According Ben Shpigel in the New York Times, ‘The Mets have yet to show interest in Joe Beimel; and they are not keen on Juan Cruz, whom they consider unproven.’
Nevertheless, ‘The Mets are in the market for versatile relievers who can pitch multiple innings and retire left-handed and right-handed hitters,’ says Shpigel.
…way to narrow it down, guys…
Meanwhile, in the New York Post, Joel 
Sherman says the Brewers will be Omar Minaya’s only competition for Francisco Rodriguez.
What’s more, according to Sherman, “The Brewers have a willingness to pay for (a closer). They made a four-year, $40 million-range offer to retain Francisco Cordero last offseason. When Cordero accepted a four-year, $45.5 million package from Cincinnati instead, the Brewers reacted by giving a one-year, $10 million hope-and-prayer pact to Eric Gagne.”
…i am not sure what that has to do with 2008…the difference in this scenario is that if the Brewers make an offer, K-Rod’s agent will certainly give the Mets a final chance to beat it…
…i think the Mets are playing this smart…there is no need to rush, and sign K-Rod to a five-year deal when there is a very good chance he can be had for just three years and an option…
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Probably because Beimel is kind of bad.
Beimel is an effective lefty specialist, but in a properly constructed bullpen so are Pedro Feliciano and Scot Schoeneweis (moreso Pedro) so the Mets are correct in not trying to upgrade slightly at a position when there are gaping holes to be filled.
Beimel was actually much worse against lefties than either Scho or Feliciano. Lefties had a .330 OBP against him, they had a .280 OBP against Feliciano and Scho’s was even lower than that.
God only knows what Mr. Omar is up to.
If Fuentes signs somewhere, K-Rod will get what he wants. The Mets have to be careful here.
The question is who has the $$$ to sign Fuentes considering he wants $10M+ per year? The answer is probably just the Mets….can’t see Fuentes even getting an offer until Krod signs
The Rangers are supposed to be interested in him. And a couple of other teams but I’d have to look them up to see what kind of markets they were.
Rangers are said to be more interested in Wood but have also implied they would have to move Blaylock in order to sign Wood. Not a real threat there.
Either way there are not enough teams to give big contracts to all 3 top closers.
All I’m saying is the Mets have to be careful not to negotiate with themselves.
Way to narrow it down indeed. Newsflash: The Mets are in the market for effective relievers.
Juan cruz is better than anyone the mets had in their bullpen in september.
I agree, although I can semi understand being worried because of his walk totals and him being a type A. But still he’s probably the best non closer bullpen option in FA.
….as well as ALL the current free agent relievers
cruz has been great the last two years. he’d be a very good set-up guy.
k-rod
cruz
sanchez
feliciano
smith
stokes (long man)
That’d be great, minus Feliciano and Sanchez.
OK, we can keep Feliciano as a LOOGY. . . but only as a LOOGY
Not even as that. Show had better numbers as a loogy last year than Feliciano. He is shot. To many games in 2007.
Ikes. If Schoeneweis weren’t an absolute disaster in key situations, I’d almost suggest keeping him as a LOOGY, but he and Delgado both ought to go to work a leadership change. (I know the latter isn’t going to happen, but I can dream. . . .)
Feliciano’s and Scho actually both had awesome numbers against lefties the problem is we had them pitching to as many righties as lefties last year.
toomany. i only included feliciano because i don’t think the mets will spend enough to bring in beimel too.
i can live with feliciano, the mets need a couple of starters and i wouldn’t mind a nice little bat too: furcal or dye or manny (i know that one’s not happening)
Part of the reason that Feliciano had to face so many RH last year is because he always walked the LH guy 1st and then we had to leave him in for another batter.
Seriously.
They consider Cruz unproven with his 2.61 ERA, 1.26 WHIP,12.4 K/9 innings and dominant stuff.
Meanwhile Scott Schoeneweis, Jorge Sosa, Luis Ayala and Aaron Heilman are all guys they’ve felt comfortable handling the fate of the team late in the past 2 seasons.
But only Show did they sign longterm and Cruz is RUMORED to want about 2 times what they signed Show for.
come on gottabelieve07! Of course Schow, Sosa, Ayala, and Heilman are proven…
Proven to stink!
