(moved from diaries; good discussion here --eric)

ESPN says the Mets are close to signing old man Alou: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2667558

Alou had pretty good stats last season in limited action, but he's old and I'm not confident he can stay healthy for a full season.  Would he be materially better than Milledge or Green?  I don't think so.

(moved from diaries --eric)

There's an interesting article over at hardballtimes by Dave Studeman (who is always a must read) about pickups made by Omar and how well they've worked out.  Check it out here: http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/ten-great-pickups-by-omar-minaya/

My thoughts, say what you want about team payroll giving big market clubs an advantage, but looking at the amount we're paying some of these guys and you've got to give Omar a ton of credit.  Endy, Stache, Feliciano, Bradford and Oliver were all free agents who could have been signed by anyone (even a small market team at these prices).  The fact that we're making these smart pickups in addition to bigger name deals like Beltran and Wagner is a good sign that the talent evalutation with this club has improved tremendously since the days we were sinking big money on guys like Kaz Matsui and Jeromy Burnitz.