According to Primera Hora, Los Leones de Ponce GM Francisco Montaner told the Associated Press that the Mets have been scouting free-agent RHP Fernando Cabrera.
…thanks to D from Wrightaholics for the link…
Montar said the Mets will eventually sign Cabrera, ‘or they have at least come to see him throw.’
The 28–year-old Cabrera is 8–7 in 125 major-league relief appearances for the Indians and O’s, during which he had a 5.02 ERA while striking out 185 batters in 168 innings.
The Orioles signed Cabrera last off-season.
However, he was put on the disabled list in March following surgery on his right elbow. He returned to pitch 22 innings, before being cut in September after he ‘rudely flipped the ball back to his manager.’
{ 80 comments }
is “XX” in a base 36 number system?
Los Mets!
I like how its as sumed we will sign him because we came to watch him pitch.
He strikes batters out…hopefully its just an arm for depth.
He walks ALOT of batters. I mean looking for relievers who k guys is good. But not when they walk as many batters and still give up as many hits as he does.
True, but in addition to picking up a few established arms, we need lots of small deals like this too. Filling out a bullpen is all about collecting arms and seeing who sticks and/or really breaks through. He obviously has talent and will cost very little, so I’m all for bringing a bunch of guys like this aboard.
Exactly there is nothing wrong with bringing in this guy to compete with the Matt Wise’s of the world or to push a current guy. Would you rather have him for almost nothing or pay Ayala 5 million a year?
I don’t have a problem with deal in that context. I just worry that rather than trying to completely overhaul we’re going to sign a bunch of guys like these and then one big name closer.
Looking at his stats, he seems to be a typical hard thrower who can strike people out, but struggles with control and walks the ballpark.
It’s ok let’s sign and let Warthen fix him up :)
I love your nickname
thanks :) say hi to Mr. Met for me :D
I love how we constantly are signing guys as backup plans, hoping to find lightning in a bottle. You know Omar, there are some guys out there who are actually good, and proven. How about we sign one of them?
I know he’d doing his due diligence, and that he has to, but come on now. Something of substance, please.
Patience, gra$shopper.
Seriously. Santana wasn’t signed until late January. At this point we should know that Omar likes to take his time and play his cards close to the vest.
I don’t think we should be expecting any major news until at least 2 weeks from now – at the earliest.
Like Beltran, Pedro (at the time), Delgado, Beltran, Wagner.
Meant Santana instead of Beltran twice.
Phew…I thought you meant Rigo Beltran.
Love it… let’s go to the Nicaraguan league and sign some retreads there who are underachieving because of poor attitudes or torn labrums….jeez
Looks like a good signing. Better not let Metswhatever see this though, he’s hispanic you know.
lol
yo dude if that guy ever starts giving u trouble again…tell him that the majority of major league baseball players are hispanic
REALLY????? OH S**T, THANKS FOR THE INFO.
Thereal, on all seriousness, prior blogs aside. How is htis a good signing? WE already have guys like Parnell, Holt, Kunz?? We need to stop signing scrap heep guys (we got enough of what ifs), and put our attention towards reliable, proven commoditiies.
hey, at least Omar is making moves, and that’s what counts, right?
no
Hopefully non of these guys will ever get a start at CitiField. I hope to see ONLY our starting 5 start for the Mets this season.
gina,
didn’t i said that about juan cruz and got murderer by those comments??.. as i said before, omar will sign a bunch of crap shoot guys to see who can do the job and appointed himself as a genius for finding him.. if omar doens’t bring in a championship team the mets won’t go anywhere next year or for years to come!!!!!
If Omar does not bring in a championship team the Mets will go no where for years to come? What kind of a statement is that?
i just wanted to state my frustration. lol
lol…yea I think its a safe bet to say we wont go anywhere if we dont have a championship team…usually you need a championship team to win one. i gotcha though.
Not to mention that Cruz’s WHIP is very respectable.
Alex, you need to calm down. Maybe take a break from metsblog.
LOL… i wrote that quickly guys, relax..
i’m still laughin…
Umm Cruz’s walk numbers aren’t good but this guys are like twice as worse. not really comparable. And he’s been a much better pitcher otherwise.
Can’t be any worse then we’ve already got…I say go for it.
You need to sign these type of pitchers, because they can take a bullepn to the next level. Two of the most important members of the 2008 Rays bullpen were Balfour and Howell, two young but talented rejects from other teams. Whats the risk on a minor league deal?
