Dykstra's Brother Says He Deserves To 'Pay For What He Did'

Apparently former New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Len Dykstra has been getting bailed out by his family and now they aren't going to bat for him anymore. His brother, Brian, says that Dykstra deserves his fall from grace amd is guilty of the charges brought against him last week.

"It's sad, but he's got to pay for what he did," the older brother, 49, told The New York Daily News. "We feel sorry for him, but he's pretty much on his own right now. We're praying for him."


"I wish I could post bail. I know the real Lenny from years ago is still in there somewhere. But the family breakup was bad," Brian said. "We'll be there to help afterwards - when he gets out. I know he could go coach somewhere."


I'm not well versed in the Lenny Dykstra story, except that he played hard. I guess he lived harder and made some bad business deals along the way, while pissing off a few family members in the process. Brian and another brother Kevin, haven't got along since Len sold the car wash business they owned and didn't pay them money they were owed. Talk about shady. I know it's not my place to say this, but they would've been better off doing business with a stranger than their own brother.

Maybe Dykstra can hit up Mookie Wilson for a few dollars.  




 

 

Cuban Is Open To Owning The Mets

The New York Mets are in a bit of financial turmoil due to their dealings with the well known schemer Bernie Madoff. More specifically the Wilpon family, that owns the Mets may be forced to fork over $300 million from the money they made with Madoff, even though they say they were victims in his Ponzi scheme.

They're looking for a savior and that man might be Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Cuban has stated he's willing to listen to buying part of the Mets franchise if the price is right. The Wilpons are looking to sell 20 to 25 percent of the team. Cuban has said he won't bid on a Major League Baseball team because of the process he went through trying to purchase the Chicago Cubs and the Texas Rangers. Forbes estimates that Cuban is worth $2.3 billion. So you know he has the money to buy in.

I think Cuban would be a good baseball owner and maybe good for the game. Look what he did for the Mavericks. They were toiling with the dregs of the NBA before he took over and made it into a competitive franchise, and competed for a championship. I think he possibly could've made either the Cubs or Rangers a yearly World Series contender if he was given the shot to own either one of them. He goes all out to make his team relevant and I have no doubt he would do the same in baseball. I feel the old blood owners didn't want to approve any ownership bids by Cuban because they simply don't like him. Maybee he's too brash and too open to the public (remeber the Dairy Queen stunt). Some of the long time baseball guys don't like that kind of person. Also I think he had enough in the bank to become another George Steinbrenner. That might be a stretch, but think about every big name star that's on the trade block or going to free agency and the Mavericks always show up on the list. He wouldn't be afraid to throw his money around.

"If they want to sit down and sell me on it, I can be a willing buyer and a willing customer," Cuban said before his Mavericks crushed the Knicks, 113-97 at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. "But I'm not going to be a bidder on anything."


"For any baseball team, I'm not going to chase after it," Cuban said. "If someone sees me as a potential owner, I'll take their call and discuss a deal. I'm not going to get into a bidding situation ever again. I'm not going to be in a situation where I make the proposal and they just go through with it.



"Obviously, I feel like I'd be a good team owner in baseball, but I'm not going to go through the same process I did with the Rangers and the Cubs."

"We had a limit on what we could spend. You take a small part of something that makes a ton of money, if the price is right, no matter who you are. But I don't know the specifics of it, so I couldn't say."


The desire to run a baseball team is still there. He just doesn't want to jump through hoops of bull to do it. I don't blame him. 

A Viola Grows In Brooklyn

I haven't heard the name Frank Viola in years. Even when I think of the Minnesota Twins his isn't thefirst name to come up. He was a long time Twin and tormented my beloved Tigers for years. He was one of the best pitchers in the American League and won a Cy Young in 1988. He was one of the main cogs when the Twins won the World Series in 1987.

After retiring in 1996 you didn't hear much of him. He has resurfaced again as the new pitching coach for the  Brooklyn Cyclones, the New York Mets Class A outfit. Before that he was coaching high scholl ball in Orlando, Florida and doing some work for Red Sox broadcasts.

"We are excited to welcome our new staff to MCU Park," said Cyclones General Manager Steve Cohen. "It's a wonderful thing to have a Cy Young Award winner like Frank Viola guiding our young pitchers, and we look forward to a great 2011 season with all of our coaches."


The Mets are betting there will be some "Sweet Music" in Brooklyn.

