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In the Arizona Republic, columnist Nick Piecoro speculates that the D’Backs could look to trade OF Eric Byrnes, though it would be a ‘tough deal.’
Piecoro wonders if the Mets would be interested in acquiring Byrnes, and his two-year, $22 million contract, in exchange for Luis Castillo, who is due to earn $18 million through 2011.
In 2008, Byrnes was derailed by a torn hamstring, however he enjoyed his best overall season in 2007 with career highs in games (160), at-bats (626), batting average (.286), runs (103), hits (179), RBI (83) and steals (50).
…he has been mentioned by analysts in the last few days as one of the those “intense” type of players the mets need on their roster…if the mets move Nick Evans in a deal for pitching, he would be a good fit…and if it is for castillo, i don’t think many mets fans would complain…
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I, a Mets fan, would most definitely not complain.
I’m not in love with Byrnes, but he’d be a nice complimentary player, especially replacing the black hole known as Luis Castillo and his mystifying 4-year deal.
Sold! Get Castillo out!
and sign Hudson. If this could happen all they have to worry about is the pitching
We have Murphy, why sign Hudson. He’s turning 32 and has been hurt the last two years. Byrnes would be a great #2 if we don’t plan on using Beltran there.
Hopefully Jerry saw his last few games with Beltran at 2 and liked what he saw. It makes the linup that more potent because they cant throw him curveballs every pitch.
Murphy is not a 2nd baseman.
Yeah gameball … he’s a 3rd baseman. Edgardo Alfonzo was not a 2nd baseman either. How did that turn out?
The difference is that Fonzie was an exceptional 3rd baseman. Murphy is not, and never was.
Yeah and Kent is a defensive black hole. If he hits and adds value then put him there.
They said Utley was a bad 2nd Baseman too … but he can hit. The guy worked hard and turned into a pretty good defensive player.
You people have no faith or patience in young talent. Well, SOME of you people.
Murphy will be the starting 2nd Baseman on opening day - and he will be great defensively
Indeed, and look t Byrnes’ stats before you blindly invoke name recognition and reputation. Byrnes is—at best—a fourth outfielder. Not a #2 hitter. Not even close.
Murphy will be nothing like Kent defensively .. the kid has an intense work ethic and wont settle for being a sup par 2nd baseman
sheesh talking about “name recognition” really? Byrnes may not be the best but seriously are we considering Murphy to be a that good after 131 career AB’s? You guys really want to put all of your cards into that basket and get burned if he doesn’t work out?
I love Murphy I like his attitude and his approach at the plate but I am not willing to thrust him into a starting role after 131 AB’s where he was 3 for his last 31.
Yes Hudson is 32 but he is a lot younger then Castillo. I mean really do we all believe that Castillo is 33?
Hudson can hit and has a good OBP.
I completely agree with you. If Hudson is out there and can be had to play 2nd, grab him. Murph is good, but in a limited role. He needs more AB’s.
The Only Bad thing is that this guys, is like ALOU.. He gets hurt alot. Thats the only bad thing. But hey its weird. If we pick him and BYRNES has a great year- Minaya will look like a genius,
On the other hand if he stinks and gets hurts AGAIN, Then minaya would look like an idiot and fans would want him gone….
Then the question is then, WHAT DO YOU DO ?????
Well considering that Byrnes would be acquired in exchange for Castillo, Omar would not get that type of backlash. The downside of Byrnes is close to what we saw out of Castillo this year, while the upside is considerably higher.
Yep, I’d drive Castillo to JFK for that deal.
I’d drive to Arizona for that deal!
yeah, but that would be a pretty awkward car ride.. You and the guy you were willing to drive across the country just to run him out of town. I imagine the conversation would be pretty terrible…
Last year was the first year he was on the DL.
oh of course you get him. Does any one here actually like castillo.
no
Is there speculation of Nick Evans being dealt for a pitcher? 1st ive heard of it…
For those fools that think we should trade Wright or Reyes, here are the stats on them vs. Jeter:
runs hits HR SB AVG
Reyes 113 204 16 56 297
Jeter 88 179 11 11 300
Wright 115 189 33 15 302
What does this tell us? That DW and JR are better than Jeter, so the Yankees should trade Jeter? NO, he is the captain and face of the Yankees just like DW and JR for the METS .
That picture.
DO IT!!! Get Castillo off this team by any means necessary…
Hell … I’d trade Castillo for a half eaten Twinkie.
Well, doesn’t it really depend on the cream-content of that un-eaten half? A half of a yodel, however, is a different story…
Get it done.
i love byrnes
byrnes for castillo sounds terrific!
Why would Ariz make this trade?
They can’t afford Orlando Hudson - especially with Dunn and Haren on the books.
dunn’s not on the books. he’s a free agent.
WTF THIS GUY’S NUMBERS ARE EVEN WORSE THAN CASTILLO’S!!!!!!! ABSOLUTELY RETARTED!!!!!
Go home
DUde this guy BRYNES gets hurts awhole lot…
Hope you did not complain about ALOU, because this guys seriously has hamstring problems…
does he really get hurt a whole lot? last year he had torn hamstrings.
when did he get hurt before? except for last year he’s been 125 + games per year
125 games is 2 trips to the DL. Even if you were given 1 day per week off every week of the season that would be 139 games played.
I’m not arguing against getting Byrnes. I love the kid and think he’s exactly what we need. He and and Church in the corner spots would give the lineup two more gritty gamers. Keep Delgado at first and let Murphy play 2B.
Then you’d have: Reyes, Beltran, Wright, Murphy, Byrnes and Church that’s 6 guys in the starting lineup that get their uniforms dirty and play hard.
I’d like to see them pick up a better hitting catcher if they do this, but Schneider does seem to do a good job with the staff.
I think if you carry Byrnes and Church you need a good 4th outfielder.
nice try but according to Wikipedia 2008 was his first stint on the DL in his CAREER>
I’m trying to be nice, but are you dumb? So what he wasn’t on the DL. This guy misses a lot of games. That was the point of the above poster who was right. You are wrong.
2003 - 121 games
2004 - 143 games
2005 - 126 games
2006 - 143 games
That suggest to me he needs to be sat down for a week to 10 days a couple times a year. You think you’re real smart so you probably pay attention to baseball. You know how teams will let a guy sit on the bench and not actually put the guy on the DL. Remember how that happened with Church earlier this year.
your suggestions have no facts behind them
The guy goes out and plays hard.
You dont know that he “needs to be sat down for a week to 10 days a couple times a year”
Your just guessing. He has never been on the DL and has played over 125 games every year except last.
Just because he doesnt played 150 + games doesnt mean he is hurt a lot like has been suggested up higher (not by you)
If you guys can read you will see that I said I like Byrnes and think we should get him. However, if you do and you have him and Church in the starting lineup you need to have a good 4th outfielder ready.
About 20 times per year every year but one he is out of the lineup.
Our at least away from here
what’s the point of getting a guy with a bigger Salary whose gonna give you the same results?
Last year was the first time he was on the DL.
Does anyone else find it ironic when people misspell R-E-T-A-R-D-E-D?
lol didn’t notice there
I didn’t either, but that’s because I tend to avoid comments with bad punctuation and ALL CAPS on.
boys. boys….come on now
Nothing more amusing than someone calling somebody else “retarded” and spelling it wrong.
I think this guy is just saying if this trade goes down he will be giving everyone a second piece of candy (re-tarted)!!!Thank you sir…may I have another!
Meh, Byrnes is a very overrated player, and we should be trying to find a middle of the order bat for LF.
maybe so, but he’s miles better than Castillo and if it’s a straight up salary swap, why not?
we already have 3 middle of the order guys
So he becomes the 4th OF and we lose Castillo… and this is bad why?
We need a spark plug who can work tough pitchers and get key hits more than we need a middle of the lineup guy.
I don’t know - he seems more interested in being on Web Gems every night then being a good ball player. He had one nice, somewhat fluke season. If the DBacks want Castillo b/c they lose Hudson to FA - maybe we can get back a decent RP if we pay half of Castillo’s remaining contract.
…in his walk year
Holy cow. You do that deal in a heart beat. I’d trade Castillo for some batting gloves and a case of salsa at this point. Byrnes would be a great fit.
this guy had great #s in 2007
and nothing else
but being that the fans want castillo traded away for a bag of peanuts
and this brynes is > than a bag of peanuts this is a no brainer.
I will trade luis castillo straight up for any major league baseball player. I approve.
Castillo for Mota?
yes - it is that bad - yes
Those two together symbolize the 07 collapse.
I disagree…castillo performed very well down the stretch last season.
Done.
If Heilman was on another team, i would trade him straight up. Castillo needs to go. He is a leadoff hitter/speedster that doesn’t lead off or have any speed.
GET THIS DONE!!! SECOND COMING OF NAILS DYKSTRA!!
AHH!! Get Brynies, NOW!!!!!!
Tina!!!
Fire Isiah!!!
OMG!! YES!! Fire Isiah!! Fire Luis!
oooh, maybe we can trade Luis to the Knicks - perhaps, perhaps, perhaps?
They wouldn’t want him - he’s in too good of shape
I’d trade Castillo for Eddie Curry.
I’m fine with the trade–just to get a right-handed OF platoon partner–but let’s not kid ourselves, Byrnes is not a good player.
I don’t care how gritty he is.
It’s possible that both Church and Murphy will prove unable to hit left-handed pitching consistently. In that case, we’ll need some right-handed outfielders, and EB is OK, I guess.
But we WILL need some more right-handed power in the lineup.
Milton Bradley, anyone?
Did anyone else just hear Jon Heyman on with Mike Francessa? Heyman said that he didn’t believe they were going to trade the “core guys”, but guys like Church and Schneider might not be here next year. Francessa then announced that he had it from good sources that Church “hated the team, the city, everything about it” here this year. Heyman said he hadn’t heard that but that Church sure didn’t look good the last few weeks.
Who the hll knows what his “good sources” are, but I found it interesting and am curious if it was true. But I guess I’d hate it too of if I had a head injury the whole time.
really? you are giving mike francesa a serious thought?
Come on Francesa is a joke and pulls things outta thing air to see if people believe them.
Well I was curious if anyone had actually read that or if he was pulling it out of his a$@.
completely pulling it out of a a$@. All heyman could muster up was a comment about Church’s concussions. Keep in mind Heyman never ever disagrees with mike. Most of Mike’s statements are followed by absolutely right mike and that did not happen this time which makes me believe there is no truth to it whatsoever
He has no sources, he makes things up.
Francesa is the guy who insisted all winter that santana wanted to go to the Yankees, despite Santana saying himself numerous times that the Mets were his first choice.
Fat-Cessa LOVES to claim people don’t want to play for the Mets. LOVES IT.
could his source be steamboat Willie?
Instead of talking about this more, Francesa just throws it out as if it is gospel. Why would he not have his producer call and try to get Church on and ask him these questions? Unbelievable. Now he has all Mets fans guessing and Heyman looks like the dope, because he is supposed to be the one that is supposed to have all the inside info.
Heyman clearly had never heard anything like that so he sort of went with it then turned to another subject.
I don’t know why I care. For some reason it always irks me when players on the team seem to hate it here.
The best part is that when Church does come on, they will say he is doing damage control in case he comes back.
Church probably would have loved playing for the Yankees? I mean who wouldn’t? They play in the greatest sports venue in the history of the world. They have won 26 World Championships (but we fail to mention that 20 of them were when 6 teams were in the league and only one round of playoffs). Who would want to be in New York and not be a Yankee?
