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The great Tim Dierkes of MLBTradeRumors.com continues his offseason outlook series with a look at the Mets.
Dierkes details the reported salary commitments for the team in 2009 and examines the variety of options the Mets have to fill their holes in the bullpen, starting rotation and in left field.
Many of the options Dierkes notes for the bullpen and starting rotation are familiar, but provides a couple reasonable options for the left field vacancy, writing:
“It wouldn’t be surprising to see the Mets go after Raul Ibanez or Juan Rivera, the somewhat reasonable free agent options at left field. I don’t see them getting into the Dunn/Burrell/Manny price range, but you never know.”
Dierkes sums up his outlook noting the Mets have a solid core for 2009 and Omar Minaya will need to spend the roughly $30 million available wisely to fill the remaining gaps in the roster.
ibanez would be such a typical omar move. and a terrrrible idea. if you are going to bring in a 37 year old LF, it better be the crazy guy with the dreds.
i want no part of rivera, burrell, ibanez, or dunn. i’ll take a david dejesus trade, a salary dump for eric byrnes, and depending on delgado, murphy/tatis, over any of those guys.
Agree, MetsyMad. If we’re going to give up a first round pick, it had better be for someone like Manny, not someone like Ibanez.
This team was built to win “NOW”. Our window, and that was in 2006, by 2009 our window will be closed. Its time to start with a fresh new look, change the pen and add a closer. We also need to change our starting roatation. Dump Pedro and Ollie. Perhaps add a bat in the outfield or at second base as well as a catcher that can hit above 250.
Byrnes. is. terrible.
But you’re right. If Omar’s thinking about Raul Ibañez, he might as well put Nick Evans in left field.
Disagree, Metsy, at least on your characterization of Rivera. We need a righty bat, and despite what he did this year, Rivera is a decent player… certainly not a horrible player, and probably similar to Nady in most respects. Rivera is a much younger a target than Ibanez or Manny, and youth is something this team could use a little more of. Dump Anderson and Pagan. Keep Tatis around. Evans is only valuable if Delgado is dealt or it’s decided that we need him to platoon again with Murphy in LF. Otherwise, trade Evans for whatever bullpen help we can get with him included in a deal.
This team doesn’t need a total makeover. But adding and subtracting the right parts will go a long way towards giving these guys a kick in the pants.
This guy sums up the teams needs pretty well and lays out an optimistic view on how to attack it. Go small he suggests and pick up Fuentes, perhaps Juan Riviera and a new starter in the middle effort role rather than going big with CC or others
to me, the idea that LF and 1B have to be guys who don’t hit 300 or in the clutch but as long as they pull the ball and have a bunch of power they get the job is lunacy to me.
IMO Rivera/Ibanez would be worse than sticking with some sort of Tatis/Murphy/Evans combination in lf. Especially since Ibanez will likely be a type A free agent.
Also how does he have us only needing to add one starting pitcher? Is he as-suming we bring back Perez?
I think he’s making the as-sumption that Niese is the #5 next year. It’s not ideal, but with our various needs and limited amount of available finds (apparently), it might become a necessity.
I am in favor of Fuentes and then a trade for some good middle relief that may be able to close in the future. The more quality at the end of the game the better.
As to the offense…I still believe we need to become more right handed either at 2b or LF. I prefer 2b if possible since I think Murphy can man LF adequately next year and then transition to 1b when Delgado is gone.
Watching what the Phils are doin to the Dodgers reminds me what we are missing…….BULLPEN.
This team was really a decent bullpen from being in the same spot the Phils are now. Getting a lockdown pen is the key. Look at the moves Tampa Bay made. They tweaked and matched and made the pen the strength of the team from its weakness. Now they are 2 games from the WS.
The Phils got Lidge to perform and pushed their other good guys like Madsen back a notch and now they are performing and just 1 game from the WS
Wholesale changes are not needed….just tweaks to get the pen moving in the right direction.
2 guys are all we need to lock this down. New Closer and new closer in waiting type who can handle the 8th inning.
