Starting Pitcher: Mets prefer Lowe and Perez

December 17, 2008 at 9:29 am · 61 comments

by Matthew Cerrone

In today’s Newsday, Ken Davidoff reports the Mets want either Oliver Perez or Derek Lowe – and will consider Randy Wolf or Jon Garland or Tim Redding, ‘only if they whiff on Lowe and Perez.’

Jon Heyman of SI.com now believes Lowe could be seeking a four-year, $63 million deal.

As such, Heyman feels the Cubs could soon join the Mets, Braves, Red Sox and Angels as teams interested in Lowe.

Meanwhile, last week, Heyman told WFAN that Perez is seeking a five-year deal worth roughly $70 million.

During the Winter Meetings, Mets GM Omar Minaya told reporters there was a 50–50 chance that he is able to re-sign Perez.

…as i have said before, it just seems to me that the when the music stops, there will be a path for the Mets to sign lowe, who, from what i understand, has been their top target since the start of the off-season…

However, in a recent poll on MetsBlog, 49 percent of voters said they would only give Lowe a three-year deal; 38 percent would give him a four years; and 12 percent would not sign him at all.

Similarly, in a separate poll, only 28 percent of voters said they would give Lowe a four-year, $67 million deal.

Speaking of starting pitchers…

The O’s are interested in Redding, Carl Pavano, Braden Looper and Kenshin Kawakami, according to the Baltimore Sun.

Lastly, while free-agent Daniel Cabrera has drawn interest from 11 teams, including two offers, the Blue Jays are not one of them, as they are first waiting to see him pitch in the Dominican Winter League, writes the Jordan Bastian at MLB.com.

Monday, on XM Radio’s MLB Home Plate, Cabrera’s agent said the Mets have not talked to him directly.

{ 61 comments }

Tidewater December 17, 2008 at 9:35 am

You know what would be cool? To see the old style comments section back.

starz31 December 17, 2008 at 9:36 am

3 years 48 Million…with a performance-based 4th year option.

starz31 December 17, 2008 at 9:36 am

tidewater…lol … I agree.

mlem116 December 17, 2008 at 9:36 am

1 LOL

Lets sign somebody soon before we lose them all!

alex242 December 17, 2008 at 9:38 am

jesus, LOWE is not that goooood!!!

why not go after sheets and perez??

therealsince86 December 17, 2008 at 9:38 am

Ok so was the Castillo thing reported earlier this morning a hoax? I have not seen anything on MLBtraderumors or here.

therealsince86 December 17, 2008 at 9:38 am

Alex, because with Sheets and Perez you just got yourself an oft injured pitcher that can’t be counted on for 200 innings and the 5 inning man.

kistics December 17, 2008 at 9:38 am

Perez for 70mil? that’s crazy

oleosmirf December 17, 2008 at 9:39 am

Santana, Lowe, Pelfrey, Maine, Niese/FA

with our new bullpen, that would be a very good rotatio and all 5 would be under the Mets control for the next few years.

Then sign Manny to a 1 year deal worth 20 million plus incentives.

at the end of the year the Mets would have Delgado, Manny, Wagner etc. coming off the books and with no need to sign any pitchers that would leave plenty of money to sign Holliday for LF while moving Murphy/Evans to 1B.

Mr. Bananagrabber December 17, 2008 at 9:39 am

Is Perez’ potential worth another year and $7 million more than Lowe’s proven track record?

What Castillo thing? I apparently missed it…

mrmustseetv December 17, 2008 at 9:39 am

Look, I’m not sold on Lowe. Giving any pitcher who is 36 a 4-year deal is a huge risk. I know he’s been durable and all that, but 26 is still 36 in terms of baseball age. I don’t think the Mets can get either him or Ollie without guaranteeing 4 years, so if it were me I’d probably go with Perez because he’s younger and will probably be better in years 3 and 4 of the deal.

