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According to Ken Davidoff and David Lennon in Newsday, despite already agreeing to a three-year deal, talks between the Mets and free-agent C Yorvit Torrealba ‘collapsed’ on Saturday, meaning, ‘the free-agent catcher will not be headed to Shea.’
…do you hear that…listen…yep, it’s the sound of Paul Lo Duca laughing himself to death…
…so, so bizarre…i mean, all that remained was for torrealba to take a physical…so, either a) he failed, or b) he changed his mind at the last minute…
…Update…4:50 pm…
The Mets are publicly telling reporters that a deal was not reached with Torrealba, and that there are no ‘ongoing negotiations’ with him or his agent.
…Update…4:51 pm…
…it’s early, so, who knows, but, the only buzz i can pick up is that someone changed their mind, and that he did not fail the physical…or, if he did, no one will come right out and say…
…either way, back to the drawing board, omar…or, just bring back lo duca, who, i have to think, may not even be interested any more - given the way he has been talked about of late…
…it will be interesting to see how they approach this, though…i mean, unfortunately, it’s clear they are not very interested in lo duca…also, they obviously see Jason Kendall and Michael Barrett as less intriguing than torrealba…and since they tried to sign yorvit, and not make a trade, it’s clear the trade market is more costly than they had hoped…
…Update…5:42 pm…
Troy E. Renck, in the Denver Post, who is now reporting on the story, as well, essentially repeating what had been initially reported by Newsday, writes…
“It’s unclear whether the Rockies will chase Torrealba as aggressively after being spurned. However, the negotiations were amicable, and Colorado still needs a starting catcher…Torrealba is a favorite in the Colorado clubhouse and has earned high praise from manager Clint Hurdle and the pitchers for his game-calling and blocking ability.”
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Yes!!
ding dong the deal is dead
the deal is dead
the deal is dead
the fans that pray together, stay together….
i knew there was a G-d
WELCOME TO THE NEW YORK MESS. NOT THE METS…..
WERE BACK TO SQUARE ONE. ITS year 2000 again…..
BRING BACK MIKE PIAZZA~~~~~~~~~~
AMEN………… Platoon Mike Piazza and Castro… giving pizza most of the starts…. like a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio of Piazza and Castro starts….
I wouldn’t rule it out.
Thank you God! Now let’s hope Loduca wants to stay after how he’s been treated!
Oh yeah, Piazza makes a ton of sense. You really do wish it was 2000 all over again.
does anyone have an opinion on what it would take to trade for jared salt(cant even try to spell his name)???
he was the top rated cather out there last year at his age and was traded for mark texiera
wow…do they go back to loduca now?
Great news!
great news that we have no catcher?
That we have no catcher named Yorvit.
YEAH!
He had to had failed his physical. Either that your he wanted like a no trade clause. I dont want lo duce back, he a joke. Put Castro as the starter can get a decent backup.
any chance he’s on “The List”
My first thoughts.
then we will start to see a lot of these suddenly dead deals
what the hell! now what….
woah
well, i guess this leads to the questions: 1) does this change the mets management’s mind about staying away from loduca 2) has loduca’s mind changed about returning to the mets given recent events
Far as i can tell we could end up 1) with castro as our starter 2) crawling back to loduca and giving him a 3 or 4 year deal for more money 3) trading chips for a ramon hernandez or schoppach or laird 4) if we’re lucky or LoDuca still really really wants to come back, bringing back Paul for 1-2 years at a fair price.
LoDuca will not be a Met. After what he did in September and his ability to always cause something with the media, he will not be back. Omar will either make castro the starter and get a backup elsewhere. Plus Loduca is 36? we got rid of piazza around that age. I rather have Piazza back as a backup now then loduca
Wow superb idea!!
you mean lo ducas 21 rbi in september
This really puts the Mets in a terrible position. They’ve seemingly burned the bridge with Lo Duca, and he has gone out of his way via his agent to make bitter comments about the Mets not communicating with him. And now they’ve got very few options left.
Yeah they can go crawling back to Lo Duca, but there’s no way he doesn’t hold them to the fire for 3 years now. And that’s assuming he even wants to come back (though money usually solves all problems).
The only other FA options out there are Michael Barrett (who I don’t want because he’s a Type A free agent) and Jason Kendall.
Otherwise the Mets now have to part with prospects for a catcher. And that only detracts from the effort to acquire pitching.
People may be happy Torrealba won’t be coming here, but right now, this is a mess.
You’re right.
Exactly! This has the potential to be a pretty big spoiler for deals Omar had in his mind.
Oh, and I meant starting catchers when I said only a few are left.
There are however, a large collection of career backups and older options still available. I’d probably still prefer that route over trading and overpaying for a Ramon Hernandez type.
The question is now, who will be our #8 hitter??
Mets fans are really overblowing it.
Pelfrey, Gomez, Mulvey and Heilman for Bedard or Lincecum. Sign Silva.
I guess it is out of the box, definitely a little fantasy, but I’d just like to get Bedard without giving up Milledge.
The only possibility I can think of that would enable Omar to keep to his plan of getting another C and still keep chips to trade for a #1 SP is to see if they can work a deal with the Orioles for both Ramon Hernandez and Bedard. I don’t think we have enough to offer to make that deal, and it would cost us dearly even if we did. Otherwise, Omar may have give to up a chip for someone like Shoppach and forget about dealing for an ace, or make Castro the starter and sign a backup and pray that that works out.
shopach, cliff lee and one of indians stud relievers lewis/betancourt/perez for heilman and milledge
Cliff Lee and Shoppach are AAAA players.
Why waste an amazing talented player like Milledge or Heilman on them?
Why would the Indians downgrade in their relief pitching?
Adding to that why get Lee if we could just get Jason Jennings?
bernazard probably popped off at the meetings. remember when delgado called him the best paid translator in baseball?
i just have a bad feeling that LoDuca has too much pride to come back to the Mets after this. Hopefully i’m wrong. I love Castro and have always said he should get more playing time, but I don’t think hes really the right guy to be our fulltime starting catcher.
No way will Paulie come back..I wish he would but not happening……I think we are gonna trade w/Balt. 4 Bedard & Hernandez.
Why does everyone think we can get Berdard??
Jeez.. we barely have the prospects to get Chad Cordero, and the Os are just gonna give us their all start lefty.. sure..
Wake up people
Because its the Orioles…they have no dough…and they like trading w/us….u wake up….dope
You’re nuts…even though it is the Orioles. Bedard is probably the ONLY thing they have going for them right now. There is no way they give him up without getting something HUGE in return.
In case you are forgetting, John Maine wasn’t good with them, that was why they gave him up, not because they were just stupid. Yes, it has worked out for the Mets but you can’t compare them trading Maine(who had an ERA over 6.00 at best for them) with them trading Bedard.
see our Mike Pelfrey
Your right, it will cost a lot, but overpaying for Bedard makes more sense that overpaying for Cordero. The O’s have zero shot at competing during Bedard’s remaining tenure, and he’s made it clear he’d rather test the market than stay put there. He’s the O’s second biggest contract (or will be once he gets his offer/goes to arbitration) after Miguel Tejeda, who isn’t worth as much as the O’s would like already, and there’s a ton of speculation that he’ll be in the Mitchell Report.
