Daily Archives: October 26, 2009
According to Jon Heyman of SI.com, Matt Holliday is at the top of Omar Minaya’s off-season wish list, “though Jason Bay will certainly suffice.”
“The Mets have no interest in taking on Milton Bradley‘s problems,” Heyman writes, while adding Carl Crawford could be available in trade as well.
In a video for FoxSports.com during September, Ken Rosenthal mentioned the Mets among several teams who called the Cubs about Bradley.
For more on the market for Holliday and Bay, check out this post from MetsBlog earlier today.
To read more from Heyman, and who he believes the Mets might pursue for the starting rotation, among other news and notes from around MLB, check out his report for SI.com, here.
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Alex Speier, in a post to his blog for WEEI Sports in Boston, says there is virtually no chance that the Mets will trade Carlos Beltran.
…i would certainly hope not…i mean, this is one of the best centerfielders in baseball, and as i said yesterday, the Mets should be building a steady core up the middle, and taking away this piece is part of the foundation of that core…
Speier says that according to a Major League source, the Mets will not even entertain the idea of dealing Beltran, and that they will be very active in adding pieces this offseason.
…Matt said earlier that Beltran would be more revered earlier after he left because people would realize what he brought to the table which is more than most…i look at this past season as being a good indication of what the Mets would be without Beltran, as the team was 34-33 up until he went on the disabled list and they were 30-44 while he was on it…
In late September, Buster Olney of ESPN.com said the Padres are unlikely to trade 1B Adrian Gonzalez this off season.
However, former Padres GM Kevin Towers 
recently told Bill Madden of the Daily News, basically, it’s not a matter of will the Padres trade Gonzalez, it’s when will they trade Gonzalez.
…well, if any one knows their situation, it’s the guy who had the GM job less than 60 days ago…
The 27–year-old, left-handed Gonzalez has hit roughly .280 each of the last three seasons, while hitting roughly 35 HR, 30 or so doubles, around 110 RBI and a .370 OBP, all while playing Gold Glove defense.
…obviously, from a Mets perspective, he is a dream-come-true for first base… especially since he will earn just $4.75 million in 2010, with a $5.5 million team option for 2011, after which he can be a free agent, which coincides at about the time, hopefully, Ike Davis is ready to take over…
…the problem is, he’d probably cost davis, and a whole lot more…
…the team always linked in rumor to gonzalez is the Red Sox… if you recall, the trade deadline buzz had been hot and heavy talks with San Diego regarding gonzalez, and pretty much all of boston’s top prospects…
Speaking of which, in the Boston Globe, Nick Cafardo wonders if, now that he has left the Red Sox to replace Towers, will Padres GM Jed Hower re-engage talks with his former team, and look to acquire some his former team’s top prospects, specifically Clay Buchholz and Daniel Bard.
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At today’s press conference in St. Louis, manager Tony La Russa confirmed that Mark McGwire will join the Cardinals as their hitting coach, replacing Hal McRae.
…it’s an interesting move by the Cardinals for a number of reasons, but this move can play a role in the Matt Holliday derby…Holliday has worked very closely with McGwire in the past and thinks very highly of him…
Regarding McGwire, La Russa told reporters:
“I don’t know how many years I have left to manage, and I wanted to take this opportunity to invite a guy who I think has a very special talent…”
This will be McGwire’s first Major League coaching job since retiring after the 2001 season.
Yesterday, Jon Heyman of SI.com said he believes the Mets big-ticket target will likely end up playing left field.
…obviously, the two big free-agent left fielders are Matt Holliday and Jason Bay…
According to Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle, “You can forget about the Giants going after Holliday or Bay.”
Last week, Heyman said on SI.com that Holliday first prefers the Yankees, then the Dodgers, Angels and Mets, “perhaps in that order.”
According to Heyman, “Holliday is said to be preferred by Mets people to Jason Bay as a gung-ho clubhouse presence and a little better bat.”
Meanwhile, the Red Sox apparently decided not to try to re-sign Bay, reports Bill Madden in the Daily News.
…i think it’s pretty clear holliday’s agent, Scott Boras, will start off asking for an eight-year, $180 million, like the one he locked down for Mark Teixeira… but, the buzz in MLB suggests no team will go more than seven years, and he’s not going to be treated like teixeira, in that he isn’t a gold glove first baseman… from what i can gather, boras is trumpeting this off season as holliday’s time to shine, his time to become a star… so, to me, i take that to mean holliday is capable of getting, say, six or seven years, and around $17 million per season, assuming he is being pursued by the Mets, Yankees, Red Sox and Angels all at the same time… meanwhile, bay can expect to sign a deal worth less than holliday… his agent is Joe Urban, not 
boras, so i have to think these two camps will just wait, wait and wait through the off season… but, in the end, i believe bay will end up signing a four– or five-year deal, paying him a tad less per season than holliday… plus, his market will take a bit of a hit if the Red Sox take a back seat…
Holliday, who will be 30 on Opening Day next season, has hit at at least .307 each of the last five seasons, with 24 HR this season, 25 HR last season, a career .387 OBP and roughly 40 or so doubles per year.
