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MLB teams can negotiate only with their own free agents between now and November 14.
However, while they can contact the representatives for other free agents, they can only ‘express interest.’ They are not allowed to negotiate financial terms of a deal until after Nov. 14.
From what I can gather, the Mets are able to add between $20 and $30 million to their payroll for 2009.
I do not believe the team yet has a definitive plan for the off-season, which is a good thing. I think they have a general idea, which will become more focused following next week’s GM Meetings in California, but there will be a lot of solutions available in trade, 
which will cause for a lot of activity, creativity, rumors and sudden turns in the road.
Based on conversations I have had with people close to the team, combined with the team’s past habits, my own logic, their needs, the market, and so on, my guess is that the off-season will go as follows:
- The Mets will sign a reliable, experienced, free-agent starting pitcher, which is why Derek Lowe’s name keeps popping up in reports;
- They’ll pick up Carlos Delgado’s option and consider trading him, though it will not be a priority;
- They’ll flirt with Manny Ramirez, who will be able to get more money and years from another team;
- They’ll scramble to find a ‘big bat,’ most likely for left field, but we will all be disappointed with what they get.
- They’ll try to acquire a new second baseman, keeping a very close eye on Orlando Hudson;
- They’ll try to trade Luis Castillo, Scott Schoeneweis and Aaron Heilman, either for another team’s ‘headache,’ or in a cash-for-low-level-prospect type of deal.
- They’ll bring in all sorts of relief pitchers, including a veteran or two, like a 2006 Darren Oliver, ‘because it’s all about having arms at this point.’
- Lastly, they’ll try to trade for a closer, specifically Mariners RHP JJ Putz, who, from what I can gather, likes the idea of pitching in New York.
The point is, it’s going to be a hectic off-season, 
mostly involving potential trades – and so, with so many blogs, reporters with blogs, real-time rumor mills, and with so many ‘guys who know a guy,’ I expect there to be lots and lots of buzz, and buzz about buzz, and buzz that contradicts buzz, and so on.
In other words, take your Dramamine, because we’re all going to be quite dizzy.
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Matt, do you expect the Mets to 1) upgrade at catcher as per your interview with Minaya or 2) sign any of the Type A superstars? (Like CC, K Rod, Texeira, etc.)
I feel like the Mets will have a lot of leftover money to spend if they follow your plan (which does look pretty plausible).
Putz or Soria would be my choice to close if we trade for a closer… What would we have to deal? Bobby Parnell? Daniel Murphy? I could see Parnell and Evans, Carp or Bowman going for a closer…
Way more for Soria.. prolly a little less then that for Putz
Meh, considering they actually traded for Mike Jacobs, who is pretty much worthless, despite having much a few better, cheaper and younger options at 1b/dh, who they’ll likely try to trade now since they don’t “play the game the right way” I think we might be overestimating what they’d ask for. Hell throw in A. Reyes, he’s gritty and doesn’t get on base, they’d probably love him.
Jacobs hit 32 homers last year! And all they gave up was Leo Nunez? A middle releif pitcher?
He’ll keep the job warm till Hosmer is ready… Butler’s gonna DH…
I think they did just fine in that deal
Jacobs obp was below .300 and he’s horrible defensively. He’s pretty much worthless. And they also have Kila Ka’aihue, and Alex Gordon both who would likely be much more valuable offensively than Jacobs. Hell Gordon had a poor year last year and he was more valuable offensively than Jacobs.
And considering the market for bullpen pitchers don’t you think a 25 middle relief pitcher under control cheaply might have a little bit of value? Not a whole lot but more than what Jacobs should have.
Gordon is not moving off of 3rd base.. and the Royals were 2nd to last in all of baseball last year in home runs..
Mike Jacobs is a poor man’s Adam Dunn or Ryan Howard.. obviously the OBP is much worse.
For a guy that only struk out 26 in 48 1/3 innings? His other numbers are ok.. but he’s nothing special.
I think it’s pretty fair.. the Marlins have a helthy set of pitchers and bull pen arms in their systems… esp if our friend Owens is healthy next year…
To say that Jacobs is Adam Dun with a worse OBP is like saying that Margaret Cho is Gong Li with a worse face and body.
Sweet analogy
Whose gong Li?
All I know is for Leo Nunez… what do you expect to get back…
Gong Li was a famous Chinese actress from the 80’s. She was in a lot of Zhang Yimou’s earlier films.