Balfour is crazy, I love that guy…yells at himself on the mound, pis ses off the batters…kinda like the anti-heilman who looks like he’s ready to throw up, the guys hocking up loogies left and right. lol
Well maybe the Rays could throw in Balfour with Jackson/Sonnanstine for Heilman and…Castillo ;-)
Same thing on the Phillies Team. J.C. Romero was an outcast on 5 teams. Lidge was muddling around as a middle reliever with a 5 ERA in Houston. They almost dumped Madson because he had become ineffective.
Bullpen arms are crazy and unpredictable. Us in New York are sheltered, because we see Mariano saving games consistently. Wait for the day when he is gone and Yankee fans are crying for a bullpen.
As I have said 100’s of times. The bullpen won’t be fixed by one or 2 or 3 guys. That will help. But you need 10-12 bullpen arms. Guys will get hurt. Guys will get over worked and will need days off. So even if your “Typical” 7,8,9 is great. there are still 40-50 games when you won’t have your normal guys.
It’s about the number of quality guys. Same with the bullpen. There was no depth in the minors to come up and fill in injuries when they happened to the bullpen and to the SP.
This is also why i don’t want the Mets heading into the season relying on Neise as the #5 guy. There are already way to many ?’s in the rotation. Outside Johan, we have Maine coming off arm issues, and Pelfrey who had a wonderful 2nd half of the year, but is still relatively unproven as a Major league pitcher. If Neise is the first guy called up for a spot start and a injury fill in then he can work on fine tuning his game and be ready when he is called upon. This way we don’t have the LIMA time’s making starts.
You’re right about the bullpen. Every team has to have these guys. I think Pelfrey is proven at this point, but signing a guy like Lowe would not only help for a spot in the rotation but could really help Pelfrey’s development, since they’re such similar pitchers. Trade for another starter too, like Edwin Jackson, who can start and relieve.
I think ayala deserves another shot, I like him because he throws strikes, I hate when guys walk the ballpark like scho,heilman and feliciano.
I agree. At least he makes the opposing team earn it. There was nothing more frustrating than watching Heilman come in and walk the leadoff batter, or Feliciano walking the lefty he was supposed to get out.
Agreed as well – he challenges hitters. In less crucial spots, he could be really solid.
this is goinig to sound crazy but….we should go with a 6 man rotation and push all of the starters into the 8th inning…this way we dont even need to get bullpen…just a closer
LMAO.. wow, so i’m hoping to see SANTANA, CC, OSWALT, HALADAY,LINCECUM & PELFREY..
THAT WOULD BE NUTS!!!!!
It isn’t crazy, but it won’t work. Even with 5 or 6 days rest guys will not be able to get into the 8th inning. In a perfect world you would have a team made-up like the 70’s -80’s where pitchers routinely went 7 or 8 innings, and had one lights out bullpen guy to close out the game. Only in the last 15 years has the bullpen and closer become such a dominate thing.
bullpen prediction or at least my dream bullpen would be:
K-rod
Street
Feliciano/schow.. either one not both..
ayala
smith
stokes
sanchez
kunz
DONE.. your 2009 NEW YORK METS BULLPEN..
i agree.. but i dont see kunz in there and i do see another lefty…
krod, street, smith, show, ayala, LEFTY, sanchez and stokes
Mine would be
K-Rod
Street
Cruz
Feliciano
Schoenweis
Smith
Heilman (he is due to bounce back big time)
with the minors having Parnell, Kunz, Duaner (if he has options) and Stokes…although I am guessing in order to get Steet the Mets would have to part with at least Heilman and Feliciano.
so…
K-Rod
Street
Cruz
Schoenweis
Smith
secondary lefty (reclamation project type, I like Tankersley on the Marlins if they would deal him)
Stokes
Yuck i wouldn’t want that at all.
Take out the Loogy and put smith in the minors, add another bullpen arm that gets out lefties and righties or 2. Kunz in AAA as well. Then i would feel comfortable.
Like K-Rod, Street Stokes, Sanchez. Kunz isn’t ready, Smith can’t sniff a lefty yet. And don’t want any specialists.
I’m up and down with ayala. I look at his stats and they are atrocious. But when i watched him he wasn’t awful.
As i’ve said: K-Rod, street, Sanchez, Biemel,Eddie Guardado, Stokes. Then round out with a long reliever and someone else. Minors have Smith, Kuna, Cordero(FA) Parnell.
SMITH IN THE MINORS?????? did u watch him last year….he was our most effective reliever!!!!!!!!!1
No he wasn’t. He could only pitch to one side of the plate. We don’t need him to be a roogy, we want him to be able to pitch to both sides.
