The New York Mets Welcome Johan Santana With Open Arms And An Open Bank Vault

Yesterday, the New York Mets succesfully signed lefty pitcher Johan Santana to a six year deal worth a total of $137.5 million bucks. To say he is locked up would be an utter understatement. I say good for the Mets! They are my favorite National League team, by far. The deal makes Santana the highest paid pitcher in all of baseball and the fourth highest paid PLAYER in the entire big leagues. Ahead of him are Yankees Alex Rodriguez at $275 million and Derek Jeter at $189 million. Rounding out that elite quartet is our very own Manny Ramirez at $160 million. So I must say congratulations to Johan Santana, and to his suddenly richer agent, AND to the Metsies. Santana will be pitching in the National League, so I wish him the very best of everything. With him, the Mets will go a long way, and his aquisition will ease the sudden September departure that every Met fan and team member went through at the end of the '07 season.

In Boston Red Sox news, Manny Ramirez spoke to the media in Tempe, Arizona, and uttered words that will make every one of you happy. Happy, that is, if you're a Red Sox fan. Here's a part of Boston Globe sportswriter Rob Bradford's article, which is linked fully when you click on this post's title. I'll be back with a couple of comments after you read this. PSST...read it and smile!
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"Manny Ramirez confirmed yesterday that he will be in Fort Myers for the Red Sox [team stats]’ official reporting date for position players.
“I’ll be there on the 21st (of February),” he said, soaked with sweat following a two-hour workout with teammate Kevin Youkilis and Minnesota infielder Nick Punto.
“Every year is the same,” Ramirez added when asked if he was excited about heading to spring training. “I look forward to ’08, ’09 and maybe move on.”
Ramirez, who has been working out here at Athletes’ Performance since early December, is clearly focused on making the Red Sox’ decision whether to pick up his $20 million team option for 2009 a difficult one. He also has no intention of drifting off into the sunset after the completion of his current contract, which also includes a $20 million team option for 2010.
“I want to be like Julio Franco and play until I’m 48,” said Ramirez, who is planning on leaving Arizona early next week. “And if you want to do it, this is the right place to come."
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Peter here, and Manny, you're saying all the right words! And you're in the right place, too. I believe you mean every one of those words. I really do. We look forward to the 2008 season, a season when your production numbers will increase and those '07 debilitating and nagging injuries will vanish completely. In short, WE LOVE YOU! And Papi is coming back healthy after knee surgery, so the 3-4 spots in the batting order will be as fearsome as they've EVER been. And that's good for us...bad for our opponents.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention this...the New York Giants have scheduled their "victory" parade for Tuesday, February 5th. I have a question. What if they held a parade, and no one came?

Don't forget to click on the title of this post for the Rob Bradford article. And enjoy your Saturday, Super Bowl Eve Day, I guess we can call it. If you have any comments, any at all, please leave them in the comment section. And if you have a Super Bowl prediction, I'd love to hear it, too. I have the final score right here (in my brain), and I will unveil it (the prediction, not my brain!) when I write and publish my Sunday morning Super Bowl Post. So stay tuned, right here. And never forget this...BE SAFE out there! Always and forever.