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Last week, in an interview on ESPN Radio, ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark said the Mets are most interested in acquiring a left-handed hitting first baseman.
…the buzz in baseball last month had been that the Nationals were 
asking the Mets for Bobby Parnell, among other prospects, in a deal for left-handed hitting 1B Nick Johnson…
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “The Pirates and Giants have had trade talks regarding 2B Freddy Sanchez and, to a lesser extent, 1B Adam LaRoche.”
…i can’t help but wonder if laroche is a fit for the Mets, since he will be a free agent at the end of this season… he’s a left-handed hitting first baseman, though, and i can’t think he will cost all that much in trade…
The 29–year-old LaRoche is hitting .268 with 11 HR and 37 RBI in 73 games for the Pirates this season. He ended the last two seasons with at least 21 HR, 85 RBI and a .341 OBP, while batting at least .270.
LaRoche hit 32 HR for the Braves in 2006, after which he was traded to the Pirates in a deal for reliever Mike Gonzalez.
…i know very little about laroche, outside of what i have seen in the few times the Mets play the Pirates, so i e-mailed Pirates fan Tom Smith, blogger from RumBunter.com, to ask some questions…
Matthew Cerrone: Do you think the Pirates will trade LaRoche? If so, what type of talent are they typically looking for?
Tom Smith: Hell yeah, the Bucs are going to move Adam…
The Pirates desperately need power hitting along with a shortstop of the future… I believe you could steal LaRoche for low-level, high-upside prospects or a solid shortstop, as the Bucs are in full-blown rebuild mode. Another possibility would be a three team deal, which I had heard was in the mix. Nevertheless, the talent in return for LaRoche is a difficult question to answer. Neil Huntington has done a nice job of getting several players in recent trades and we look for that trend to continue.
Matthew Cerrone: What type of player is he, is he a leader?
Tom Smith: Many of the fans in Pittsburgh feel he is a perfect fit for the team and Pittsburgh. He doesn’t say a whole lot and is an avid outdoorsman… LaRoche has become the leader of the team, he is a proven veteran producer. RumBunter.com wouldn’t think he would be very comfortable in New York, but you know what, you are putting together a winning team and Adam hasn’t been a part of that for a long time. Everyone at RumBunter.com wishes him well should he get moved at the deadline, he is a class act and the Mets would be very fortunate to pick him up. Especially since he keeps himself in great shape and very rarely misses games with any type of injuries.
Matthew Cerrone: How is he on defense?
Tom Smith: LaRoche has a great glove at first base… He works hard on defense each and every year and continues to improve.
Matthew Cerrone: Without looking at stats, from your gut, do you feel like he hits well in the clutch, with runners in scoring position, key spots, etc.?
Tom Smith: Adam doesn’t hit well in the first half of the season. Ever. When it starts getting warm, so does he. He always hits well at home… If the Mets are renting him for the season, they certainly will like what they get and they are definitely renting for the right half of the season. He is going to hit around .300, have about 20 homers and drive in 90 to 100 runs. Mets fans will love this guy… He also hits the right-handed relief pitcher very well.
Matthew Cerrone: Lastly, what is the best and worst part of his game?
Tom Smith: He has a perfect swing that drives balls into the gaps. Worst part of his game is his speed and his notoriously slow starts.
… by the way, to learn more about O’s 1B-OF Aubrey Huff, click here to check out a similar Q&A i did in June with Matt Sadler of Right Off Russell…
Matt:
If the Mets trade for a first baseman does that mean, in your eyes, that Murphy is done as a Met?
If not, where else will he play?
If from his own mouth all he does is bat third (meaning bat) is he only a PH or a DH on an american league team (meaning he would be traded)?
Ideally, the Mets should trade for a 1B-OF, but even if they don’t what will they do with Murphy when Delgado comes back (assuming he does come back at some point this season). And do you really want ot see Murphy at 1B next year, regardless? I know I don’t.
I say trade Murphy now while his value is relatively high.
I can’t at this point advocate the Mets trading prospects for a short-term fix. I don’t see this team, with or without the core, being a true contender. I’d hold off and recalibrate in the winter.