Start The Firing And Speculation

Now that the MLB regular season is over its time to start the offseason speculation and get the firing squads ready.

The New York Mets, Milwaukee Brewers, and Pittsburgh Pirates wasted no time in giving their managers their walking papers. The Mets went for the double and also fired GM Omar Minaya. That rumor had been in the hopper for quite awhile. The Mets have been a bunch of overpaid underachievers for the last three seasons. Not much has gone right since losing Game 7 in the 2006 NLCS. That isn't what the top brass in Queens were looking for when they acquired the likes of Carlos Beltran, Jason Bay, Johan Santana and Francisco Rodriguez. Now the stories will start flying about who replaces Jerry Manuel and Minaya. I hear former Mets manager Bobby Valentine is on the list as well as former Mets second baseman Wally Backman.

The Brewers decided not to pick up the option on Ken Macha for the 2011 season. This came after two losing seasons after they made the playoffs in 2008. I guess this was bound to happen since they did fire Ned Yost with 12 games left in the 2008 season. There also were rumblings that he wasn't connecting with his players which is the reason why he was canned in Oakland. I guess Dale Sveum and Willie Randolph are on the list as of now.

Which brings me to the Pittsburgh Pirates. They fired John Russell after he compiled an astounding 299 losses in three seasons. The Pirates have been on this slippery slope for a while. Trading away young proven players for minor league prospects. Amazingly GM Neal Huntington was retained, since he's made some poor trades and questionable moves himself.  His saving grace is that this pattern had been going on long before he or Russell got into town.  Russell’s stoic demeanor, reluctance to argue most calls and peculiar strategy—such as letting a pitcher bat with runners in scoring position while the Pirates trailed by five runs—made him unpopular among fans. Russell’s first team in 2008 was competitive until midseason, when the franchise—eager to stockpile a talent-bereft farm system—began dealing away or cutting productive players such as Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, Freddy Sanchez Jack Wilson Nate McLouth Adam LaRoche, Matt Capps, John Grabow, Tom Gorzelanny, Ian Snell, Sean Burnett and Nyjer Morgan. Also traded was 2010 major league home run leader Jose Bautista during a two-year roster purge. Russell was a surprise hire by the Pirates, especially after he was fired from being the third base coach by previous management. He was hired by Huntington and team prez Frank Coonelly because he had a reputation of being a patient, adept developer of young talent. I guess the Pirates were wrong about that. This franchise is a big mess and shows no signs of getting better anytime soon. They have identified no candidates (surprise) and I can't think of anyone that would take that job without a lifetime contract since they'll essentially be starting from rubble.

Torre Would Be A Fool To Take The Mets Job

After going back to New York for the Steinbrenner ceremony, soon to be former Los Angeles Dodgers manager, Joe Torre hinted about the New York Mets job.You know the rumors started swirling.  He was linked to the job by various news reports. Then he came on WFAN and talked his previous stint as Mets manager back in the late 70s. Ahhh, longing to go back to the city where you had your greatest success. There is one problem. The Mets are currently managed by Jerry Manuel. Although, I don't think he'll last beyond this season.

If I'm Torre, I just go on and retire. You have your rings and you'll be remembered more for your time as Yankees manager than anywhere else you've been. Who actually remembers that you managed the Mets, Cardinals, or Braves. Ok, i do. But not the casual baseball fan. He might seem like a good fit for the Mets job, but I wouldn't touch it. Your leaving a dysfunctional Dodgers organization for the Mets,who sign high riced players that underacheive once they hit Queens. The Mets haven't been the same since they blew the late season lead to the Phillies. 

My advice,ride out into the sunset Joe and leave well enough alone.   

    

K-Rod Done For 2010

I didn't figure the New York Mets would make a late season run, and even if they think about it they will have to do it without closer Francisco Rodriguez. Rodriguez suffered a torn ligament in his right thumb during the well publicized altercation with the grandfather of his children. Well, I really don't consider it too much of an altercation as K-Rod roughed up the grand old man.

I hate to see anyone get hurt, but I do find it kind of funny he gets injured jacking up the old man. Now that's karma for you. I'm not going to get into the undecodeable statements manager Jerry Manuel had to say about this mess. All I can say is that he seems very disappointed. I guess the next time K-Rod decides to drop hammer on someone, he'll be more careful.