This morning, I swapped e-mails with ESPN’s Andrew Marchand, who said he did not report Omar Minaya and Scott Boras would be meeting in New York today 
to discuss Oliver Perez and Manny Ramirez, despite what has been attributed to him on a variety of message boards and blogs.
I was sent e-mail making a similar claim about ESPN’s Buster Olney, and WFAN’s Tony Paige.
In short, Marchand said, “It’s not true,” and Olney wrote, “Totally false.” I could not reach Paige, though I am working on it.
Meanwhile, I see other blogs and message boards pushing this rumor, while either not providing a source or simply citing non-existent reports by Olney and Marchand.
Like I said last week, I still do not believe the Ramirez issue is dead for the Mets. It’s really just a hunch. I mean, nobody will flatly tell me, “No,” and the most clear response I get is, “The numbers would have to make sense.”
To me, this leaves room for discussion, though other media outlets have 
quoted other sources with more definitive and negative statements.
From what I can gather, Perez is getting closer to locking in to the Mets, at which point Boras will likely tweak the deal before making it official, unless, of course, he can wrangle in a second team.
During those discussions, I don’t understand how Minaya would not at least speak with Boras about Ramirez and what it would take, ‘in terms of numbers,’ to bring him to Queens. Sure, the conversation may end up being very quick and ending fast, but how does it not at least happen.
In other words, I’m not at all surprised by the amount of rumors that are running around the Internet. Because, until the Mets say, ‘No, we’re not signing Manny,’ or, ‘We’re done for the off-season,’ etc., then speculation and theories will continue to be created.
By the way, Pitchers and Catchers is in less than two weeks, and it cannot get here quick enough.
OK, cross your fingers everyone.
What happened to the end of the weekend deadline for Perez and the Mets? I think it’s time for Omar to give Boras the middle finger.
“Because, until the Mets say, ‘No, we’re not signing Manny,’ or, ‘We’re done for the off-season,’ etc., then speculation and theories will continue to arise.”
I don’t agree with that at all. People are clearly hearing what they want on this. I think they’ve made it pretty clear that they are not signing Manny, but people continue to speculate that he’s coming here. So until he signs somewhere else I don’t think it matters what anyone says.
Hasn’t the Wilpon kid said many times no to Manny?
How can there be not mention of the Tony Paige comments from his radio show in this article. That’s at least legit stuff from an ESPN broadcast. Matt, have you hear anything about this, because it’s all over a bunch of Mets message boards.
Of course, Paige’s show is on WFAN…
BANG — POW — ZING!
Matt’s sarcasm is getting scary
Holy sarcasm Batman … You’re right.
The Mets never set deadlines.
They did with Delgado and he responded by laughing and signing with the Marlins.
right, they never set deadlines that work, hahaha.
And I’m wondering is it possible that Omar has a deal that he could work for SP if Oliver doesn’t work out. Just seems like we signed a bunch of back up outfielders, when only a few can make the squad. It’s just been too quiet for the past 3 weeks for something not to be on the verge of happening and only with 2 weeks till pitchers and catchers. Never seen an offseason as quiet as this one.
Sorry Matt I meant WFAN….my bad on that one. Just seems like the story got no play from you and I figured it should since Paige does have a history of having good inside sources, especially when it came to the Beltran signing.
This is awesome! Boras is meeting with Omar today so I figure by the way things have been going we should be able to lock up Perez by the All Star Game.
As for Manny, I would love to have him. I do think that Omar will ask Boras about him but I doubt it will go past that. Omar will be asking for two reasons. One reason is so he can honestly say that they did inquire about Manny but he is looking for way too much and the Mets fans can’t say they didn’t even make an attempt. The other reason is for the very very very slim chance that the Mets get a discount over the Dodgers, etc. to sign him.
