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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.
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We Want O-Hud!
I wasn’t opposed to Omar chasing Punto, but 8.5 mil over two years is far too expensive. Let the Twins have him.
THANK GOD. This guy is the very poor man’s Joe McEwing.
We will get O Dog we just have to dump Luis first which I don’t no I really think they will dumo Luis one way or another
There was zero talk about Hudson (at least rumor wise) over the winter meetings or in fact for the last month or so.
Grudzielanek, although I don’t know much about his ss defense is still available.
And I don’t see anyway we can dump Castillo either, at least not without taking on a worse player/contract. Which would use up money to sign Hudson anyway.
cubs arent getting peavy
I real surprsied they didn’t pick up a middle infielder in today’s rule 5 draft.
Luis Rivas is a free agent…he can play 2nd base as well as SS
niether are the mets pelf.
I’ve been advocating Gruzielanek (if they are not going after Hudson) for quite some time now.. even IF the Mets are stuck with Gimps.
Inevitably, Gimps will need to take off a couple of months. I’d rather have at worst, a veteran (ie Grudz) who is dependable, as opposed to asking a career scrub like Ramon Martinez or Argenis Reyes (very good glove just can’t hit), or mediocrities like Nick Punto (THANK YOU TWINS!) or Alex Cora to help save the Mets bacon.
If Gimps is going to be around, Manuel is going to need a 2B that will at least make it easy for him to bench an inevitably crappy Gimp. Maybe getting an at least decent all around 2B will motivate Gimps (though I doubt it will).
i dont want him straw, we’d have to give up too much… im just happy the cubs arent getting him. i want manny
Personally if we signed Gruzieklanek I would hope he’d be starting, even though I guess that 18 million makes it a pipe dream. A healthy Castillo may walk, way more, but his defense is so bad I’m not sure he’d be a better overall option.
Besides, to get Peavey, you would have to give a king’s ransom. Away from PETCO, though, is he really as dominant a pitcher to be worth all that it would take to get him? Looking at his splits, I am not so sure.
The other thing is how many games do you really think Jose Reyes will sit (aside from injuries). It almost makes getting a backup SS (strictly) totally unecessary. I’d rather get a 2B with some SS experience (like Grudzielanek).
I think O-Dawg’s defense is in a steep decline too. This isnt the same guy who won the GG years ago. If you are going the all-hit, no d route, then, why not just use Murphy?
TBlz, I’d say no, at least not when Derek Lowe and Sheets are available in free agency. Obviously one is an age risk and the other is an injury risk. But it might be better to take those risk then empty out our farm system.
Also I agree TBlz about Hudson’s defense. And I wouldn’t be surprised if his offense started to decline steeply too.
If the Mets are stuck with Castillo, who inevitably will have something wrong with him, Grudzielanek would figure to get a ton of playing time anyway.
whoa you guys hear about cole hamels saying the mets are choke artists the past to years i really hope this guy watches his back because im hurting his feelings when he comes to citifield phillies are in for a rude awakening next season freaking bums think there special if we had wagner healthy last sesaon that division was ours by many games
eduardosmets
if we had wagner, albert pujols and ian kinsler we would have run away with the division. but we didn’t so it doesn’t matter.
we’ve gotten much better in the bullpen, but still have a lot of question marks to fill and I expect the phillies are going to try and improve too, as are the braves and the marlins.
He also said that the rumor that the Phillies hung a photo of Jose Reyes on Shane Victorino’s locker after he celebrated a little too much after a home run in the NLCS against CC Sabathia of the Brewers is true.
“Hey Shane, this doesn’t win the game, there’s still a lot of game to play. Why are you trying to be like Jose Reyes? Even though you hit a big home run you don’t need to pimp it,” he said.
Man I always forget to seperate the esses.. :(
I agree, Gina. I am so trired of the “win now” mentality that this fan base adheres to. This (a competitive team) is supposed to be sustainable.
