What do you think? Torre or someone else?

Mets Links From Around The Net:

1. Joe Torre is a Great Manager.

• All I heard last year from the New York Yankees is it time for Joe Torre to go. For 13 straight seasons Torre was a key piece of the Yankees making the playoffs every year. A year after Torre left New York for the LA Dodgers, he continued his streak and made the playoffs for the 14th year in a row while the Yankees missed the playoffs in their first season post Joe Torre. Granted Torre greatly benefit from the economical resources the Yankees have but at the same time there could be something said for a manager who continues to make the playoffs year after year.

2. AROD is the real curse.

• I’m beginning to think that Alex Rodriguez is a baseball curse. He may well go down as arguably the most talented baseball player ever, but one thing is certain up to this point in his career. Any team he plays for doesn’t win. For example, let’s look at his Yankee career. AROD has been a New York Yankee since 2004 and to be frank, the team has got worse every single year. ARODs first year as a Yankee saw the Boston RedSox come back from a 3-0 lead in the playoffs and completely reverse the curse and they have not looked back since while on the other hand the Yankees have not got past the first round of the playoffs.

3. The Tampa Bay Rays are here to stay.

• While their luck ran out in the World Series, I think it’s safe to say that the Tampa Bay Rays are not going away anytime soon. The Rays are one of the youngest teams in baseball and have one of the best pitching staffs in the game. Everyone in baseball kept expecting them to fade away at some point throughout the season and they never did. The Rays have served notice to the New York Yankees and the Boston Redsox that the NL East is not a two team race anymore.

4. Heart and Hustle > Talent

• As a New York Mets fan, this comment hurts but its the truth. Heart and Hustle Trump Talent any day of the week. I think if you stack the Philadephia Phillies vs the New York Mets roster, pound for pound the Mets have a much more talented roster but there are two reasons why the Phillies are baseball champions and the Mets choked for the second straight year: 1) Heart and 2) Hustle. Two qualities the Phillies are full of and the Mets have absolutely none. In 2009 the Mets need to focus more on being a team with a killer instinct and less about creating new handshakes and dances.

5. Fan Cost Index

• Dispite the country in an economic recession, the cost to go to a baseball game will continue to climb. According to Team Marketing Research, if some average guy out there wants to take his family of four to a game it would have cost him about $112 in 2008. And that is just for four tickets (upper deck) and parking. That’s not factoring in food, drinks and beer. Your looking at $200 easily to enjoy a saturday afternoon at the ball park with your family. While I go to my fair share of games every year I have to wonder if the prices will level off sooner or later. I mean things are going to get to a point where people are going to have to start decide, do I go to a few games this year or take my family on vacation, no?