I don’t see what the problem is. The Wilpons are saying that they don’t have the money to sign him. They will make more money on Manny than they are paying him and be a much better team. Plus Delgado comes off the books next year as well as a few other players. The Mets should give Manny a 2 year deal with a 3rd year option. If they offer him 25 million for 2 years(already more than what LA has on the table) and a team option for the 3rd year he might take it. If he doesn’t keep the 3rd year a team option but give him a 5 million dollar buyout if they don’t pick up the 3rd year.
My other thought was to give him incentives in his second year. He def. gets the 25 million but if he hits certain numbers in that year than the Mets have to pick up his 3rd year. If they pick up his 3rd year they should give him 15 million a year with incentives that can pay him as much as 25 million.
Either option will get him to play hard for the whole contract. The first year is the honey moon year so he will play hard. The second year is a cotract year so he will play even harder than the first year. If they Mets keep him for the 3rd year it will either be another contract year or his last year that he will want to go out on top.
Not trying to blast the site, but I just wrote an article about why they gotta sign Manny, money-wise if you want to check it out.
So do you have the arrogance to really think you are citing numbers that nobody in the Met front office has reviewed? You must really think your mind is unique.
I just think its a must-do, we sign Manny it’s a whole different team. I’m so sick of these high 80-win teams.
I’d like Wilpon to tell Boras to go f himself and go sign Sheets and Dunn and be done with it already. Dump Castillo, put Murphy at 2nd base.
i’d like to see them get creative with the numbers and years…like boras say, “ok u dont wanna go over the luxury tax, so let’s guarantee a 3rd year, and i’ll advise Manny to sign for 15 mil in year one, then 25 and 25 in years 2 and 3 (or whatever, 22, etc)..”
This way it makes sense monetarily in year 1, and then they can work however they wanna work it in years 2 and 3
If thats what they would have to do to sign him and stay under the luxury tax than I’m fine with it. Getting creative is what it’s going to take because of the $$ that’s not there. The only thing I don’t like about a guarantee for the 3rd year is that he might pull a lot of the “Manny being Manny” crap in the second year. The first year is still the honey moon year and the 3rd year is either another contract year or his last year in the league. So both the 1st and 3rd year you know you will get his best. The 2nd year you have no idea what we will or won’t get out of him.
That won’t work out at all, because in his Daily News article Adam Rubin states that it’s not the singular years salary, its the AVERAGE yearly salary. So if you give him 15 mil this year and 30 mil next year he is still costing 22.5 against the luxury tax this year and next year, not 15 and then 30.
So it doesn’t matter how you work it, how you split it, Manny will not be possible this year, unless the Mets want to go into Yankee land and go past the luxury tax threshold.
Look up Surfing the mets, or computing payroll to find it.
That would actually make us worse off because years 2,3, when we have a lot of escalating contracts and players who will receive increases because of arbitration and players who will need to be replaced, are the years where we can’t afford to be paying Manny 25 million, we can’t afford to be paying him more than 20 million. If we were going to get creative it would have to be heavily front loaded for this season.
I don’t think the Mets set a deadline with Delgado. I think it had more to do then with Bernazard than it does now. I hope a second team comes in hard for Perez so the Mets get two draft picks. In my opinion, should Perez get $12M+ a year for 4 years, that is overplaying your hand! I’d only offer a 3 year deal to the guy with a 4th year option based on his performance. I’d rather the Mets sign Sheets and then go after Ramirez. There is no way they will go into Spring Training with a platoon of Tatis/Murphy in left field.
No Platoon. Murphy wins the job outright
If the CitiField naming rights get removed, which I really think they should, that would be a 700 million dollar hit for the Wilpon’s (400 + the Madoff Money). Could we be done spending now?
Jackie Robinson Field? Great for baseball, but he’s a Dodger! I’d rather have it named Gil Hodges Field
Apple Field would be my favorite, if Jobs wanted to spend some money on naming.
I have a few more.
Con Ed Field: “Catch the Mets – They’re electrifying”
Google Field: It would be easy to find
Monster.com Field: Sign Dunn: “Another Monster Mash by Adam Dunn….”
