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According to Ken Rosenthal from FOXSports.com, “Mets officials remain divided on free-agent right-hander Kyle Lohse.”
Rosenthal adds, “The buzz among scouts on the East Coast of Florida is that the Cardinals are pursuing Lohse, but sources indicate that the team is not interested.”
…the buzz among scouts on the East Coast…i love it…
…if Orlando Hernandez will be on this team, than i just don’t see how the Mets can tie themselves up with a 
guaranteed contract for lohse…if, however, el duque is not on the team – and i have no idea how that would happen, short of him disintegrating, which does seem more and more possible every day – only then does a one-year deal for lohse start to make a whole lot of sense…
Speaking of Hernandez, according to the New York Post, he told reporters yesterday that a toe ligament and painful bunion on his right foot are keeping him from pitching batting practice or in a game.
…seriously, i am losing count of what ails this guy…first it’s a bunion, then it’s a dislocated toe, back to the bunion, plus a ligament, plus a root canal…i mean, how does he even get out of bed in the morning…i’m in pain just reading about it…
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Jesus.
Don’t let this guy wander near any glue or dog food factories.
Kyle Lohse is not the guy the Mets need. Barry Bonds puts the Mets over the top so far it’s humorous. Insert Barry Bonds into the Mets line-up, and they have a legitimate shot at scoring 1,000 Runs this year. Has a non-DH team ever scored 1,000 Runs before? I WANT BARRY BONDS!! It’s blatant collusion that this guy is unemployed right now. SIGN BARRY BONDS!!!
Anyway….in addition to signing Barry Bonds the Mets need to get these 2 players – Brandon Medders and Rajai Davis. Medders and Davis are both out of options, and aren’t looking at starting jobs on their respective teams….so…both can likely be had. Easley and Sosa can both start the year in Triple A to accommodate these two severely underrated players. Davis plays all three outfield positions, bats right handed, replaces all the speed off the bench we lost in Gomez, and is an up and comer that is under valued. He’s the guy we need for everything. Brandon Medders reminds me of that Chris Carpenter break out, out of no where type. He doesn’t have the innings logged Carpenter had, and a different frame, but…the guy has nasty stuff.
Figure Adam Bostick and Caleb Stewart for Medders, and how about Dan Murphy and Eric Brown for Rajai Davis…or maybe try to get Eric Threets involved : )…….Know what, if push even came to shove, I’d do Gotay for Davis and Threets….I’d hate to lose Gotay, but Davis is needed more as the team is currently configured….what a MENTALLY DEFICIENT MOVE IT WAS TO TRADE MILLEDGE FOR THAT DRECK IN RETURN!!!
Easley on a “rehab” assignment….and Sosa has an option left I believe….Medders is much better than Sosa anyway. Medders also gives the Mets an option should Perez bolt after the year….Medders is key, but so is Rajai Davis. AND BARRY BONDS!!!!
if we didnt already have an old broken down LF i would say getting bonds might not be a terrible idea. but beltrans legs would fall apart with those two statues out there.
Did they “fall apart” last year in between Alou and Green? Green was the second worst defensive Outfielder last year behind Barry Bonds….that’s right, even Manny was better. It’s only gonna be for 7 innings anyway, and then Endy and Rajai Davis(would be awesome) can come in…imagine that defense? Davis, Beltran, and Endy from Left to Right….yeah, good luck finding a hit out there….
If the Mets signed Bonds, and traded for Davis that’d free up Ryan Church for trade also….Mets can probably get a sweet middle reliever or young Catcher for Church no problem….Figure maybe?? Even Huston Street for Church and Jon Niese….or even just Casilla for Church…maybe Kelly Shoppach? I’d do Shoppach for Church with Bonds and Davis in tow….or even include Schneider with Gotay for Molina, Threets, and Davis….even though I hate super slow players…only thing I hate more are guys THAT CAN’T HIT FOR A HALFWAY DECENT AVERAGE!!
Anyway…Bonds increased the Giants winning% last year by 40%+ when he got 3 plate appearances in a game by himself…you can’t say that about any other player in the game today…Bonds is awesome…almost 30 homers last year, nearly a .500 OBP…if he gets a shot somewhere…he’s gonna be on a mission…I hope it’s for the Mets…it’s game over if the Mets get Bonds, and that’s what I feel we’re owed. No uncertainties this year. Sign Bonds, and win this thing. He’ll take down Ryan Howard if they brawl the Phillies….Sign Bonds.
