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In a report for the Star-Ledger, Dan Graziano says a) the Mets 
will sign one of the big three free-agent closers, and b) they will focus on ‘strikeouts,’ when rebuilding their bullpen for 2009, according to ‘a person familiar with the team’s off-season plans.’
This is why, as Graziano explains, “the Mets are telling teams they’re not shopping Eddie Kunz and Robert Parnell, who should get a shot at the big-league pen in 2009 if they aren’t dealt.”
Speaking of relief pitchers, and potential set-up men, the Giants are the most recent team to express interest in free-agent LHP Joe Beimel, reports MLB.com.
…seeing as Damaso Marte just got a three-year deal, and considering the value of set-up men from the last off-season, i see no way beimel agrees to anything less than three years, and, i’m guessing, $15 million or so…
…so, my hunch, albeit an informed one, but a hunch nevertheless, is that the Mets 
will sign a closer, sign a set-up man, and maybe even trade for an additional reliever, while hanging on to Joe Smith, Pedro Feliciano and Brian Stokes, and auditioning parnell, kunz, and other youngsters in spring training…
So far this off-season, Beimel has been linked in rumor to the Mets, Cardinals, Giants and Rockies, among others.
In 71 relief appearances for the Dodgers in 2008, the 31–year-old Beimel was 5–1 with a 2.02 ERA in 49 innings pitched, during which he struck out 32 batters and walked 21.
He had a 3.88 ERA in 2007, and a 2.96 ERA in 2006.
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sign k-rod, beimel, and cruz. period.
i don’t see why it’s so important to focus on strikeouts when the mets have a very good defense. though the three i want to sign surely strike guys out.
Its the inability to put people away that killed this entire pitching staff last year, especially the bullpen. I think they want strikeout guys for that reason, rather than a lack of confidence in the defense.
More Strikeouts=Less balls put in play and fouled off=fewer pitches thrown=not burning out in september
You can get a ground out on the first pitch of an at bat, can you do that with a strike-out? I didn’t think so. People that go out there and try and strike people out every time with the power stuff usually wear down quicker than a guy thats not affraid of contact per pitches.
Those are my must get guys, too.
Because the Mets don’t have a very good defense. They have a good outfield defense the infield is pretty bad.
they had one of the best defenses in the nl last year.
second fewest errors. reyes, wright, and castillo are all pretty solid along with two great outfielders.
pujols won mvp
Castillo was one of the worst defensive second basemen in all of baseball last year and Reyes was below average, although Reyes should bounce back because his career numbers are much better than what he was last year. Not making errors isn’t everything. Castillo and Delgado have no range, and if Reyes doesn’t bounce back then way more balls will be getting through the infield than should.
reyes is a very good defenisve ss.
errors are everything, but they are important. castillo lacks his former range, but made the plays in his zone along with turning double plays. other teams are much weaker up-the-middle
Reyes is a very good defensive ss, but he wasn’t last year. And Castillo made plays in his zone, he just made fewer than nearly every second basemen in the league. The are other teams that were weaker up the middle last, there just aren’t many of them. And even if Reyes bounces back, which he should, there’s no reason to expect Castillo too at his age and with his injury problems or Delgado.
The mets played very good defense last year. Reyes was great defensively June-September. Castillo/Delgado were the only below average defenders and delgado was outstanding at picking low throws.
Wright isn’t really the best 3B in the NL, and the other three were mediocre to terrible. Besides, Manny won’t be able to cover that much ground in left. (Kidding.)
Anyway, I like the idea of strikeout guys if only because of the attitude with which they tend approach the game. The Mets need a “Nasty Boys” (wow — it’s been 18 years!) attitude in the bullpen. Guys who can come in and put Rollins on his back, get Ryan Howard to generate gale force winds, and put a permanent pout on Hanley Ramirez. The team needs to man up, collectively, and challenging hitters is part of it.
Gina is right on about Castillo.
anyone who watched saw that any ball hit between 2b and 1b was a guaranteed hit. ZR confirms this.
I had a bigger problem with Castillo’s lack of range than with his lack of offense.
the mets defense was 2nd in the league in fielding.
i watched them last year.
their defense was very solid.
2nd in the league in fielding percentage not fielding. That means they didn’t make many errors when they got their gloves on balls. Not that they got their gloves on as many balls as the should have.
The Mets may not have been an amazing defensive team, but you could make a case for either the Mets and Phils as the best defensive team in the division. Its hard to underrate a player who wins gold gloves two years in a row, but I still think Wright’s pretty underrated defensively. He may not have deserved the GGs, but he still gets no respect. He has tremendous range in all directions, left, right, in and out. He’s one of the best in the game at defending bunts and making barehanded plays. His only weakness is his arm, and every year despite starting off weak, he seems to make small, steady improvements in this department.
Yes, I agree. True, sometimes a K is needed but look at Benetiz, Mota, and even Wagner. Major leaguers can adjust to the 95 mph fastball, especially if it’s the only pitch they see.
“the Mets are telling teams they’re not shopping Eddie Kunz and Robert Parnell, who should get a shot at the big-league pen in 2009 if they aren’t dealt.”
So, Kunz and Parnell are not being shopped, but will get a chance in 2009 if they are not traded? How can they be traded if they are not shopped? How can you have any pudding if don’t eat your meat?!
