Jeff Wilpon and Assistant GM Tony Bernazzard are the two keys to this. Wilpon has wanted Randolph out for two years (ever since Randolph got a raise from the Mets - interesting since Wilpon is one of the owners, if he wanted Randolph out he was certainly under no obligation to pay the man)

Bernazzard has long wanted Randolph out too and has served as a hatchet man in Willie's clubhouse, often countermanding Randolph's instructions or criticisims of players (specifically veterans Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, and Julio Franco). Imagine if you were disciplining your children and then someone came into the room right after you lectured them and handed out punishments and told the children to ignore you. How is Randolph supposed to maintain any credibility with that going on? Bernazzard openly campaigned for Manny Acta to replace Randolph after the 05 season and went so far as to hang out in the Nationals' clubhouse when the team went to Washington. The Mets should have curbed this behavior. Omar should have curbed this behavior.

Step Two - Make No Decisions:
Over the last few years there has been a disturbing trend emerging from Queens. The Mets as an organization are so afraid of making a bad decision that they make no decisions. Rather than step up and make the call, the Wilpons test the public relations waters on EVERYTHING, and then they often still screw things up.

There were three times when Randolph could have been fired. 1. After the collapse last season. 2. After his comments where he hinted that he was being treated unfairly because he's African American. 3. When the news leaked about how the Mets planned to replace Willie on Friday.

Step Three - Make the Guy You're Firing a Hero:
By letting Randolph dangle like this they have turned him into a sympathetic figure. If the Mets had fired him after his comments, or even on Friday, there wouldn't have been any backlash. Lets face it, the way the team has performed, someone deserves to be fired (personally I think it is Minaya), but in doing it this way, the team is being ripped over the coals and deservedly so.

Lets go through the timeline:
 Friday afternoon: rumors circulate that Mets are going to fire Willie, Peterson and the firstbase coach and replace them with Jerry Manuel and AAA coaches
 
Friday night: Steve Phillips tells everyone that in his experience with the Mets you can discount most rumors, but when the rumors have a plan with them as this did - it's likely true, Mets win
 
Saturday: Nothing happens, game rained out.
 
Sunday: Rumors continue along with the added twist that the Mets are waiting so as to not fire the guys on Father's Day - Mets split double header
 
Monday: Mets fly cross country to Los Angeles, Omar Minaya with them. Everyone figures firing has been put on hold or else why fly these guys cross country.
 
Monday night: Mets win, Willie does post game, players and coaches go back to hotel, team sends out press release at 3:15 AM Eastern time announcing Willie, Peterson and first base coach fired. Willie and players are then contacted at hotel by scrambling reporters and have no idea what's going on.

And the way it was handled, a press release at 3:15 EST, was so pathetic. If Omar was going out there to fire Willie, which he obviously was or else why else fire him after a Met win, and you've decided to let him coach the game then what he should have done is this: after the game close the clubhouse, talk to Randolph and the coaches who are being fired. Talk to the players. Then be a man and go out in front of the assembled media and take questions. This was not a spur of the moment decision. The decision had been made Friday - that is plenty of time for Mets' PR Director Jay Horowitz to construct a statement for Omar to read to the media.

And Met fans, if you thought Randolph was too laid back, well with Manuel in his spot, you ain't seen nothing yet.

The Mets can spend like the best of them, they are moving into a new park and will have a good team on the field, but if they ever want a real manager to come to Flushing they had better clean up the rest of the front office. The backstabbing and infighting that goes back to Stan Cashen days and carries through Phillips vs. Valentine and now Randolph vs. Bernazzard - must end.

So what becomes of Willie? Well there's speculation that Brian Cashman could be a front runner after this season for the recently vacated Mariners' GM spot. Odds are John McClaren will not be back. Would Cash bring in Willie as his manager out there? Before Cashman started eying Mattingly and Girardi as eventual replacements for Joe Torre in the Bronx, Willie was the guy. Randolph would know he would have the GM's full support and Seattle's ownership is very hands off but still willing to spend freely.

