Nick Cafardo, in a report for the Boston Globe, says that free agents this winter are not likely to get contracts as big as others in prior years.
Cafardo notes that because of the economy, the Tigers, Reds, Blue Jays, Rays, and Astros are intent on cutting payroll and making many stars available via trade, and that teams will be paying close attention to players who aren’t tendered contracts in December.
According to Cafardo, one general manager said that Matt Holliday “won’t get what Mark Teixeira got. No chance.” and that John Lackey “may get A.J. Burnett money, but I’m not even sure anyone would go that high.’’
…i wonder if these free agents won’t get what Teixeira got because of the economy, or because he is a notch below Teixeira in terms of his abilities, or both…Tex is performs at a high level both offensively and defensively, while Holliday and Bay are more offensive oriented players…that doesn’t take anything away from either of them because are tremendous hitters and the Mets should still heavily pursue both of them, but if Tex is being used as a standard, then neither Holliday or Bay should get what he got in dollars…of course, the Yankees bid above anyone else to get Tex, so the standard could be unfair to begin with…
For more on this, plus Cafardo’s other notes from around the Majors, check out his article here.
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One thing is for certain, Holliday is not coming back to the Cardinals… He and his agent blamed Mark McGwire for his bad start with the A’s–McGwire and Holliday met with each other to “improve” his stance but Holliday ended up going back to his original stance with the Rockies. Now that McGwire is the hitting coach for the Cardinals, I can’t see Holliay signing any type of deal with the Cardinals unless it is exactly what he wants.
Hopefully, Holliday and LAckey end up on the Mets.
If the organization wants to be contenders, than it has to happen… But I like Harden better myself, along with Wolf.
Or Sheets.
Wha about Bedard
If he’s cheap like Sheets and Harden currently are
i think Bay, Holliday & Lackey will all be in the 15MIL range … maybe a bit more – but not much.
Holliday may get 5-6 years … whereas, Bay and Lackey will probably get 4 years …
METS can afford these #s … its just a matter of what direction they want to go in ….
personally, i only see us signing 1 from this bunch … Holliday or Lackey. Bay will probably end up back with the Sox …
the other 2 … it depends on what the SPANKIES decide to do …
Holiday-17 mill
Lackey-15 mill
Bay-15mill
Trade for Phillips and Arroyo by giving up castillo and prospects
Sign Holliday 6 years 100mil
Sign Piniero
Reyes
Phillips
Beltran
Holliday
Wright
Francoeur
Murphy
Defensive Catcher
Santana
Piniero
Arroyo
Pelf
Ollie
I’d like to see Maine moved to the bullpen
I like this but I think we need an overall better 2nd starter
How about mine. Sign Holliday. Sign LAckey. Sign Molina or BArajas. Trade CAstillo and get Phillips and Arroyo or Harang. Boost the bullpen and bench a little bit.(like Cora, Putz etc.)
Reyes
Phillips
Beltran
Holliday
Wright
F-Core
Molina/Barajas/Santos
Murphy
P
Johan
LAckey
Arroyo/Harang
Pelfrey
Maine/Perez
I forgot to say that I would love to see the mets to sign Jason Marquis because he is my favorite pitcher in the market plus he wants to be with the mets.
“…i wonder if these free agents won’t get what Teixeira got because of the economy, or because he is a notch below Teixeira in terms of his abilities, or both…Tex is performs at a high level both offensively and defensively, while Holliday and Bay are more offensive oriented players…that doesn’t take anything away from either of them because are tremendous hitters and the Mets should still heavily pursue both of them, but if Tex is being used as a standard, then neither Holliday or Bay should get what he got in dollars…”
Did you pass, or even take middle school English????
I know, right? The grammar in Matt’s side thoughts areobviously the most important thing we should be talking about right now.
As I completely screw my grammar up in that one. Haha. It’s not a big deal….
It sounds like waiting for these smaller market clubs to non-tender or trade their big contracts will work in the Mets favor.
It will flood the market (trade and free agent) with talent that will drive FA prices down while making these teams a bit more desperate to dump salary.
Maybe the Mets are in the perfect position to retool and make a run at the Phils in 2010.
Lackey could be a bargain, Bay will not settle for less than 5 years. If so he stays in Boston. Holliday, I hope he signs with an AL team and away from the Mets. The biggest move the Mets can make is a deal for Adrian Gonzalez.
Im with you all the way. The player I want on the Mets the most is Adrian Gonzalez.
I would trade Murphy, F-Mart, Ike Davis, John Neise, and Meija for Adrian Gonzalez and David Ecstein(back up middle infielder)….if the padres don’t want to throw ecstein in then thats fine by me
then i would sign nady to play LF as a cheap but solid outfielder
Sign Molina and then sign piniero and marquis
the mets wouldnt spend much money this offseason as compared to if they went after holliday and lackey but they would still put a contending team on the field
Reyes
Castillo
Wright
Gonzalez
Beltran
Molina
Nady
F-core
Santana
Marquis
Piniero
Pelfrey
Perez
That looks like a pretty solid team to me
Looks good to me. I don’t think the Mets would have to part with Ike. Padres have a 1b in waiting but a deal of F-Mart, Meija, Thole & Tejada could seal the deal. The 2 main positions San Diego wants in return is Catcher and CF. This deal could allow the Mets to spend 15 Million on a Lackey pitcher. I like the idea of signing Nady. Holliday is a nightmare in the making for Citi Field and a contract worse than Bobby Bonilla. That reminds me… Mets are still paying Bonilla’s deffered.
I agree and try and trade Castillo ans sign Hudson. And then boost the bench and bullpen a lttle bit
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