A world of hurt

Say what you want about the Mets' medical problems, but they will benefit in one fashion during spring training: There's no World Baseball Classic.

The Mets were horrified by the poor condition in which Perez returned from Team Mexico last year. It undoubtedly impacted the rest of Perez's nightmarish 2009.

At Mets minicamp this past week, Perez acknowledged that the WBC negatively affected his preparation for the regular season. Said the lefty: "I was a little behind. I didn't do [pitchers' fielding practice]. It was like during the season. We didn't do a lot of stuff."

The WBC is great and worth keeping, even if no one can remember the results shortly afterward. But you can't blame teams for getting upset when they can't monitor their own commodities.

Jason never did take Flushing

The Milwaukee Brewers set out this offseason to significantly upgrade their pitching staff, starting with the hire of new pitching coach Rick Peterson. They proceeded to make a significant investment in Randy Wolf (three years, $29.75 million) and a less sizable one in Doug Davis (one year, $5.25 million).

Along the way, the Brewers seriously engaged free agent Jason Marquis, but ultimately, Milwaukee didn't go hard after the righthander.

Why not? Because, according to a person in the loop, the Brewers were convinced that Marquis would sign with the Mets.

Marquis, as you know, proceeded to sign with Washington for two years and $15 million; the Staten Island product surely would've taken a tick less to join his hometown Mets.

If the Mets had signed another pitcher of note, this would be no big whoop; Marquis isn't that great, after all. But the fact that the Mets have added no experienced starting pitchers makes this little story yet another indication of their failed mission.

Their current rotation has so many questions that they had to add someone of value. And in Marquis, they had someone whose enthusiasm was so visible that he scared away another suitor.

It's all working out

It's always interesting (to me, at least) to hear which major-leaguers work out with each other during the winter. At Fischer Sports in Arizona, Oliver Perez has been around Indians closer Kerry Wood and brothers Chris and Shelley Duncan. At Jacksonville University, the Mets' Daniel Murphy has worked with Milwaukee's Mat Gamel.

Before Mark McGwire hired former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer to handle his steroids confession, perhaps the former slugger should've asked Major League Baseball people about Fleischer's work. MLB didn't renew its contract with Fleischer after the 2007 season because of a sense that Fleischer couldn't grasp how the sports media differed from political media.

So longThe Nationals didn't renew the contract of Jose Cardenal, a special adviser for outfield and baserunning. That didn't surprise; Cardenal came aboard thanks to former Washington general manager Jim Bowden, who didn't exactly leave the organization on good terms.

Cardenal, 66, plans to retire after 47 years in the game; he played for the 1979-80 Mets and coached first base for the 1996-99 Yankees. He'll be missed, particularly by the young Latino players whom he helped adjust to the new culture.

 

Rock climbing? Indoor beach volleyball? Water parks? Arts and crafts? NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano and Newsday deputy lifestyle editor Meghan Giannotta have your look at ways to spend your winter break. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp, Kendall Rodriguez; Gary Licker

Things to do now on LI Rock climbing? Indoor beach volleyball? Water parks? Arts and crafts? NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano and Newsday deputy lifestyle editor Meghan Giannotta have your look at ways to spend your winter break.

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