Baseball season is well underway and we've got a few things to think about. Anyone who thinks that the Tampa Rays or Florida Marlins will be in it to win it down the stretch raise your hands? That's what I thought.

That said, there are some teams that could use some help and others that have help to give. No one is out of it, and no one is making the playoff push, so these have to be good, old fashioned trades rather than the salary dumps we've become used to. Anyway, without any further ado - here we go:

1. New York Yankees get Ted Lilly. Chicago Cubs get Hideki Matsui or Bobby Abreu.
Why New York does the deal: Kei Igawa is awful, I mean unwatchably awful. Ted Lilly is mediocre at his best but even mediocre is better than awful. Matsui has been one of the Yankees only reliable hitters but the bottom line is that he's a DH on a team with too many DHs. Odds are that list of DHs will grow by one since it's likely that Posada will be back hitting before he's ready to throw, meaning the team will utilize him as their full time DH. That would, in turn, relegate Matsui to a bench role. Matsui has a full no trade clause so the Yankees may use Abreu here instead of Matsui.

Why Chicago does the deal: The Cubs are a good team but they are devoid of left handed hitting. Matsui (or Abreu) would turn that around for them. Financially it is about a wash for both teams, though Lilly is under contract until after the 2010 season whereas Abreu is a free agent after this year and Matsui's contract is up after 2009.

2. Cleveland Indians get Brian Wilson, Ray Durham and Matt Cain, San Francisco gets Ben Francisco, Adam Miller, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Trevor Crowe.
Why Cleveland does it: Right now they're not hitting, but you have to assume that they will. What's more concerning is that Joe Borowski is an awful closer and Betencourt has been terrible filling in for him. Wilson is a young, legitimate closer and Cain would be a huge upgrade over Paul Byrd in their rotation.

Why the Giants do it: Cain is probably the only guy in this deal that it would hurt for the Giants to give up. That said, the deal would accelerate the rebuilding process in San Fran. The team is fairly devoid of top level young talent and in one move they could get four young, high cieling players, guys who could start for them right now.

3. Boston Red Sox get Omar Vizquel, San Francisco gets Craig Hansen
Why Boston does it: Julio Lugo was a mistake, an epic mistake in the Edgar Renteria mold. He can't field and he's not hitting enough to make up for the fact that he can't field. Vizquel is on the downside of his career but he can still pick it. He would fit in well in the clubhouse over there.

Why San Francisco does the deal: Same reasoning as above. San Francisco is not contending and they lack high level talent coming up through the system. Hansen can replace Wilson (traded to the Indians in my scenario).

Any other trades you would like to suggest, I'm open to hearing.

I know, I know, technically the MLB season started last week with the Red Sox playing the A's in Tokyo - but to me that was not opening day. That was a clueless Bud Selig once again proving he has his head up his vertical smile - of all the cultures that we need to sell baseball to I'm thinking the Japanese are already hooked. How about having opening day affordable to underprivilaged American kids - since those are the people not taking up the sport anymore. Anyway, that is a different rant for a different day.

Here in New York, and around the country, there is some thought that this year will absolutely, positively, be the year the Yankees miss the playoffs. But here's the thing, I don't see it as so cut and dry.

If we assume that the Yankees, Red Sox, M's, Angels, Detroit, Indians, and I'll throw in Toronto are the teams that are going to be slugging it out for the playoffs (I know, I'm out on a limb there) and a trip to the WS then they all pretty much have the same issues.

The Yankees have a balky Pettitte, an old guy at the end in Moose, and two unprovens in Hughes and Kennedy. In the pen they've probably got the best setup/closer combo right now, but not terribly strong/proven behind them.

Boston has a balky Beckett, an old guy at the end in Wake, and two unprovens in Bucholtz and Lester. In the pen they have a great closer and a very good set up guy - but not much behind them.