-John Sterling and/or Mike Francessa
Francessa’s heard it from his proctologist during his examination.
And we know where his proctologist heard it from!
Fat-Cessa’s sources include his local hotdog vendor, his pizza man, the kid at Burger King and an IHOP waitress
That’s funny, because I’m sure I read an article about how Church’s wife broke down in tears when Mets fans applauded him when he came back from the concussions, and was quoted afterwards with something to the effect of Church loves it here and wants to play for a long time here.
From the Daily News, 8/23/08:
“Church revealed that his wife Tina was driven to tears by the standing ovation the Shea faithful gave before his first at-bat in Friday’s 1-for-3 return. The hard-nosed Church said the fans’ embrace cemented his desire to spend the rest of his career in Flushing. He’s even open to signing a long-term contract now to wipe away his arbitration years. Church won’t be a free agent until after the 2011 season.”
Mike Francesca is a clueless idiot.
Anything this pontificating fat blow hard says about the Mets needs to be discounted. He’s a Yankee ideologue.
I also would trade Castillo for a bucket of balls, so Byrnes would be great.
I kinda like the idea for Milton Bradley beleive it or not. I think a raving psychopath might actually be good for this team.
although Bradley MAY have a higher ceiling I would much prefer Ibanez. Bradley may often be unjustly criticized but there is a reason so much criticism & controvery finds it his way. This team does not need any time bombs brought on board.
Ibañez is terrible defensively…but offensively he’s been amazingly consistent, if only consistently above average.
We spent all but about 10 or 15 games with at least one infielder playing the outfield, so let’s not all of a sudden pretend that we had 3 Gold Glovers out there.
Hate the media. And if it;s true, I hate the fans that boo’ed a guy who got 2 concussions playing hardnosed baseball for his team and fans. Oh no, he’s struggling because he hasn’t played in 3 months? BOOOOOO
I like Milton - he’s a gamer - a little wierd - but a gamer. I’d take him over Mr. Byrnes .
Talk about a player who needs a little “time on the couch”
brynes will be good for our “supporting cast” purposes
brings much better energy than castillo would
The way I see it is this. You stop paying out bad money a lot sooner. With Byrnes, there is a chance he will be a good player for your team. At least he has proven to have ability. It’s a no brainer. Castillo needs to go for his sake and for that of the team. It’s really a situation like Kaz Matsui, only magnified because the team is competitive.
I would even trade Castillo for Brent Lillibridge.
You can buy out Castillo’s contract this year.
Byrnes is barely above replacement when he’s healthy. Nick Evans can probably hit better than him.
I say just dump Castillo’s salary.
.
Nick Evans can probably hit better than him, based on a short, injury riddled season. Delgado was looking pretty bad in June as well.
I’m sick of replacement value and all that BS. Stop reading moneyball and start watching games. Stats tell you a pretty good story. Watching a player everyday tells you all you need to know. I’d love to have Byrnes as a platoon guy on my bench.
ill take Eric Byrnes on my team anyday
Byrnes was at replacement level this past year. For his career, he hovers between somewhat above replacement and somewhat below average. Nick Evans will probably hit better than him next year. Byrnes’ reputation is inexplicable. He is next to useless.
I love ’09’s pronouncement that he’s sick of “moneyball concepts” like “replacement level”. This sort of thinking was exactly what got us stuck with Luis Castillo and Marlon Anderson–who is actually much worse than replacement–and what got the D’Backs stuck with Byrnes. ‘09 was probably all for signing Marlon for his “winning attitude” and his “grit” and his “fire”. We could have gotten someone three times as productive for free. (We did…when Marlon got hurt, we replaced him with Daniel Murphy, who was basically free–and who was 10 times more valuable.)
Be aware that there is a reason why the D’Backs are considering trading Byrnes for our least valuable player. The difference between 11M per year and 6M per year for the Mets is not of huge importance…for the Diamondbacks, it is. This is a salary dump. We do not need to spend $4million more for a player who is arguably less valuable than Castilo.
Anytime you hear the words “fire”, “grit” “energy” etc. when used as an excuse to sign a ballplayer, it should invoke a code orange BS alarm in your head that tells you to tread very carefully. The fact that Biggie likes him should make us all the more careful.
Marlon Anderson was signed as a pitch hitting specialist. He is not a significant piece in the organization.
Byrnes played 50 some games this year. Most with a hamstring problem - his first DL stint of his career.
Year before he stole 50 bases and hit 20+ homers. He’s always been considered a “Nails” type player who gets things done and strives under pressure.
Its not all about statistics. This team needs gritty firey energy players players
But if you want stats..
close and late 298 BA / 847 SLG
2nd and 3rd 444 BA
scoring psn 2 outs 358 BA
thats money.
4JoeOrsulak,
Actually, if we were watching Castillo with our own two eyes (rather than looking at stats), we would have seen that he is a shell of his former self. He is a slap hitter who relied completely on his legs. Guess what….age and knee problems have taken away that part of his game. What’s left? A below average hitter with average speed and the loss of significant range. I never wanted Castillo on this team. We were better off going solely with Easley and Anderson Hernandez this year.
Don’t give me Eric Byrnes stats are somewhere between a replacement and an average starter. I’m not buying it. As Biggie said, he was in and out of the lineup with hamstring injuries and he finally tore it. However, if you look at his previous two healthy years, he blew away our production from left field.
I don’t want to see Castillo anywhere near Citifield
He can come if he is on the visiting team! :)
I think Citi Field should get a restraining order.
d.o.n.e
Byrnes is a hot headed gritty big play outfielder who tends to play over his head sometimes. His number that got him his current deal were crazy and he’ll never repeat. But he’s a good hard nosed player who would be good to get the team fired up. We have to many easy going with the flow guys.
I’m sorry i just can’t support a man who nearly drowned his dog on national television.
what?? when was this?
the all-star game in san fransisco. he was in a kayak in the bay doing reporting and he let his bulldog fetch a ball and the dog tried to take off and had to be saved by a fox camera man. It was an oh s#!t moment. wait a minute..bulldogs can’t swim…BULLDOGS CAN’T SWIM.
all dogs can swim
and he had a little life vest
he was just too fat to move but he was floating just fine
the cameraman pulled him in
well gosh darn derxmasta kill any fun on this site…with your hiku style posting.
Anyone listen to Joe & Evan this morning? They mentioned bringing in AJ Pierzynski (think there will be a lot of trades if the Sox lose to Minnesota tonight.)
I heard that. I like that idea. Our catching crew leaves a little something to be desired. I thought Schneider was a huge disappointment.
His defense was certainly not worth his mid-.200 average.
Exactly. I thought he was this defensive wizard and he really wasn’t that good.
I don’t know what his defensive metrics were but I’d say off the top of my head Schneider D’s was average at best.
There were times his release was so slow, I thought he was wearing #31. Never saw so many balls get by a catcher either.
LongJohnMaine: how’s the shoulder?
Forget about metrics. Just go by what your eyes tell you. He was a disappointment.
It’s one thing if his offense was good and his defense was what it was. But with him you didn’t get anything.
Hahaha. I’ll be ready for pitchers and catchers, count on it.
LongJohnMaine: OK…but don’t stay on the computer all day and don’t get caught dressing in drag.
Agreed with everyone above. Not looking forward to him being an automatic out every day next year.
I think catcher needs to be solved for. I’m not sure where they can go on it though. How about a guy like Miguel Olivo? He was in Kansas City this year. They don’t sign guys for more than one year clips too often. Wonder if he is a FA. I like him. He has attitude. We saw that last year.
Hey now…that was a smear job by the Daily News! I was in VA the entire offseason! Hahaha
Ya…and I was in Scotland this morning visiting family for breakfast. Who cares? To each his own…:-)
They are remarkably similar players. Schneider has a slight OBP advantage, but Pierzynski has a significant–though not overwhelming–power advantage to compensate.
Schneider is hurt by playing in pitchers parks for most of his career; Piersynski plays in hitters parks.
Pierzynski makes slightly more, but not much.
They are close in age.
I would say that the main difference is that Pierzynski does what he does over more plate appearances. This means he can hit lefties (he is left-handed) while Schneider has to be platooned. Schneider’s numbers this year are superficially enhanced by Manuel playing Castro and Cancel against left-handed hitters. Otherwise, he wood look more like the exercise in futility that he was in the first half.
Given that Pierzynski is the superior hitter regardless…yes, you upgrade there if you can. But UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES do you give up anything of value for a decidedly marginal upgrade over Schneider.
Schneider was terrible. NIce guy - but honestly I think we have too many “nice” guys on this team as it is. We need some edge from some everyday players; i.e.:
manny, bradley, byrnes,. A.J. etc.
Also we need a guy who can stand up after a game and talk to the media - give D-wright a break from dealing with them night after night.
Pierczynski gets in people’s faces…not a bad idea, but it could backfire.
Pierzynski also got himself ran out of San Francisco and Minnesota. People thought LoDuca had a big mouth? This guy’s got the biggest mouth.
Imagine a battery of Szamardija and Pierzynski?
No Pierzynski! He’s almost the same hitter as Snieder but horrible defensivly not mention him being a D1CKW33D! And besides…if we had a straight up trade for sneider going to the ChiSox…
I think Ozzie Guien might make Brian Snieder cry at some piont….
Pierz is a more accomplished hitter than Schieder - higher average, almost twice as many homers and RBI. No comparison.
I’d do that in heartbeat
DO IT OMAR!! it showed me how much faith the team had in Castillo when the season was on the line, they sat him down and used a September call-up instead
I was talking about this deal early today … I think Byrnes would be a very nice fit for LF the next year or two. Hard nose player that the Mets need.
The Only Bad thing is that this guys, is like ALOU.. He gets hurt alot. Thats the only bad thing. But hey its weird. If we pick him and BYRNES has a great year- Minaya will look like a genius,
On the other hand if he stinks and gets hurts AGAIN, Then minaya would look like an idiot and fans would want him gone….
Then the question is then, WHAT DO YOU DO ?????
He gets hurt because he plays hard. I’ll take it.
Byrnes would be a great fit here. He’s about much more than numbers - he brings intensity and the thing that Fat Boy Francessa and many other Mets fans think this team lacks - heart.
Thinking logically, though, the DBacks would have to want more back than Castillo, so get it out of your heads that this is a one for one. If I find a way to make it happen without having to trade Niese, F-Mart, Murphy, or Parnell, I’d do it. I’d give them Evans, though i’d prefer not to, but you have to give up something to get something, and as we all know, Luis Castillo is not something.
I agree that any team would want more back than Castillo in any trade, considering that Castillo is absolutely worthless, but you have to remember that Byrnes comes with a 22 million over 2 years price tag. Unless they agree to eat a large chunk of that contract, the D-Backs probably won’t get much back.
the way it become 1 for 1 is if the Mets pick up most of castillos contract. The only way. If both teams are taking on their new players salary the mets certainly have to give something extra up.
Keep in mind that byrnes if often injured and has really only had 1 really good year.
Byrnes is a highly overrated and highly overpaid player.
The D’Backs are looking to capitalize on how unpopular Castillo is and how prone Omar is to buying in to nonsense about “grit” and “fire”.
This is a salary dump and Omar should not oblige. There are far, far better things you can do with the extra 6 million dollars than get Byrnes. 3 quality bullpen arms would cost about 6 million/year.