Get those two and we can push back Stokes, Sanchez and Ayala and Smith and Shoe to reasonable spots. Stll dump Heilman and Feliciano. I’d also let Kunz compete with Sanchez for a spot on this team. Sanchez was not right this year with velocity and location and is owed nothing on this team in terms of a slot. He has to earn his way back
Ayala is a free agent
and they should let him walk……how often have the “trade for a guy before free agency, then sign him in his free agency” scenarios worked out recently?
Mota? El Duque? Castillo?
7 saves…..
9 saves.
6 blown (in other words, he blows 40% of the leads he he entrusted with).
5.71 ERA.
Bye-bye, Luis!
Excactly.. Total numbers don’t tell the whole story.. How many did he blow with a lead and how many did he blow with the game tied? That’s right.. It’s not a very good percentage!
but i bet you felt alot more confortable with ayala coming out there than heilman/show/feliciano/stokes/sanchez….and thats like 60% of the bullpen. The guy had a groin issue as well. His numbers arent dominating but i think he is worth a look in the offseason
then lets sign him up. At least he threw strikes this year where others (heilman and feliciano in particular) nibbled too much and got spanked as a result
he is not the same pitcher post tommy john…..u shouldn’t hand out contracts to middle relievers.
also, i know a lot of people will say “well he just needed to get out of WASH, he wanted to set up, he was unhappy”…….but he had an era over 5 as a Met too.
im okay with that…not as the closer…6th or 7th inning guy….
I say they give him a shot as what he is..MIDDLE RELIEF not a closer and I think he will be fine
plus he was injured a lot of the end of the year.
absolutely. As middle relief (6th and 7th inning) not for the closer role. But when injury bites…its good to know that he can serve that role at least marginally as he did for us. By the close of the year, he was the most effective guy in the pen inclusive of his 5.00 plus era. His save conversion rate was at least decent
Save conversion rate: 9 of 15 opportunities.
Hardly ‘decent.’
There’s nothing wrong with bringing him to spring training, but there’s no way you sign him to a multi-year, multi-million, Mota-esque contract!
2 guys are all we need to lock this down….replacements for Wright and Reyes who can actually perform in big spots.
“We’re 2 guys away” – um no.
We’re 2 guys away from GETTING EVEN WITH THE PHILS.
And you don’t think they’re gonna try to get better this offseason? The Marlins also?
You gotta stop this acting like this club is superior to those other teams IT ISN’T
You lose all credibility when you cite Wright and Reyes as the problem.
Yeah, because Reyes has a history of being a Sept. warrior, and Wright can’t man up enough to get a fly ball in a crucial spot.
Yeah, and they’re both 25 years old. Idiot.
I here you. My frustration is up too. I think we have a very similar team to the Phils. THey hit a touch better, we tend to have better starting pitching by a tick and their pen is much better than ours. To get even….we need better work from the pen.
As an aside, it is not a bad thing to pull even with the team that will likely represent the NL in the WS. The goal is to be that good which currently are not
We scored the same number of runs as the Phillies and they play in an offensive park and we played in Shea.
They pitched better than us this year, with obviously the bullpen being the huge difference.
Furioso–I ask respectfully and seriously—who would your replacements be for Wright and Reyes? Seriously—can you give some examples? You must have some in mind….
Don’t care really.
I’d rather have a 3b that drives in 90 but does it in a big spot as opposed to stat padder we have now.
You really are an idiot….You do realize the Phillies’ precious core (Rollins, Utley, Howard) didn’t even come up until they were 25 or so. They also had a history of tanking in September before finally breaking through last year. Reyes and Wright will be fine. Pitching (the bullpen and the back end of the rotation) was this team’s problem. Thank God you’re not this team’s GM……..
Also if you scroll down a little on mlbtraderumors there’s a link to Baseball America ranking teams based on how much money they spent on the draft. Does it seem odd to anyone else that we’re in the middle of the pack. Considering we had two first round picks, and a supplemental pick and we didn’t seem to go very hard in Latin American this year.
I think we got cheap after the Johan contract. We only signed one international guy this offseason for more than 6 figures. The Braves signed like 9 or 10 of those types.
It’s an interesting change from what had been a rock-solid philosophy that had really helped the depth of the minor league system.
