Giants should stay away from Edwards

Posted on by metbaseball

Last season, after New York Giants’ receiver Plaxico Burress pulled one of the bonehead acts of the year when he shot himself in the leg, his absence caused the team to limp into the playoffs. There, they lost to the Philadelphia Eagles, 23-11, despite having home-field advantage.

Given that no one knows when, if ever, Burress will return to the team, rumor has it that the Giants have tried to trade for the Browns’ Braylon Edwards. To get him, the Giants have offered the two draft picks they received from the Saints for Jeremy Shockey and either Mario Manningham or Dominick Hixon. The Browns countered by asking for Steve Smith, whom the Giants have refused to part with.

Regardless of what the Giants offered, I question why they’d want to give up so much for a receiver with butterfingers. Last season, in his first 10 games, Edwards dropped 10 passes. I wouldn’t trade two picks and a player for him even if the Browns threw in a tube of glue.

Sure, he had a great season in 2007. But after last year’s unexceptional performance, I’d just offer the Browns the Giants’ own second- and fifth-round picks (not the ones they got from the Saints). Let’s see how desperate the Browns are to get rid of Edwards.

Is it a poem?

Posted on by metbaseball

Sometimes, I read a work and wonder why it’s considered a poem. One such work is James Tate’s It Happens Like This. I invite you to read it (You can read it here.) and then vote in the poll below.

Don’t go to the Deptford Inspection Station on a Monday afternoon

Posted on by metbaseball

Last Monday afternoon I made the mistake of taking my car to the Deptford (NJ) Inspection Station for my car’s biannual inspection. I arrived at the inspection station at 2:45, later than I had hoped. As only about 25 cars were ahead of me, I figured that I’d be done in about an hour.

According to the state website, on weekdays the station’s hours were 7:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. However, for the first 25 minutes, none of the cars in front of me moved. It was as if all the station’s inspectors had gone on break. Once the line began moving, each time it moved, I’d advance several car lengths and then sit and wait another 15 minutes.

When I finally reached the front of the line, I noticed that only two of the four inspection lanes were open, which partially explained why it took so long for me to reach the front position. Another was that the station seemed understaffed. Did the station’s management not anticipate that so many cars would appear on a Monday afternoon?

At five minutes before five o’clock, an inspector placed a new sticker on my car. Unfortunately, it took more than two hours to get it.

From now on, I’ll get to the station early in the morning. When I’ve done that in the past, I’ve never had to wait more than an hour to get my car inspected.

Minaya: Sign Lowe

Posted on by metbaseball

Now that the Mets have signed Tim Redding, are they a better team than they were last season? I doubt it. Career-wise, Redding has a losing record of 34-51. That’s not very good. Of his seven seasons in the Majors, he’s had only one winning season. In his best seasons, he’s won 10 games, something he did twice. In his last four seasons, his ERA was under four once.

In comparison, Oliver Perez won 10 games for the Mets last season. In his last four seasons his ERA was under four once and over six twice. He’ll cost them alot more money to sign, which I hope they don’t do. Too erratic.

Which leaves Derek Lowe. Of the three, he’s the only only with a winning percentage in his career. He’s won at least 12 games for the past seven seasons, though he had a winning record in only five of them. And in each of his last four seasons, his ERA was under four. He’d make a much bigger difference than would either Redding or Perez.

Minaya: Spend the money; sign Lowe.