This has to be a rough week to be a Met fan and even worse if he/she is a Giant football fan too.  Let's see the week started with the Jets defeating the Chargers, then the Mets losing out on catcher Bengie Molina, then Joel Piniero, and now today they trade for Gary MatthewsJr.  Here is how it played out:

Giants re-signed C Bengie Molina to a one-year, $4.25 million contract.  Molina passed his physical Thursday night and the deal was officially announced by the Giants on Friday afternoon. Molina is expected to keep the catcher's position warm this summer until top prospect Buster Posey arrives from the minor league ranks.

Buster Olney of ESPN.com reports that Joel Pineiro will make $16 million over the next two year with the Angels.  Alhough the deal isn't officially finalized it looks like it will happen.

Mets GM Omar Minaya said Friday that the center field job will be an "open competition" between Angel Pagan and Gary Matthews Jr.  Pagan, 28, hit .306 with six homers, 32 RBI and 14 stolen bases over 343 at-bats last season and played solid defense in the outfield, but he's going to lose playing time to Minaya's new toy. Matthews, who's now 35, batted just .250 with four homers in 316 at-bats. He has a bad left knee and is no longer a talented defensive outfielder.

Overall this mean the Mets are still weak at C, 1st, 2nd, SP, and 4th OF.  Hopefully for Met fans Minaya knows what he is doing and can still fix this team. 

For the last few weeks we have been hearing about Kurt Warner possibly playing his last season.  After the Ravens loss Saturday night Ed Reed was talking about it as his body has broken down the last 2 seasons.  This morning the next name to be uttering those words in Brian Westbrook.

The agent for Kurt Warner told ESPN's Adam Schefter that his client will decide on whether to keep playing within 2-3 weeks.  Schefter adds that the same people who informed him Warner planned to retire before the playoffs are still expecting the 38-year-old passer to hang up his cleats. Warner's salary is only $4 million in 2010. He received $19 million last season after signing a severely front-loaded $23 million contract.

Following Saturday night's loss to the Colts, Ed Reed said he's "50-50" to retire.  Reed had a frustrating season that was marred by hip, neck and groin injuries. "I’ve been thinking about it, and it kind of hit me on the sidelines," he said. "It’s going to be a long offseason. It hurts. I am just thinking about it." The former Defensive Player of the Year is still playing at a high level and I'd be surprised if he actually hangs it up. He's set to make $19.7 million over the next three seasons.

Brian Westbrook may have to retire, reports Philadelphia radio host Howard Eskin. Perhaps no Philadelphia media member is as plugged in to the Eagles as Eskin, so this report has validity. Eskin says Westbrook's troublesome left knee is the career-threatening issue, not his concussions. Westbrook, 30, is due $7.5 million in 2010 and is extremely unlikely to be back with the Eagles. He'll visit with doctors about the knee and Eskin says B-West could have trouble passing a physical for another team. It's looking more and more like a great career will end on a sad note.

Personally I think Warner and Westbrook are more likely to retire than Reed.  I am sure there will be more to these stories in the next few weeks.  Also, when will Brett announce his retirement???

Buffalo Bills interim coach Perry Fewell has been hired as the New York Giants' defensive coordinator.

Coach Tom Coughlin announced the move late Thursday evening after Fewell spent the past few days weighing offers from the Giants and the Chicago Bears.

Fewell also interviewed for the vacant Bills coaching job but he has said for a while that he felt he was a long shot for that position.

Giants rookie defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan was fired the day after the regular season ended. The Giants gave up more than 40 points in each of their last two games and 427 points for the season, ranking third from the bottom in the NFL. Only the Detroit Lions and St. Louis Rams gave up more.

Fewell and Coughlin have known each other for years.

Fewell spent five seasons as Coughlin's secondary coach in Jacksonville. He spent the last four as the Bills' defensive coordinator and was made their interim head coach for the final seven games of the 2009 season after Dick Jauron was fired. The Bills went 3-4.

"I expect Perry to bring the same qualities that I expect from myself," Coughlin said. "I want him to be firm, fair, honest and demanding. My expectation is that he will solidify and unify our defense and be an outstanding teacher. I want energy, enthusiasm, toughness and to make the necessary corrections and game adjustments. Perry is a teacher and a leader and I thought he did an outstanding job of displaying great leadership as the interim head coach of Buffalo this season."

The Giants and the Bills both use a 4-3 defensive scheme.

Both teams struggled with injuries on defense this season. The Giants lost safety Kenny Phillips (knee), middle linebacker Antonio Pierce (neck) and tackle Jay Alford for the season and had cornerbacks Aaron Ross and Corey Webster, linebacker Michael Boley and defensive tackle Chris Canty sidelined for significant portions of the season.

The Bills had five starters go on injured reserve.

"I am ecstatic to come to work for the New York Giants," Fewell said. "It's a good football team with good defensive players, and it is a franchise known for defense."