Actually, I believe we signed as many as 3 guys with a 6 figure deal. I read the report that you read, and it was talking only about Latin America. Omar also signed a kid out of the Netherlands, and one out of Australia….Have no idea about the names though.
Hmmm, do you have any names by any chance? I haven’t been able to fund anything on that.
It is possible my timeline is off, and those two players were signed a year ago….I’m trying to f ind info, but have had no luck yet..
I’m pretty sure the kid from the Netherlands was from last year because I remember him being mentioned. Unless we signed guys from the Netherlands to six year deals in consecutive years, but either way compared to the money some other teams spent just in latin america, like the braves with 5 or 6 guys with six figure contract, and the money teams spent on the draft it does seem like we really got cheap.
Cool man. I’m not questioning you at all, just wondering. I know we signed guys like Hodge/Dlouhy and Vernooj last year, but I haven’t heard about anything this year.
I agree, Gina. And a lot of people try to cite Flores, Puello and Marte, but all of those guys were signed pre-Johan.
I really think the Johan signing affected what the Wilpons were willing to invest in player development. So I also don’t see the Mets increasing payroll this upcoming season.
Gina, just because teams t hrow around more money doesn’t mean that they automatically do better. Does any other team have a better stable of young prospects acquired thru international free agency as the Mets?
Fernando Martinez, Wilmer Flores, and Jeffrey Marte are among the cream of the crop. Don’t forget we also have got Fransisco Pena, while Delois Guerra was used to acquire Johan.
Yes, but you need quantity and quality when it comes to prospects. We can’t stop investing in player development as strongly for a year because it appears we hit on a couple of guys below market the previous year. You keep hitting it hard and adding depth to a still overall weak system.
Exactly Danny. When you have the money to do it you should be going from quantity and quality, at these kids ages it’s really hard to say who is or isn’t a quality prospect, any of these guys can be stars and any of them can flame out. If you bring in as many as you can afford you increase your chances of getting quality players.
yes, b/c the Mets foolishly never go over slot.
the yankees did, and they got rewarded with hughes, joba, and kennedy.
the redsox did, and go elsbury, pedroia, and bucholtz
yet we don’t for fear of “being in the bad graces of the commish”
I don’t care about the over-slot thing as long as the Mets stay extremely active in the international market. But you HAVE to do at least 1 of those 2 things.
To do neither after the Johan contract is a little troubling.
How much will CC cost?
Look at these teams in the playoffs right now. What do they all have that we didn’t have in 2007 or 2008, but had in 2006? Bullpen.
Well, in 2006, Chad Bradford and Darren Oliver pitched great for us. And then Omar let them walk. Now they are pitching great for other teams.
You pitched well last night.
Yeah, my control was off. Sorry.
Oliver is a FA now….should be one of Omar’s many targets, especially since he is battle tested in NY
I would say it depends on ollies price. Of course the fans dont want any part of ollie but he is a ledgit pitcher and id rather hand the job to him than depend on niese for a whole year.
actually I was refering to Darren Oliver
lmaoooo my bad
im sure omar will make a run but he is 11 years older than stokes and pretty much the left handed version with a lower era.
Always a brides maid never a bride. The only thing that the current team has shown us is that they know how to choke. Without some changes how can we expect or hope for anything mor ethan a contending team? We have proven in the past three years that we cannot take that big final step. We need a closer and some changes in th epen as well as the starting roatation. Without these changes we can look foward to another “almost” year as we watch some other team win it all.
the future is in spending more money on your farm than not. our window is closing however, so i understand the need to win now, and spend that money, for the moment, on proven commodities.
But but but, the Mets went to the NLCS back in 2006. Omar is such a great GM, I can’t wait for this offseason to begin.
There are 2 things I can say about Omar’s tenure as GM. First, he helped turn the franchise from “joke of the league” to respectable in about 2 years.
Secondly, he seems to go year to year. It seems like the last 3 (including this year) offseasons, we have had to make wholesale roster changes to fill in big gaps. This needs to stop. It only stops when you build from within. Red Sox haven’t had that kind of roster turnover in the past 4 yrs. I’m not saying it’s the only way to win, but it’s the best way to build something that you can sustain for a very long time.
