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In Newsday, Jim Baumbach takes a look at the variety of pending free-agents who may interest the Mets and Yankees, such as Mark Teixeira, Manny Ramirez, Francisco Rodriguez, Derek Lowe, Orlando Hudson, Brian Fuentes, Raul Ibanez, Casey Blake and Jon Garland, to name a few.
Baumbach has the following to say about Rodriguez:
“I’d be shocked if come December the Mets aren’t opening the doors to Citi Field for a news conference unveiling K-Rod as their new closer. Just seems too much of a given.”
In his most recent report for SI.com, Jon Heyman wrote that the Mets will have to at least consider Rodriguez or Fuentes.
By the way, in Newsday, Ken Davidoff makes the argument in favor of signing Rodriguez, who will likely seek a four-or five-year deal worth around $15 million per season.
During a conference call with reporters 
today, Minaya said: “One of the top areas we need to address is the bullpen and the closer. There’s only a few guys in the game what we say can, ‘lock-out an inning,’ so we’ll have to look in the market place, or look internally, because for a championship team that is very important.”
…it’s kind of funny when you think about it…i mean, the bullpen is the one aspect of this team that every Mets fan will agree was a problem…it just so happens, following a season in which the bullpen blew 30 saves, and following a season in which Billy Wagner will be out for a year, it just so happens K-Rod will be a free agent…that dude could not have timed his free agency any better…wow…
…i don’t know if i agree that K-Rod should be signed to such a long-term deal, but, i’ll say this, by signing him, the Mets not only improve their team, but they instantly ease the stress of their fans by shoring up their biggest weakness…
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agreed matt. Krod instantly helps the bullpen woes. Now krod is in a good position to press the mets for good money due to the mets need. Im sure omar would consider krod but im sure its not a sure thing. Expect omar to really kick those tires.
After the garbage bullpen he made us suffer through this year, he better…
he will.. i have a feeling we will come out really good this offseason
I agree DirtySanchez. Omar needs to get the ball rolling in November early December. I expect a signing here and there (including K-Rod) and a few trades. Remember this is a win now team.
As much as it’s obvious the Mets need a stopper, is K-Rod really the answer? I think he’s a top talent, but how volatile is this guy? Does anyone see his reactions after a save? His head is going to explode. And his WHIP has increased (more walks, slightly lower k-rate), while his delivery is vicious, portending to arm problems down the road. It’s not a clear cut signing as people think despite what appears to be the stars aligning to bring K-Rod to NY.
We should experience such a problem of a personality who goes crazy after a save. Lately it has been everyone else going crazy after a blown save.
What do his reactions have to do with anything?
jj
how about starting pitchin? anyone wanna address that, we wont have pedro or ollie, so whose next?
I vote for shoring up the LF spot with a big time RH hitter and giving the 2b spot to Murphy while picking up Delgados option.
Here is my trade proposal…
Ryan Church, Parnell and Heilman for Holiday
Sub in Fmart for Church if you feel the deal is too one sided for Rockies.
Remember Holiday is in his final year now.
THat puts some balance to the lineup and it looks like this
Reyes
Murphy
Wright
Delgado
Beltran
Wright
Holiday
Church/FMART (depending on who is gone in the deal)
Schneider or new catcher
Pitcher
Bench of Evans, Easly, Tatis, New Backup Catcher, New Argenis Reyes type
As to the free agent moves…..
The big ones would be sign
CC Sabathia and KRod
Then start mixing and matching smaller trades to get a workable middle relief pen
this is the least realistic suggestion i’ve ever heard.
This is horrible. No offense.
i agree with shoring up LF, sign M. Ramirez then pkg
Ryan Church to Seattle for Ichiro.
Ichiro & Reyes at the top of the lineup with Manram
batting 3rd in the order will prove to be not only the most devestating 1 2 tandem in the majors, but will surely be the undoing of every opposing pitcher.
adding CC = 18 mil a year
K-Rod = 15 mil a year
Manny/Crawford/Vlad = 15 mil a year
Jose (increase) = 5 mil
David (increase) = 5 mil
58 mil increase
Delete Alou = 10 mil
Delete Pedro = 14 mil
Delete Duque = 7 mil
Insurance on Wagner = 12 mil
Delgado (decrease) = 4 mil
47 mil decrease
I think a 11 million dollar bump is worth having a team with
SP1- Johan
SP2 - CC
SP 3 - Pelf
SP 4 - Maine
SP5 - Niese
Closer = K-Rod
1B - Delgado/Evans
2B - Murph
SS- Reyes
3B - Wright
LF - Manny, Vlad or Crawford
CF- Beltran/Endy
RF - Church/Tatis
C- Schneider/Castro
Would that it were so easy. Hey you forgot Lowe, Tex and Hudson for depth. :-)
In your dream sequence you listed Delgado as coming off the books for 4 mill but have him as our starting 1b. Or are you saying his salary is shrinking from 16 mill to 12 mill?
Crawford and Vlad have options that will be picked up. We had no insurance on Wagner, only an option that won’t be picked up.
I highly doubt Wilpon would open up the wallet to get both CC and K-Rod. Not to mention, our biggest problem wasn’t the closer role. It was the bullpen. We need a way to get to the closer.
How can we get to the closer if we have no closer?
losmets7: lol I have no idea why i found that so funny
there is no insurance on wager this year
There is no insurance on Wagner. He is considered to have a pre-existing condition.
We’re not getting C.C.
k-rod will be costly also consider scouting report’s around the league about loss of volocity and that violent delivery of his ( which frankly scares the crap out of me ) either way i’m confident we will get our bp in order.
citifield ‘09 line up
ICHIRO - RF
REYES - SS
M.RAMIREZ - LF
WRIGHT - 3B
BELTRAN - CF
DELGADO - 1B
MURPHY - 2B
SCHNIEDER - C
JOHAN(SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND) SANTANA
ichiro & reyes are dykstra & backman on steroids ( no pun intended) in manram we have the premire rbi man of his generation arguably the greatest righthanded hitter ever.
this lineup WILL CRUSH THE OPPOSITION MORE TIMES THAN NOT.
Ichiro? You have got to be kidding me…
i kid you not, ichiro is a bonified gold glove exceeding
well over 200 hits a year between him and reyes we’re
talking 125 - 150 stolen bases, think “82 cardinals
ichirro & reyes will be nothing short of EXPLOSVE
at the top of my proposed batting order.
hey bucknersankles its not that bad of an idea to get ichiro. but are the Mariners even willing to trade him and hes getting old and who would we give up? so i say if you can get a pretty good deal for him take hi m unless they want a real big name player
Who thinks that the Mets need to get Manny? I know i do. think of this if hey got manny they wood hav a awsome linup. with jose, wright, beltan,delgado. and delgado
Whos fmart?
Hopefully they won’t sign him for more than 4 years (or at least make the 5th year a team option). The effectiveness of closers can be very ephemeral.
A $48-52M/4year deal would be sweet…
I’d be very happy if in a month from now we know the 2009 bullpen will be:
K-Rod
Joe Smith
?
?
?
?
?
That looks 100 times better than what we had this year.
I want to see duaner back in there. after a full season, and then a complete offseason of rest and working out I think he will be much better better next year.
dont forget about stokes, and parnell, and even ayala
agreed. I think they should hold onto Duaner until ST and see where he is at. Stokes/parnell imo should have to fight it out with hopefully new people that omar will bring in and ayala is a must.
Ayala is a must not resign!
I was exaggerating a little bit, but you get my point. I would like to see Duaner get another chance too, but that story that just came out about him arriving late to Saturday’s game kind of irked me a little bit.
I would also bring Feliciano back but only to face lefties.
I don’t mind the 3 others you mentioned, but we really need them to be more of the end of the bullpen guys, not the 8th and 9th inning guys like they were so often this year.
Duaner was late again? I know this happened in ST but on Sat?
yea you’re right. It was Duaner and Rincon.
Why all the love for Felciano? His ERA is worse that Schoenweis’ (4.05 for Pedro vs. 3.34 for Schoe).
Feliciano is not strong. He is brought in all the time to face lefties and usually walks them. Cut him lose and the entire bullpen. I would only consider holding over Smith and Ayala.
Show vs. lefties was VERY good this year. He had respectable numbers on the year.
He shouldn’t have been left in the game to face Helms once they pinch hit for Jacobs.
I would leave him, smith and Duaner or Ayala.
If we get a solid closer AND a solid setup guy to replace Heilman who can get BOTH lefties and righties out, with addition of Parnel or Stokes, I think our bullpen will be above average.
THATS ALMOST THE SAME FREAKIN PEN FROM THIS YEAR MINUS HEILMAN AND WAGNER. WE NEED TO CLEAN OUT THE WHOLE DAMN THING!!!!
the only place I want to see Duaner Sanchez working is in a Restaurant that is open until 3AM. Sanchez DOES NOT deserve to be pitching for the Mets.
because he came late?
Don’t forget about Parnell. We drafted him 2years ago. He’s destined to be a good arm in the pen or a good starter.
you have just Escobar’d Parnell
nice one buddy, nice one.
Fill us all in on what Escobar’d means? Don’t know how you can turn a top prospect who immediately blew out his knee into a verb.
I never want to see the names on D. Sanchez, Heilman, and Felicianio attached on the back of Mets jerseys again. Too many bad memories, and we’ve got to start clean.
1-K-Rod
2-Smith
3-Feliciano
4-Stokes
5-Oliver
6-Parnell
7-Whoever takes the spot in spring training, Sanchez has to earn it back this time
Other FA’s to consider: Will Ohman, Juan Cruz, Joe Beimel
Lets comprise this bullpen of pitchers who can strike people out for once!
oliver who?