Randy I hear ya but I dont understand your point about not trading lesser prospects for a short term fix. I’ve been saying this for a month…The Mets need to make a trade for offense even though we may have some of the core coming back. Why? Because we have to stay within this division race in the meantime!!!! Why don’t all Met fans understand this??? If we had a nice bat in this lineup going into the month of June do you really think we would go 9-18 in June??? Do you really think the Phillies would have just swept us and knocked us 4 games out??? The answer is NO WAY! We need a bat that will help us STAY CLOSE to the Phillies until the core comes back because if we wait much longer and we are 8-10 games out of first than who cares if the core comes back because the season will be OVERRRRRRR… Not to mention this is the same core that chokes every September – I can’t see them making a magical run all of the sudden especially coming off injuries. Give me a break… Make a move to save the season or unfortunately it is OVERRRRRR
I wouldn’t think he’d be done with the Mets long term, but this year they’d probaby just use him as a bench player. I think at this point they’d worry about his development next year, they would bump him for a bat in a heart beat. That’d be my opinion.
LaRoche seems to only do good AGAINST the Mets, lol…
That being said, if we can get him for cheap, why not? I’d still prefer Dunn, though, because he is more dangerous and more long-term.
do it. we need legitimate major league hitters in this lineup. LaRoche is exactly that, we dont need all stars to replace our all stars but we need guys who have been in the league and are a proven commodity. He can bat behind david everyday and give him some kind of protection which we can all agree he is sorely missing. Obviously Id rather have Dunn but if the price is still too high try to get LaRoche.
One problem, though. He can’t hit behind Wright every day. See, LaRoche is a left-handed hitter, and if there’s anything the Jerry Manuel school of lineup-setting has taught us, it’s that lefty batters are 100% physically unable to hit left-handed pitching. (Fernando Tatis, on the other hand, well there’s nothing that good ol’ F-Tat can’t do! But that’s beside the point.)
Really, what Omar needs to do is just get Jerry 8 right-handed hitting All-Stars to play against lefties and 8 left-handed hitting All-Stars to play against righties. Otherwise, hey, Jerry’s just doin’ the best he can with what he’s got, y’know?
sadly youre right. hypothetically if he had laroche there would be days he would be spelled by fernando tatis. this is why at the end of the year omar his staff and the coaches need to be gutted.
all the gangsta’s on the bus, and the lefty hitters stay home.
this is funny, sadly because it’s true.
Oh yeah, it just dawned on me…LaRoche and Beltran on the same team? Wow…
I thought the same thing
We need a bat at 1B, and Murpy can go.
But if they do give up on Murphy is that a sign that the Mets did not really give him a chance?
I mean defensive-wise, they were not really fair to him. But on the flip side perhaps that is why Murphy really should never have been a Met and belongs on another team where he can play a position that is open.
I actually dont mind Murphy at first base. I think he has shown a lot of promise on defense.
If Murphy remains at first base, his defense would have to improve and be steller. Also, that means the Mets would need power in the outfield. Something that Mets have not had in a long time.
For Murphy to stay at first base, both his defense and his offense would have to improve. Frankly, I don’t see him as a long term solution there and he hasn’t proven himself to be a bench player (which I don’t think he wants to be anyway). Trading him may be the best thing for both him and the Mets. I much rather they keep Evans over Murphy anyway.
right now though, Murphy’s defense is not helping us score runs.
Remember Mike Jacobs? We let him go and what did he do? I would rather let go one young “could be” for a proven ML player anyday.
…he bounced around for a few years before everyone else realized he was no good…
the point being?
I have not commented in a long time, but am compelled to finally break my silence. The Mets obviously need a bat, but LaRoche is not it.
The idea that one bat will not make a difference, is very short-sided. In all honesty, the games are becoming a joke. However, I do understand why it is so hard to deal, at the moment. They have a huge red target on their back, and we are vulnerable. Which GM can’t see us coming?
wrong A. LaRoche. i’d be much happier if we were talking about getting the younger one… obviously he’ll have to move from 3B.