Respectable? Two all-time chokes are respectable?
I agree completely, there doesn’t really seem to be any sort of long-term plan. It seems more like he expects our farm system only to be used to produce stars every once and a while, and to build the rest of the team through FA. It’s really not a smart way to operate in the current atmosphere.
lmao…did anyone read the comments section on mlb trade rumors??? “chris” had probably the most INSANE rantings of an “idea” to help the mets. This wouldnt even happen in any video game or playing fantasy baseball with a bunch of morons. here it is
“I would like the Mets to go after Lowe and Wolf. Maybe trade Delgado for BJ Ryan and Lyle Overbay and maybe a nother prospect. Then the Mets could sign Brandon Lyons and if Marte becomes a Free-agent go after him.
How about a trade for Matt Holliday? Say F-Mart,Carp,Heilman and a prospect. If Murphy doesn’t work out at second, sign Hudson. Then if we could I would trade Beltran,Overbay and Church to the Cubs, for Marmol,Pie,Soriano,Lee,Samardzija & Colvin ”
this is so insane on so many levels…and it’s really just good for a laugh
Every time I read this it gets better and better. Thank you, bigchart.
someone ACTUALLY responded to that on mlbtraderumors saying “i like that idea chris”
the whole world is going mad if there is another soul out there that agrees with that….
to reference a great flick
“everyone is now dumber for having listened to this..i award you no points and may God have mercy on ur soul”
Ahahaha, this is ridiculous. It’s hard enough to project realistic trades in the first place. This guy is projected unrealistic trades including players the Mets will obtain through unrealistic trades. Amazin’.
Wow. Those propsals went from “sort of interesting” to “HUH?!?” really quickly. I had to read that Cubs one 3 times before I could truly understand how ridiculous it is.
The one great thing about the Cubs part is that it took me 3 or 4 times to realize Derrek Lee was involved!
Can we just fire Omar now?
I think we need to calm down for now. but that being said this is NY let’s not get small market all of a sudden! It’s only Oct 14th.
They mention the idea of trading Castillo’s bad contract for someone else’s. Don’t know if the Dodgers would do this but why not take a shot with Andruw Jones? The money is roughly the same the only issue is the Dodgers know they are out from under that deal at the end of 2009 rather than 2011 with Castillo. We need an outfield bat, they are playing a 3rd baseman at second right now.
If Jones is truly done, which I know it looks like he is, then you send him to the minors and wait out the year.
one quickie, you cannot just send him to the minors without his approval I think, based on his years in the majors. I don’t want to replace a bad contract with another bad one. Why not take what you can get and forget the whole thing happened.
NOOO WAYYY
“A five-time All-Star, Jones will receive a $12.2 million signing bonus, of which $5.1 million is payable next year, $2.1 million in 2009 and $5 million in 2010. He will get salaries of $9 million next year and $15 million in 2009, and also will receive a no-trade clause.”
almost a wash. 1 year of Jones or 3 years of Castillo for the same money. I might actually do this deal, hoping that someone in the organization can find and fix his problems.
Wouldn’t be the first time a guy went completely into the dumper, and rebounded with a big year. At least he isn’t old, which makes his crash and burn even more perplexing.
Besides, it gets rid of Castillo, so it has to be a good idea! Even if Luis plays in 2009, can you honestly see him adding any value by 2010? So basically, this is a wash money wise, it just front loads the contract.
And man, if he rebounds? Still expensive, but tantalizing.
And if nothing else, Jones/Beltran/Church would have to be one of the best defensive OFs around.
I like the idea because they got nothing to lose. The only problem is it’d make the Mets pay it all out this year. This could compromise their ability to land FA’s for next season. But it’d rid themselves of the Castillo burden quicker. Plus they may just get lucky ending up with a productive good fielding right-handed hitting corner OF.
I just think we shouldnt expect earth shattering moves this offseason. If you gear up for that i suspect you will be disappointed. Omar will make deals here and there but i dobut we will do any blockbuster trades. Its fun to play gm here and all…just dont expect omar to make the big moves this offseason imo.
like dont be surprised to see castillo/show here next year.
