Daily Archives: November 26, 2007
According to the Associated Press, the Yankees and Twins have begun trade talks involving LHP Johan Santana.
Hank Steinbrenner, Yankees senior vice president, told the AP that discussions are ongoing and it was too early to say whether they would lead to a deal.
Over the weekend, citing ‘a source,’ Newsday reported that the Yankees plan to make a ‘good, strong offer,’ while quoting Yankees GM Brain Cashman as saying he has received repeated inquiries from teams about Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy.
Santana, who is eligible for free agency after the 2008 season, has a no-trade provision in his contract, and, according to ESPN.com’s Peter Gammons, is seeking an extension worth at least six years and $150 million.
…my biggest fear is coming true…we knew all along that the Yankees have the pitching prospects to trade to the Twins, however i believe the Yankees non-inclusion of either Robinson Cano or Melky Cabrera could be a deal breaker…the Twins do have the pitching depth to sustain a loss like santana but they lack offense, especially with the recent loss of Torii Hunter…
Tagged Yankees |
…the following clip is from a segment by SNY, featuring work being done by Mo Vaughn and Omni New York LLC, which, according to their site, ‘is a real estate development company that was founded for the purpose of bringing revitalization and development to various neighborhoods in New York’…
…this is great…i enjoy hearing stories like this……of course, when i hear or see mo, i think of two stories…
…1) while taking pitching lessons as a teenager from a former Red Sox pitcher, i three to vaughn in a batting cage, who had just debuted with the sox a few months earlier…the guy hit the ball back at me so hard that i still have nightmares about it…B) in his final season with the Mets, vaughn hit the most powerful home run i have ever seen, which landed nearly half-way up the scoreboard at shea…for a brief moment, i actually thought it was going to clear it, as crazy as that may seem…it was unreal…and while this does not release him from his overall poor performance while wearing the team’s uniform, oddly enough, to his credit, the home run is my lasting memory of him, which is sort of nice…
Tagged Mo Vaughn, SNY |
Over at Minor League Ball, prospects analyst and author John Sickels gives his Mets’ top 20 prospects list, ranked by his unique letter grading system.
Topping his list, with B+ grades, are OF Fernando Martinez and RHP Deolis Guerra, followed by OF Carlos Gomez and RHP Kevin Mulvey, both given B’s but with the potential to be bumped up to B+ in Sickels’ yearly prospect book, which is due out in February.
…note that because of service time accrued, OF Lastings Milledge and RHP Mike Pelfrey did not qualify for the list…
On the system as a whole, Sickels states:
“There is some nice pitching in this system, but depth in position players is very weak. Overall the system is better than it looks at first, but lack of hitting depth is a problem, and I hate the way they rush some of their prospects.”
…later this week, i’ll have an interview with sickels about his take on the Mets farm system…
…given the questions about the team’s lack of depth, the list is a lot more promising than one might initially anticipate…unlike Baseball America, sickels ranks 1B Nick Evans in the top ten…after evans’ strong year in the extreme-pitcher friendly Florida State League, i agree with sickels…
…as with all of these Mets lists, you get the feeling there will be significant upheaval and change in the next year or two, as the top-level guys such as Carlos Gomez and Phil Humber graduate for good (or are traded); the nearly ready 2007 draftees start seeing big-league time; and the big latin classes signed over the past two summers start to see significant time stateside…
Tagged Mike Carp, Minors, Philip Humber |According to MLB.com’s postseason share-system, each player on the 
Mets will earn an additional $9,411 for finishing in second place this past season, assuming he is awarded a full share.
The Phillies will earn $28,058 per share for finishing in first, though they lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Rockies, who will earn $233,505 per share for getting to the World Series.
In a recent report for SI.com, the great Jon Heyman writes that the Red Sox, Mets, Yankees and Dodgers ‘have what it takes’ to trade for A’s RHP Dan Haren.
According to Heyman, a package from the Mets including Lastings Milledge, Mike Pelfrey and Kevin Mulvey would be ‘reasonable.’ In fact, “Milledge looks like a goner from the Mets, writes Heyman, adding, “I am hearing his name so much in trade talks I am starting to think his nickname is Chip.”
Lastly, Heyman notes that the Mets have talked to the Nationals about Brian Schneider, the Orioles about Ramon Hernandez and the Rangers about Gerald Laird.
