Bob Klapisch writes that the Mets and Yankees could wind up in a bidding war with each other over the services of C.C. Sabathia. The Yankees have more money to spend, but the Mets can offer Sabathia the opportunity to step into the batter's box every fifth day. Sabathia is from California and many believe he is pining for a west coast return. He'll likely command a contract in the neighborhood of Johan Santana's (think six or seven years, $20-$25 million a year), but the thought of Santana and Sabathia starting 70 games next year is drool-worthy.

The Mets are negotiating with Jerry Manuel to bring him back as manager. Jerry is playing hard-to-get, though the Mets are apparently unlikely to go beyond two years, $1.5 million or so. In the same article, David Lennon speculates that, should things fall apart with Manuel, the Mets might make a push to bring Bobby Valentine back to the states. While I have my doubts that Valentine is even interested in leaving Japan, if I thought he might consider it I would toss Manuel into the nearest dumpster and make my way to the Pacific Rim asap.

Kevin Kernan jumps on the Francisco Rodriguez bandwagon. I think the money is better spent elsewhere, and would sooner hand out less money over less years to Kerry Wood (despite last night's flimsy effort) or Brian Fuentes. Despite his gaudy save totals, I find Rodriguez less appealing now than Billy Wagner was before the Mets signed him three years ago. The age difference is considerable, obviously, but Wagner had much better control than Rodriguez with similar strikeout rates.

The Mets are probably going to pick up Carlos Delgado's option at $12 million, which only costs the Mets $8 million relative to the $4 million buyout he would be owed if the Mets declined the option. If Delgado returns, even for one season, that likely means Mark Teixeira and Adam Dunn are off the table, though Dunn could conceivably "play" a corner outfield spot.

Following in lock-step with the Mets' once-promising season, Shea Stadium is now being dismantled. Follow the link for a video of some of the demo work being done.

When the postseason rolls around and your team is packing its bags for the winter, sometimes it's hard to decide which teams to root for. As often as not, I find myself rooting against particular teams, so the teams I root for are just a byproduct of my loathing of other teams. For instance, though the Brewers are a nice story, I hate the Phillies and that's the main reason I'm rooting for Milwaukee.

Another way to go is to identify your rooting interest based on a team's players, specifically those who played for the Mets at some point. Here are my thoughts on some of those players. I've intentionally left out guys who only very briefly played with the Mets (Gary Matthews, Jr., Paul Byrd, Chan Ho Park) or who were in the farm system but never reached the big leagues in New York (Jason Bay, Scott Kazmir).

• Octavio Dotel - White Sox

  He was a product of the Mets' system, and even though he wound up with the Yankees a couple of years ago it's tough not to root for him. Still, when you play for a team with the most unlikeable manager and catcher in the game you've got a tough row to hoe.

  Verdict: Against.

• Jeff Kent - Dodgers

  Came to the Mets in the deal that send David Cone to Toronto and spent parts of five seasons in New York. His laid-back west coast style never really fit in here, and he was shipped to the Indians in the horrible deal that netted the Mets Carlos Baerga. Kent went on to have a brilliant career with the Giants, mostly, and despite having a mustache (awesome!), he's considered a douche by almost everyone around him. You know things are bad when you get in a fight with Barry Bonds and you look like the crazy one.

  Verdict: Against.

• Guillermo Mota - Brewers

  !@#$ that guy.

  Verdict: Against.

• Chad Bradford - Rays

  Mets picked him up off the scrap heap in 2006 and he pitched remarkably well. I've always been entertained by sidearmers, ever since I saw Terry Leach throw for the first time. Plus, the Mets could have really used Bradford these past two seasons, even though they had a very similar pitcher in Joe Smith.

  Verdict: For.

• Mike Cameron - Brewers

  I always liked Cameron. He was so committed to the pursuit of defensive excellence that he would run through wall or man to make a play. His trade begat Xavier Nady, who in turn begat Oliver Perez. Cameron wasn't so much fit for right field anyway, but I'll always appreciate his effort and will always consider him one of the good guys.

  Verdict: For.

• Darren Oliver - Angels

  Oliver was great as a swing man for the Mets in 2006. He would often come into games and pitch four or more innings of relief to keep the Mets competitive, including that awful, pathetic start by Steve Trachsel in the NLCS. He picked up the win in one of the most memorable games that season, when Carlos Beltran sent everyone home happy with a leadoff homerun in the bottom of the 16th at Shea.

  Verdict: For.

• Dan Wheeler - Rays

  He was so-so for the Mets in two partial seasons, but then was traded to the Astros for nothing (read: Adam Seuss) and decided to become one of the better relievers in the game. I'll never forgive him for that.

  Verdict: Against.

• Cliff Floyd - Rays

  It's hard not to root for Cliff Floyd. He was super excited to sign with the Mets in 2003 and, after we consider injuries, had one-and-a-half good-to-great seasons at Shea. He's a good guy and was BFF with David Wright.