The question, though, is whether or not those bullpen guys are out there. I’m not sure they are.
Byrnes is at best a platoon guy, but whatever, I’d do just about anything to get Castillo out of here. All it’s doing is trading 1 insanely bad contract for another. I’m already preparing myself for 200 articles about how Byrnes mega grittiness is the reason why this team is different and ready to contend in 09.
Just checked over on baseball reference, the fact that he even got a vote, let alone finished 11th in MVP voting last year is a joke.
Which is fine…let him platoon with Murph.
byrnes for castillo? good idea
byrnes for evans? bad idea
You know what? Byrnes is definitely overpaid, as a fourth outfielder, and I believe the whole “rah-rah” and “grittiness” and “guttiness” in players are, to put it mildly, overrated.
However, if we can swap that cancer for Castillo for Byrnes, I would ecstatic. Byrnes’ contract is worse, yes, but he can platoon with Church and/or Murphy. He has value on a major league roster. His contract also expires one year before Mush’s contract. Also, I’d rather pay someone $11 million to give me something than pay someone $6 million that gives me nothing. Actually, less than nothing.
This is how I categorize Castillo; you have people that bring something to the table, you have people that bring nothing to the table, and then you have people that take away from the table. Louie Mush falls in the third category.
Byrnes contract is not worse - it’s only 2 years.
And not only does he hit for some power and play hard at all times, he’s got speed as well. Stole 75 bases between 06 and 07. I’d love to get this guy here. Take his contract and eat a bunch of Castillo’s. Play Daniel Murphy at second base. If Evans is still around, he can be the 4th outfielder and spell Church when he needs a day or a stint on the DL.
I don’t see much of an argument against this deal. It makes all the sense in the world.
Byrnes makes $11 million per year for the next two years. So we’d be paying $5 million more than if we keep Castillo, but his contract ends one year before Mush’s.
I agree though, I was just pointing out some of the cons about this deal. I’m indifferent to Byrnes other than the fact that he is wildly overpaid for a 4th OF, and I’d do this deal in a heartbeat.
The only question is why would Arizona trade him for Castillo?
The O-Dog may bolt via FA…and if Murphy isn’t our second baseman next year I hope to God the O-Dog is.
O-Dog can bat 2nd.
Yes. O-Dog would be a PERFECT No. 2 hitter on the Mets. He was totally miscast in Zona as a No. 3 hitter this year.
I’m still pulling for Murphy to be our 2nd baseman and no. 2 hitter.
As am I, but if the reports are true about Hudson willing to take a discount to play for the Mets, then the Mets need to sign this guy, no questions asked.
By the way, can anyone that claims Hudson wants “Utley money” show me one substantiated report that says this? I haven’t seen one mention of that.
I agree. I love Murph but the jury is still out as to whether or not he can play 2nd for a team that is supposed to be upgraded next year. O-Dog is in the prime of his career, great fielder and I’m told, great in the clubhouse. Murphy has a place here. I still think we should consider moving Wright to first and putting Murph at 3rd.
when can you start making trades and signing free agents..basically im asking when does the off season begin a week after the world series?
is he healthy? he was awful last year.
obvious if it’s for castillo and the mets don’t have to pay the contract.
he was hurt last year. He only had 206 AB’s and he supposedly had bad hamstrings all years
i’d prefer manny.
that makes 2 of us, zen. however, unloading castillo for byrnes (who can be a bench/platoon player) would be worth it. castillo would be sitting on the bench collecting dust and getting booed every time he poked his head out of the dugout. byrnes would probably be a fan favorite by mid-april.
Byrnes is being paid way to much to be a bench player. You may be able to work him as a platoon. Say him and Murphy as the LF.
LF FA options
Moises Alou (42)
Garret Anderson (37) - $14MM club option with a $3MM buyout
Milton Bradley (31)
Emil Brown (34)
Pat Burrell (32)
Carl Crawford (27) - $8.25MM club option with a $2.5MM buyout
Adam Dunn (29)
Cliff Floyd (36) - $2.75MM club option with a $0.25MM buyout
Luis Gonzalez (41)
Jerry Hairston Jr. (33)
Raul Ibanez (37)
Gabe Kapler (33)
Kevin Mench (31)
Jason Michaels (33) - $2.6MM club option
Craig Monroe (32)
Greg Norton (36)
Jay Payton (36)
Wily Mo Pena (27) - $5MM club option or $2MM player option
Manny Ramirez (37)
Juan Rivera (30)
Fernando Tatis (34)
lets face it, other than crawford(which i think is the best FA LF out there), manny or juan rivera, brynes doesnt look too bad … and we get rid of castillo.
my favorite option is ichiro. bad contract. great player. he’s on the bad side of the mariners and they want to “weed out” bad players over there. castillo w/cash, and a few upside kids might work. and it gives us a LF - im sure he could manage. we tack on a lot of money, but its ichiro, a legit japanese star that brings japanese money to SNY, and we all know how YES works for the yanks. HIGHLY unlikely though. damned my mancrush on ichiro.
That is an ugly list unless you can get Crawford.
Alou!!!
Pug-ugly? Ugly-ugly? Fugly? Or pug-fugly?
Moe Sizlack reference, nice.
Crawford could be the true leadoff hitter the mets need. he really is dynamite on the bases. hits the occasional HR and maybe just maybe could teach reyes how to bunt
Not that it would ever happen, but can you imagine a 1-2 of Crawford/Reyes?
I thought Pierre/Castillo were annoying as heck, but imagine those two guys with pop, and thats would we would have..
also, crawford totally fits the byrnes “chip on your shoulder mentality” did you read any of his articles where he was all pissed about the little attention he received in TB (granted those articles were written before this year). He’s only 27, not including this year his average has consistently gone up since 2002. Not including this year has had atleast 45 stolen bases each year since ‘03. He’s been a mainstay on my fantasy team, earning me triples and SB victories every single week. Excuse me. i have to change my pants.
Crawford and Reyes would be an infinitely better 1-2 combo than the 1-2 combination of Pierre and Castillo, then or now.
Am I missing something with the Crawford love affair around here?
.319 OBP last year, .330 career. It’s hard for your leadoff hitter to be dynamite on the bases if he’s not on them… he’s had a couple of pretty good seasons, but he’s not exactly the ultimate leadoff man.
I think, and correct me if i’m wrong, that the fact that crawford put up those numbers where he had the likes of toby hall and johnny gomes batting behind him further adds to his credibility. With no one behind him, they aren’t going to try and pitch around him or allow him to work the count.
dream on about crawford. you might as well cross him off the that list. tampa is not letting him go.
Crawfords getting resigned.
Ichiro has become a distraction in Seattle. Apparently he is a little bit of a premadonna. Do we really need that? I say we sign Juan Rivera. His defense is average, but he hits really well. Prior to getting hurt he had a sick year (2006). He’s an old Yankee top prospect who took long to develop.
ichiro isnt about the premadonna thing, hes about the not winning thing.
remember when he got to the states. and they won like 125 games or something then 110 or so after that … he wants to win. they dont like him because he tries to give advice to everyone.
he got in it with another outfielder because he was trying to teach the importance of driving your hips into the swing. apparently there was a language barrier and it kind of got lost in translation. that was like 2005. i guess it sounds like he’s trying to still do it.
im willing to bet my mom’s Saab that he fills in nicely with the mets, if it ever happens.
the rays would sign crawford if they have the money. it looks like theyre gonna get it with all the money theyll have from the playoff shares.
Getting Crawford would be nice, but I’d imagine there’s a good chance TB picks up his option.
I don’t want to cause another storm of Adam Dunn arguments here, but I still think he’d be a very nice fit in the 2 hole of the line up.
crazy as it is, this team’s whole attitude took a turn for the worse when cliffy left. how about cliffy as an extra outfielder?
I own a Cliff Floyd Jersey. I’d wear it again.
I REALLY DON’T LIKE SEEING IBANEZ ON THAT LIST. I can put a 60% chance we sign Ibanez in the offseason….
I am just not a big fan of Ibanez at all. Crawford would be a different story. I think he would be a good 2-hitter for this team. We would have a dynamic 1-6 in the order.
Maybe Omar is actually listening to us and trying to bring over some gritty ballsy players, even if they happen to be white guys.
Byrnes and Pyrzinsksi (or how ever you spell his name) would get us some fire in the lineup and in the clubhouse, and it is sorely needed.
No more banged up, has been aging latinos please.
A.J. would be perfect for this team. Plus he’s born on Long Island in Bridgehampton - home of the Yaz.
With San Francisco going noplace anytime soon, you’d have to at least kick the tires on taking Rowand’s contract off their hands and putting him in a corner spot. I think that’s the type of grit this team needs - combined with legitimate everyday talent.
Rather have Byrnes than Rowand. Essentially they are the same kind of player, but at least Byrnes’ contract expries in 2 years, as opposed to Rowand’s expiring in 4 years (and he makes a little more money annually than Byrnes.
i would do that deal without any regrets. i am not a fan of Byrnes, but him for Castillo is something i would do 100 out of a 100 times. with Byrnes, the contract is only for two more years instead of with Castillo and the three years remaining.
i would not mind if the mets trade Castillo with cash and a Jason Vargas or Adam Bostick for Byrnes and maybe a double A position player.
Didn’t we boo Byrnes a lot following one of the Arizona series 2 years back?
They weren’t saying “boo” they were saying “boo-urns”.
Oh…I thought they were saying…mooooo-vers.
so can someone answer when does the offseason begin exactly. when does it start so we can sign cc trade for josh Hamilton sign carl Crawford trade church niese and f-mart for roy halladay?????
I’m not sure when the offseason begins in fantasy land…
im not sure either. ….I HAVE DREAMS!!!! haha
I think it is Nov 15 or something around there
Then we can fire Manuel and buy Francona from the Red Sox. Oooh and get free Jerseys for all members of Metsblog. Oh yeah, then we can have the Philly Fanatic as our 2nd mascot. Almost forgot, we stop paying Mo Vaughn’s and Bobby Bonilla’s residual salaries.
whats with your obsession with halladay?
he pitches alot of complete games
but do you think he can keep it up?
considering he has to hit in the NL
and might get taken out at the end of games for an extra bat
bro i was just kidding about all that relax. were not getting cc halladay or anyone like that. but ill take my chances on lowe or resigning ollie as dumb as that seems…
Halladay would be an excellent fit. It would give us 2 aces and relieve strain on teh bullpen, all in one trade.
I’ve actually read a couple articles that we may go after CC. Idk, but who really does know?
I’m sure the D’bax would be delighted to get out from under that stinker of a contract.
You do realize that Byrnes would be a DISASTER as a #2 hitter. That his OBP is much worse than Castillo’s.
But, oh right. He’s “gritty”.
Byrnes would be a 4th outfielder … not and everyday player with bad knees who can’t hit.
And for the love of God would you “Castillo’s OBP” people give it a rest.
HE ___ IS ____ HORRIBLE.
maybe we can use this OBP stat to our advantage when trading him
Yeah … give them his career stat sheets … but keep the actual video locked away.
My willingness to do this speculative trade is entirely due to my hatred of Castillo.
I don’t care that we’d be paying $5 million in salary over the next 2 years. I don’t care that Byrnes is a wildly overpaid 4th outfielder. Get Louie Mush the hell of out Queens Omar.
u read my mind. he can do the job evans did late in the year and i was listening to francessa and he was talking with heyman and they were talking about how Church hated playing for the mets.