Taking a contract like Chad Bradford and giving up something useful in return should also help, since the O’s won’t look for much there. I’m sure they’d also like to move Hernandez, but would expect to get something useful for him. Getting the three should probably take six decent chips (three for Bedard, two for Hernandez, and one for Bradford). If you’d rather Brian Roberts over Hernandez, whose contract makes him another trade candidate, it would probably take seven players, but Ruben Gotay could probably be included in that case.
The Mets to have six or seven players they you could arguably call good prospects/young players. The O’s shouldn’t have any problem with lower level guys like Deolis Guerra or even Fernando Martinez as they shouldn’t be ready to compete until those guys might be ready anyway. So the question is, who that we have (if anyone) are the O’s high on? David Wright and Jose Reyes are obviously out of play, and the deal would have to be special if Lastings Milledge, John Maine, and Fernando Martinez are to be discussed. Carlos Gomez will be made to look like he’s in that category too, but unfortunately more because of the the timing here, he’s probably the easiest for the Mets to part with of their young Outfielders. We know the Twins are high on him, so they may be a more logical trading partner, but a big deal with the O’s could potentially fill more holes.
Oh, I don’t disagree that getting Bedard would be a good idea for the Mets. It just seems to me that a lot of Mets fans seem to think it will be ‘easy’ for the Mets to get him, that the Orioles are just such a clueless organization they will just give him away. I’m not suggesting he is as good as Santana but he is ALL the Orioles have. They are going to deal with any trade talks involving him the same way that the Twins will with Santana. Again, not saying I don’t think we should go after him just that it’s not going to be as easy as some Mets fans think.
I’ll agree to that. The trick to the Mets offseason is going to be deciding how to scalp their farm most effeciently, because they will have two. Does that mean going after Orlando Hudson? Maybe. Johan Santana? Maybe. All out with the O’s? Maybe. I think we have enough chips to acquire two big names via trade at most, and then maybe some smaller pieces such as a mid level catcher or reliever.
This is the season to go all out on the trade market for the Mets though. Scalping the farm shouldn’t do much longterm damage. The FA market is scarce, and they’re going to be obtaining some valuable draft picks by letting their FA walk. Two in the first round (assuming they get one for Glavine) and up to four in the Supplemental round (Glavine, Castillo, LoDuca and Green) depending on how many FA sign elsewhere.
could be. i could live with that
i just dont want to give up chips for a catcher, leaving us forced to sign livan or silva instead of trading for someone. (i’m fine with signing one in addition to trading for someone and moving el duque, but if our offseason boils down to something like ‘trade for catcher, sign eckstein for 2b, sign a reliever, sign livan hernandez’ i will not be happy.)
This is *exactly* my concern also. We now need to find a second backstop to help out Ramon if Lo Duca tells us to “eff” off. We may need to use up some of our bargaining chips now on a catcher as well rather than Omar spending them on a starting pitcher (especially if Glavine bolts) and an arm for the pen.
God bless you and I hope youre right. Bedard takes us to the World Series.
Lo Duca has way too much pride, and will have far too many options, to return to the Mets.
As an aside, whether you were a supporter of the Torrealba “signing” or not, it is truly unbelievable how incompetent the Mets organization is. Seriously, it’s like they can’t help themselves.
Morons.
He probably failed his physical. That’s the only logical reason. Don’t bash the organization until you know the facts. It he failed his physical would you still want him? I don’t think so.
Good comment. Until more is revealed (if it ever is), we won’t know whether Torrealba failed his physical, changed his mind, ended up on “the list,” or whatever.
Morons??? This is not the Mets fault I gaurantee that…This is a good thing you all just watch…we were giving ths sclub nearly 5 mill a season!! Pitchers hit better then him!! and he cant throw a turtle out trying to steal second…good ridance! Bring in Piazza for 1 year….then trade for Salty in 09
This IS the METS FAULT! THEY COULD HAVE HAD LO DUCA AND NOW THEY HAVE WHAT LITTLE MANHOOD THEY HAVE IN THEIR HANDS!
Jeez - what a turn of events. If they do end up now approaching Lo Duca, the dynamics of that negotiation has now changed. Is there any news on what happened?
I declare shenanigans!
I guess we’ll have to wait and see if Barrett is offered arbitration. If he isn’t, then he is probably the best bet.
I just wish the Mets would have brought LoDuca back to begin with.
Isn’t he a bit of a bonehead?
I am proposing a new plan. It makes the most sense.
Since the Mets have gaping holes at C and 2B, and the FA pool stinks, they need to trade for whatever they don’t have in house. Or decide Gotay + a partner (Easley?) will cover for now.
And yes, that means using the precious chips for productive everyday position players, and not saving them for pitching.
Why? Well, almost guaranteed no real top starter will become available, and if one does, the mets may not be able to get them. And not really worth taking a chance.
That, and the current state of the pitching isn’t that bad, although they will have to commit to at least one young rotation arm.
Sign one of the FA guys, probably a reclamation project (jennings? Colon?), and hope in house optins (Sanchez) step up to fill the pen.
My logic is, if you can’t realistically make a huge improvment to the pitching, you darned well better put the best position players out there. That, and use your young guys as much as possible.
Hey, it got the Phils and COlorado into the playoffs!
So, trade for legitimate players at C or 2B. Ideally bad contracts so the talent going back is minimal (R Hernandez?) or for actual quality guys (O Dog) and improve the team.
Omar also has to look at 2009+, not just 2008, and sometimes you need to have a stepping stone year.
Pedro/Maine/Perez/Pelfrey, with El Duque starting the year, is a decent enough rotation if the team has good O and D.
Pray for Sanchez, or work Humber or someone else into the pen, or pick up an arm or 2 someplace.
And pray.
My big fear is they get saddled for 3-4 years with unproductive stiffs at 2B and C, and the pitching isn’t any better.
So really, I am proposing to crack open the chip jar and get a real catcher, now that Omar has a mulligan.
Nice post. Sane. The only thing I would say is that it would be good if they could fill at least one of the 2B and C positions with a FA. I would be OK, even if not thrilled, if they gave either Castillo or Eckstein 3 years, although 2 would be much better. I don’t the market for IFs is so strong that Castillo or Eckstein would be able to command 4 years.
This will really test Omar. We are not in an ideal position at this point.
Just remember, Pedro is in his walk year, and we may have to replace him next offseason. We aren’t going to have any more chips next year than we do this year. Next year’s free agent class for catchers has Johjima, Valentin, and Pudge (although he’ll be pretty long in the tooth by then). Someone who’s might be available for a one-year deal is Johnny Estrada. I saw on MLB Trade Rumors where he might be non-tendered or traded(he’s a FA next year, too) Him I’ll bet we could get cheap, and his numbers would fit with Ramon’s in a platoon better than Torrealba’s did. He’s not the best answer, but there isn’t one a whole lot better, and it wouldn’t have to tie us up for three years.
I don’t think so man. 2b & Catcher are really secondary holes to fill. I would much rather the mets go full bore with their trading chips for a Harren type and if they can swing it, a Bedard type. Then throw some money for a Silva/Hernadez and get another arm for the pen. El Duque to the pen as well and he is your emergency #6 starter.
If you are going to use you chips, gotta use them for pitching.
But it def. seems that the mets painted themselves in a corner on this one…that is of course if he didn’t fail his physical. Need more info before rushing to judgment, but if YT backed out, eff him.
you cna’t give loduca years. sign anybody who has some defensive skills. upgrade the lineup offensively in right field.