Detroit has an old Rogers, Bonderman coming off a poor year, who knows what with Willis and little or no depth to go with them. They lost their two best relievers in Zumaya and Rodney and have an average closer in Todd Jones.

The Indians have their own Mussina in Paul Byrd, who knows if Carmona can repeat what he did last year. Westbrook is alright and Lee was so bad last year he spent the season in Triple A. They have the best pen but the worst closer in Borowski. I also don't like the approach to the off-season that Mark Shapiro took. The Indians came very close to the World Series last year and so he just sat back and returned exactly the same team. The last time I saw a GM who didn't win the World Series do this, it was Steve Phillips after the Mets lost the Series to the Yankees in 2000. It didn't pay off for the Mets and I don't see it paying off for the Indians either.

The Angels just lost Escobar for the year, Lackey is out for the first month of the season as is Scot Shields. Their opening day rotation will have Jon Garland as the number one followed by Ervin Santana and Jared Weaver who had up and down years last season - behind them are two complete unknowns in Joe Saunders and Dustin Mosely.

The Blue Jays rely a ton on three pitchers who can't stay healthy (Burnett, Halladay, and Ryan) they've already lost Casey Janssen for the year and Ryan is starting the year on the DL and not expected back any time soon.

The Mariners probably have the best rotation with Bedard, Hernandez, Washburn, Batista and Silva. And they have a very good closer in Putz and a really good set up guy in Morrow. And I say the Mariners "probably" have the best rotation because we have yet to see Felix Hernandez live up to his title of "King Felix" and Silva and Batista could as easily be good or terrible. I am also curious to see how Bedard handles being the ACE of a team that is actually supposed to contend rather than a team like the Orioles.

In the end, the regular season will not be decided by pitching, it will be decided by the lineups. If that rings true then I like the Yankees' chances of making the post season again.

So here are my picks:
Boston
Detroit
Seattle
New York

AL MVP - A-Rod
AL Cy Young - Beckett
AL Rookie of the Year - Joba Chamberlain
First Manager fired - Eric Wedge

and I think Detroit will beat the Mets in the World Series

What happens when you combine a 23 round on-line draft with a Wednesday night in a league of 10 featuring 5 married guys (3 of which have newborns) and 1 enaged guy who had to give his fiance not just a ring, but his manhood as well? Well you get the WORST FANTASY DRAFT EVER!

As I said, the league is 10 teams deep, head to head matchups and you have to start two relief pitchers each week - it's essentially the same group of guys that have done it for years now. I had the third pick, which isn't ideal to start with, in a snake draft you either want to pick 4-5-6 so that you're consistently in the middle of the round. Anyway, the first couple of picks went as you would expect with A-Rod and Jose Reyes coming off the board. I decided to go with J-Roll over Albert Pujols based on the reports about Pujols's arm and the odds that it will explode at some point this season. I had my sights set on some other players for my next pick and they all came off the board in short order. By the time the draft came back to me I had to reach and take a third baseman (Ryan Braun) because third basemen were getting picked off and I didn't really feel like having to start Hank Blalock over there. More picks were made, and each one was stranger than the next. There was actually someone (an Indian's homer so he says, but I've seen him go into a full depression over a Boston loss which leads me to believe he's an Indians fan so long as they are playing well) who took Grady Sizemore with his first pick and Travis Hafner with his second.

Just to give you an idea of some oddities about this draft, Manny Ramirez lasted until the 5th round (I would have taken him myself but I feel dirty using Boston players), Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were drafted, one team ended up with Santana, Peavy, Sabathia, Webb, and Bedard. I wound up with both Braun (who will eventually be listed as an outfielder) and Ryan Zimmerman and also wound up with a horrific pitching staff that includes Pedro Martinez, Adam Wainwright, and Randy Johnson (along with Aaron Harang, Mark Buhrle and Carlos Zambrano) I also took Joba Chamberlain with an eye on him possibly starting during the second half of the season or if there's an injury to a member of the Yankee starting staff. In fact, here's my team:
C - Posada
1b - Adrian Gonzalez
2b - Brandon Phillips
ss - J-Roll
3b - Braun (until he gets his OF listing)
OF - Damon, Sheffield, Cuddyer
Util - Thome
Bench - Zimmerman, Justin Upton, Chris Duncan, Giambi
SP - Harang, Zambrano, Buhrle, Pedro, Wainwright, Big Unit, Micah Owings
RP - Joba, Mo Rivera, Kerry Wood (he's one of my sleepers - in fact he, Owings and Wainwright are guys who I have big hopes for. No I really do, I swear I'm not just saying that to prevent myself from crying as I type this....

