|
|
|
In the New York Times, Ben Shpigel writes that ‘there have been indications in recent weeks’ that the Mets may pursue free-agent 3B Alex Rodriguez.
However, in the Daily News, New York columnist John Harper lists the Angels as the favorites to land Rodriguez, with teams ‘such as’ the Tigers, Giants, Dodgers, and Mariners as options as well. Harper does not mention the Mets.
Meanwhile, in the Daily News, Mark Feinsand and Bill Madden list eight teams who could realistically be interested in Rodriguez, and why they may or may not sign him.
Regarding the Mets, Feinsand and Madden write…
“Despite media speculation about the Mets being players and moving David Wright to first base, the image-conscious Wilpons are no fans of A-Rod and his off-the-field foibles, and would never commit that much money on one player. Especially a ‘24-and-1’ type of player.”
In the blogosphere, Brooklyn Met Fan says ‘no’ to Rodriguez, while Mets Geek provides an argument for signing him.
Lastly, at Bugs & Cranks, Brad Bartone does an outstanding job of listing 10 reasons why the Mets will sign Rodriguez, such as, “A-Rod wants to shove it up the Yankees’ collective asses,” of which he writes…
“Since the Red Sox probably won’t venture down a road to replace a WS MVP right away, the second best option to tickle the Yanks’ prostate is to sign right across town.”
…first of all, i have to think rodriguez is basing his future on what is best for his career and his family, not what will irritate the Yankees…that being said, the sense i keep getting is that he doesn’t want to be in new york…be it with the Yankees, or with the Mets…now, i’m sure that will change if the Mets were to offer the most money…but, money being equal, i keep getting that he wants to be on the west coast, in a smaller media market, with less pressure, so he can break his records, cash his checks, and live his life - all while winning the world series remains way, way down on the list…all that said, as noted above, if the Mets want to make it happen, i have no doubt it could happen…
 |
 |
 |
RSS 2.0 Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Any chance we can just go back to the endless Manny rumor posts? With all this BS Arod talk, I actually miss those days.
arod trumps manny beaucoup times over
I agree. I don’t care where he signs, just sign someplace so we can stop hearing about it. Unless of course he signs with the Mets, then it will be all we ever hear about!
have to think rodriguez is basing his future on what is best for his career and his family, not what will irritate the Yankees…that being said, the sense i keep getting is that he doesn’t want to be in new york
I really think this is the crux of the matter. I think he wants to get out of NY and get back to the west coast.
Forget it Mets fans. Forget if Fred and Omar. Most of use fans don’t think he’ll be a good fit anyway. Pass. Use the money for pitching.
There is no pitching to spend money on. That’s the problem.
Johan. I can wait.
Doesn’t ARod have family in Toronto?
:lol:
I prefer the Miguel Cabrera rumors. I’d alos like to see Ty wigginton play 2B.
We could have Miggy & Wiggy
Not for nothing, how freakin’ great would it be if Arod signed with us and immediatly won a championship after failing to do so for 4 years with the skanks?
That would be a beautiful, beautiful thing…
a sweet win-win
this says it all
http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/72696
Either that writer is clueless, on crack, or is being sarcastic. I’ll run naked in times square in the dead of winter if Omar and Freddie lose their minds and sign A-Rod now.
how does the author not make sense?
#8. The collapse is already old news to many fans who feel like it happened a year ago. I’ve gotten past it already as have many of my friends and family. And I’m sure the FO is not “still rocked” from it. Nor are they concerned with the back page right now. It’s not as if it’s been good news for the Yankees. And we may be soured, but we haven’t lost faith.
#7. See this is what I don’t get. Clearly he’s being sarcastic here. This is exactly why A-Rod would want to leave NY for good.
#6 Wright is actually one of the better defensive third basemen in the majors. His ZR for both the last 2 years is better than A-Rod’s. And Zimmerman, who everyone considers to be a brilliant defender, actually had more errors than Wright this year. Wright also led the majors in fielding out of zone balls – more than Zimmerman who was 2nd! So contrary to what Brad says, the Mets do not need a new third baseman, especially one who would be worse defensively.
#5. This may be one of the stupider things he said. Where is Delgado going? He’s owed $20 million next year with his buyout. Unless the Mets eat at least half, no one is going to take him. So Brad is suggesting the Mets pay A-Rod $30 million plus eat $10 million of Delgado’s salary? This is the one where he must have been on crack when writing it.
