Daily Archives: January 5, 2009
At his blog Sully Baseball, Paul Sullivan thinks the Tigers, A’s, Padres, Dodgers, Twins, Yankees, and Mets may all still be haunted by their 2006 failures.
Ted Berg of SNY.tv humorously starts counting down his choices for K-Rod’s warm-up song, writing:
“Picture it: Ninth inning, home team up by a run, middle of
the order due up, tension mounting, and “chingety-ching heehaw, heehaw, it’s Dominick the Donkey!”
…nice one ted, i’d personally choose public enemy’s ‘shut em down’…
At Amazin’ Avenue, Eric Simon continues his series of best Mets players by decade, highlighting the most effective pitchers based on SNLVAR. Mets Geek describes this statistic as the following:
“SNLVAR measures wins above replacement level for a pitcher; it avoids the noise of Wins Above Replacement Level because it doesn’t take offense or defense into account. Considering some pitcher’s hit much better, it’s good to be able to separate those items out if need be.”
Jon Heyman at Sports Illustrated ranks his top 20 free agents this offseason.
…in case you are wondering, braden looper didn’t make the cut…looper by the way is reportedly seeking a three-year deal worth about $7-$8 million per season...
Lastly, the blog Mostly Mets forwards new pictures from WCBS of the construction and demolition of the Mets’ ballparks.
Tagged Regis Courtemanche |
According to Toby Hyde, at Mets Minor League Blog, 
Fernando Martinez has been added to Leones de Caracas’s playoff roster in the Venezuelan Winter League.
Martinez was 2-for-4 with a double and a home run in his first game.
To watch the double, click play below…
By the way, in a report for ESPN Deportes, Enrique Rojas says Martinez could be called upon by manager Felipe Alou to play for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic in March.
“My heart torn,” Martinez told Rojas. “On one hand, I want to be in spring training with the Mets, to improve my chances of getting a job, but being in the World Baseball Classic with all the big stars would be a dream.”
The Rays are close to signing free-agent OF Pat 
Burrell to a two-year, $18 million deal, according to Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com.
Speaking of outfielders…
Rosenthal believes free-agent OF Milton Bradley will eventually sign with the Cubs for more money than Burrell.
I’m thinking, if Burrell is getting two years and $18 million, and Bradley will likely get three years and roughly $30 million, then Bobby Abreu may be had for a deal similar to Burrell, and Dunn could end up signing for one year. And, if Dunn is available for one season, and only one season, and maybe even less than $8 million, I hope the Mets consider him, despite him being yet another left-handed bat.
Tagged Pat Burrell |
In late September, on WFAN, Mike Francesa said he had been told that Ryan Church ‘hated it here,’ while adding, ‘I know for a fact that he didn’t like the Mets, he didn’t like the city and he was not a happy guy here.’
Church denied ever making such a statement, according to the Daily News in October, and again in November on MLB.com.
Meanwhile, again, in an in-depth report about the right-fielder, in last week’s Daily News, Church said:
“I never said it. I have no clue where that came from. I put a call in to make sure front office knew that was a bunch of bull. I love New York – it’s where I want to finish my career. I’m looking forward to putting my Mets uniform on.”
[poll id="202"]
Tagged Ryan Church |
In an interview with the Sporting News, Braves 3B Chipper Jones had the following to say when asked about the Mets and rivalries:
“They’ve had a running feud with the Phillies the past couple of years. It’s kind of weird not to be in it… We won for 14 consecutive years, and you never, ever saw any bulletin board material. And now that these two teams are on top of the division, they can’t keep their mouths shut. Just go play baseball. It’s Cole Hamels now. It was Jimmy Rollins and Carlos Beltran the past couple of springs. These two teams are constantly going at each other verbally. You know, win with class, lose with class. Just keep your mouth shut and go play your game.”
