Daily Archives: December 11, 2008
Earlier today, Jon Heyman of SI.com said the Cubs and Omar Minaya are discussing a trade that would send starting pitcher Jason Marquis to the Mets.
Tonight, on SNY’s Mets Hot Stove, Heyman added:
“Marquis is a good number five starter, he’ll throw innings, he wins in double digits
– you know, it makes sense and I think it’ll will get done. I know Omar is saying it will be later and a long shot… I think the later part is right, but this makes too much sense. The Cubs are pushing on the Mets right now, but eventually I think the they will do this deal.”
Heyman also said he believes the Mets are considering Raul Ibanez, though they’re not alone, adding, ‘the Mets love him, and they will consider him if the price is right.’
Lastly, Heyman flatly said, ‘No,’ when asked if the Mets will go after free-agent OF Manny Ramirez, adding, ‘I just don’t think they want him on their team.”
Tagged Raul Ibanez |Jon Heyman of SI.com believes the Cubs 
and Omar Minaya are discussing a trade that would send starting pitcher Jason Marquis to the Mets.
Heyman feels the Mets should send reliever Scott Schoeneweis to the Cubs, who are offering to pay a portion of Marquis’s $9–million salary in 2009, after which he will be a free agent.
According to published reports, over the last day or so, the Mets rejected a deal from the Cubs that would have swapped Marquis for Aaron Heilman, who was traded last night to the Mariners for J.J. Putz.
The 30–year-old Marquis has won at least 10 games and pitched at least 190 innings in each of the last five seasons, while posting a 4.58 ERA, during which opponents hit .261 against him.
Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels, when asked if the Phillies believe the Mets are ‘choke artists,’ said the following, during an interview with WFAN in New York today:
“Last year and this year we did believe that. I think three years ago we didn’t, because they smoked everybody and I thought that was the year they would go to the World Series – and unfortunately that didn’t happen. But, you know, that’s kind of what we believe and what we’re gonna always believe until they prove us wrong. Yeah, over the last two years they’ve been choke artists.”
Darryl Strawberry, regarding Hamels’s quote, while co-hosting today on WFAN’s Mike’d Up, said:
Tagged Phillies |“That’s sad… If we had a team say that about us – oh, no – they were gonna be in trouble… I mean, it would definitely be hard if, in the days us playing, if somebody said that, I mean, we’d have stuck one right in his neck. We’d be fighting. There’s no way any one would be allowed to disrespect us like that, and that is what has happened to the Phillies.”
The Twins and free-agent infielder Nick Punto agreed to a two-year, $8.5 million deal, reports the Star-Tribune.
Last week, the Star-Tribune claimed the Mets and Phillies had expressed interest in Punto, who hit .284 with a .344 OBP in 99 games for the Twins last season, while playing second base, third base, shortstop and center field.
Jasyon Stark of ESPN.com, and Ken Davidoff at 
Newsday, both believe free-agent OF Raul Ibanez may become the Angels top target if Mark Teixeira signs with another team.
However, Davidoff adds, “The Cubs and Phillies seem to have taken the lead in the competition to sign Ibanez.”
Earlier in the week at FoxSports.com, Rosenthal listed the Mets, Angels, Phillies, Braves and Nationals among teams interested in Ibanez.
According to Rosenthal, members of the Mets front office were spotted meeting with Ibanez’s agents at a restaurant inside the Bellagio hotel on Tuesday afternoon.
Speaking of outfielders…
Rosenthal recently reported that the rumored deal between the Brewers and Yankees involving Mike Cameron ‘is not done and may not get done.’
According to Rosenthal, Milwuakee is asking for a second player in addition to Ian Kennedy, whilke the Yankees would like the Brewers to pay a portion of Cameron’s contract.
That said, while Joel Sherman of the New York Post says the chances of a deal are ‘remote,’ the Los Angeles Times reports the deal is done.
Tagged Raul Ibanez |Update, 12:55 PM:
Darren O’Day, who the Mets selected in Round 1, has a torn labrium indetified in an MRI during September of last season, “an injury the right-hander will try to heal through exercise rather than surgery,” wrote the Los Angeles Times last October.
…Ted Berg of SNY just told me that o’day can be put on the disabled list, and essentially be stashed away while he rehabs, without having to be returned to the team…
…there is some sort of rule about needing him to eventually be active for 90 days, or having to return him to the Angels, but i’ll worry about this when it’s relevant in six months…
Update, 12:50 PM:
According to Lipsky, the Mets did not lose any player in the draft.
…so, i believe they now have 34 guys on their 40–man roster…
Update, 12:48 PM:
The Mets selected OF Carl Lodenthel from the Atlanta’s organziation during Round 1 of the Triple-A phase.
Additionally, the have picked RHP John Madden from San Diego, also in the Triple-A phase.
…sorry, i had to do it…i mean, how could i not…
Update, 12:40 PM:
The Mets selected RHP Rocky Cherry from the Orioles organziation in the second round of the Major League phase.
In a live blog of the draft at Mets Minor League Blog, Toby Hyde writes of Cherry, “I like this pick…. He throws in the low 90s with a decent slider.”
Cherry was 0-1 with a 2.75 ERA in 30 games for Triple-A Norfolk in 2008, during which he struck out 40 batters while walking 11.
Original, 12:24 PM:
The Mets have selected RHP Darren O’Day from the Angels during the Major-League phase of the Rule V Draft.
