Well, I know an Eyes of a Teen post hasn't been made lately, but I am still around, and to prove it, here is another Eyes of a Teen post. 

A lot has happened already for the Mets since the season was officially over. However, the ship still isn't righted, and won't be probably for another couple weeks. They finally have a new GM in Sandy Alderson. But really, who didn't see that coming? I knew the moment his name was tossed in the mix that he would be becoming the Mets GM. Didn't everyone? We all knew it was going to happen. But, who can't like him becoming the GM? Look at his resumé:

• In 1983, Alderson became the GM for the Oakland Athletics, which he was until 1997. With him as GM, the A's won 1 World Series (1989), 3 American League Pennants (1988, 1989, 1990), and 4 division titles (1988, 1989, 1990, 1992). During this time, he also mentored the current A's GM, Billy Beane.
• In 1998, he went to work for the commissioner's office, holding the title of Executive Vice President for Baseball Operations. He held this position from September of 1998 until 2005.
• In 2009, he resigned from a CEO position he held with the San Diego Padres. He had this position for almost four years.

I must say, I wanted him to be the new GM right from the beginning, but I also had a feeling he would win out. Now, the next problem: manager.

The Mets still need a manager, and quite a few available managers have been in interviews and talks with teams since the end of the season. The Mets are getting a late jump due to needing to fill the GM role. My opinion is that they should get either Bobby Valentine or Wally Backman to manage the team. Now, this decision will be completely up to Alderson, the Wilpons will not be making him choose one they like. Bobby Valentine is likely already out of the Mets manager race though. Backman isn't though. So, why do I want Backman? Backman is a fiery manager who will stand up for the team, but isn't afraid to sit a slacker. This is what I think the Mets need right now. It seems they had quite a few slackers this year who should have been benched, but weren't. Also, a lot of times I thought Jerry Manuel just stood and watched when he should have been arguing on his team's behalf. Alderson has a lot of work to do this offseason, but all that starts with a managerial decision.

According to Jon Heyman of SI.com, the Mets are on the verge of hiring Sandy Alderson as their next general manager. Heyman wrote on Twitter:
 

"#mets are hiring with alderson as gm, sources say."

"#mets went with the chalk. alderson getting the call is tough to dispute. announcement could be friday."

"alderson gives mets instant added credibility. and sorry for the bad grammar before. #mets"

"will be shocked if alderson hires wally back as manager. will show right away he isnt running things, and i dont see him doing that."

The last part about Backman is speculation by Heyman. You'd have to think he knows something about it if he was going to put that out there though. Once this is announced, I expect Alderson to move pretty quickly on hiring a manager so that they can put their plan in place for next season.

Jeff Wilpon sent an e-mail out to fans stating that the Mets will either hire Sandy Alderson or Josh Byrnes as their next GM. Here is the e-mail:

“We are bringing back Josh Byrnes and Sandy Alderson for a second round of interviews with Fred, Saul and me. Josh is scheduled for Monday and Sandy for Tuesday as we continue our search for the next General Manager of the Mets.  John Ricco and I spoke personally with Allard Baird, Rick Hahn, Logan White and Dana Brown earlier today to thank them for their interest and taking the time to interview with us.  We will be back to you with more information regarding our new GM soon."

First off, I really like the way the Mets are going about this hiring process in terms of keeping the fans updated. They really want the fans to not be kept in the dark about this and they are making them feel like they are right there along side them with this. 

Second off, Alderson is the guy who is going to get this job. I willing to bet almost everything I own on it. David Lennon of Newsday is with me on that, tweeting that he is "100%" sure the Mets will hire Alderson to be their GM. Looks like what I reported back on October 11th will come true. Seems that this hiring process has been a one horse race. Alderson has been the man for the job the whole time. 

Third, I'm a little surprised to hear Byrnes made the final cut, I figured it would have been Rick Hahn. I do think Byrnes would be a good GM, but Alderson is the better choice for this team. In an ideal world I would hope the Mets would hire all three of them. We'll see what happens after the Mets hire their GM. Maybe they would like to bring one of these guys on with them. 

The ALCS starts tonight with the New York Yankees taking on the Texas Rangers at 8 PM on TBS. CC Sabathia will match up with C.J. Wilson in game one of the series.

Tomorrow night, the Philadelphia Phillies will take on the San Francisco Giants at 7:30 PM on FOX. Roy Halladay takes the mound for he Phillies as he faces Tim Lincecum. 

To view the rest of the schedule for the Championship Series, click here.

For complete coverage of the ALCS and the NLCS, click here.

So who you got in the ALCS? The New York Ranger… I mean Yankees, or the Texas Rangers?

Who's going to win the NLCS? The Philadelphia Phillies or the San Francisco Giants?

The Mets should be hiring their new GM in the coming weeks, and they are going to have a lot of work to do. Whoever it is will know that they are in a situation in which they have to shake things up and make some changes to this organization. Let's take a look at where the Mets are right now, it terms of their line-up.

