Next week I'll delve into the Mets' pitching staff and bench players (hopefully - there's a lot going on with the move into the new DirecTV-sponsored home, plus I'm back in school next week). But today, before I head to New York for the weekend (more on that later), I thought I'd take on some of the e-mails that have been sitting in my inbox most of the winter (some also arrived yesterday):

"Dear JohnnyMets,

Welcome back. Might I request johnnycollegebasketball.blogspot.com to
pass the long weeks between the Super Bowl and Spring Training. Felt
like years.

Right off the top, I want to get you on the record on an "Around the
Majors" type question ...
What date do you pick for the annual Ken-Griffey-Jr.-season-ending injury?
I ask this now because spring training dates are still on the board.

I say June 11.

Second up...some online casinos are offering 12-1 odds on the Mets
winning the World Series, same as the Twins and a little bit better
than the 25-2 Marlins. I know you're not interested in such things,
but do those sound like good odds to you?

Signed,
Dave in Brighton"

Dave, thanks for the e-mail(s). The college basketball thing isn't a bad idea...but don't you enjoy just attending college basketball games with me and hearing me talk about them there? You don't really want me to write about the BU Terriers and how they just don't show up against teams like the Northeastern Huskies....do you?

Anyway, I think Griffey makes it through the entire year without a season-ending injury. But I'll go with 3 separate stints on the disabled list for various injuries. For entertainment purposes only, of course.

As for the Mets' odds....I'd say 12-1 is pretty fair. If I had a friend going to Vegas this year around March Madness time, I'd definitely give that friend some money to put on the Mets. Some of you may remember that last year, I had such a friend, and I gave him 20 dollars to put on the Mets to win the World Series. The odds then were 30-1. So I'd say they improved enough since this time last year to merit a 12-1 odd. I'm a little surprised they rate better than the Marlins...but glad. I'm glad they're getting a little respect, because, dare I say it, I think the Mets will be pretty good this year*. But let's not get ahead of ourselves...prediction time is in a month from now.

Another e-mail from Dave:

"'And one other thing that I just realized - at the end of last year, I took the GREATEST BALLPLAYER WHO EVER LIVED designation away from Reyes because of the injuries, but I did NOT give it to David Wright. I referred to Wright as future Hall of Famer. I forgot, my bad.'

No sweat. This is why they hold spring training."

For those of you who can't follow quotation marks, Dave quoted my posting from Thursday first, then the last line is his. Thanks, Dave, for overlooking my error.

Oh, look, another e-mail from Dave (from February 9th):

"Dear JohnnyJets, er, I mean Mets,

Did you read Kevin Kernan's fawning column in the Post today about
Pedro's early arrival.
I hope he digs that out in July, two weeks into Pedro's NY media blackout and as he's leaving early for his All-Star vacation. He'll get a real kick out of the line "He smiled. He is
comfortable here."
Of course the flaw in my thinking is that Pedro will be on the NL All-Star team this year, fighting for the starter's spot with Clemens, as they battle for the Cy Young. (Or Cy Old, in Clemens' case.)
Dave in Brighton"

I hadn't actually read that column, and saw Dave's e-mail about it a couple of days later. But I'm a little torn on how to react. Part of me thinks Pedro will keep up this model citizen act all season long and never tick anyone off in New York, and he'll win that Cy Young Award as he leads the Mets to the world championship. But the other part of me thinks we'll see the scenario Dave has laid out for us above.

What my head (not heart) really thinks is that there will be a little bit of both. I think this season, whenever Pedro does something that would set off the Boston media the past few years, the New York media this year will give a "That's just Pedro being Pedro"-type response, and not make a huge issue out of it (in coming years, there will be many a firework). I do expect Pedro to pull a lot of his n0t-so-charming antics this season, but I don't think they'll be blown up in the papers quite yet. And I don't think there will be a media blackout....again, just this year.

By the way, Pedro must be getting comfy in his Mets surroundings. Today he shagged flies wearing a dummy head on his hat, being the clown Pedro you always used to see in the Red Sox dugout. On the other hand, the other day, a fan yelled something like, "Who's your daddy?" to Pedro, and he turned around and grabbed his crotch at the guy (can you grab your crotch AT someone? But I think that's what he did.) That antic was just a blurb in the Daily News, FYI, not back-page material.

Anyway, there's plenty more e-mail to come...and if you want to send me e-mails, the address is johnnymetsmail@yahoo.com, and I'll post responses on Wednesdays.

This weekend, I'm going to New York to see the family. Also, on Sunday, Mets single game tickets go on sale. Now, Saturday, season ticket and game plan packs go on sale, and people who buy those at Shea Stadium get to meet Ron Darling, Sid Fernandez, and Darryl Strawberry. And a while back I heard that on Sunday, for the single game tickets, Gary Carter was going to be among the Mets greeting ticket buyers. But I haven't heard anything about that since. I wonder if the Saturday players event replaces the Sunday one. I'll update you next week, but there is a chance that on Sunday I will accomplish my life's goal of meeting Gary Carter. I hope he's nice.