If this is the case, Church has to be moved
i think brynes has good pre-all star break stats
2007 was his break out year
this year he was injured.
he has the potential to repeat 2007 if healthy
Even if the D-Backs won’t deal Byrnes for Castillo, I’m sure they have some exercise equipment or a fungo bat they’re willing to part with for a 2B man.
who do you guys think we have a better chance on signing. Burnett or K-rod?
and please no racial answers
K-Rod. Isn’t Burnett working on an extension with Toronto?
it was rumored. i do think he will resign with the jays
K-Rod. But if we could sign just two guys this offseason, I’d take those two.
Addition by subtraction.
wow….castillo for byrnes…thats it..i would do that in the quickest second.
now with rumors that Ryan Church evidently hated playing in New York. We have corner outfielder spots we need taken care of.
I would like to send Church and maybe heilman to the Rockies for Brad Hawpe
Church and Heilman could potentially be part of a Holliday deal.
why do you give credence to mike francesa? Seriously the guy is a pompous who pulls crap out of the air for ratings.
do you think johan will be upset if we traded castillo?
he was quite upset when the twins traded castillo a couple years ago.
he was quite upset because he saw this as the team giving up. back then castillo was their leadoff hitter with a 300 avg. i mean sure castillo’s the biggest reason Johan came to queens but now that he’s here and all settled in, I think Johan would understand
1st of All Omar unfortunately still thinks that Castillo can turn it around and won’t admit his own failure for resigning him. 2ndly the Byrnes guy isn’t even that good Castillo is not gonna be able to be dumped on his own the mets are gonna have to put him in a package with other players, not team in the MLB wants Luis Castillo as their 2nd baseman!
church hielman and niese for holliday??
Eh, maybe. Sounds a little lacking in guys. You might need to throw Evans in there too.
then we trade castillo for byrnes and are outfield would be holliday, beltran, byrnes
and our lineup would be done after putting murphy at 2nd
2 quick moves then to pitching
I like it. I just wish we don’t have to move Evans. I think he has some really good promise.
You seriously think that deal would be accepted? If Omar can pull that off he deserves a contract that expires when he dies.
“Minaya said the Mets would consider re-signing Martinez to a short-term deal, even though the three-time Cy Young winner turns 37 next month and battled minor injuries while compiling a 5-6 mark this season in just 20 starts this season.”
Fire Minaya now!!!!!
If he signs Pedro to anything more than a pitching coach job, I’m going to be exceedingly angry.
maybe he can play 2b
Yeah, Pedro’s all done. They should have DFA’d him just like they DFA’s that bum Delgado. Oh wait a minute …
Serioulsy, Pedro got into some bad habits and messed up his mechanics in coming back from the groin injury. His arm seems to be healthy, and if he corrects his arm slot and other problems, he may be a very effective pitcher again. And in his last start he had a very good curveball and change up, and pretty good velocity .
If he’ll take an incentive-laden deal re-sign him.
Can he play D?
I’d trade Castillo for an Eric Byrnes baseball card. That said, this story is as believable as the Easter Bunny marrying Santa Claus.
Reyes and FMart for Tulo and Holliday
Castillo + $$$ for Byrnes
Heilman for Dontrelle Willis
Sign K-Rod, Derek Lowe, Daryle Ward, Will Ohman, Juan Cruz, and Joe Beimel.
Pick up Delgado’s option.
Offer Mark Prior a 1 year deal at 2.2 mill.
CHAMPIONSHIP A team full of leadership and winners.
i like it
I like it without trading Reyes and FMart for Holliday and (WTF)Tulu(WTF)
In order…
No
Yes
Not gonna happen
Yes to all
Yes
Eh
Hopefully
You’ve shot it down everytime I’ve mentioned it. Yet you haven’t come up with any sort of reasonable offer in return. Tulo is a great ballplayer, a gamer, and a leader. Look at his rookie year more than last year, and if you want to look at 2008, look at September, he was GREAT.
The kid is a stud, we don’t play small ball anymore, there really is NO point to having Reyes. We get 2 gamers, 2 leaders, and a stud bat in the middle of our order.
Plus- you don’t think Tulo/Wright/Byrnes/Holliday/Beltran/Murphy/Johan wouldn’t mesh wonderfully? I can totally see this group getting along and actually forming a team, as opposed to the obvious seperation we had in the clubhouse the past 2 years.
But Reyes is even better. Ask yourself, who is a better player, Reyes or Tulu? I like the move for Holliday. But Reyes+FMart>Tulu+Holliday in 4-5 years, by quite a bit, I say.
I think we SHOULD make a play for Holliday. Use FMart if we have to. But don’t trade Reyes. As Reyes goes, so go the Mets. And if he leaves, the arguably small heart we have goes with him.
I can’t argue with that. I just don’t think FMart will be enough to get Holliday, TBH. Holliday is SUCH an upgrade over a prospect, that I think they’ll need to upgrade somewhere. I agree that Reyes is better than Tulo, but what Tulo gives you in other areas is immeasurable compared to Reyes. Tulo is a winner, a leader, guts, heart, hard nosed, etc.
Reyes has all the talent in the world, but he’s no Jeter. Tulo is exactly of the Jeter mold, as in, a natural born leader/winner.
Holliday is an upgrade over a prospect. I think FMart plus some pitching (Heilman, Niese, Kunz are all possible) and maybe another prospect could be enough though.
And not everybody has to be a “leader”. I believe David Wright will become this team’s leader. What’s wrong with being an extremely talented player that doesn’t want to necessarily be the voice of the team?
Nothing as long as there’s anybody else to pick up the leadership role, which we don’t have.
Holliday can do that. He’s a good leader. And someone like K-Rod can give us that “fire” that people go on about.
Obviously you need a 72 hour time window to sign Holliday long term. Santana-esque, you don’t do the deal unless you can lock him up long term. Can’t make that deal for a 1-year rental of Holliday.
Signing CC, Tex, etc. isn’t possible due to the new draft compensation rules. We should start implementing a strategy of trading for guys who are about to begin their final season of their contract for a team who will not be able to re-sign them. That way, we don’t lose a compensatory draft pick to the team whom we sign their Level A Free Agent. The exception of course is K-Rod, we NEED this guy for our pen.
I like it. I think part one will also cost Nick Evans also
Part 2 no brainer-
Part 3 Detroit would do that one. Big risk for the mets . IF D train is back watch out if not ………….
Part 4 K- Rod 50-50. I thnk he will stay with Angels, using the Mets to jack up the price. Probably look to Fuentes . Ward, Ohman Biemel good additions. Cruz is a sleeper. He was a stud minor league starter with CUbs years ago. Cubs converted him to the pen. Tehn then went as part of trades all over the place.
Part 5 Delgado absolutely should be resigned for a contarct with incentives.
I would like to see Jesse Crain Twins RP come over to setup. He has smoke coming of his fastball
My wish list to Santa Minaya…
Sign K-Rod
Sign Burnett
Trade Heilman and some combination of Church, FMart, Evans, and Niese for Holliday
Get this Byrnes deal done.
Trade for a decent enough right fielder if Chuch needs to go to Colorado.
Shore up the bullpen with free agents.
Trade Schneider, and trade for Salty.
Sign Lowe or Garland if Niese is out of New York.
It’s SO SIMPLE!!!! haha
can we get Burnette though?
Well, if he doesn’t sign with the Jays. If he does…
Idk, sign two of Garland, Lowe, Ollie, CC (maybe), and Wolf.
1) Onboard w/ KRod
2) No on Burnett
3)Maybe…..maybe not for Holliday (he needs to be signed)
4) Byrnes - yup
5) Bullpen- duh
6) Wow….would TX ever do that?
7) Lowe should be signed anyway
Yeah, they have 4 catchers. They’re concerned about his arm, and they have Teagarden and Laird.
I don’t think a package of Heilman is going to be enough to get Holliday. It’s going to have to be Reyes/Fmart related.
Forget about Burnett.
Burnett not worth it and somebody else will overpay for him!!! Get it through your head people. Let Murphy share time with David Eckstien at second. Keep Delgado! Theres nobody else out there that you can get for 8 Mil. Not much range but boy can he pick it. I love Byrnes please!! lol Go after K-Rod also Rauch in deal for Byrnes. Mabe sign Brandon Lyon. Keep Tatis. Hopefully keep Ollie and mabe Maddux for number 5 in the rotation.
Hate Oliver Perez. If we don’t get Burnett and we don’t pull off a miracle and get CC (I can always fantasize), I hope we get Jon Garland and/or Derek Lowe.
I’m all for Byrnes, especially if we move Castillo in the deal.
Failing that, get Rowand
Just a thought,
Johan Santana, Jose Reyes, Endy Chavez, and Bobby Abreu have the same agent
You don’t want Abreu.
He’s the prototype soft player
agreed.
yup
That is why the phillies wanted to get rid of him
There’s a down side here?
Oh, wait. He can’t bring that putrid at-bat music with him.
Deal? Or no deal? DEAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Trade Castillo and some B prospect for Rauch and Byrnes.
Sign O-Dawg, K-Rod, Lowe, Beimel, Oliver.
Exercise Delgado’s option.
Trade Church, Evans, Heilman and any other relievers for Holliday.
Trade Murphy for J. Soria or H. Street.
1b: Delgado 2b: O-Dawg 3b: Wright SS: Reyes C: Schneider/Castro lf: Holliday cf: Beltran rf: Byrnes
P1: Santana P2: Pelfrey P3: Lowe P4: Maine P5: Niese
Pen: K-Rod, Soria/Street, Beimel, Oliver, Rauch, Feliciano, Smith, Ayala
I highly disagree with trading Church and Murphy. You also act like we have an unlimited budget. NEXT.
That’s 3 A level FAs. Not possible. O-Dawg is the odd man out. Next.
I don’t think that will be enough for Holliday. Rox are going to want studs in return for their stud hitter, otherwise they’ll hold him til the trade deadline and get a real prospect or 2 at the deadline. If we get Holliday, Reyes and or FMart will need to be involved, not Heilman and Church. It makes sense too because you can do a Santana-like deal where you won’t make the deal unless you’re granted a time frame in which to agree on a long-term deal with him.
I’m not big on the O-Dawg signing too. I also think Ollie will demand too much for what he’s given us. I like the Soria deal alot, I don’t know if Murph will be enough though. Maybe going off your Holliday idea, trading Heilman and Evans for Soria. I think that could work. Maybe add Parnell in there too.
Are u sugesting we pay Oliver Perez something like 13 mil a year to be put in the Bullpen while neise is in the rotation? I hope u mean Darron Oliver. lol And i suggested the same Castillo + b Prospect = byrnes and rauch last night if anybody remembers. =D
Eric Byrnes is also an idiot, which is a potential problem going forward. The most bone-headed play I’ve ever seen (2003 ALCS?) was his defining moment.
Wow, i’d love this deal. Not saying it will or would happen. But considering we might have to take care of some cantract with Castillo but Byres would be perfect for NewYork! With him, Church and Beltran we would have 3 center feild capable players out there and undoubtably the best outfeild in baseball. Bat him 2,6,7 I don’t care but I’d be mighty excited to get him as a leader spark plug. I remember last year in a series against Arizona he batted lead off one night, stole like 2 bases. The next he batted 4th and i think he got like a 3-run homerun. He can do it all. I likey
GET K-ROD
DARREN OLIVER
AND
MANNY RAMIREZ
‘They’re not booing you sir, they’re saying; BOO-UUURNS!’