I am not saying I am an advocate of Bonds but a platoon of him and Alou would make for one helluva LF.
platoon nothin….Throw Alou in Right….imagine this line-up -
1)SS – Jose Reyes
2)2B – Luis Castillo
3)3B – David Wright
4)CF – Carlos Beltran
5)LF – Barry Bonds
6)RF – Moises Alou
7)1B – Carlos Delgado
8)C – Ramon Castro
Who are you gonna pitch to? lol….
The old axiom of pitching and defense wins isn’t as true as the neo-veritas pitching and offense wins….new era…offense and pitching > defense and pitching…but with Endy and Davis able to come in for defense…forget about it….they’ll catch everything….
a most unpopular opinion, and I doubt the Mets want to deal with the circus, but in a media void (or tampa bay), I totally agree with signing Bonds. His arm is terrible, and so’s his defense, but his bat makes up for that x5. The whole roids thing turns a lot of people off (to put it mildly), but I guarantee he’s not doing them anymore…there’s just too much scrutiny, and the penalties are h-u-g-e. And however you think of him personally or judge him morally, this lineup becomes nuclear with him.
But like I said, that’s in a vacuum. In New York, it’ll never happen.
What circus? Bonds has been dealing with media scrutiny for years, and he has shown he can handle it. The media has a new darling/punching bag in Clemens…know what? I’d take him too. The current Mets team is a veteran team, and I really don’t think the current players would mind all the negativity focused on Bonds….and we know Bonds can handle it….he’ll perform. If criminal charges are pressed against Bonds, so what? They’d take more than a year to be heard in court anyway….
Bonds + Mets line-up as you say = NUCLEAR…and that may be an under statement…..Signing Bonds makes up for the Catastrophically STUPID Milledge retardation…I want to puke when I look at 7,8,9 in our line-up…no offense to the pitchers, but…compare the Mets vs the Tigers…To win it all, you have to beat everybody, so everybody is an admissible comparison….The Tigers dwarf the Mets in expected offensive production…yeah they got a DH, but so what…it is what it is, and the Mets have to beat that team…signing Bonds goes a long way in achieving that….as does acquiring Rajai Davis and Brandon Medders.
Don’t pretend the Mets are above signing someone affiliated with steroids either since they signed Mota…sooo…Sign Barry Bonds.
didn’t say bonds couldn’t deal with the circus, I said the Mets probably don’t want to deal with the circus.
And I’m not pretending anything. Did you see that I agreed with you? But you’re pretending if you think the Mets want to deal with all this. Mota came out and said he made a mistake, which made his signing defensible (morally, if not sensibly).
We don’t have to beat the tigers, we don’t play the tigers.
There was no defense to signing Mota, but they did. That set the precedent as an organization willing to sign players who have an association with a steroid past.
Deal with what? What, reporters? Big whoop, it’s New York. I think the players by now some how, some way will work to find a way to deal with….reporters…in New York. Ok, that was a bit childish tact on my behalf, but in all reality the Mets should conduct a cost analysis for the situation, and no I don’t think they did…if they did, they got the wrong answer if it’s no. Is Barry Bonds worth signing, yes or no?
Signing Bonds is like signing the division over to the Mets instantly. It’s like signing over the National League really, and it’s likely signing the Championship. In five years, are people gonna talk about Barry Bonds being on this team, or are they gonna talk about the 2008 Mets winning the World Series? They’re gonna talk about the Mets winning the World Series, just like they’re gonna talk about the yankays success from ‘94 on….Bonds ensures post-season revenue. Bonds ensures amazing displays of offense on a nightly, Nightly(once more for emphasis) basis. It’s unbelievable that Bonds is still available, and it’s just disgraceful that he isn’t signed by now…but, that being the case….hey, oh…oh hey…that’s not such a bad thing if the Mets sign him….
Yes, we DO have to beat the Tigers, we have to beat everyone. The Mets Must be compared to the second, third, fourth best teams in the league(Major League) at all times….in order to win the World Series, you have to be the last team standing. <— period.
Uh ok, I was with you until you did not stop.
Again, based on age and defense I would be ok with an Alou Bonds platoon but nothing more. They can’t play OF everyday.
dude…I agree that signing bonds would be good. I agree that there’s a ton of hypocrisy in most reasons given for not signing him by every team. And I wasn’t talking about the players, I was talking about the Mets orginization…you know, the rich, conservative, (usually) closed-minded guys who run the team and sign the checks? They would be trashed all year by the press, and the credibility of the franchise would take a hit, however unfair that might be. It’d take balls of titanium to paint a target on yourself like that in the media capital of the country, and other than Mark Cuban, I don’t think there’s an owner in sports who’d do it. And please don’t argue your point as if I’m the one who makes these things so, or that I’m arguing in their favor; I’m not.