You mean, classy like Greg Maddux rolling his eyes at every other pitch, while winning Cy Young Awards and Pennants? Or, like John Rocker cursing, insulting and flipping off the Shea Faithful? Or, you mean like telling Mets fans to go put their Yankee hats back on, like you did, Chipper, in 1999? Or like when you questioned David Wright for winning a Gold Glove?
You mean that type of classy, right?
Jones also answers questions about the Braves and Jake Peavy, Tommy Hanson, the Yankees off-season moves, and the Mets getting Francisco Rodriguez and J.J. Putz, which he describes as, ‘the rich get richer.’
The patch is being sold on customized jerseys at MLB.com.
Original Post:
According to Patch Collectibles, the attached image is 
of the official Citi Field 2009 Inaugural Season Patch from the Mets and MLB.
This is one of the most basic, uninspiring designs I have seen in quite some time. I mean, what team is this patch even for? What stadium is it for? It doesn’t say. I can almost guarantee we could have crowdsourced a significantly better patch than this here on MetsBlog? In fact, that would have been a cool way to include the fans in to the process.
I wonder if this will be featured on the team’s uniform.
Of course, as a person in the comment’s section points out, this patch will look a lot better if it’s on Derek Lowe’s arm
According to the Los Angeles Times, the Dodgers, the MLBPA and Scott Boras agreed to reduce the $15 million due to Andruw Jones next season to $5 million, with the difference being paid out over the next six years.
Hmmm, I wonder if the Mets could do this with Luis Castillo?
Buster Olney of ESPN.com believes the Dodgers will contact the Mets, Braves and Reds. However, “A source with knowledge of the trade talks said even with Jones’ salary reduced for 2009, the Mets are virtually certain to pass on a deal for the outfielder.”
I feel people may have misunderstood last week’s rumors connecting the Mets and Jones. To me, it wasn’t so much that Omar Minaya was interested in Jones, it’s that he was angling to swap Jones’s terrible contract for Castillo’s. However, the Dodgers have no interest in Castillo, according to published reports, and so that’s that. In other words, no Castillo, no Jones.
By the way, according to Impacto Deportivo, Jones has left, or was asked to leave, the Dominican Winter League.
His team’s broadcasters are quoted in the article as saying Jones even looks bad on defense.
In the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, David O’Brien suggests that the Braves look to re-acquire Jones on a minor-league deal, since he has said he would like to return to Atlanta.
In a report for Newsday, Kat O’Brien explains, “Things could get busy again in the baseball world this week. For the Mets, negotiations are expected to heat up for Derek Lowe.”
In an on-air report for the MLB Network, SI.com’s Jon Heyman recently said Lowe rejected Omar Minaya’s three-year, $36 million offer, because he is seeking $16 million per season.
John Perrotto of Baseball Prospectus believes Lowe is still seeking a five-year, $80 million deal, like he was at the start of the off-season.
According to Heyman, the Braves, Phillies and Red Sox, and maybe the Brewers and Angels, are also showing interest in Lowe.
However, Atlanta reporter Mark Bowman of MLB.com believes, while the Braves are interested in Lowe, they are not interested in such a heavy price tag, coloring their interest as ‘moderate,’ adding, ‘Lowe’s cost is going to have to drop.’
The thing is, as David O’Brien pointed out in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently, if the Braves were willing to give A.J. Burnett a five-year, $80 million deal, why are they unwilling to give Lowe a guaranteed four-year deal?
In the end, I still believe Lowe’s options are limited. So, to get a deal done in a ‘reasonable time frame,’ the Mets may have to either goose up his annual pay or provide an easily-attained fourth year to the deal.
Or, Minaya can wait it out, but risk some other team getting involved – all while holding on to cash that could be used for other players, who may walk by him for new teams.
Speaking of starting pitchers…
According to Buster Olney of ESPN.com, the Braves could have acquired Jake Peavy from the Padres in November, but they did not want to add a full no-trade clause to his current contract.
In Olney’s opinion, the Braves should give in and move Yunel Escobar to San Diego, acquire Peavy, add in his no-trade, and sign free-agent infielder Orlando Cabrera to be their shortstop.