The Bills struggled stopping the run (30th overall), but the defensive backs led the AFC with 28 interceptions, and were second in the NFL behind only Green Bay.

Rookie safety Jairus Byrd tied for the NFL lead with nine interceptions.

The Bills' defense allowed 14 touchdown passes in each of the last two seasons. The Giants gave up 31 in 2009.

The Giants had 24 takeaways and 13 interceptions in 2009.

In his four years as coordinator, the Bills' defense ranked 18th, 31st, 14th and 19th in the NFL, and that was with an offense that did not produce much or control the ball.

In 2009, Buffalo allowed 340.6 yards and 20.4 points a game. The Giants' gave up an average of 324.9 yards and 26.7 points.

The year before, the Bills were fourth in the NFL in red zone defense, allowing a touchdown on only 41.8 percent of possessions inside the 20-yard line.

Fewell coached Chicago defensive backs in 2005, when the Bears led the NFC with 24 interceptions and cornerback Nathan Vasher and safety Mike Brown were selected to the Pro Bowl. It's one of the reasons Lovie Smith wanted him back as coordinator.

"His defenses have consistently done a good job taking the ball away," Coughlin said.

Fewell was the secondary coach of the St. Louis Rams in 2003-04. He entered the NFL as the defensive backs coach for Coughlin in 1998 and stayed there through 2002. Jacksonville's pass defense ranked third in the NFL in 1999 and two years later the Jaguars gave up only 13 touchdown passes.

"We brought Perry into the league in Jacksonville," said Coughlin, "and I was impressed with his thoroughness, his ability to work with the players and his absolute intent on learning all he could about his profession. He was hired as the secondary coach and he has had great experiences in St. Louis and Chicago with Lovie Smith and that system and in Buffalo with Dick Jauron, who was my original defensive coordinator in Jacksonville."

Fewell was a college coach for 13 years before coming to the NFL working at North Carolina, Army, Kent State and Vanderbilt.

"I was a young coach, and he helped develop my philosophy of the game, the discipline, the know-how, the toughness that it takes and the attention to detail. Being prepared. That is what he instilled," Fewell said of his time with Coughlin.

Source: SF Chronicle

Anquan Boldin- (ankle, knee) missed Cardinals practice Wednesday.

Joe Flacco- not on the Ravens' injury report for the Divisional Round of the playoffs.

Todd Heap- (back) practiced fully for the Ravens on Wednesday.

Vincent Jackson- (Achilles) participated in Chargers practice Wednesday.

Visanthe Shiancoe- (quadriceps) was limited in Wednesday's practice.

Pierre Thomas- (ribs) was a full participant in Saints practice Wednesday.

Braylon Edwards- resumed practicing for the Jets, as expected.

NFL.com's Jason La Canfora reports that Anquan Boldin (ankle, knee) is "highly, highly unlikely" to play Sunday against Green Bay.
 

The NFL has selected 17 finalists to make the Hall of Fame in 2010, with possible first-ballot entrants Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith and Tim Brown among them.
 

Andre Dawson was the lone selection for the 2010 class of the Baseball Hall of Fame.  It took a while, but "The Hawk" made it with his ninth chance on the ballot. Dawson compiled a .279 career batting line to go along with 2,774 career hits, 438 home runs, 1,591 RBI and one NL MVP Award.  Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar both earned over 70 percent of the votes, but fell just short. It's a real shock to see Alomar not make it, as he was the heavy favorite leading up to the announcement. Perhaps the five blank BBWAA ballots would have made the difference. In any case, both should have a strong chance at election in the next two years. Jack Morris, Barry Larkin, Lee Smith, Edgar Martinez, Tim Raines and Mark McGwire rounded out the top portion of the ballot.

I don't think that the 5 votes not registered wasn't the only reason Alomar didn't make it.  It seems like the fraternity of the members don't want many people to be elected on the first ballot unless they dominated their position or era.  So I ask is there any other second baseman you wanted on your team for most of the nineties?  Outside of his immature and foolish spitting on an umpire, he didn't do much wrong on the field. 

Most likely he will make it next year, but as we all know the ballot is going to get stronger over the next few years as we will start to see more guys from the steroid era become eligible.