Darren Oliver maybe?
i guess…if thats the case patrick does a good job covering that one
darren oliver i think
darren oliver is awesome…..arthur rhodes is also another lefty who is great and still throws HARD.
not for nothing but going back to Darren Oliver is like trying to fish for something you already caught and hope it is just as good.
The Mets need a lefty that can cross over, so realistically that has to be someone who throws hard and racks up k’s.
They also need to experiment with either allowing Smith to crossover from the right side or hope that either a Parnell or Stokes can effectively.
exactly…we need crossover pitchers….
Can anyone suggest a lefty that is a crossover pitcher that might be available? Especially one that racks up k’s?
Let the “crossover” guys be right handed like in every other bullpen for the most part. I mentioned Darren Oliver because he has pitched here, pitched well, and has been nothing but good since he left. I also mentioned other free agents I thought the mets should consider.
Jeremy Affedlt is a guy who might be coming into his own right now, he was very effective on righties and the majority of his struggles came in CBP midwest he is someone worth considering.
Rafael Perez is another guy who gives both righties and lefties trouble. Although hard to believe that the Indians would dismiss him.
Brian Fuentes, look at his stats, a lot of Ks.
lol thats funny
but if i can maybe add a few names to those ?’s
Bob Howry
Dennys Reyes
Jeremy Affeldt
Juan Rincon
and go ahead…light me up now..but i think we should still hold onto Show…he was VERY good against lefties. If we can re-build the pen and get some consistancy, we can ONLY use show against lefties. Period. I dont care if he pitches 23 innings next year, keep him AGAINST LEFTIES.
as for our guys, i wouldnt mind seeing parnell converted full time, and one of stokes, kunz, or muniz making the team
Schowenweis has to go. If he gets exposed like he did on Sunday, where they pinch hit the lefty for the righty then we’re done for. Plus he cant pitch under pressure and he does and awful job with inherited runners. Trade him, eat most of his 3rd year and cut your losses.
Scho has to go because the fans absolutely despise him. His was booed this year on opening day during introductions. Before he even threw a pitch in ‘08.
How is it going to be next year when he is the losing pitcher of the game that ended the ‘08 season?
Yeah, even the question marks are better than the absolute certainty of giving up runs.
personally i like stokes in there…
Omar has some hard work cut out for him. The team has four spots to shore up: SP, SP, CL, LF (presuming Murphy at 2B). A problem may be that a team can only sign 3 Type A Free Agents.
1. SP1 - Sign one of CC, Sheets, Lowe or Perez
2. CL - Sign K-Rod
3. LF - Sign Manny or Vlad (if available). Not Ibanez because he’s a LHB.
Of course one of these must be filled via trade, signing someone who isn’t a Type A, or promoting from within.
are lowe and perez type A free agents??
No to CC and Sheets imo
Manny will not want to come here and he will be too expensive.
I would look at Vlad..but i think angels will pick up his option.
yup, mlbtraderumors has a link to a blog projecting the Elias Rankings.
ok maybe you or someone knows the answer to this as this always confuses me. If a FA is considered a type A and we sign them..do we lose the draft picks if their respective teams offer them arbitration and they decline?
We would lose our draft pick if we sign before 12/1 or if the losing team offers arbitration and the player declines. That’s why I think we should go FA crazy this year, because additional compensation picks would come from 2nd and 3rd round. Instead of signing one FA this year and another next, where we lose our 1st round pick both years.
thats why we cant replenish our farm, its because everyone want to go and get all the type A free agents.
pop quiz - where did we draft d. wright?
the answer might change your mind about going out and getting a mid-thirties LF.
also, on a side note: we cant lose a draft pick by signing Ollie because he was a met last season. given that, if we sign a type A and lose a pick, we will gain one by letting Ollie walk, which means we would have to get someone with more impact than Ollie. here is a situation: we sign C.C. and let ollie walk. this means we upgraded a starter, which means the rest of the FA SPs adjust accordingly. in a perfect situation, we would let ollie walk and he would end up in SF or SD after no one takes his 75 mil request seriously … we would then lose our draft pick to MIL but gain SF or SD’s draft pick.
in the end, we not only improved that one starter, but we rose higher in the draft line.
on the other hand, C.C. is unlikely, however i think there are about 4 or 5 starters who rank higher than ollie on the FA market. and in all, it wouldnt have to be a SP we would need to upgrade just someone with a greater chance to impact games … like k-rod or tex, but tex would bring on a whole other situation in which we would get another draft compensation for delgado if he walks, or trade bait if the option is picked up.
Except that you can’t get the first round pick of picks 1-15. We’d get there second round pick instead. So, we’re better off someone from the second half of the round to pick him up.
is that so? i did not know that. thanks for the knowledge.
Vlad is no longer a useful outfielder. He needs to stay in the AL.
niether is manny..but people still want him
cc, k-rod, and manny… ummm what kind how much money are we working with here???
That’s my point. But what are the options?
We have two starter spots to be filled. You can’t fill them both with Livan Hernandez types.
A dominating closer is a must, so besides K-Rod who does that leave?
And if we don’t get a righty power bat, then we have no protection in the 6 hole.
Well i think the lineup will be
1) ss-reyes
2) 2b-murphy
3) 3b-wright
4) 1b-delgado
5) cf-beltran
6) rf-church
7) whoever inherits LF
8) c-schnider
9) pitcher
I was hoping to continue to see Beltran in the 2 hole but it works your way too as long as Church gets back to hitting like he was in May.
yea me too but i made it like that to seperate 2 L back to back and i want murphy to have as many ab’s as possible.
Cut loose Church, he cant hit a lefty and he doesn’t want to be here. Schneider cant be an everyday catcher, has no bat, need to make change in that area.
Can you really see the Mets signing Sheets? He’s damaged goods. If the Mets offer him a low risk/short term contract, I would agree…but to really give this guy a long term deal with the injury history is a bit ridiculous.
He’s TJS waiting to happen….
The Mets needs a closer without question.
I think K-Rod is a disaster in waiting though.
Being honest, K-rod, aside from the shiny number of saves, isn’t all that spectacular. You wanna see a closer worth $15 mil a year? Mariano Rivera. 77 K to 6 BB. Jesus Christ almighty.
but mariano isnt available…..
just to get an idea of how insane 6bb:77k are i went over to mlb dot com and looked up k-rod. he seems to be a lock for 30bb per year… man mariano really is sick…
Why not sign Kerry Wood and Brain Fuentes?
i expect wood to return to the cubs and plus he is injury prone. Fuentes would be a good backup if krod goes money crazy.
Kerry Wood feels indebted to the Cubs and their fans for never living up to expectations and the 3yr contract he signed and was injured for most of it. He pretty much signs a blank check for the Cubs each year.
I see your point. I would still make a an agreesive play for him. Have Fuentes set him up and if he gets injured, then Fuentes gets bumped up. I would rather pay for two then get one of K-Rod for $15M a year.
I would at least try to pry him away, even though that might fail.
For $15M pay a little more for CC.
exactly. you can skip over wood’s name on any free agent list because yyou’d best believe he’s not hitting the market.
the mets have to sign k-rod.
Well when you consider the fact that we couldn’t win close games this year, I think the Mets don’t have a choice. We must sign K-Rod. Period. Hey, there were plenty of people on here last season that didnt want us to go after Santana, but we did. And Im willing to bet they dont feel the same way now. I think K-Rod is the exciting and emotional type of player we need in that boring bullpen. It would give players and fans reason to hope for the 9th inning.
Does anyone know if the Mets are entitled to compensation for Delgado in the event they decline his option and he becomes a free-agent?
Normally you are entitled to compenation when you lose a FA to whom you have offered arbitration…it would seem declining the option is the same as declining arbitration…right?
no you can decline the option and still offer arbitration
we would get one if he signs early.
Matt, you’re right about K-Rod. The stars have aligned perfectly for this guy. He set a new record with 62 saves, is a Free Agent, the Mets blew their post season chances again b/c of a shaky bullpen, and Billy Wagner will never pitch for the Mets again,
can we sign Roger Cedeno???
No. Mo Vaughn ate Roger Cedeno.
dude, you need to take your medication now!
I’ve heard that K-Rod’s velocity has dipped from 96 to 92. If that’s true it could be a pretty bad sign of things to come.
he lost velocity because he altered his delivery to avoid injury in the future.
Krod has lost velocity, but no the rumored 4-6 MPH. He has lost 1.5 MPH off his average, according to fangraphs. His average is 93.4
This season it was 91.9
If you research you will find that he has done that on purpose. He said that he is learning how to pitch and now understands you don’t have to blow every hitter away.
I know KRod is great, but he’s so obnoxious. Plus I just don’t think it’s necessary to spend $15m a year on a closer. Look at the salaries of this years save leaders, some predictable, some not…
KRod - $10m
Valverde - $4.7m
Soria - $426k
Lidge - $6.3m
Papelbon - $775k
Wilson - $392k
Rivera - $15m
Nathan -$6m
It just seems too unpredictable a position to dump that much money into. If anything, the $10m NYM will be paying Wagner next year should be a reminder. Plus the problem this year wasn’t just the 9th, they were blowing games long before Wagner got hurt. They need some solid setup guys in addition to Joe Smith.
And the talk about signing CC, K-Rod, Manny is ridiculous. It seems every year the WS winner or at least one of the WS teams is “a surprise” with a low payroll (Rockies, Rays, etc.). It’s not a surprise. Get a team together, not a bunch of individuals with huge egos and salaries. Do we want to turn into the Yankees? Their best teams were the farm grown cores with some free agents cherries on top.
Can you really advocate rebuilding after missing the playoffs by one game the past two years and being a hit away from the world series the year before?
