Thoughts from a Long Drive

I had a long drive down from Massachusetts to Piscataway, NJ for some meetings the next few days in Basking Ridge. I thought I'd take the time while I wait for my room service food to arrive to share some of my thoughts from a long drive.

Not sure if you noticed the anniversary but it has now been 25 years since someone tampered with some Tylenol products which resulted in the deaths of 7 people in the Chicago area. Its been 25 years almost to the day and I don't think the killer will ever be found.

The number 7 stuck in my head and I know it sounds trite to compare the death of 7 people with blowing a 7 game lead with just 17 games to go but the mind sometimes works in strange ways (besides if you read some of the articles on the Mets you see words like "disaster", "devastating" and people sending out their sympathy to Mets fans). I was expecting to hear lots of Mets talk on 660 the FAN on the drive but football was dominating the discussion. I put on some music and thought about the Mets in the privacy of my rental Chrysler 300 (I got a free upgrade - thought I'd mention that just in case anyone from accounting reads this).

The people at Tylenol are credited with taking quick action to save the company division. They took the immediate hit of taking all their products off the shelfs and coming out with improved tamper proof products. They are now the #1 brand in their market. If the Mets want to return to #1 in the NL East they too will have to take immediate and maybe drastic action to come back better than ever (hopefully with a choke-proof product). If they fail to do so - then it could be a long time before the Mets sniff first place again.

If I were the owner I'd fire Omar Minaya. Its no secret that I think Minaya is a bad GM. What skill does it take to throw money and extra contract years at a Carlos Beltran or a Pedro Martinez? Of course Minaya won't be fired (but he should be). Willie Randolf will be a good manager and I think Jerry Manuel is a good bench coach for him. However, the first moves have to be to get rid of Rick Peterson as pitching coach and get a professional batting coach.

The next two moves I'd make would be to get rid of Carlos Delgado and Paul LoDuca. It will be easy to get rid of LoDuca since he's a free agent and easy to replace his "productivity" since LoDuca was basically at replacement player levels this year. Delgado will make $16 million next year but for the Mets to be successful they would have to sit him against lefties (.704 OPS this year) and also when he plays at Shea (the guy freaking has just a .680 OPS at Shea this season!). Delgado has to go. I wonder if Toronto would want him?

The Mets also have to decide if Lastings Milledge is ready to be an everyday player. If so then next year they have Carlos Beltran, Moises Alou and Milledge in the outfield. If he's not ready - they have to trade him for either a top pitching prospect or an established #3 starter. With Milledge gone - if Carlos Beltran is willig to move to right for a Torii Hunter or Andruw Jones - then Minaya should open the checkbook. If Betran will be uncomfortable then maybe Bobby Abreu is the fallback. However, will Abreu be a big upgrade over Milledge?

Two things to mention about the drive down. For about 10 miles I was behind this Jaguar in the left hand lane when I noticed that the license plate was XXX-LVR. The inside of the car was dark and with the high head rest it was impossible to tell whether it was a guy or a girl driving. If it was a guy - that's a creepy license plate. I hit some traffic in Bridgeport and lost sight of the Jag so I guess I'll never know.

The other thing to mention is that as I crossed over the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey - I sang "Happy Birthday to You" since the bridge opened on this day in 1931. I know that its a strange thing that I actually knew that fact and would sing the song to a bridge. That's just how I am.