I understand your point, but I think we’re already equipped to beat any team in baseball in a seven game series. Though that opinion is subject to change.
very, very carefully…
There is no way that signing Loshe will “tie up” the roster. There is always flexibilty. Put Elduque on the DL for the 1st couple of months. Loshe takes his spot. When Elduque is completely healthy and if Pelfrey is tearing it up in the minors then we have a decision to make. By then who knows who else may be injured or who could be traded for a bat.
honestly…would kyle lohse be so bad as a 5 start?!
no not at all, hed benefit a little from being in shea as opposed to cincy/philly. and hes got the stuff to occasionally go out there and wow you. yea he’d have an era approaching or at 5 but honestly i dont think it would go above that and last time we had a regular starter with a 5 era he had 15 wins. its not like the guy needs to be a stopper. not to mention his body wont break down after august.
what is there not to see? el duque is not going to give us a lot of innings. when he is in there, he is effective. but we can’t rely on him to be the 5 starter. acquiring lohshe is simply solid insurance. i don’t think pelfrey is ready yet either, and may end up being better in the pen, which is where duque can go too, should lohse be acquired and the duke actually find himself with some healthy stretches.
Pelf may not be quite ready (but he is close), but no way he goes to the pen. If he isn’t pitching inthe rotation, he should be in AAA fine tuning his stuff.
Agree, we will need him in the rotation at someone point this season even if we sign Loshe.
Tie up the roster? How so? While El Duque is tying up the DL all season, Lohse can come in and be a quality 5th starter. The Mets cannot rely on a guy who gets hurt warming up in the outfield to be the 5th starter, Lohse may not put up the best numbers but as a 5th starter? I’ll take him
also keep in mind lohse pitched in minnesota, cincy, and philly. put him in shea and he could have a career year, or at the very least improve his ERA around a run, which would be fine for a five starter. no such thing as too much pitching. if el duque wants to fight for a spot as a starter, a little healthy competition will not be a negative for the team. an extra arm or two also allows them the felxibility to trade for that righty bat they desperately need for first and rf, not to mention the inevitable lf situation we will be faced with.
lohse makes sense.
Sorry – should have read…
“a little healthy competition”
Wait – I thought we were talking about el duque here!
At this point, they have to start planning as if Duque won’t be on the team this year. Or at best, like martinez last year 9assume he is out, and if he comes back before year end, it is gravy).
A painful Bunnion (left over from last year) and a toe ligament aren’t likely to heal themselves in the near future, and certainly aren’t likely to stand up to the pressure of pitching on them.
Doubtful that Omar would just cut bait, but they have to assume he doesn’t exist, and if that means a potential logjam in the rotation, deal with it. One of them can always hit thepen, and if it has to be Duque, then too darn bad. Go or retire.
Actually, that would be a good problem, since it means the front 4 are all healthy, and Lohse is doing well as the #f.
Try to get the guy on a 1-2 year deal and sort out the fall out later.
yup, and fortunately Duque doesnt have any more years on his deal so releasing him mid season (or even earlier) isnt that costly a move.
why is the fat brother (livan) never hurt and the fit brother (duque) is hurt all the time?
The fat cushions everything.
I’ve been saying (and living) that for years!
Sign Lohse and push El Duque to the pen when and if he’s ready. Loyalty is one thing but El Duque is a time bomb. Lohse is a better Plan B than Pelfry at this point. Give the Duque a month or two to heal and bring him back in June if he is ready.
I like insurance. Right now assuming everyone is healthy I see the roster as
Reyes, Castillo, Wright, Beltran, Delgado, Alou, Church, Schneider, Castro, Chavez, Easely, Anderson, Gotay
Johan, Pedro, Maine, Perez, Elduque
Wagner, Sanchez, Heilman, Feleciano, Sosa, Show, Wise.
There is room for tradeable parts there. There are very few players there that we owe anything to. Example if Sosa or Wise are not performing up to standard and Loshe is pitching well. Elduque is healthy. Then Wise/Sosa/Show go down to minors, we trade them or we lose them. Is that really that bad of a problem? Elduque comes back to the pen or Loshe moves to the pen.
But oh one of them might not want to, what choice do they have? OH but they will be disgruntal. Ok so release them and keep Wise/Sosa.
How can it ever be bad to have too much pitching? Especially pitching that is on a short term contract.
