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The Mets have picked up Carlos Delgado’s 2009 option, which will reportedly pay him $12 million.
However, as I wrote in early October, despite picking up his option, it sounds like Delgado’s future with the Mets will depend on what other options exist in the market place, as he can still be traded to another team.
…in other words, like the Yankees did with Gary Sheffield a few years ago, it would not surprise me to see the Mets pick up delgado’s option, and then trade him to an AL team, though this may not be Omar Minaya’s first choice…
Delgado hit .271 with 38 HR and 115 RBI last season for the Mets, after starting the year with a .228 average at the end of May.
Delgado played in 159 games last season, fourth most in his career, and the most since he played in 161 games in 2003.
In a poll from the last day of September, 55 percent of people who responded said they would pick up Delgado’s option, while 26 percent said they would not and 19 percent were undecided.
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Hang a For Sale sign on him right quick.
WOW, that was fast…
Alright at least Omar is being decisive. I hope he takes this quck-thinking aggressiveness into the offseason. We can’t wait again until spring training and hope to get another Santana. He needs to start talking to free agents asap.
It was fast but they have had plenty of time to think about it. The earlier you do it the more time you have to explore EVERY option. They were never going to just let him walk.
Picking up the option is a no-brainer and allows the Mets to keep their leverage when negotiating with FA 1b candidates and/or other teams in trade talks. If they do find a 1b they like, maybe a 1b/LF type like Dunn or Burrell, they can deal Carlos for a P or 2. Have to be careful, because if they sign or get a replacement for Delgado that only plays 1b, the other teams have the leverage in trade talks, as they know we will have 2 1b and only one spot to play them, hence my suggestion for a versatile guy who could play OF if signed and Delgado is kept.
sign and trade!
thats what I’m hoping for.
WOW! What a shock, now we can watch him bat 200 , kill rallies, strike out and hit into inning ending DP’s until July. Lets just hope that we have enough of a lead that the games he cost us dont come back and bite us in the butt like they have the last two years.
You guys amaze me. So did you want to just buy him out and release him? With no real candidate for 1B on the team?
I can live with him for another year.
I could also live with O-dog at second base and Murphy at first…………..a guy can dream can’t he?
And if you add both of those guys production you still would get no where near what Delgado got last season. Having Odog at 2B is not a dream it’s a nightmare. Talk about an overrated player.
The real: spot-on. Again, it’s plain name recognition. “oh, Hudson, right. I’ve heard of him, didn’t he used to be good? Sign him too!”
You could get just as good of production out of Mark Grudzawhatever at 1/4 the price of “Odog”.
I agree with you. Those two guys can’t give you the Slugging power that Delgado gives you. I can’t argue that. I can’t argue when the truth stares me in the face.
Its clear Omar would have to bring in a power bat for LF to off set the loss of Delgado.
O-dog brings in excellent defense, and an energy thats fun to watch. As a former college baseball player that had to rely on defense because he could not hit his way out of a wet paper bag, I appreciate the D. Its fun to watch. I think O-dog will vastly improve the VORP at second base. The problem is he will cost too much when you include Castillos contract if we eat it. So it seems rather unlikely that O-dog will be in a Mets uni next year, hence “a guy can dream”. Because it would not be practical for the Mets to bring him in.
Eh, it might have been an off year but he was fairly below average this past year on defense. And his bat is projected to age terribly, and that’s not even taking into account the most recent wrist injury. I definitely think Hudson would have been more of a nightmare, especially for the type of contract he’d ask for and the amount of money we’d be sinking into second base if we couldn’t move Castillo.
I’d rather a Murphy/Easley platoon and save money for Burrell and/or bullpen, etc.
Does not matter. Even if you wanted to do that you could still trade Delgado. It would be foolish to just buy him out when he still has value.
And to Cool. “Odog”’s defense has been on decline for years.
How much of decline in terms of zone ratings?
Don’t have time to look it up today. Go check it out. Most baseball people have said his defense has been on decline for about 3 years. Not to mention that his offense is incredibly empty. He’s a fine player for 6 million and a disaster at 12.
RZR rating of 0.784 last year. For comparisons sake, Easley was a 0.795.
Hudson’s revised zone rating was .784 8 out of 8 for eligible NL second basemen this year, as in even behind guys like Uggla, this year. The difference between the 2nd best and the 7th best was .032. The difference between Hudson and the 7th best was .023. So he was really below average for starters.
In fact he was dead last in all of baseball. And according to this he’s been in the bottom 5ish the last 3 years at least. In 05 it was .853, in 06 it was .790 in 07 it was .798 this year it was .784. And if you think that’s a drastic decline from what I understand his offense is expected to decline about as drastically.
This is from the hardball times stat database.
wow, I had no idea.
