Daily Archives: December 28, 2007
According to Jerry Crasnick earlier this week at ESPN.com, the Mets are still interested in acquiring A’s RHP Joe Blanton, but not at the expense of Carlos Gomez, Kevin Mulvey and Aaron Heilman.
In a recent post to Athletics Nation, Nico writes the following about Blanton…
“It’s difficult to say exactly how good Joe Blanton is….He has never missed a start, he rolls (literally) out of bed and gives you 200 IP, and the guy has won 42 games in 3 years…The consensus around the league is that Blanton’s best seasons are behind him, not ahead of him…Blanton’s weight has scared off teams that think it reflects either a lack of conditioning, or a poor work ethic, a risky tendency, etc., and they believe Blanton is not nearly as good a health risk in the future as he has been in the past…Yes, Bartolo Colon and David Wells made it work for years on an ample frame, but many others didn’t. If I saw Joe Blanton at the hardware store, it would be difficult to convince me that he was a top athlete who could make the strapping young All-American boy-wonder look foolish on a slow curve.”
…so, nico, you’re saying that he literally eats innings…sorry, i had to do it…it’s an obvious joke…
Last season for the A’s, Blanton was 14–10 with a 3.95 ERA through 34 starts, during which he allowed an average of just one walk per start.
He made at least 32 starts in each of the last three seasons.
He is eligible for salary arbitration this off-season, and the two after that, and is eligible for free agency after 2010.
…he’d be a nice fit, especially switching his game to the National League East…however, gomez, mulvey and heilman is a hefty price tag for a picther who, though he did well last season, had a 4.82 ERA in 2006…
In a recent chat for ESPN.com, Keith Law said the following when asked how the Mets should proceed, assuming Johan Santana and Erik Bedard are not an option…
“I think if they’re not getting either of those guys, they should skip the Joe Blantons of the world and roll the dice on Pelfrey and maybe Humber. You liked these guys enough to take them in the first round, and both did well in the minors. Pelfrey in particular still has #1-2 potential. Jerking these two guys up and down isn’t going to help the big club or enhance their trade value.”
…to me, if santana is not an option, and the Mets are confident heilman can be replaced, i would pull the trigger on that deal for blanton, because he, John Maine and Oliver Perez will make a solid, young foundation to build upon over the next few seasons, plus it means keeping pelfrey and humber…and, it is quite clear that the only way to acquire above-average starting pitching is to overpay in prospects…
…plus, though i’d be disappointed to not get santana, starting Pedro Martinez, blanton, maine, perez and, say, Bartolo Colon, would be a good-enough rotation – especially when compared to the rest of the division…
[poll=37]
Tagged Mike Pelfrey, Philip Humber, Poll |
…a friend of MetsBlog, who i trust, recently bumped in to Phillies OF Pat Burrell while at dinner in Arizona…her table was introduced to him as a group of Mets fans…he was much nicer than she expected he would be…however, according to burrell, he would be open to playing for the Mets when they enter Citi Field in 2009…upon hearing this news, our friend stopped talking and refused to shake his hand as he walked away…
…i don’t blame her, though i am sure he said this in an effort to get a rise out of people he knows must despise him…
…the thing is, the Mets should consider signing burrell to a ten-year contract, while sticking him in the stands and forcing him to sell foam fingers…seriously, i don’t want him on the Mets, but i also don’t want him facing the Mets…
In his eight-year career, Burrell has 218 home runs, of which 20 percent are against the Mets, as are 104 of his 741 RBI.
Tagged Pat Burrell, Phillies |In today’s New York Post, Joel Sherman writes that the Red 
Sox remain the ‘strong favorite’ to acquire Johan Santana from the Twins.
According to Sherman, a) the Yankees are still unwilling to trade Phil Hughes and are reluctant to give Santana a six-year contract extension, while b) the Mets lag because Minnesota still wants to get back one or two players who can instantly contribute at the major-league level.