Closer as well as any position in baseball is unpredictable. I would suggest you look at it as who gives you the best possibility to win and given the FA market krod gives you the best chance to win. I agree CC/Sheets/Manny are bad moves based off injury issues and media attention(manny). Your right the problem has been getting to the closer and im sure omar will aquire guys via trade to help us fix that.
While that all may be true…we dont have many options in terms of an established closer. Sure, we could test out a young guy in the role, but theres no guarantee he becomes effective. Krod will warrant Rivera-like money and we may just have to spend it to get him. We have too much going on to depend on an inexperienced closer. We need someone who can step in, improve our bullpen image the same way Johan did to our SP, and someone we can count on. Krod has done it b4, he has a W.S. ring, unless we make a trade (very possible and intriguing) he is the only F.A. I would want as closer.
Papelbon is still on his minor league contract…Lidge was a bargain because of his past failures…Nathan intrigues me…
Yeah, let’s not sign a guy because he’s “obnoxious.” I could see the press conference now.
Press: Omar, why didn’t you try to sign K-Rod?
Omar - Well, to be honest, we tried to negotiate, but he’s just so annoying with those goggles and the fist pumping when he gets the save. We don’t need a guy with that kind of energy and enthusiasm. He’s just too obnoxious for NY, because as you know, there are NO obnoxious people in NY.
LOL. Exactly. There is too much riding on next season not to get Krod. Omar knows that the bullpen will cost him his job. Just to save face the Krod signing is a must for him. Suppose we go out and get Lyon and he has an average year, the bullpen still stinks and cost us the division again and Krod goes off again. Omar would be done for sure.
Besides those small contract guys have no record of success. When you pay big money that is what you are doing. Paying for consistancy.
If we get Krod, I am fine with our internal bullpen options. Street may also be an option. Smith, Sanchez, Stokes, Parnell, possibly Kunz would be fine. I still don’t like Sho and would rather part with Feliciano. So adding Fuentes(or a cheaper effective lefty) would be nice as well.
For the OF, I would look at B.Abreu or trade options; or keep Murphy in LF and look at 2B trade options.
As far as SP goes, I would go for Lowe and plug Knight in the #5 spot until Niese is ready.
be prepared to give everything you have for street, look at how billy beane fleeced philly for joe blanton. joe blanton?
Abreu UH NO!
I know this sounds insane, but if the Mets could shore up the middle of the pen would you ever consider giving Stokes a shot at closer?
He has a live arm and has shown that he can pitch in one inning situations…granted I know the guy hasn’t had any closer experience…just a thought though
I dont think we can. We have too much riding on this season to hand the keys to a first time closer. He was good in his middle relief role, but not great…he had some missteps. closers do too, but He needed to be overwhelming to warrant trusting him.
I wouldnt….even in his innings at work, stokes seemed to have struggled a bit. He has a fast but hittable FB and cannot locate his breaking pitches imo.
By signing K-Rod the Mets will not be “shoring up their biggest weakness”.
Their biggest weakness is the bullpen. Just signing a top notch closer does not fix the problem. Many games were lost in the 6th, 7th and 8th innings this season.
The Mets would not be smart in signing K-Rod. Instead of spending $60 million on someone who plays the most overrated position in baseball (teams winning going into the 9th inning have won 95% of their games over the past 100 years), they should fix the entire bullpen.
Look at what the Rays did this year. They went from being the worst bullpen in the history of baseball (look it up) to one of the best in baseball, without a bonafide closer. Don’t waste the money on K-Rod.
Although I think Rodriguez would help bullpen. I have to agree with you that the thought of locking up $15M a year on a closer other than Mariano Rivera, makes me cringe.
But so did spending that much money on Beltran at the time. Or Burnett’s contract that turned out to be a bargain. Krod is one of the top 5 closers in the game and will be paid like it. If I were the Pirates it would bother me. As the Mets, you have to do what you gotta do.
Right. You gotta understand its slim pickings in the closer market. Yes we would all prefer a nathan/paplebom(spl)/rivera but they are not avaiable..you got to work with what is available and krod as real said is one of the top 5 relievers available…omar has got to take a look and try to close.
True we have to remake the entire pen. However, getting a top notch closer is step 1. The other guys are not big ticket money items anyway. Most of it is guess work. Get rid of Heilman and Castillo for Betancourt. That does not really cost that much. Trade Show and sign Juan Cruz. Again the net cost is not that much.
lmao…you cant use 100 years to support your argument. The closer role is a recent phenomenon (recent in terms of MLB history). It has only been really recent, that the closer has been mainly a 9th inning guy.
The Rays acquired Percival as their closer, who had 28 saves btw despite missing many games. They do have a great bullpen, and b/c they do, they didnt skip a beat when Percival went down. They were able to win with Wheeler and Balfour as their closers.
I’m not arguing you don’t need a deep bullpen…you do, you def do..and we dont. and thats why we suffered throughout the year and especially when Wagner went down. That said, you need a deep bullpen AND a reliable closer.
Starz31,
I think you helped prove my point. The closer is a recent phenomenon, you don’t HAVE to have a supposed top notch closer to win. There is 100 years of evidence to show that no matter who is pitching the 9th inning, 95% of the time the team who is leading wins the game.
Percival had 28 saves before he got hurt. Dan Wheeler had 13 saves after his injury, again proving that having a “closer” is overrated.
All you need is a bullpen full of capable arms. Many times a game is “saved” well before the 9th inning.
I guess the Mets must be the king of that 5%.
You have good points and I guess the answer is that our bullpen is not full of capable arms. But take a look at the Phillies…they went out and got Brad Lidge who I dont think anyone predicated to not blow a save all season. W/o him, and even with our troubles, we may have won the division. Closer is very paramount on a team w/o a bullpen full of capable arms. The yankees were able to win many games this season with Rivera pitching more than one inning for a save…they had to do this b/c they lacked that quality 2nd and 3rd reliever (after Joba left). Look at the yankees in 96. they were unbeatable with rivera as a setup man and wettland as their closer. and then for the following 3 of 4 years, rivera shut the door on teams in the 9th inning to help them win 3 more titles. Without that closer or them using a closer by committee..they would not have had that same succuss…
same can be said for the white sox in 05 with Jenks, and The cards in 06 with wainwright, and the sox in 07 with paps. all winning teams with closers that were dominant in those playoffs.
So do you use Fernando Martinez to aquire a Closer, or a LF? Or do you hold on to him?
i think the mets plan on holding on to him.
For now unless you can get a guy like Holliday for him, you sit on him.
When you are the Mets and your holes are available in FA you don’t trade away prospects for lesser players because of cash.
Fernando Martinez is as good as gone in my opinion.
Apparently, Brian Sabean is now a metblog member.
This my friends IS a no brainer. Give the man his money and start from there. If we brought back the same team ( I want to improve a lot of other places) and just spent Krod’s money, got reliable starter for Ollie’s spot and another couple of bullpen pieces then it woudl have been a successful offseason.
agreed.
Took the words right out of my…hands. I completely agree.
K-Rod will be much the worse for wear after the season he’s just pitched. He will not be the same next year, and the expectations combined with diminished performance will lead to some bad results. I would not even think about signing him, this isn’t fantasy ball.
Did you actually look at stats? He did not pitch in that many games or innings.
You should explain that for people that want the mets to sign CC…talk about wear and tear…
what 10 complete games in the last half of a season and pitching on 3 days rest in three straight starts not to mention more playoff innings all on a guy with the workout regimen of mo Vaughan…that equals more wear and tear?
noooo
lol..omar..SIGN HIM UP!!!
Let’s see if he does his disappearance act again in the playoffs. Cleveland could have used him last year in the playoffs (he was horrible in the ALCS).
I know this is gonna sound weird, but I would make John Maine the closer. His stuff is electric and he’s best first time through the lineup. John Smoltz is a great example of converting a starter, and so is Dave Righetti. Maine looks like a closer in mentality too — very focused and locked in, esp. in his early innings.
i think he holds more value as a starter for us.
Exactly. We can’t get 3 starters but we can get one top notch closer.
throws too many pitches. not what you want in a closer.
He goes into deeper counts the second and third time through the lineup, usu. pretty crisp first time through.
I love K-Rod, he won my Fantasy League for me. But for the money, I would rather have a 5-deep killer starting rotation and a couple of middle relief crossover studs than a 20 million $ closer
Uhhh yeah … sure so would I. Where is this 5 deep rotation coming from? And your killer crossover studs … can you identify some of these guys?
I am seriously at the point where I don’t want to see big free agent signings. I’m tired of being told that I can expect to win and then get let down. I wouldn’t mind testing out the farm and getting back to forming a TEAM that loves to play the game. I mean, I don’t care who you are, you can not tell me that it wasn’t exciting to see players like Pagan and Tatis make names for themselves again, and how about Daniel Murphy!… This is what I love to see, Not a bunch of Big Money Free Agents coming in guaranteeing something then not producing. I want to go to a game at Citi field and know that I am going to watch an entertaining game. I think we need to take the focus OFF the post season and back ON playing GOOD BASEBALL.
Why can’t they promise that this is the year that your gonna see good baseball, instead of always guaranteeing a Post Season Bid, which I would love, don’t get me wrong. But I can no longer go into a season worried that we’re not gonna be able to support all the talk. I feel like most fans want this to be their fantasy team, and Omar is all ears now.
if you are looking for promises and guarenties…your in the wrong sport my friend
That’s my point though, This team has turned in to an organization that makes Promises and Guarantees…all I’ve been hearing over the last few years is, “this is the year” “we’re gonna do it” “Don’t worry, it’s just one game”
I guess I’m just tired of the Mets trying to sell the “result” rather than the “fight”
I agree but you also got to seperate the politics(the sell) from baseball. You are paying for a product on the field. He must sell that this team is xyz. As a baseball fan you KNOW nothing is guarentied or promised.