  Verdict: For.

There are some new developments here at Amazin' Avenue as well as at SB Nation as a whole that I wanted to share with you quickly.

1. The FanPosts page has been given a makeover. It's now easier than ever to scan the list of recent FanPosts, along with their corresponding comment statuses and recommendations. You can read more about the changes at the SB Nation Blog.
2. You might have noticed a little ways down the right sidebar here that there's a new "SB Nation MLB Postseason" widget, which contains playoff-related headlines from around the SB Nation baseball sites. To go along with the widget is a brand-spanking-new SB Nation MLB Playoff Hub, which features schedules and line scores for all ongoing postseason series, as well as featured playoff content from each playoff team's SB Nation blog.
3. Lastly, Amazin' Avenue is now on Facebook (I've also added a badge section to the left sidebar here). If you're into the whole Facebook thing, click thru to our page and become a fan. I still don't really know what Facebook is or what the point is anyway (I'm guessing pr0n), but I know a lot of you kids are into it so go check it out.

I took the last couple of days off from writing for a couple of reasons. Primarily it was to just take a mental breather from the madness of the Mets' season. Writing about the Mets day in and day out can be suffocating in a lot of ways, especially to my psychological well being. Though you didn't necessarily plan on doing so, you guys filled in for me with a couple of posts I promoted to the front page as well as a number of other FanPosts and FanShots. One of the greatest assets of a community such as this one is that I could literally disappear for a day or two and you'd hardly notice because you're all capable of generating brilliant, original content of your own on a seemingly daily basis. So, keep on rockin' it because I'll keep promoting it.

Anyway, since we last spoke we've seen a lot of shoddy journalistic efforts (not here) that purport to fix the Mets by breaking up their core of incredible, young talent because of some perceived lack of "heart" or "guts" or whatever meaningless baseball platitude they thought might make good copy. I can find some merit in almost any makeover plan, even if I don't necessarily agree with all of the tactics of reconstruction. Whatever the Mets' shortcomings this past season, whatever areas are in need of overhaul to varying degrees, the following players had better be on the team when the team takes to Citi Field next spring:

• David Wright
• Jose Reyes
• Johan Santana
• Carlos Beltran
• Mike Pelfrey

Whatever reasons you can concoct for why the Mets didn't make the playoffs this season -- injuries, porous bullpen, lack of positional depth, age-related regression -- these five players are part of the solution, not part of the problem. Even if Bob Klapisch doesn't understand this, I do believe that Omar Minaya does. Whatever his failings as a general manager, he understands the value of superstars -- especially young-ish ones -- and the Mets have four of them and a burgeoning star in Pelfrey. If you want to find the problems with this roster, look elsewhere. There's nothing to see here.

I don't want to hear that these players aren't clutch or that they don't know how to win, that the current core can't get it done or that they've somehow established a culture of losing in Queens. Those words don't mean anything to me. If you think he sucks, tell me why he sucks. Don't speak subjectively about character-based intangibles which, even if they did exist and had perceptible value, a sportswriter (or any writer) would have no business understanding anyway. Explain in what tangible areas these players are lacking and the realistic scenarios in which the Mets might dispense with them and actually receive reasonable value in return. The obvious explanation is that such scenarios don't actually exist, which is exactly why sportswriters fall back on the aforementioned tired baseball platitudes to support their irrational ideas in the first place.

I'll spend the coming days talking more about the 2008 season and where I think the Mets should focus their efforts this offseason. Spoiler alert: Bullpen, rotation, bench. For now, don't forget to check out SB Nation sites Halos Heaven (Angels), South Side Sox (White Sox), DRays Bay (Rays), Over The Monster (Red Sox), True Blue LA (Dodgers), Bleed Cubbie Blue (Cubs), Brew Crew Ball (Brewers), and The Good Phight (Phillies) for the best playoff coverage on the nets.

I'll have plenty to say about this game, series and season in the coming days, but right now I just want to thank every member of this community for their contributions this season. Whether you've been here since we opened the doors in February of 2005 or you just joined Amazin' Avenue this month, you're all the reasons this is the best Mets community on the internets. I wouldn't trade you guys for anything, and I look forward to all of your comments, FanPosts and FanShots this offseason and beyond.

Thanks!

Can't write.
No words.
Johan, awesome.
Thanks, Cubs.
No offense?
No biggie.
Ramon Martinez!
No bullpen.
Equals victory.
Shea good-bye?
Not yet.
Tomorrow, then?
!@#$ that.

Big winners: Johan Santana, +58.2% WPA, Ramon Martinez, +5.1% WPA
Big losers: Carlos Delgado, -6.1% WPA, Ryan Church, -5.9% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Martinez RBI double, +11.1% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Willingham double in 9th, -6.1% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +58.2%
Total batter WPA: -8.2%
GWRBI: Carlos Delgado

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by itsmetsforme; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.