by Tom Mihalek - AP

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--The Mets held internal dicussions [sic] about acquiring former Met-killer Pat Burrell from Tampa Bay, which would love to unload Burrell. But they're not inclined to make such a deal, because of Burrell's weak defensive skills.

Newsday

If Omar Minaya is reading this, and boy do I hope he is, that assertion could not be further from the truth. Last year I advised him to acquire Edwin Jackson and for whatever reasons he ignored me. An All-Star appearance later I feel vindicated. I'm going to advise him again because he gets it but sometimes he just needs a reminder of this. Below is my letter to Mr. Omar Minaya:

Dear Omar,

Over the last two years, Burrell has a Fielding Percentage of 99.6%. That means for every 100 balls he attempts to catch, 99.6 of them are successfully trapped in his glove. Carl Crawford - who many crown as the best left fielder in baseball - has a Fld% of 98.6%. That's right; Burrell converts an extra out per season. Oh sure, Matt Holliday (98.9%) and Jason Bay (99.3%) are attractive and all, but come on Omar, you know baseball. You know math. You know that 99.6% is better than 99.3%. If Baseball gave test grades to General Managers, you would probably want the 99.3% because you are a very humble individual who likes to be viewed as a hard-worker, but not the teacher's pet. I can sympathize with that. But right now Omar, right now, you need, nay, you deserve the best.

Jay Z is a big fan of the Yankees and odds are he won't show up when you win your World Series, but one of his lines in particular reigns true: men lie, women lie, but numbers don't. You don't buy into all those ‘advanced' stats - UZR? +/-? PMR? The only P_R you know is Pabst Blue Ribbon from your teenage days, am I right? - created by all the basement nerds trying to create formulas to get clean skin and chicks, and I respect that. But even us baseball guys have to admit that those FLD% numbers are impressive.

Here's a few other numbers I found on some nerd's site. I don't even know where these guys get this stuff. Burrell's career at bats, home runs, and runs batted in versus the National League East teams:

ATL: 506, 22, 68

FLA: 537, 26, 95

NYM: 536, 42, 104

WAS: 498, 20, 94

Reread those numbers against the Mets. 42 home runs, 104 runs batted in. That's in games the Mets were involved in. If he's on the Mets, and they are playing, then he has shown he is better. Also, here's something I found interesting: those are the teams Pat has the most at bats against. All division rivals of yours. You know what that tells me Omar? It tells me he WANTS to be up in those high pressure situations in those divisional games that mean something.

Oh, and he has a World Series ring.

Do you want that?

Me too.