Jerry could buy it and call it “SeinField”
they wouldnt take a 700mil hit. first of all, the 400 mil is the total. its 20 mil this year. second, if citi doesnt do it someone else will. they will the naming money from them or someone else
Gland – agree with you on the hit being $20 million a year, but the the business environment has dramatically changed since this deal was done. The Mets would be lucky to get $6-$10 million a year now in naming rights given the economic downturn.
I haven’t heard about Oliver Perez getting close to signing with the Mets. The market for Oliver Perez has been very quiet, almost to the point where you wonder if anyone is interested in Perez.
It’s just weird when a Scott Boras client hardly gets talked about.
Boras won’t let Ollie sign without some leverage. It simply doesn’t exist, and for good reason. Olliie is somewhat inconsistent. at 5.7 IP per start, he’s a drain on the pen.
I have to think that players eventually tell their agents to get it done. With the WBC 5 weeks away, these guys want to get to camp.
I think the mannyacs(c) need a reason to believe and are making up things to keep their dream alive. I think if they don’t temper their fantasies,, the little men with the white coats and restraints will be after them!
For someone who is not a Mannyac (c) you sure talk about Manny a lot.
How can I not when Metsblog is being spammed day and night by mannyacs(c)?
I don’t know … maybe you can become a Dunnyac or an Abreuwack. Then you can trademark that.
Pretty sure the mannyacs (c) want a World Series contender and hope the Wilpons do too.
I’m pretty sure every Mets fan wants a WS contender — as do the Wilpons despite crazy claims to he contrary. There is just disagreement on the best way to go about doing it.
And VCarver i think fans find it hard to understand that the mets operate with a Budget. That they don’t have all the same revenue as the yankees. That they don’t want to go and spend past the Luxury tax threshold.
Manny won’t happen. Even without Ollie, there isn’t enough money to get manny. Because no matter how you work the contract, i found out with others, that it’s the Yearly AVERAGE, not the single year. So even if you do some funky type signing with manny at like 15-25-25 He is still a 21.5 million dollar cap hit every year. Not 15, then 25, then 25.
Adam Rubin had this in his blog yesterday in the Daily news.
The Wilpons voted for the Luxury Tax. So, yeah, of course they are going to try to adhere to it. Only the Yankees voted against it.
Backloading won’t work since average annual values are used but some fans apparently have a hard time grasping that.
What I’m worried about is Wilpon/Omar having a Mo Vaughn moment and offering Manny a crazy 3+ year contract for big bucks, deciding to break the budget in this case. I hope not. I have a feeling this Paige stuff is not true.
Someone spun his words into fiction.
The last time Matt posted Mets were close to signing a pitcher he signed with Atlanta.
Matt!!! Quick!! Post that Manny is signing with Atlanta!
=) hehehe
if the players really want Manny, they could help to bring him here by offering some of their money back to ownership, that is not going to happen though.
I’m sure the players union would love that idea.
Way to go on thinking outside the box Jgunzz
Matt, thank you for the mention of Paige in your post. I think that’s at least signifcant and requires some follow up. Glad you are at least trying to get more on that so some of this Manny talk can have substance rather than a bunch of folks just holding up signs and wishing on a star. I figure this week should be interesting. Can’t be heading into Spring Training with all these question marks sitting out there.
Who will the Mets sign? The erratic Oliver Perez or oft-injured Ben Sheets? Will they sign the WS guarantee Manny Ramirez? Will Pedro Martinez play another game for the Mets?
This offseason has created more drama than A-Fraud!
HA love how manny is a WS guarantee. You know considering he’s only been to 2 in his whole career.
Haven’t you been reading all the comments? We’re a lock for 5 WS with Manny!
Oh i know. he has 16 rings already. He will produce 4 more with the mets. So he will have all 20 fingers and toes filled with rings.
I just love how that is what people actual think.
