On Sunday night I was a guest on the WNYW Fox 5 Sports Extra with Duke Castiglione. It’s the second time this season I’ve done his show, and while the spot was brief (just over three minutes), I think the comfort level shows. On the other hand, the lighting was harsh; I had a lot of makeup on because I had arrived  at the set rather damp, not surprising when you’re wearing a wool suit in August and sweating out Sunday night subway service limitations.

Most of our discussion concerned batting orders, a common topic on sports talk radio in the past couple of weeks with the Yankees adding Lance Berkman and experimenting with him in the number two spot but deciding instead to stick with Nick Swisher there, and the Mets… well, whatever the hell it is they’re doing, it ain’t working.

That last bit about Omar Minaya and the Mets is based upon some data that Duke asked me to pull regarding their spending during his tenure (2005-present). The Mets rank third in the majors and first in the NL in total payroll during that time, but just eighth in winning percentage:

Rk  Team          Payroll    W%  Rk
 1  Yankees      $1,277.6  .594   1
 2  Red Sox        $876.5  .575   2
 3  Mets           $731.6  .523   8
 4  Cubs           $698.4  .497  18
 5  Dodgers        $673.4  .518   9
 6  Phillies       $672.0  .553   4
 7  Angels         $650.8  .575   3
 8  Tigers         $616.7  .508  12
 9  Mariners       $583.4  .458  26
10  White Sox      $581.3  .534   7
11  Astros         $580.2  .491  21
12  Cardinals      $579.2  .543   5
13  Giants         $578.8  .483  22
14  Braves         $548.2  .516  10
15  Orioles        $509.0  .415  28
16  Blue Jays      $455.1  .510  11
17  Twins          $435.7  .537   6
18  Rangers        $423.3  .504  14
19  Brewers        $418.3  .501  15
20  Reds           $401.5  .478  24
21  Athletics      $399.7  .504  13
22  Diamondbacks   $397.7  .475  25
23  Rockies        $382.0  .496  20
24  Indians        $374.8  .499  17
25  Royals         $364.2  .406  29
26  Padres         $356.1  .501  16
27  Nationals      $348.0  .426  27
28  Rays           $269.8  .480  23
29  Pirates        $259.6  .402  30
30  Marlins        $238.1  .497  19

Not pretty, particularly when you consider that they’ve only made the playoffs once during that timespan (back in 2006). Even the Cubs, who spent nearly as much and who have a sub-.500 record overall, did so twice, while the Dodgers and Phillies made it three times apiece.

Anyway, twice in the clip, Duke mentions some heretofore unannounced news about the whereabouts of my writing. I’ll have more on that after the official announcement.