#4. We all know what A-Rod’s #1 priority is right now. A-Rod wanting to stick it to the Yankees is probably all the way down at #100.
#3. A-Rod wanting to join the team he rooted for as a kid is probably like #101 on that list of priorities right now.
#2. He is just clearly wrong. As Matt’s poll showed yesterday, the majority of Mets fans do not want the Mets to sign him. He’s not a cost-effective option.
#1. The Mets do not have endless pockets. And instead of a coup, many who would like to see the Mets fail (the Yankees, our NL east rivals) might celebrate if A-Rod became a Met now. Because he’d now be the Mets’ headache … the Mets’ albatross that will prevent them from shoring up the pitching the way they should. If they spent $30 million on A-Rod, there’s little chance they win a Johan bidding war.
Now Brad to his credit didn’t go into the tired Borass-type spiel as to why A-Rod would represent bigger revenues for a team. Which is a good thing. Because there is no evidence he would be a big money draw for his next team. To the contrary, when A-Rod became a Ranger, attendance for the 3 years he was there was lower than the previous 3 years. And after he left, the attendance for the following three years went up! Even if his nickname “the cooler” wasn’t referring to attendance, it might as well have.
Another sobering fact for A-Rod fans – after he left the Mariners, their attendance for the following 3 years was greater than for the last 3 years A-Rod was in Seattle. Apparently he was a “cooler” in Seattle as well. Gosh, I wonder if Boras puts these facts in his big marketing books for A-Rod!
Great points in your article. However, Omar isn’t a numbers/computer guy. He is more of a feel GM. He won’t compare numbers from the left side vs. numbers from the right in making a decision on whether to land a player. To me, and I think Omar as well, this feels right.
About Wright’s ZR….you can give me any numbers you want about zone rating, etc. Bottom line is, if you don’t see that David Wright is an average third baseman, I don’t know what to tell you.
His arm is so erratic. I am confident in his glove, but when he winds up to throw, I breathe a sigh of relief when Delgado doesn’t get run over and Keith Olberman’s mom doesn’t get knocked out. Delgado saves him from a lot of errors by coming off the base and making the tag.
Currently, I don’t think there is any one school of thought that predominates when the Mets make a decision. They have stats guys on staff. Omar’s background is scouting. And he listens to his advisers as well. For example, Omar said he was against signing Sosa but that his assistants talked him into it. So I don’t think they’ll approach a potential A-Rod signing in any one particular way. it will be a total staff decision, with the owners getting heavily involved as well.
As for Wright’s defense, yes of course his arm is erratic. But he still made less errors than Zimmerman. His ZR was higher than A-Rod’s. And he was #4 in the majors for defensive win shares for third basemen, behind only Lowell, Zimmerman, and Ramirez. That’s nothing to sneeze at and numbers don’t lie. Throwing errors are so horrendous looking when they happen that they stick out in fans’ minds more than a ball not fielded correctly or not fielded at all. Yet both are just as equally harmful. There is definitely room for improvement, but I’m more than happy with Wright staying at third. There’s no reason to move him.
Thanks for the nice — and not so nice — comments about my ‘A-Rod to the Mets’ piece. Let me clarify a few items:
- The article (like most of the work at Bugs & Cranks) is exaggerated to make a point. My point was to highlight just how ridiculous these discussions are, but also to show that if anyone is going to be a player in getting Mr. Rodriguez, we’d be foolish to leave the Mets out.
- David Wright’s fielding is great. His throwing isn’t. I would love to see a soft glove at first and third. If the Mets do sign Alex, then it would be harder to move him to a position on the right side of the infield than it would be to do it to Wright.
- Regarding Matt’s poll – the majority of educated Mets fans don’t want A-Rod (and rightly so). But we’d be fooling ourselves if we thought the majority of casual fans wouldn’t want to see him in orange and blue. I WAS glad to see that the poll indicated the “true blue” are standing firm on this.
