Daily Archives: November 20, 2006
Appearing on SNY’s Mets Hot Stove tonight, Mets GM Omar Minaya announced that his team has refused the $14 million option on Tom Glavine’s contract.
…this is far from a surprise…no buzz, not even a peep, suggested the team would do otherwise…
…whether it be because the two sides had a handshake agreement to allow glavine to test the open-market, i.e., the braves, or be it because the mets see no need to pay out as much as $16 million for glavine, when they can certainly re-negotiate that down, or spread out over more years, it was fairly obvious weeks ago that glavine would eventually hit the open waters, and now he can…
Minaya was sure to say that regardless of what happens with Glavine, he is more than able to go after other pitching options, be it through trades or on the free-agent market.
…in other words, he has the finances to sign both glavine and Barry Zito, should he want to do so…
Lastly, Minaya said he phoned Lastings Milledge today to tell him that he feels the young-outfielder had a very good season, especially for a player who was in Single-A roughly one year ago.
…i have to say, omar looked very good, very pundit-like and comfortable sitting with his back straight, smiling with his hands folded properly…don’t get too comfy, boss, we need you on the phones…great job, though…well done…
…i know mo has always worn this number, but it will forever belong to Darryl Strawberry as far as my eyes are concerned…
The Dodgers and free-agent OF Juan Pierre have agreed to a five-year deal worth roughly $45 million, reports Jerry Crasnick at ESPN.com.
Pierre, 29, has hit .303 hitter over seven seasons with the Rockies, Marlins and Cubs.
…the buzz from around baseball had been that pierre, much like Gary Matthews Jr., could expect to get a four-year deal…instead, he gets five…the same buzz suggested that Alfonso Soriano would get a seven-year deal, which he had been asking for…instead, he got an eight-year deal…
…the trend seems to be that if you want a specific player, it’s best to just go out, over-pay and get him…
The Mets have traded Double-A RHP Matt Lindstrom and Triple-A RHP Henry Owens to the Marlins for LHP Jason Vargas and Adam Bostick…
In 29 appearances in two years for the Marlins, the 23–year-old, left-handed Vargas is 6–7 with a 5.25 ERA with 84 strikeouts and 61 walks in 116 innings.
Also 23 years old, and left-handed, Bostick was 8–7 with a 3.52 ERA in 22 starts with Florida’s Double-A team last season, while striking out 109 batters through 115 innings pitched.
…odd deal, but i dig it…two older right-handed relievers, for two younger, left-handed relievers, who seem to like striking people out…i have no problem with this…
The Mets have officially announced the signing of free-agent OF Moises Alou, who will appear live with Mets GM Omar Minaya, Ron Darling and Matt Yalloff on tonight’s episode of Mets Hot Stove on SNY.
Mets Hot Stove is a weekly studio-based show covering all the off-season news, notes and rumors surrounding the Mets, airing each Monday at 6:30 pm and 9:30 pm.
At his blog for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Dave O’Brien explains why Atlanta will not trade Tim Hudson, especially to the Orioles, who were rumored to have interest in such a deal according to a variety of weekend reports.
Essentially, according to O’Brien, because Hudson can still demand a trade if traded in the first year of his new contract, he would be wise to walk away from the three years and $32 million left on his deal as he would certainly command more money given the current climate for pitchers.
…my initial thought was that by possibly trading hudson, the braves could free up some cash to sign Tom Glavine…however, the buzz from atlanta suggests that one has nothing to do with the other…
Adam, the Brooklyn Met Fan, emphatically states Don’t Trade Lastings Milledge, adding, “It’s just poor business sense to sell low, and that’s exactly what Omar Minaya would be doing if he packaged Lastings in a deal.”
…it seems the problem with milledge has nothing to do with talent…the problem, if there even is one, appears to be his attitude, which is funny, because this is the very thing the team told the media not to worry about…
…yet, in the span of just a few months, the kid has already been a part of a few controversial situations, be it high-fiving fans, wearing clunky jewelry, ignoring his manager, scuffling in the minor leagues and insulting the team’s veterans, some of which may be true, some of which may not be true…who knows…fact is, there is smoke, though the fire can be debated all day…
In his latest column for Gotham Baseball, Mark Healey notes that the Rockies will gladly swap RHP Jason Jennings for Milledge, but the Mets are not interested.
At his blog for the Journal News, John Delcos writes the following about Milledge…
“I don’t know the root of Milledge’s attitude problems are. It is times like this when I wish I took more psychology courses in college.
“I talk with him in the clubhouse and want to like him, but he makes it hard. He’s got a chip that needs to be knocked off.”
…from what i can gather, the mets are in no rush to trade milledge, simply for the sake of trading him…
…i do, however, get the sense that his credibility within the organization 
has taken a hit, for whatever reason, especially with Willie Randolph, who wanted to see the kid excel in this city…
…however, if a trade can be made using him to get a young pitcher, especially a quality lefty, the team will not hesitate to move him, especially since so many people are high on Carlos Gomez and Fernando Martinez, two young outfielders in the mets system drawing rave reviews of late…
…if i had the wheel, i think i would look to move him now…
…and i hate to say that, because i love the idea of having a cocky, flashy kind of kid on this team…
…however, as i have written in the past, my call to trade him is less about him personally, and more about the following…
…a) his two biggest assets, lead-off-type speed and defense in center, are already occupied on the roster…
…b) he does not have enough power to be a corner outfielder, and he’ll never bump Carlos Beltran from center, and…
…c) there are a lot of teams clamoring for young, speedy, center fielders right now…
…lastly, in terms of his talent, i just have this weird sense that he will leave us feeling as we did with a guy like Bernard Gilkey, in that he’ll be good, and have a few potentially great seasons, but he’ll never be what we hoped he would be…and that would be disappointing, given the hype that proceeded him, and which may still exist for him around the league today…
Tonight on SportsNet NY, Mets GM Omar Minaya will appear on the second broadcast of Mets Hot Stove Report, a half-hour show detailing the latest off-season rumors and news surrounding the Mets.
…last week’s show was essentially a gigantic promo for the new stadium…however, with minaya on, i suspect tonight will be far more to our liking…enjoy…
I have added a chat component to the right-hand sidebar, provided by a widget company called inCircle, that seems pretty slick.
If it works well, I will keep it up. If it is rejected, I’ll simply take it down.
By the way, you can mute the noise by clicking the speaker icon at the top of the widget, and you can create a username by clicking in the area below the text box.
Good luck, and let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Though he is in favor of acquiring Moises Alou, Mike, at Mike’s Mets, worries that having two, slow, veteran, corner outfielders may ultimately hurt the Mets defensively.
…it’s a fair concern…this is why having Ben Johnson and Endy Chavez 
is so important…nevertheless, alou and green will be out there more times than not, and mike’s right, they’re not going to win a gold glove…
…the thing is, they know what time it is…they’re experienced at baseball…i don’t think they are loose cannons, despite some bizarre diving stops by green in the post-season…for the most part, they’re not rickety veterans…i mean, both still get around in the outfield, and on the base paths, pretty well and both still play a solid outfield…
…they’re not long-term solutions, by any means, and i would not be surprised to see the mets upgrade over green by the end of next season, but to start the season they are about as good as we can expect to see without the mets making a crazy trade or over-spending on the open market…
…i’m cool with this…i’m taking it as it comes, because it’s not like there is a sure-thing option or scenario that is being missed…