Proven to blow your season in September
Heaven forbid the Mets sign anyone who isnlt over 30 in the BP, and look at all those proven guys…
Proven to stink.
Brewers won’t give four years and KRod would choose the Mets given two three year offers to choose from. I like the way this KRod market has fallen to us. He was thinking 5/$75 a month ago.
hey Matt this is my first ever post and i have been a reader of metsblog for almost 4 years. I dont know how to contact you so hopefully you will read this…Am I the only mets fan who wants pedro back??? i mean really he wants to come back and we need pitching! too much pitching is never a problem! we can take all the arms we can get expecially pedros no matter how old he is. An interesting idea is put him in the bulpen possibly even a CLOSER!? save the wear and tear on his arm and maybe add some juice to his fastball. Now im aware this is extremley farfetched because knowing pedro hes only going to want to start, but if we can get him for the right price and all he wants to do is win for winning team. Then bring him aboard…also i like the furcal offer, love edwin jackson..so so on vazquez over garland. Think we should keep Castro over Schnieder. Still not sold on Daniel Murphy. Trade Church for a pitcher if needed otherwise i like him in our outfield. K-rod over Fuentes. Dont want Raul Ibanez in a mets uniform unless Church is traded. Thanks Matt hope you read this and keep up the good work!
Only problem is that Pedro takes forever to warm up. He would be throwing 1000 pitches a week. So after the 1st week who do you want to close?
Also, how can you love Edwin Jackson but only so so Vasquez? Have you seen their numbers?
Yes he’s well suited to pitch 1 inning when his 1st inning OPS against was 1.099 in 2008.
Pedro may come back, but he is never going to close for this team. Nor should he.
there is a “contact Mets blog” box on the left sidebar. Could always try that.
Pedro might be back, but only as the 5th starter. No shot in heck that he is the closer. Even forgetting about the pride factor, etc., he takes forever to warm up, often has a lousy 1st inning, and seems to be overly fragile (maybe “delicate” ) these days. not exactly closer material.
If you want a starter to convert, try Randy johnson! That one just might work (functionally, no idea if he woud be willing to try it!)
While he most likely could do it, I would guess Mr. 280 only wants to be a starter.
I’d rather bring Johnson in as a starter and just say no to Pedro.
I love the idea of Johnson as a starter.
My rotation for 2009
Johan, Pelfrey, Vasquez, Johnson, Maine. That is a good rotation. Not to mention that Vasquez and Johnson are both on 1 year contracts and would only tie up about what 1 year of Lowe would cost.
I’d take Johnson too, if he’d be willing to come back to nyc. Which I doubt. Highly.
i said this b4, juan cruz is not that good!!! and please do not compare him with somebody from the mets bullpen becoz we all know that any reliever was better than anything the mets had, fir him being a type A free agent is a travesty, he’s not a closer, i do not understand who makes this relievers type A or B.. either way no, i will not sacrifice 2 draft picks for juan cruz (not that we draft that good anyway) he’s not worth the hype..
It depends on how many Type A’s we sign. If he is the only one,then no don’t do it. But if we are signing multiple he won’t be costing anything significant.
Not sure what you’re basing the “Juan Cruz is not that good!” statement on. Have you actually seen the guy pitch?
He has dominant stuff. And his stats speak for themselves.
He may not be a closer.. yet. But the Mets should give him a good strong look.
As far as the Type A stuff, I do agree it’s odd that a setup man could get the label. But the Mets are likely to sign 2 or 3 Type As this winter. One will be a closer. One will be a starter. It’s not impossible to use a 3rd on this guy.
Take a look at how Cruz actually pitched…look at his appearances in August and September especially..you’ll probably end up agreeing that Cruz is not that good.
Juan Cruz is unproven?
Please.
He’s currently better than anyone else we have.
No interest in Joe Beimel?
Again, he’s better than any other lefty reliever currently on the Mets roster.
What is Omar Minaya thinking here?
And then, according to Rafael Furcal himself, Minaya has made an offer to him to play him out of position at second base? If that’s true, why waste a great arm like Furcal’s at second?
