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…the buzz from shea has long been that the Mets are likely to non-tender C Johnny Estrada during today’s deadline…
…by doing so, he becomes a free agent and the Mets owe him nothing, other than a thank you for allowing them to ship Guillermo Mota, and mota’s salary, to the Brewers…
Meanwhile, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, the A’s are likely to non-tender RHP Kiko Calero, who was 1–5 with a 5.75 ERA in 46 appearances in Oakland last season.
However, in his previous 128 relief appearances, spanning two seasons, he was 7–3 with a 3.36 ERA having struck out 119 batters in 113 innings pitched.
…the word from san francisco has been that calero is suffering from some sort of arm issues, which could be why they have no interest in bringing him back…
Speaking of arm issues, the Chicago Tribune writes that the Cubs may non-tender RHP Mark Prior, as he could earn up to $4 million through salary arbitration.
Prior has not pitched in a big-league game since August 2006.
He is 42–29 in 106 starts for his career, with a 3.51 ERA.
…if prior hits the open market, i assume there will be a large number of teams who will try to be creative about bringing him in to their camp…i hope the Mets are one of them, though it will be hard to justify giving him a guarenteed roster spot…
Lastly, the Padres may non-tender 3B Morgan Ensberg, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
At RotoWorld, Matthew Pouliot lists the following players, who could also find themselves non-tendered and available to any team via the free agent market starting tomorrow:
- Nationals 2B-SS Felipe Lopez
- Brewers OF Kevin Mench
- Dodgers LHP Mark Hendrickson
- Mariners LHP Horacio Ramirez
- Cubs LHP Neal Cotts
- Red Sox RHP Brendan Donnelly
- Brewers RHP Seth McClung
- Royals RHP Brandon Duckworth
- Nationals RHP Ryan Wagner
…in some cases, like with donnelly, the player will likely be cut and then re-signed to a lesser deal than he would have been given through arbitration…
Hello, welcome to Shea Mr. Hendrickson
why would we drop a catcher like estrada?
A hitting catcher is always in demand. If we had him in ST, there would not be one team out there that would want to trade for him? We could get something for him… a minor leaguer at least…
The problem is that nobody thinks he’s worth over 4 mil (what both he and the Brewers stated that he would get in arbitration this season). The Brewers already tried to trade him for something but couldn’t and were openly planning on non-tendering him themselves when Omar came in and somehow convinced them to take Mota and his contract. Getting Estrada back was basically a throw in (on top of the nothing the Brewers were rightly willing to give up for Mota) just in case we couldn’t another decent catcher to split time with Castro. He’s not worth 4.5-ish mil to anyone….as I’ve noted here before, his park-adjusted OPS+ was only one point higher than Schneider’s last year, and his defensive problems are well-known.
because of the $4million contract they would be stuck with when he went to arbitration.
Maybe, but what type of money will he get with arbitration? You can’t have 13 million tied up in 3 catchers.
I can see your arguments if we were a small market team.
But we could afford to eat some of that if it means getting a quality player back.
Given the chance to show off in ST, he could become a valuable trading chip.
I just feel that hitting catchers are a very rare commodity in baseball. Most teams dont have one. Most teams want to have one. It doesnt make sense to me to drop one.
“I just feel that hitting catchers are a very rare commodity in baseball. Most teams dont have one. Most teams want to have one. It doesnt make sense to me to drop one.”
one just signed with the gNats
sorry…
good hitting catchers on the right side of 35
/fixed
Put it this way, any team that wanted a hitting catcher could have gotten him before we did. All they had to do was offer up a bucket of sunflower seeds and that would have topped what we gave for him. Nobody wanted him. Getting a few hits in a ST game is not going to get anyone to offer up something for him. Besides, if were going to eat a contract I’d rather it be Easley’s. A right handed pinch hitter is nice but its better if the roster spot went to someone who could platoon out in rightfield and play a little defensive firstbase.
I would be very excited about prior… that would be a huge challenge for the jacket…
Wood and Prior are the exact reason I have always been glad we never got dusty baker as a manager. Although it would have been nice for me to get a “baker” jersey
Dude, try NFL jerseys. You could get actual player jerseys for guys named J. Smoker and A. Pinner. Only another hour til 4:20!
Don’t agree.
Baker got a mediocre pitching staff into the playoffs. I see a lot fans complaining about the pitching not being strong enough for next season. That year the cubs had Wood coming back from surgery and Prior as a rookie as their ‘Aces’. Neither were over used. In fact their pitch counts were near the league average. Wood’s mechanics has always been terrible (thats why he had surgery in the first place) and Prior injured his shoulder running the bases. He was brought back to early by their GM and has had problems ever since. The same GM that scapegoated Baker after the Cub collapse when Derrek Lee got injured.
I’m intrigued by Prior, if we get him, and catch lighning-in-a-bottle, could spare us to empty the farm system to get a front-line-starter.
Prior would be an interesting option, but he almost has to be a minor league invite guy at this poitn, and someone will give him a guaranteed deal.
Calero if he was deemed helathy, or cam cheap and you cross your fingers?
Mench is the one that looks intriquing. Mets could use a OF/1B RH power bat, and he fits the bill. Wouldn’t be bad seeing him face the tougher lefties in place of Church, or Delgado on occasion.