I don’t get why we would trade for Hernandez. He is just as mediocre as the free agents available.
As for the second base position, I’d rather sign Iguchi thab trade for Hudson.
I like the idea of Garza. He is a tame pitcher with a huge upside, and could be obtained for Gomez and Gotay. I’d even add Humber to that deal.
I’d keep Milledge at all costs now. He could sprout out to be very good.
Lineup:
Reyes
Iguchi
Wright
Beltran
Alou
Delgado
Milledge
Lo Duca/Castro
Rotation:
Martinez
Perez
Maine
Garza
Pelfrey
Bullpen:
Hernandez
Sosa
Feliciano
Schoeneweis
Heilman
Sanchez
Wagner
Bench:
Lo Duca/Castro
Easley
Anderson
Chavez
A-Hern (YEAH, I SAID IT!!)
El Duque, Mulvey and Sosa serve as backup starters, Kunz, Smith, Padilla and Schmoll as backup relievers.
Wow.
Just wow.
I’m sure there’s a good reason for this, but really, who can the mets get now? ridiculous.
Umm, i get the feeling that there is less to this than we think, why is it that only one Newspaper has reported this?..
no espn.. no Dailynews.. nothing?
Expect this to be resolved quickly, i could be wrong but it is rare that a renig occurs after making an announcement, unless he failed his physical or something.
Eckstein to Mets sounds good.. go omar!
Davidoff and Lennon are pretty conservative in their reporting usually . . . and they’ve got a pretty decisive direction quote from Jay Horwitz. Sounds like they must have it right.
daily news blog has it
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/mets/2007/11/torrealba-deal-is-dead.html
ESPN.com has become a joke when it comes to getting any real news fast. Just a joke.
Alright maybe he failed a physical. Perhaps he is on “the list.” Omar will find us a backstop. I think this might even help the Mets here in the next few weeks. I would look for a deal. I don’t think a deal with Baltimore is going to get done even though it might be the best outcome for the Mets. I would see if you can get the young kid from Cleveland and then make a move for a pitcher.
michael barrett? lol. i really don’t mean to laugh. it kinda sucks, but i wasn’t crazy about giving yorvit a 3 year deal in the first place.
i have a feeling they’ll figure something out. maybe ramon hernandez from the o’s, some c-list catcher.
boo yankees for getting posada to sign so quickly. but maybe this is for the best.
Another logical thing is that maybe some GM came in at the last second and a better deal came up for catcher and maybe a pitcher. Probably unlikely but anything could happen.
Why would any Mets fan actually be happy about this? Even if you thought Lo Duca would be a better signing than Torrealba, this drives up Paulie’s asking price considerably. I can’t imagine that even the most die-hard Lo Duca fans here really think he’s going to be close to worth a significant salary in three or four years, which is what it might now take with his biggest competition off the market, even if the FO does want him back.
And the options are now really unappealing since we either have to overpay Paulie, trade talent better used for pitching, or settle for guys like Barrett or Kendall whose respective defensive and offensive skill sets are literally at the bottom of the list of mlb starting catchers and are right on the fringe of being backups.
Two options not available, no matter how much some people here want it: Castro as an everyday catcher with a AAAA backup (unless you want a Difelice-type starting 50-100 games), or Piazza (even as a backup), whom Oakland even tried to get to catch out of desperation at the end of last year but had to give up on. These guys are simply not physically able to do these jobs…
No way you can go back to LoDuca right now. He could hold them now for a third year and that would be a bad deal. The Mets have to either try to get Ramon Hernandez or just find a backup to platoon with Ramon Castro.
I wonder if Torrealba changed his mind because he heard the buzz that Castro would be in for a bigger role this year, and he wanted some guarantees (whatever that would look like) that he would get most of the playing time.
This is realistic if he passed his physical
Trade Beltran for Russel Martin. LOL
Keep the former Dodger as our catcher streak alive!
You have to wait until he goes to the Marlins.
He’d have to be traded to the Marlins first.
yahoo
Backup catchers dont even want to play for the Mets now LMAO. Embarrassing.
Are we sure about that yet?
YT heard that even Carlos Beltran gets booed in this town. Yorvit is way soft.
It’s almost like all the karma we were rolling on in ‘06 went out the window the night Duaner wanted “Dominican food” and we’ve been struggling to regain traction ever since.
Hope Castro is getting physical therapy for his back.
I can hear the chants now: “PAUL LO-DUKE-A!”
Excellent news! It was just never meant to be
Mike Piazza.
Wait, now I’m confused. The team website says the team has agreed on a contract with 14.4 Million deal over 3 years pending Physicals
Contract wasn’t signed. They could’ve agreed to a deal and Torrealba could’ve changed his mind..
In NFL, I recall when Antoine Winfield had agreed to a deal with the Jets and his wife or something didnt wanna come and he went to the Vikings instead.
UN-BELIEVABLE! Yikes. This will be very interesting.
now omar the genius can send milledge, pelfry, humber, and gomez to washington for jesus flores!
On the FAN Steve Somers was saying that there is a possibility Torrealba is going back to Colorado. They were gonna try and call the Mets to get more info.
Why is the Mets official web page still have the Yorvit signing on the web page if the deal has indeed fallen apart? Maybe the deal DIDN’T fall apart after all.
Which brings me to my next questions? Why haven’t Davidoff and Lennon given any details? What are their sources? I think we need a little more info before we can figure this one out.
Glider, Jay Horowitz Met PR guy, said no talks are ongoing. The deal has fallen apart.
I think we have all learned by now that mets.com is usually the last media outlet to report anything newsworthy.
Another article:
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_7492871
I have no problem with a Michael Barrett-Ramon Castro catching tandem. When he plays regularly, Barrett’s good for on average 12 HR’s and 60 RBI’s. Add Castro’s stats, and that’s not too shabby. Interesting to see why this turn of events with Yorvit. In any event, as we all know, life goes on and Omar will find a solution.
The FAN is interviewing some reporter about it right now.
SALTALAMACCHIA NOW!
Again, a trade which forces us to use chips otherwise meant for acquiring pitching. Salty? Great stick, but I don’t know anything about his arm, his glove, his game - calling, etc.
Why would Texas trade Salty?
According to this reporter from the Denver Post who Somers is interviewing, something happend before the physical which caused the Mets to have cold feet and pull out of the deal.
i think we can get salty for milledge and a decent arm, i think we should do it. Then we can use some of the other prospects like F-mart for a bedard deal or something along those lines.
Are you on Crazy Pills?
nice!
DMAT - are you smoking something?
Actually according to the reporter who is Troy said that Mets didn’t like something regarding the physical but not confirmed. Wow strange events. Additionally SALTALAMACCHIA will cost us a lot if Rangers are willing to trade him at all.
If the Rangers trade a catcher it will be Laird and even he would cost the Mets too many players. This is a real mess. Castro can’t catch 100 games. I was hoping for 60 out of him next year.
Omar is making Hank Steinbrenner look like ML Executive of the Decade with this crap! I said this was all risky and there is game of musical chairs here that the Mets are in danger of losing. If I’m Lo Duca, NO WAY do I come to the Mets now - and if I do, it’s gonna be a LOT more costly. Forget about a hometown discount now. This is unacceptable BS.
I’d hate to break it to you, but he was never signing for a Hometown discount in the first place. His asking price was 3 years all along.