I would have to say that the Royals did not do badly for themsleves. Its a middle reliever atfer all. Alex Gordon is a 3rd baseman, so the first base bag needs someone and they also give their young sluggers a little more time to develop. Nothing wrong with that. For being worth less, he sure did stick it to us a few times last year.
I agree stilltheEWM.
Putz will probably cost more than that. They will most likely want Niese and Murphy along with a couple of low-level prospects, which I would say no to right away. And I do not see the Royals trading Soria, so that isn’t really a viable option.
I think Parnell and Evans is a very good pacakge for Putz given his age and history of injuries.. that’s about as high as the Mets should go..
Maybe the Mariner are extra sensistive because how bad of a deal that Berdard trade was. but that’s their problem.
They will never take Parnell and Evans. Both of those guys are still unproven and they will likely want a MLB ready SP as well. We can offer it, and if they accept then by all means jump for joy…but don’t get your hopes up.
I’m not really hoping for Putz.. I think that’s about as high as I’d go for him.. that’s all I’m saying…
He’ll be 32 when the season starts.. and is coming off of a lost season with injuries..
Not exactly my dream closer
Oh, ok. Gotcha. Yeah, that’s about as high as I’d go for him as well.
I would have to agree as well.
Parnell and Evans??? Folks, those guys are likely not even blips on anyone’s radar.
id trade delgado to seattle for putz but i would expand that deal to delgado heilman and muniz for putz and something else.
remeber seattle only had 94 hrs as a team last in the majors.they need power badly. and think about it who is their 1stbaseman?
I don’t understand why the Mets wouldn’t go hard after Teixeira. He’ll be 29 at the start of the season, is a switch hitter, and plays gold-glove defense. His career batting avg. is around 300, and he’s good for at least 30HR and 100RBI every year.
The last switch hitter to put numbers like that to start a career was Mickey Mantle. If we’re going to throw money at a player, it should be this guy!
while signing him sounds great, do you not understand that it will be hard to do considering we already have a first basemen? and if we don’t retain Delgado, and lose out on Texeira (it’s not about the team trying to sign the guy sometimes, its about the guy signing the deal, so there’s no guarantees there) we don’t have a 1st basemen. So what then? Sounds like an obvious idea to sign Texiera, but I think people need to actually use their brains on this one and think about the situation the Mets are in.
I think everyone loves Texiera, but now is definitely not the time, if you are looking to spend 100 million plus this offseason, look at Manny or CC, but I doubt either happens
Darkstar,
I am using my brain. Picking up Delgado;s option doesn’t mean he can’t be traded. Just because he had a monster second half last year doesn’t take away the fact that he stunk the first half of the year, or the entire season in 07. Seattle is going to need a 1B and/or DH next year, so we move Delgado in a trade for Putz.
One Day,
We don’t need Sabathia. Yes, he is great, but our starting pitching wasn’t the problem last year. Manny was awesome for the Dodgers, but do you really want to drop that much money on a guy that quit on his team?
I understand that there is a risk in everything, but Teixeira is the lowest of the risks. We get younger, better defensively, and get a reliable bat.
Do you really want to go 7 or 8 years with him? I would be fine with 4 years, but that’s not going to get it done, plus as others have mentioned we would have to move Delgado and not have much leverage.
If that’s what it takes to get him, I’m fine with it. On a 7 year deal (which I don’t think he’ll get anywhere), Teixeira will be 36, or the same age as Manny is right now. Wait and see what Manny gets on his new deal, and he’s not half the player on defense that Teixeira is.
That being said, does anyone know what 1B will be FA after next season? We will definitely need one then.
gonna be busy. And interesting.
But, with the guys on hand (other than the pen..), even with only minor moves (primarily to revamp the pen and replace the missing SPs), they will already be plenty competitive.
So Omar can make a ton of moves, or just a few, and pretyt much end up in the same place!
Yeah i agree, the 2 moves stated they would make I would love to see would be trading delgado. I haven’t liked this guy ever since he snubbed the mets to sing with the marlins. And i can see them trading him to the Angels if/when the yankees sign Teixeria.
I would love them to sign Lowe and maybe a high risk high reward guy like sheets if the price is right. They also said on ESPN this morning that because of Sheets injury History he might be looked at as a closer.
It for sure will be an up and down crazy off-season. I hope we see more Omar circa 2005-2006 and less Omar 2007-2008(outside Johan). When he did bonehead things like trade our entire minor league bullpen for guys that were cut this week.