A guy like mench would also be a nice DH for a Nat’l League team for the few interleague games (and hopefully world series!?!?!?!)
you’re right, intriguing option
sign prior. when he gets hurt again the mets can bring in lima or jeremi gonzalez.
How about Ryan Wagner?! He was touted, and had a nice arm…why are they non0tendering him? Isn’t Bowden obsessed with ex-reds?
I say we sign Lopez….he can fill in at short or 2nd..then we can put Gotay in a deal for a pitcher somewhere.
Lopez will get a starting job somehwere . . . the orioles might be looking for a SS now . . .
Sign Prior, $1M base salary, $800,000 for every win, -$10,000 for each Earned Run he gives up.
Based on this formula, the top pitchers from last year were paid from $10M to 16M.
Sounds good to me, think he’ll take it?
And obviously, I’m pulling this stuff out of my arse.
I think it is worth taking risks on guys like Prior ( as a starter or releiver) and Calero as long as they are not garaunteed major league contracts (or if they are garaunteed low enough incentive laden contracts theat they can ber dropped if needed…
I would give donnely a spring training invite
unless we have definitive information that he’s got permanently debilitating arm damage, we should be all over Prior. and we should guarantee him money. in this market, he is a valuable commodity, despite his injury history. I say something like $3/4 million guaranteed, with innings-based incentives that take it up to around $10 million for somewhere in the neighborhood of 180 innings . . and it should include a team option for 09 if we can get it . . . or a vesting option based on innings this year . . he’s going to get guaranteed money and some form of a 2-year commitment at least from someone . .
Sounds like a great idea…I really like the idea of a Prior at the back of the rotation. Maybe the jacket can clean up his delivery and keep him healthy…I think he may garner an offer in the area of $6 mil guaranteed from some crazy pitching starved team
he was throwin in the low 80’s at the end of next year. f Prior is nontendered by the cubs…it is because they know he is done..stick a fork in him done.
No thanks. Id prefer Colon over prior anyday
I would agree totally with Prior. He will get a guaranteed contract from somewhere. At this point we are below payroll so I do not think Omar has to worry about having to eat the contract. Prior’s problem is not his mechanics, etc. so the Jacket doesn’t even have to fix anything. The guy just needs to stay healthy and we have our ace potentially. A rotation of Pedro, Maine, Perez, Prior if healthy, and one of Pelfrey/Humber/El Duque would be strong. Plus if Pelfrey or Humber and take the 5th spot and run with it El Duque can go to the pen as our long man and occasional early inning reliever.
I feel sorry for the Reds pitchers. They will be ruined after Baker gets done with them.
I think I’ll just quote Slap Shot on this one, “Boy, every piece of garbage that comes into the league, you have to buy it.”
Prior has to be invited. Since Wilpon’s apparently afraid of 7 years for Santana he should at least dole out a guaranteed 1 year for Prior. Here’s a guy who best case can be a 2-3 guy right now, maybe could be a dominant setup guy. Worst case, after next year you’re out from under his deal. What’s the harm if you;re afraid to make a bigger splash?
Also, sign Cotts. Why not?
Wilpon and Minaya are not the only people afraid of 7 year contracts to pitchers. The majority of the league does not want to give out a deal for 7 years to a pitcher. Too much can and usually goes wrong with pitchers at some point. Guys like Clemens and Glavine who never have overly serious injury issues are not common when it comes to pitchers.
Why would Donnelly accept a lower salary? He’s been nothing but nasty since he’s been in the major leagues, so it doesn’t make sense for him, when he could just test the market and probably come up with a significant raise.
Was Donnelly connected to steroids? Or was he the one who was kicked out of a game for cheating? He is nasty all the way back to his Angels days. Wouldn’t mind grabbing him if he still has it for the pen.
in researching Donnelly he underwent TJ surgery in August of 2007 so he will most likely miss next season and at with that news any interest I would have is gone. My guess would be he is willing to resign for less money next season as he will not be playing but at least would still get paid that way.
Donelly’s 36, and coming off a serious arm injury (hasn’t pitched since June 10th).
I hate to say it, but arm problems or not, I am very intigued by Kiko Calero. A return to the NL could do him some good. These are the types of signings that will improve the Mets bullpen, not 3-year deals for Riske or Linebrink.
Ryan Wagner… ditto. Mench is an intriguing platoon partner for Church, too. Although he doesn’t get on base much. But the power potential is nice.
get traded for mota and get non-tendered… that’s harsh. but i guess this happens opposit of the more glamorous and spot-lighted side of baseball
Priors body will not hold up. He came back from an injury too early in 2003. Hendry (GM) needed him for the playoffs. instead of trading for an interim starter. Baker wasn’t happy abt it but was over ruled.
He has never recovered. I doubt he could last the whole season.
There’s definitely a couple nice arms there we should try to sign and give a shot in the bullpen. Maybe Cotts because he’s a lefty? Or Donnelly since he’s always had a low ERA at least? Or even sign a real young guy like Wagner and try to turn him around?
sign him and give him a guaranteed spot. He’s either gonna be good or he’s gonna be hurt, neither of which really hurts your team if you’re not counting on him, since if he’s hurt he doesn’t take up that spot on the roster anymore. I see no reason not to bring him in, the guy has more talent in his right pinkie than Johan does in his entire body, he’s just been hurt almost his whole career.