Yes i watched smith last year. And he and is very effective against right handed batters. Problem is if a left handed batter strolls up to the plate he can’t get them out to save his life. He only faced 12 innings total of lefties and they hit at a .320 with 16 hits, and 11 walks.
Not something i want. Again he appeared in 82 games but only threw 62 innings. I don’t want that in my relief pitching this coming season. If you appear in 82 games i want you to have at least 82 if not more innings. No more lefty righty match-ups. That hasn’t worked unless you have a bullpen of 25 arms.
he was lights out against righties…not effective…i kno ppl dont like the specialists but it is very nice to have someone like him come in when we desperately need an out
He’s also only 24, there’s no reason to be leaving him up here to pitch for righties when he has the potential to pitch from both sides and the options. It would just be a horribly short sighted decision.
Yes, but all the manager has to do is send up a pinch hitter and hes out of the game. Simple as that. It’s what everyone started to do when feliciano, and he was taken out or left in and let up a big hit. This is why i don’t want specialists any longer.
I don’t want him gone by any means. I want him to go to AAA and work on getting out left handed hitters.
K-Rod
Street
Smith
Feliciano
Ayala
Beimel
Sanchez
and in the minors waiting :
Stokes
Parnell
Kunz
one too many
8 relievers isn’t too many. With a 5 man rotation it would be 13 pitchers. If it’s one too many end at the Long reliever.
I really don’t want to see any specialists in the bullpen next year. The one thing i couldn’t stand at all was the fact that the Mets lead the league in relief pitcher appearances but was middle of the pack in Innings.
I don’t want that. I want a bullpen full of guys who can go 1 inning at least, 2 or more if asked.
There is no need for a LH Specialist or a RH specialist for the length of the season. In the post season i don’t care.
Yes it is.
5 starters
7 bullpen
8 position players
5 bench players
Total 25 active roster
Teams contemplate going with a bigger bullpen all the time. Anyways i said stop at the long reliever and it’s 7.
K-Rod -1
Street – 2
Eddie Guardado – 3
Biemel – 4
Stokes – 5
Sanchez – 6
Long Man – 7
Then sign Cordero for the minors. Smith in the minors. Kunz and parnell there.
You can have 13 arms and 8 position and a 4 man bench. It has been done and it can be done.
4 man bench in the NL, doubt it.
That’s your dream bullpen? Really?
If your talking to me, not even close. But it’s the bullpen i think is best, considering what is available on the market.
At least you and i agree that you don’t want specialists and that Smith belongs in AAA.
No I was talking to alex
Between Schoeneweis and Feliciano, I’d prefer to keep Feliciano and trade Schoeneweis for a bag of pretzels. Preferably the rods, not the bowtie looking ones.
I really like your trade ideas for Schoeneweis. This is the 2nd excellent one you have had. I do imagine you mean a small snack-size bag, though….wouldn’t want to ask for too much…..
Bullpen
CL-FRod
Setup-Street
7th inning guy-Sanchez
righty specialist-Smith
lefty specialist-Show
Stokes in there somewhere as well, and 1 more spot to someone under the radar.
Dream bullpen
Wood/K-rod
Brandon Lyon and or Juan Cruz, Lyon is a type B so in theory I would think we could sign both. Obviously it would depend on their asking prices
Sanchez
Show or Feliciano
Stokes
Heilman if he can’t be traded for fair value.
Parnell?
preferably smith in the minors learning to pitch to both sides.
Dream Bullpen
KROD
Street (Deal with Heilman IMO is not dead yet)
Cruz
Sanchez
Smith
Shoe (Feliciano)
lol the Astros just made a big free agent pick up, Mike Hampton
lol, Oswalt asks for Sheets, instead get Hampton.
I am sure they looked into it or are going to but I would not mind the Mets getting Sheets depending on cost and years and all that.
Yeh i agree, Sheets would be a great gamble for the right amount of years.
Is Sandy Koufax available?
According to Scott Boras he’s right under our noses.
we should sign k-rod,ollie and sheets, then trade for street. the rest can be fix from within or with cheap signings. these 4 pitchers are what we need…
k-rod-a dominant closer
street- a good set up man
sheets-an ace that wont cost a lot
ollie-a pitcher who can beat the phillies,braves and yankees.
Sheets won’t cost a lot but he also will not pitch a lot.
Hampton signing with Houston. Noteworthy only because someone FINALLY signed someplace. I was out of the country for 10 days and didn’t miss a single transaction!
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