Line-Up:

1. Jose Reyes – SS
2. Angel Pagan – RF
3. Carlos Beltran – CF
4. Ike Davis – 1B
5. David Wright – 3B
6. Jason Bay – LF
7. Josh Thole – C
8. Luis Castillo – 2B

As far as the line-up is concerned it doesn't look too bad. There have been talks about trading Beltran, and the way he finished the 2010 season the Mets could end of getting some value for him. Beltran is tweak his right knee toward the end of the season, but told people it wasn't anything serious and since the Mets were out of the playoff race he didn't want to risk further injury to it. If the Mets were to trade Beltran, it would be interesting to see what they could get. He has one year left on his massive contract for $18.5M. When he first came back from the DL he looked like a shadow of his former self, and if the Mets were going to trade him they would most likely need to eat all of his contract. Now, after he hit .321 with five home runs and two stolen bases in September, Beltran has value. Enough value that the Mets should seriously think about keeping him. Beltran is one of my favorite players on the Mets, so personal I would want to keep him and possible move him to right field and Pagan to center. If the Mets were to trade him, Pagan would move to center field, and the Mets would need a replacement in right field, which could be a problem because I'm not sure we want Lucas Duda or Nick Evans playing out there every day. If Beltran can do what he did in September for the whole 2011 season, obviously the Mets would keep him. However, that might be a gamble the Mets aren't willing to take.

The biggest problem in that line-up is Castillo. Whoever the new GM is, Castillo might be the first player he tries to dump. I'm not sure is Omar Minaya had a certain attachment to Castillo because he trusted him with that long-term contract and didn't want to give up on him (which at the time paying $6M a year for one of the better second baseman in baseball wasn't too bad, it was just the length of the contract I was unhappy about). The new GM will try to trade him, but I'm pretty sure the Mets will get nothing for him. In the end, the Mets will most likely eat the $6M remaining on his deal and sign a free agent second baseman. Keep an eye out for players like Felipe Lopez, Cristian Guzman, David Eckstein, Ronnie Belliard, and of course, Orlando Hudson. Though Ruben Tejada showed some nice things this season, it's clear he's not ready to be a starting second baseman in the MLB right now. Also, don't forget about that guy named Daniel Murphy. Depending how he comes back from the knee injury, he could fight for a shot to be the second baseman on the Mets. He's got the bat for it, it's just if he can play the field well and recover from that horrible injury.

Another problem that could arise for the Mets is if Davis and Thole suffer the "sophomore slump." Based on their performances in the 2010 season they are both clear cut favorites start in 2011. But who knows what the new GM will do. He could trade the young guys to get more experienced players. I hope he doesn't do that because I believe Davis and Thole have very bright futures ahead of them, but it is a possibility. Hopefully they both can at the same level as they did in 2010. I believe it was Mike Westhoff of the New York Jets who said, "The guy who as a rookie performs at a certain level, it's the next year that you get to him to play at the same level, you've made progress." Of course, if their production increases, that wouldn't be too bad either.

Next is Jason Bay. I'll quote another person here, Mike LaFontaine (A.K.A Fred Willard) when he said, "Hey, wha happen?" Bay had a worst season then anyone could have predicted. His power seemed to vanish and he suffered a concussion against the Los Angele Dodgers that forced him to miss more than half the year. When Bay comes back next season I can't imagine him having another season like in 2010. Bay is a very good player, and maybe he just needed a season to adjust to Citi Field and New York. Also, having Wright, Davis, and a healthy Reyes and Beltran around him should take some of the pressure off of him. One thing you have to love about Bay is the heart and hustle he brings to the game, which coincidentally was the reason he suffered the concussion. It's hard to hate on a guy you runs out every routine play and give a 100% all the time, but you also need to produce at this level, especially with the contract he is getting.

Who was the brightest spot for the Mets in the 2010 season? Many people would say Angel Pagan. He finally proved to people that once he can stay healthy, that he is a starting outfielder in the MLB. He hit for average, got on-base, stolen bases, showed that he had some power, and played a phenomenal outfield. If healthy, I see no reason why he can't replicate his 2010 number to 2011. It's just his health that concerns me, even though he was relatively healthy last year. He has a history of injuring himself, and those fears haven't left me yet. I shouldn't really think that way though. Pagan will be the number two hitter behind Reyes and play a great outfield, that's all I'll think about.

OK now onto Wright and Reyes. First, trading even one of them would be dumb. Wright's value is high right now, but if the Mets were to trade him they wouldn't be able to get their value for him. He means a lot more to this team than the numbers he puts up. On the other hand, Reyes' value is down. He had an injury rittled season in 2010 and his numbers suffered because of it. The fact that Reyes is only a type B free agent (if the Mets don't pick up his option, which they will) just shows that his value has dropped. I believe Reyes is still one of the best short stops in the league and that he will prove it again next season.

So if I had it my way, I wouldn't make much changes to the Mets line-up. The Mets need to hope everyone stays healthy and plays at the levels they are capable of. So this would be my starting line-up for the 2011 as of now:

1. Jose Reyes – SS
2. Angel Pagan – CF
3. Carlos Beltran – RF
4. Ike Davis – 1B
5. David Wright – 3B
6. Jason Bay – LF
7. Josh Thole – C
8. Orlando Hudson – 2B