Torrealba is a POS offensively. Omar got lucky. Just re-sign LoDuca and be done with it, like you should have done in the first place. My guess is that Peterson doesn’t like how LoD. calls a game, but that’s just stupid.
Anyone in favor of bringing back Piazza? Considering what our options now are … could this be a reality?
I really hope this opens discussion with the Pirates for Paulino now, I think he would be a perfect fit with Castro and only will get better over the next couple of years.
I’d love to see the Mets just fleece the Pirates again like they did with the Hernandez/Perez trade way back when. Besides Paulino, I wouldn’t mind taking Sanchez in as a 2B option, either Snell or Gorezlanny as a SP option, Matt Capps would be a pretty good setup guy, and I even wouldn’t mind Bay.
Then what would the PIrates do for a catcher? Plus, their young pitching is the future of the franchise (to the extent it has one). Paulino knows the staff well already. I just don’t see why the Pirates would do that deal unless Paulino is getting ready for a big pay day that they cannot afford.
because they want to have ryan doumit catch?
And they trade sanchez, capps, bay, snell etc… because they’re the Pittsburg Pirates and they want to start completely over and get rid of the mess they have there now.
The two teams i would have on speed dial if i was Omar would be minnesota (Garza, Baker, Slowey) and Pitt (Snell and Paulino)
Whatever happened to Zake Duke? THAT’S an Omar/Peterson reclaimation project if there ever was one isn’t it?
Sure, the Pirates are going to trade us every decent chip they have…..get real.
My question is
“Does the MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement not allow for the free agent player’s physical to happen until the contract is signed? Or can the team ask for the physical first before putting up the money?” The latter makes more sense to me, but I don’t know what the CBA allows.
Because if ithe CBA does allow the team to conduct the physical during or prior to the contract negotiations, then Omar gets killed here. It was known that Yorvit has arm issues in the passed and that he only threw out 19% of runners for the season (down from 40% the year before!!!).
If this all was the case, Omar should not have burned his bridge with Paulie while negotiating (blindly) with Torrealba.
I like the kid in Cleveland - Shoppach. Make the trade with them and include Josh Barfield in it as well. Nice young second baseman who the tribe don’t need anymore with Asdrubal Cabrera playing there now. Just a thought.
Woo Hoo!
Now Omar can concentrate on something real…
Snapping up a sub-par second baseman in an already crap free-agent market.
(P.S. It’s nice to see people calmed down a bit about the Ick-stein/Cas-ti-oh-my-aching-knees thing)
Um, we still need a first string catcher. How ’bout starting there so that pitchers who we try and obtain will know who their battery-mate will be?
I think the “i will wait and see who the catcher is before I sign” is not nearly as important as say whether the ball park is a “pichers” park, the potency of the offense. and if the team is not afraid to spend cash. The Mets should be a very attractive team to play for even with that.
Anyway, since the Pitcher are usually the last to go, the catching void will most likely be solved so I wouldn’t worry about that.
Glider is right. Casey Stengel said that you gotta have a catcher, otherwise there will be a lot of passed balls.
Good article about how terrible Torreabla is and Omar’s foolish ways.
Looks like we dodged a bullet, boys and girls:
http://www.baseballdigestdaily.com/bullpen/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=357&Itemid=39
This is such a blessing. I was livid about the signing anyway. No I dont want LoDuca back now. I did but now I wouldnt want him on the team that screwed him so he can sulk and resent the front office. Can we please sign Michael Barrett now like we should have all along? Either him or the only other option is approach the Orioles about a package of Ramon Hernandez, Erik Bedard, and Chad Bradford. We would be helping them by taking the bad contracts of Hernandez and Bradford and getting a bona fide ace in Bedard. We offer them Pelfrey, Gomez, and Delgado. Before anyone goes nuts about Delgado I say it makes sense for Baltimore to get a 1B/DH in Carlos who is playing in the last year of his deal and will want a decent contract after that. They need a 1B/Dh and he can have a bounce back year, and then his salary clears. They also get Pelfrey and Gomez. If we need to add Mulvey or Carp, smaller prospects like that then fine. We would solidify our pen with Bradford who I love and we should have kept anyway and get the ace we need in Bedard. When then have kept Milledge to play RF and Humber who will be better than Pelfrey or can be used as a chip. Then we go get Mike Lowell to play first by outbidding the Yanks and Boston. If the Yanks are going to re-sign Arod and still try to get Lowell then why cant we be aggressive in improving our team like that? Lowell is a gritty, hustling leader and a very good ballplayer. What do you guys think? Regardless thank God this Torrealba deal fell through. Thats the main thing.
1. We do not have enough for Bedard since our farm is terrible to be kind.
2. Baltimore sun reports that O’s want high-end prospects for R. Henz. Can we trade that when we need to use whatever we have for pitching
3. Bradford! Relivers are like roller coaster. It is unpredicatable.
So I will pass
Fair Enough. If thats true about them wanting alot for Ramon Hernandez then I will pass too. His contract is very high and he isnt worth that money. I was thinking throwing him and his salary into a deal would help the Orioles out. Didnt realize they wanted alot for him. Forget that.
firstly, if erick bedard was on your team and you were rich (like the o’s are, so theres no point in dumping salary) , would you trade a potential cy young winner for carlos gomez mike pelfrey and carlos delgado?
Mike Lowell, had a perfect storm( hitting behind ortiz and manny, fenway is the perfect park for him, contract year). He had very good numbers last year, but as a first basemen they are not as impressive and in shea they would decline a lot.
Lastly, i dislike torreablla to, but hernandez is almost just as bad. He had a couple of greatyears, but every other year he has been very bad.
Thanksgiving gift!
All I want for Christmas is a real secondbaseman.
Fire Omar.
Fire Randolf.
Sell The Mets to D. Trump.
New Year 2008!
Can only hope that the Mets bailed on this deal with the knowledge that Omar has a better deal in his back pocket. Maybe he can get some defense-oriented ML-ready prospect included in a blockbuster deal for pitching that is finally ready to go down, and thus this marriage fell apart at the altar at the Mets’ behest. Even so, this is embarrassing for both sides, especially the Mets. They should never have pre-leaked the deal if it had this kind of chance to fall apart (which kind of begs the question of whether they had any inkling that the deal could fall apart, hence the embarrassment.)
Eddie C is on the FAN talking about the deal.
Eddie says, bottom line, he doesn’t know why the deal broke down. He thinks that the Mets “should” talk to LoDuca. He confirms that the Mets never even gave him an offer. Eddie speclates that the Mets mistreatment of him won’t stand in the way of a deal to bring him back.
I meant to say “Eddie SPECULATES . . . ” Sorry.
Ed Coleman is a nice guy who never has any information of any value.
Yeah, true.
it 7pm and why hasn’t ESPN broken this story yet on their site. They are usually on top of this stuff.
That is absolutely absurd that ESPN hasn’t broken this story yet. I mean, this is 6-time Gold Glover, 9-time All-Star, 3-time MVP, 2-time Emmy Winner, 4-time BAFTA winner, inventor of the DVD/VCR combo, former Paris Hilton boyfriend, 2-time World Series MVP…oh wait…forget it…it’s Yorvit Torrealba. I’m pretty sure ESPN isn’t about to interrupt their regularly scheduled programming to announce this “story”.
Is that my sarcasm 6th sense tingling?
Come on dude, this is sports drama. An already annouced deal falling apart? Juicy stuff. But your prob. right. If it ain’t about barry they ain’t interested.