The 26–year-old Day struck out 29 batters in 43 innings, during which he had a 4.57 ERA, through 30 relief appearances for the Angels in 2008.
In an article for MLB.com, in March of 2008, Lyle Spencer wrote, “A side-winding reliever who simply gets hitters out, O’Day has thrust himself into contention for a middle relief role expected to surface at the start of the season.”
“A pre-med student at the University of Florida in Gainsville,” Spencer explains, “he initially wanted to be a veterinarian, focusing on equine treatments. Shifting to standard medicine, he was accepted into medical school at Florida.”
He was 10-6 with a 2.57 ERA in 84 Minor League games, prior to joining the Angels in 2008.
In a report for ESPN.com, Jayson Stark 
analyzes Omar Minaya’s recent bullpen additions, complete with a variety of interesting stats.
According to one long-time talent evaluator, who talked to Stark, nobody in baseball has a better tagteam than J.J. Putz and Francisco Rodriguez.
“To me, they’re the best,” the talent evaluator said, ‘and they’re not just a great duo, they’re a strikeout duo too. There won’t be many balls in play when those two guys are out there. As big as strikeouts are in the ninth inning, sometimes they’re even bigger in the eighth…The Mets can play a 21-out game now.”
According to Mark Feinsand of the Daily News, ‘Johan Santana is trying to push the Mets to make a move for free-agent outfielder Bobby Abreu.’
Feinsand believes the White Sox and Rays are interested in Abreu, ‘but Chicago would have to trade Jermaine Dye before signing him,’ and, ‘Tampa Bay won’t offer the kind of money he’s looking for.’
…as i have written before, i want nothing to do with abreu…he’s one of those players who look good on paper, but when you watch him play it is painful…i have no doubt that he would basically be a singles hitter in the NL and at Citi Field, and he often runs around the outfield like he’s lost, or being chased by a bee…
The Yankees have made a five-year, $85 million offer to free-agent RHP A.J. Burnett, according to FoxSports.com.
Ken Rosenthal adds that Burnett’s agent will soon contact interested teams with final chance to match New York’s offer.
Why do you care…
Well, according to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com, if the Yankees sign Burnett, ‘they will likely acquire a third starter 
through free agency,’ but indications are it will be a short-term option, like Ben Sheets, rather than Derek Lowe.
Stark, however, disagrees, saying, the Yankees remain interested in Lowe, adding, “The Yankees remain determined to add two starters from the group that includes Burnett, Lowe, Andy Pettitte and Ben Sheets. And while they would prefer that one of those starters be a pitcher they can sign for just a year or two (i.e, Pettitte or Sheets), they have not ruled out signing both Burnett and Lowe.”
Additionally, WEEI’s Lou Merloni, who played with Lowe, says he is now more interested in the Yankeees because of CC Sabathia.
Meanwhile, yesterday on ESPN.com, Jayson Stark said the Phillies are not pursuing Lowe and have never made an offer.
Also, Gordon Edes of Yahoo! Sports believes Lowe’s desire to return to Boston has been overstated.
Lastly, according to our friend Joel Lipsky, Scott Boras told reporters that he will soon meet with Omar Minaya – presumably to discuss Lowe and Oliver Perez.
…in other words, according to the above tea leaves, we’re probably going to get a bunch of rumors soon about the Mets having interest in lowe, and i hope to believe them…
In a critique of the trade on ESPN.com, Keith Law writes:
“If the Mets get the healthy J.J. Putz - he missed time with rib and elbow injuries in 2008 - they might actually have acquired the best closer of their offseason, one even better than their new closer Francisco Rodriguez.”
According to Law, Putz pitches at 92-95 mph; his fastball has good life, but it plays up because he pairs it with a plus splitter with a hard, late bottom; he pounds the strike 
zone - he walked fewer batters in 2006 and 2007 combined than K-Rod has thrown in any single season of his career.
In other words, Law says, “Putz is exactly what you want in a late-game reliever, and his presence on the roster means that the Mets can cope with K-Rod’s one-inning maximum and can avoid using him on too many consecutive days.”
Law describes Jeremy Reed, who the Mets also acquired in last night’s trade, as, ‘a defensive specialist who makes a lot of contact but lacks power or patience,’ while describing reliever Sean Green as, ‘a right-handed ground-ball machine.’
For more on the players who the Mets gave up, read Law’s report.
…i am not sure you cannot like this deal for the Mets…
…in short, they traded heilman, three prospects and Jason Vargas for putz, who is the best player in the deal…
…to me, vargas was useless, because some one will always get a shot in Citi Field before he will, and his value in any other trade was minimal; carp had no future with the Mets, and, from what i can gather, was pushing his ceiling in terms of value; heilman, who i wish the best of luck, needed to go; and the outfield prospect is an outfield prospect, of which i personally do not put much stock…
…to me, the guy i hate to see go is 19–year-old pitcher Maikel Cleto, whose stock had been rising all season…but, if the deal is one day judged as cleto for putz, as i believe it will, i can live with that given the major-league team’s immediate needs…
….additionally, they swapped reed for Endy Chavez, who was a favorite of Willie Randolph’s, but who got little play from Jerry Manuel…and they swap smith, who was good and bad at times, for green, who law calls, ‘a ground-ball machine,’ which is exactly what you want from a mid-inning, middle reliever…
…more importantly, minaya took a sledge-hammer to the bullpen, and, based on the last two seasons, how can you blame him…
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