Buzz: Mets, Vladimir Guerrero and Omar Minaya
Following this season, Vladimir Guerrero will be a free agent for the first time since signing a five-year, $70 million deal in 2004.
According to Jeff Blair from the Globe and Mail, “Baseball people have felt for some time it’s a slam-dunk that Guerrero would end up with the Mets and GM Omar Minaya.”
However, Blair says, this is ‘no longer a certainty,’ due to Minaya’s lack of job security and concerns about the team’s finances.
Blair now believes Guerrero can only hope to be a team’s Plan B or Plan C, saying, “He’ll get a contract, but, in this cautious marketplace, it will likely be with a big-market team that can afford to cover any losses.”
The 33–year-old Guerrero hit .295 with a .334 OBP, 15 HR and 50 RBI in just 100 games for the Angels this season, missing time with a torn pectoral muscle, as well as a strained muscle behind his left knee.
He hit 27 home runs with more than 90 RBI in each of the previous two seasons, playing at least 143 games.