I agree…don’t hold your breath for Sabathia, K-rod and/or Manny….I do expect several change of scenery trades….I honestly believe that Schoenweis, Heilman, Sanchez and Feliciano have decent trade value, so it’s not like we’re just dumping them….I think we will get our new closer along with new faces in middle relief from trading that group….Minaya will probably use the $30M to bring back Tatis and Easley to round out the bench, a type B LF & mid rotation starter as well as round out the bullpen with whatever money is left
right..theres alot of arms on the FA market as well as some names that have yet to be put on there..we wont know who is truly available until novemberish….until then we gotta go with the info from mltr. I can see the senario where delgado gets traded but i would be surprised if omar pulls the trigger. Some of the trade proposals on here have been good in other posts i just think realistically we dont got alot of money to spend and we have to shore up a few holes. While im opposed to the idea….a move like giving niese the #5 spot may be a reality for one. We have to temper our fustrations with certian players with what they actually bring to the team imo. Alot of people want castillo gone….i see omar trying but i wouldnt be surprised if he couldnt. I would think heilman/show/feliciano are gone…but i wouldnt be surprised to see show or feliciano here(i expect omar to unload heilman but that goes against my arguement so w/e lol). Bottom line…lets not hold our breath for the super sexy moves and just expect the low volt moves taht may be more effective than trading wright/reyes/beltran etc.
MLBTR is a great blog, but unfortunately the commenters are all retarded
I really wish that we had never heard that rumor of Castillo for Byrnes. I can’t even count how many posts I’ve read on different sites acting like that’s a done deal or something.
looll exactly…..its not going away anytime soon im afraid.
They are definately not geniuses like all of us!!
Especially Furioso…..Kill Wright…..Kill Reyes…..they are the only reasons why we didn’t make the playoffs…….
So tired of hearing the same posts over and over from the same people blaming the ‘not clutch’ hitting as the reason we’re not watching Mets post season baseball. Makes me wonder if they watched the same games I did.
Once again: The bp is the number one reason we’re not in the post season. What some refer to as ‘clutch’ hitting, should have just been ‘tack on’ runs in those innings b/c bullpens are suppose to protect that 2-3 run lead going into the 7th, 8th, 9th innings. Heck, protect some damn 6-8 run leads we had. Expecting hitters to be ‘clutch’ night after night b/c the bp blew the lead is just unreasonable. When you have a 2 run lead in late innings you shouldn’t be down 1-4 runs by the 9th, night after nigh, whereby you then have to have clutch hitting…..
We already have the main cast intact, we have been built to win since ‘06 however,the BP needs to be addressed yesterday after we clean up the bacteria and sign Brian Fuentes, with the money saved we sign the baddest RBI man of this generation what many are only now realizing that he may very well be the GREATEST RIGHT HANDED HITTER TO EVER PLAY THE GAME MANNY FREAKIN RAMIREZ.
We sign Manram and i promise you we go DEEP INTO OCT FOR THE NEXT 3 – 4 YRS, He is the right handed bat we need, the bad boy persona we crave he makes our lineup into THE BEAST OF THE EAST PERIOD!!!!!
Just so you know, Metsfan, I was mocking Furioso. I 100% agree it was the BP fault. I love how everyone blames the lineup when it was the BP that blew what…like 30 games in which the Mets had a lead…..
DESPITE THE PEN, THE TEAM HAD A 3.5 GAME LEAD W/ 17 TO PLAY
THE TEAM HAD A 2 GAME LEAD W/ 7 LEFT TO PLAY
THE TEAM WAS TIED ON THE FINAL DAY
Not sure why you continue to blame the pen.
The team was RIGHT THERE despite the pen.
And those last 7, those last 3, that final day……it wasn’t the pen who let the team down.
But hey, blame the pen.
And then I’ll be mocking you next year after collapse v.3
Mr Furioso,
29 BLOWN SAVES ! ENOUGH SAID.
What? No mention of Wright or Reyes. Furioso, are you feeling ok?
My point has been proven, thank you and good day!
Really? So Wright and Reyes gave up the homers to Uggla and Helms….must have missed that.
