Comment allez-vous ce soir?

I'm in a terrific mood today, so no Minaya bashing tonight. Some quick thoughts on the Mets moves and arbitration offers or lack thereof:

Leiter: Good. The Senator had a nice and shiny ERA last year but that was all smoke and mirrors. I wouldn't be surprised to see him be decent with the Marlins but it was obviously time to cut bait. Thanks for the memories, Al.

Hidalgo: Ah. I would have tried to make a deal in which the Mets could offer arbitration and he would have agreed to decline it. I thought that for a 1yr/$5M or less contract he would have been a good gamble. Alas. This isn't necessarily a bad thing though. Not committing money to a guy like Hidalgo means the Mets are home free to go for bigger and better things [JD Drew, Magglio] but then again it opens the possibility for disaster [the A-bomb known as Moises Alou].

Bottalico, others: Bah, other than Ed Wade and Steve Phillips, who cares about middle relievers?

DeJean: It depends which DeJean is going to show up. The guy who put the A-W-F-U-L on Goddamnawful with the Orioles or the groundball, strikeout machine he was with the Mets? For $1.15 million the Mets get a chance to find out. My money is on neither. He'll be average. Nothing exciting or better than Moreno and co. Whatever, I told you I was happy tonight.