The Pirates blogger seriously up-sold LaRoche. The Pirates are desperate to move him and he is a major league average ball-player. This guy made it sound like we would be getting Keith Hernandez light. Great glove and hit .300 and 20 HR’s. yeah right.
correct me if i’m wrong, but hasn’t Keith himself said several times that Adam LaRoche is the active player that has the best “Keith-ish” game??
So LaRoche is a ridiculous,arrogant, misogynistic egotist who loves lollipops, blow, and talking about himself? Or did you mean “on-field” game?
that’s close to what he has done in each of the past 4 seasons. the .300 avg hasnt been there for a full season, but he is better in the 2nd half, so it is very realistic we could see .300 and 15 HR in 1/2 a season.
I think it would be a savvy move actually. LaRoche started taking medication for ADHD last year I believe, and had a very strong second half after that.
A place like Pittsburgh has to be rough on someone who naturally struggles to stay focused. We know he’s capable of hitting .280/30 (ceiling), and even if he hits .270/20 with a decent OBP, that’s not going to hurt us.
Let me add in that he’s making 7MM per season right now, and this should be more of a salary dump by Pittsburgh than anything else. I can’t see us giving up any significant chips for a guy with Adam’s numbers in conjunction with him being due 3-4MM over the remainder of the season.
And bonus, the Mets could order his ADHD meds with Ollie’s and save on shipping!!
I thnk they already get a bulk discount on Ollie’s shipment.
serious question: is ollie in fact on AD meds?
It’s funny that you mention .270 and 20 HR’s as those are the exactly the type of numbers that Murphy is capable of, actually if Jerry would put him in the lineup and leave him the heck alone, I’m sure he get hot again! Seriously, Laroche is no upgrade over Murphy at 1B either, sure Murphy has shown some mental errors in the field (aggresiveness) but beyond those couple of mental errors his defense has been stellar thus far. People seem to forget he’s only been playing the position for about a month and sporaticly at that. SO frankly I think Murphy is doing quite well on defense. Now if Jerry would just leave him in the lineup, he would see Murphy hit with consistancy. Alot of people seem to want to make a trade just for the sake of making a trade. That’s ridiculous especially when you are saying that Adam Laroche is any kind of upgrade over Murphy! THe ONLY thing stopping Murphy from being a more consistent player is Jerry Manuel!
except that, we dont know what we will get out of Murphy/ He could exactly what you say, or maybe not.
Fact is, this is his first MLB season, so its tough to really expect instant success.
LaRoche, on the other hand, is a veteran. And his numbers have been consistent the past few years. Depending on the cost, he is an upgrade right now.
A few other differences:
Murphy makes $401,000, costs us no prospects, and is under the Mets’ control for years.
LaRoche makes $7,050,000, costs us at least 1 or 2 prospects, and is a Free Agent at the end of the year.
IMO, I don’t think the Mets should be completely against trading from the farm or against adding salary, but in this case I don’t think it’s worth it. Frankly, if they really feel the need to shake things up, maybe they should play Murphy at 1B every day (even against, gasp, lefties). That way they’d at least be able to compare him to their other options and would have a better idea whether a LaRoche-type player would be an upgrade, a downgrade, or a lateral move.
I don’t think it would happen anyways, because, you know, Carlos Delgado possibly will be back at some point potentially this season..maybe.
Maybe indeed. Delgado might be back this summer. He might also never play professional baseball again. Still, I don’t like the LaRoche move, especially when you have Murphy and Evans, and Ike Davis, who’s starting to heat up again in AA (though I do NOT mean to imply that Davis will be an option this year).