Bay, who will be 31 yeas old on Opening Day, hit 30–plus HR and 20–plus RBI each of the last two seasons, and, though he hit .267 in 2009 and .247 in 2007, he hit .286 in 2008 playing for the Pirates and Red Sox.
…bay is the better fielder, with the better outfield arm… but, holliday is the more consistent, well-rounded hitter… to me, holliday is worth the extra financial commitment, over bay, because he’s a bit younger, and, of the two, i think he fits in more with what the Mets need, from his hustle to his approach at that plate…
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Tagged News |Toby Hyde of Mets Minor League Blog answers a reader’s question about how Dillon Gee, Tobi Stoner, Mike Antonini and Dylan Owen factor in the Mets major-league plans for 2010.
In a post to Mets Merized Online, Phil Hoops asks, “Does Aubrey Huff Make Sense For The Mets?”
Wendy Adair, from Stadium Journey, offers up her review of Citi Field.
According to Jerry Izenberg of the Star-Ledger, “There was no bigger New York baseball story than the 1969 Mets.”
In a video for On the Black, Kerel gives a tour of his Mets closet.
Lastly, Maury Brown from Biz of Baseball talks with Alyssa Milano about her baseball clothing line, Touch.
Tagged News |Michael Silverman of the Boston Globe believes the Red Sox should keep a close eye on the Mets, and the Carlos Beltran situation.
According to Silverman, a play for Beltran is the kind of creative thinking Theo Epstein and Co. have regularly displayed.
In the end, though there are no indications the Mets are in rebuilding mode, “If Hanley Ramirez was worth calling about 
last winter,” Silverman writes, “Beltran certainly is as well.”
…interesting… i have heard plenty of buzz the last two seasons regarding boston’s interest in beltran and Jose Reyes, but i do not think any substantive talks ever occurred, and i have a hard time believing they will again… i just don’t think the Mets behavior the last few weeks suggests they’re ready to start dumping stars, like beltran, reyes or David Wright… instead, they seem to be in more of a double-down mode, then, say, a get-up-from-the-table, cut-your-losses and find-another-game mode…
…i think it would be a huge mistake to trade beltran, not that trading him is even an option or something that is being considered…
…i am in the camp of people who feel he actually gets less credit than he deserves… i find there are tons of fans who have him totally wrong… they see him as a loafer, and someone who is frail and can’t play through pain, and who isn’t a leader… in what i have seen, be it in person, in the clubhouse, or through my television, i find him to be the total opposite… he’s always covered in ice, it looks like he loves to hitting, he’s always working on some aspect of his game or talking to his teammates about theirs, and, though he may not be visually intense, he looks like he wants to win as much as anyone, and he doesn’t take losing very well…
…i feel he’s the kind of player who will be more revered when he’s gone, because, only then, people will realize what is missing…
Beltran will earn $18.5 million each of the next two seasons, after which he will become a free agent.
Tagged News |I am not rooting for the Yankees, I just can’t root for the Phillies.
The two teams will compete in the World Series, starting Wednesday night, thus putting a perfect and painful finish on top of what has been one of the worst seasons in Mets history.
In the next few days, you will hear lots of people talk about theories and unwritten rules, all of which dictate who you, the Mets fan, should root for.
Some will say, ‘You root for your own league,’ while others will say, ‘You root for your rival.’ I don’t buy any of these ‘rules.’
To me, in the end, for Mets fans, the choice is personal, and basically comes down to your typical relationship with Yankee fans.
For instance, there are lots of Yankee fans who love to mock the Mets, they boast of their success and laugh at our failure – even though, typically, one has nothing to do with the other. And, while most all of the arrogant Phillies fans live 100 miles away, these cocky Yankees fans sit next to you on the subway, they’re in the next cubicle or live next-door, teasing and mocking all day, all night. In this case, I can totally understand why a Mets fan will root for the Phillies, because, while Philadelphia’s success will be irritating, it can easily be ignored. The Yankees and their fans, however, are unavoidable.
For me, however, my wife is a Yankees fan, most of my friends and family are Yankees fans, and they’re not arrogant about it and they never rub my face in their success… some days that approach can be equally infuriating because I think they’re actually taking pity on me. But, that’s the thing, under no circumstance will a Phillies fan ever take pity on the Mets… and nor should they. The Phillies fan should always rub their success in my face, because I would do the same to them.
In short, the Phillies anger me every day, where as I only think of the Yankees during a few days in June and the occasional October.
So, for me, I can handle knowing my respectful Yankee friends and family are happy, because it means Phillies fans will be sad and disappointed, and their failure makes me happy. So, again, it’s not that I am rooting for the Yankees, it’s that I’m rooting for the Phillies to fail.
For more, check out Greg Prince at Faith and Fear in Flushing, and Adam the Brooklyn Met Fan, who are rooting for the Phillies; as well as Steve Sidoti at Seven Train to Shea, and Matt Falkenbury of the Daily Stache, who are rooting for the Yankees.
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