Theres a diff b/t actively shopping a guy i.e.the knicks w/
marbury and including a guy in a deal.
Hopefully we’re “actively shopping” heilmann and
schoenweiss.
and castillo
Just because they are not being shopped does not mean they will not get traded…It’s like specifically going out to buy a suit, or finding a suit on a great deal and picking it up anyway. I think this is good, lack of desperation is a good thing.
I understand. was merely poking fun at the endless flow of unsubstantiated rumors.
Once again for the last 1.5 seasons Feliciano has been the worst reliever on this team….he has to be the first to go…has to, your gonna eat 4 mil owed to Schow when he was better than Feliciano? No, thats insane, I mean if you rid of Schow, so be it, but NOT to keep Feliciano.
Keeping Feliciano is about as smart as keeping Figgy or bringing back Henry Owens, Burgos or Jorge Sosa
Agreed, here’s to hoping that nobody else knows this and his trade value is actually higher than Shows and is traded. I would rather go out and get a top LHRP and keep Show as a backend guy than to have to put up with Felicianotgetpeopleoutijustwalkthemandgettakenout.
Heilman & Schoenweis should be gone…Sanchez and Feliciano will probably stay:
Krod/Fuentes/Wood
Beimel/Cruz/Affeldt
Smith
Feliciano
Sanchez
Stokes
Kunz/Parnell
….still not great, but better
Why does Feliciano get a pa-ss? He was terrible. For that matter why does Sanchez get a pa-ss? Because he was good but got injured and had surgery? Heilman was injured this season, want to give him a pa-ss? What about Show he was injured in 2007, still want to give him a pa-ss? Get rid of all of them except for Stokes, Smith and the kids.
Krod
Cruz
Guardado (if we can’t afford one of the better LHRP)
Stokes
Smith
Parnell
Kunz/ Other LHRP on the scrap heap.
not sure about guardardo, otherwise looks pretty good. I would, however, give Sanchez another shot. At least lump him in with the “scrap heap” group.
Affeldt instead of Cruz is OK too.
Wow is citie field going to be a hitter park by just looking at it. Get strike out pitcher no contatc picthers
Looks to me like fly balls hit to the gaps are automatic outs unless they are crushed.
I think it will be tough to field a bullpen that was worse than last year.
Castillo must go.
I know, his fastball just does not have the legs anymore.
Haha…wise a$$. Castillo must go is just the way I will sign posts on here from now on. That way, if Omar is reading (and we know he is), it will get across to him subliminally castillo must go.
Aside from our bullpen castillo must go, we have few weaknesses. we will obviously need to castillo must go fill rotation holes too.
castillo must go.
I know but I thought my legs reference was pretty good for a Monday.
However, it is becoming clear that IF, big IF, Murphy can’t play 2B then Castillo will be our 2B to at least start the 2009 season. No one is going to trade for him until he shows he is close to healthy and the Mets won’t just release him before they try and get his value up.
Thus, Castillo for good or bad will be our 2B to start the 2009 season.
mvp
1 pujols
2 howard
3 braun
4 manny
7 wright
9 delgado
LOL. What a make believe award. I think it may have less value than gold glove.
Even with the Cards missing the play-offs I have a hard time saying Pujols didn’t deserve it. What he does from year to year is unreal. The rest of the list is a joke though, specifically how the hell does Howard finish second? He wasn’t even the most valuable player on his team last year, Utley was by a huge margin over Howard.
howard had a huge september and better second half than utley.
utley 8hr 35rbi
howard 20hr 62 bi
Howard also had a horrible start to the season, and pretty bad June and a bad August. Why should getting hot for 88 at bats outweigh the fact he was disappointing most of the season or the contribution Utley made the entire season? If he hadn’t been so bad early they might not have needed his late season surge. Not to mention Utley was one of the best defensive second basemen in the league last year.
utley had a bad second half.
howard’s push wasn’t 88 ab’s. it was almost 300.
25 home runs in the first half and 8 in the second for Utley? Sounds like David Wright’s 06 splits. Maybe the home run derby messed him up too :)
http://www.stadiumpage.com and see hpw citie field looks and tell you dont think it look more like a hitter park
the Mets should not be outbid on beimel by anyone. Unless the years get crazy.
you wanna give 3 years to ANOTHER LEFTY SPECIALIST?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! this is EXACTLY the kind of guy we should not get ….we SHOULd try for Affeldt, he is not a specialist
PS. dont send me a stat line of last year, watched many Dodger games, the guy is a specialist.
Everyone should check out Toby Hyde’s post on Kerry Wood at Mets Minors.
he makes some valid points….
All things equal I’d rather have Wood than K-rod. But Wood’s injury history is a bit frightening. I wouldn’t want to invest too much money in him and we’d have to have a legitimate back-up.
I’m inclined to agree with you, as usual
good post. I like the idea. Especially if the deal is a little shorter, and maybe cheaper, as-suming it frees up some cash for other uses!
And sad to say (maybe it is the petco factor) but Hoffman does actually look like he could still have a little something left!
Grab wood, and if Hoffman is lingering, try to snap him up to to serve as a set up guy, and to take teh saves wood can’t get when he needs a rest.