There are several flaws to your wonderful logic. It’s not just September that matters in a baseball season. You keep citing “the team had a 3.5 game lead with 17 to play with the bad bullpen.” However, with even a marginally better pen, that lead could have been 10 games or more….the biggest problem this year was the bullpen…end of story. And for those who think otherwise, you’re just not watching the games…..
Phils now 85 and 0 after 8 with a lead, get Fuentes and Cruz for the 8th and 9th and bring back Oliver who can fill a variety of roles if needed. Trade Church, Heilman, Evans and Vargas or let Colorado pick from some others for Holliday to bat 3rd behind Reyes and Beltran with Delgado and Wright 4th and 5th. Give Murphy a shot at second but sign Lorretta who could either platoon backup/ utility 1st,2nd,SS and 3rd or replace if project Murphy fails. Castillo for Byrnes who can play right and bat 7th after Murphy. Castro, Chavez, Pagan, Tatis and Lorretta who is better all around option than Easley and has more experience playing all IF Pos. One other thing resign Perez who owned the Phils last year and will be 27 with a great injury free arm who is still maturing along with Santana, Pelf, Maine and Niesse with Parnell still in AAA as our backup starter in case of injury.
SemperFi, Fuentes, Cruz and Oliver are all Type-A Free Agents. We likely can’t have all three.
i like the Fuentes signing. Also Lowe as our #4. I’d deal for some middle relief as well. maybe also sign some middle relief. Use Heilman in any deal you can. Dump Castillo and sign Orlando Hudson.
leave Murphy and Evans in LF as a platoon. I don’t see Maurphy at second ever. First base in 2010 with FMart in LF.
that’s all.
I wouldn’t rule out anything with Murphy, but I don’t believe it’s likely he’ll be a 2B. I think a platoon in LF and eventually 1B can work. I like the idea of Hudson, but I know he’ll cost a lot. I know it can compromise the money for pitching.
Oliver Perez or Derek Lowe are going to get around 13MM a year. I think Sabathia will get 20 to 22 Mill. Why not just go after CC instead of Perez or Lowe?
The production CC would give us more wins than Lowe or Perez + who ever the 5 pitcher is put together. Signing Lowe and say Paul Byrd will cost a similar price anyway. He’s proven to me that he’s worth the investment. If he’s content in playing in the NL, the only team that could be ahead of the Mets is the Dodgers.
The Dodgers have to make a tough choice with Manny though. There’s no way they’ll sign both. Probably not even one. Not after they gave Andruw Jones 2yr/36MM, Jason Schmidt 3yr/45MM and Juan Pierre 5yr/44MM – all guys under contract for next season.
I like Fuentes too, but believe K-Rod’s younger age would outweight his value. It’d justify giving him an extra year at 5 million a year. The competition for K-Rod won’t be as high as everyone thinks. The Angels look like they’ve packed it in on him. They’re so loaded with pitching they got lots of other relievers who can just take the role. Of all stars out there, K-Rod looks to be the most likely as a Met.
It reminds me too much of the Jets and Brett Favre with K-Rod and the Mets. The Jets needed a QB this season. Everyone knew Pennington or Clemens wasn’t going to cut it. They didn’t even know which one was ahead of the other. Favre wanted out of GB. GB wanted him out of their division and the NFC period.
I always said to myself during the summer, why haven’t the Jets gotten him yet? I heard Tampa Bay mentioned, but I didn’t think it’d happen. It reminds me a lot of Mets rotation void last season too. They needed an ace. Glavine was not an ace and no longer a Met. Omar went out and got us the best pitching in baseball.
It’s at minimum 50/50 K-Rod is a Met on Opening Day. I’d probably say 65%. I’d think of Fuentes was like 20-25%.
I don’t understand why everyone is so concerned about the LF and 2B slots even though the real concern should be the bullpen.
I’ll try to make this as clear as I possibly can for those who fail to realize this. No Moises Alou this season – a lethal bat. We lost a hot Ryan Church before he got hurt. We even went half the season with an unproductive Delgado.
And guess what? We still finished 3rd in the NL in scoring. Top in 1st inning runs. Did well in all hitting categorizations. Even with Tatis, Evans, Easley and Murphy playing. I’m not saying we shouldn’t address the issue. I’m saying that the offense didn’t drag us down the, the bullpen did.