All Omar did in 05/06 was write checks…
And therefore give away draft picks, leading to a dearth of talent coming into the minors, leading to the predicament we find ourselves in now.
Hey I’m not defending Omar.. I was just commenting on what happend in 05/06 when he said he wanted it repeated
Omar should be sitting with Willie eating a subway sub somewhere.. not “running” the mets
(I’m agreeing with you stillEWM… my point was the spending spree was good for the short term but killed them long term)
Fire Omar :-)
Who did he sign in ‘06 besides Wagner?
Traded for Delgado….
right….”writing checks” implies a free agent signing.
Also, this plan a$$umes that the 5th starter would be chosen internally (Niese).
Whose not ready… at least to be effective… he will take some major lumps.. and throw up more then a few 3/4 inning games
They could sign Jon Garland (or someone similar) for a 5th starter while Niese spends a year at AAA.
I think Garland is an option, but I don’t think he’s a great one. I know you are saying to sign him as a 5th starter, X22, hence he wouldn’t be relied on for much… but we’ll likely have to pay him like a 3 or 4. His stuff just isn’t that good.
The one thing he has going for him is that he “eats innings.” Don’t get me wrong, he does keep pitch counts down which is nice. BUT coming over to the NL, he’ll have to hit every 2 innings… meaning, he’s more likely to get lifted for a pinch hitter in the 5th if he’s down 4-0 @ 70 pitches, whereas he would likely stay in the game in the AL. A big part of his usefulness, “eating innings,” is mitigated by a shift to the NL.
Last time an innings eater came to the NL from the AL was Joe Blanton.
I disagree, I think eating innings is equally important. If a guy has to be lifted because of pitch count in the 5th, then you’re going to have to use more pitchers (via pitching moves AND pinch hitting) than if a guy can go seven.
Remember too that the NL is generally considered the weaker league which helps pitchers from the AL, plus he would get to FACE other pitchers which — despite how the Mets tend to do against opposing pitchers at the plate — is supposed to make the work load easier. That means an innings eater in the AL certainly ought to be one in the NL.
*Holding box of tissues* Anybody here a Mets fan?
You keep posting this on every thread, as you did yesterday. Go away, Phillies fan.
Seriously, the best thing to do with these trolls is to ignore them.
I know it’s not going to happen because they seem to not like him but I’d like them to sign Dunn for lf this year and move him to 1b next year, I can’t imagine he’s much worse defensively than Delgado.
Also I know Lowe has been reliable the last few years but I have but the idea of signing a 37 year old pitcher for a substantial contract worries me.
I actually agree with both of thoe points…
I’d like a 2nd quality lefy if I get to choose.. I know Niese is one.. but he’s gonna take his lumps if he gets a spot next year…
To be able to throw 2 lefties against the phils in a 3 game series would be very nice next year
Yeah, but stillEWM, if you want a better-than-average lefty you’re likely looking at Perez or CC.
Yeah I know.. I said if i get to choose…
You have to give Ollie credit.. in games against the Phils, Braves, and Yanks.. he usually brought his A game
I wouldn’t mind Ollie coming back, although many on this site disagree. But Matt’s post was for a “reliable, experienced, free agent” starting pitcher, of which Ollie is not. 2 out of 3 aint bad?
The problem with bringing Ollie back isn’t so much the money as the length. Do you really have enough faith in Ollie to give him a permanent spot in our rotation for the next 5-6 years? Considering how up and down his career has been and how bad he was for the majority of this season?
Yeah it’s tough for Ollie.. he’s actually a really good fit in the NL east.. and provides nice balance for the rotation on paper..
We just know we’re gonns suffer at some point with him..
Cant stick Dunn in the outfield this year unless they acquire a RH bat for right field instead of left and trade Ryan Church. This team needs someone who can drive in runs that bats right handed in the worst way
You are exactly right. There is no excuse for this team to lack a potent RH bat in LF.
Does that mean add $20 to $30 million ABOVE this year’s payroll?
they cleared alou, pedo, el duque. but reyes, wright went up.
That was my question too. By my accounts factoring in raises and moving our payrole up to the new luxury threshold we have 42 million counting Delgado. So we now have about 30 million to spend unless we can unload Castillo somehow. Even if we did that, most likely we would be taking on equal salary. So the ideas of Manny AND Krod just can’t happen.
*BREAKING NEWS* The new universal symbol for choking is the NY Mets logo. Keep it in mind next time you get food stuck in your throat in a public venue.
All those losses sure do drive a fan base to extremes, don’t they. Glad you and your 8,000 year old franchise now have as many world series wins as the Mets managed in 46 seasons.