In that regard, a 4 yr deal to Lowe = crazy. Just because the Yankees are throwing a billion dollars around doesnt mean the targets are really that great. And to reiterate an earlier point, a long term deal to someone < average means you tie up monies that could be used for next year’s cla-ss. In this case, a Harden, Lackey…
i really think that castillo is gunna be impossible to trade..
i am soo excited to see putz and krod!!!!!!
id like to see a decent starter added next, then i want to see a strong push for manny…the yanks are most likely out of manny cuz they got cameron…manny would cost 2 or 3 years which is reasonable…
also, ben sheets is a good idea…2 years 24 mil..id do that in a heart beat
phukthephils, i dont think the yankees got cameron. i think the deal fell apart
cole looks like a man who likes men
biblically
Normally I would agree TBlz, I absolutely hate the win-now mentality, but I think at this point we’ve already gone too far win-now for my personal opinion to really matter. Considering they seem to have no interest in replacing Delgado, and more importantly his middle of the line-up bat, long-term, we’re more than likely looking at stop gaps at 2nd and possibly left field + looking at giving up another draft pick for Ibanez, and Putz is only going to be under contract for two years I think we might as well go all in now.
I’d prefer if they would at least show interests in guys like Tex or Dunn, who would be long-term solutions, Tex more than Dunn since I imagine Dunn is going to decline early because of the “old player” skill set, and stop drafting middle relievers but I don’t see it happening. If the front office doesn’t seem to want to think long-term we might as well not half-a-s-s the win now mentality.
I wonder how high the fan confidence rating went for the Twins after this signing.
Also phuk the phils Manny is going to cost 3-4 years. The Dodgers offered him 60 million over 2 years and he turned it down. We’re certainly not going to offer him more, or even close to, 30 million per. And he’s not going to take less than 60 million total. Really, with the money we have to work with for us to sign him I think 4 years is more likely.
ahhh crap……..but that is too much for a backup IF so whatever.I am sure the Twins will play him more than the Mets would have
BUT if they keep Castillo they need a good back up……Eckstein may be a good leader in the clubhouse…………Cora is a good idea too……..any other nameso out there as FA?
I would imagine they could deal for a guy too with one of the extra relievers now
Ok, Gina, fair enough. But let’s do both. Let’s win now while keeping an eye on the future of the organization.
If we cannot get Tex (and no player in the universe is worth a 10 yr deal, imo) we need Delgado’s bat in the middle (provided its the correct version). If he produces like we all hope he can for one more year, I can live with Castillo at 2nd (help us all) and a platoon of Tatis and Murph in left. Dunn would be a nice pick-up for the left field, but I would rather go to battle with what is there and look to the next years cla-ss of LF, and 1B. Here’s a name, don’t shred me: AUbrey Huff. Relatively quietly, the guy had a fantastic yr in 08, is only 31, and will be a FA that wont command a quarter billion to sign.
I would love to have Aubrey Huff on the Mets.
I am glad you’re hearing the talk that the Mets want Ollie back. Say what you want the guy is young has great stuff and look how far he has come since the Mets traded for him. No reason to think that he won’t keep improving. A rotation of
Santana (best pitcher in baseball)
Pelf (young stud in the making)
Ollie (can be inconsistent but solid)
Maine (healthy very solid)
that is a very solid 4 all under 30. What NL rotation can match that starting four?
Then you bring in a Garland, Wolf, or trade for someone to be the fifth starter or if Neise takes off there you go.
Huff had a good 08, but it was way out of line with his career numbers, I wouldn’t expect him to repeat it and I certainly wouldn’t want the front office to ignore the more proven power bats available this season in hopes Huff will keep up that type of production and become available next season.
Nick Punto obviously has naughty pictures of Bill Smith.
Seriously what other NL rotation can compare to that 4?
There are other NL teams with better 1, 2 punches but I don’t think a better 1-4.
You can make an argument for some teams but the Mets are right there in my opiniun if they resign Ollie.
Well it depends on how young players develop and how free agency goes but I’d say.
Arizona
Dodgers
Cubs
would have better rotations
and the braves if they can pull off the trade for Grienke and/or land Burnett. Then you have a team like the Marlins with a lot of really young pitchers in their rotation who could take steps forward, along with the possibility of them trading for Johnathan Sanchez.
Rats.