I’m a Mets fan going to college in Arizona, and there is a weekly TV show on FSN Arizona, “The Eric Byrnes Show.” Over the past few weeks, Byrnes has made fun of the Mets at least once during every episode. I’ve started to not like him because of this. For example, he went to an elementary school to read to kids, “The Team that Lost It’s Way, the story of the 2007 Mets.”
He does get hurt a lot, but he is very popular with the fans here in Arizona, and it would be interesting if the Mets could get him for Castillo.
Why would Arizona trade him???? I think he would be an ideal fit for the Mets.
dave lennon rips smugcessa…why not trade a-rod and jeter?
Jeter …300/.363/.408 …88 R …11 HRs …69 RBI … .317 RISP
A-Rod ..302/.393/.573 ..104 R ..35 HRs ..103 RBI ..271 RISP
Now let’s take a look at the expendable Reyes and Wright:
Reyes … .297/.358.475 . 113 R ..16 HRs . 68 RBI …277 RISP
Wright … .302/.390/.534 .115 R . 33 HRs .124 RBI ..243 RISP
Oops. Almost forgot. Let’s also throw in their 2008 salaries:
Jeter …. $20 million
A-Rod .. $27 million
Reyes … $4 million
Wright … $5 million
Francessa is a total moron. He’s just doing it in an attempt to annoy Mets fans (he’s succeeded) and to try to diminish the Mets franchise (he’s failed).
If the Yankees never had Rivera, then I think it’s a good bet the Yankees win ZERO titles the last decade and no one would have heard of Jeter. I bet Francessa would never have called for trading Jeter if that had happened. .
The unfortunate thing is that there are a few gullible fans who actually think Francessa has good ideas and will parrot his tripe.
and when a met fan challenges him with real stats - he cuts them off and says theyre comparing apples to oranges
Yup. What a disingenuous phony. He makes believe he’s well meaning sometimes, but it’s always an act with some ulterior motive.
It’s too bad he has this soapbox in NY. He doesn’t deserve it.
of course he is disingenuous im just surprised ed coleman has’nt put him in his place - at least evan tried - fatty is just an arrogant blimp who made his career on the fact that he guessed st johns would win the final four in 84
We need a big BAT and a complete change of bullpen
Silly Met fans…6 player trades are for Fantasy sports…
so are the lets make 5+ different BIG moves to rebuild this team..
lets slow the tempo down and realize that this team was on the cusp 3 years in a row, depsite injuries, a lackluster BP, and a lot of questionable manager/coaching decisions…
I highly doubt that the Dbacks want to trade a player who was once the “heart and soul” of their team for Castillo…but, they do want to keep Dunn, and they have enough depth. Castillo does fit their lineup and playing style.
Hope to see something like that happen bc I like the way Byrnes plays
the lineup wouldnt make too much sense unless we got a high-avg hitting 1b bc delgado, beltran, and byrnes are all very similar all-or-nothing hitters, prone to LONG cold streaks…wright and reyes arent far behind.
would be exciting though
Mets 2009
Reyes
Beltran
Manny
Delgado
Wright
Murphy
Church
Schneider/ Castro
Rotation
1. Santana
2. Dempster, Sheets, Burnett
3. Pelfrey
4. Maine
5. Niese
Bullpen:
Closer: K-Rod
Setup: Darren Oliver
Middle relievers: Ayala, Smith, Feliciano
Longman: Stokes
Don’t tell me we can’t get both K-Rod and Manny cause we can. We have a lot of money coming off the books. Plus Manny will prob only be a 3 year contract, and with that and K-Rod it gives you through 2011 to win a World Series with ( Santana, Manny, K-Rod, Wright, Reyes, and Beltran) Pretty scary team huh. Get this done Omar!!
Oh yeah and the bench:
Bench
Endy: OF
Tatis: OF and 3B
Evans: 1B
Marlon Anderson ( PINCH HITTING ONLY)
Ramon Martinez: 2B, SS
Castro: C
Slider, not gunna happen. This team is the EXACT same team as this year except Manny and K-Rod.
There’s no way we are going to go after injury prone Sheets or Burnett. Dempster is intriguing but I think there are more important issues to address.
Marlon Anderson will never be in a Mets uniform again. He hit like 200 as a pinch hitter this year, he’s gone.
Ramon Martinez was nice, but he’s also meant to be a Buffalo Bison.
The team needs a big overhaul. The core (one might get dealt) can stay, the young’ns that don’t get traded can stay, Smith and Feliciano can stay, the starters under contract can stay, Endy can stay, other than that, get some new blood in here.
yeah marlon will fade into obscurity like tito jermaine and randy lol i think we give easley and tatis another shot as bench guys and maybe frank thomas if he would swallow his pride to become a pinch hit specialist ala rusty staub or lenny harris
Frank Thomas is another clubhouse cancer. Don’t you guys get it? We need high leaders, not more clubhouse separation and cancers.
didn’t alot of people think that keith was a clubhouse cancer in st louis??
Haha.
No literally we can’t get Dempster/Sheets/Burnett, K-Rod, and Manny. Because that is 3 type A free agents. And that is one over the limit you are aloud to sign each year.
That’s hilarious that you said that. Owned.
How do you find out if guys are type a or type b!?
i don’t wan’t dempster - i remember the game we shelled him in in 07 - remember the one we came back in the 9th
Dempster and Burnett are type B’s!
what would ollie be then a b or z?
Perez is a type B
thats what a sandwhich pick? btw how was glavine type a and ollie type b?
type b that is
Actually, Dempster and Burnett are both type A’s.
as will be Ollie.
That bullpen looks awfully familiar to this years.
There are alot of good middle relievers out there, NOT named Darren Oliver. DON’T RE-SIGN AYALA.
Forget Stokes, he’s meant to be a Buffalo Bison.
Sign Juan Cruz, Brandon Lyon, Joe Beimel, Brian Shouse, whoever, lots of good FA’s out there. But most importantly, WILL OHMAN needs to be on this team.
Smith and Feliciano should stay, that’s all from this pen though.
And Parnell/Kunz deserve shots.
agreed - just wondering guys do you think we should go after izzy as a set up man??? i mean i think if u offered a incentive laden contract he might be a nice surprise - he had what tommy john surgery or a torn rotator cuff??
I forgot to put Parnell in the middle relievers section. He could possibly be the longman since he used to be a starter.
oman id iffy imo isn’t bradford a free agent this year?
No way do we touch Izzy, he’s had a hip problem the past few years, and he’s a problem in the clubhouse.
Bradford isn’t a free agent, atleast he wasn’t on the FA list I looked at yesterday
i forgot about izzy’s hip - i thought the orioles signed chad to a 2 year deal btw fatso francessa is so friggin offbase with his trading one of the core players routine - i didn’t hear him say that about his beloved yanksf rom 02 - now
brandon lyon IMPLODED in AZ this year, the NY media would eat him alive, he is not good!
The bullpen is terrible. Tthe only additions are K-Rod and Oliver. I think you replaced Heilman with Oliver. Scho is gone, who replaces him? It’s defintely short.
figgy in long relief?? how was darren olivers numbers this year?
“if the Mets would be interested in acquiring Byrnes, and his two-year, $22 million contract, in exchange for Luis Castillo, who is due to earn $18 million through 2011″
in a friggin’ heartbeat.
i floated this scenario yesterday and got scoffed at
not by me
No way the D-Backs would take Castillo back.
Would you?
no, but they do need a 2b.
byrnes would be a fan fav in new york after 1 inning….something LC couldnt accomplish in 1.5 years.
byrnes is worth a 1 year shot - til fmart matures (if he matures) i mean he has alot of lenny dykstra in him
Trade Reyes to KC where he can dance and no one will care for Aviles, Soria and Greinke
how’s about we ship you to seattle where you can play nintendo with erik bedard
HAHAHA
thankyou thankyou ill be hear all week try the veal
hahaha will do.
Nice.
Aviles is too old, he’s like 27 or something. There’s a reason the ROYALS didn’t bring him up for so long, because he’s not really good.
Greinke would kill himself after getting booed for the first time in NYC. Let that social anxiety remain in KC where nobody cares what he does.
sounds like ed whitson or jack mcdowell (wait !! thats 2 yankee free agent signings that blew up in their faces !!) alert fatcessa !!!
wow. howd that get thru the filter?
thats actually not a terrible idea at all…it wont happen..but thats not something to laugh about it actually is not that bad of a trade at all
i’d rather try to get bannister back then to be quite honest
Why? Bannister isn’t that good, folks…
maybe warthen can fix him in 20 minutes lol
That actually is a terrible idea. You’re d@mn right it won’t happen. It is something to laugh about actually. It actually is a bad trade.
is hudson the team leader type? i would love to have kent back but he is disintergrating before the dodgers fans eyes plus he was never mr warmth
Hudson seems like a quality clubhouse guy, but I don’t think he’d hold up in NY, too many injuries.
Also, no thanks on Kent. So old, so battered, and another guy who was a problem in NY and SF.
i know just wondeering what coulda been if we didn’t trsde him for that washed up mofungo salesman baerga lol hey what if we send edgardo an invite to spring training?? he did play well for the ducks
Jeff Kent?! Let him rot! I don’t want him anywhere near the Mets!! He’s a A-Hole!!
i’d rather have him than slappy lol btw BRING BACK EDGARDO!!!
i know im grasping at straws lol
hey guy’s did the twins sign nathan?? and maybe we can trade for oswalt or that 2nd baseman/ 3rd baseman loretta - he has good range and decent power numbers
Twins signed Nathan and he was hinting he wanted to go back to NY before he signed.. He was a ballplayer at Pine Bush NY. About, 45 minutes from NYC It is doubtful he would be traded now. Twins are deep in RP, very deep. The Twins and Mets would be ideal trading partners. Twins are young and have been built that way. Lost Johan and Torri HUnter, Garza and Silva yet were competitive. The Mets would have to trade them a fair share of minor leagers. Even Humber made a contribution for them this year. Crain or Nasek both setup for Nathan during the past two years could be available. They are hurt now, but the Twins found another setup guy Mejiers. I would believe Crain would go, because Nasek is a sidearmer and was deceiving and Twins would hold him. If Nathan had left either of those two would have closed
damn - he coulda been a cheaper alternative to krod
guy’s what about affelt from the reds?? he was strong down the strech im=f memory serves me right - plus maybe bronson arroyo can be had for the right package maybe a carp a kunz etc
Bullpen:
Closer: K-Rod
Setup: Darren Oliver
Middle Relievers: Smith, Parnell, Kunz, Feliciano
Longman: Stokes
First off, I think it’d be more realistic to put someone like Fuentes in your closer’s spot. Secondly, your bullpen suggestion outside of K-Rod may be worse than this year’s version.
fuentes wants to stay in colorado
Doesn’t really matter if the Rockies don’t want him there…
i like it but oliver was always a long man type what about looper as a setup? do u think he forgot about how we ran him outta town lol plus hat about that kid that threw the 8th inning against us on sun? kevin gregg?
Looper is not coming back here. His NY experience was miserable, and I think he permanently burned his bridges with the Mets with his antics in the 06 NLCS.
Gregg is crap!!!
Lets Go Twins!! I hope Carlos Gomez makes the playoffs.