*Breaking News*
You’re a phag with no phriends!
It’s pretty sad on the day of the first philly parade in 100 seaons of sports.. you’re spending your time making the same old jokes…
10,000 losses.
Says the fan of the team that invented losing. You got one this year…don’t get used to it. I hope you feel safe in your mom’s basement on your computer talking trash…bet you wouldn’t come to NY and say that.
thats just silly, if youre choking, you wouldn’t be able to draw in the air the entire mets sign, it’s just impractical. I can’t believe the FDA would endorse that. Unless you immediately mimic beltran at the plate and just stand there, staring. But that just increases your chances of choking even more since no one would know you were choking. No, I don’t like this plan at all.
resign alou!
That should actually read “Resign, Alou.” No more creaky battleships spending the season in drydock.
Haha, agreed. Sign him as a minor league hitting coach or something.
“Now, listen here guys… before you go up to bat, you have to make sure you take a trip to the bathroom…”
hahahahahaha
If this is a call for Moises Alou to resign from his position as left fielder, I agree.
If this is a call to re-sign Moises Alou, let’s just hope that youareatwork somewhere other than the Mets front office.
only 20-30 mil….thats not going to go very far….
20 to 30 million! They are gonna print money in this new stadium. What now we are a small market team!
I understand trying to dump castillo and blowenweiss, but not Heilman. 3 good yrs as a reliever then a bad yr in which he was rumored to have been hurt. I’m not ready to dump him for a low level prospect or another headache just yet.
-They may also try to trade Schneider and Church for a 2B/MI, pitcher, and/or a outfielder. Pure speculation here but the Red Sox may make Julio Lugo available and maybe they have some interest in Schneider?
-I’d love to see a Giles and Church swap.
-Some RP trade targets maybe?: Cla Meredith, Octavio Dotel (for Castillo?), Rafael Betancourt.
Why would you switch Church and Giles? Even if Church hits like he did in 2007 he would be better than Giles. Giles is nothing post steroids.
OBP and BA. Giles would be great in the 2-spot. In 230 more games then Church, Giles had 30 less strikeouts then Church. Post steroids he’s still a much better baseball player then Church.
When was the last time you suffered two concussions in the span of three months and came back at 100% effective soon thereafter?
If we end up trading Milledge for those two and then dump them… I mean, i won’t be sorry to see Schneider go, but I can’t believe they’re going to give up on Church. If thi sis the case why didn’t we either a) hang on to Milledge and have Estrada as our catcher, or b) trade Milledge for what we really needed: solid bullpen pitching?
Omar loves to trade what we have for what we have. I other words, we had a RF and C and we traded the RF for an RF and a C and then released the C.
Like when he traded a LHP (Bannister) for a power BP arm (Burgos) and then traded two power BP arms (Lindstrom and Owens) for a LHP (Vargas).
What’s the point?
Heilman has to go. He never pitched well in any big game for the Mets. Dump him. His confidence is shot and he can not handle the NY fans who are all over him and will be again next year if he is on the team. He can not handle that. Trade him and let him go start over somewhere else.
Agreed. I would either trade him now or let him “audition” for 5th starter and trade him then.
i took the 20-30 million number to mean above last year payroll. is that not the case?
I think it means 20 -30 to get to around where last year was. As in that’s all we have to play with this offseason.
“He never pitched well in any big game for the Mets.”
Pointed out above: this guy was supposedly hurt this year, and was our best middle / setup man in 06 and 07. I am not saying that he shouldnt be traded or given a chance to start, but c’mon. That is a silly statement.
looks pretty accurate
MLBTradeRumors is saying that Javier Vasquez is available via trade.
The Mets have talked about being interested in Vasquez for some 5-6 years now. It’d be just like the Mets to wait until this guy is totally washed up to go sign him.
Did they mention what they would be looking for?
actually they did, Kenny Williams personally posts his wants and desires on mlbtraderumors.com, so whatever you read there, is fact. In all seriousness, can’t you people learn by now that all this “buzz” usually ends up meaning NOTHING?
Vasquez is available every year.
test
Haha.
Jacobs was one of the idjuts who ran his mouth before the last weekend of the season against the Mets. I’m glad he gets what he deserves: hitting meaningless HR’s for a meaningless team and market. Perfect.
The Marlins get to laugh at us for knocking us out two years in a row on the final day, and that other NL East team gets to laugh at us for obvious reasons starting this week. I wouldn’t exactly say our team isn’t meaningless right now.