The market for Perez is pretty quiet although I don’t believe it. Every team is using the economy as an excuse to not spend in free agency. I have a hard time believing almost every team is crying poverty when about 80% of the franchises collected their welfare checks via the “payroll tax”. As for the Citigroup naming issue, I’ve hated the name to begin with! I still call it Shea Stadium… and will do so until the foreseeable future. I think the Madoff losses is somewhat related to the team’s spending but not entirely.
The Oliver Perez thing is a joke already. Scott “Ebola Virus” Boras is a POS and baseball was a much better game when nobody knew who this skel was.
The last official ownership statement on Manny came from Jeff Wilpon:
“I know the perception out there again is that ownership said no. I don’t have the opportunity to say no because Omar hasn’t brought it to me as an option. Omar and the baseball staff aren’t interested.”
I don’t think there is anything vague here. Anyone who thinks there is still a chance based on this statement is reading into too much.
Just break it down:
JW says: I don’t have the opportunity to say no.
That means he would if presented. He could have said, I haven’t had the opportunity to give my opinion or make a decision. He says the word no as in if I were to be presented with the option, I would say no.
Then JW tells us “Omar and the baseball staff aren’t interested” which means he knows something and that is that the Mets are not interested in Manny (for whatever reason, be it money, character, whatever) and it was Omar that said no.
I think the real translation of Jeffy’s words would be this:
“I’m an idiot … what is winning?”
LMAO
that is both funny and entirely possible.
=)
I think the reason that Omar hasn’t presented a Manny Ramirez proposal to ownership, not becuase he doesn’t like Manny the player(we all know this to be quite the opposite), but rather he doesn’t like Manny the contract. With Boras turning down LA’s $45M/2yr deal, he is still looking for that 4-5 yr deal, and Omar is correct in not being interested.
By the way, Pitchers and Catchers is in less than two weeks, and it cannot get here quick enough.
If the mets don’t make some moves, I hope it never gets here…
I think if Omar and the Wilpons came out with a statement like “We’re definitely not signing Manny under any circumstances, cross my heart hope to die, double pinky swear, step on a crack, on my mother’s grave”, the Mannyacs still wouldn’t believe it.
They would play it backwards and insist Omar is saying — “Manny is a Met, Manny is a Met”
funny stuff, man.
I’m really starting to think that we have one significant move left, sign Ollie. I wish it were more, we need more, but all signs point to that being it.
Didn’t Paige do the same thing with Beltran, and he wound up being right? Why would he want to ruin his rep by blurting out something like this?
regarding pitchers and catchers being two weeks away…
Considering how the Mets roster is constructed I wish it was December so Omar still had the months that are needed to fix it.
I’ve been pushing for Manny as much as anyone else out there, but in reality as nice as it would be we don’t need him. We do need the SP(Perez).
If we sign Perez and it looks like Pedro will follow we will be much better than last year and here’s why. I know the rotation looks the same as it did last year but its not. Pelfrey, Maine and Perez are getting better so right there we are better. Last year we lost 29 games after the 8th inning and only missed the playoffs by 3 games. Now have both K-Rod and Putz so the pen is much better. Now lets look at the offense.
Church is healthy now and our offense was at the top of the league all year and was at its best when Church was healthy. Murphy looks like he is going to be a solid young ball player that will help the Mets a lot thoughout the season and don’t forget both Reyes and Wright. Wright is only 26 and Reyes is only 25. Most players don’t even start hitting there prime at the plate until they are 27 so the both of them will probably keep getting better.
I know that having a Manny or Dunn behind Delgado would be awesome and I would love to have it, but if they don’t get one of them they should still be able to take the division now that the pen which was the worst part about last years team is fixed.
Are you only satisfied with winning the division, or the whole ball of wax!
Winning the division gets you into the playoffs. And as proven just about every year, anything can happen once the playoffs start.
So there is no guarantee of winning the WS for any team (or even a 1st round series).
But, one thing is for sure, you can’t win the WS if you don’t make the palyoffs!
Anyway, the NL east is a tough division, so winning it, most likely, means they have a good team that certainly could be playing for the WS.
I think it’s more holding onto a glimmer of hope, than not believing..