I am not one who is in favor in bringing older players on board, but Manny Ramirez might be the ultimate exception. This guy is a legendary hitter.
I couldn’t agree more with this statement. I’m unfortunately reminded of another New York team that was desperately trying to regain World Series status, so it threw countless money at free agents, luring them to the Big Apple in hopes of returning, only to be knocked out of the playoffs every year before they reached their goal. At least they made the playoffs though.
Don’t get me wrong, it’d be great to have a lights out guy in the 9th inning because I can’t remember a time when we did, but for the money he’s going to command, I’d rather throw that $15 million a year at a guy like Sabathia and team him up with Santana as a 1-2 combo. Better yet, split the cash and throw it at Lowe and Garland, shoring up the rotation for years to come.
then don’t complain if the cheaper alternative doesn’t come through. sometimes the guy’s value is what it is for a reason.
I heard Turk Wendell came off retirement is now a free agent….sooooooo many sliders
Guys, I think what everyone fails to realize is that yes, our bullpen needs improvement and I am for signing K-Rod. HOWEVER, does anyone realize what our numbers were after the 6th inning offensively?? The reason a lot of other teams didn’t have as many saves blown as we did is because their hitters were better later in the game. There was a stat about if every game ended in the 6th inning, we’d be in the playoffs. What is this little league? Let’s hold the hitters just as accountable, which I don’t hear everyone really addressing enough. Did the bullpen only score 5 runs the last weekend? Schoeneweis gave up a run - so, why should 3 runs beat us in the most important game of the season against a nobody starting picther? 9th inning blown saves? I won’t argue with that.
Just a point. Your thoughts?
ps: never posted here before but wow, Matt (and others of course) you’ve really done an excellent job
great point— our offense would go to sleep late in games.
Most people will bash you if you blame the offense for anything….I am one of only few who agree with you 100%…guy by the name free aaron heilman and a million other posters wont agree
its not that people here dont recognize that the offense needs to do a better job too….its your complete lack of respect for the top 4 guys is what irks people here….you simply want to blame DW/JR/CB/CD for this….that is what people dont understand and that would be your logic, because from where i sit you seem to be lost….
But either way 5-6 runs should be enough to win most games. If you are near the lead in runs scored then those runs still count. I still believe that those guys did not go to sleep at all late in games. They were pressing like hell because they knew the pen was going to give it up.
i mean you cant really blame the offense blunders because they were nervous about the pen…you could easily flip it around and say the pen was nervous becasue they knew the offense wasnt going to score any runs past the 6th inning…its the same thing flipped around
Not really you can’t. Runs count, period.
Mets offense averaged 5 Runs a game. You should win at least 60% of those games.
Here’s a great telling stat.
In the Mets loses this season their pitching had a 7.62 ERA. Kinda hard to put up 8 runs a game.
I think we need one more hitter inthe line-up. I think O-dog is at 2b then we could afford to live with a Muphy/Evans platoon.
If Murphy is at 2b, then I think we would need a corner OFbat. I think Abreu would be solid on a two year deal. Another option is trading for Holiday with a package centered around F-Mart.
I would lean towards Murphy at 2nd with Easley if Murphy can’t and trading for Holliday. Either way we really have bigger needs than Hudson and don’t have enough money to do all of it.
I’m telling you, BRING IN O-DAWG! This guy is absolutely legit, a winner, and a gold-glove 2nd baseman. I had the pleasure of meeting him in San Francisco two summers ago at the ASG and you really couldn’t find a better guy (and Tori Hunter, both incredible).
You could also bring in Eckstein on a one-year deal so you could rest both O and Reyes (Both Wright, Reyes and Beltran NEED to rest more). This team really isn’t that far away from being a legit WS contender.
Get a solid bat through trade, then focus the real dollars on BP help, maybe Ohman, Cruz and K-Rod.
amen on O-Dawg
K-Rod would be a perfect fit. Not only because we desperately need a closer but the entire NL hates us anyways, why not add the most hated closer in baseball.
Orlando Hudson would help, and possibly in 2 ways: By leaving the D’ Backs, they MIGHT be willing to take a package with Castillo plus, inexcahnge for Eric Byrnes — who is the kind of rah rah gritty gamer we need. though I hate his stats I can’t deny his value.
I also would like to see a pay for Nate McLouth and/or Ryan Doumit, since the Pirates are so intent on giving away all their good players. Both of those guys are cool team guys.
You don’t want Hudson. He will cost Krod money and is coming off of 2 surgeries. Looking at his production and the injury factor he is just not worth it.
exactly…besides the mets are preping murphy to take over the 2b role.
I may be wrong here, but I really don’t agree that O’Dogg will command anything close to what KRod will get. Hudson’s injury history and K-Rod’s historic season make them not even close on the free agent money-meter, IMO.
It has been rumored that he wants Utley type money and years. So you are looking at around 5/75.
you think that will stop him from asking for krod type money?
I just don’t think he’ll get it. Hey we can all ASK for whatever we want, LOL. I asked my wife for a stripper for my birthday, and my boss for a million bucks, but I don’t think I’ll be getting either of those!
Yea but the thing is there are many other people who would/can get a stripper for their bday or their are other people that are asking for a million bucks…that the problem with the mets..we are not the only team that needs help with 2b
(TO THE REAL 86) i mean you cant really blame the offense blunders because they were nervous about the pen…you could easily flip it around and say the pen was nervous becasue they knew the offense wasnt going to score any runs past the 6th inning…its the same thing flipped around
The ‘pen was nervous because they knew every time they came in guys would start ripping the ball all over the field.
And you could see that in the number of walks they issues. They were afraid of contact because half of that contact ended up over the fence.
Who do you suggest then?
i dont see the pirates giving up either of these guys for anything we can cook up that wont start with fmart. The deal with byrns and castillo is very lopsided strait up favoring us, we would have to include prospects and money for that trade. Theoretically it should work out for both parties but i guess we will wait and see.
You’re probably right about the Bucs, but I would actually *consider* trading F-Mart plus if it brought back BOTH those guys, or McLouth and a John Grabow type reliever. McLouth is such a hard working team guy, and he’d be a perfect #2 behind Reyes.
They have no need to trade McLouth as he is under control for a while longer.
I am not one who is in favor in bringing older players on board, but after watching him last night, Manny Ramirez might be the ultimate exception.
I love Manny and always have. But the boat may have sailed on thre time when he would have been a good fit for the Mets, because, rightly or wrongly, the perception now is that we need to get “gamers” and RahRah guys who will get us over the top the way Backman and Dykstra did for us in the ’80s and the way Dave deBusschere did for the Knicks in ‘69. Manny is many things but gritty gamer is not one.
A few guys that can “lock down an inning”? Correct me if you think I’m wrong but there are only 3 men in the Major Leagues that might as well be nicknamed “Game Over”…on a consistant basis (Lidge doesn’t count, this year may be a fluke. Have him do that for 3 more years and he can go on my list).
1. Mo
2. Papelbon
3. KRod
And, correct me if I’m wrong but only one of those gentlemen will be a FA this offseason. It seems logical to me that we would sign him. I’m tired of hearing about Fuentes, I don’t want Fuentes and he’s 33 years old.
KROD = 26 years old. Lights Out and Top 3 in current closers. Could retire as one of the best ever. Why on Earth would you NOT sign him…seriously.
I know, right?
Matt we need a poll on this K-Rod business.
THE REAL 86 …i mean you cant really blame the pen for the offense blunders because hitters were nervous about the pen…you could easily flip it around and say the pen was nervous becasue they knew the offense wasnt going to score any runs past the 6th inning…its the same thing flipped around
right but the differance is the offense stepped up on a few occasions more than the bullpen did
i agree with you 100%..my point is that the season’s blame is more like 80% bullpen 20% hitting…not 100% bullpen 0% lineup
i agree with that a$$e$$ment for the 2nd half…
now that makes sense…what doesnt is gettting rid of the young stars but rather why not put better pieces around them and oh i know this might be a novel idea…but why dont we expect more from our coaches and hey “coach em up!”
I read an article on the SNY website that advocated getting a strong setup guy who’s never closed before–like Juan Cruz–to be the closer. He’d cost $4 million or $5 million, max. Then go get a solid setup guy (Lyon?) for a similar sum.
You’ve spent less than $10 million on two crucial needs, and can afford to spend heavily on a rotation guy or two (CC? Or Lowe + Garcia?) and either a LF or 2B.
After all, there will be nearly $40 million to work with. Might as well get five good additions, rather than just one or two.
I really like that type of solution. It just makes more sense.
Of course it does, but this is the Mets organization.
It hasn’t made sense in a long time.
I’m sorry but I think that is a terrible idea. This is NY, we can’t afford to experiment with a guy whos never Closed before and hope that he turns out to be good. Because there’s a good chance he won’t be.
You go out and sign the best no-nonsense Closer that is available. A guy you know can come in during the 9th and lock it down. Not an experimental guy that you have to cross your fingers and wait to see how he does.
Sorry man, not buying it.
To me there is no excuse for not being able to sign both K-Rod and Manny. When you take Alou, Pedro, El Duque, and Oliver Perez’s contracts off the books you have about 25 million. You add 4 million in attendence for 2008 and an expected season full of sell outs for 2009 there is no excuse for not being able to spend big.