Beimel isn’t better than any left reliever we have. His numbers against lefties are kind of terrible, actually his numbers overall are pretty bad. Which kind of isn’t a good thing for a lefty reliever.
But Gina he had a good ERA and that’s all that matters.
Not really. ERA dont tell you half the story
ERA usually tells you none of the story. I was being sarcastic. Gina, I am sure knows this.
Oh ok sorry,
Boy oh boy, Juan Cruz stinks? The Mets medical department must be in charge of statistics now.
You guys kill me about Juan Cruz…look a little further into his stats and actually look at his appearances…September is laughable:
He won his third game of the season on September 18th. How? By blowing a save by giving up a homerun.
He won his fourth game of the season on September 26, How? By giving up two hits and a walk in his one inning of relief.
Take a look at the games other than overall stats which can be very misleading for a reliever. He had 8 holds and 2 blown saves last year. Not a good ratio. He had 4 holds the year before. He isn’t that good people.
LOL so now instead of saves we should judge by holds too? How about, WHIP, K/9 and those other newfangled stats?
Yeah apparently Wins are the way to judge the worth of a setup man from the pen now.
It’s like the Scott Boras approach to a negotiation (or book) – but the opposite.
LOL, show me a reliever with a lot of wins and I will either show you a good offense or a bad reliever.
Jorge Sosa was 3-0 as a Met last year, in April alone! Pitcher of the Month!!..
He’d be a set up man dude. You bet your butt that holds count. What about Whip and K/9? Does that mean you’re an effective reliever? So if a guy K’s 2 in an inning but gives up a game tying homer or 2 runs, that’s ok? Again, take a look at his outings from all of last year, and look at August and September specifically…Juan Cruz is as much of a crapshoot as any other reliever the Mets have now.
So saves are the only thing you should look at for closer’s too I am guessing?
So let me guess…i’ll take a stab in the dark…You didn’t even bother to take a look at the games he actually has pitched in to come up with an actual basis for your disagreement with me. Just guessin.
unproven? first of all thats ridiculous, both beimal and cruz are better than any relievers we have and have proven to be good at their job for the past 2 years. Frankly, Id rather have unproven than proven to be bad.
look at his ERA, ok, but he had 32 walks in 51 innings, like i said he’s better than anything we have, but then again so was pretty much everybody else in the ML!! beimal would be good for us and not that expensive..
“Juan Cruz is unproven”
Translation: Juan Cruz isn’t 37 years old.
I loled.
The problem is that Juan Cruz is good and to belong in the Mets pen you have to be medocre and be old. Or young and stink for many years or old but be decent.
I don’t want to go after just any reliever but I feel like Omar doesn’t make enough under the radar moves. Juan Cruz is the type of guy I’d like to give a shot to even if he blew in September. Sometimes I want the Mets to make a small move like this for the sake of making a move and trying something new.
I’m not sure Cruz is really an under the radar move. He’s a type A and wants a pretty big contract for a non-closer.
Considering the hype surrounding K-Rod, Fuentes, Tex, and CC, Cruz is a smaller move that I think Omar has failed to make in the past couple years. Yes, he picked up Tatis last season and yes, he’s made some smaller moves in the past, but I think we have definitely should not be worrying about money here and go after a guy who can throw heat and help us in a smaller role.
What amazes me is that every year during both hot stove seasons many of you guys actually take what is written as fact. You pay no attention to media spin or Omar/any other GM spin.
It’s “What, the Mets don’t like Cruz? Omar should be fired” “What the Mets want Furcal over Hudson? Omar and his race problems.”
Chances are the Mets are interested in Cruz and will never get Hudson or Furcal. LOL. Relax guys.
thank you, all we doing is predicting what will happen.. we don’t know for sure, but that’s why this blog was created for us to come here and speculate.
They have alot of parts they can move to with Scho , Heilman, Sanchez who I do not see back………..they could just swap relief for relief………….really I dont think those 3 are that bad they just need to get out of NY
NO ONE HAS SIGNED ANYWHERE…..I am so not worried, they will come through
I would keep Stokes, Kunz, Feliciano, sign K rod and then get some help via 1 FA and 1 deal
Why keep Feliciano? He was just not good. Too many games that he walked the guy that he was supposed to face.