How many games have Murphy cost us on defense since the beginning of the year and if you’re going to tell me he looks better at first base??? I’d say Really??? What about that play vs the Yankees when he threw to 1st and then dropped a routine double play ball costing us 3 runs and eventually causing us to lose the game.. AND DO NOT TELL ME MURPHY IS CAPABLE OF HITTING .270 with 20 home runs! That is comical.. Can the guy hit .250 first and maybe more than 5 home runs hahaha… LEts be realistic between LaRoche’s defense and offense it is a huge upgrade over Murphy at this point. That being said I rather have a guy, like Dunn, who can also play the outfield if Delgado comes back but we are desperate right now for some type of offense..maybe I’d consider the move.
when he threw to *third*
You are citing 1 instance in one game! I acknowledged that he had made a few mentall errors. but outside of a few games 2 or 3 at the most. Since he’s been at 1B he has cost us very little on the defensive side. And yes the guy Can hit over .250 if Jerry would give him a chance and stop yanking out of the line every 2 or 3 days. Play Murph for 3 weeks or a month straight (without interuptions) and then you would see a more consistent hitter that he has been in the past! Jerry has never given him a true chance, same thing with Church untill recently.
We did when he started in left field everyday. His average is still horrible. Can we please think this guy is an all star???? Lets face it he is a solid pinch hitter off the bench. He doesnt have a position and doesnt hit for enough power to be a DH. HE is a glorified pinch hitter.
I would love for him to become a good MLB player but right now when the team is struggling we CAN NOT afford to play him everyday… He is a liability!
Can we please stop thinking he is an all star… Sorry at work – a lot of typos.
Murphy’s not an All-Star, but I don’t think anyone’s saying he is. He was, however, hitting over .300 when he was the team’s everyday left fielder. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think over .300 is a “horrible” average.
Yea you can take a small sample from any major leaguer and make them appear like a .300 hitter. The guy hit .300 in 120 at bats after that he has done so bad that his average is actually around .240. So yes I dont think .300 is a “horrible” average but I do think that .300 over only 100 at bats is nothign to get excited about.
Also and when he was hitting .300 how many games did he lose for us cause of his defense???? hmmmm
Face it, he is a pinch hitter…trade him if you could package him for a solid ball player with defensive skills.
For those of you saying 1 bat won’t make a difference, look at four of our recent losses to the Phillies, two in extra innings and two low scoring games in Philly this weekend. Are you telling me Aubrey Huff, Laroche or Dunn could not have a difference in any of these losses. Omar has failed miserably and should have worked the lines to get someone two weeks ago. If the price was Parnell and a low prospect, the trigger should have been pulled. This team was not built to win next year.
Hubie I’ve been saying this since the month of June when we went 9-18… Does anyone really believe that we wouldn’t have won a few more games with another bat or atleast 1 game vs. Phillies last weekend????? The Met fans that say lets not make a trade for a short term fix are absolutely dilusional…we will be 9 out by the end of July if this continues…. I posted this above answering Randytates rediculous post…
Randy I hear ya but I dont understand your point about not trading lesser prospects for a short term fix. I’ve been saying this for a month…The Mets need to make a trade for offense even though we may have some of the core coming back. Why? Because we have to stay within this division race in the meantime!!!! Why don’t all Met fans understand this??? If we had a nice bat in this lineup going into the month of June do you really think we would go 9-18 in June??? Do you really think the Phillies would have just swept us and knocked us 4 games out??? The answer is NO WAY! We need a bat that will help us STAY CLOSE to the Phillies until the core comes back because if we wait much longer and we are 8-10 games out of first than who cares if the core comes back because the season will be OVERRRRRRR… Not to mention this is the same core that chokes every September – I can’t see them making a magical run all of the sudden especially coming off injuries. Give me a break… Make a move to save the season or unfortunately it is OVERRRRRR
It’s frustrating. Not sure what we’d do with LaRoche if/when Delgado returns, tho.
I think the big mistake was going to war with the Murphy/Tatis/Church trio (three question marks), and banking on a year of healthy Delgado. A solid 1B/OF should’ve been obtained for the bench.
And not that I think Wily Mo was a solution, but why was he released before being given a test drive? Why have him in AAA if he won’t be called up for the precise reason he was signed—injury insurance? Why has our AAA team always been stocked with never-was ballplayers who are far below replacement level? Someone answer this: who was the last triple-A player to make a difference at the ML level, other than Wright and Reyes?