That said, if we get Lowe then that’s fine.

alex242 December 17, 2008 at 9:40 am

ok, the real, got one better,

SHEETS and LOWE??

since we won’t spend the money on a big time hitter we can get them 2 right?

Dirtysanchez December 17, 2008 at 9:41 am

what castillo thing real?

alex242 December 17, 2008 at 9:42 am

403NYMETSFAN718 says:
December 17th, 2008 at 8:55 am
Sources with ties to Cincinnati are reporting that the Mets and Reds have had preliminary discussions regarding a possible trade of Luis Castillo to the Reds. It is believed the Mets would have to pay most of Castillo’s remaining contract and in return would be receiving second basemen Jeff Keppinger, a former Met, and possible prospects.

Thats what i read, but i can’t remember where i read it. Anyone else hear about this?

oleosmirf December 17, 2008 at 9:42 am

Castillo and cash to the Reds for Keppinger and a prospect

oleosmirf December 17, 2008 at 9:43 am

NY Global Sports Blog as per Mets Fever.

Dirtysanchez December 17, 2008 at 9:44 am

thats not such a bad deal with the reds.

therealsince86 December 17, 2008 at 9:44 am

Some bloggers on here this morning mentioned a rumor about Castillo to the Reds. Don’t know where they got it from.

As for the Sheets Lowe idea? I love it. I wish it would happen but I don’t see it. It would require Lowe to be 3/45 and Sheets at 2/24 and I am not sure either will be that low.

alex242 December 17, 2008 at 9:44 am

as long as that jinx is not here i’m cool.

QnsNative1718 December 17, 2008 at 9:44 am

alex, I think it was Metsfever.com

kistics December 17, 2008 at 9:44 am

Unfortunately, the Mets seem to have no interest in Sheets because of his injury history. So much for signing Alou, Pedro, and El Duque..

Dirtysanchez December 17, 2008 at 9:46 am

or look at it this way kistics..maybe the are learning their lesson

alex242 December 17, 2008 at 9:46 am

we can have a team option for lowe at 4 and sheets at 3.. get cheap players like juan rivera to play left and if we do get lucky jeff k will play second.. then our bench just by having murphy and tatis will be very good.. and can we please sign a lefty foor the pen please.. guardado anybody..

mlem116 December 17, 2008 at 9:47 am

Lets do it! Anything to get rid of Castillo

mrmustseetv December 17, 2008 at 9:47 am

Also, GO GET MANNY!

Offer Manny a 3 year, $66M contract. Manny for 3 years will still be very productive.

Look I understand the Mets don’t play with monopoly money. They lost $300M and the economy is terrible, so to offset Manny I would then trade Delgado and platoon Daniel Murphy at first with Tatis, Nick Evans or a low-dollar, one-year signee like a Kevin Millar.

If you give Manny $22M a year then by trading Delgado’s $12M, you only add $10M to the 2009 payroll, and with an additional $10M coming off after 2009 due to Wagner’s deal ending, Manny falls neatly into the 2010 and 2011 budgets.

Plus, you move Murphy to the position he’s probably best suited for. He’s not going to displace a Gold Glover like David Wright and he’s still a bit clumsy in left field, he does’t have the range or athleticness (sp?) for second, so first base is probably best.

He came up a third baseman and while he was an average third basemen at best, at first he wouldn’t have to make the throw across the diamond and his range would probably be better than Delgado’s.

Plus, with Fernando Martinez looking to make his debut at some point this season, the Mets will have another outfielder to rotate soon.

A front 5 of of Reyes, Castillo, Wright, Manny, and Beltran is better than one with Delgado instead of Manny.

DO IT!

mark4212 December 17, 2008 at 9:47 am

Alex and Ole,

GOD please let that be true.

On the Pitching note, Lowe wants the 4 year contract that Jake Peavy has remaining. And Lowe is no Jake Peavy. 16 mil or just under is way to much for Lowe, and 14 mil is too much for Ollie. I know omar has a number that he is looking at for both.