AFC:

The top four seeds in the AFC are set, and very little movement can take place there. A look at the AFC's division winners:

Indianapolis Colts (14-1)
- Have clinched AFC's No. 1 seed

San Diego Chargers (12-3)
- Have clinched AFC's No. 2 seed

New England Patriots (10-5)
- Can clinch No. 3 seed with: Win over Houston OR Cincinnati loss to Jets

Cincinnati Bengals (10-5)
- Can clinch No. 3 seed with: Win over Jets AND New England loss to Houston

AFC Wildcard:

The situation is infinitely more complicated in terms of the AFC's two wild-card spots. Seven AFC teams will enter Week 17 with an opportunity to claim a wild-card berth, though the Jets and Ravens control their destinies. Here's how each remaining team could make the postseason:

New York Jets (8-7)
- Win over Bengals

Baltimore Ravens (8-7)
- Win over Raiders

Denver Broncos (8-7)
- Win over Chiefs plus losses by at least two of the following: Baltimore (at Oakland), Jets (vs. Cincinnati), Pittsburgh (at Miami)

- Win over Chiefs plus Jets loss AND wins by Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Houston (vs. New England)

- Win over Chiefs plus Houston win AND loss by either Baltimore or Jets

- Loss to Chiefs plus Pittsburgh loss AND losses by at least three of the following: Baltimore, Houston, Jacksonville and Jets

- Loss to Chiefs plus losses by Baltimore, Houston, Jacksonville and Jets

Houston Texans (8-7)
- Win over Patriots plus losses by at least two of the following: Baltimore, Jets, Denver

Pittsburgh Steelers (8-7)
- Win over Dolphins plus losses by at least two of the following: Baltimore, Jets, Houston

- Win over Dolphins plus losses by Denver (vs. Kansas City), Baltimore and Jets

Miami Dolphins (7-8)
- Win over Steelers plus losses by Baltimore, Jets, Houston and Jacksonville (at Cleveland)

Jacksonville Jaguars (7-8)
- Win over Browns plus Pittsburgh loss AND losses by at least three of the following: Baltimore, Jets, Houston, Denver

- Win over Browns plus losses by Baltimore, Jets, Houston and Denver

NFC:

There are no wild-card spots still up for grabs in the NFC -- Dallas' win at Washington Sunday night eliminated the Giants from contention and locked in the conference's top six. That said, there are still plenty of scenarios for Week 17 that would shift seeding in the NFC:

New Orleans Saints (13-2)
- Have clinched NFC's No. 1 seed

Philadelphia Eagles (11-4)
- Can clinch NFC East and No. 2 seed with win at Dallas

Minnesota Vikings (11-4)
- Can clinch No. 2 seed with win over Giants AND Philadelphia loss

Arizona Cardinals (10-5)
- Can clinch No. 2 seed with win over Green Bay plus Minnesota loss AND Philadelphia loss

- Can clinch No. 3 seed with win over Green Bay AND Dallas win

Green Bay Packers (10-5)
- Can clinch No. 5 seed with win over Arizona OR Philadelphia win

Dallas Cowboys (10-5)
- Can clinch NFC East with win over Philadelphia

- Can clinch No. 2 seed with win over Philadelphia plus Minnesota loss AND Arizona loss

- Can clinch No. 3 seed with win over Philadelphia AND Arizona loss

Nate Robinson, who hadn't played in 14 straight games due to a coaching decision, came off the bench to hit 18-of-24 shots for a season-high 41 points, many coming in the fourth quarter and overtime as the Knicks came back to beat the Hawks in Atlanta.
 

Nate simply took over the game, causing the Knicks to abandon their offense and simply let Robinson go 1-on-5. Unfortunately, he wasn't in any fantasy lineups tonight, but will be the hottest pickup in fantasy sports over the next 24 hours. I have no idea what he will do next, or where he'll be playing after the trade deadline, but he should be grabbed in all leagues. He added six rebounds and eight assists, and rendered Chris Duhon (6 points, 6 assists) useless, at least for tonight.

The Mets finally joined the FA party.  Most people believed that they would get Bay or Holliday, but Holliday is asking for too much at this time.  With the Mets now not interested, and the Yankees saying they aren't; his options are getting limited..  Bay will add much needed pop to the Mets line-up, but with the spacious outfield his power numbers will be down and a 30 homer season should be tough.  With the signing of Escobar over the weekend, they now have addressed two issues, but still need more help if they want to compete with the Phillies.

Bay will be a huge upgrade in LF for the Mets, but they still have weaknesses in the line-up.  They do have a nice core with Reyes, Wright, Beltran, Bay, and Francoeur, but the rest is very suspect.  Castillo still can be an asset, as he did bounce back last year, but his contract is the main reason he is still here.  Murphy didn't live up to any expectations as they hoped, but he is still young, so there is hope that he could be a solid doubles hitter.  For now Blanco is penciled in as the starting catcher, but they are still looking for an upgrade there.

With the signing of Escobar they did address the bullpen as he appears to be the favorite to replace Putz, but he still could moved to the rotation.  Here is where they need the most help/  Santana is a proven one, but there isn't much after that.  Pelfrey and Maine are nice starters, but not at the 2 and 3 spots.  Perez is a HUGE question mark going into the season, but like Castillo, he isn't going anywhere.  At this point the Mets still need a top of the rotation guy like a a Piniero as well as a back end inning eater as well.

Hopefully for Met fans that Minaya isn't done making moves...