- The Delgado move is one I’ll stand behind. AL teams are always on the prowl for a good DH, and given that teams will be looking to spend, perhaps picking up his contract isn’t THAT far fetched. I like Carlos, but I don’t think he’s helping this team as much as he should be. Maybe a break from fielding will help him rediscover his stroke. Would the Mets eat some? Yeah…but not half. Which leads us to…
- No, the Mets pockets aren’t endless…but they’re expandable enough to put them among the top three candidates for A-Rod’s overpriced “services”. The Red Sox, Angels and Mets. Sound familiar? It should, because they’re three of the four teams that every big dollar free agent is rumored to sign on with. It’s no accident…they overspend, and often get burnt. I hope they don’t go over the top this time.
Thanks for the comments, and for letting me chime in. I love this site, and look forward to a lot more discussion in the coming months. Take care!
Hi Brad. I hope you don’t take my comments personally as much of it is hyperbole. I am not familiar with your writing so I couldn’t tell if you were serious or not in all parts of your piece.
Your points are well taken. And I agree it would make more sense to move Wright than A-Rod, but I wouldn’t do it. In fact I am just dead set against giving any one player over $25 million a year. That especially includes A-Rod given all his baggage and lack of clutchness in the postseason. Who cares about individual stats or a HR record? Certainly not Mike Lowell who has two rings to A-Rod’s zero.
I would take the Red Sox off the list of candidates for A-Rod. They’ve had too many bad experiences with him — from his fight with Varitek and his slap at Arroyo to his ill-timed WS announcement. I think they’ll pass.
So, I can’t tell from your response if you’re for the Mets pursuing A-Rod or not? Which is it? :smile:
Oh, I’m against it. If you re-read my piece, I talk about how I hate thinking about this happening, and how the prospect of having him in Mets blue for the next few years frightens me. Not just because of his baggage, but also for what he does to a team.
I just wanted to point out that as much as we hear about other teams, the Mets are going to be players in this, whether we like it or not.
Thanks again!
Duh, I didn’t even read the end of your intro paragraph. Just skipped to the numbered items. Since a pro-A-Rod fan referenced your article, I just assumed you were for signing him. Just re-read it and it’s clear where you stand.
My apologies, and you may be right if what we’re reading from Klapisch is true, though I do think he is overly prone to exaggeration.
Thanks for your reply, Brad. It will be interesting to see how this ends. I think he’s going to join Zito by the bay.
People if we don’t get A-Rod, somebody who we may have to face later will. In fact a rumor I heard this morning had the Phillies as players for A-Rod.
Can you imagine an infield of A-Rod, Rollins, Utley, and Howard?!!! You just can’t let that happen and you would have to face that 19 times a year.
For those people who can’t stand A-Rod, think of him like Brussel Sprouts, you hate it, but just hold your nose and take it because it’s GOOD FOR YOU.
excellent post amigo
If he had trouble dealing with the Yankee fans, I can’t imagine he’d be running to the Phillies anytime soon. Plus, even if the Phillies can pony up the dough for him, the Dodgers or Angels should be able to match it, with the added advantage of not being in Philadelphia.
The most likely scenario is that he ends up in California. Even if he ends up with an NL team, it would mean the Mets face him no more than six times/year (which as many times as they faced him when he played with the Yankees).
“the sense i keep getting is that he doesn’t want to be in new york…be it with the Yankees, or with the Mets”
your spidey sense is wrong. arod loves the spotlight, loves nyC (how many times did he say that?), and he JUST bought a house in CT. arod will be a met in 2008. hear me now, believe me later.
He also just bought property in LA, both of which mean nothing.
but LA is not NYC.
You don’t think he’ll be in the spotlight in LA, the entertainment capital of the world? I think they’ve done a pretty good job of keeping David Beckham and his silicone enhanced wife in the spotlight, and he plays a sport most Americans don’t care about.
LA not being NY is exactly why he’ll probably stay away from the Mets.
poorboy, are you serious about your predictions? Do you really believe A-Rod will be a Met or are you just being glib?
Think about it. He grew up a Mets fan and can be the best player on the team that closes out Shea and open up Citi Field, historic seasons for any franchise.
Citi Field will sell out every year he is a Met. We have contracts coming off of the books in the next 2 years. Glavine’s 13Mil(?), Delgado, Pedro, Alou next year. I just think it makes sense. While the Mets don’t have room for him on the field, I think they will make room.