Anybody that is proposing trading Jose Reyes seriously needs to stop. He is one of the best (if not best) shortstops in the whole league and he is only 25 years old. He was brought up with the Mets and is a true Met. The man is an absolute stud. He is a sparkplug on offense and his defense is superb. If you people are really entertaining dealing him than you need your heads examined. C’mon just be real about it.
Only reason the Mets don’t trade for Reyes has nothing to do with the fact he’s home grown.. I don’t care if Reyes and Wright came from Mars. The reason you don’t trade Reyes is
1. He’s got unbelievable talent and is 200hits 50 sb for the next 10 years.
2. He is a game changer with his speed and a leadoff hitter.
3. You build baseball team up the middle. catcher ss 2b cf.
Wright in the other hand should not be on the block either being that he is only 25 and has great potential.
However being that Wright is a corner outfielder and a middle of the lineup guy you can get guys who can hit for power and drive in runs that position.
Reyes = untouchable
Wright = almost untouchable unless we get serious pitching back from him (Oswalt, Hallady straight up you do the trade)
Beltran = untouchable can’t trade the best cf in the league.
Wright corner infielder I meant… Can get production else where so if the right deal comes along like a Oswalt Halladay straight up kind of deal you HAVE TO DO IT…
No, because they are about 30 now.
Only person I trade Wright for straight up is Lincecum.
I would love to get Byrnes, but there is no point in him being a fourth outfielder. We already have Chavez as our defensive replacement, so the only time Byrnes gets in is if Church or Murphy need a day off or maybe when a lefty pitches. But Bradley is a FA, I would love to get him. Although I like Manny now, I see too much Pedro in him. A star who had a great year, but is clearly old and is going to decline. Similarly, Pedro was a start in his first 1.5 years in NY, but his last few years were a disaster because of his age and the fact that he is injury prone.
Byrnes is the type of complementary player that the Mets need.. Scrappy type player who has guts and plays all out… Get AJ Pierzynski in the offseason also…
Sign Krod
Sign Manny
Get blue collar players with guts like byrnes,counsell,derosa
Get bullpen help.
Mets will win if these things happen.
By the way…
Try to get Oswalt or Hallady: Mets give Maine, Church, Neise, A Reyes to get either one of those two OMAR HAS TO DO THAT TRADE…
Yeah, if I’m the Astros GM, I really got to love a player who just had surgery on his arm today, a guy who suffered multiple concussions within a few months and will be prone for more concussions, and A Reyes, the fierce slugger. Only way the deal happens is if the GM of the other team looks at the paper quickly and mistakes A Reyes for J Reyes. Nice try though. For either deal to occur, FMart has to be included.
OMAR MINAYA DESERVES TO GET HIS BALLSACK RIPPED OFF FOR SIGNING CASTILLO!!!!!!!!!!
That gets through but a.s.s, which they say on television, does not. lol.
also man age ment
surely a couple of mets must have filmed one of these silly TBS playoff spots - someone leak it
I want Parnell for the pen
Young good arm, can get Ks…………..we don’t have anyone like that
Stokes. Brandon Knight.
But I like Parnell, definitely.
Smith? I guess not the K’s part as much.
YO FAWK OMAR MINAYA!!!!! HE’S A BIG FAT PIECE OF DONKEY CRAP AND ALL HE TALKS ABOUT IS ADDRESSING CERTAIN AREAS. WHAT A FRICKFACE! FIX THE WHOLE DAMN TEAM YA FATS!!!!
Instead of cursing the guy who helped rebuild the franchise by getting Beltran, Delgado, Santana, and others you guys only criticize him. If it wasn’t for Minaya, we would never have expereienced the past 2 Septembers, because with the other GMs we had our season would have been done in August. The guy came in here with 2 young prospects in Reyes and Wright who still hadn’t proved himself, and he basically rebuilded this team. Now, has he made mistakes, of course. But find me one GM that has been perfect.
OUR PAYROLL IS FREAKIN 137 MIL. NO EXCUSES MINAYA!!!!!!
Dude, see the key that says, “CapsLock”?
Press it.
Ha.
Oh, I meant “HA.”
the following needs to be done from most important to least important……..
BULLPEN/CLOSER (remember how horrible they were….was it 29 BS)
LEFT FIELD BAT (i think they need one more decent bat in there who will get it done when it matters..im thinking of someone like holliday/manny)
STARTER (we got johan, pelfrey, maine, ????, and ????) i think we can get away with signing one good starter and leaving that 5 spot for niese
2B? i dont think they need a second baseman..murphy is very talented and i think would be fine there
So omar needs to get a closer before he does anything else…i dont care how much krod will cost they need to get him..hes 26 i think and one of the best in the game today…that needs to be done first…they go for some relievers…just some new faces in the pen….then left field and then the rotation
How is Jose Reyes the best SS in baseball and how is he untouchable?? He is not as good as Han Ram, Rollins(though its close cause rollins is overrated), Tulo is just as good, uh jeter is jeter, alexi ramirez is a superstar, aviles is a hitting machine, and i would deal reyes for multiple pieces and sign orlando cabrera
Johan, Johan, Johan.
Please take your meds.
The idea is to get better. The way you do that is to keep your good players and replace your bad players with better ones.
Getting “multiple pieces” and orlando cabrera is not an upgrade. Unless you are doing fantasy baseball with your little brother and “multiple pieces” are A-Rod, Sabbathia, K-Rod, Holliday, Halladay, Rollins, Soto and Soriano.
The idea is to get better by any means necessary. By saying “these guys are untradeable” is ridiculous and you wont ever improve. There are plenty of players out there that are just as comproble to reyes and wright, though the replacements dont have to be as good. You can get “winning” and “tough minded” players while also having production from those guys. In my book, reyes should be considered dealt because he has been the reason why teams hate the mets and getting rid of his babyish stuff would help the team immensly, but only for a star back and multiple pieces
you can’t even define or categorize winning or tough minded, if you could those guys would be not only the playoffs every year, but winning the world series because their “winning” and “tough minded” attitudes would out weigh the opposition in every situation.
You are reaching for a feeling or a statistic that can never be defined.
This isn’t fantasy baseball/
Aviles is crap dude.
Don’t be crazy, Hanram is a stud hitter but he should be a left fielder, his fielding is no where near on par with Reyes’. Reyes is still the best SS in baseball, and while I agree that he should be “touchable”, it should be for a Tulo/Holliday package, not Mike Aviles.
To everybody so stoked about the idea of Eric Byrnes.
Just remember his super duper diving play it attitude has never taken his teams very far, so do not expect magic.
Would I take him in exchange for Castillo?
IN A HEARTBEAT. But I suspect the Mets would be dealing Daniel Murphy in that situation too, and I’d rather not.
Getting back to Byrnsey, I say “sign me up.” As long as he’s healthy, let’s do it.
Then sign Orlando Hudson to play second base.
Then sign CC and Derek Lowe to start.
Then don’t sign Oliver Perez.
Then make a trade with KC for Soria to close.
I will update later.
I find your plan very unrealistic.
First, you suggest signing two Type A FA starters whose combined 2009 salaries will be somewhere around $40 million.
Then you suggest adding $5 million more to the payroll with Byrnes/Castillo swap.
You then add another $10 million to the payroll with the injury prone O-Dawg
That’s $55 million, and with only 1 bullpen arm coming in
I also don’t think you can sign 3 Type A free agents in one offseason, although I’m not completely sure.
(What would you trade for Soria???)
Again, I’m sure CC will be a type A free agent. And it’s likely Hudson and Lowe will be too (Lowe could be a B). And I’d much rather get someone like KRod. Listen, he may be a bit overrated but he’s still the best closer available that won’t cost us an arm and a leg. And by that I mean prospects.
Am I the only Met fan who doesn’t want K-Rod on my team??
No, I think I’m with you on that. I think rather than spend so much money for KRod, I would prefer to take that money and get 3 arms for the bullpen. I would prefer to trade for a cheaper closer like Soria from the Royals. With the exception of Mariano Rivera, these relievers (including closers) are up and down every other year.
Let’s spend the big money on a big time starting pitcher or pitchers.
Thank you! I don’t have a good feeling about this guy (nor do I about any free agent signing for the Mets). I don’t like his showboating and even as good as he’s been, many of his performances are shaky, letting a run in and putting men on base before the save. His celebrations will be a bad influence on Reyes and just create more animosity for the other team to play off of.
It’s good to have owners who pull out the checkbook, but let us not turn into the Yankees. Omar is paid to be smart, make moves outside the box and put pieces together to work. Not just to sign the most expensive guy out there.
I’ve heard the media say K-Rod has the reputation as being sensitive and might not fair well in NY.
i am with you…i think his best years are behind him…i would love to see the mets develop a closer and then get the best years out of him…look at all the best closers in baseball…
thanks ron! totally forgot about that kenny rogers!
Do it. Do it, do it, do it, do it.
The Mets need to get K-Rod, and although CC is very unlikely, they have to bid for him until the price gets outrageous. Also, there is this nive Japanease pitcher, forgot his name. He could be a nice pickup as well.
Yu Darvish?
Darvish wont be posted this year, and when he is, it will be a HUGE bidding war. believe me, hes not someone that the Mets can just waltz in and sign.
wow watching this white sox./twins game and seeing thome hit that bomb and seeing the place erupt makes me wish our team didnt choke again.
Francesa keeps going on and on about the core Phillie group of Utley, Rollins and Howard being better and tougher than the core Met group of Wright, Reyes and Beltran. First off, before annointing this Phillie group as better and tougher, can they first win a postseason game let alone a series. Second, my feeling is that Utley/Rollins and Reyes/Wright are petty much a wash if not leaning toward Wright/Reyes. The difference is Howard. As good as Beltran is as an all around player, he’s no match for Howard as an offensive force. Although he strikes out a lot and doesn’t hit for that high of an average, Howard is capable of producing 50 homers and 140+ rbis on a yearly basis and the Mets just don’t have anyone at this time who can match that type of production.
who cares about the core. The Phillies have guys like Victorino, Werth and Burrell to back up the core. Who do we have? Church Schneider. We have to build around the core, maybe add a couple new faces.
I’magainst breaking up the core but I do recognize that Wright has to change his approach to hitting in certain situations. Get away from that pull mentality and get back to driving the ball back through the middle. Burrell wasn’t all that much the last two months of the season. I believe he hit under .200. This team needs to add a left fielder who can contribute on a daily basis. Doesn’t have to put up superstar but much better than the black hole of offense that occupied that position this season.
Also, the 2007 collapse was due mostly to the collapse of the starting pitching at the end not the offense. The Mets gave up 7 or more runs in 11 of their last 17 games in 2007 and pitched to ERA of around 6
Ha. Yes, David has to change his approach. He has to not choke in big situations when the season is on the line.
I love David, and I’m against trading him and/or Reyes (Jose, not Argenis). But David pressed too much in these big situations when we were counting on him. He was swinging at pitches in the dirt and a foot off the outside part of the plate. He just has to calm down and talk the walk if they’re going to give it to him.
I think he will overcome this in years to come. But we do need to give some some support from the right type of players.
When I hear all the talk about whether or not the core of the Mets are mentally tough to win, I’m reminded that I heard this same thing regarding the NY Islanders in the late 70s and 1980. After losing in the 1978 and 1979 playoffs to the Maple Leafs and the Rangers, teams they were better than on paper, there was talk of whether or not that group led by Bossy, Trottier and Potvin were mentally and physically tough enough to win the Cup. That group managed to get over that hump and went on to win 4 straight Cups without breaking up.
