Gary Sheffield expects to end this season either out of baseball, or on another team, explains Larry Brooks of the New York Post, who names two teams that could pick up Sheffield 
if he is eventually released.
…sad, but true, i live in fear every day that Omar Minaya will reward sheffield with the Marlon Anderson Deal – you know, the surprise, two-year contract for an aging bat off the bench… hi, Julio Franco, how are you today…
…sheffield has done well for the Mets, no question… but, like i have written before, if sheffield is on the Mets next season than something went very wrong this off season…
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When is Omar getting fired????
It is pointless to make any moves off of the waiver wire so that being said whats the point of keeping Omar around??? Either demote him or fire him now please..
There is a .001% chance the team wins 15 in a row and makes a playoff run. So you can’t fire him and then watch that happen.
There is also the more probable and realistic reasoning that he will remain with the organization in a scouting role (with a glorified title that looks like a ‘promotion’), and they have taken all control from him away already.
For all we know Ricco is already calling the shots. But for the latter reason, and i guess a little of the prior, they can’t fire him yet.
Omar will probably be named Pres or EVP of Player Development, which wouldn’t be horrible. He has an eye for talent – his problem is/was falling in love with his players and not letting them go when it’s clearly time.
At this point I am not so sure we should be so quick to dump Sheff. He has been a god send to this team of walking dead, I was worried at first, but, it worked out well. I think he would be a good PH or bench guy, he brings a good attitude and expierence to the team. I say lets wait and see what happens, and how he does in spring, IF, we can get something for him, fine, if not, I think he can still helphis team.
I wouldnt mind seeing Sheffield back as a pinch hitter either ONLY IF we sign a guy like Matt Holiday to play left field. I DO NOT want to see Sheffield ever start for us.
Sheffield can start the day after we clinch the east….
“IF, we can get something for him, fine, if not, I think he can still helphis team.”
Well of course we’d only trade him if we can get something. And if we can’t, of course we’d keep him.
oh, i now realize you meant for 2010. No way. I’d MUCH rather get the supplemental pick for organizational depth. Right now he is a Type B.
By the way – Philip Humber was called up by the Twins to start. We should keep an eye on that just for the heck of it.
His AAA numbers this year were horrible, so I’m not expecting much.
Yea I know… I think his era was up around almost 6.00
Who did Omar trade that Humber guy for anyway?
Johan Santana might have heard of him LOL
Oh yeah that’s right. I guess the Mets made out well in that trade.
Just remember, Sheff was brought in as a complement to the then healthy core. It would have been interesting to see how this would have worked out if everyone was healthy.
That being said, depending upon how this team is constructed next year, having him as a bat off the bench could be OK. Somehow I think he has shown that he has something left in the tank and will probably land as a DH somewhere in the AL.
Lorenzo, I saw that about Humber. I’ll follow that. I think it is safe to say we got the better side of that deal, however…
Oh ofcourse we got the better end of that deal. I was just bringing up Humber because that was another typical Mets prospect that the organization thought would end up like Nolan Ryan… hahaha he had a 5.80 era in Triple A after coming off of Tommy John surgery.
I dont agree that something is seriously wrong if Sheffield is on our bench next season. He has proven this year that he is a gamer and a professional. Whats wrong with having the desire to play but only on your terms at his age?
I for one would be more than happy to have Sheff back next year on a one year deal to be a very feared RH bat off the bench and spot starter. If that was his role this year, no one would be complaining.
Yes I agree that if hes starting in left on opening day there is a problem, but thats the only way its a problem
Yea and comparing Gary Sheffield (a future hall of famer) to Marlon Anderson makes no sense.
or Julio Franco for that matter. Julio Franco was completely out of baseball before he game to the braves because he “magically” resurrected his career in the mexican league. They both may have been on steroids, but Julio Franco is no Gary Sheffield or even Moises Alou
Because Sheff will want six figures and I’d rather give that to more pressing needs on this team and fill out PHer/OFer differently. If money were not an issue, yes, but it will be.
sheff for $400k is a good deal
if sheff expects a 2 year multi million dollar deal then its no longer a good deal.
whos to say he will be happy on a bench role.
“Based on what I know now, no, I do not think I will be here,” Sheffield said. “But if I am sent to a team that I don’t want to play for, I would go home. I have to look at everything. People always say they are going to do the right thing for you, but sometimes it doesn’t work out that way. If I don’t take care of myself, who will? That’s what I focus on.”
sheff seems a bit selfish in that comment.
if he doesnt get his way he will walk.
he will definately not be happy with a limited Bench role.
let him goto an AL team where he can DH.