Right, let’s go get the two biggest free agents. Are you in there, Mr. Steinbrenner? We need to start turning this team over to Reyes and Wrght. They are the leaders, they are hitting prime baseball age and it’s time we simply build around them instead of adding tars every off-season. Get some role players and move home-grown guys like Murphy into the mix ful-time (I would rather they make him the 1B and get Orlando Hudson to play second, but whatever)… Bottom line is, stop acting like the Yankees with this “Get Manny and K-Rod” stuff. Just my $.02
Save that for your auction draft in your fantasy league, pal.
I would like to see Derek Lowe on the Mets, but I am not confident in handing Jon Niese the 5th spot in the rotation next season just yet. I think it would be much better served to have him develop, while the Mets sign someone, like Jon Garland, who’d be perfect to solidify the back end of the rotation. We should learn from how we rushed Pelfrey into the fire and give Niese the proper time to work out the kinks this time around.
The Angels are a quality franchise, they know what they are doing. They know Rodriguez better than anyone else does and they aren’t exactly falling over themselves to re-sign him. Just saying.
They’ve got Jose Arredondo already pitching wonderfully and he’s rumored to take K-Rod’s spot. Plus K-rod will not only lessen the pay roll but net you two nice draft picks.
It’s great that K-Rod set the single-season saves record this year, but a huge part of that was a factor of the Angels finding themselves in so many save situations in the 9th inning. Without competent middle relief or starters who go deep enough into games, it’s something that can’t be duplicated. You could have a cross between Mariano Rivera and Sidd Finch as the Mets’ closer with the rest of the staff looking like it does and never end up with 60+ saves in a season.
Also, consider this:
K-Rod blew 7 saves in 2008.
Billy Wagner blew 7 saves in 2008.
Granted, Wagner would undoubtedly have blown a few more if he’d played the full year. But given the fact that K-Rod is by no means a sure thing when he comes into games, his $15 million price tag and the gaping holes in the rest of the staff, I can’t support locking up that much money with K-Rod . . . especially when Brian (4 blown saves) Fuentes will be on the market for a much lower price, and still represents an improvement over the current closing situation.
Dead right again. Where is our Scott Shields? Our Jose Arredondo? For that matter, where is our #3 and #4 and #5 SP to go deep reliably, as the Angels had?
Funny, b/c K-rod’s save recorded percentage then Brian and Billy. Brian Fuentes blew 4, you are correct. But in only 34 oppurtunities. K-Rod had 69 oppurtunities. Yes thats almost double so you can say he’d have 8. But more innings does more to your arm. K-rod is a winner, younger, better stuff and frankly I’d rather have a right handed reliever anyway. btw…he also looks really fun to watch!
“All you need is a bullpen full of capable arms. Many times a game is “saved” well before the 9th inning.”
Beans, agree. If you threw K-Rod on the ‘08 Mets that wouldn’t have stopped the many messes that occurred in the 6th, 7th and most of the 8th innings.
Ding Ding Ding we have a winner.
It’s about ROI: We need at least 2 gritty crossover studs in the middle innings and a reliable 8th inning guy, al 3 of which will cost the same as K-Rod.
Jim take a look at the FA market first. There is not that much out there in middle relief and especially not that will cost a lot of money. Krod does nothing to keeping us from reshaping the entire pen.
I am really, really hoping the Mets don’t sign K-Rod.
It’s not that he wouldn’t help our bullpen, he would. But it would be a terrible use of our resources.
Really, would he? If he is 17 million at most a year? You sign Lowe and make a trade here or there for other pen help you really don’t have that much to do.
OK, but can you play that scenario out in a little more detail, thereal? The trade here and there … which bullpen guys do you see us crafting trades for and who do we give up? Who’s left at the end of the day from our current rotten pen? In your mind? Just curious.
Well it’s difficult to say because one man’s treasure is another’s garbage in the pen. If you look there are not many decent MR out there for FA.
Here is the list of even track record guys
Latroy Hawkins
Everyday Eddie
Jeremy Affeldt
Juan Cruz
Bob Howry
Will Oman
Darren Oliver
Out of that list who is going to break the bank?
As for our trading. I really think Heilman to the Indians with Castillo for Rafel Betancourt and Barfield would be a great deal for both teams. Betancourt had a Heilman type year last year but was lights out previous years.
Show should also be traded.
I have mentioned before I would keep
Stokes as the longman
Smith as the ROOGY
Parnell as the young guy
Ayala I am on the fence and he is a FA anyway
I would not bring back Feliciano, Show, Heilman or Figgy.
It’s not that easy. When you have that type of closer you get to bump everyone else down an inning and get rid of your least effective guy. Thus maybe Heilman never pitches, Ayala is not having to be used everyday injured…… So while it does not solve the problem it can be part of a solution. Either way the guys that could be the rest of the solution are not big ticket items and are all guess work anyway.
ding ding ding-NOW we have a winner. It establishes roles for the bullpen and you can better plan stratigically for the later innings. You have krod for closing out games. 9th inning check. Now you just imo gotta work backwards.
We have to fall out of love with the big-ticket solutions, IMO. We’re not nurturing potential closers in our own organization and we’re not thinking creatively — sounds like the Yankees to me. All we;re doing is throwing $$ at problems, and then complaining about high ticket prices.
Look we can nurture Wright, Reyes, Murphy, Evans, Parnell, Kunz all we want. That still does not keep the Mets from getting Krod.
I am not saying that we should go out and get
CC
Manny
Krod
Fuentes
Lowe
That really is a Yankee type idea. However, when your pen blows it for the 2nd straight year and you have NO CLOSER or anyone who can even attempt to be a closer next season and one of the top closer’s in the game is available you go get them.
Do we have young guys that could help the pen? Yes, Kunz and Parnell. Do we have young guys that could fill 1 spot in the rotation? Yes Niese. Do we have young guys that could fix the 2nd base spot? Yes, Murphy. Do we have someone who could play LF if they had to? Yes Evans and Tatis. Fact still remains that there are only 2 must positions for us next season and that is 1 Closer and 1SP.
thereal, I was responding to the comment that “there’s no excuse not to get Manny and K-Rod” … I think getting one big-ticket free agent is fine, and esp if it’s a Pitcher, just as a rule. I don;t wantt o give up that many picks nor do I want the fan base to get addicted to thinking that FAs are the solution all the time, that’s all.
I’m telling you guys, don’t be shocked if John Maine is this teams closer next year. Everything i have read says he is at risk for this injury again for the rest of his career, meaning limiting his innings is pivotal to extending his career. Plus, Maine seems to have the guts and atitude a closer needs.
That’s what I say, mookstra. I would like to see them try it, because I don’t think his value as a SP is going up any time soon.
I would like to see Derek Lowe in the Mets rotation, but I am not confident in handing Jon Niese the 5th spot next season just yet. I think it would be much better served to have him develop, while the Mets sign someone, like Jon Garland, who’d be perfect to solidify the back end of the rotation. We should learn from how we rushed Pelfrey into the fire and give Niese the proper time to work out the kinks.
FINALLY…ive been preaching this for weeks!
agreed! learn the lesson of the yankees and all the hopes they pinned on kennedy this year( and hughes as well, though i think hughes will still blossom). One good start does not mean you are ready. We met fans fal in love with one or two good performances way to much.
Our out of love, in the case of Pelfrey early.
Agreed. My only fear is how righty everything will be in my perfect world.
Johan
Pelfrey
Lowe
Maine
Garland
Krod, Juan Cruz, Ayala, Smith, Parnell, Stokes, LOOGY.
I don’t know if that is a good thing in a division with the Phills and Marlins. I guess you could let Ayala go and sign another left handed guy.
na i like that look for the pen…i would see if we could get someone to fight with parnell for a spot and keep feliciano as your LOOGY
I know Feliciano has been good in the past but something the last year and a half has bothered me. He just seems to always put the guy he is supposed ot face on base. He never seems to leave clean.
yea thats true..but i dont have much faith in show or rincon either. Just the memory of feliciano striking out howard and utley flashed really quick lol.
How about Lowe as our closer
If you could pick one of these closers which would it be.
7 Blown Saves, 54 Hits, 34 Walks, 77 Strikeouts, 21 runs, in 68 innings pitched
4 Blown Saves, 47 Hits, 22 Walks, 82 Strikeouts, 22 runs, in 62 innings pitched
The second set of stats is for Fuentes, the first is K-Rod. I think the Save stat is misleading.
The money saved if you can sign a Fuentes, would allow you to upgrade at SP. Plus keep in mind 90% of this bullpen stinks so more players still needed. The Mets aren’t really losing any payroll next year either. I think we need to be realistic.
I personally would trade Castillo, Hielman, Show, Sanchez for a back-up bullpen catcher.
Oh come on you can’t use blown saves as a stat there. Put up their closing percentages there buddy. Of course Krod is going to have more blown saves. Do you realize that Fuentes has been demoted 2 times in a year?
Plus not to mention the fact that yes you will save about 7 million on Fuentes but that money can’t just be spent to upgrade the rotation. We have to get one of those guys anyway, that money is already spent. It’s not like we are going to say take this extra 7 million please.
I hope you didnt hurt your fingers typing that second pea brain comment about the 7 million being saved because it made no sense. Please collect your thoughts and write something worth reading, not that gibberish.
Thats funny, i didnt know the bereavement list was the same being demoted to the minors…….oh wait a second….its not.
For those of you that don’t want K-Rod, who do you want to see closing games next year? I understand the price tag and all that but I don’t see anybody offering up other options besides John Maine. That would be an interesting option but what happens if we get a month into the season and he can’t do the job? If no K-Rod, then who?
Let’s take a look:
Huston Street is available; Fuentes, Borowski, Guardado, Lyon; hell, what’s the problem with bringing Eddie Kunz up and throwing him into the mix?
Isn’t he a closer anyway?