Anyway, so as the draft is going on and I'm starting to get confused by picks I called one of my buddies - his team name is "My Fiance Keeps My Nuts in Her Purse" and asked why in the world he would draft Derek Jeter in the 3rd round - his response "I'm letting the computer pick for me, we have the neighbors over for wine and cheese" I threw up in my mouth. I called another guy later on, to find out what the blue blazes he was doing - turns out his wife told him that she would kill him if he did the draft becuase she is so pregnant she might pop and so he was running out to the car every five minutes to call in his picks and got confused.

Anyway, the moral, as always, is when your friends get married, it is time to get new friends. I have to go now, my girlfriend is on the phone....saaaaavvvveeee me!

Here is the reaction from Ray's Manager Joe Maddon from the New York Post: "The other day when we were playing in Tampa, that play you saw at home plate was a good hard baseball play. What you saw today is the definition of a dirty play," Maddon said. "There's no room for that in our game. It's contemptible. It's wrong. It's borderline criminal and I could not believe they did that.

"That was a blatant attempt to hurt Aki. And it was set up. It was premeditated. It's all of the above," said Maddon, who was adamant that Duncan should be suspended. "I mean, I don't know what's the difference between that and a high stick in hockey, but it was that bad."

From Joe Girardi:

"Shelley has been taught as a player, when he's going to be out, go after the ball and that is what he did," Girardi said. "Shelley made a hard aggressive slide." Girardi would not classify whether or not the play was dirty without seeing the film on it, but did say that if it was dirty he would talk to Duncan.

Duncan's intent was to send a message - there's no question about that. And I'm not enough of a homer to call it a "good hard play" but reading Maddon classify it as borderline criminal does make me chuckle. Iwamura got a cut on the leg, and a small one at that, but it could have been much worse and if it had been, the person responsible for getting all of this going would have been Maddon. Not for insisting that his team play hard in spring training, but for the way he treated everything that happened after the collision as a joke.

If you go back to Saturday and the comments since then that Maddon has made, it seems to me (and granted I'm as slanted on this as a see-saw with a baby on one end and JaMarcus Russell - all 300 plus pounds of him - on the other) that Maddon almost enjoyed the attention and was using the incident to put himself on the map. I think that annoyed the Yankees more than the play itself and maybe added fuel to the fire.

As a lifelong Yankee fan I will tell you that one thing about this makes me feel good about the Yankees under Girardi. Under Torre retaliation was never part of the plan. The Boston Red Sox, over the last 5 years or so, have made a habit out of hitting Yankee hitters and they do so without fear or retribution or retaliation. A couple of examples: When Pedro was still with Boston, the first two batters in the Yankee lineup were Soriano and Jeter - Pedro drilled them both, knocked them out of the game, not a single Boston player was even made to feel uncomfortable at the plate. Last year, Julian Tavares was seen during a game telling Dice-K that if he hits the Yankees they will be uncomfortable - he wouldn't have done that if it meant that Manny or Ortiz would be forced to eat dirt in response. It just wasn't Torre's way. Well, if Maddon's intent was to send a message on Saturday that the Rays aren't a pushover in the AL East then I think Girardi's message was that the days of taking liberties with the Yankees are over.

By the way, Yankees and Tampa still have to play two more times this spring. Something tells me we're not done here yet.