Right now I don’t see either coming to the Mets. Based on what i have been reading. Omar doesn’t think Lowe isn’t worth the demands. The Yankee’s and Sox aren’t going to be in on it. So it looks like the east coast teams he can choose from are Mets, O’s and Nat’s. And he said he want’s to play for a winner, so that’s why the Mets might be the front-runner at some point…. Only if his demands drop!

alex242 December 17, 2008 at 9:49 am

Great point (26)

but i honestly doubt it will happen.. as i said here many times, DELGADO is omar minaya’s MAN CRUSH and he will not trade him..

mrmustseetv December 17, 2008 at 9:49 am

The Reds don’t want Castillo. That’s a bogus rumor on a bogus fan site. Why would the Reds make this deal and give us someone younger and better than Castillo who makes the minumum to boot.

Think people.

oleosmirf December 17, 2008 at 9:50 am

a guy i’d like to see as our utility infielder is Aaron Miles.

switch-hitter batted .317 in 379 AB with 4 HR 31 RBI.

starz31 December 17, 2008 at 9:50 am

There’s rumors that Furcal hasn’t signed yet with the Braves and is now listening to a 2 year offer to resign with the Dodgers…Jon Heyman is amazed how he can turn down a 4 year deal with the A’s, to almost accept a 3 yr with the Braves and now maybe going to the Dodgers for 2 years..but he thinks he will go to the Braves.

starz31 December 17, 2008 at 9:51 am

Yea Metsfever cited a “brand new site called NY Mets Global Blog”…sounds shady

FSMetFan December 17, 2008 at 9:52 am

mr mustseetv…i agree on both acounts…i was saying that ab manny in the offseason but i hughly boudt it will happen…and theres no was in hell the reds are doing that…keppinger is soooooo much better than castillo

Agees Catch December 17, 2008 at 9:52 am

I feel like I read this yesterday…
The price tag for Lowe and Ollie is way to high for the anticipated production.

1 Santana
2
3 Maine
4 Pelfrey
5

We need a two. Ollie isn’t a 2. Lowe might be. If we do not sign Lowe, then we would need to make a trade. We can easily buy a 5. Jon Garland (4) or Tim Redding (5) would easily slot in at the end of the rotation.

If the Halos truely want Delgado, I would package him with others for Joe Saunders, who would slot in at #2.

starz31 December 17, 2008 at 9:54 am

I don’t think we are going after Manny…I’m sorry guys. I think Omar is interested (has been for years) but that may not be his decision. That said, if we did get Manny, I wouldn’t mind keeping Delgado and just paying extra in salary. Wright Manny Beltran Delgado heart of the lineup would be very appealing.

kistics December 17, 2008 at 9:54 am

If the Mets sign Lowe, how likely is it that Garland or Wolf signs? I think it’ll be more like Redding who may be cheaper than Garland or Wolf.

I really would like to see Omar getting creative with #5 spot. Taking risks on guys like Prior or Penny rather than Wolf or Garland.

mrmustseetv December 17, 2008 at 9:55 am

Agrees Catch:

1. Pelfrey is your #2. He’s better than Maine, Ollie and Lowe.

2. The Angels are not give the Mets Joe Saunders for Delgado even if we threw in Parnell. Saunders is one of the better young pitchers in baseball.

We might get a reliever like Scott Shields – that’s more realistic.

Agees Catch December 17, 2008 at 9:55 am

No one wants Castillo. Wilpon would have to eat almost the entire contract to get anything in return. Is there a bad contract out there where the player is producing absolutely nothing? There may be our trade partner.

mrmustseetv December 17, 2008 at 9:56 am

Stars31,

I don’t think you can fit Manny and Delgado’s salary in the budget. If we get Manny, Delgado gets traded.

mrmustseetv December 17, 2008 at 9:57 am

kistics,

If we sign Lowe or Perez, then we are not getting Garland (who is terrible by the way) because he is seeking about $7-8M.