If we look past the core, the big problem is not them, it’s our support. Victorino, Werth, and Lidge top Church, Tatis, and Ayala.
The Phils bullpen ERA improved by over a run a game between 2007 and 2008. From 4.25 to 3.19. The Mets went from 3.98 to 4.22. It was by far the deciding factor. The Phils bullpen was just lights out this season.
Very true. I just read something like that in an article. Our core is strong but there is a big drop off between the core guys (Wright/Reyes/Beltran/Delgado) and the supporting guys (Whatever is at 2B/Catcher/corner OF without Church)
The difference between the Phillies and Mets in the last two seasons has been the bullpens, head to head and against the competition the Phillies bullpen has helped them not give a way as much.
The year before Myers sealed the deal when given the closer role and the rest of the pen stepped up big time August and September.
The Mets had an iffy pen down the stretch last year and a horrible one all season long this year.
Lidge had arguably the best regular season a closer has ever had.
The Mets did not lack for the Tatis, Easley, Murphy area of help that the Phillies get from Werth, Victorino and Burrell.
Twice this season the Mets lost games head to head with the Phillies in which the bullpen could not seal the deal.
Case closed.
How fast can we get this done? I wouldn’t want Arizona thinking too long about this.
I like Byrnes and agree this team needs more players of his type….aggressive, hard nosed, vocal, intense, etc.
You really want to improve this team: Do the unthinkable, and spend some of that new CitiField money and SIGN C.C. SABATHIA. THATS RIGHT. PAIR HIM WITH MAINE, PELFREY, WHOEVER, AND SANTANA. DOMINANT PITCHING WINS BABY. OUTBID THE STANKS AND HAVE THE 2 BEST LEFTIES IN THE GAME IN THE SAME ROTATION.
Some of you guys are really retarded.
Byrnes is exactly the type of player this team needs.
If you look at his stats, hes a poor man’s beltran and would play his heart out for our team.
Some advice for a few of you: Stop freaking listening to Mike Francesca.
He could be the Mets’ Butch Goring.
By Francesa’s logic, the Twins should look to trade either Mauer or Morneau. They did sweep the White Sox last week to take the division and then lost 2 of 3 at home to the Royals and were shutout on 2 hits tonight.
Exactly
I think he would be a good fit for NY.
i would LOVE to get this guy. he is the EXACT type of player this town needs and that this team needs.
yknow what ? I wouldnt think twice about trading fmart. I d send him heilman ,evans and kunz to the stros for Oswalt.
Can’t imagine a scenario in which the Astros do not think they can win the NL Central next season.
Oswalt is a key to that.
with th rotation the way it is now hed be a good replacement for pedro.
signing krod or brian fuentes wouldnt hurt either.
Man fatcessa was getting on my nerves today. The guy clearly has an agenda against the mets, and every met fan with sense knows that our solid core of Wright-Reyes-Beltran-Santana-Pelfrey shouldnt go anywhere. Id keep Delgado too. You wanna change things? How about changing the worst bottom part of a lineup in baseball?
We need guys in LF and 2nd base that can hit 6th and 7th. Guys like Aaron Rowand was for the Phillies last year.
We also need BOTH Krod and Fuentes
rotation santana,pelfrey hopefully maine,niese and oswalt. And either krod or brian fuentes in the pen.Or trade for chad cordero and sign fuentes.
if we could trade for oswalt and sign krod and since jeff francoeur had such a horrible year with the braves 239 ba 11 hr 71 rbis maybe they might think of trading him?
We are not getting Oswalt. Astros will never trade him. Ever!
It wouldnt hurt to try.
The Braves will never trade with us. But, just in they would, let’s get MIke Gonzales too. I thing I could get used to that little jig he does if he was dancing, er, pitching for us.
Fatcessa said something about Church hating NY? Any of you guys thinking about moving he a Schneider somewhere else? I hear Church is a west coast guy so maybe you can trade em’ to the A’s for Street and then possibly bring up F-Mart and see what he’s about,
You actually believe him?
Heyman also confirmed it. I dunno Church didn’t really enjoy the last few weeks,and arguably he came up short too when it mattered the most
Heyman did NOT confirm it, he said he had not heard either way.
Probably just doing his spin because he LOVES church. most likely wants him on the yankees, and is trying to create a disconnect between him and the fans. They have got to get someone else on that show. Its such a pain that the drive slot is taken up by someone who probably doubles as metsblog user larryflynt when he gets home
I HAS A GRAETE IDEA 4 A VIDOE GAMEE OK SO EVERY1 THIKNS UR JERRY MANUAL BUT UR NOTT
One more time: From the Daily News, 8/23/08:
“Church revealed that his wife Tina was driven to tears by the standing ovation the Shea faithful gave before his first at-bat in Friday’s 1-for-3 return. The hard-nosed Church said the fans’ embrace cemented his desire to spend the rest of his career in Flushing. He’s even open to signing a long-term contract now to wipe away his arbitration years. Church won’t be a free agent until after the 2011 season.”
Mike Francesca is a clueless idiot.
It wasn’t fatcessa who started this, it was his bu tt buddy Jon Heyman, fellow Yankee shill.
Either way. It appears to be baseless. I trust Adam Rubin on this one.
either way this bullpen needs a overhaul.As for byrnes id welcome him .
i would do Byrnes for Castillo easy. also I’d like to add a fighter. one or two who like to brawl and show some fire!
OFF TOPIC
I’ve been looking all over for the postgame ceremony and I know others have too, since I didn’t get to see it. On mets.com it now says “download the complete shea finale” from itunes ($1.99). when you go to itunes it looks like it’s the game, wondering if anyone DLed it yet and can say if it includes the ceremony.
So, I posted this up above, but it deserves a mention: in another conversation about how Byrnes would fit in with Church and/or Murphy, a fellow poster mentioned that Mike Franny claimed today that he had a good source who was telling him that Church HATES the Mets and wants to get the hell out of here. I was sure that I had read earlier in the year the exact opposite. So, one simple Google search proved that I was right and Francesca, again, wrong.
This is from the Daily News, 8/23/08:
“Church revealed that his wife Tina was driven to tears by the standing ovation the Shea faithful gave before his first at-bat in Friday’s 1-for-3 return. The hard-nosed Church said the fans’ embrace cemented his desire to spend the rest of his career in Flushing. He’s even open to signing a long-term contract now to wipe away his arbitration years. Church won’t be a free agent until after the 2011 season.”
Mike Francesca is a clueless idiot.
Stating the obvious.
Not only is he an idiot, but a clueless one at that.
haha nicely done… Mike Francesa’s sources are the back of a Devil Dog’s box.
You know, I keep reading comments about Huston Street like he’s some kind of elite closer. Truth is, Street had a mediocre year (his numbers are buoyed a bit by a good last month), lost his job as the Oakland closer, and showed an alarming dip in velocity for much of the season. Street isn’t a guy you want to give up a lot for right now.
Look, he’s still a lot better than the loads we have out in the pen, but I’d be cautious before I gave up too much for Street. I’d worry about arm trouble. He had a couple of horrendous stretches this year.
I know this is a crazy time and I believe we’ll all get through it. But when you start debating yourself about Huston Street on metsblog after midnight, it’s probably a sign to call it a day and hit the hay.
“Ok, you know what I mean?”
I’m just so lonely…
But a fair point.
I actually was the one who mentioned AJ and Byrnes to Evan today and he was nice enough to credit me on the air.
Its funny to read the expectation level on Evans. You people need to get serious.
Byrnes is not a superstar but he is the role type player we are looking for.
If they were to bring in Byrnes and AJ I would then go get a big bat for 1st base
btw I am the same person who was begging the Mets to get Nelson Cruz from Texas this summer. I mentioned it numerous times on this blog. Many of you laughed and dismissed it, despite the fact 95% of you probably couldnt pick him out of a lineup. Go look at his numbers and tell me his bat wouldnt have helped down the stretch
The Mets need to deal these players straight up or in combos:
Delgado
Fmart
Heilman
Schoenwiess
Castillo
Church(ONLY if he truly is unhappy here)
Scheineder
Most of those players, especially in a package have value
Other players of interest:
AJ
Byrnes
Crede
Mora
I would see how Murphy does at 2nd in winter ball. If he can handle it then he has the job and Reyes gets to be his caddy.
The Mets need a power bat and grit along with a pen.
A left fielder or 1b mist be the power guy. and the other must be that grit guy. Or maybe we can find a power guy who can lead/gritty
Wright and Reyes get one more year. If they do not step up and become leaders and take over and the Mets dont show up next year then it is time to deal one of them. I do not think we will have to because I believe that they both will overcome this obstacle.
Omar better step up this year. I want to see him make a trade that changes this team. Thats his job. I dont care who he signs. I want him to work that trade market and come up with a player or who will get this team over the hump. If he doesnt he needs to go.
and I dont mean a super star player. Any Gmr can go out and sign or trade for a star. I want to see Omar get crafty and trade for a guy under everyones radar. Show me something Omar.
So far I have seen Omar get fleeced on most of his trades.
Please dont bring up Olly because the only reason Olly was here is because of Sanchez. Plus if Olly is that good of a steal then they better sign him.
Explain how he was fleeced on the following?
Kris Benson for John Maine and Jorge Julio?
Gaby Hernandez and Dante Brinkley for Paul LoDuca?
Yusmiero Petit, Mike Jacobs and Grant Psomas for Carlos Delgado?
A fleet of nothing and Carlos Gomez for Johan Santana?
Can you please show the fleecings? And if your support of fleecing is Health Bell, just stop and go talk more with Evan.
AJ? You mean “AJ Burnett”? I thought I heard that he was not interested in coming to NY.
No, AJ Pierzinski and Byrnes….I brought it up to Evan and he was nice enough to credit me on air
Anything to get Luis Castillo out of here, right? You’d have to think even if it’s not the Mets getting Orlando Huson, there’s a good chance Arizona loses him. What makes anyone think the Diamondbacks GM is convinced Luis Castillo is capable of being a starting 2B? Not just would the Mets have to pay all of Byrnes contract to get this done, but probably at least 1/3 of Castillo’s. And if that’s the case, I’m alright with with. It’d be the equivalent of signing Eric Byrnes to a 2 yr/10MM deal. Byrnes is injury prone so I can see Arizona wanting to get rid of him. They may want to give him another chance so they don’t have to feel so bad about losing Carlos Quentin though.
If I were the Mets, I’d see if we can pull off Jon Rauch. He didn’t do well in Arizona last year. He had success over in the NL East and he throws hard so maybe the Mets can get him back on track.
Offer Luis Castillo (Mets eat 6MM of it) , Nick Evans, Aaron Heilman and Duaner Sanchez or Ambiorix Burgos to Arizona for Eric Byrnes and Jon Rauch. They may bite. With Byrnes in LF, the Mets wouldn’t really need Evans so much. And if Murphy were to slide over to second, the move would really good. Pagan and Chavez can back up in the OF, Argenis Reyes can be the back up middle IF and they can sign back one of Tatis or Easley.
With Angel Pagan can healthy too, he’d be able to serve as the lefty hitter off the bench. And righty against lefty too. It’s obvious Marlon Anderson’s become obsolete to the Mets at this point so I’d either just cut him or try trading him somewhere.
angel pagan is destined to be the victor diaz/ tim corcoran of 08/09 was here in a flash and was gone just as fast
YEEEES bring Byrnesy to new york. I effin’ love that guy. one of my favorite players in the game. and i think us met fans are over castillo.