Think back to a day in May before the first Subway Series when David Wright, asked about A-Rod’s opt out clause, planted the seed saying he would move to 2nd base for A-Rod. Anyone remember that?
remember it? here it is amigo…
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03052007/sports/mets/wright__id_move_over_for_a_rod_mets_mark_hale.htm
try this :)
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03052007/sports/mets/wright__id_move_over_for_a_rod_mets_mark_hale.htm
sorry, links are not posting
nypost.com/seven/03052007/sports/mets/wright__id_move_over_for_a_rod_mets_mark_hale.htm
OK, so maybe it was in March. I was close though.
The only thing that would hold me back is the 10 year thing. I would go to 7 years tops. Don’t want a 42 year old 3rd baseman.
3/5/07 NY Post
March 5, 2007 — FORT LAUDERDALE – When the Yankees traded for Alex Rodriguez, he switched positions. If the Mets get A-Rod after this year, David Wright wouldn’t mind doing it himself.
A-Rod has an option to escape his Yankees contract after this season, and yesterday Wright confirmed a report that said he would be fine with abandoning third base and allowing Rodriguez to play the hot corner if A-Rod came to the Mets.
“For Alex Rodriguez? Yeah,” Wright said when asked if he could see himself playing another position. “He’s Alex Rodriguez. He’s a Hall of Famer. He does everything in the game exceptionally well. I still think it’s a little premature to be . . . testing the waters, but he’s a great player, and you’re talking about a player that makes any team instantly better.
“It’s not about necessarily moving. It’s about if Omar [Minaya] or someone from the front office approaches me and says, ‘Hey, we’re looking, Alex has an interest in coming to Queens,’ I’d be the first one to offer to play anywhere they want me to because like I said, a guy like that just makes a team completely just better from the get-go.”
Having A-Rod come to the Mets, of course, is a huge longshot. Minaya said, “We love David Wright at third base.”
*
with Boras, it’s always a surprise team that comes outta nowhere and steals his guys. Giants and Zito, A-Rod and Texas last time…i have a feeling it will be a surprise team..and that team will be the St. Louis Cardinals
wow….Pujols and ARod in the same lineup? That would immediately be the best 1-2 punch since Ruth and Gehrig…scary thought.
But, I doubt it will happen. Jocketty NEVER makes the flashy free agent signings. Probably the biggest name player he’s ever brought in there is Scott Rolen, and that was through a trade. Maybe Edmonds or Renteria, although both were more bargain signings than anything else. I think he (and the Cardinals ownership) trusts his ability to find diamonds in the rough like Chris Carpenter, David Eckstein, Rick Ankiel, etc.
except Jocketty’s no longer in charge…
The Cardinals will spend money when they “have to.” they did it to re-sign pujols, they re-signed McGwire…with Rolen done, inconsistent offense FINALLY letting Pujols down, and a pretty bad friggin season, it seems like the perfect move for them. And everyone knows you can do pretty much anything but murder someone and cardinals fans will adore u…it’s perfect for his bruised lil ego.
I’m voting
1) Anaheim. they have $$$
2) Giants. Replaces the headache that is Barry
3) Dodgers. He’d fit in well in La La Land. Maybe he can be a guest on Scrubs and have his leg cut off by Turk….
The whitesox may also make a desperate plunge…
if the reports of torre going to LA are true then i wonder how torre would feel about having arod again.
An added consideration is that if he stays healthy, A-Rod may well be breaking a bunch of coveted records* while in a Mets/Angels/Cubs/Dodgers/BoSox uniform. That’s got to be worth a TON of extra money for whatever franchise signs him.
*I’m thinking home runs, MVP titles, triple crowns, back-page tabloid appearances, etc.
Have to admit, having Arod at 3rd and moving Wright to 2nd, where he immediatly becomes one of the best, if not THE best hitting 2nd baseman in baseball, would be pretty sweet.
id prefer moving one of them to 1st base, i dont need david taking a hit turning a DP and injuring himself for the season…..i realized there is a very good reason why we SHOULD sign arod. someone mentioned yesterday how arod is a typical yankee bc he mashes bad pitching and doesnt do as well against aces. well what type of pitchers do the mets seem to always lose to, bad ones, rookies, career minor leaguers….well arod will crush those guys, and who do we typically do better against, ace type pitchers, so when arod falls back to earth against them the rest of the team can pick him up.
Having Arod on the Mets without trading Reyes, would give the Mets the best hitting infield in the division. Right now, we are in 3rd place in our own divsion.
