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The Mets have reached a crossroads. Or, perhaps, they have gone beyond the crossroads and not realized it. With the Braves all but locking up the National League East by the All-Star break, the Mets and their underachieving coterie of offseason acquisitions find themselves in a position where they are considering unloading players rather than acquiring them for a stretch run.

"One move right now, to add payroll or otherwise, isn't necessarily going to fix all of our problems," general manager Steve Phillips told the New York Times. "I haven't taken it to ownership to say, 'Hey, can I have a whole lot more money,' because what I think we need to do is resolve the issues that we have here because I'm not sure there's a certain amount of money that fixes everything for us and gets us going."

In other words, there is no point in throwing good money after bad in 2002. There is no plan or desire to increase payroll above the current $95 million level and, given the fairly hopeless nature of their standing, not much point in doing so. A proposed trade that would have sent Edgardo Alfonzo to the Phillies for Scott Rolen in an exchange of third basemen last month was passed on because the salary differential between the two was not seen as worth the production differential.

Alfonzo, and the man who displaced him at second, Roberto Alomar, have both been the subject of trade rumors for the past few weeks. The Dodgers have expressed interest in Alfonzo and a number of teams have inquired about Alomar who has come nowhere near his career performance level since donning the black, blue and orange of the Mets. In spite of that, New York has told all comers that he is not available. There is a certain logic to holding onto an underachieving player like Alomar. One must assume that sooner or later, he is going to resume performing at or near his established level of competence.

Meanwhile, the principal owners of the Mets -- Nelson Doubleday and Fred Wilpon -- are all but in divorce court as they try to settle a deal that would transfer ownership to Wilpon. The major sticking point is the appraisal value of the team, thought by Doubleday to be too low at $391 million. Naturally, a lawsuit is involved which may hamstring further roster moves until it is satisfactorily resolved.

Alfonzo Could Move On if Mets Become Sellers

Rafael Hermoso / New York Times

Mets Need a Quickie Divorce

Dave Anderson / New York Times

Selig's statements have spin doctors operating

Before he was the commissioner of the National Football League, the late Pete Rozelle was its public relations director. This did not keep him from making PR mistakes (such as is infamous decision to play on the Sunday after John F. Kennedy was assassinated), but he was certainly more savvy in the ways of what to say and what not to say than is current baseball commissioner Bud Selig. What Selig needs is an intensive, no-sleep weekend-long indoctrination into the world of saying the right thing. His latest statements regarding the solvency of two major league teams were bad enough in and of themselves, however, they have now had the ripple effect of generating even more bad ink in their wake (that is, if one can have ripples coming off a wake).

Articles like the one referenced here are chock full of baseball and team officials scrambling to put a good spin on the statements Selig made Wednesday that one team was going to have trouble making Monday's payroll and another would be lucky to finish the season given its debt load. Naturally, curiosity arose as to which teams he was referencing and people began looking to some of baseball's poorer franchises as likely suspects. The Tigers, for one, are in full spin doctoring mode.

"We're not going bankrupt," said their team president, Dave Dombrowski, "I don't know who [selig] is referring to."

The statements also put the Devil Rays on the defensive. "As far as I know, as far as I'm concerned, it's not the Devil Rays," said their GM, Chuck LaMar. "All I know is I'm not aware of any type of loan or bailout from Major League Baseball."

Selig has done a great disservice to many of his member clubs with these statements and, as per usual, taken the focus off of what happens between the lines. He may think it is part of some grand scheme to convince the players' union and the masses that baseball's problems need to be taken seriously, and that may well be. However, making a public issue of financial maneuverings that could have well been kept secret is proving to be a grave miscalculation on Selig's part.

The cardinal rule of sports operation (or any business operation) is that you don't badmouth your own product. That is a rule that Selig continues to break every single day and somebody at Major League Baseball needs to either educate him in the ways of Pete Rozelle or muzzle him up good.

Tigers: We're solvent

Fred Mitchell / Chicago Tribune

The unlikely dismissal of Charlie Manuel

Does this make sense to you? You trade your Hall-of-Fame second baseman and allow your slugging right fielder to go the free-agent route. Then you ship your mound ace away for prospects, announcing that a rebuilding program is underway. Then, with all hopes for a divisional title gone, you fire your manager.

This, essentially, is what the Indians have done in their dismissal of Charlie Manuel. Of course, it's a little more complicated than that, but not all that much more. Team general manager Mark Shapiro would not commit to Manuel beyond 2002 and that did not sit well him and put Shapiro in a position where he felt he had to make the decision he did.

"I wanted him to stay," Shapiro said. "In the end, I felt forced to make this decision. There was no alternative."

Well, there was an alternative: not firing him, but let's not get all hung up on semantics. Manuel wanted assurances that he would still have his job after 2002, which is probably too much for any major league manager to ask of his employer, given the mercurial nature of that line of work.

His replacement -- at least for the interim -- is Joel Skinner, former major league catcher and son of Bob Skinner, a manager in his own right with the Phillies and Padres. This would make them the first father-son managers in baseball history. Well, it would if not for the case of Connie and Earle Mack. Some sources list the younger Mack as having managed the Philadelphia A's in 1937 and 1939 while others give Connie a straight shot from the very beginning of the team in 1901 to the day he finally officially gave up the title in 1950. In any case, Earle was never named the official manager of the club even though there is no doubt he ran the team on a number of occasions.

Let us, then, rephrase our assessment of the Skinners: Joel Skinner is the first son of a former major league manager to manage a team without being given the job by his daddy.

Indians Fire Manager Manuel

Tyler Kepner / New York Times

Writers Bloc: Weasels in Miami?

In the wake of the Ryan Dempster and Cliff Floyd trades, Dave Joseph of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel has had his fill of the Marlins. If you like a good, bitter tirade you'll want to read his piece in which he refers to the team's ownership as "weasels" among other things.

Michael Holley wonders who the financially troubled teams are to which Bud Selig was referring the other day. He lines up some possibilities and discusses why or why not it might be them. A few of his choices might surprise you.

So Barry Bonds has admitted to using creatine. A major league ballplayer in 2002 confessing to this practice is like you and I revealing we brush our teeth. Just where does creatine fall in the doping pantheon? And what exactly is creatine to begin with? This piece explains in all in short order form.

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[JTFan31]

Thank you so much, Dolfan

[Admin]

No problem dude.......hopefully your boys (whomever they are) are able to make some trades and win that coveted 2nd best team in baseball award behind the all mighty Yankees.......good luck