The thyroid gland is an important organ of the endocrine system. It is located in the front of the neck just below the voice box. The gland produces the hormones thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3), which control the way every cell in the body uses energy. This process is called your metabolism.

Hyperthyroidism occurs when the thyroid releases too much of its hormones over a short (acute) or long (chronic) period of time. Many diseases and conditions can cause this problem, including:

• Getting too much iodine
• Graves disease (accounts for most cases of hyperthyroidism)
• Inflammation (thyroiditis) of the thyroid due to viral infections or other causes
• Noncancerous growths of the thyroid gland or pituitary gland
• Taking large amounts of thyroid hormone
• Tumors of the testes or ovaries.

Thyroid crisis (storm), also called thyrotoxicosis, is a sudden worsening of hyperthyroidism symptoms that may occur with infection or stress. Fever, decreased mental alertness, and abdominal pain may occur. Immediate hospitalization is needed.

Other complications related to hyperthyroidism include:

• Heart-related complications including:
  • Rapid heart rate
  • Congestive heart failure
  • Atrial fibrillation
• Increased risk for osteoporosis, if hyperthyroidism is present for a long time
• Surgery-related complications, including:
  • Scarring of the neck
  • Hoarseness due to nerve damage to the voice box
  • Low calcium level due to damage to the parathyroid glands (located near the thyroid gland)
• Treatments for hypothyroidism, such as radioactive iodine, surgery, and medications to replace thyroid hormones can have complications

So should Dan Murphy be worried? In the long term absolutely. I don’t think the Mets will allow Davis though, to start the season with the big club. Whether he deserves to or not at the end of March will be a different story. I think even if he continues to mash the ball they will send him down to the minors to refine his skills a bit more. But at least we know the future isn’t too far away and as much as I hate overhyping young talent, like the Mets have done so many, many times in the past, we may have something special waiting at first for us in Ike Davis.

“They asked me if he injected me with (HGH). I said ‘no,’ Reyes said. “What we do there, basically, he took my blood out, put it in some machine, spin it around and put it back in my leg.

“They called me that morning and said they want to meet me. They said, ‘It’s the FBI.’ I said, ‘Man, what did I do wrong,’ Reyes said. “It kind of surprised me a little bit and I was scared. After talking to them, they said it should be no problem with me, it’s just an investigation. I said, ‘Fine. Thanks God.’ They said that’s it… That’s no fun, man. I’ll tell you that. Everything is clear right now. So there’s nothing to worry about. I just have to play baseball.”

“I don’t do nothing wrong. I went there. I get what I had to do and got out of there,” Reyes said. “There’s nothing to worry about for me. … Right now I don’t worry because he don’t put nothing like that in my body. I know what he was doing with me. I don’t have to worry about that.

Not just because I’m a Met fan, but I believe Jose here, this Dr. Galea though sounds more like Dr. Nick from the Simpsons.

A good signing here by Omar, while Barajas isn’t great, he’s a pro. He should be the starter this year with Henry Blanco, aka Hank White, as the backup. He threw out 33% of base stealers last season and supposedly is good with pitchers. Maybe he can give the team some tips on beating Roy Halladay, his former battery mate, while he now catches the best pitcher in the N.L. East this season in Johan.

It’s really hard to assess this team, will we return to 2006-08 competitive form or the sloppy play and mental mistakes that dominated last season. I think with the return of health and the starters the team will be in decent shape but the true success of the team will revolve around the rotation as it did last season. We were hoping for 15 wins out of Pelfrey last year and it seemed he took a step back. We thought that Maine and Perez would give you at least 10 wins and they both got hurt. Ollie will be key this season, let hope that off season training in Arizona paid off.

There are some key position battles that will play out in spring training.

First base is open for either Dan Murphy, who I’d say is the leading candidate, Mike Jacobs or Fernando Tatis.

Centerfield, till Carlos Beltran returns, will be manned by either Gary Matthews Jr. or Angel Pagan, I don’t see either one getting too much of a strangle hold on the position though.

The last spot in the rotation is also up in the air. Will it be Fernando Nieve, Jon Niese, Nelson Figeuroa or maybe  Hisanori Takahashi.

Finally, in an off season in which Omar Minaya cornered the back up catcher market, and by the way we’re still looking at Rod Barajas, the starting catcher position is the last one to be played out this spring. We have a multitude of candidates in Omir Santos, Josh Thole, Chris Coste, Shawn Riggins and of course Henry Blanco aka Hank White.I’m not even sure if any of these guys will get enough playing time to show their stuff. I assume the one that works the best with the pitchers will have the edge here, although if Josh Thole is batting .400 at the end of March, you never know.

Well it’s almost here folks, the first step is in place, pitchers and catchers. The success of the team will rest on these pitchers and catchers this season. The rest of the team will join by next Tuesday and we’ll see what we have.

And so I thought to myself am I, along with my fellow Met fans, justified to be this mad? Could it possibly be that we have become a little spoiled over the past few off seasons acquisitions? So now I’m thinking may be that is the case. I mean only the Red Sox and Cardinals gave out larger single contracts to a player this off season, in Lackey and Holliday.

I think much of the anger that Met fans feel stems from the lack of spending/trades in actually improving the team’s needs from last season. The main need was starting pitching, and we can say all we want about how guys were over paid this off season, but the bottom line is we did nothing to improve the rotation. One could argue we’ve taken a step back.