Unfortunately Saber, you are probably right… Also unfortunate that we will be mired in a third place finish…
It can be the time of your life,
when you watch Manny set that ball on fire,
when he hits it far beyond anyone’s reach.
He’s a Manniac, Manniac at Ci ti – Fields,
and he’s rooting as he’s never done before.
Manniac,
Manniac,
Manniac,
HeHeHeHeHe,
Thank you, Thank You
I just couldn’t resist lol…
Do we have any players in the Caribbean World Series?
F-Mart’s Venezuelan team made it.
I’m guessing that the last big FA signing will be Perez. Slim chance past that of Abreu, if his price really does drop as speculated (for 1 year).
I still think though (Hope? Pray?) that Omar is looking to swing a trade or 2 to finish the overhaul of the roster. Maybe even something shocking?
Hey, last year no one saw the Milledge deal coming (and as-sumed that the roster was pretty well set).
But who knows if a trade is happening, and if it would be soon, after ST, or mid year. or all 3!
And please, stop the doom and gloom. this is still (current roster, with another SP pending) a very good team, with a lot of talent, and certainly one of the best teams in the league. And a legit post season contender.
And enough with Manny guaranteeing the WS. No one player can do that. Getting to the playoffs is what matters, once in anything can happen.
Also, if Manny means they are practically a lock for the WS, they have to be good enough, without him, to be in the playoffs. No way Manny takes a team from 3rd place to hoisting the WS trophy.
Get Dunn or Abreu on a one year deal, then sign Holiday next year when the luxury tax increases and Delgado and Schneider come off the books.
And wagner. And Castro.
Of course they will need a catcher too, but that isn’t going to be big bucks.
Holliday is interesting. not sure what to expect.
he could have a mediocre year, and get fully branded as a Coors field wonder. And you won’t want him.
or he could have a huge year, and the Yankees will be throwing Tex money at him.
I like that idea.
As long as they don’t sign Manny the jerk I will be pleased.
I missed it. What did Paige say?
I feel the same way about Paige myself and what he said. That’s why I felt it at least needed some follow up. He did do the same thing with Beltran and ended up correct. He didn’t say we would sign him, but he did say we would at least make a offer, which at least holds some meaning rather than a bunch of Get Manny chants or reasons why we should. We all know we should, the question has always been will we? If Paige’s inside source is correct at least we have something that holds water to talk about…..
Did you hear Paige say this yourself or are you merely repeating what you saw on some message boards?
Sometimes those rumors gets twisted all out of proportion and don’t end up anything close to what the person actually said.
Seriously hoping Minaya can fleece an organization and pull off a huge trade also stickguy.
The groundhog said if Omar and the Mets don’t sign Manny, we will have 6 weeks of bad baseball in August and September.
This is boring
Did anyone hear what Paige said? And if so, could you please summarize it on here? And when was this, Saturday overnight?
I was hoping Mets can add another LHP for pen Dennys Reyes in particular. Is Green & Feliciano enough? Any opinions regarding Green all I heard is he’s a older Joe Smith?
from what I’ve heard Paige basically said he has an inside source telling him that the Mets plan on making an offer to Manny sometime within a week. Paige did not say what the offer would look like or how competitive it would be, but said the Mets are interested and will be following up with Boras. This happened on Saturday during his overnight show and is being reported all over the Mets board on mlb.com
In relation to Tony Paige this is what he mentioned while on the air:
“Tony Paige mentioned this topic several times last night because callers kept pushing him to reveal more details.
Tony Paige said he knows someone who used to work in Omar’s office, and this person still has close ties to people who work there now.
According to this “source”, the Mets HAVE spoken to Scott Boras about Manny (not just Ollie)… despite all the public denials. And that this coming week (“after all the Super Bowl hoopla”), the Mets will enter serious discussions with Boras about Manny. And that this source believes the Mets will at least make Manny an offer.
Tony Paige said several times that there IS, in deed, interest in Manny by the front office.
Now, whether this will lead to anything is a completely different story.”