The Mets would probably sign a Freddy Garcia type for about $2M and have him compete with Parnell and Niese for the #5.

Agees Catch December 17, 2008 at 9:57 am

Mustseetv

I need to see Pelfrey repeat 2008 before I would call him a 2.

FSMetFan December 17, 2008 at 9:59 am

what ab a guy like jered weaver…prob tooyoung and cheap for them to give up…and pelfrey pitched like a 2 last year pretty much and i also want to trade a bag of balls for marquis and a few mil to be our 5th…we need a guy as the 5th that can pitch 200 ip…im sick of having all of these cast-offs get starts year after year…these guys cant pitch deep into games and it ruins your pen

Sylar December 17, 2008 at 10:00 am

Lowe is better than Pelfrey at this point (by a lot)

Oh, and that Castillo rumor makes absolutely no sense…

mrmustseetv December 17, 2008 at 10:01 am

Agrees,

Fair enough. I agree that Pelfrey needs to do it again, but when deciding on free agents I also look at the next year’s crop of free agents, which next offseason is weak on pitching. So it’s Lowe or Perez.

PeckWizzle December 17, 2008 at 10:02 am

Lowe/Perez and Redding would work great. And what would the Reds do with Castillo? Are they planning on moving Brandon Phillips to open up a spot for him? Hell no.

oleosmirf December 17, 2008 at 10:02 am

Derek Lowe gives the Mets at least 6 IP 3R or less almost every start.

with Putz and K-Rod locking down the 8th and 9th, your looking at least 200 IP 15 W and an era under 3.80

While Lowe wont be worth 16 mil by the time the contract expires, he’ll give the Mets the #2 starter they need in 09 and 10.

Even though in 11 and if hes here in 12, he wont be as effective as he is now, 3 of Pelfrey, Maine, Niese, Parnell and Holt should be able to give the Mets a #2, #3 and a #4/5

NYMETSFAN718 December 17, 2008 at 10:02 am

mrmust, next year’s offseason is not weak on pitching.

Philnym31 December 17, 2008 at 10:03 am

Actually PeckWizzle, that’s exactly their plan. They plan on moving Joey Votto to the outfield and having Brandon Phillips shift over to first base. Then, Louie would be coming over to man second.

NYMETSFAN718 December 17, 2008 at 10:03 am

Josh Beckett – $12MM club option with a $2MM buyout
Erik Bedard
Justin Duchscherer
Rich Harden
Tim Hudson – $12MM mutual option with a $1MM buyout
John Lackey
Cliff Lee – $8MM club option with a $1MM buyout
Brett Myers
Brandon Webb – $8.5MM club option with a $500K+ buyout
Todd Wellemeyer

mrmustseetv December 17, 2008 at 10:03 am

FSMetsfan,

I don’t think the Angels are looking to trade starting pitching, especially young pitching – especially for Delgado.

Best thing the Mets could do is:

1. Sign Manny.

2. Trade Delgado for Scott Shields. This give the Mets a bullpen of K-Rod, Putz, Shields, Feliciano for starters – nasty.

3. Move Murphy to first base.

kistics December 17, 2008 at 10:03 am

I agree mustseetv. Here’s what I see

1. Sign Lowe at around 16mil per and sign guys like Garcia/Redding under 5-6 mil.

2. Sign Perez at around 12 mil per and sign Garland or Wolf at 7-8 mil per

3. Sign Garland and Wolf at around 7-8 mil per

I like the first option, but I’m not sure if Omar would agree at Lowe’s price. I think more realistic option is 2, giving Ollie slightly higher than 12 mil

oleosmirf December 17, 2008 at 10:06 am

also if the Mets are going to sign Manny it will be with the understanding that they will spend alot more than 143 million.