Huston Street = STAY AWAY!!!
please no borowski
he is worse than heilman/gagne/mota
Thereal, you projected this rotation, possibly:
Johan
Pelfrey
Lowe
Maine
Garland
You can expect a disappointing year from your 4 and your 5. Maine will have problems as a SP IMO for the rest of his career — I relally think he is a guy you move to the bullpen, whether it’s coser or 8th inning guy or even your mid-inning anchor. I just think he’s so suited to it. And Garland will underperform for more $ than a Freddy Garci type, IMO.
Actually I don’t think Garland will get that much money. He however will be our Blanton only with better numbers. We need that guy that pitches 200 innings. If Maine struggles then you will still have Niese.
You are not going to get much of a better rotation out there this offseason.
Plus, Garland should be an upgrade of Pedro. (I can’t believe I just typed that. I am very sad right now.)
How about Brad Penny? Any thoughts? He’s a free agent and another guy, like Garland, who’s price I cannot really see being very high.
IMO we need to see how maine is next year…for the injury he has i dont think you can make a statement that he is not going to work out….its not like its tommy john, or his rotater cuff….bone spurs are not serious….but only time will tell…i belive he will be fine and we have our #4 guy for a few years to come
I’d be surprised if he was only our # 4. He was our # 2 earlier this year.
i believe we thought he was going to be a #2 guy, but i believe if we go into next season with :
1. santana
2. FA
3. Pelf
4. maine
5. neise/fa
then that sets us up for success
http://www.theonion.com/content/from_print/mr_met_takes_frustrations
It would be funnier if not for Burgos. :-(
Even though I think K-Rod is extraordinarily overrated, and even though throwing $15 million a year at a closer is ridiculous, we may not have any other choice. We need to have some stability in the 9th, and none of the options out there are any better. Fuentes can be very good, but he’s also 6 years older (I believe) and has been somewhat inconsistent himself. Guardado and Borowski? I’d rather take my chances with Ayala than those bums. Kunz? Maybe, but all things considered, that’s a huge gamble considering that the bullpen basically cost the Mets a pennant.
All that being said, the other thing that makes me nervous about K-Rod is that he will come here with unreasonable expectations, and fans will quickly realize that he will make us sweat out every save opportunity - when he’s not blowing them. How quickly before our fickle fans turn on him?
Fuentes is older but you don’t have to sign him to as long a contract. You can then find someone else in 2 or 3 years.
The more I think about the possibility of signing K-Rod, the more I remember how Billy Wagner’s Met career started. I think he only blew 3 saves with Philly the year before and was consistently throwing 100 mph. Well, he blew 3 save rather quickly and we’ve sweated it out with him since.
Maybe K-Rod will do the same. Our expectations will be completely unreasonable and as soon as he blows one, we’ll jump all over him.
I still think this signing is a MUST. They need a closer, they need bullpen help, and this is the one guy who brings both.
Maybe K-Rod will do the same. Our expectations will be completely unreasonable and as soon as he blows one, we’ll jump all over him.
Yeah, that’s my concern (see above). He will have us pining for the carefree days when John Franco was the closer.
the carefree days when John Franco was the closer LOL.
As Met fans has any closer given us care free days? We’ve endured Doug Sisk, Neil Allen, Benitez (who was actually quite good unless the gem really mattered) and no closer whatsoever.
KRod worshipers, I give you
Game 2 & 3 of 2004 ALDS
Game 2 2007 ALDS
This guy has BLOWN up in the big spot he is no super lock
I would like to have Derek Lowe with the Mets next year, along with another starter to solidify the back end of the rotation. I mentioned Jon Garland before, who I think would be a great fit on our staff. While he does not possess necessarily electric stuff, he is always a lock for 200 innings and keeps his team in the ballgame. From your 5th starter, that is a tremendous advantage of reliability we’d have.
I was thinking of another pitching options in addition to Garland. And, I came up with a guy who’s name I haven’t seen brought up, Brad Penny. His price has probably taken a big hit by being hurt at times this year for the Dodgers. He has always been a standout, bulldog of a pitcher in the past. Any thoughts?
I would sign up for Lowe and Garland / Penny right now. But does that leave us short on lefites? Do we need to find room for Niece somewhere?
That’s the thing getting Stantana does. Guys like Lowe, Garland, Penny start looking pretty good when they don’t have to occupy the SP1 spot.
Obviously the Penny thing depends on his health.
Garland has been reasonably consistent since he became a full time starter as far as innings pitched. His whip is a little up there and baa too. But if he he is not a 1, 2 or even 3 should be fine.
Derek Lowe would be a great fit.
But as for Garland:
ERA: 4.90
WHIP: 1.51
IP: 196.2
K:90
STAY. AWAY. FROM. GARLAND.
Would he be that bad if he were a 5th? If the Mets were to get Lowe and Garland? Not arguing just asking.
If he were the 5th starter?? No
But the thing is, he’s going to get a 10 mil + per year contract, which is ridiculously expensive for a #5
I wouldn’t touch him with a 10 ft. pole
Yeah, I guess I didni’t think he would be that much. And I was considering it in the context of getting Lowe and Garland not just Garland.
If the Mets lose Ollie I think they have to go hard after Lowe. Who they get next I think really depends on Maine’s health. Maybe #5 becomes Niese, Parnell, whoever can stake a claim.
I think Garland would be more than fine in the back end of our rotation. As long as he continues to eat innings and keeps the team in the ball game, there is not much more you could really ask for. Especially coming from your 5th starter, that kind of production would be a great advantage compared to other clubs. I don’t know what the price of Garland will be, but I cannot see it being all too high a figure.
With Brad Penny, you are getting a guy with better stuff than Jon Garland. However, you would have to hope that he comes into next spring in good form physically. He’s got to put the injuries of last year behind him and be ready to return to the top.
He had a 317 BAbip. That is very unlucky for a pitcher.
its a good thing we didnt make it to the post season
johan wouldve really injured himself if we had to play
then that contract we signed him to will look really bad!
(looking on the bright side)
K-Rod would be a good addition, but his signing would be far from shoring up a weakness. This bullpen couldn’t even to to the ninth, let alone through the ninth.
There needs to be many new faces in that pen.
(If this point has already been made, I apologize, I skipped a bunch.)
I’m not too sure about our LF problem but as far as pitching is concerned, I heard rumors that both Jake Peavy may be available. We already know that the Mets sniffed around Huston Street so how about these deals:
Trade F-Mart, Niese, Stokes, Schoeneweis and another minor leaguer for Peavy.
Trade Heilman, Evans and another minor leaguer for Street.
Sign Lowe to be fifth starter
Sign Affeldt to shore up the pen.
Re-sign Ayala to be set-up man.
Staff becomes:
Santana
Peavy
Pelfrey
Maine
Lowe
Street
Ayala
Affeldt
Smith
Parnell
Rincon
Peavy is a great pichter, I give you that. But for the most part, he’s not always healthy, ur giving up way to much, he’s no warrior like santana yet great stuff, and for the crapload your giving up, we don’t need him as much as you need those players your giving up in that package. Do honestly think haveing street and ayala in the 8th and 9th is really going to solidify much? I dont think so.
thats a terrible pen…..and they won’t trade peavy for that package at ALL.
lets trade johan + castillo
for webb and haren
This isn’t fantasy baseball.
Well, therealsince86 posted today that Johan is not untouchable and could be traded for a few Toronto players and 100 billion dollars.
He might agree with you derxmasta.
I have a feeling the Mets are thinking of converting Maine into a closer. (Yeah I know - that thins out our starting rotation big-time, but still something tells me they’re thinking of this…) Also have real doubts about Murphy cutting it as a 2B, though I love him as a hitter. (If the Mets do trade away Delgado, would they ever think of putting Wright at 1B and Murph at 3B?)
And I think Mets fans might sour on watching Manny butcher plays in LF. (Someone’s gonna say if he drives in 130 runs and hits in the clutch of end of season baseball it’d be worth it - and I guess they’d be rite - but still, the guy is bound to start regressing offensively sooner or later.)
I heard the Tigers might be looking to rid themselves of Renteria’s contract. What about him for 2B for the Mets? He fares better in the NL than the AL as a player. And I wouldn’t mind the Mets taking a gamble on Dontrelle.
An infield of 1B-Wright 2B-Renteria SS-Reyes 3B-Murphy…?
Hey listen, theoretically it could happen. But it wont. Like not a chance. If opening day come, and thats the case, come slap me in the face for being wrong. But i’m not so there. =]
they would try murph at first…remember the jose reyes at second experiment….not happening again…and why would you move your GG 3b to a position he has never played for a guy who has 100ml abs with no real position to call his own.?
im on a similar page as you…..but i’d sign O-Dog for 2B, and let murph play 1B. Maine as closer, trade delgado and heilman to Toronto for Scott Downs and one other reliever. Sign Lowe. Retain Ollie Perez:
Johan
Lowe
Perez
Pelf
Neise / Stokes / Parnell
D. Oliver - L, Longman
Smith - R
Parnell / Stokes / Neise- MR
Kunz - SU
Downs - SU
Maine - CL
Reyes
O-Dog
Beltran
Wright 3B
Murph 1B
Byrnes (castillo trade)
Fmart
Castro
That team will not happen, and even if it did, it wouldnt get the job done. Fmart hasn’t even seen a pitch above double A and ur going to give him a starting job? And this team isnt even improved if not decreased in productivity. And btw, Castro is not a starter.
We should sign K-Rod and trade for a starting pitcher like Halladay.
Call me crazy, but is there any way to pry away Joe Nathan from the Twinkies? He would really be perfect for us.