Yeah, Barry or A-Rod. If only Yorvit had a wicked cool nickname like Alex (e.g., “Y-Torr”) then the media would be all over this story.
This is both good and bad.
It is good because this was a terrible deal to begin with so the Mets are getting lucky. It is bad because a) they may go back to LoDuca, the worst player ever, or b) to cover his ass, Minaya may make an even dumber signing/trade
However, the fact that Torreabla will not be back is quite pleasing. And if they sign LoDuca and/or Eckstein, I have lost faith in humanity.
So, I take it you want the Mets to (a) sign Barrett and give the A’s a no. 1 draft pick even though Barrett has proven himself to be more of a headache than Paulie; or (b) trade some of our very few chips for some other team’s mediocre catcher.
I want them to start Ramon Castro, who last year hit 11 homers in just 144 at-bats. I am sick of him getting nothing out of producing. He also slugged .435 in 2005. He is only costing the Mets $2.3 million. Why waste money/prospects on someone else?
Ramon Castro > Paul LoDuca or Yorvit Torreabla
If he will sign for cheap, get Damian Miller or another free agent catcher to be the backup. Hell, re-sign Sandy Alomar Jr., who hit .278 in 2006 in 5x more the at-bats and is good defensively.
Either way, Castro should start.
LoDuca is terrible. I’d rather start DiFelice.
Dude, who is the good alternative to LoDuca now? There are no good FA options and you do NOT want to lose chips in a trade for a backstop that will reduce the chips you have to trade for a front-line starting pitcher.
I agree Eckstein is a weird choice, but Castillo’s knees are scary, as is his reported bad inluence on Reyes.
What are your solutions that net us decent options at 2b and C without giving up our limited trading chips we will need for pitching help???
Glider,
Obviously, my reply was for ludacrispat.
I’m with you, bro.
yeah I know why the mets pulled out. After chatting about the Alamo, Yorvit told omar that his great great great grandfathers 1st cousins favorite grocery stores pet dogs care taker was white. omar quickly backed away with disgust.
is it possible that maybe the deal fell through because the mets are working on a deal with the orioles for both hernandez & bedard?
i hope so cjr126
Seriously, this isn’t a big deal. No one is going to cry over losing Yorvit. And LoDuca is finished here. You people overrate him by a lot. It’s not like we’re losing an in his prime Piazza.
If anyone remembers, we played some of our best ball with DiFelice and Alomar Jr. as our two catchers. Does this mean I would prefer those two? Of course not, but it illustrates the point that LoDuca, who did have an excellent ‘06, was just not that good last year.
So what would I do? I would stand pat for a while. Explore deals with the O’s and Indians that would include pitching and catching, and if nothing else happens, I would think Laird will still be available.
But I would also look to the Twins (Mike Redmond) or the Nationals (Scheider).
The guy I would want is Scheider. He is a left-handed bat and very strong defensively. He would be a perfect platoon partner for Castro. Perhaps the Nationals wouldn’t want to go with Flores as their starter, but they need to rebuild and if we were to throw them some lower prospects with some upside (which we allegedly have a lot of down in the nether regions of our minor league affiliates). Maybe we could expand the deal to include Felipe Lopez. He would be an ideal backup on this team and a nice platoon partner for Gotay. Lopez is stronger from the right side and has a slick glove. Plus, he could spell Reyes occasionally, and we all know Reyes could sit a bit more next year.
Anyway, my two cents. I think there are plenty of solid platoon options out there, and if Minaya does his due diligence he can come up with a creative trade that plugs a few holes.
I think the best ball the Mets played in 07 was the first month or so with Lo Duca. Anything that happens now regarding catcher is damage control - it’s a fact. Lo Duca was the ONLY option - the SAFE option. If we weren’t deficient in other areas, we could have traded our chips for somebody else, but it wasn’t the way to go. Now, maybe that will become necessary, especially if Paulie tells Omar to screw himself, which I would, if I were him. Even if we sign Paulie now, it will cost us and the Mets don’t seem too fond of throwing money around, except if it’s for scrubs like Mota or Show.
You think LoDuca was the safe option? A 35 year old catcher who broke down and has no speed/power was the safe option?
Personally, I would have preferred Torrealba to LoDuca, although he wasn’t as strong defensively as I would have liked.
I really don’t get why everyone wants LoDuca back so badly.
And this team isn’t “deficient” anywhere. Sure, there are some weak spots, but I wouldn’t call any of them deficient. I think an Easley/Gotay platoon wouldl do just fine at 2B, and Castro is solid behind the dish. Even the starting pitching and bullpen can’t be considered deficient.
I’ll be honest, while I would obviously prefer them to upgrade some areas (the rotation and bullpen), I would be ok if they didn’t do anything. You want to know why?
Beltran, Reyes, and Wright are the team’s core. Beltrann will give us his usual and Reyes and Wright should get even better (and by better I mean more consistent). Delgado is primed for a bounceback year (it’s his walk year and he isn’t coming off two surgeries this season). Milledge is an upgrade in RF over Green both offensively and defensively, and if Alou can give us 100+ games he will hit. Personally, I think anyone will be an upgrade over LoDuca so long as they are younger and stronger defensively behind the plate (calling the game and throwing wise).
As for the pitching, it wasn’t that bad last year, bullpen included. The pen wore down because the starters ran out of gas in the second half, which is understandable since Glavine and Duque are on the wrong side of 40 and Maine and Perez hadn’t thrown that many innings ever/ in a few years, respectively. Wagner and Feliciano were solid all year, and Heilman was better in the second half (he too was coming off surgery). Joe Smith was a revelation in the first half until he wore down and Schoenweiss came on strong in the second half. The only two who completely sucked were Sele and Mota… they were terrible.
Now Perez and Maine should be better equipped to handle the innings and may increase their production. We get Pedro back for a full season, and I bet they acquire an innings eater (a Livan/Silva type) who they can slot at the back end of the rotation. Humber is in his second year back from TJ surgery, which is the year they say a pitcher fully comes back from surgery, and Mulvey is presenting himself as an intriguing option. Pelfrey also looked strong down the stretch, and after finally getting a some innings under his belt could be poised for a nice season.
In the pen, Duaner and Padilla should be back, and the rest of the pen comes back pretty much in tact. Sure, it’s not the ‘06 bullpen, but how often does a bullpen like that come around?
Obviously, this is a kind of rose-colored glasses look at this team, but I don’t think I am over-reaching anywhere. It’s all fairly rational, and I truly believe this is a solid team that had a down year while incorporating some young pitchers into the rotation. They really should bounce back this season.
Squad, thank you for your reply and I always enjoy your posts. I think the bullpen was quite deficient this season. Mota and Show stunk and Heilman is really good sometimes but other times, quite iffy. The Mets obviously had issues in 07. They were streaky and inconsistent because they didn’t have IMO the solid core team. The bullpen was never there. The starting pitching was decent but not great. If the investment in Lo Duca was less than 20 or 30 million - and for all we know, he might have signed a one or two year contract, which might have only commited us to 16 or 17 million, what is the risk? The Mets are in NY. They have TONS of money. Remember that we didn’t sign Zito, we didn’t sign hardly anyone since Wagner. Even though the Mets are bringing in more money and their ticket prices have gone up, their payroll has stayed steady. To have Lo Duca signed already isn’t a risk. If he broke down, we’d still have Castro, probably De Felice and trade options. NOT signing him was a risk. Now we have to make a trade or sign a FA scrub. Or am I missing some other option? Delgado might come back and Pedro might pitch a full season, but I wouldn’t count on both frankly. The odds of Duaner, Padilla, Pedro and Delgado being at the top of their game is even more of a longshot. Yes, we could very possibly patch together a fine team. BUT, signing Lo Duca would have freed Omar up already for our bullpen and starting needs. He will wake up during some of these catching negotiations and find out that his Plan A for SP is gone (probably a blessing, because it might be Livan). But seriously, I have lost faith in Omar and I am daring him to prove me wrong.
