Cleveland rocks - with Carl Pavano & Eric Mangini!

It hasn't been so great being a fan of the Mets and Jets lately, but it could be worse - I could be a Cleveland fan. First, the Indians, who not too long ago boasted CC Sabathia in their rotation, sign none other than Carl Pavano. The signing itself is not unreasonable - one year, $1.5 million guaranteed, with the possibility of earning $5.3M more in performance bonuses. But here's what Indians GM Mark Shapiro had to say about Pavano:

"I feel like we're getting him at the right time," Shapiro said. "He's very strong, in good shape now and extremely motivated. We thought he would benefit from a fresh start. It was a tough situation in New York and he was trying to justify the contract that he had."

So Shapiro has to explain to Indian fans that Pavano is in good shape now and, unlike when he was in pinstripes, Pavano promises to be "extremely motivated." As for being in a "tough situation in New York," well, who created that tough situation? Pavano!

Shapiro even guaranteed Pavano a sport in the rotation, though he did say it would be as long as Pavano was healthy following spring training. Good luck with that!

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At one point during the 1994 season, the Philadelphia Eagles were 7-2. But the Eagles collapsed down the stretch, losing their last seven games. and coach Rich Kotite was fired. While other organizations were not exactly lining up at Kotite's door, one owner, the Jets' Leon Hess, saw a chance to hire a coach with experience who had made the playoffs two years earlier. Jet fans know all too well how that turned out.

At one point during the 2008 season, the Jets were 8-3. But they collapsed down the stretch, losing four of their last five (and should have lost the Buffalo game as well) and coach Eric Mangini was fired. While other organizations were not exactly lining up at Mangini's door, one owner, Cleveland's Randy Lerner, saw a chance to hire a coach with experience who had made the playoffs two years earlier.

Time will tell if the Browns made the right move. After all, Pete Carroll, the young coach the Jets replaced with Kotite, has gone on to have a highly successful coaching career. And it was only a few months ago that the Jets couldn't wait to get rid of Chad Pennington.

But as of now, I think the best ex-New Yorker Cleveland has acquired so far this offseason is the one player in the J.J. Putz trade I didn't want to see go - Joe Smith.

Too bad Mets didn't move as quickly on Willie Randolph

After the Mets' 2007 collapse, there was some speculation that Willie Randolph would lose his job. The Mets did not confirm that Randolph was coming back for a couple of days.

Had the Mets started the season with a new manager, rather than letting Randolph go 34-35, they would have had a much better shot at winning the NL East.

The Jets did not even wait 24 hours before getting rid of Eric Mangini. I'm glad the Jets acted a lot more decisively than the Mets did with regards to Randolph. Two years ago, Mangini was Mangenius, the rookie coach who led his team to the playoffs. Who's to say he won't be a good coach again someday somewhere else. But he's not a good coach now, and the Jets are built to win now. In fact, their window might well have passed.

I wish I could be more optimistic about who the Jets will hire now. But 14 years ago, the Jets fired another young coach, Pete Carroll, after a late-season collapse. Owner Leon Hess, declaring he was 80 years old and wanted to win now, hired Rich Kotite.

At least the Jets-Giants rivalry isn't the same as Mets-Yankees. I don't think Jet fans will complain about "hiring a Giant" if the Jets get Steve Spagnuolo. We certainly didn't complain when Bill Parcells came in.

And as of now, the best coach the Jets have had this decade is ex-Giant Bill Belichick, who was HC of NYC for just one day.

Pitchers and catchers can't get here soon enough.

Brett Favre triggers Tom Glavine flashback

At the end of the 2007, the Mets' late-season choke culminated with future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine closing out his New York career on the lowest of notes at home against a team from Miami.

This afternoon, future Hall of Famer Brett Favre most likely closed out his New York career (and his career overall) on the lowest of notes at home against a team from Miami.

At least Glavine and the Mets weren't defeated by a pitcher the team had released to make room for Glavine.

Though, come to think of it, a year later, the Marlins did close out the Mets with New York discard Matt Lindstrom on the mound.

The real pain of the Jets' season came last week when the Jets lost to Seattle, making their playoff chances a real longshot. But today the ugliness is starting to set in. Last week, I was comparing Favre to Pedro Martinez. This week, it's the unlamented Glavine.

