Daily Archives: November 5, 2007
Mets GM Omar Minaya, as quoted today by the Associated Press, regarding Alex Rodriguez, upon arriving in Orlando for the GM Meetings…
“He’s one of the free agents on the market and we’re looking at all free agents. Does he fit on your team? And then, like anything else is, at what cost is he going to fit on your team?
“We’re very happy with Jose Reyes. We’re very happy with David Wright. I don’t consider that a position of need.”
Also, Minaya told the AP that he is optimistic about the possibility of re-signing free-agent C Paul Lo Duca.
Tagged Paul Lo Duca |According to the Associated Press, LHP Andy Pettitte has declined his $16 million option with the Yankees, meaning he is now a free agent.
Pettitte had until Wednesday to decide on his option.
…basically, instead of locking in on having to pitch 
another season for the Yankees, he opted out so he could have more time to figure out what’s next, which, according to pettitte last week on houston tv, is either pitch again for the Yankees or retire…
…the thing is, i still believe he could back off, tell the Yankees he will not be playing, fade in to the back ground and then suddenly decide he should pitch for his old buddy, Joe Torre, and the Dodgers…
This past season, Pettitte was 15-9 with a 4.05 ERA.
In a recent update to SI.com, Jon Heyman lists the Mets among three teams that appear to have ‘moved up’ in the ‘race’ for Alex Rodriguez.
According to Heyman, Mets GM Omar Minaya recently told ESPN 1050 that he has already talked to David Wright and Jose Reyes, “apparently telling them that while he loves them there are no guarantees that they’ll remain at their respective positions.”
…heyman actually co-hosted the ESPN 1050 show that minaya was a guest on, so he would know the context of the comments…this is an interesting story, but what’s sad is that i actually thought i’d get through the day without linking to an a-rod rumor…damn…so close…
Heyman also notes that SNY’s Lee Mazzilli could join Larry Bowa and Don Mattingly on the Dodgers bench alongside Joe Torre.
Tagged Omar Minaya |In a post to MLB Trade Rumors, Tim Dierkes provides his second-annual Top 50 Free-Agent list, complete with where he believes each player will end up signing.
…i consider tim’s opinion, because he keeps a very close eye on more or less every story written when it comes to, well, MLB trade rumors and free-agents…
According to Dierkes, in his opinion, the Mets will re-sign Luis Castillo this off season, add RHP Carlos Silva to their rotation, and replace Paul Lo Duca with Yorvit Torrealba, though, “A Ramon Hernandez trade seems to be a popular alternative.”
Tagged Yorvit Torrealba |At his blog for Newsday, Ken Davidoff gives his opinion of the Top 10 General Managers in Baseball, ranking Mets GM Omar Minaya ninth.
According to Davidoff…
Tagged Omar Minaya |“He deserves as much blame as anyone for the team’s historic collapse. Yet let’s not forget all of the good work that Minaya did in making the Mets relevant again. Even if it was just a matter of smooth-talking the Wilpons into spending huge dollars on Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran, that is a skill that has served the Mets and their fans quite well. This is a crucial offseason for Minaya.”
Mets 3B David Wright is among 10 players who have been nominated for This Year in Baseball’s Hitter of the Year Award, presented by State Farm Insurance.
To vote, go to MLB.com.
Speaking of Wright, he, Michael Cuddyer, B.J. Upton, Ryan Zimmerman and Justin Upton recently took part in a charity home-run derby for Chesapeake, VA’s newly opened Grassfield High School.
Cuddyer and Upton are graduates of Great Bridge High, while Wright graduated from Hickory High. According to a local report, Grassfield was built to ‘ease overcrowding’ at Great Bridge and Hickory, among other local schools.
Cuddyer won the event, defeating Wright in the final round.
At her blog, We’ve Got Heart, Virginia-blogger Kristen gives a round-by-round recap of the derby.
According to Kristen, “Afterwards, the guys all filtered out but David Wright stopped to sign autographs for a really long time.”
…hat tip to Amazin Avenue for the link…
Also, The David Wright Foundation is hosting their Third Annual Do the Wright Thing Gala on November 15 in New York City.
For more information or to purchase tickets, go here.
The agent for free-agent C Paul Lo Duca recently told the Bergen Record that he and his client are open to finalizing a deal with the Mets.
However, while the Mets have repeatedly stated that they have interest in bringing Lo Duca back, according to the agent, the team is still considering all of their options.
…in all likelihood, lo duca’s agent will meet with Omar Minaya this week in Orlando during the GM Meetings…
During a recent appearance on SNY’s Daily News Live, FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal told the show’s host that Lo Duca is as good as gone from the Mets.
However, the following day, in a report for the New York Post, Mark Hale quoted Lo Duca’s agent as saying…
“Omar reached out for us and let us know that the Mets were interested in bringing Paul back. And we’ve had some preliminary discussions, but nothing in substance.”