While I agree with you that money shouldn’t be our problem, I still don’t think that is the issue a lot of times. Whether or not we could afford Zito, he was a bad investment.. Just because we can afford someone doesn’t mean we should just sign him. A bad long term contract could haunt a team for years. Would you want Zito making Ace money when he’s really a #3 at best? I wouldn’t. Plus, you would have to keep him in the rotation because that contract is way too big to eat or trade.
And I agree with everything you posted, but I personally think it was just an off year, with a lot of valid reasons behind it. You know, people forget that Delgado and Heilman both had surgery in the offseason. Our top 7 OFers all spent time on the DL this year. Both LoDuca and Castro were on the DL at the same time. We lost our starting 2B. Duaner and Padilla didn’t throw a pitch. I mean, this was a crazy, crazy season. And they still came within a game of making the playoffs.
I think this team is too good to tank two years in a row. With some minor upgrades I think they willl be fine.
With that said, my personal opinion of LoDuca aside, if he does agree to come back on a 2 year deal for less $$ then sure, lock him up and move on. Otherwise, look to nail down a SP and expand the deal for a catcher.
I agree. I just think that maybe we could have already had Lo Duca and OK, we might still be able to get him, but he might cost us more and making the guy feel like second fiddle, after playing his heart out for us and obviously wanting to be here, not just as a pro, but as a fan, seemed harsh and unnecessary. It seems like sometimes Omar and his staff sometimes get a little overly ambitious in possibly a less-than-productive way and this seems like a case. Signing a 28 year old catcher with an injury who can barely hit at Coors field and can’t throw for 3 years, I’m not sure even what word describes properly what that is, but it wasn’t right and he hasn’t burned the Lo Duca Bridge in the process, but has definitely raised the toll.
Have to say that unless we pull off a huge deal with the O’s, I wouldn’t be against Piazza as an option. Castro catches 90, Piazza 70. I wouldn’t want Mike back for the middle of my order, but a bat off the bench and platoon catcher hitting 8th? That seems acceptable to me. Not perfect, but it would work provided that the rest of the order produces.
If I’m upgrading on position players, I’d rather go for Orlando Hudson then looking for a catcher upgrade. Hudson’s glove, bat, and speed would seem to be a good fit. Much rather have Hudson than Eckstein.
The O’s do seem to be a very logical trading partner, and Bedard I can actually see acquiring because he will indeed be a FA before they’re a competitive club again. I could see a big deal with them that helps us for the next 3 years, and helps them more 3 years from now.
Frankly, I’m glad YT isn’t signing–I think it helps open up more interesting options rather than forcing us to have a mediocre player as a catcher for the next 3 years.
listen,
this goes beyond the fact that a deal fell through. look at what the yankees have done in the last 1 week. a-rod, mo, posada…need i say more. the mets orginization has not had a true plan going into this offseason. this is the diff. of the 2 orginizations. hank and the yanks get what they want bc they pay for what they want. they are smarter then us. or they just have an owner who looks at the team as a fan and not as making $. i honestly think we are now 3rd in the east. phls are nasty. amd braved…well they are the braves. its sad to see how ownership teases us the METS FANS
the yankees are not in our division, and therefore irrelevant, and the braves have been in 3rd place for 2 years running.
I think we’ll be ok without yorvit torrealba, and if he was the difference between a crappy season and a great one, we were already in trouble.
really I’m just a little confused by this whole thing, and have to figure it’s “the list” or the shoulder. Better backing out now than getting stuck with 3 years of lameness though. I suppose I hope Paulie comes back now, and he seemed to want to stay enough to go for it, despite already having issues w/ the front office. I know I’d miss his WFAN interviews if he didn’t come back :)
The Yankees are RE-signing players from last year. YES they made the playoffs, but they didn’t WIN the playoffs.
They’re turning into the same team that got beat by the Indians, except now they’ll be a year older, with a closer and a catcher approaching declines, with big money, too long contracts.
Explain to me how they’re so much better? They’re re creating their team from last year that didn’t win. They’re assuring themselves that they’ll have OLD players.
AND the offseason is VERY young. Omar and staff are tight lipped. How the heck do you know they have no plan. How many Free Agents have been signed this offseason? Not many. What crawled up your butt man? This Hot Stove hasn’t even started!
So the Yankees resigned 3 of their own players… big deal. Is this a surprise to anyone?
ARod wasn’t coming here. Wright is our 3B for the next 10 years and just won a gold glove. We don’t need ARod.
Posada is pushing 40 and has caught a ton of games in his career when you include the postseason. No thank you on signing a catcher of his age to a 4 year deal.
And Rivera. Did we really want to give him 3 years? Especially when we have a pretty darn good closer ourselves? Frankly, I wouldn’t want to give any of these guys the contracts they got from the Yanks.
As for the Phils and Braves, yea, they’ve improved… but so what? Phils are going to lose Rowand, and they really don’t have that great of a lineup outside of Howard and Utley. I will give you Atlanta though, they look like they are primed for a big year this season.
Huh?
Outside of Beltran and Wright, Mets don’t have much of a lineup.
(Yeah, I’m ignoring Reyes just as you ignored Rollins. Not to mention Pat “Met Killer” Burrell. Ask Wagner if that name doesn’t ring a bell).
Sorry, I forgot about Rollins.
Burrell… color me unimpressed. I’ll take Alou. And Delgado, while not the Delgado of yore, is still solid. Don’t sleep on Lastings.
As it stands: Reyes, Milledge, Wright, Beltran, Alou, Delgado, Castro, Gotay/Easley. I’ll take it.
Pat Burrell: 30 HRs, 97 RBIs.
Moises Alou: 13 HRs, 49 RBIs.
Yeah, Alou is much better. He should be even better with another year under his belt.
hey its not that big of a deal… mets can find plenty of catchers with bad shoulders who are life long backups and bat .212 away from coors. They will get someone in the trade market, or just over pay lo duca. I wish they would get a big outfielder like a dunn, but i think they are gonna give milledge a chance. No way in hell they are going to get bedard the guy has a couple years on their contact. The guy i think the mets will end up with is sheets, because he is in the walk year and is oft injured and brewers pretty much have inferred they are not going to sign him and he is available. We will just have to hold our breath when we get him, because he can pitch if he is healthy. And call me crazy, but i never count out pedro, he is still an ACE, until proven otherwise. The guy came back and won games for us, when we needed them and the game he lost was because of the bullpen (the great he pitched against philly until our terrible bullpen blew it). He will probably be better next year, since he was pitching a high level despite doctors projects and suggestions. We need more bullpen help then a starter, but hey if an ace is available, i will try to get him in a heartbeat.
my bold prediction omar will be trigger happy and trade milledge and maybe a couple class b prospect for sheets. Do i agree with the deal… not really, but pitching is such a premium. Sheets will be a FA after the year, but if sheets did well mets wont let anyone outbid them on the market. But on the joking side orioles gm is the same guy who traded kazmir, and maine. So hey why not bedard lol.