I have to take Tony Paige at his word. He would NEVER put his reputation on the line by going ON THE AIR with a story that had no validity.
I believe Tony Paige, but I think the Dodgers will outbid us, just like the Braves outbid us for Lowe.
I feel silly for even wading into this Manny discussion since it seems so remote but….
One way around this year’s payroll limitations is to structure Manny’s contact at $10 million in 2009 and $35 million in 2010. That way Mets can afford him this year and have other contracts come off he books next.
And Manny gets the ego boost of being highest paid player in 2010.
That doesn’t get you around the luxury tax though, since they use average annual salary. But backloading is always a nice option considering the time value of money.
Agreed. Was looking at it from a cash flow standpoint for Wilpon then luxury tax standpoint.
It’s just really fun to hear the pa-s-s-ion fans have in trying to figure out ways to bring Manny into the fold.
LOL, you’re not kidding. We all have our own plans.
I don’t think Paige would lie. I just think either his sources are not very reliable or his statements are not being reported correctly.
Don’t you think it’s plausible that the Mets would make an offer though, even if it’s not the winning offer? I just think from Omar’s past fascination with Manny that he’s got to be somewhat interested.
Yes, it’s plausible. Yes, I’m sure Omar is interested … but not given his current budget.
I really do think Paige has poor sources in this case or he’s being misrepresented by some fans.
The only thing I would say about Paige is that he does have a decent track history on benig right about this stuff. He was the one the knew about Beltran coming here before anyone else reported it based on his inside sources with the Mets. Not saying what has been reported is true, but its at least somethign of substance which is what has been been lacking on all these Manny posts for weeks.
How bout using reverse psychology and demand the Mets not sign Manny even if he wants the league minimum?
They surely will then sign him won’t they?
As far as making the numbers work, I believe the solution here is a pretty simple one:
1) sign Manny for as cheap as you can get him (I know that’s an oxymoron)
2) trade Delcrapo to the Angels or anyone else and don’t pay ANY of his salary.
3) trade off some of the glut of excess outfielders we have now
4) Murphy plays 1b full time
If Manny signs for 3/65, that’s 22M toward the cap – Delcrapo’s 12M = 10M toward the cap. That leaves ample room to go sign Ollie. Problem solved. You simply replace Delcrapo with Manny and use Murphy to replace Delcrapo, which it appears they were going to do next year anyway. Now you just do it this year and make us a contender immediately instead of settling for selling tickets to a brand new stadium.
I hate Boras. Seriously, this guy is the ruination of the game. It’s an absolute joke at this point the way he holds these teams up and they let him. I can understand it for guys like Manny and Texeira, but Oliver Perz is not Johan and Jason Varitek? Give me a break. This is getting stupid. Omar has to grow a pair and tell this guy to take it or leave it. TODAY!!!
Agreed on Bora$$. I’d just as well they never signed one of his clients ever again and made a public announcement to that effect. That would ruin his business immediately if other teams followed suit. And I’m guessing it’s not illegal because they players can dump him as their agent any time.
It’s not illegal, the Braves did that with Furcal’s agent. I don’t see it as necessary though. Boras rubs people the wrong way, but he’s just doing his job. He’s not ruining the game, the teams have choices still.
Matt. Did you listen to Tony Paige on Saturday night? He was VERY clear about the Mets’ front office being interested in Manny Ramirez. He quoted his source several times. Apparently he knows someone very close to people in the GM’s office. And he clearly stated that this person told him Omar will meet with Boras this week SPECIFICALLY about Manny. Tony will be on the air again tonight at 1:05am. I’ll try calling in about this subject. You should try to get in also. I’m sure SOMEONE will ask him about this.
The Mets will probably make a low-ball, half-as-s offer Manny like they did with Guerrero, just to frustrate and embarra-s-s us even more.
Perez is a mid-pack starter. 12 million per for him is ludicrous.
As for Manny I wish LA would sign him already so I don’t have to worry about him getting signed by the Mets.