(not this Ibanez either.  Idea swiped from Repoz…and if you think this jpg selection sucked, you should see some of the rejects for Jake Peavy)

Moises Alou has a torn Groinoid.  Ryan Church puts his career at risk every time he so much as ties his shoes.  So despite last night’s 2-1 victory over the Rockies — highlighted by a game winning 8th inning HR from Damion Easley and fantastic middle relief from the resurrected Aaron Heilman — the New York Mets are seeking a corner outfielder, and one you’re probably familiar with, writes Newsday’s Anthony Rieber :

One name on the Mets’ radar, according to a baseball official, is Seattle leftfielder Raul Ibañez. The lefthanded hitter can become a free agent after the season; the Mariners are looking to dump anyone they can in the middle of a miserable season, so the price tag for a rental could be to the Mets’ liking.

Ibañez, 36, is hitting .273 with 10 homers and 53 RBIs. He’s a Manhattan native and friend of Carlos Beltran, a teammate from their Kansas City days. Beltran sounded very much as if he would love to see Ibañez walk into the Mets’ clubhouse before the end of the month.

“He’s a great guy,” Beltran said. “Love him as a person, as a player. Great guy, great guy. I think he’s a great, great player. A player no one really talks about, but he always does his job. Driving in 80, 90, 100 runs, hits 25, 30 home runs, plays hard.”

Though I’m not entirely sure of Beltran’s qualifications as assistant GM, based on this one character reference alone, I suspect he’ll be better at player acquisitions than organization’s former ambassador Tom Glavine, who brought in such quality talent as David Weathers and, uh, Mike Glavine.



The Bergen Record‘s Bob Klapisch (shown in the middle above, flanked by your editor’s social justice guru Curtis Sliwa) suffered broken orbital bones around his right eye after a grounder took a bad bounce during an Over 40 league contest the other night. Klapisch told colleague Jason Tsai that he’ll require multiple surgeries and might’ve withstood permanent damage to his vision.  Here’s wishing Bob the speediest of recoveries — the faster he gets rid of the eye patch, the sooner he can enjoy Bobby Bonilla’s upcoming fitness video.