Lo Duca, as recently quoted in New York Times, when asked about why he’d like to return to the Mets…
“One of the main reasons I want to come back is the fans. Especially with what I went through last year with all that stuff, the fans were always great to me. I love playing in front of these fans. That’s No. 1. No. 2 is that they have a corps that’s going to win for a long time. This is a team that’s always going to be in the thick of it every year. I want to be on a team that’s going to win. That’s why I want to be here. Plus, New York City, you can’t beat it.”
…i’m still a bit torn on this…i like lo duca a lot…but, in talking with people connected to the team, i sense ownership and some coaches and players have soured on him, as they feel he was too negative during September, i.e., the team looked to him as an emotional leader, during which he was down and out and depressed - much like you and i, frankly…to me, he was probably just reflecting his honesty, which is a big reason why so many fans like him, but i also understand how this can be bad…what’s more, i keep hearing that the team wants a catcher who works better with the pitching staff…and while i’m not totally sure what that means, the guy who is referenced as a good example of this is O’s C Ramon Hernandez, who is rumored to be available through trade, and who had worked quite well with Rick Peterson and their young pitching staff in oakland…
…if i had to guess, at this point, i’d say the Mets will pursue other options at catcher, while considering lo duca to be a fall-back position, knowing how badly he wants to return…personally, i’d just re-sign him…i think his heart, pride and intensity is something this club should be built around, but i will understand if they go a different direction…
Tagged Paul Lo Duca |In a Q&A with MetsGeek, the New York Sun’s Tim Marchman discusses ‘the collapse,’ among other things, as well as sportswriting, his vision for the Mets, and his opinion of Willie Randolph, of which he writes…
“I don’t know how much you can blame someone for not being a different person. He kept doing the same stupid things over and over again, like putting Guillermo Mota and Brian Lawrence in baseball games, but he did things like that last year and did fine. He’s astonishingly uninventive, and he won’t make his team better than its talent, but most managers are no different, and he actually does a lot of things well. I don’t know how much credit he should get for the way Reyes and Wright have developed, for instance, but the answer isn’t “none.”
In the New York Post, citing ‘an executive familiar with the team’s thinking,’ Joel Sherman writes that the Devil Rays may entertain offers for LHP Scott 
Kazmir, depending on how the market develops for Johan Santana.
…first off, i vowed to stop taking the bait on d’rays rumors years ago, after they sat on Aubrey Huff and Danys Baez…that being said, good god…could you imagine if the Mets ever re-acquired kazmir…and he got hurt, or stumbled or fell apart, etc…it’s not a reason to deny a trade, but it’s certainly a reason to hesitate…i mean, they’re finally at a point in which we never mention his name, and then bam, here we go again…
Kazmir is eligible for arbitration for the first time this off season, and is eligible to be a free agent after 2010.
In three seasons with the last-place Rays, Kazmir is 33–26 with a 3.53 ERA while striking out 576 hitters through 537 innings.
…damn, he really is good…i try to just ignore him, but those numbers are reallly, really hard to ignore…ugh…
According to Sherman, the Rays would want ‘multiple high-end pitchers,’ and so he writes…
“There is a lot of buzz that the Giants would consider moving Tim Lincecum…Interestingly, Lincecum is just the type of young, talented, controllable pitcher Tampa is pursuing, and the Rays have a boatload of young positional talent. The Rays have essentially made only B.J. Upton, whom they perceive as a top-flight center fielder for years, an untouchable. That means players such as Carl Crawford and Delmon Young could be had in the right deal.”
…so, if this is the case, i think this hilarious, painful talk of the Mets re-acquiring kazmir should come to an immediate halt, because the Mets clearly do not have the chips to acquire him, not by a long-shot…
Tagged Scott Kazmir |Major League Baseball’s General Managers will gather in Orlando over the next four days for what it is labeled The GM Meetings.
…basically, general managers and team executives, as well as a few high-profile agents, collect to discuss league business, such as Instant Replay, as well lay off-
season ground work and create a framework and let other teams know who will aim to do what over the next few months…typically, one or two low-impact trades are made, a few players will re-sign with their former teams, and a ton of rumors get started because GMs are talking with other GMs, while their underlings are talking with other underlings…in short, these meetings often set a game-plan for the MLB Winter Meetings in Nashville, which take place during the first week of December, when the real action happens…
It was during the 2000 General Manager Meetings when former-Mets GM Steve Phillips had his one-and-only meeting with Scott Boras, regarding free-agent SS Alex Rodriguez, out of which the phrase ‘24 and 1’ was born.
…odds are good, i would think, that Mets GM Omar Minaya will have a chat with boras, if for no other reason than to check in, see what’s up, and get a sense of the super agent’s off-season plans, you know, in case he reps anybody of interest to minaya…
For an outstanding preview of the Meetings, read Jim Salisbury’s column in yesterday’s Philadelphia Inquirer.
According to Salisbury, hot topics over the next four days will be Rodriguez, the trade and free-agent market, and the Mitchell Report’s findings from Sen. George Mitchell’s 18-month investigation into baseball’s steroid era, which are due for public release before the end of the year.
…the buzz from baseball suggests most GMs are waiting on the report, hoping it comes out sooner than later, because there is no telling what type of impact it will have on the entire market, for better or worse…
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