Last weekend, I was listening to WFAN one evening and one specific caller caused me to take note, as I could not believe what I was hearing. Now, normally one oddball call to the FAN wouldn’t cause me to react with perplexed bewilderment, especially one during the overnight, when the oddities of New York society come out to play. This comment though was so absurd, and the reply of the host was such a head scratcher that it had to grab my attention. A caller made the statement that, and I quote “there isn’t a prospect in all of baseball that the Mets should trade Jose Reyes for.” Now, a wacky comment from a caller is not unusual, but when the host, one Ms. Lori Rubinson, agrees with such a boneheaded outlandish statement, I can’t help but be puzzled. Now, let me get this straight, this Mets fan, and Rubinson actually believe that that the Mets should not act immediately if say, the Angels offered up a package built around Mike Trout, or the Nats offered up Bryce Harper, or possibly the Royals somehow put Eric Hosmer on the table? Not that any of these would ever actually happen but does anyone believe that if it did come about, that Mets fans and their front office wouldn’t be doing back flips in joy to get one of those players for a lame duck talent?

Reyes is going to be a free agent, the Mets have money problems (you may have heard about this) and their farm system is weak, ranking in the bottom 1/3 according to Baseball America. A Reyes trade is the logical move, as they can get something back for him, and rebuild their barren farm system in one big move rather than lose him for virtually no return. Reyes simply has more trade value than Beltran, Rodriguez or anyone else who they could make available at the deadline. Trading him is the smart move and that kind of move is part of Sandy Alderson’s track record. It’s the smart baseball move; simple common sense; Ms. Rubinson should know better and failed to do her job and point this out. Instead, she came across as completely clueless, and her performance analyzing the situation was a total embarrassment. It was just baffling that she could sit there and endorse such an asinine comment and if you heard the exchange it would be quite hard to ever take anything seriously she says in the future.

The adding of insult to injury occurred the very next night, this time involving Tony Paige. Paige actually said he didn’t think the Mets should trade Reyes until the off season. Well, the problem there is that as a free agent, the Mets simply can’t trade him in the off season. According to Paige’s plan, the Mets would be better off letting Reyes go and rolling the dice with the 2 draft picks rather than getting kids far more advanced and more of a sure thing than any draft picks. Quite simply, Paige’s comments were ridiculous, uninformed, and asinine. Later in the week he appeared to back off on these comments, but the damage was done. How can a professional, someone paid to know these things, not understand how MLB free agency works in 2011? It makes you wonder if WFAN’s late night hosts actually pay attention or do the hosts just “roll calls” blindly, rambling on, and kill time. Doesn’t the listening audience deserve better?

Concerning the team on the other side of town, the Yankees had a nightmare week where a slew of injuries were a far greater loss than those they suffered at the hands of the Red Sox. The Bartolo Colon injury is an easy fix, as they should simply put Hector Noesi in the rotation. Noesi should be left there for the long run, even when Colon returns. Ivan Nova can go to the pen (I’ve long believed his future is as the successor to the Mendoza/Aceves role), or the Freddy Garcia era is over. The bigger problem is the bullpen, as the Joba Chamberlain loss is a crippling one. The thing that I don’t get, are those both via the radio and on the internet suggesting a Francisco Rodriguez trade would make sense for both teams. The main issue I have with it is that, it makes no sense at all if you spend even 30 seconds thinking about it. Why would Rodriguez ever accept a trade to the Yankees to be a set up man? He has a no trade clause and a HUGE vesting option. A trade to a team where he’d be a set up guy would cost him $17.5 million dollars next year. There is no way he ever accepts a trade and gives that up. In fact, you have a better chance of Kerry Wood being dealt back to the Yankees than a Rodriguez trade happening, and that’s not happening either. What does make sense is Oakland as a trade partner. They are loaded with middle relief, are probably not going to be in the race, and with Beane & Cashman having a good relationship, it just makes sense that the A’s would be willing to move the balance of Grant Balfour’s 3.7 million dollar deal and get a mid-level prospect in return. The media seems to jump towards these big name closer types in these situations (I’m sure we’ll start hearing the names Heath Bell & Joakim Soria soon), but in reality the better move is to give up less for a proven set up man from a team that no longer needs him. The issue here is that what makes for “good” discussion isn’t what makes for common sense.

Bill Simmons new site, Grantland.com, has an oral history up on the totally awesome, ahead of it’s time, New York based defunct National Sports Daily, and it’s a fantastic read about a fantastic read

By the way, on Grantland, wasn’t it just a year ago that Charles Pierce was feuding with Bill Simmons via Deadspin and now all of a sudden he’s working for him? This is the sports writing equivalent of Leo Durocher leaving the Dodgers to manage the Giants.