I doubt the Twins would deal with us however. The only way I could see it if we were doing the Francesa thing– parting ways with Wright or Reyes. I do NOT want to do this, but in some crazy world, we do Wright, Heilman and Wilmer Flores for Joe Mauer and Joe Nathan. Blockbuster! Think about it for a second– Murphy becomes your 3B, Nathan is your closer and Mauer is your all-star catcher. Don’t worry, it will never happen…
In Francesa’s way of thinking Joe Mauer can’t it done when it counts as Mauer went 1 for 25 in the final games of the season. If Francesa worked on Sports-Radio in Minnesota he’d be saying (as he’s saying with Wright and Reyes), that Mauer can’t get it done when it counts and should perhaps be traded…..
Cripes at 4:10 pm Francesa is STILL insisting he’s right about Wright and Reyes!
no there is no way
Your right Twins will not send Mauer anywhere. First , He won two batting titles, second he is from Minn. Joe Nathan was signed because they lost the Johan money from their payroll. You have a better chance at two pretty good setup men in Crain and Nasek. Twins deep in RP and would part with both and would probably want AA, and A prospects , but a bunch. Probably Ike Davis, his dad played for the Twins and Yankees. I think you got a better chance at ENRON coming back to loan money to the bailout than that trade happening
Reyes
Beltran
Manny
Delgado
Wright
Murphy
Church
Schneider
Rotation:
Santana
Halladay ( Jays are looking to deal him. We can put together a trade and get it done.)
Pelfrey
Maine
Niese
Bullpen
K-Rod-closer
and who are we going to trade for halladay?
EVERYONE!
who is everyone? seriously you can’t get him without a wright or reyes.
Look…we have money…..sign krod…its a very very big need for this team…fix the bullpen (the biggest problem last year)….our offensie wasnt very clutch but the bullpen was horendous….think about all the blown saves w had this year….if we had a closer who could save even half of those we would probably have been the best team in the mlb
Just because the Mets have money doesn’t mean they should waste it on an overrated player at an overrated position.
i am very scared that omar is gunna want to keep castillo at 2nd this year
———-CLOSERS
Brian Fuentes (33)
Eric Gagne (33)
Eddie Guardado (38)
Trevor Hoffman (41)
Jason Isringhausen (36)
Brandon Lyon (29)
Francisco Rodriguez (27)
Salomon Torres (37) - $3.75MM club option for ‘09 with a $0.3MM buyout
Kerry Wood (32)
——-MIDDLE RELEIVERS
Jeremy Affeldt (30)
Luis Ayala (31)
Joe Beimel (32)
Joe Borowski (38)
Doug Brocail (42)
Shawn Chacon (31)
Juan Cruz (30)
Alan Embree (39) - $3MM club option for ‘09
Scott Eyre (37)
Kyle Farnsworth (33)
Casey Fossum (31)
Keith Foulke (35)
Tom Gordon (41) - $4.5MM club option for ‘09 with a $1MM buyout
LaTroy Hawkins (36)
Mark Hendrickson (35)
Matt Herges (39) - club option for ‘09
Bob Howry (35)
Jon Lieber (39)
Jason Johnson (35)
Damaso Marte (34) - $6MM club option for ‘09 with a $0.25MM buyout
Trever Miller (36) - $2MM club option for ‘09 with a $0.4MM buyout
Guillermo Mota (35)
Will Ohman (31)
Darren Oliver (38)
Chan Ho Park (36)
Horacio Ramirez (29)
Al Reyes (38)
Dennys Reyes (32)
Arthur Rhodes (39)
Juan Rincon (30)
Glendon Rusch (34)
Rudy Seanez (40)
Brian Shouse (40)
Russ Springer (40)
Mike Timlin (43)
Ron Villone (39)
David Weathers (39)
Kip Wells (32)
Matt Wise (33)
Jamey Wright (34)
Matt, please put a poll. And K-Rod along with Pappy in Boston have the brightest futures as closers. K-Rod is a winner and he’s availible! We are also desperate for a closer. We need other middle relievers as well, I get it and if it doesn’t cost too much I’d like to get Fuentes to set-up/tough lefty getter if Feliciano is gone(wich I am undecided about, but hey…thats Omar’s job). My Ideal situation is to sign K-rod(Im thinkin 14.5 mil average for 4 years but player able to opt out after the 3rd year with a team option for a 5th…to make the agent happy that seems fair), and get Byrnes and mabey Rauch(to set-up) from Arizona for say Castio and mabe Show (if they’ll take him), and a B-prospect if Rauch is included. Let Murphy start at 2nd and bat 2nd. Keep Church. If unable to workout a deal for Byrnes, as much as I hate to say it, I think we’ll need/get Manny. I understand the reasons not to, dont get me wrong, but you can’t lie he can hit, and that he has the work ethic and tools to play well up until 40 mabe +. I don’t think the Angels will pick up Vlads option b/c of the surplus of outfielders they have there but he may be an option.
couple of questions for silly Mets fans:
1) Have you ever seen Murphy play 2B?
2) What kind of defense on the right side of the infield are you prepared to deal with having Delgado and Murph there?
3) Do you know the free agency rules? If so, prove it.
4) Do you know about the luxury tax, and do you realize the Wilpons will not go over it?
5) How many times in a crucial game did this team look lost / flat / unprepared to play?
6) Is today’s game based around 35+ year old sluggers, or speed, defense, and small ball?
7) Who is the leader in the clubhouse, and how has he led this team?
no
not good
lose draft picks
yes and they wont
not more than any other team
the game is based on a mixture of all of this
who cares….
you obviously dont like the team you root for…so you should probably go find a new team to cheer….thanks for coming
-defense is very very underrated, and i love it
-not just lose draft picks, but you can’t sign 3 type A’s.
-no they won’t
-this team comes up flat a LOT in the big spot. a LOT.
-it is a mixture, but a team that is middle lineup heavy is very easy to pitch around.
- delgado is the veteran leader. he is amazing. but not a winner. he is 37, and he is very tradable.
im trying to find out what your point is? please explain
Wow, your questions are remarkable….you silly Mets fan hater!!!!
If he has a point I don’t wanna hear it.
the point is, we aren’t trading wright reyes and beltran
we aren’t signing manny, and shouldn’t
if we get k-rod, we only have one other big signing
we can’t afford as much as you think, b/c of the pseudo salary cap of the lux tax.
delgado has trade value NOW. use that to our advantage!
fantasy baseball is exactly that, A FANTASY.
i agree about dw, jr, and cb….and we can add around them….but we do need a new closer and a set up man….also a right handed bat in LF….so i guess we shall see
how do you know we cant afford Manny…ive heard many people say we can
COME ON PRINCE FIELDER!!!!! YA FATS!!!!!!!
HAHAHAHAH MYERS IS CHOKING!!!!!!!!!
CORY HART IS A CHOKER TOO. WHAT A LOSER!!!!!
he is the worst that guy. what a joke. myers just walked 2 guys, and this guy swings at the first pitch. idiot.
COME ON C.C!!!
btw the phils get to see C.C. finally. but on his 4th time at 3days rest. every thing goes their way.
what a suprise, the phillies get a guy who hasnt had regular rest in weeks……
Plus the HP ump is brutal.
Screw the Phillies!!!!!!!
Screw the Brewers for tiring out C.C!
I FREAKIN HATE THE BREWERS FOR TAKING OUR SPOT. THE CAN’T DO ANYTHING IN THE POST-SEASON. THEY’RE PROB GONNA GET SWEPT BY PHILLY AND MAKE US LOOK EVEN WORSE!!
Cross CC off the list. He is a choker and can’t win in the playoffs! (end sarcasm)
Joe Nathans definitely better than Krod and Papelbon
yea but trading our whole farm system again will do us no good. K-Rod is the best closer available and fuentes is very good consolation prize
-Joe Nathan ISNT GOING ANYWHERE!
-We can afford Manny, but not much else if we have to spend 20 million there, keep delgado, and account for raises.
-this team with a great offense and bullpen can win a division. 2006. But it couldn’t win more than that. We need some new blood, a different look, with a focus on speed, small ball, defense, and pitching.
I wonder if it would be worth it to see if jeff francouer [braves] and t. bucholz red sox could be had. They both had subpar seasons.
Matt cain could be another pitcher we should look at.
we have to also remember 3 things the health of john maine/who replaces ollie and pedro/ and who we sign krod or fuentes ?
i think you have to look at Lowe, a trade for Sonnanstine, Penny, D-Train, Burnett, etc. And maybe a combo of two. Or you could retain Ollie, but I honestly think he would probably prefer to leave. And then you have to give Neise a shot. Frankly, John Maine should be the closer. We have had major bullpen issues, but look at the pitching injuries we have sustained:
2006: Pedro, Duque, Sanchez, Burgos
2007: Pedro, Duque, Sanchez, Burgos
2008: Pedro, Duque, Maine, Wagner
Although the relievers have been awful, it doesnt help when you have a starting rotation that is constantly disrupted. The Phillies lost Brett Myers for a few weeks to get him right, but other than that, their rotation has stood up the entire year. Maine is very valuable as a starter, but as a closer with is stuff and his 1st time batting order numbers and his competitive nature, he would be awesome there, and then you add a reliable starter in Lowe to take his place.
30 blown saves…30 blown saves…Sign K-Rod!!!
If we could have converted half of those blown saves we would have had the best record in both leagues!
Heilman and Showenweis must go…although if we cannot trade Heilman I would give the guy a shot in the rotation but he can never pitch in relief for this team again.
I want to see Murphy get a real shot at 2nd base…I really like this kid…he handed us a playoff spot with his leadoff triple (what the @#%$ just happened).
Get a left fielder…doesn’t have to be Manny (see what he’s doing to chicago…he’s not leaving L.A.)I kind of like that Byrnes for Castillo rumor that was tossed aroud yesterday.
