Quick Hits

I'm taking a break from the World Series of Subjective Player Comparison to look at what's making headlines around Mets camp in St. Lucie. Photo credit where credit is due - Kevin Burkhardt took this picture, subsequently presented on MetsBlog. All the blue and orange got me pretty excited on the spot.

Jose Reyes put the kibosh on celebratory hand shakes this year, citing his new and improved 'down to business' mantra. While I applaud the gesture for the sake of Reyes' maturity and growth as a ballplayer, it kind of feels like a move that sucks the fun out of things. Red Sox GM Theo Epstein has said time and time again that he wants not to become like the Yankees. I feel like this kind of behavioral change reeks of something Derek Jeter or Robinson Cano would do - hit a home run, point to the sky, touch 'em all, take a high five or two in the dugout, sit back down on the bench and resume a blank look on his face. On the contrary, if Jose thinks he's going to put up better numbers and make less enemies by doing this, I support it.

Similarly, I won't be looking at as many advertisements or PR events featuring David Wright's mug. The focus is baseball this year, and Wright wants to be 100% dedicated. I can't say I have a problem with this change in attitude either.

Carlos Beltran finally addressed the budding rivalry in the NL East by proclaiming his Mets "the team to beat." Unsurprisingly, Jimmy Rollins went as far as to say that since he did the same before the '07 season, Beltran was "plagiarizing" him. Oh, ok. I'll have to alert all arrogant wide receivers in the NFL that any predictions they make in their own favor have officially plagiarized one Mr. James Calvin Rollins Jr.

Finally, COO Jeff Wilpon was asked about the Mets Home Run Apple and whether it would be coming along to Citi Field on WFAN on Friday. Said Wilpon, "The apple, as it sits right now, is in not great repair. So we’re probably going to send it out somewhere to get repaired. We’re going to see how much of it we can fix, or we’re going to make a new one." While I do get sentimental about the apple itself, it does look pretty beat up. I'm primarily just happy there will be an apple at Citi Field, so if anything it almost feels like a visual upgrade to me.