I am not sure how you can say that statement is “selfish.” I would refer to that statement as logical. He does not think he will be here and he wants what is best for himself. He only wants to play for specific teams and I am assuming one of them is the Mets. There is nothing in that statement to indicate he would not be happy with a bench role as NY Met next year. That is the role he signed up for this year.
Gary Sheffield is not in the military and he does not take orders from baseball owners. He has every right to decide what team he wants to play for and if he wants to play at all.
he is playing for himself as opposed to playing for the team
that is selfish.
my opinion is that
1. he will Demand a salary around $5mil per year for 1-2 years
2. he will only goto a contender.. (duno if Mets will be one of the teams)
3. who really thinks he will be happy as a bench player? He accepted his role when he got to the Mets because he had no choice. but now that he will be a FA he has choices.
would he want to be a bench guy on the Mets or say a full time player for an AL team thats possibly has the same chances as the Mets.
of course he’ll choose a place where he has more playing time.
4. what has sheff done in the past when he was unhappy w/ contract status or whatever else…
When he was releasd by Detroit he was a Free Agent – he had every choice then that he will this offseason.
The Mets were able to get Shef at $400K because of the $14M he was owed by Detroit. As a FA next year, I’m sure he will want more than $400K. If you figure Cora got $2M for 1 year to be a bench player (initially), Shef will probably want at least that much.
So Omar pulled him off the waiver and then what? He didn’t seek to make a deal with the claiming team? Or he tried but couldn’t agree on terms?
If he held Sheffield just to hold him and didn’t try to trade him, then he should be fired now.
I sincerely doubt whoever claimed him had any intention of offering anything for him – they probably did it to block him from going somewhere else and were only interested in him if he were just given to them…and at the minimum salary why would the Mets bother giving him away? He makes no more than anyone you’d call up from AAA.
Omar (or whoever is making the decisions now) must have been low-balled and offered a lesser player than they believe they can get with the Type B compensation pick Sheff will get them.
I sincerely hope that is the case. But with this outfit, who the heck knows?
I mean he was brought in to platoon in LF and be a right handed power bat off the bench…With a healthy Beltran and Franceour flanking him in Right, why couldn’t we bring sheff back to platoon in Left with say a pagan or sullivan. As we know it now, they are going to have between 20-30 million to spend and are going to need a 1b, a catcher and at least 1 SP. Slotting Sheff as a low cost platoon isn’t the dumbest or worst thing that could happen
Outside of once or twice VERY early in the season, I can’t think of one time Sheffield has embarassed himself in the outfield. He gets to most balls and still has a pretty decent and accurate arm. And we all know his bat is fine.
This team needs power on the bench. Who better than Sheffield? If he is let go the bench is once again going to be a bunch of Pagans and Sullivans and Reeds and Coras who won’t total 5 homers as a unit. I agree with everyone who thinks that as a bench player Sheff is a great fit here.
I agree with Matt that if Sheff is here with a legitimate shot to earn the starting LF job, something went terribly wrong this offseason. But if he’s here in the role he was brought here to play, I think its foolish to think that’s a bad thing.
No it’s not a bad idea to have Sheff back as a low cost bench player. There’s too many questions though.
Will he take that assignment?
Will he be game for less money?
Will he want to be with the Mets?
Would the Mets get much in return if they traded him?
Would someone else fit the bill better than Sheff?
I’m sure I’m missing some questions here.
I just don’t see Sheff back next season for some reason. Too many personal reasons for him NOT to return.
lets be honest here, He is not coming back to ride the bench. More importantly, if the offseason turns out the way we ant (cough holliday) he shouldnt be getting any playing time. Therefore, he will probably be a pretty awful bench player, performance wise.
I don’t know if Sheff ‘doesn’t want to play for the mets” he had his choices when Detroit cut him, weren’t the phillies going after him also? He also said he was perfectly happy to go sit home and retire but when David reached out to him he decided to come to the mets and he’s been here through a pretty rough season, he may like to play next year with everybody healthy and a chance to contend
The only thing i see is that he wants to get to 3,000 hits i believe so maybe playing the role of a bench player will limit his at -bats and he may want to go be a DH where he gets a chance to hit more often
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