Daily Archives: July 25, 2008
Yesterday on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight, Olney mentioned that the Mets and Padres have had talks involving Padres OF Brian Giles.
Giles’s contract holds a $9 million team option for next season. However, if he is traded, the option jumps to $11 million. Or, he could be bought out and made a free agent for $3 million.
Giles reportedly has a no-trade clause including eight teams.
…in july, the buzz from san diego was that they would end up keeping giles for two reasons, a) most of the teams on his no-trade list are from the east coast, who are the teams that will most likely want to acquire him, and b) he loves san diego, and the team is not likely to find a comparable outfielder for one year and $9 million like giles on the open market this off-season…
…that said, the Padres could very easily have changed their tune, especially considering how many teams are looking for a left fielder and the asking prices for guys like Matt Holliday, Jason Bay and Xavier Nady…
Giles is batting .301 with a .397 OBP, five HR and 35 RBI in 91 games for the Padres this season.
He has played nearly all of his games in right field this season, and has not regularly played left field since 2003.
Chad Cordero is unhappy with the way he found out about the Nationals decision to non-tender him this coming December. Bowden is a frustrating general manager to analyze. He’ll make a deal for Soriano which turns out to be brilliant, then blow the value by not trading the slugger for prospects. He does enough good to keep his job, but he makes enough poor moves to make me wonder if he really deserves the tenure.
Ashley Fox wonders why Jimmy Rollins can’t seem to follow the two simple rules Charlie Manuel laid down for the team.
The Marlins may be missing Miguel Cabrera as they play the Cubs. Over the previous two seasons, Cabrera hit five home runs and drove in 15 runs in twelve games against Chicago. The Marlins were 10-2 against the Cubs in that time frame.
Chipper Jones is unlikely to play against the Phillies tonight. The Braves are 45-44 when Jones appears, 3-9 without him.
For more real-time information, news, links and stats from around MLB, check out Baseball Musings.
According to in-the-know Dan Graziano, from the Star-Ledger, the Mets have expressed interest in Jays LHP Brian Tallet, Giants LHP Jack Taschner, and Arthur Rhodes.
In 36 appearances for the Blue Jays this season, the 30–year-old Tallet is 0–1 with 3.11 ERA, while striking out 34 batters in 37 innings pitched. He had an ERA below 4.00 to end each of the last two seasons.
Left-handed hitters are batting .273 against Taschner, while righties are batting .215.
Meanwhile, Taschner, 30, is 2–1 with a 3.18 ERA in 47 relief appearances for the Giants. He is having his best season since making it to be the big leagues in 2005.
Left-handed hitters are batting .188 against Taschner.
Lastly, the 39–year-old Rhodes, who did not play in the major leagues in 2007, has struck out 24 batters in 19 innings, while posting a 2.75 ERA, in 33 appearances for the M’s this season, during which opponents are hitting .229 against him.
Left-handed hitters are batting .194 against Rhodes.
…frankly, i’m not surprised the Omar Minaya is interested in rhodes…he’s a veteran, he’s been through several pennant races and he made the Mets look silly during interleague play…
…that said, there are so many mid-level relief pitchers on the market, if the Mets want one, it should not be a problem making a move and he will not cost a whole lot either…
…for what it’s worth, from what i can gather, the O’s are asking for a high-impact, immediate-impact prospect in exchange for George Sherrill, and so the Mets, like most teams, are no longer interested…
…also speaking of relievers, cross Huston Street from your list of potential acquisitions…i just don’t see the Mets giving up such a bounty when they have more obvious holes and a farm system that cannot fill them all at once…
Graziano also discusses Bronson Arroyo, Roy Halladay, the O’s, and whether Fernando Martinez’s recent injury will impact how the Mets approach acquiring an outfielder.
Last night on SNY’s Geico SportsNite, SNY.tv’s Ted Berg talked with WFAN’s Lori Rubinson and SNY’s Gary Apple about Jerry Manuel, Dan Warthen, Carlos Delgado and a variety of topics about the Mets.
To watch Berg’s debut on SportsNite, click play below:
In a recent post to his blog for ESPN.com, Buster Olney writes that the Mets, Yankees, Rays and A’s continue to keep in 
contact with the Pirates regarding OF Jason Bay and Xavier Nady.
According to Olney, citing one rival executive, the Pirates asking price has been slightly downgraded from ‘absurd to crazy.’
In his latest Rumblings & Grumblings column for ESPN.com, Jayson Stark writes that you can get Bay in exchange for ‘two sure-thing prospects, one good prospect and a fourth prospect with upside.’
According to Stark, Nady will cost you ‘one sure thing, one good prospect and a third, more iffy, prospect.’