It's probably just as well the season is over - if the Jets were playing next week, I'd probably end up comparing Favre to another great thrower who didn't know when to stay retired - Roger Clemens.

I still think the Jets had to make the move to get Favre. But the current Jets management is too quick to devalue players that don't fit into Eric Mangini's plans. Players such as Kevin Mawae, who made the Pro Bowl this year, Pete Kendall and Jonathan Vilma. At least the Jets got a top draft choice for John Abraham.

But not only did the Jets give away Chad Pennington for nothing, they let him go to a division rival. Compare that behavior to the Packers, who made sure Favre didn't end up on the Minnesota Vikings.

And to make Favre's day - and year - even worse, the Vikings also made the playoffs today behind mediocre quarterback Tavaris Jackson, whose QB rating today of 88.5 was almost double Favre's horrific 45.1 against the Dolphins.

If you add Jackson's and Favre's ratings together, the total is only slightly higher than Chad's division-clinching 113.2.

At least the Patriots missed the playoffs.

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Aside from that, the only bright spot from today came when I looked at the box score from Glavine's last Met game and saw that of the eight pitchers the Mets used that day: Glavine, Jorge Sosa, El Duque, Scott Schoeneweis, Joe Smith, Pedro Feliciano, Guillermo Mota and Aaron Heilman, only one of them, Feliciano, will still be with the Mets next year.

Is Eric Mangini the Jets' Willie Randolph?

Squawker Lisa, just one more quick one on the Jets.

Willie Randolph was supposed to bring the winning tradition of the Yankees and Joe Torre's multiple rings to the Mets.

Randolph had some success with the Mets, leading his team to the playoffs in the 2006 season.

The following year, Randolph's team should have made the playoffs, but the team choked down the stretch.

Eric Mangini was supposed to bring the winning tradition of the Patriots and Bill Belichick's multiple rings to the Jets.

Mangini has had some success with the Jets, leading his team to the playoffs in the 2006 season.

Two years later, Mangini's team should have made the playoffs, but the team choked down the stretch.

There are other similarities. In both cases, ownership spent to give the team's leader the pieces he needed to win. The Jets have seven Pro Bowlers this year.

And in both cases, the team's leader was increasingly criticized for his strategic decisions. Actually, this comparison is not fair to Randolph - he never had a big game with as many strategic blunders as Mangini did Sunday.

Randolph was fired on a trip to the West Coast. Mangini has now had four disastrous trips out West. Whether it's in the middle of the night or the light of day, it's time for Mangini to go.

Is Brett Favre the Jets' Pedro Martinez?

Sorry, Squawker Lisa, I know this is a baseball blog, but on the day when the Jets season goes down in flames, I need to go off-topic.

I was even more excited about the Brett Favre deal than I was about the Pedro Martinez signing. And both moves got off to great starts. A month ago, there was even talk of a Subway Super Bowl.

But now the Jets are very likely out of the playoffs, since the Patriots and Ravens will almost certainly win their games next week against the sub-.500 Bills and Jaguars.

Assuming next Sunday's Jets-Dolphins game is moved to prime time, think of what the shivering fans will have to look forward to. The Jets, already eliminated, will be playing to prevent none other than Chad Pennington from marching over their carcasses to the playoffs.

And if the Jets manage to prevent Chad and the rest of the team put together by Bill Parcells from making the playoffs, they will only open the postseason door for Bill Belichick and the Patriots.

I'm glad the Jets decided to go for it with Favre, but now it looks like he is out of gas. Maybe Favre has reached the age where he doesn't have a full season in him. Unfortunately, quarterbacks can't pull a Roger Clemens and show up in the middle of the year.

On the play that should be the final nail in Eric Mangini's coffin, going for it on fourth and four from his own 20 with under 2:30 to go and the Jets down, 10-3, Favre threw downfield into double coverage yet again.

Had the ball been intercepted, it would have been summed up the Jets' season, and Favre's likely only season with the Jets. And Favre did end up throwing another interception on the final drive.

But the fact that Favre actually hit Coles in double coverage, and that Coles briefly had the ball before it was knocked away, is what sums up being a Jet fan.