I just don’t understand why the hell he couldn’t have taken care of all of this in the offseason? I know he had surgery on one of his toes, but what about the bunion? If he would have taken care of it last fall, he would have been back on a mound in 8 weeks. Makes no sense.
per one of yesterday’s posts (or links), the docs told him if he had surgery, it’d take him two years to recover. I don’t understand it, but that’s what it said.
Yeah, I read that too. Not sure why it would take that long though…
I’m not against signing Lohse, but not for a lot of money, that’s for sure. Plus, it keeps him away from the Phillies — an added, extra bonus.
That’s the thing, right now the market for Loshe is almost nonexistant. The Phillies pulled their offer when they signed Benson. Other than the Mets I am not sure who would offer him a contract at this point.
yes AND the market will increase as ST goes along bc some pitchers will fall out of favor with teams or someone may get hurt. sign him now while the market is cool on him by late march he MAY be a hot commodity in that hes not old and hes capable of pitching a full season at respectable enough numbers to be in anyones rotation.
agree
At this point, sign Lohse and let El Duque go on waivers if you have to. Screw the money, this team is built to win and we can’t rely on Hernandez, and I don’t want to hand it over to Pelfrey yet without a plan b. Sign Lohse to a 1 year deal, start Pelfrey in AAA, and if Pelfrey dominates down there then we can trade Lohse at midseason.
Not a bad deal but no reason to put him on waivers yet. Just DL him for a while. Also, If possible I would sign Loshe cheap for 2 years. We may really need him next year.
I’m starting to see the sense of signing Lohse, even to a two year deal. He’s similar to Trachsel, who was a decent 4-5 starter, and who was helpful despite not being anywhere near dominant. In fact, looking at their k/bb and hr/9, Lohse and Ol Duque’s are pretty similar, too. So basically, he’d be giving the same production as OD, but with a body that’s 12-16 years younger. A pitcher’s park, good defense, and a lineup scoring runs for him would make him look better, too. If the Mets could sign him for 6-8 million for a couple of years, I think I’d be on board.
I’ll give it a few more days, but I might as well be on board with signing Loshe as well. Cant have Pelfrey in the big league rotation to start the year because there is nothing else at AAA to back him up.
Duque never pitched well once that bunion came up last year, so I doubt he will be effective even if everything else is healthy. Let him try to rehab, if no other roster spot opens up then they might have to cut Duque mid year.
Here is a thought, if Vargas continues to pitch well this spring maybe he is the defacto 5th starter and makes a few starts in April and May when they barely need a 5th starter.
I was thinking something similar. If Sosa is going to be the long man, then go ahead and stretch him out to start. His numbers as a starter were not ace like but they were above average for a #5. If Loshe will not sign a cheap contract then let Sosa pitch those games and go with more hitters early.
I’ve basically forgotten about Sosa as a starter because he seems to be an integral part of the pen.
But at the start of the season it makes perfect sense. Pelfrey is still in AAA as a backup, they can keep Register or Stokes as the long man, and Sosa will be just as good as Loshe as a starter.
And better yet, Sosa could probably bounce back and forth if Duque is activates but only makes a couple starts before getting hurt again.
I’ll now be watching Sosa’s use this spring to see if they do indeed stretch him out.
this is crazy to me, but the more I see stat-wise and the more I hear injury-wise, if it comes to that (assuming he doesn’t want to pitch in the pen), screw it. I want him on the team, and I want him to pitch as many innings as he can, but frankly, he’s expendable if we sign lohse.
I think I’d prefer vargas to be the “break glass only in case of emergency” pitcher.
What if this is a Liz-Franc and not just a “bunion”??? Why are they so criptic?
I don’t like the idea of flip-flopping Sosa at all – I think Willie was smart not to mess with Oliver when he had his great 2006 and even mediocre Sele last year in that long-man spot.
We’ve been burned twice depending on El Duque. the fact that he showed up hurting all over is an even far worse sign that him starting healthy and then collecting ailments like a 12-year old collecting baseball cards. This team simply has too much invested to count on this guy.
I mean, you know Moises will get hurt eventually, but at least he shows up healthy. We need to hedge our bets with Lohse. It’s a gift that someone who is tht decent is sitting on the FA wire in March.
Just to make a correction, Sele was not mediocre last year. He was downright awful.
willie and smart in the same sentence??????
The Mets need to shut down El Duque, let him start the year on the DL, and give Pelfrey the No. 5 slot if he pitches well in spring. If he doesn’t, the Mets don’t need a fifth starter for the beginning of the year and by then El Duque can slide into the rotation.