Watching him play I could not tell. He looked so smooth out there this year.
silly real, don’t think before you post. You’re supposed to criticize everything omar does all the time, even when it was his only option.
This was a no-brainer! What other options do they have? Tex? Please…he will cost a lot plus demand a lot of years!
And it does not mean that they can’t get Tex if they wanted to try. Delgado could then be traded for bullpen or other parts.
Of course, the Wilpon’s have the money…but do they really want to invest in a seven year contract with him? They already have one superstar for that long. But, it’s true he may be used as bait if Minaya has a plan. Nevertheless, I do agree with some who believe that the Mets want to give him a shot. Especially after his second half resurgence.
I am sure that is the plan. But if not, the option had to be picked up either way. Now if he and Evans could net us Ryan and Overbay then we would be silly not to do it.
He’ll also bring much much better defense and considerably better bat and more security and consistency at the position.
Wow. So soon people forget. This guy pretty much kept us in the race in mid-summer. I think the team at least owes him a chance to prove he isnt done yet…
Agreed. He carried for a good part ofthe second half. If we had made it to the play-offs he would have been largely responsponsible, but the Bull Pen had other ideas.
Not to mention, if he has a big season next year, he will most likely become a Type A free agent. We can offer him arbitration and worst case scenario, we have a 30-35HR hitting 1B instead of draft pick compensation should he decide to accept it. I think Delgado would and should be around next year.
Lets not forget the other side of that. He also kept us out of the playoffs with all the strike outs, Double Plays and rally killing pop ups, for the first three months of the season. Just one of those games and we are in :} Thats what we have to look foward to, a start so slow that he is moving at al and gets put in the 6 or 7 spot. even Schneider had a higher BA than Delgado did. LETS GO METS !!! How about getting Jacobs from the Royals, a nice young guy that is consistant, thats better than an old guy that is not. Just my thoughts.
If his season had been the other way, strong at the beginning, terribly weak at the end, I’d be more inclined to think he was done, or getting there. The fact that he turned it around shows me that it was a mechanical flaw that, for whatever reason, took a long time to fix. I could be wrong, but I think his trending upward should give him the benefit of the doubt. His overall production will be very difficult to replace, early season slump or no.
The people on this site amaze me. Without him we wouldn’t have been close this year.
Hear hear. Too many fantasy owners out there. Buy Tex! Buy K-Rod! Buy Manny! Trade for Holliday! Reduce this organization to nothing!
And again, it’s not even the fact that we HAVE to keep Delgado. But we did HAVE to pick up his option. If Omar did not and let him walk for nothing then he really would have been foolish.
WOW! the mets look really different this year….NOT!
what were you expecting…them to get rid of one of the biggest offensive players on the team for nothing…
The Mets will look different next year, ugbmets21… no team has made any additions yet to this year’s team.
There are 103 days until pitchers and catchers. Sit tight.
Well, we already added Razor Shines. We are already looking better than we did with Luis A-blind-o.
No on Tex, Manny and Holliday.
YES on K-Rod. How can you reply otherwise?
(Mets 29th out of 30 in MLB bullpen)
I don’t think Delgado plans to retire after this season, so he’s pretty much playing for a contract, which will hopefully be good for us and produce at least a decent year.
so far the right moves…..
Who can we get from Toronto for Delgado, Evens, Schneider, Heilman..
Marakakis, Millar and Sherril?
Except, we might have to replace Evans with F-Mart…
So Delgado, F-Mart, Schneider and Heilman
for
Markakis (corner OF for next 8 years), Millar (short-term replacement for Delgado and brings sorely-needed grittiness) and Sherril (to start the bullpen overhaul process)…
And Baltimore would have to be involved because all 3 of the aforementioned players are on Baltimore :-)
Or the fact that Millar is a FA. Wow.
Why would the Jays (really the Orioles who have him) trade Markakis for an old expensive first baseman, an aging catcher who could never hit, a pitcher who stunk the joint up and F-mart — an unknown when Markakis is already a known.
THESE SUGGESTIONS MAKE ME NUTS!!!!!
Let’s trade Heilman and Schneider for Marmol. (wink wink.)
Sign and trade, no problem here!
With the Mets having so many needs, bullpen, rotation, bullpen, C, bullpen, 1B, OF, and did I mention bullpen?; how about signing a 2B who can hold down the fort for at least a season, and worry about 2B in 2010?
A name that comes to mind is Mark Grudzielanek. Proven glove, stays healthy, solid .300 contact hitter. He reminds me of a Paul LoDuca 2006 type hitter, singles and doubles, and can move Reyes along.
“Move Reyes along” — thats the game we’ve been playing for the past 3 seasons. Isn’t the point of Jose Reyes that he can move himself along?