You can’t win a game with no bullpen. Everyone who disputes me get it through your thick skull that the Mets bullpen is rock bottom. The current guy’s are horrible. They have no potential.
So instead of encouraging Manny or who ever else, why not address what tanked us from winning say 100-110 games?
Anyone ever watch Jungle Fever here? lol It was a good movie. Anyone ever see that seen when John Turturro is in that bar or whatever it was with the 4 guy’s? Remember when the guy’s said they wouldn’t vote for Dinkins because of Marion Barry? Remember how John Turturro was trying to figure out that could make sense even though it couldn’t?
This is exactly how I feel about the Mets addressing any needs outside of the bullpen before the bullpen. The only other obvious gap that has to be filled is the void of Oliver Perez which may even be filled by him.
Just as Dierkes put it, we got a little over 30 million coming off the books. This is a lot of money. Wouldn’t it be more wise to sign say Dennys Reyes and David Weathers for a combined say 7 million annually rather than signing Odalis Perez for the same price as a back end starter? This team had the starting pitching and hitting to do it this season. Maybe they weren’t as clutch as we would have liked, but they were very productive. More than what we could have expected with those injuries.
If the Mets are going to make a bid at any hitter, they’ll have to shave some payroll before doing so. That means buying out some of Castillo and trading Schoenweis. The Mets will have to do a lot of 2 for 1 deals to get things done. In my opinion, if they’re going to go for offense why not considering signing Texeira and moving Delgado for some good pitching help? Texeira would only be getting like 3 million more than the annual rate of Delgado the past three seasons here.
What about swapping Luis Castillo for Juan Pierre? Castillo’s owed 18 million over 3 years. Pierre’s owed 28.5 million.
The Dodgers just don’t got room for Pierre. They got Kemp, Eithier and Andruw Jones who’s under contract next season. They may even re-sign Manny or look to replace his power with a FA like Dunn or Ibanez. It’d really be like signing Pierre to a 3 yr/10.5MM deal which isn’t that bad. He’d fill the LF void. He can bat 2nd or complement well at the bottom of the order.
It’d probably take a little more to convince the Dodgers to do it. I’d throw in Aaron Heilman and see what they say. I also like the idea of pursuing Casey Blake as a LF who seems like he wouldn’t be too pricey.
If the Mets revamp the bullpen (signing Fuentes, Weathers, D. Reyes + trading Show/Heilman & not re-signing Ayala) and signa solid 3 starter (Perez, Lowe or Garland) – they’d still be 1 or 2 million below the total payroll last season. Don’t re-sign Easley. Sign Eckstein to a 2yr/10MM deal. Let Murphy/Evans platoon out in LF. It’s really that simple. The payroll only raises by 3 or 4 million in the process. We’d hold our core and have a well rounded roster.
Signing K-Rod, Sabathia or Manny would interrupt this, unless of course we aren’t playing with the Matt Wise ”Coupons.” Wise was no consolation last year and no one of his equivalence would be this year.
Why not Luis Castillo for Andruw Jones? I heard people up there getting all mad about the idea. We’re at the point now where most of us are alright with buying out Castillo for like 15MM.
So are you telling me Andruw Jones wouldn’t be worth a gamble for just 3 million for one year? Jones was paid 9 million last season and gets a 12.2 million bonus. Let’s say the Mets pay 3.2 million of that plus the 15 million he’s due next season. I wouldn’t give anything more, but if these are the circumstances I think it’s worth a shot.
What’s the worst thing? We release him. He can platoon out in the corner OF’s with Church and Murphy when left-hander’s are pitching. Or if Murphy’s ready for 2B and Jones is playing well, he can start in LF. LA has too many OF. Kent’s probably retiring. Furcal and Garciaparra may be gone. Castillo would at least give them some insurance with depth.
NYJ, it’s not a terrible idea but similar to this year, we need to have a contingency plan in case Jones doesn’t work. Having watched him this year, I think he’s out of shape and his bat has slowed considerably. I think you cannot go into next year with Jones as part of the core that you’re relying on game in and game out.
the mets should change their slogan to ‘SAMO 2009′