I agree with everyone else that Duque is a disaster waiting to happen, but I only sign Lohse if Pelfrey has a terrible Spring Training. The problem with that is that by the time we know that, Lohse may be gone, or it may take him extra time to get ready for the season because he reports to Spring Training very late.
I’d really like to see Pelfrey get that spot, and I’d like to think he is ready, but I can’t pretend to be able to evaluate whether or not that is the case.
The problem with signing Lohse now is that it kills Pelfrey’s chances to make the team, and may hinder his development if he sort of gives up. I don’t mean to suggest that he is that fragile (he’s probably not), but you know the competition to make the team is gonna drive him.
Tough situation. Gun to my head, I say hold off.
Thing is it does not hurt if Pelfrey starts the season in AAA. If Loshe stinks or Pedro goes down then Pelfrey is ready.
I agree with your concern about pelf having a tangible goal to drive him. However, I think there’s a pretty good possibility that Pedro will need some spelling, too (and who knows with other injuries). Also, there’s the whole next-year thing about controlling only two bonafide starters (JS and JM). I’ll assume we resign Pedro because I not only think he’ll have a good year, but omar must surely recognize his intangible value to this particular club. That leaves two back-end slots. If Pelf can show not just competence, but dominance in AAA while getting spot starts int eh bigs, then terrific! He’s our 4th guy. Lohse is a totally acceptable fifth, and with the ever-inflating price of pitching, singing him now for a reasonable cost makes sense, to me.
I’m also (obviously) assuming that Ollie is gone to some club that gives him a ridiculous contract , though I hope and pray he’s here. And if he is, and Pelf develops as he should, then we have a tradable asset in a reasonably priced 4-5 guy.
I rejected the idea of Lohse out of hand, but the more I look and think, the more I’m convinced that it’s a good idea.
I’m a huge ElDuque fan and I just hate seeing what’s happening. The reality of the situation is that he can’t and won’t pitch any time soon. The bunion/ligament/toe jam/etc isn’t going to heal overnight or get better with a cortisone shot. Here we are with about 30 days or so to opening day and the best he has done is thrown a bullpen session. Figure if all goes extremely well he may pitch in a week or so, putting him two to three weeks behind the curve. He won’t be ready for the start of the season. Granted the 5th starter isn’t really needed in the early part of season but does not give the air of confidence. ElDuque…love ya….but you’re fired!
Here’s my solution. Give Pelf the role of 5th starter. He’s gonna be part of the future so might as well get him going now as the 5th. Sign Fredy Garcia who may be ready by June or so and he’ll be your “Give Pedro a Rest” guy or the “Pelf didn’t work out” guy.
Giving Lohse a ML roster contract is not the way to go for now and for the future. And in the meantime, I have no problem with giving a minor league deal to a Brian Lawerance type as insurance. Hopefully won’t need him with 4 of the 5 starters being young and no history of injuries.
PS
If Fredy Garcia recovers well and pitches like his old self the team has the inside track of re-signing him for ‘09.
maybe, but that seems like filling a question mark with another question mark. And IF the replacement question mark returns to form, he’s only slightly better than lohse. Further, if garcia does indeed have a decent return, he’ll likely be a lot pricier next year, not to mention being 33.
I wouldn’t give Lohse or anyone a big guaranteed contract. Maybe if he was willing to sign for 1 million + incentives, but it seems like he wants multi-year at 10 mill+. We survived with a rotation of 5th starters last year and the year before with worse starters and we can do it again! WIth Sosa, Pelfrey, Armas, El Duque.. one of them has to pan out. There is no need to tie up a contract with a FIFTH starter when some weeks you don’t even need one. I’d settle with any any healthy starter as the fifth. Stop the b*tching already and lets play ball!!! :)
I agree with you on let’s play ball, but nobody’s b*tching about anything.
I mean all the… get Lohse.. get Garcia.. get X for the 5th starter when we don’t one. We are fine with what we got.
After doing some research about bunions, I don’t think El Duque’s pain will ever go away. Even with surgery it’s not guaranteed. At mimimum it could be 4 months recovery. And with all the stress on the toe from pitching, it couuld aggravate it and cause pain all over again. I say let’s start El Duque and see how far he gets. Then let Pelfrey or someone else take over. Then sit El Duque for the final 2 months of the season while throwing on the side to keep in shape (or throwing in the pen) and then prepare for the playoffs!
And if Pelfrey sucks or Pedro gets injured?