Sign a starting pitcher…doesn’t have to be CC (think he will end up on the west coast) Derek Lowe or Ryan Dempster would be fine with me.
Save your money for that closer…and throw alittle more for an 8th inning setup man (Fuentes)
30 blown saves!!!30 blown saves!!!
And last but not least,this team better have a 10 game lead by Sept 1…I don’t care what they say…2007 & 2008 will be in their heads.So start fast and don’t let up!
btw, the luxury tax limit this year is 155 mil. it will likely go up slightly. so say 160 mil. currently the payroll is 137 mil.
delgado 16, pedro 12 mil, alou 7.5, duque 7.5, castillo 6, perez 6.5, easley 1, wise 1.2, feliciano 1
(schow and heilman are trades so u have no salary change)
57 mil OFF…..
raises:
reyes 1.75, johan 1, wright 2.5, church 2 mil, eric byrnes for castillo 11, ayala 1
about 19 mil in raises = 38 million freed up.
Now I would guess they’d give themselves bubble room, in case a mid season acquisition occurs, to ensure they dont hit the lux tax limit, so i’m guessing they would spend 42 million.
Therefore, are you willing to pay 35 mil to fill only 2 holes, one of which is for a 39 year old DH, and the other for a risky closer who is NOT mariano?
And tht is WITH delgado off! So, yes the Mets of course can afford whatever they want, but logically they aren’t going to spend more than 145 mil, and they aren’t going to spend 75% of their freed up money on 2 players.
I think too many of you guy’s are just making it too complicated. The weakness that HAS to be addressed is the bullpen (including the closer’s role). This is the part of the the paragraph that should have underlined highlight letters.
We did not lose because of our offense. I’m not saying they couldn’t have been more clutch at times, but none of you can’t tell me Delgado and Tatis weren’t this year. Just judging by team statistics though, they were ranking in the top of the league in several categories. Think about it - what spot did we improve in 08′ following 07′? Just starting pitching. Mostly the front end.
We got Johan as our ace, much better than Glavine. Pelfrey had improved into a very solid 2-3 type pitcher. Oliver Perez was rocky in the beginning - but overall had a decent season similar to 07′. The 17 decision total out of 34 innings was the bullpen’s doing. However, when you look at the other two spots in the rotation the Mets loss some. John Maine got hurt and wasn’t throwing as hell. And they loss El Duque who had good numbers in 07′. You can compare his 24 starts to Pedro’s 20 this season and it’s obvious Orlando was better.
For as sad as it sounds, the bullpen was much better in 07′. Oliver and Maine were both still 15-10 that year, weren’t they? Imagine if Johan were here in 08′ or if Pelfrey had this kind of last year last season? There were a lot of holes in that bullpen though.
For the majority of 2007, this was the bullpen:
Aaron Sele - Long Man
Joe Smith/Jorge Sosa - Righty Specialist
Scott Schoenweis - Middle reliever
Pedro Feliciano - Lefty Specialist
Guillermo Mota - Set up
Aaron Heilman - Set Up
Billy Wagner - Closer
Than here’s what we changed to in the first half of 2008.
Jorge Sosa/Nelson Figueroa/Claudio Vargas/Carlos Muniz/Matt Wise (Long Man)
Joe Smith - Righty Specialist
Schoenweis - Middle Reliever
Feliciano - Lefty Specialist
Duaner Sanchez - Set up
Aaron Heilman - Set up
Billy Wagner - Closer
Even though Sele wasn’t the best pitcher, there was stability there. In the beginning of the year, Schoenweis, Wagner and Duaner Sanchez all got off to a good start which is really ironic if you think about it because the Mets got hot in June simultaneously to the Randolph/Peterson firings when the Mets getting hot. The length of the starts and offense - especially from Delgado really carried this team even with a minor league bullpen.
Here’s where it all went wrong… the bullpen of the second half.
Aaron Heilman - No man’s Land
Duaner Sanchez - Middle reliever
Schoenweis - Middle Reliever
Feliciano - Lefty Specialist
Joe Smith - Righty Specialist
Brian Stokes - Set Up
Billy Wagner and eventually Luis Ayala - Closer
Each guy got worse except for Joe Smith. Stokes and Ayala did okay. Feliciano was burning out. All the other guy’s held the responsibility of this collapse. This is why they can’t be here.
With all that being said, it’s all three of those guys (Show, Duaner, Heilman) + Billy (because of his injury - not to mention his meltdowns) have to be replaced. There is no choice. They need to be. If they are not, we can not win. Manny can hit as many home runs as he wants. Orlando Hudson can get on base as much as he wants. We need guys to build a bridge and close out games. We should not have anxiety watching the 7th inning on every game like it’s game 7 of the WS.
That means signing a 7th and 8th inning guy + a closer is what we have to do. This means one of Shouse, Weathers or Cruz works from the right. And one of Joe Biemel, Will Ohman Dennys Reyes, Jeremy Affeldt or Arthur Rhodes from the left. And of course, K-Rod or Fuentes as the closer. I don’t want to hear from Omar or fans now or next season about how there’s not or wasn’t anything out there. There’s plenty out there. Not just at closer which can include Kerry Wood too, but there’s a load of good set up men out there.
If the Mets could bring in 3 of those FA’s I mentioned, the other guy’s who actually were alright can be back or utilizing our youth. That’d include Brian Stokes or Bobby Parnell as the long man, Luis Ayala or Eddie Kunz as a middle reliever, Joe Smith as the righty specialist and Pedro Feliciano as the lefty specialist.
If they do all this, I will be able to believe in 2009. I can’t go into next season believing if I don’t respect the talent of the pitcher’s in our bullpen. If Omar can give me what I wrote above or something close to it, than I know many sensible fans will be happy and less stressed.
There are other acquisitions and decisions that’ll need to be made in the off-season, but they are only secondary to the bullpen. The main non-bullpen address will either be to re-sign Oliver Perez or replace him with an equivalent or better replacement. That can range from Derek Lowe to Kyle Lohse. Just give us a solid 3-4 man, get back John Maine healthy and we’re in good shape.
Beyond that, than comes what to do with LF and 2B. One of these spots will be filled by Murphy. And if it’s LF, you can have Evans play against left-handed pitching. I’d give every chance possible to Daniel Murphy in winter ball to get an idea of if he can be our 2B.
I’d actually look at signing Jeff Kent at 2B. This guy has played in big games before, has gotten big hits and has that Aaron Roward hard nosed kind of attitude that makes a team win. Not getting along with Barry Bonds and Milton Bradley doesn’t count for anything, but no one does. Bat him 7th, play him at 2B and give Argenis some spot starts and that’s not bad. I think the Dodgers may just look to re-sign Nomar as a 2B, with Loney/Furcal/DeWitt filling the rest of IF in LA anyway.
Also, I wouldn’t be against the Castillo + Schoenweis deal for Byrnes, but I’m just not sure whether or not ARZ is interested or if and how much the Mets would have to eat of Castillo’s contract. At this point, it either has to be trade or buyout. If he’s a Met come Spring Training, it’ll be a nightmare waiting to happen all over again.
I’m extremely skeptical about other teams wanting Castillo unless we’re eating a lot of contract and not getting a whole lot in return for him.
That being said, if he’s still in town on opening day that crowd is going to let him have it. He had no place signing that ridiculous contract and he needs to get the hell out of town.
THIS IS WHAT THE METS HAVE TO DO FOR 2009
FIRST OF ALL DUMP CASTILLO, HEILMAN, FELICIANO, SCOTT, AND PEDRO OR MAKE IT A 3 WAY OR 4 WAY TRADE……
PICK UP FREE AGENT ORLANDO HUDSON, RAUL IBANEZ
JJ PUTZ OR KROD FOR CLOSERS AND STARTING PITCHER JON GARLAND OR DEREK LOWEOR MID RELIEVER LIKE JOE BOROWSKI AND MAYBE EVEN A CATCHER LIKE GREG ZAUN OR HENRY BLANCO FOR POWER….. THE 2009 METS
1 REYES SS
2ORLANDO HUDSON 2B
3DAVID WRIGHT3B
4CARLOS BELTRANCF
5CARLOS DELGADO1B
6DANIEL MURPHYRF
7RAUL IBANEZLF
8ZAUN OR HENRY (BRIAN OR CASTRO)
PITCHING
JOHAN
PEREZ
JON GARLAND
MAINE IF HE IS ABLE TO PITCH
JON PELFREY
DEREK LOWE
BULLPEN
JJ PUTZ OR KROD
JOE BOROWSKI
SANCHEZ
PARNELL
SMITH
STOKES
how about this
1. if the mets cant get k-rod, try to do this trade:
heilamn and someone for soria
2. have murphy play 2nd next year
3. trade castillo for eric brynes
4. try to resign ollie and sign Derek Lowe or Freddy Garcia
5. try to sign manny, but if you cant have brynes play left
6. GET A NEW BULLPEN
Projected Lineup:
1. REYES
2. MURPHY
3. WRIGHT
4. DELGADO
5. BELTRAN
6. BYRNES/ MANNY ( I WOULD HAVE MANNY 3RD )
7. CHURCH
8. SCHNEIDER / CASTRO
9. PITCHER
Rotation:
SANTANA
PELFREY
MAINE
OLLIE
LOWE OR GARCIA
BULLPEN
SMITH
SANCHEZ
FELICIANO
SCHOENWEIS
STOKES
PARNELL
AYALA
K-ROD OR SORIA
* NIESE WOULD BE AT AAA IF A PITCHER GETS HURT, AND SO WOULD F-MART
what do you guys think
3. WRIGHT
sorry…..* heilman
the WRIGHT on the botton shouldnt be there