I think the guy you mean Jim Duquette isn’t on the Orioles anymore.
SAN FRANCISCO DE MACORIS, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (AP)—Fresh off the signing of free-agent catcher Yorvit Torrealba, the New York Mets are on the verge of addressing another off-season need by agreeing in principle on a contract to bring former major-league player Julian Javier out of retirement.
Javier, 71, starred as a second baseman with the St. Louis Cardinals during the 1960s. A lifetime .257 hitter, he was a member of the Cardinal championship squads of 1964 and 1968. Javier retired from baseball after a final season with the Cincinnati Reds in 1972. His son, Stan Javier, played in the major leagues from 1984 to 2001.
“We are very pleased to land a player with Julian’s credentials,” said Mets general manager Omar Minaya on a conference call with reporters from the Dominican Republic, where he had spent the week before Thanksgiving courting the elderly second baseman. “He’s a quality second baseman who can turn the double play, and we like what he brings to the table offensively.”
While acknowledging the potential risks involved in signing a player past retirement age and inactive for 35 years, Minaya continued to express enthusiasm about the signing.
“We know he’s been out of baseball for a few years,” Minaya added, “but we’re confident that he can regain his skills, maybe with a little work. Hopefully, you know, he can help us—play second, do a little hit and run, steal a few bases…the little things.”
Details of Javier’s contract were not released, but a source close to the negotiations has indicated that Javier had balked at a proposed minor-league deal, holding firm for a spot on the team’s 40-man roster.
If he makes the team, Javier would be the oldest player in Met history, surpassing other recent Minaya signings Julio Franco (48 years old), Orlando Hernandez (42) and Moises Alou (41).
While clearly pleased with the direction suggested by this signing, Minaya indicated that he is not yet done. The Met general manager is tentatively scheduled to meet with Stan Javier, Julian’s 43-year-old son, about a back-up outfield position next week.
“We’ll see,” said Minaya, crossing his fingers for emphasis. “You never know.”
Not out of the realm of possibilities with this clown Omar
Well wow is all I can say, Omat\r is on a losing streak. Today my son and I went to the David Wright event for the Long Island Storm in Hempstead. The attendees were Lo doca Wright and Joe Mcewing and Shelly Duncan was a no show.
Lo Doca was asked several times about the Mets here are some of the comments
1) What happened last year_ He claimed some guys chocked and the pressure got to others
2) He claimed Oliver Perez is the hardest pitcher on the mets to catch(Kevin Brown was hardest ever for him)
3) He claimed he gre up a met fan and wanted to retire one. He thinks he is still a good fit
4) Wright says Lo Doca was the captain of the Mets and should be retained
5) Lodoca seemed obviously upset and distant. He said he has had talks withe 7 teams incluging Colorado, Philly and Washington.
6) Wright says the Mets learned from last year and it won’t happen again. He insinuated the starting pitching destroyed the bull pen.
7) Wright thinks he will be more consistant going forward, this being his worst flaw.
Overall, it was a good event but I felt losing Loduca will not be a good thing in the dugout or locker room. I was for the change at catcher now I am not so sure, and this clinchs it. Maybe sign him and give more time to Castro behind the plate
BTW all three guys were great with the kids.
Nice post, but honestly, this is the stuff that rubs me the wrong way about Wright sometimes. I know he is being diplomatic, but dude, this is YOUR team.
That is the problem with this team. They’re being led by a bunch of veterans who have never won ANYTHING (Pedro notwithstanding. What has LoDuca won? Nothing. Delgado? Nothing. Wagner? Nothing. Seriously, Wright needs to step up, take the reins and lead this team.
And this is why LoDuca needs to go. Wright is too nice of a kid to step on the veterans’ toes. LoDuca isn’t that magnificent a ballplayer that we can’t replace his production.
PREDICTION: Joe McEwing will be on the “list”
PREDICTION: You actually have a hat made out of apples
Good reporting - thanks! I think you got a scoop.
Interesting scoop. I am surprised LoDuca showed up with all the recent events. It seems like he’d still be interested then if the Mets decided they wanted to pursue him.
Wonder what the odds are that Paulie himself is on The List?
That 2001 season stands out like a sore thumb.
Seriously, I wish Mitchell would just release a provisional list of names, so that untainted players could get on with their careers.
I’m sorry to inform some of you guys, but LoDuca is the best available option out there. I’m sure the PR men and LoDuca’s agent can smooth everthing over with the right words to the public so long as the money is there. I think something like a two year $8-10 million will do it. Paulie can field offers (who’s fishing for Paulie now that the Rockies have a catcher . . . and, remember, the Rockies were going to make a strong pitch for Paulie when they thought we were gonna sign Yorvit! So, really, how bad is re-signing LoDuca?)
I can live with a .270-.310 BA, 50-60 ribbies, 6-10 HRs from our catcher.
I hear this guy keppinger is pretty good…why don’t we trade for him?
Also, Owens and Lindstrom are pretty good young guys…scouts have been saying that since they were even younger than they are now while in the minors…maybe we can trade Vargas for one of them.
We could also possibly send burgos for heath bell or royce ring.
Better yet, we can send some garbage for Bannister…I hear he’s ok…not completely sure though…
If we do any of these that could definitely solve a lot of our problems and just focus on starting pitching while letting Castro assume the starting catching job and sign a cheap solid defensive backup…but then again, what do I know? Let’s wait ’till the end of winter and just sign someone expensive at the bottom of the barrel!
Now, two possible catchers are no longer possibly destined for Shea in ‘08…so, you either have to find just a good backup defensive catcher and see if Castro can last 75% of the season or try and trade for Saltalamachia OR Bedard/Hernandez. I would be willing to give up most chips minus Milledge/Martinez or Gomez. I would trade any of Gomez or Martinez (give a “pick one of two” to the team you’re dealing) and Heilman/Humber/Pelfrey/Mulvey.
You’re not trading away your future because you’d still have: Alou/Beltran/Milledge in ‘08 and Milledge/Gomez or Martinez/Beltran in ‘09. you would have a young Ace in Bedard with Maine/Perez and a good crop of free agent pitching next year. You get one of the big FA starters as your $$$ move and can fill in the 5th spot. Alou and Delgado will be off the books. Use money accordingly between 1st/relief/5th starter.
I would love for Omar to at least talk to the O’s to see what the price is for Bedard/Hernandez.
There have been a lot of mistakes of waiting too long by Omar and then trading away talent late for a diamond in the rough type guy - that just hasn’t worked. I hope he gets this done with fast so we can have a little hope and move on from this past season.
Sorry for the long post…have a good night guys,
J.P.
If the Mets want LoDuca I don’t think anything that was said or done is unreparable. The Mets didn’t say anything negative about LoDuca, he just wasn’t their first choice. There was much more drama and negativity spewed b/w the Yanks and ARod and they kissed and made up..
Lots of times players end up on teams that initially weren’t their first choice and teams end up with players who might not have been their first choice. If the Mets want LoDuca, I think they can still have him. I don’t think dozens of teams are going to be knocking his socks off with offers. But of course its still and unknown whether the Mets want LoDuca.
