The Arbitrary ChuckJerry

The Yankees finally completed their fetishistic trade today and introduced Randy Johnson as the new cornerstone of their pitching rotation. The best thing ever was that yesterday he essentially attacked a cameraman who was following him in the street and the front cover of the New York Post today was a picture of him from that confrontation with the headline "Big Jerk". I still do not understand this trade, but perhaps that's why I'm not a baseball GM. Of course, Steinbrenner is not a baseball GM either, and in the times he has acted like one, he's made some bad moves (Kenny Lofton, anyone?).

The Mets, on the other hand, made a move that brings their front office back to credibility by signing Carlos Beltran. Steve Phillips in his final days as GM of the Mets was a joke. The combination of Phillips and Fred Wilpon, the owner, was like a penny pinching Jewish grandmother who's still living in the depression running the team. I think Wilpon realized that he needed to make a splash this year if he's to build his Mets cable network and that money would have to be spent in order to do it. Wilpon is paying upwards of $52 million just to get out of his current TV contract before he can even think about the costs required to start the network.

He started by bringing on Omar Minaya as the president and GM who's widely recognized as a talented baseball scout and administrator (and who, incidentally, graduated from Newtown High School in Elmhurst, Queens, where I teach). Minaya then managed to convince not only the owner to sign guys, but also the two top available free agents to sign with the team. There's no question that Pedro Martinez was the biggest pitcher available and that Beltran was the best position player available heading into the off season and the Mets signed them both. That is downright astounding for a club that was basically a laughing stock last year.

Would that it were a year earlier that Wilpon signed Minaya who would have undoubtedly gone out of his way to sign the best Dominican player on earth, Vladimir Guerrero. But alack, Beltran and Pedro is nothing to sneeze at. (Note the Shakespearian influence.) I would not be surprised if the Mets made another relatively big signing before this off season is over. Perhaps a Carlos Delgado, which might be a mistake, by the way, or another big type name.

I'm still giving an outside shot at the Mets making some sort of trade for Manny Ramirez. Unlikely? Yes. Out of the realm of possibility? No. Chemistry killer? Almost certainly.

I know one thing, Willie Randolph is gonna have his hands full in his first year as a manager. With this team he is either going to sink or swim. They are talented and if he makes them believe and they have some early success, then I can envision them winning the division even over the Braves, but if the chemistry is wrong, then I can see them going downhill fast with Pedro's outlandish behavior leading the way.

Here's the current lineup. Let's assume all these guys play to their potential and stay healthy for the time being (side note, we can more or less guarantee that this ideal scenario will not pan out).

1. Jose Reyes - as Shortstop, by the way
2. Kaz Matsui - as 2B
3. Carlos Beltran
4. Mike Piazza
5. David Wright
6. Cliff Floyd
7. Mike Cameron
8. Jason Phillips?
9. Pedro, Glavine, Benson, Trachsel, Zambrano

If Kaz sucks, drop him down to 7, put Wright in at 2, and Floyd and Cameron each move up a spot. That's a pretty sick lineup. It's not quite the Yankees or Cardinals, but it's sick nonetheless.