TOE WATCH

I'm still not worried about Pedro Martinez*. Tom Glavine's schedule has been shifted in case he has to make the Opening Day start, which does worry me a little bit, more on that in a minute. But I'm not worried about Pedro*. He will pitch the first week of the season, even if it's not Opening Day. I just think Pedro* had an out from the WBC, and pushed it a little too far, not realizing he might not be ready for Opening Day of the Mets' season. Pedro* will pitch to batters soon, and maybe in a game following that. He's behind schedule, but he'll be OK.

Tom Glavine, though, worries me a bit. He got rocked in his spring training start Monday. Not a huge concern, but a little one. He wasn't crazy about shifting his schedule to accomodate the Mets, in case of problems with The Toe. But he did it, reluctantly. And now I think it's in his head a little bit. I think Tom Glavine is a great pitcher, but I don't think Tom Glavine adjusts to changes very well. This is what I've come up with. It took Glavine about a year and a half to pitch well in New York - the first major change in his life in 16 years. Then this week it comes out, in John Scheurholz's new book, that Glavine regretted agreeing to a free agent deal with the Mets, and the day before he was supposed to sign it, went to Schuerholz, asking what he should do. Glavine doesn't deny the story, he just says he wished he was asked permission for it to appear in the book. So that supports my thought a bit.

Now Glavine is being asked to change his schedule, something he doesn't want to do. At all. And the early returns, 4 runs in 4 innings, are not great. Just something to watch for. Hopefully Glavine will adjust.

MATSUI: I haven't heard much about Kaz Matsui in the New York papers. Could be because he's actually doing well, and we only hear the negative. He had three singles and three RBI on Monday, and drove in two runs with a hit in the Mets' 11-4 win on Tuesday.

EMBARRASSING: Driving back from New York on Sunday morning, I was able to listen to Ed Randall's "Talking Baseball" on WFAN, which is always a good listen. But there was a very unusual (for his show) and uncomfortable (for any show) moment.

Randall had (and this shows the respect most ballplayers have for Ed Randall) former players call into his show after arriving in Minnesota for Kirby Puckett's funeral. Don Baylor and Gary Gaetti called in after their planes landed. Baylor was first, and it was a little awkward, but nothing very noticeable, when Randall asked him about Game 6, and what it was like when Kirby Puckett told the team he was going to carry them on his back to win that game. Baylor, I guess, spun the question around to mean Game 6 of the 1987 World Series, in which he was a teammate of Puckett's, and in which Puckett went 4-for-4. (And until this moment, I didn't realize Puckett was 4-for-4 in that game - it's Game 6 of the 1991 World Series Puckett is remembered for...and I think Randall was asking about, as you'll see below...and in 1991, Baylor was no longer a baseball player.) So I guess the Baylor situation wasn't that uncomfortable....but.....

When Gary Gaetti came on, Randall asked him the same question, to describe the scene before and during Game 6, then what it was like to watch Puckett go out there and play a great game, with the catch and the homer. Gaetti's response was, "Ed, I hate to tell you this...but when he made that catch, and hit that home run, that was 1991. I wasn't on that team." (Gaetti left the Twins after the 1990 season - he was a teammate on the 1987 championship team.) Randall, after about 3 seconds of silence (a lot on the radio), said to Gaetti, "But Puckett was really a genuine person, on and off the field, wasn't he?" It was very awkward. But let me stress here, this wasn't a case of an ignorant reporter - it was just an uncomfortable moment for a quality broadcaster who made a mistake.

ANOTHER BALLPLAYER CALLER: Incidentally, Jeff Bagwell also called into Randall's show, and it was a very good interview. Bagwell talked about his situation in Houston this year, and he was very candid. First of all, Bagwell is definitely one of the good guys in sports. I like listening to/watching his interviews, because he always comes across very well. He talked about being traded from the Red Sox back when he was in the minors, and said Butch Hobson told him. Bagwell walked into the clubhouse, Hobson had hung up the phone, and was throwing stuff around, and told Bagwell he was pissed because Bagwell had just been traded. Bagwell also said, with the situation the Red Sox were in then, he would have traded himself for Larry Anderson, too. He also says Larry Anderson apparently has a good sense of humor about being part of one of the worst trades ever, telling Bagwell whenever he's in a slump, you'd better pick it up, or else people are going to forget who I am. I thought that was funny.

Anyway, the big news out of this interview came when Randall asked Bagwell if he feels disrespected (the Astros don't want Bagwell to play this year, because if he's too hurt to play, the Astros get back by insurance 15 of 17 million dollars owed to Bagwell) by the team he's played for his whole Major League career. He hesitated for a long time before answering the question, then said he understands the business side of baseball a lot better now than he ever did. He still doesn't have a lot of hard feelings towards the organization.

Bagwell says he feels pretty good at this point....so we'll see what happens over the rest of spring training. And hopefully this is the last Astros report for a while...why does it feel like I'm always writing about the Astros?

BONDS: My schedule's been a little jammed, and I realize I haven't had my say in the Barry Bonds deal - so hopefully I'll get around to that later in the week.