…from what i can gather, the Rays seem to be making the most aggressive push for bay…the D’Backs and A’s have been pretty interested as well, while the Mets have totally backed off…
…as for nady, again the Rays are most aggressive, followed by the the Yankees…the thing is, nady – or bay, for that matter – like stark suggests, will likely cost at least Rays LHP Jake McGee or RHP Wade Davis, or Yankees LHP Ian Kennedy, and it does not sound like either team is at that point yet…for instance, the Rays are probably thinking more along the lines of a RHP Jeff Neimann, though that is just a guess…
…in other words, to get nady, the Mets will have to part with most all of their best pitching prospects…again…
Tagged Xavier Nady |
With the game tied in the bottom of the eighth inning, Robinson Cancel reached first base on a single. He advanced to second on a sac-bunt. Endy Chavez lined out on a quick rip to the pitcher. David Wright was intentionally walked, and Carlos Delgado than ripped a double in to the left-field corner to drive in two runs. 
Manuel, on Cancel, and whether he is starting to take to being a pinch hitter:
“Cancel is a good baseball player. There are a number of positions he can play. I haven’t exposed him yet to those positions, but the one good thing about him is that I know when he comes to the plate it’s going to be a quality at bat. He’s a very, very professional hitter and he doesn’t run bad either.”
Including catcher, Cancel has played in the outfield, first and third base throughout his minor league career.
…i’ve been highly critical of the Mets need to carry three catchers, especially with their depleted outfield, but cancel has come up with clutch pinch-hits in his short tenure with the team…i’ll be interested to see if manuel ‘exposes’ cancel to those other positions as they move forward…
…added to by Matthew Cerrone…
…as i wrote yesterday, the heads up base running by cancel in that play in the ninth should not be understated…he’s a smart player…he could so easily have anticipated endy’s liner going by the pitcher, and leaning towards third, which would had led to him being picked off and ending the inning with a double play…instead, he stayed poised, paused and hopped right back to second allowing the inning to continue, so delgado could drive home the go-ahead runs…
Tagged Mike Nichols, Robinson Cancel |With yesterday’s win, the Mets, who are 9-4 versus the Phillies this season, erased a 7.5 game Phillies lead and took possession of first place in the National League East for the first time since April 19.
Jerry Manuel, on taking all four series from the Phillies this season:
“Well, (long pause, and laugh), that’s a pretty good statement for the guys in the clubhouse. I’m sure there was a lot of questions about whether we could play with them, and I think that we have proven so far – in all of the series that have been deemed big series – and we’ve yet to probably see the biggest series – so we’ll probably have to keep proving that over and over again until we the end of the season.”
David Wright, on beating up on the Phillies:
“When you go out and take care of business from a team that’s chasing you, you don’t have to rely on any help down the stretch…You don’t have to rely on other teams to help you out. And that gives you confidence, knowing that you’ve taken care of business.”
…what was most impressive about the Mets recent series versus the Phillies, is how they were able to overcome a devastating loss on tuesday night and fight to take the last two games of the series…perhaps this will help this team continue to exorcise the demons of their september collapse…
Tagged Mike Nichols |During yesterday’s dramatic 3 to 1 win over the Phillies, Carlos Delgado was 1-for-4, including a go-ahead 2-run double in the eighth inning.
Jerry Manuel, on Delgado, speaking to reporters after the game:
“Well, the one thing about Carlos is that he has found his stroke, he has found the mechanics and fundamentals of his swing and he has recognized pitches very well – and when he’s doing that he’s a very dangerous hitter. The one other thing about Carlos that he always had going for him was that he was a cerebral guy, he always thought about the plan of the opposition, kept books, kept notes about what to expect and so forth, so it was just a matter of him getting mechanically fundamentally sound before he could put everything in play – and he’s done that for a long period of time…
“(His resurgence) is a tremendous lift (for the team), in the sense that, even when Carlos Delgado struggles, he’s still the same man in the clubhouse. He’s still part of the leadership on the field. So, he’s constantly been very consistent regardless of whether he’s been hitting or not in his behavior as it reflects in the clubhouse. Therefore, when he does do well, obviously everyone continues to gravitate to him and that’s a good thing, because when the big fella is in the four spot doing what he’s doing and then also brings the intangibles that’s a big plus for us.”
Delgado, on turning his season around, despite so many fans and media wanting to ‘run him out of town,’ said:
“Did they? Nobody told me anything. (Smile). I feel good. I’ve got a lot of pride and that goes beyond what other people’s expectations are. I know I wasn’t happy with the way things were going and I worked my ass off – and I’m going to continue to work my ass off to get to where I want to be. I feel good at the plate and I’m going to continue to work and move on.”
During the month of July, Delgado is batting .397 with 5 HR, 16 RBI and a 1.201 OPS.
…going into the season, many pundits said delgado was the key to the Mets offense, with their fate resting in his bat…while i didn’t disagree with that, i didn’t think delgado had to be the 2005 verision in order for this team to be successful…
…with that being said, when carlos swings the bat like he has been, the team’s offense is taken to another level…as i believe Ron Darling said during yesterday’s broadcast, this is “Delgado 2.0“…
…added to by Matthew Cerrone…
…as i said yesterday, i owe delgado an apology…
…i didn’t think he was capable to getting healthy for a long enough stretch of time to allow himself the necessary breathing room to start seeing the ball better, catching up with the baseball, getting his hands moving and thus finding his swing…
…frankly, i love when i’m wrong…because, i’d rather be wrong and have a guy turn it around like he has, then have him fail and me be right…
Tagged Mike Nichols | Newer posts →
