After comments from New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon this week, it looks as if the mets will finally move into a different direction after the 2011 season.  The Mets have been throwing money at players like the Yankees for years without the results.  

  The Mets owner spoke out on Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran specifically.  Both players will be free-agents after this season.  Wilpon said of Reyes in free-agency "He thinks he's going to get Carl Crawford money. He's had everything wrong with him. He won't get it."  He should have spoke out in the off-season before the Mets picked up his $11 Million contract.

  Both players are high priced veterans.  Both should be moved if the mets want to move forward.  Fred wilpon may not know when to speak about his team or what to say, but the fans in New York have had enough.

  Here is what he said of Beltran and David Wright-

On Carlos Beltran, who starred for Houston in the 2004 playoffs before signing a seven-year, $119 million deal with the Mets: We had some dummy in New York, Wilpon says, referring to himself, “who paid him based on that one series. He’s 65 to 70 percent of what he was.”  

On David Wright, “A really good kid. A very good player. Not a superstar.”

  What the Mets owner should have said and should be thinking is that they need to be better at building their franchise through the draft, not free-agency.  Thats why the Marlins beat the like a drum every summer.

Here how the Mets can help themselves.  Trading Reyes and Beltran isn't going to be easy.  They both make a lot of money and will both be free-agents after this season.

The Mets must keep in mind they will not get All-Star players back in any deal or multi-player packages of top level minor league talent.  Although both players are swith hitters.

 The Detroit Tigers could be that team to deal with.  The tigers have nothing to show for Magglio Ordonez coming back and have have three different starting 2nd basemen.

  The Tigers have four starting left handed pitchers in Toledo who will be pitcing in Detroit before the trade deadline to showcase them.  They all have one special talent that makes them viable as future starters in Detroit.  If the Mets need one thing its pitching.

  The Tigers have a good mix of just about everything.  The Tigers have been very streaky this season and still trail the Cleveland Indians by 7 games.  They do have switch hitting utility player Carlos Guillen on his way back from injury but they can't expect anything from him.  He has been battling injuries more than any other player the tigers have had in recent memory.

 The rumor mills have Reyes to the Tigers.  However it may just be because the Tigers have been trying for three years to get him (rumored).

 

  The latest debate in Detroit is heating up.  The Red Wings are looking to move to a new arena sometime in the near future.  The question is if they will be building a new arena or sharing the Palace of Auburn Hills.

  This debate has gone almost every direction of discussion.  The debates are about these items.

- Do the Red Wings move out of the city of Detroit to share an arena with the Pistons in Auburn Hills

- Should the Red Wings just move there temporarily while a new arena is constructed downtown near the other stadiums 

- Should the Pistons move downtown after a new arena is built for the Red Wings

One thing is pretty clear.  If any team wants to build a new arena  it should not be funded by tax payers.  That's probably the last thing they need to pay for right now.  The city is in debt and in the courts trying to get restitution from former corrupt Mayor Kwamee Kilpatrick and putting away corrupt city council woman Monica Conyers. 

It curious to me why with all the taxpayer money that goes into stadiums around the country, the franchises aren't required to profit share with the cities and states that funded their very existence. 

The Joe Louis arena may not be the most prestigious arena in sports but it does have character and history.  Are the wings hurting for money?  NO.  The Red Wings were profitable when the team had a $90 Million payroll, they aren't with a $40 Million payroll? 

The fans would benefit from one thing.  The two teams have this bad habit of playing on the same nights and at home at the same time as well.  The fans would at least get to see all the home games and not have to chose.  In that way the teams win as well because they wouldn't be competing for the entertainment dollars from sports fans anymore.

You can listen to myself and Tomas debate this on freei69.com Fridays from noon eastern to 2pm. 

  A man close to the nightly radio program J.T. the Brick (best show in radio) has tallied up injury time and salary for Shaquille Oneal.  According to J.T. the Brick Shaq has been paid $58.9 Million sitting the bench or on IR.  Ever wonder why an NBA ticket is over $40 in the upper deck of every arena in the NBA, because of so many players like Shaq , the recently departed Stephan Marbury, and all those duds making $10 Million because they are tall.....you know who you are.

  According to African officials many people in Africa are upset at pricing for games to be played in South Africa for the World Cup.  According to the BBC World News radio  tickets will cost $80 (US) but the monthly average income in such places as Camaroon and Nigeria is only about $56.  Many of the people who live there can't afford to go the the games?  Welcome to sports! If I don't have $125-$175 I can't take my son to a Detroit Lions game and they suck! We don't even get to watch our team at all!

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said that Russia did not do as well because in Russia  they do not take snowboarding and freestyle skiing very seriously. Also the recent ban on performance enhancing drugs has hurt the team as well. OOOOOkay I bet if we checked we would find some relation of Vitaly and Baghdad Bob!

I feel like the steroids cloud around Mark McGuire was so dark that we failed to get equal coverage of these facts:  He was a career .263 hitter.  He hit less than .190 his first and last season (he played 16 seasons).  He struck out over 100 times in 10 seasons of his career.  McGuire was all power and used steroids the entire time.  Should we go ahead and measure Albert Pujols' head right now or wait?  Is McGuire Russian?