I think the infield of Rollins, Utley, Howard and Cabrera, Ramirez, Uggla and Jacobs are more productive.
arod ALONE got the yanks to the 2007 playoffs
Another thing: It might make sense to postpone negoitating with ARod until the Mitchell report is out. Ther’s no reason at all to suspect him of juicing, but it would be embarrassing if he’s implicated in the report.
Just due dilligence.
probably a wise move, knowing our luck if we signed him reports would probably come out as the introduction press conference is taking place.
And you know, considering the timing of his announcement to “opt out”, I’m sure the commissioner’s office wouldn’t mind raining on his parade.
Anyone who thinks that anything other than money will play into Arods final decision is delusional. If the Tampa Bay Lightning offered him $300 million to play goalie he’d go there.
Another consideration is that by signing ARod, the Mets, in a single move, eliminate the need to maximize production from other positions. They can give Lastings a legitimate shot in right, and Gomez a chance in left. They can re-sign LoDuca, hopefully for a fairly modest sum. They can even trot out Gotay (or AHern) at second. Delgado’s slumping? Doesn’t matter, since he’ll be batting sixth (or seventh). Midyear, they could give Carp a look.
In other words, by sigining the world’s most expensive free agent, they can actually launch a youth movement within the organization. They can laugh at the free-agent market and in the process save some serious money. How much? Enough, possibly, to amortize ARod’s salary down to the $20 million per year range.
A bargain!
I think the Mets will regret it for years to come if we sign ARod. Anyone that watched the ‘07 season(especially the end) knows that we have bigger issues to address. Unless Willie plans on putting him on the mound I dont see how he’s gonna help us. Offense is not the reason the Mets failed. It was heart(not a trademark of ARod), clutch hitting(REALLY REALLY not a trademark of AROD) and pitching. Of course hes the best player in MLB, unfortunatley its not at a position that we need help at. He would be a great ‘luxury’ item, or final piece of the puzzle, but right now we need pitching, putching , PITCHING!!!….$300 Mil to move DWright to 1st or 2nd, forcing us to ‘fit’ him into our team structure is ludicris, childish and stupid….
Has anyone brought up the idea (assuming we sign ARod) of moving Wright to LF for 2008? I like Alou’s bat, I really do, but his health issues concern me and his defense is average at best. What do you think Alou is more likely to repeat next year, a 30 game hitting streak or a 2 month injury? Alou might be adequate on getting jumps on routine flyballs but you never really saw him make an “extra effort catch” – like Beltran routinely does. And if a ball gets past him the gap or over his head then it’s immediately an XBH no matter who’s running. And I’d also have to imagine that it will make Beltran’s life a lot easier since he won’t have to cover half of left field. This also allows RF to be used as the developmental position with Milledge and Gomez cutting their teeth out there. Let’s not forget that you have Endy and hopefully Marlon as 4th and 5th OF.
Wright has enough speed and the reflects and instincts to play the OF, maybe not Gold Glove caliber but I’d have to imagine he’d do it every bit as well as Alou. Good enough arm and won’t have to do the off-balance throws across his body to get the ball across the diamond.
I also think Wright is maybe a little too big to play 2B…look around you really don’t see anyone of Wright’s build playing in that spot.
ARod goes to third, but an added bonus that I’m not sure has been mentioned is that ARod can also spell Reyes at SS since I think Jose got a little gassed by the end of the year. In 2006 he had that injury at the All-Star break that in some ways might have been in a blessing in disguise, whereas this year he played virtually the whole season. On days that ARod goes to SS you simply move Wright back to the hot corner. Don’t get me wrong, I think the defense should stay the same for at least 140-145 games, but I think it keeps some guys fresher or at least alleviates some wear and tear on key position guys (i.e. Beltran, Reyes).
In 2009 you can move Wright to 1B, keep ARod and Reyes as the leftside tandem. Who knows if Gomez or F. Martinez will be ready or even on the team but they can be in LF.
[...] unknown created a sweet baseball article today.Heres a mini excerpt.However, in the Daily News, New York columnist John Harper lists the Angels as the favorites to land Rodriguez, with teams ‘such as’ the Tigers, Giants, Dodgers, and Mariners as options as well. Harper does not mention the Mets. … [...]