Yes but people don’t seem to get that.
And by people I mean our front office and managers.
In 2006, our best season yet, If Reyes was one first base he would score before long. He was off and running and that made for a fun exciting team and gave them a boost of enegry that has NOT been there since. Reyes needs to get on and create havok on the bases and break up the game plan of the other team, Thats his job and that what he does. We run into problems when he does NOT do that. we have to start using him like we did before or his best weapon, speed, will do nothing for us at all. When you cant get a hit to advance a runner or drive him in yo have manufactuer it and that is what REYES is good at. LETS GO METS !!
Ummm, Reyes had one of the best offensive years in history for a SS, and some would argue that is because he didnt wear himself out going for 100 SBs this past year. If Murphy’s bat is in the 2 hole all year, then Reyes looks even better, IMO.
I have been preaching for Grudzy the last 2 weeks. He would be perfect to play 2B or to back up Murphy if we sign a LF.
I signed him in my video game and he hit .350 with 20 homeruns! Although he didn’t walk once the entire season.
…and perhaps most importantly, and ex-Expo :-)
*Whack*
Gary: Hits to deep right field… and it’s outta here! Off the scoreboard! Carlos Delgado. His 4th RBI of the night.
Ron: Well, Gary, that was a hanging slider right over the middle of the plate and he just crushed it.
…I can’t wait until April.
Gary: And with Delgado’s HR and 4th hit of the night, the Pirates take a 6-1 lead!
Keith: Right now, this trade that send Delgado to Pittsburgh for Francisco Osoria and Ian Snell looks pretty lop sided!
*Whack*
Gary: Hits to deep right field… and it’s outta here! Off the scoreboard! Carlos Delgado. His 4th RBI of the night.
Ron: Well, Gary, that was a hanging slider right over the middle of the plate and he just crushed it.
…I can’t wait until April.
Well played!
Leiter stole my thunder. I was going to go there until that turncoat Yankee broadcaster who jabs the Mets every moment he can about Kazmir stole my thunder!!!
You can trade Carlos without losing leverage, as long as Murphy is in the fold. Put him at first, bat him third and throw a 71 on his back. I always thought he would project closer to Mex.
because murphy can put up delgado numbers…..?
Delgado can’t put up Delgado numbers again!
For 8 million, you can let him prove that 07 and the first part of 08 was injury related, and the middle to end of 08 was him swinging like he still can.
I think it would be very foolish to trade Delgado….unless Man Ram is in the plans.
What Delgado the early season or late season version?
What about Carlos and $ to the Rays for Shields?
they got peña….
Actually I think there’s something there…Floyd is probably going to retire, so they have no one to DH…Delgado would be a veteran presence and an upgrade from Floyd offensively…and the Rays will have 6 starters. I think the one most likely to go is Sonnanstine, though…
I think Jackson is more likely to go because his peripherals are pretty terrible. Also if they resign Baldelli I’d imagine he could dh for them.
The problem with Baldelli is you have no idea what you can get out of him over the course of a year. Delgado would also give them better lefty-righty balance in the middle of their lineup.
You’re probably right about Jackson…either way it wouldn’t be a straight-up trade, but I think there could be a fit between these clubs. In that scenario you’d move Murphy to 1st, which Minaya suggested was their long-term vision for him anyway…
Yeah, I don’t think the Rays would even sniff that deal. It would essentially be them giving the Mets a mulligan on Kazmir with a pitcher that has been worth more to them than Scottie has himself.
Delgado signing was a no-brainer, its “only” an $8 million dollar difference with his $4 million buy out.
now they can trade delgado, castillo and some $$$ to the Diamondbacks for Captain America and Brandon Lyon (i think that’s what they’re closers name is).
Isn’t Lyon a free agent?
didn’t know that…scratch the original thought
To think that theoretically, Delgado is only costing us $2MM/year more than Castillo makes me want to vomit. I could only imagine how it makes Delgado feel.
Make that…
“…keeping Delgado is only costing us $2MM more…”
*Holding box of tissues* Anybody here a Mets fan?
Delgado submarined the Mets the first 3 months of the season. But, he’ll be playing for a new contract, so we’ve got that going for us.
Wow, he hit .271 by the end of the season? That’s much better than I thought. Those are really good numbers.
I say let Delgado stay. You don’t give away 38 dingers so easily, and we don’t even know that Murphy can play first. If Carlos had tanked the second half of the year, I’d be less inclined to trust his numbers. Sure, he struck out too often and hit into many double plays during the spring, but so did Wright down the stretch. Many, many times David fanned with runners in scoring position and less than two out. Who carried the team into first place? Delgado. It sure wasn’t his fault they didn’t stay there.