I STILL CARE

This is just a note to say that the blog isn't meeting its end or anything. I still care about it. And I still care about the Mets, despite their efforts to crush me at the end of every season.

It's just that situations like this whole Johan Santana ordeal right now are hard for me to handle. When it first happened, Santana said that he didn't think he'd miss Opening Day...and then it turned into a story about how he was going to most likely miss Opening Day.

This is a manufactured story. It's one I didn't want to write about because each time I would have written something, it would have changed and I would have had to write something again. It's certainly a serious situation - if Johan Santana is hurt, the Mets' season is finished. And if that happened right now, it would be over before it even began.

But I won't believe Johan Santana will miss Opening Day until I see the Mets play on Opening Day without him. And that's still a month away. This is nothing more than a media needing something to write about from camp, with all of the other star players playing in the World Baseball Classic. Nothing more. Talk to me again in a month.

SPEAKING OF THE WBC: It was nice to see David Wright in prime late-season form, popping out in a clutch spot (with the bases loaded in the seventh) against Canada on Saturday. And J.J. Putz will fit right in with his new teammates, walking a tightrope and turning a two-run lead into a one-run win-and-almost-loss in the 9th inning. It's like he was born to be in the Mets bullpen.

OVERHAUL UNDERWAY

Quite an eventful winter meetings for the Mets. Clearly, the bullpen needed to be re-worked, and that's what the Mets did.

Gone are Aaron Heilman, Joe Smith, Billy Wagner (though he'll still be paid...a LOT of money), and now Scott Schoeneweis. Even Endy Chavez off the bench.

In are Francisco Rodriguez*, J.J. Putz, Sean Green, and now Connor Robertson. Even Jeremy Reed on the bench.

It's a good shakeup. As they stood, the Mets were not built to win - obvious the past two seasons, when not enough was done to shake things up between 2007 and 2008.

But there's still work to be done. Now the Mets have to address the starting rotation. I'm a little envious of what the Yankees have done - they played the initial game, too - getting C.C. and A.J. (The Mets only landed J. J.) I would have loved Burnett as a Met. I have no idea which direction the Mets will go - but I'm kind of hoping the Mets don't go for the 'big-name' starter (Derek Lowe) and go more towards the middle...I'm just not sure Lowe's the guy.

I like the direction the Mets are going this off-season...though I'm not going to go overboard until the Mets make it through September intact.

I'm just afraid now that with all the addressing of the bullpen needs the Mets have done this off-season they haven't left themselves with a 2009 rotation that will remind us of the 2008 bullpen.

THE SOUTHERN BUREAU WOULD WANT ME TO MENTION THIS: News out of Atlanta is that the Braves will not offer a 2009 contract to Chuck James, who will miss the season recovering from shoulder surgery.

AND YOU THOUGHT THERE WAS A PUTZ IN THE METS BULLPEN LAST YEAR

So the Mets should be coming out of the winter meetings looking pretty good.

They got a closer. And after they did that, I thought to myself, they should still try to get someone else, like Brian Fuentes, because you can never have enough arms in the bullpen.

And they made a trade to get J.J. Putz. Which isn't bad. Another closer-type who will become a set-up guy. And they unloaded Aaron Heilman, who no one could possibly have anymore confidence in, not to mention he was unhappy. They also lost Endy Chavez and Joe Smith, but got back formerly-highly-rated outfielder Jeremy Reed. (Might be a bust, but if he's filling a bench role, he might be OK.)

But none of these moves mean anything until the Mets get into the post-season.

You would also think they're in great shape because Cole Hamels went on New York radio today and called the Mets "choke artists". You would think that's the type of thing that would fire the Mets up.

But he's not wrong until the Mets unseat the now-World Champion team Cole Hamels plays for.

And Francisco Rodriguez and J. J. Putz might help with that. But we won't know until the games happen.