Carlos Gomez/Carlos Delgado/Mike Pelfrey/Heilman/Kevin Mulvey…Pay the majority of Delgado’s salary this season…
for
Eric Bedard/ramon Hernandez/Kevin Millar
Thoughts? Realistic?
J.P.
I’m sure the Mets will still have a catcher next year (2 actually). GIve Omar a chance.
Loduca is a long shot, and will pretty much suck, like ost catchers. Hopefully Omar pulls something out of his butt.
It does seem like a lot of posters aren’t so against the Paulino idea anymore!
I think they need to trade for a real solution at 2B or C, and sill in at the other.
GOtay/Easlyer/A Hern can all fill in to cover 2B (and you could make a case to let Gotay have the job FT and hope he runs with it). I also have no idea what kind of prospects they have in the system for 2B. I just think the FA options kind of stink and shouldn’t be locked up for more than 2 years.
So, since 2B can be covered without giving up prospects, work a deal for a catcher. You can’t fill holes without trading anyne, and you can’t save every possible trading “chip” for pitching (since there isn’t taht much to trade for).
I agree with the guy who posted earlier that the team, as is, is really not that bad. Get 1 more respectable SP, fill in some BP arms, use Gotay, etc. at 2B, trade for a catcher (Paulino/Shoppach/Sneider) and go for it.
Much as you would like to, you can’t always fill every hole at one time. You have to work with what the market allows, and do the best you can.
ALso, if Barrett doesn’t get offered arb (quite likely), he comes free. I would also grap Estrada if he is non tendered.
I would, however, like to get someone that could be a FT catcher of the future (Paulino, SHoppach fit the bill).
Or, just give the job to the independant league guy. MIght work out!
Oh, and if they can get a real bat at 2B (gotay, or someone unexpected) they could go with a pure all glove, no stick at C like Defilice.
Reyes
Milledge
Wright
Beltran
ALou
Delgado
Gotay
Defilce/Castro/?
THat is a pretty stong line up, at least 1-7, probably just about as good as any other team.
And at worst, you give up 1 decent prospect (say, GOmez) to add a C.
I was just thinking…. what if we did a 3 way trade with the O’s, and the Twins, to try and get the pieces we need. If you think about it, between those 2 teams, they have everything we need. Anybody have any ideas on how this could end up working out for us?
Don’t need the twins…
Carlos Gomez or Fernando Martinez (1 of 2)
Mike Pelfrey
Heilman
Kevin Mulvey
Carlos Delgado…Pay the majority of Delgado’s salary this season…
for
Eric Bedard
Ramon Hernandez
Kevin Millar
1. Reyes 2. Milledge 3. Beltran 4. Wright 5. Alou 6. Millar 7. Hernandez 8. Easley/Gotay
1. Bedard 2. Martinez 3. Maine 4. Perez 5. El Duque with Humber waiting
Still have one of Gomez or Martinez (whichever one not involved in the proposed trade) to join Milledge and Beltran when the new stadium opens up in ‘09. Also, Delgado and Alou’s contracts off the books to go after one of the elite pitching free agents available.
…This is a better team than 07 - maybe not on paper - but paper doesn’t win championships!
Whats the number of the reject hotline again?
ur crazy the mets are gunna sign a catcher defelice is a good september call up but nothing more. Castros bak wont hold up.
Crap, I hope this doesn’t mean LoDuca is back. All LoDuca does is run his mouth, get hurt and then run his mouth some more.
Please look elsewhere.
Torrealba wasn’t my favorite choice but hes the right guy for the job. If ur lookin for a big bat behind the plate the market isnt open for that kind of player. Torrealba is grea t for a #8 hitter that he would be on the mets. We cant have milledge and gomez on the roster at the same time unless one of them gets the starting job b/c we already have a great utility outfeilder in endy chavez so i say go for jake peavy w/ gomez and mabe a class b prospect.
We will not get Peavy for Gomez and a class B prospect. Hope you were kidding bro.
Paul LoDuca is asking for too much hes only worth a year or 2.
Can someone here please give me an adequate reason of why Paul LoDuca for $5 million is a better option that Ramon Castro/Mike DeFlice for about $2.7 million? One person?
i know its probably unlikely but wat about a deal including carlos delgato and carlos gomez and possibly humber for adrian gonzolas and jake peavy? We could use some pitching and delgota is too big of a pay check and isnt doing a clean up man’s job. Adrian gonzolas is perfect for the mets …..hes young,great feilder, great potential and can hit for decent average and doesnt strike out much
They cant stay healthy and delfeilce cant even handel a 90 mph fastball. Hes only good for september call ups and in case of injuries. If one gets hurt who r u gunna bring up???Alomar isnt coming back.
anybody there??
I just heard that the Torrealba signing is back on again.
wow wats so hard about sayin yes???lol
where did u hear this?????????
Nowhere. That was a joke, son. Just a little knee-slapper to break up a boring Saturday night.
hey glider where did u hear that hes back on again???
source glider?
see above
hey wat do u guys think about Kosuke Fukudome becomeing the mets new right feilder?
Has he ever caught?
We have a RF as of now and his name is Lastings Milledge.
Hopefully the Mets can pick up someone like Barrett who is decent and won’t cost them too much. Just have Castro back him up because I don’t think Castro is ready to be a starter mainly because of chronic back problems.
Barrett is an excellent option.
Is that saracasm? He’s terrible, punches people and is a Type A free Agent, so we’ll lose Numbero Uno Picko
Can someone please tell me why Ramon Castro cannot be the regular everyday catcher? Ramon has power, when needed, good catching instincts and a strong and accurate arm, comparable to other candidates.
Steven Hirsch
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Dude, you realize NOBODY cares, right?
Torrealba HAD to know before/while negotiating with us that we were going to re-sign Castro.
Barret deal could happen even though he is white. If you have noticed Omar’s top choice for 2nd base is David Eckstein who is white. As for Barretts issues with teamates, he had a fight with Carlos Zambrano who is known to be a headcase. With the Cubs looking to lock up Zambrano to a long term deal do you really think they were going to piss him off by keeping Barrett. Or would the Cubs consider getting rid of their ace pitcher instead. From what I have heard the fight was Zambranos fault and one of them had to go and it wasnt going to be Zambrano over a catcher.
Also MadDog Russo was raving about Barrett as being a very good catcher and a good option for the Mets. I know many of you dont respect his opinion but I find MadDog very knowledgable about baseball and its players.
. . . and who did he have that dugout fight with? . . . CARLOS ZAMBRANO. Barrett ain’t coming to NY. So, let’s just move on to a more realistic choice.
Josh Barfield is better than milldge? Please tell me you were joking.
Crap?? What kind of Met’s fan are you?? Some of the post-ers in here are digraces as fans….ridiculous!
Right? How can anyone call our farm system crap? Rankings of prospects change so often that by next month or next year our guys can change to being the highest ranked. Have some faith in your team!
. . . yeah, and right now, ours is crap.
lol … nice one!!
was Shawn, green?
I second that wish. Not to sound like a Public Service Announcement or anything, but why does the skin color matter?
I live in Utah, and there are certainly MANY MANY white people living here, yet we seem to care much less about skin color than many people (at least the ones that comment on this site) who live in NEW YORK CITY!! Isn’t that like… THE MELTING POT because of the wide ethnicity?
There are far more Latin players in baseball than any other ethnicity, so naturally a team would consist of many Latin players. Realistically, if Omar has any Browny points toward Latin Players, and Latin Players are the majority, isn’t that a plus?