…sorry, but i’m still stuck on Chip Milledge…
By the way, in addition to the above Mets information, Heyman also writes about Johan Santana, who will cost at least a center fielder and a pitcher; the market for Miguel Cabrera; and Mike Piazza, who is open to playing in Japan, should nothing pan out for him in MLB.
…paging Bobby Valentine…Mr. Bobby Valentine…seriously, if piazza ever joined Benny Agbayani and bobby on the Chiba Lotte Marines, i think i might actually start following that team…
The Cubs have signed free-agent RHP Kerry Wood to a one-year deal.
According to ESPN Radio in Chicago, the deal is worth $4 million.
In a post to MLB Trade Rumors, Tim writes that Wood had four other offers for two years, possibly from the Padres, Brewers and Red Sox.
…hmm, yet he took less, in dollars and years, to remain with the Cubs…so, either there is something we don’t know, or he’s just super loyal to Chicago, which, quite frankly, he should be, considering how much money he has earned from them to run back and forth from the doctor’s office…
Tonight, November 26, at 6:30 pm, SNY’s Mets Hot Stove will feature Darryl Strawberry and Ron Darling.
Hosted by SNY’s Kevin Burkhardt, Mets Hot Stove discusses the rumors and trades surrounding the Mets and other MLB teams during the off-season.
The show will re-air at 11pm.
Speaking of SNY, they’re running a poll on their Hot Stove page asking: Should the Mets include Jose Reyes in a trade for Johan Santana?
To vote, click here.
Tagged SNY |In a recent post to their blog, Mets Refugees debunks a collection of popular internet-myths about Mets 19–year-old OF prospect Fernando 
Martinez, who was recently ranked as the team’s top prospect by Baseball America.
According to Baseball America…
“His upside remains tremendous…Minaya says Martinez is on the same track as players such as Juan Gonzalez, Ivan Rodriguez and Sammy Sosa, all of whom reached the majors by age 20…His bat ultimately will be his calling card, and the Mets see him as a future 30-homer threat.”
In 60 games for Double-A Binghamton this past year, when most kids his age are playing in their senior-year of high school, Martinez hit .271 with four HR.
The Mets today unveiled the ‘commemorative logo’ celebrating the 45-season history of Shea Stadium.
The Mets will wear this logo as a patch on the right sleeve of their uniforms 
during all 2008 home games.
In the coming weeks, the team will announce plans for a season-long “Salute to Shea” that will include a series of special events and promotions.
…for what it’s worth, i wrote about this during the end of september, but this is the first official announcement from the team…if you click on the above photo, and check out the larger image, you’ll notice that the stadium is split in half, with a the old school shea on one side featuring those bizarre panels hanging from the building’s side, while the other side is our current version…nice work…
…and with that, bring on Citi Field…
At FOXSports.com, Dayn Perry ranks who he believes to be the Top 10 Under-the-Radar Free Agents.
Of interest to the Mets, Perry lists free-agent RHP Bartolo Colon as third on his list, writing…
“Colon has some near-term upside. He’s coming off injury and his conditioning habits leave much to be desired, but he’s still got excellent stuff, and his performance down the stretch last season proved he’s still got something in the tank. He makes sense provided he’s willing to sign a low-base, incentive-laden contract. If the market is such that he commands a multi-year deal, then consider him no longer worthy of this list.”
…colon is intriguing…however, again, assuming the Mets find 
themselves scrambling for a starter, and we’re still talking one-year contracts, i’d rather the Mets go for a guy like Livan Hernandez, who is seventh on perry’s list, and who the Mets have been linked to in rumors…
In 29 starts, spanning the last two seasons, Colon is 7–13 with a 6.34 ERA, during which opponents hit .316 against him.
Meanwhile, Hernandez, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux are the only major-league pitchers to make 30 or more starts in each of the past 10 seasons. However, Hernandez’s total innings-pitched has dropped during each of the last four years.
Perry, on Hernandez…
“He’s usually around the league average in ERA. He’d be a great fit for a team with a strong defense…and in need of innings at the back of the rotation. Hernandez is not an ace by any stretch of the imagination, but he pitches deep into games and always answers the bell.”
In a recent column for FOXSports.com, Ken Rosenthal wrote that the Mets are ‘divided’ on whether to make a ‘strong push’ for Hernandez, who may also be of interest to the Cardinals, Tigers and Astros, among others.
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