Therefore, Sherman concludes…
“For the Mets to land Santana, they would probably need these stars to align: a) The Twins feel they must deal their ace before spring training and, thus, take the best package available some time in the next six weeks; b) The Mets assemble a package that severely depletes their system, the Twins decide to accept volume as the key to the deal and neither the Red Sox nor the Yankees alter their offers.”
…again, as i have been saying, it’s all about hughes…if the Yankees will trade him, they’ll be able to acquire santana…now, whether they’ll pay him remains to be seen…on the other hand, if the Red Sox stay pat in their offer, the Mets are going to need to over do it, such as Carlos Gomez, maybe Fernando Martinez, and a variety of pitchers, which could include Aaron Heilman…this is why the Mets keep telling people they are ‘monitoring the situation,’ because there is nothing they can really do right now, short of including Jose Reyes, which is not an option…otherwise, Omar Minaya has no choice but to wait and see how the Yankees intend to behave…once that is decided, or the Twins get antsy, whichever happens first, it’s going to come down to whether the Twins want less players, who are more immediate (from Boston), or a lot of players (from the Mets) with high upsides who need more time to develop…
In a column for the Bergen Record, Bob Klapisch breaks down who is Hot and who is Not in baseball as we head in to 2008.
Regarding the Mets, Klapisch lists Omar Minaya under the Not category, while writing…
“Unless the Mets can somehow pry Johan Santana away
from the Twins, they’ll go into ’08 without significantly improving the team that blew a seven-game lead with 17 to go. Minaya loves the art of the deal, but he’s yet to work any magic this winter.”
…if you recall, i wrote the following in this post from early October, which critiqued minaya’s performance during the previous year…
…i am a fan of Omar Minaya, mostly because he had brought a new sense of local and national credibility to this team, and a level of buzz and excitement that i had not seen as a fan since the 80s…that being said, his poor decisions over the last year ultimately helped to contribute to the team’s biggest embarrassment since its first season in the league, and they cannot be ignored…
…i sense organization’s owners feel the same way…minaya’s contract expires at the end of 2009, as does Willie Randolph’s…so, the duo has two full seasons to further advance what they started in 2005…last season was a step backward, following one giant step forward, making next season quite significant in the future direction of this team, let alone their respective careers…
…in other words, as klapisch writes, and as people close to minaya have told me, for his sake, Ryan Church, Brian Schneider and the whole team better have a good year next season…
Tagged Omar Minaya |According to the Daily News, the Mets have expressed 
interest in free-agent LHP Jon Lieber.
Lieber’s agent, as quoted by the Daily News…
“We’ve been in contact with the Mets, but as we sit here today it’d be wrong to suggest something is imminent.”
…as the report suggests, multiple reports during the last week or so have linked the Mets to lieber, Bartolo Colon, Freddie Garcia and Kyle Lohse…
…my sense is that colon leads the list…in fact, from what i can gather, the team has been monitoring him quite closely as he pitches in the Dominican Winter League…although, during the Winter Meetings, there was a lot of buzz connecting the Mets and garcia, who will not be major-league ready until mid-summer…
…if a deal for Joe Blanton or Johan Santana cannot be worked out, meaning Mike Pelfrey, Phil Humber and Kevin Mulvey are all in camp, i have no problem with bringing on a veteran to round out the competition…however, i’m totally against locking in a pitcher like lohse, who may be seeking as much as a four-year deal – whereas colon, garcia and lieber will likely sign for far less of a commitment…
…regarding lieber specifically, like i suggested a few weeks ago with free-agent Josh Towers, i believe he’d do well in Shea Stadium, since he induces a ton of weak pop-ups…
In seven appearances at Citizen’s Bank Park for the Phillies last season, the 37–year-old Lieber had a 5.26 ERA, compared to a 4.19 ERA while pitching seven times on the road.
He missed the final 13 weeks of last season after having a ruptured tendon surgically repaired in his left foot.
According to previous reports, the Royals, Astros and Reds have all expressed interest at various times during this off-season.
