Opinion: Value and the GM Meetings
…i finally had a chance to catch up with a few people, ranging from reporters to team employees, and so on, regarding last week’s GM Meetings in Orlando…
…the sense i get is that a lot of pitchers will be talked about as potentially ‘on the market,’ however they’ll never actually be moved, such as Ben Sheets, AJ Burnett, Jake Peavy and Roy Oswalt, as well as Johan Santana and Dontrelle Willis…can they be had…sure, i guess…but, from what i can gather, teams will float their names, and get an idea of their worth, considering the weak free-agent market…however, in the end, they’ll keep what they have because it’s just so darn difficult to find top-quality pitching, and since so very few teams are struggling for money these days, it makes no sense to actually ship that caliber pitcher out of town…in short, the days of dumping payroll are over, which is something a lot of mock-gms in the blogosphere and on talk radio, including myself at times, are refusing to accept…
…as a Mets fan, this worries me, because i fear we, as fans, are going to have a lot of unrealistic options dangled in front of us during the Hot Stove season, and when no such mega-deal is made, we’ll end up being disappointed - even though the desired deals were never actually a possibility in the first place…
…nevertheless, i do believe that a pitcher like Jon Garland will be moved, as could Joe Blanton, Chris Capuano, Cliff Lee, Noah Lowry and maybe even Erik Bedard - assuming a team is willing to overpay…
…lastly, i am blown away by what the perceived values are for many of these people…for instance, from what i can gather, if the Mets want a first baseman like Conor Jackson from the D’Backs, it’d likely cost them Aaron Heilman and a Kevin Mulvey type; if the Mets want Nationals RHP Chad Cordero, who is a free agent after next season, it’ll likely cost them mulvey and Carlos Gomez, who could possibly net a Joaquin Arias, as well; and, lastly, if they want Miguel Cabrera, the should just hold their breath for when he hits free agency, because they have absolutely no shot at getting him…
…in the end, i believe the Mets are seeking a durable, work-horse type starting pitcher, which, considering the cost of the league’s top options, leads me to believe they must be eying a trade for blanton and/or signing free-agent Livan Hernandez or Carlos Silva, because they both sort of meet that description, but that is just logical speculation…