Speaking of good stuff, this week’s SI Hot Clicks podcast with Jimmy Traina featured a long interview with the NFL Network’s Rich Eisen. Now, you’re probably wondering what is the New York baseball connection here. Well, Rich reveals that Deion Sanders has the most fun telling stories about his days in the Yankees minor league system, riding the busses up and down the roads with the Columbus Clippers. Eisen says “If you want to see Deion just light up, name drop Andy Stankiewicz, Kevin Mmahat or Kevin Maas into the conversation.” Here’s hoping that a Deion Sanders book on his days in the bush leagues is written in the future as it sounds like it would be an awesome read but I’m not holding my breath.

As awesome books go, the ESPN history book, “Those Guys Have all the Fun” is quite awesome indeed. It lives up to all the hype and then some. One quite surprising thing is the fact that Chris Berman has no email, no social media, and claims to not use the internet at all. Keep in mind that it is still 2011. It’s impossible to do that job in this day and age without using the internet, and arrogantly stating that fact publicly only makes Berman look lazy and out of touch. (Are you listening Mike Francesa?). It also only helps make the case of those in the media who have accused him of being a buffoon that gets by solely on shtick and lacks substance. I just don’t understand these people who continue to act as if the internet is not a necessary part of everyday life. It’s a valuable resource and here to stay. It’s not 1987 Mr. Berman, using a computer does not make you appear to be a nerd anymore.

On the subject of “nerds”, I find press conferences and manager interviews as necessary a watch as the next guy, but every time Joe Girardi laughs, I have flashbacks to Robert Carradine’s character, Louis Skolnick in “Revenge of the Nerds.”

It’s always a pleasure when Paul O’Neill or David Cone are doing a game for YES. They are a refreshing change of pace, who bring a different perspective with their “pull no punches” attitude that is missing from the other YES broadcast teams. On the opposite end of the spectrum lies MLBN’s own Harold Reynolds, who I have never heard utter an interesting or informative sentence in all of his time on television. Why does he have that job and what do the suits see in him? He’s television’s first sports non-analyst.

Finally, in a non-baseball sports radio note… Jenn Sterger’s appearance on Boomer and Carton has to go down in history as the most difficult to listen to interview in the history of that station. Craig Carton was so over the top obnoxious and unprofessional, that it took “awkward and uncomfortable radio” to an all new level. Considering the way he so hatefully verbally assassinated her last year, it was a shock that she would ever agree to go on that show. His performance was so rude and cruel that even Boomer Esiason seemed uncomfortable to be part of it. In the whole interview, which was over 30 minutes long, he asked just one question. Give Ms. Sterger credit for keeping her cool and not stooping to Carton’s level, although I don’t think anyone listening would have blamed her if she just up and walked out on him. It was radio bullying; pure and simple. I’ll give Carton credit for one thing: he is the absolute master of creating completely classless, totally awkward, and uncomfortable radio. I just don’t understand why WFAN sees that as a good thing.

Until Next Time….I’m Russ and this is the Cress Corner.

Russ has a Masters of Useless Information and is a proud Alumni of the Old School with a major in Trivial Crap. No, seriously, it's actually 2 degrees one in History the other in Broadcasting. He's worked for NBC Sports, worked on Trenton Thunder radio broadcasts, managed a video production company and taught at a major broadcasting school. A massive Yankee fan and student of baseball history, Russ' contributions will largely be in the area of media critiques, DVD & book reviews, retro-reviews of old sporting events with the occasional column on the current baseball scene. As a rotisserie baseball player since the late 1980's, he will also contribute the occasion musing on the world of fantasy baseball. He can be reached at rcressNYY at aol dot com.

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Tags: Bill Simmons, Boomer Esiason, Bryce Harper, Chicago Cubs, Chris Berman, Craig Carton, Deion Sanders, Eric Hosmar, Eric Hosmer, ESPN, Francisco Rodriguez, Grant Balfour, Grantland, Harold Reynolds, Heath Bell, Hector Noesi, Ivan Nova, Jenn Sterger, Jimmy Traina, Joakim Soria, Joba Chamberlain, Joe Girardi, Jose Reyes, Kansas City Royals, Kerry Wood, Lori Rubinson, Los Angeles Angels, Louis Skolnick, Mike Trout, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Revenge of the Nerds, Robert Carradine, San Diego Padres, Tony Paige, Washington Nationals, WFAN