Like ive said before, once all the Mets moves are complete, if Manny is still there with no offer on the table, I can’t see them sticking firmly to that 143 mil budget, and refusing to make an offer…

oleosmirf December 17, 2008 at 10:08 am

THE METS ARE NOT TRADING DELGADO!!!!!!

mrmustseetv December 17, 2008 at 10:08 am

Oleo,

Always be careful when projecting prospects success.

1. I love Pelfrey. Always did from his days in Wichita. Thought the Mets rushed him and Peterson messed too much with his approach to pitching. Provided he stays healthy Pelfrey is a #2 – at worst a good #3.

2. Maine pitched about a year and half a bone spur in his shoulder. Don’t underestimate the effect that had on his ability to throw. Having cleaned it out, he should pitch painfree and probably throw a little harder. Maine is still a #3 in my opinion.

3. Parnell is more of a reliever. Seen his offspeed/breaking stuff. No change. ENough said.

4. Niese – I’m not sold on.

5. I like Holt’s stuff. I bashed the pick but man is he progressing. He has the stuff to be a #3 at least, but he needs a change or else he’s a reliever.

mark4212 December 17, 2008 at 10:09 am

How is Garland Terrible? He makes 32 starts and throws about 200 innings every season for the last 5. He has had an ERA of about 4.5 in the AL for 8 years as a starter. He has won 18 games twice, something Lowe has never done. He has pitched in what wasn’t pitcher friendly parks at all.

Now Garland isn’t a #2. He’s more of a #4 or 5 innings eater. But if he comes at a 3 year 24 million dollars then you can either sign someone else like him. I’d be much happier with that then say Lowe and have Niese learn on the Fly as the 5th starter.

mrmustseetv December 17, 2008 at 10:11 am

NYMETS,

Josh Beckett – already talking to the Red Sox about extension.

Erik Bedard – garbage. His shoulder may require surgery.

Justin Duchscherer – eh.

Rich Harden – another Ben Sheets health risk.

Tim Hudson – hurt and not the same pitcher he was 3 years ago.

John Lackey – in talks with the Angels on extension.

Cliff Lee – a possibility, but has to prove last year wasnt’y a fluke.

Brett Myers – ewwww.

Brandon Webb – I thought the D-Backs were already about to extend him.

NYMETSFAN718 December 17, 2008 at 10:14 am

right but right now, there not extended, and right now thats whats available. next year. Money talks mrmustsee,

oleosmirf December 17, 2008 at 10:14 am

mrmustseetv

2009 Santana, Lowe, Pelfrey, Maine, somebody/Niese
2010 Santana, Lowe, Pelfrey, Maine, Niese
2011 Santana, Pelfrey, Lowe, Niese, Holt
2012 Santana, Pelfrey, Niese, Lowe, Holt

that is why you sign Derek Lowe. He’s consistant, and wont let you down, plus he can pitch in the playoffs…

Obviously you can’t predict injuries but is it really farfetched that Holt can’t be a good #5 starter in 2011, Niese can’t be a good #4 starter by 2011 and a good #3 starter by 2012 and Pelfrey cant be a good #2 starter by 2010/11

kistics December 17, 2008 at 10:15 am

If Cliff Lee performs somewhat close to what he did in 08, club option will def kick in.

metsfanmurph December 17, 2008 at 10:25 am

Hopefully resigning Ollie is just a smoke screen. I think there is a huge difference between Lowe and Ollie. His inconsistency is a big reason why our bullpen cannot make it through a full season.

4JoeOrsulak December 17, 2008 at 11:48 am

Pavano is a possibility as a #5. He’s the kind of high-risk/high-reward option that might put us over the top. Depending on his price.

Mel Rojas December 17, 2008 at 11:53 am

Yanks are closing in on Manny and I bet Teixiera ends up on red sox. I seriously think we might be seeing a Delgado to the Angels deal shaping up. Delgado for Jered Weaver, and then signing Dunn and Lowe? That situation is very plausible. It would also even give you some more money to mess around with. Perhaps signing wiggy,, 3 yrs 21 mil to play second or left.

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