The main concern is the bullpen. That and signing Oliver Perez. Than what to do about second base. We didn’t lose because of our revolving door in 2B or LF. Daniel Murphy and Nick Evans were a large part of the reason why we ever were this close. The Mets will figure out what they’ll do with the Luis Castillo situation, but it’s obvious the bullpen issue is much more important to address. I don’t think the Mets will want to see Easley come back again after seeing his body give out late in the year two years in a row. Plus, he may just retire. So second base still is a question, don’t get me wrong.
I’d be really angry if Hudson were our second basemen with Duaner, Show and a bunch of nobody’s setting up ball games though. I want to see the Mets get one of Joe Biemel, Will Ohman and Dennys Reyes. I also want to see them get one of Juan Cruz, Brian Shouse and David Weathers. Along with signing one of K-Rod or Fuentes. We can do all this without trading F-Mart, Niese or Parnell for question-market closers like Street or Putz.
Use the FA market as best you can to make the bullpen as best as it can be. Once we get through that, than we can worry about our position players. An important need is to resolve the Oliver Perez situation. My hunch is that he’s back at like 4 years for 48 million which I’m alright with. If it’s not him, I’d like to see Lowe or Lohse here. Otherwise, we’re in trouble.
Forget Sabathia, Burnett, Dempster or Sheets. Forget Manny Ramirez. All those things are not going to happen because it’d prevent the Mets from addressing the main need: the bullpen.
Don’t all of you remember late January last year when we were happy about the Johan trade? Like we believed it’d be different than the year before? Johan may have replaced Glavine, but did we get a different result? No. Why? Because Heilman turned into Mota and everyone else went along with him.
If Manny Ramirez is our starting LF, we’ll be right back where we are. Except Houston will take care of us in the last weekend of the season, not the Marlins.
One guy doesn’t solve the problem. Whether it be Manny or Burnett. K-Rod would mean much more than those two because he’d address the most important need. We still wouldn’t be good enough with just K-Rod or Fuentes alone. We need more. We need a team. Not an individual. That means create a cohesive unit in the 7th and 8th innings.
Signing C.C. sure would make us good - but it wouldn’t solve the bullpen woes. We’d burn Santana and Sabathia’s arms out to the point they’d have nothing left down the stretch. Spend wisely and good things will happen. This is why I don’t know if I can trust Omar because I don’t think he’s ever been this kind of GM. He’s more like the guy who gets superstars and scrappy guy’s who can plug in gaps.
So if any of you like Manny Ramirez jerseys over wins by the bullpen, than you should at your criticism of Omar more carefully. I’d prefer to not be able to wear the jersey of the splashes the make on the FA market this season. Unless of course Biemel gets to the All-Star game.
Very nicely said. 2B is a void we need to fill, but the bullpen is the single most imporant issue.
One of the issues that we’ve had for a while, though, is that we just can never seem to have many starters that will go deep into games. That will hurt a bullpen on matter how good they are, though it’s no excuse for failure. Fixing the bullpen is key, but we also need to keep in the backs of our minds that we need more innings-eaters in the rotation. Honestly, I like Oliver Perez, but he throws too many pitches to be able to go deep in the game very often. If he’ll come back for the 4/48 that you opined, then I’d take it, but if he costs anymore than that let him go and get someone that goes deep.
i second that - yeah our ability to score runs wasn’t there in the later inningsbut even if the pen did’t blow 4 less games - we woulda been in the playoffs - consider this we shoulda been up by at least 5 games the last week but u know woulda shoulda coulda yadayadayada…
Getting Byrnes would merely be taking one average ball player over a horrible one. People will want to him to get back to his ”2006 form” just like the Mets. I just know know if this is the kind of guy you can depend on. He actually has an interesting character. I think he’d have a good time in New York if he were doing well. I think he’d be one of the most miserable players if he weren’t though. And he’d show his emotion even though he has that laid back California style. Than again, isn’t that what people thought of Mike Piazza too though?
Throwing a healthy Byrnes in the 7 hole playing LF can turn out to be a good thing because the Mets expectations won’t be all that high. Kind of like Nady when we got him. Maybe he can suprise us if we can pull it off.
Does anyone else think that Brian Roberts would be a great fit at second base, his name is always being thrown around in the trade rumors, Why not try and go after him. I think if he wouldnt cost too much Omar should deffinetely call up Baltimore.
isn’t roberts range just as bad as castillio’s? i’d love his bat but alas i don;t see him as a impact player
I think Angelos is widely regarded as one of the most difficult owners to deal wtih …. Roberts was supposed to go to Seattle, then the Cubs but Peter interfered both times. After losing on the Maine deal Angelos with be even more difficult than normally. Offensively, it would be a nice addition.
Came in late on this one. But can someone please tell me what the hell Nick Evans being dealt for pitching has to do with Byrnes? Does anyone out there think that we were going to start him in LF? Anyone? Come on.
people are acting as if rome is burning therealsince - people are acting like nero fiddling whilst rome is burning - u know the ultimate knee jerk reactions like last year
I understand that and I understand the need to go with youth. However, Evans is a bench player at best. To go into next season with him as the lone LF would be worse than resigning Alou.
by the way guys i don’t think heilman will be traded - i believe since he is arbi eligable he will be a cheap alternative to some of the arms out there plus it is possible that he played through injuries like scho did in 07 and looper did in 05 the disintergration of heilman is first and foremost in my head but is it possible that it was just a bad year???
It may be that he had a bad year and will recover next season. But the negative air in the bullpen has to change and it has to start with Heilman. It’s not that I don’t like him but there is just too much history.
In arbitation:
Heilman: I want two million next year.
Minaya: How about three bucks and a pop tart?
Arbitrator: Make it two pop tarts and I’ll rule in your favor.
I almost spit out my coffee…hilarious!!!
Is anyone else going to be at work watching gamecast and hoping Prince Fielder and CC Sabathia can either beat the Phillies or sit on Shane Victorino?
Well according to Mike Francesa’s theory the Twins now have to break up their core of Mauer, Morneau, and Nathan.
I honestly cant believe Mets fans would actually even debate this. I dont care if we get the Eric Byrnes that just sits in the booth and says funny things like he has done for FOX baseball the past couple of years! Getting rid of Castillo is a priority, period. He is not going to play here and trust me that he wont be happy sitting on the bench for the next three years collecting money. He will become a malcontent and really hurt this team even worse than if we actually sent him to the plate 4 times a night. If Arizona calls and says would you like to do this, and Omar even hesitates, he should be fired on the spot…or better yet at three in the morning on a west coast road trip! If someone wants Luis, and offers anything at all, take it.
Still no one has answered this question
“if the mets move Nick Evans in a deal for pitching, he would be a good fit…”
What does Nick Evans have to do with obtaining a STARTING LF?
I have no idea … I like Evans and what he did this year but I feel there is no way he can be your starting LF.
I think people are expecting Nick Evans to platoon in left field with someone. We are starved for right handed bats right now…especially because our switch hitters can’t bat righty. Is it me or does Jose Reyes swing out of his shoes and completely off balance (as opposed to somewhat offbalance from the left side) as a right handed hitter?
Not in the past. Reyes has always stepped in the bucket as a LH hitter and used to be much better RH. Now his splits are very close. As for Beltran he was MUCH better this season from the RH side.
You can’t start with a platoon in LF. If you go with Castillo at 2B and Murphy Evans in LF then you have done 2 things. Made your offense week and taken chances away from Murphy who is clearly more ready than Evans.
Believe me, I don’t want a platoon in left. We can do one of three things out there.
1) See if this Byrnes/Castillo deal can really get done. Who knows what this Arizona Republic writer actually knows?
2) Sign Manny…at which point having Castillo in the lineup and hoping he is better isn’t the worst thing in the world.
3) Monitor the Carl Crawford situation.
4) Bring back Uncle Cliffy. I truly believe that we could use his clubhouse presence….and bat off the bench.
I meant 4 things :-)
I don’t think everyone on here understands 2 effects that the Mets have had the last 2 seasons that kills our ability to come back in games, hold leads and score late. It is not the offense. It is the pitching. It effects every part of our game including the offense. The offense presses more in the late innings because they know the bullpen will blow it.
But here’s the thing it’s a double edge sword with our pitching staff. It was this season and it was last season.
The Starting pitchers don’t go long enough into games thus the bullpen gets overused. Once the bullpen gets overused we start pressing the starters to go longer. Then they start hitting a wall (except Santana of course) around August and then the bullpen gets worn out again for September.
So in turn to fix the pen you have to fix the rotation and vice versa.
Thus you can’t have a rotation with Ollie, Maine and Niese or Pedro in it. Those are 5 2/3 innings pitchers that’s a lot of innings.
Take Oliver Perez. Everyone wants to resign him but lets look deeper at the numbers and his effect on the team.
He had 34 starts for 194 innings. That’s only 5 2/3 innings per start. Those are 5th starter type innings. If he could have increased that to 6 1/3 he would have logged another 20+ innings. That’s 20+ late innings that the pen would not have had to pitch. Also check out his game log. The deepest he went into a game was 7 2/3 of an inning. Yet he had 6 games that he did not get out of the 5th inning. Oliver Perez is a problem not a solution.
Lets look at Derek Lowe’s numbers.
Same amount of starts with 211 innings. Averaged 6 1/3 innings.
Lowe had 3 starts that he did not last at least 5 innings and 1 of those was planned last week. He also pitched 8 innings or more 5 times.
Lowe will want about 3/33
Perez will want 5/70
Yet there are those on here who would rather sign Perez?
As much as I love Maine, he has the same problem and is recovering from injuries. We have to go out and get 2 big inning pitchers this offseason in addition to fixing the pen. Otherwise you could spend 100 million on the pen and it will still blow up.
Then take a look at Sabathia and Halladay. I want one of them in a Mets uniform next season.
Halladay won’t be leaving Toranto any time soon and somebody is going to over pay and beat su to Sabathia no matter how much he’d help. He wants monster years and i just can’t see him being worth 20 mil a year in 4 years
To those who want both Pierzynski and Byrnes starting for the mets next year:
They both have career OBP under .330
How will the Mets score if no one’s on base?
We need the back of the lineup to get on base and score some runs so that the “core” doesn’t have to do everything.
byrnes has a career .280 avg and .342 obp (the stat everybody loves)
pre all star break for his career
so the solution will be
get byrnes for the first 3 months then bench him after the all star break
but anything is still better than castillo
The only way I don’t make this trade if it’s on the table, is if we sign Manny.
or matt holliday
actually
id still make the trade
just to rid ourselves of castillo
even if we have 10 Ofs on the bench
we can flip byrnes for trade bait?
The fact that we could get anything for Castillo would be a coup in itself, let alone a useful player like Byrnes.
But if we are examining pure salary dumps, what about Dontrelle Willis? He’s sitting in the Tigers’ minor leagues with two years and about $20 million on his deal. I’m sure they’d be looking to dump him.
And if Arizona is so enchanted with acquiring Castillo to replace O’ Dog, then ask for Jon Rauch. I heard they weren’t that happy with his production down there.
I would only trade Evans for a closer or a #2 or #3 starting pitcher.
And why would we be interested in Pudge?
Willis is putting up crap numbers in A ball.
No thanks.
He’s a 26 year old lefty who averaged over 200 IP the last 4 years in the NL. If anything, we can use him as a pinch hitter off the bench when the bases are loaded.