The guy that you mention has to answer to it is Omar Minaya and the Wilpons love him for some reason. What has he done besides destroyed the farm system, signed injury prone veterans, and has put together a team with the highest payroll in the NL that hasn’t made the playoffs in 3 years??? Nevermind …what was I thinking??? He deserves that extension that starts next season.
If you think the Nats would take Parnell and a low level prospect for Dunn, would you mind sharing some of that good stuff you must be on? The Nats wanted Parnell and a low level prospect just for the rental in NIck Johnson! There is NO way they are going part with Dunn for that. Adam LaRoche isn’t worth trading for, he had one good season in Atlanta and that’s it. Atlanta even let him go and at one point he was supposed to be their Golden Boy. If you think the .268 hitting .333 obp guy in Aubrey Huff would have made a difference facing the Phils you are sadly mistaken! Not too mention you don’t make trades to try to beat one team in one season, that how we got in this mess in the first place. You trade for a guy who helps this season and beyond!
You don’t make trades to beat one team??? There has only been 1 team that has beaten us and we’ve COLLAPSED against which is the Phillies. Not the Braves, Marlins, or Nationals. Just the Phillies. We lost the division by 1 game in 2007, 3 in 2008 and are currently trading them by 4 games. WE were within reach of first the past month and couldn’t pull ahead of 1 team (Phillies) cause Omar didn’t go out and bring in a professional major league hitter. I’m not saying bring in a rent-a-player, unless you couold get one for lesser prospects but why not go out and trade for a big bat with multiple years left on their contract??? What that not help this season and beyond???
And you mention Dunn, LaRoche, and Huff but those are names the Media are giving us… I’m sure there are hundreds of guys that could be had that Omar knows about. It is his job!!!!!
If we got a bat a month ago when myself and many met fans were screaming about this maybe we would be in first place or defintely less than 4 out.
And what future does this organization have??? They are built to win TODAY not in 5 years!
If there is this endless supply of major league power hitters you speak of I’m sure that the other 29 teams would love to know where you are hiding them! No other team has signed a big bat either (even clubs with alot more to offer than we do) why? Because the Bats are not out there right now! Why is that so hard to believe? It’s not like Omar can dial up Sluggers ARE US and order a Right Handed power hitter that can play left! Believe me noone knows more about what this team is lacking right now than Omar. Has he been the perfect GM, No of course not, but considering what Omar started with, not too shabby. To sit there and think that Omar is sitting somewhere in his office reading a sports illustrated and doing nothing is just ludacris! You cannot aquire personell that are simply not there to aquire no matter how many trade chips you have! If the 29 other teams were wheeling and dealing and Omar still did nothing then I would agree with your point. BUt that simply is not the case.
You make it sound like Dunn is signed for 3-4 more years. He is only signed thru 2010, so I am sure if you offer the Nats Parnell and 1 other single A or low A prospect, they would consider it. They are going no where with or w/o Dunn and there won’t be much of market for the $15m he is owed thru next year.
Yep too bad they didnt make a move for him a few weeks ago…
I don’t want LaRoche. His problem with Beltran doesn’t help either. The Pirates always ask for too much. If you want to go cheap, yet efficient, go for Huff. Unfortunately, if that does happen thought it’ll be a few weeks from now.
I think it is a little to late for Huff. Deal should have been made a couple of weeks ago… If Omar is waiting for this team to be 8 games out to make a move than he is ret@rded. A deal should have been made when we were in striking distance… like before the Yankee series or even before that.
Bobby Parnell shouldn’t be traded. He could be a hard throwing set up man for years to come on this team. We could have had Adam Dunn. It’s senseless to trade good prosects – especially one’s that are on the major league roster contributing for the same player. They should have signed Bobby Abreu for that cheap price. He would have gladly come being a friend of Johan and living in NY 2 1/2 years playing for the Yanks. This is on the Wilpon’s cheapness or Omar’s lack of competence.
IT IS BOTH! Wilpons cheapness and Omars lack of competence which led to two straight collapses and this seasons disaster.