I’m just hoping that they aren’t so dumb that they make the same mistake twice with Orlando Hudson.
Here is an interesting name to kick the tires on for 2nd base…..Edgar Renteria….He has been fantastic playing in the NL, and would be a solid hitter behind Reyes. He brings an NL mentality and skill set to the table, and while not a big hitter on the level of a Manny Ramirez, he would help with situational hitting, as well as being a second table setter helping the offense to maintain consistency over the course of 162 games. He is a proven winner. At the age of 33, he’s got a few more seasons left in him.
Of course we all know what he can do in terms of hitting, but the big question is would he accept a move to 2nd base. Here is a guy who is a former gold glove SS, who has lost a step defensively, and with a sub-par 2008 may be undervalued in the market place. Perhaps Omar can entice him to switch by offering a few more dollars than the next bidder. I’m also fairly certain that most contending teams are set in the SS/2b positions, so that could play into Omar’s favor as well. Personally, of all the options out there, I think Edgar would be among the most desireable.
Ravi, he looks bad in big markets, see: Boston.
I think its more on an NL/AL thing. His AL stats are just awful. And you really can’t kill a guy for one bad season, big market or not, who for a career spanning 12 years has a line of .290/.347/.405/.753….
I like Renteria. I’m shocked at the season he had this year. He is a FA? Didn’t know that. If so, I would sign up for that.
this smells too much like Robby Alomar for me…
I’m not sure…Alomar was viewed as a core player for the Mets, while Edgar would only be a support player. I do understand your logic though.
I thought the same thing too.
$20-30MM as in raise it to $170MM? Or $20-30MM as in including what has come off the books?
Yeah the 20-30 million is a little vague, and what exactly does bring in all sorts of relief pitchers mean? I feel like there’s not many on the market and it’s not like we’re going to be the only team going after them.
I think Joe Beimel is a must. It’s also hard to not kick the tires around Chad Cordero to be a set up guy. Man, did Wagner’s injury really eff this team!
I like the Cordero-on-the-cheap-look-you-have-to-earn-your-way-back-into-a-stud-role idea. I can def. see him as a guy who pitches with a chip to prove everyone that he still has what it takes.
But I don’t like the way he wears his hat…
Or a guy who just stinks up the joint…
its not vague….at this time and at least what they are saying publicly….they are only going to spend around what they did last year…one big thing is that they budgeted playoff revenue for this season….now i dont get it with the money coming from next season and im a little scared that the wilpons are going to return the to the fred/jeff “coupon” days….
I mean it’s vague as in we don’t know if its adding 20-30 million to the payroll or using the 20-30 million we have.
that is what i am saying…all of the reports are that we are only going to stay around what we were last year…therefore just replacing the approx 30 that we are losing off of this years payroll…we are not adding to it
Here’s my guess for this offseason:
1) Omar will fail as usual
2) People will love it regardless…..until the lack of results show up on the field
are you still here?
Let’s not forget Kawakami. The Mets may make a play for him considering they won’t lose draft picks or players in the process.
I’m wary of Hudson. I’d sooner have Renteria, if he were willing to move to 2B.
What about A.J. Burnett? Younger than Lowe, workhorse, lotsa K’s–the Mets have always done better with power pitchers than control pitchers–though he won’t come cheap. I’d re-sign Ollie, though he’s repped by Boras, who’ll make him out to be Christy Mathewson reincarnated.
As for left field, they should put up a sign: No Country for Old Men. Moises, I loved you, but it’s just not gonna work.
Anybody want to sign Burrell as FA to play left? Just kidding. I get the reason we need a RH bat there, but if we go that way, where does Murphy play? Unless, of course, they really do trade Delgado, but I just can’t see them doing that. I wonder whether they re-sign Tatis and keep Murphy on the MLB roster to back up in left and at first.
Go after Juan Cruz. As for Heilman, I thought he just finished his walk year. Anybody but me think that Brian Stokes should be given another look for middle-inning relief?
Oh, yeah, one more thing. I live in Seattle and hear rumors all the time about what the Mariners think the Mets will do. More like what some beat writer covering the Mariners thinks the Mets will do. Usually wrong.
As for J. J. Putz, nobody named like that can play in New York and be comfortable.
Omar, dn’t let manny go, WE NEED HIS BAT. We cn work on pitchers l8r w/ the rest of th $$$ we hav, we just need to pay 4 manny 1st!!!!!!! PLEASE