Now as for your 1st idea, I agree completely.
Trade Heilman for Betancourt. They are basically the same players in terms of their status. Good 2007, bad 2008.
Feliciano was good in 2006 and 2007. I’ll take track record and give him another shot. 2008 may just be one off year for him.
He still pitched well against lefties, and with a properly constructed bullpen around him I would expect him to perform well in that role.
Affledt, definitely didn’t spell that right, signed somewhere.
I think they are going to sign Armando Benitez and Roberto Hernandez
I love how everyone acts like all this talk is coming straight out of Omar’s mouth. IT”S NOT! It’s a reporter doing his thing, making inferences, giving an opinion. So many times this stuff means absolutely NOTHING, yet all of you sit here on this site and act like whenever a story comes out from a REPORTER, it means that’s exactly how Omar is thinking and you immediatly hate him for it. C’mon people, critical thinking time, we’re smarter than this right? …
This is the purpose of this blog, to discuss our ideas and opinions and the stories of the reporters.
but the point isn’t to get mad at Omar and/or the team for something a reporter said, that’s just naive.
IMO i think its more frustration that being Mad. Its really not that easy being a Met fan.
i think it’s because guys like jose lima, geremi gonzalez, schoeneweis, aaron sele, and chan ho park always seems to make their way onto omar’s major league roster.
Lol, Coudlnt agree with you more!!!
What’s wrong with Chan Ho Park? :)
LOL
Chan Ho has pitched well for the Dodgers last year as a setup guy
did it occur to anyone that the Mets aren’t going to be forthcoming about who they like so to keep the market down?
did it ever occur to you that mets fans are just keeping the pressure on the team which like to be careful with their money including the $30m+ in profits they made last year.
I think they are staying away from guys like Cruz and Beimal because they are going to want 3 year deals for good money. That is where the Mets got into trouble with guys like Scho. Given average bullpen longer deals can blow up in your face allot because they are so hit and miss from year to year. That is why it would be very smart for them to sign K-Rod, and trade for Street or a Street like reliever. Someone who is or was a decent closer and make them your setup man.
If you have the 8th and 9th inning locked down then you can fill out the bullpen with guys like Smith, Kunz, Parnell and so on.
It is highly improbable Rodriguez will sign to play in Milwaukiee.
I watched a lot of Beimel down the stretch and everyone was hitting him. His pitching motion is going to destroy his arm. The problem is he’ll be more costly than other left-hander’s on the market because he’s been good for the past three seasons. Even if he appears to be more out of shape, I like the idea of signing Dennys Reyes more. Or considering Will Ohman who’s a work horse and is coming off a nice year as well. Lower risk options like Rhodes or Shouse might be the way they go though.
It looks like all teams are little hesitant because of the current status our economy. I’m surprised that no big signings have happened so far. As for relievers, I think the Mets are slow in signing because they have options. If KRod signs with the Mets, they have Wood, Fuentes to sign. Or other closers via trades.
If K-Rod is a Brewer, that’ll shock all of baseball. The chances are unlikely. It’s true they’ve spent cash on the market before. Like Suppan. Or Gagne. Milwaukee and Texas will gauge the interest of K-Rod which will cause the Mets to give a 4th year. Milwaukee is more likely to go for Fuentes who’ll probably get three years. K-Rod is 6 years younger than Fuentes. K-Rod for 4 years? Fuentes for 3? K-Rod is obviously better. K-Rod won’t be getting that much more annually than Fuentes either with the way the markets playing out.
Yeah, just wait…great idea…then Fuentes gets signed elsewhere and Wood as well and then KRod (to quote Seinfeld) has hand….
The Mets should not be waiting. They need to prove to the Derek Lowes of the world that they will have a PROVEN closer who will turn a 14-15 game winner into a 18-19 game winner.
Santana wins 21 games last year IF the Mets had a ppen.
Pelfrey gets 17 wins.
KROD saved 62 of 69 games in the AL- He will dominate the NL
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