At this point it really may be  better to take an underdog mentality into this season. Expect the team to be horrible and maybe we’ll be surprised. Yes,this is hard to do considering one year ago at this time we were picked as World Series champs by Sports Illustrated, but at this point I’m almost tired of being angry. I’ve come to accept the fact that we weren’t willing to spend more this off season.

All that said, there are a couple of things that still bother me. One is the lack of real answers, a lack of knowing what the real plan is. A day after last season they come out and insinuate they are going to make big moves and here they are a month before Spring Training and they have signed one impact free agent. I really feel like a pawn in a government run by Omar Minaya as George Bush and Jeff Wilpon as Dick Cheney.

So I’ll ask again Are We Spoiled? Are we acting like spoiled brats pouting?  Jealous of the Yankees and Phillies that are contstantly in our face? Are we forgetting about the majority of baseball organizations who don’t have nearly as high a payroll as we do?

Or are we justified in our off season anger? Anger from lack of improving the team’s specific needs and lack of spending wisely. Anger from the high ticket prices for a team that was horrible last year and that hasn’t won a championship in a long tme?

Being a Pessimet, I feel our anger is justified, but there’s one thing that will turn that anger into happiness, and that is simply winning. Let’s hope the team gets off to a fast start in 2010 or things will get ugly quickly, and unfortunately I think it will stay that way for a long time before it gets better.

According to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com the Mets may be close to signing former Met Mike Jacobs. Jacobs was traded to Florida for Carlos Delgado back before the ‘06 season.

Russel Branyan is also still available and will probably be cheap but as usual this off season the Mets are not interested.

I’m definitely not sold on Murphy, I mean he’s pretty much a stop gap till Ike Davis is ready, so I would rather have a verteran with pop in Branyan, manning first.

Some highlights from The Putz interview:

“It was a mess from the beginning”

“When the trade went down last year, I never really had a physical with the Mets.  I had the bone spur (in the right elbow). It was discovered the previous year in Seattle, and it never got checked out by any other doctors until I got to spring training, and the spring training physical is kind of a formality. It was bugging me all through April, and in May I got an injection. It just got to the point where I couldn’t pitch. I couldn’t throw strikes, my velocity was way down.”

“Being hurt is never fun, especially when you go to a team like New York, where the expectation level is so high, and you’re not able to do what you know you can do. (The Mets) gave up a lot to get me, so it was disappointing and frustrating.”

“I knew that I wasn’t right. I wasn’t healthy. The toughest part was having to face the media and tell them that you feel fine, even though you know there’s something wrong and they don’t want you telling them that you’re banged up.”

“That it’s my career, and when you know something doesn’t feel right, and they want to take these little sidesteps to do something, and just wait and wait and wait, you got to get it taken care of instead of trying to prolong the inevitable.”

Are you kidding me?  Just when you thought that this organization could not get any worse.  All I have to say is thank you Carlos Beltran for taking the initiative and doing what needed to be done so that you can be out on the field when the team needs you.  There is something new every single day with this INEPT franchise.

Wow, look at the A’s breaking the bank. I can’t blame the Mets for not spending $10 million on a guy who didn’t pitch last year, and just look at his medical history below. I do however blame the Mets for not going hard after Lackey and then after that not making a stronger push on Pineiro or Jon Garland. Do people really not want to play in CitiField??? Or do we not have any money to spend or are we just doing a horrible job in the front office?? I’m interested to see how Chin Mien Wang looks, at least we know he has played in New York. If healthy I’d rather see him than Smoltz here.

ESPN is reporting in their insider section that the A’s may have already made an offer to Ben Sheets. He’s looking for $8 million guaranteed, that’s a lot for someone who didn’t pitch last year. Here’s a look at his medical history:

- 2003, Sheets was troubled by bulging discs in his lower back.

- A series of inner ear infections that caused dizziness and a loss of balance forced Sheets onto the disabled list for a period of time in the beginning of the 2005 season.

- Sheets started the 2006 season on the disabled list but quickly came off it only to pitch three starts before going on the DL again with shoulder tendinitis.

- A strained hamstring in August of ‘07 forced him to miss the rest of the 2007 regular season.

- At the end of the 2008 season he incurred a tear in his right elbow and did not pitch in the playoffs. He did not pitch at all in 2009.

All that said, his upside is huge. He is absolutely nasty when healthy. I would like him on the Mets but just when we get excited about having a nice one, two punch he will get hurt and most likely will not be available in September when this team will need pitching the most. I would still take him over John Smoltz though and he’s still the best pitcher left on the market. What I would love is signing both  Jon Garland and Sheets but we know that’s not happening.

By the way doesn’t Ben Sheets look like Sean William Scott aka Stiffler from American Pie???

The Mets continue to have dialogue with John Smoltz  and possbily seem him as backend starter. Smoltz, 43, posted a 4.26 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 40/9 K/BB ratio in seven starts with the Cardinals last season. He looked like garbage in Boston prior to coming to the N.L.

I’m sorry but did we not learn our lesson on signing has been former Atlanta Brave aces?? He might be decent in CitiField, but c’mon no more old timers please!

In the end Jon Garland might make the most sense. You pretty much know what you’re getting out of him, sort of like a Steve Trachsel. He’s not an ace but pretty consistent and he will get you innings.