According to Adam Rubin, in a report for the Daily News, the Mets off-season shopping list is as follows:
- Catcher to replace Brian Schneider.
- Power upgrade in left field.
- Second baseman if Luis Castillo can be traded.
- Rotation help.
- Eighth-inning reliever.
- Second lefthander in the bullpen to pair with Pedro Feliciano.
Yes, I like the simple idea of getting 20 home runs out of Benjie Molina and Omar Santos, adding a type of power-balance to the lineup that most teams do not have. However, if the Mets are going to have the free-swinging Jeff Francoeur in the lower half of their lineup, and the pitcher hitting ninth, the thought of putting Molina between them, a guy who is making less and less contact, while also walking less, with each passing season, it all makes me uneasy. In the end, he is all about those 20 home runs… and that’s about it. Plus, he’ll be 36 next summer… and, signing a 36–
year-old catcher to a two-year, $14 million deal just doesn’t seem smart to me. If he could be had for around half that, for just one year, he’d be worth it… but, I don’t think 15 or so additional home runs is worth that type of commitment.
No, I don’t yet know who I prefer. Free-agent C Rod Barajas hit just .226, but with 19 HR and 71 RBI, in 125 games for the Blue Jays this season – he hit .267 against left-handed pitching, while Omir Santos hit .283 against righties.
Barajas will require far less money, and can probably be had on a one-year deal, and though he’ll only hit around .230, he is capable of cracking 15 or so home runs, and he’ll play significantly better defense than Molina.
The thing is, there is a buzz in baseball suggesting guys like D-Backs C Chris Snyder, Royals C John Buck and Pirates C Ryan Doumit, among others, might all be available in trade. Plus, there is a good a chance a collection of these type of catchers end up on the free-agent market if they are non tendered.
So, the Mets should most certainly explore this end of the catcher’s market first, knowing guys like Molina and Barajas are not going to sign a new contract without checking with Omar Minaya for first… and, who knows, maybe this will end like in 2005, when the Mets flirted all winter with Molina and Ramon Hernandez, only to trade with the Marlins to get Paul LoDuca.
Update, 10:17 am:
For more on why the Mets should not sign Molina, check out Ted Berg’s post on his blog, Ted Quarters.
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Ted Berg’s post on Bengie at tedquarters.net, which is brilliant btw, explains why Bengie Molina is most certainly the wrong answer.
In short, its horrible idea.
http://www.tedquarters.net/2009/11/19/some-things-about-bengie-molina/
Bengie Molina is a TERRIBLE idea. Read anything by Rob Neyer or Keith Law (when they are discussing just how bad Molina is) and you will quickly understand the depths of his suckitude.
On the other hand while Barajas’ batting average was pretty rough this past year, you have to look at his peripherals and his plus defense.
For my money… the choice of the available catchers… has to be Rod Barajas. Though if Doumit came available, I would rather take a chance on him. He could actually be the answer to our catching woes.
I know I’m gonna get reamed for this, but I’d love for the Mets to get their hands on Jarrod Saltalamacchia.
I know, his numbers haven’t been very good so far, but he’s only 24. He’s a switch-hitting catcher with decent power and good defensive skills.
He’s been battling something called Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, a condition in which a rib bone pushes on a nerve and causes pain and numbness in the arm and fingers. It’s limited his production for the past two seasons, but he had surgery in August and is slated to be good to go by spring training.
I just have this overpowering hunch that he will blossom into a star, and it will occur very soon.
I wish it would happen in a Mets uniform.Just an idle dream. I don’t know if the Rangers would let him go, or what his contract situation is.
Matt:
The “B” and “D” keys aren’t really that close on the keyboard. For the umpteenth time, it’s ROD, not ROB.
What are you, the keyboard nazi? Jeez…lol
Giving up a 2nd round draft pick (he’s a Type A FA) to sign Bengie Molina to a 2 year deal is the wrong thing for the Mets to do right now.
If the Giants decline to offer Molina arbitration then I have no issue with the Mets signing him but if they have to give up a draft selection than I would pass on him.
wow I didnt even think of that. If we are going to lose a 2nd round pick for Lackey or Holliday I can live with that but not for a fat 36 year old catcher on his way down.
I agree, and realize that even if the Mets signed Lackey or Holliday the Mets would still lose their 2nd round pick for signing Molina and would lose their 3rd round pick for Lackey or Holliday because of the fact that Molina has more service time in the Majors than Lackey or Holliday.
actually no, the 2nd pick would go to the Angels for Lacky and 3rd to the Giants- it is based on their rankings – that was why last year I think the Brewers got the yankee 2nd for CC and the Angels the 1st for Tex.
unless, of course, the mets also sign lackey and holliday. in that case, molina would cost the 4th round pick
Nope Molina would still cost the Mets their 2nd round pick due to his service time being longer than Lackey or Holliday. If the Mets were to sign all 3 this is how the compensation would go:
2nd round pick to SF for Molina
3rd round pick to LAA for Lackey
4th round pick to STL for Holliday
sorry, was under the impression it was the point totals used to determine a,b, or no type.
Well, either way, losing a pick for Bengie is greatly mitigated with the additional signings mentioned.
Does it really matter who costs which pick?
That’s what I was going to say. Who cares which guy costs us which pick if in the end we lose them.
A Castillo/Perez esque move. Why is this our top priority? I will say this. If Molina is signed to a similar deal to what Matt mentions and Holliday goes elsewhere and Lackey goes elsewhere for market value or whatever would be considered “reasonable”. A certain group of anti-Omar Met fans will have a lot of ammunition.
I really don’t know who should replace Schnieder, either. I really don’t have an opinion on this one. However, I do think it shouldn’t be at the top of the list. Of that list, the only priority that should be BELOW catcher is a replacement 2B. Let’s focus on the main needs and worry about catcher when the other holes have been filled.
Also, the grammar police here (well, that one person anyway) is really friggin annoying. The guy misspells a word or two on his BLOG (notice it’s not an official news source) and the world is coming to an end. Geez.
Well, Catcher is a hole, because Schneider is gone, and Santos sucks. So we actually need a catcher and a backup catcher. You can’t just ignore it and hand it to Thole or Cancel. (Or Santos, who barring illegal substances, will revert to his even worse form in 2010)
But anything is in an improvement over Schneider, even Mike Piazza(or Jerry Grote) at his age. So Barajas on a one year deal? fine. The team had a good offense and a power LF will make it even better. that extra .20-.40 at the catcher spot will help, and if it’s a guy that’s good with pitchers, defensive, has some good RBI/AB numbers like Castro, etc, will go a long way.
I don’t think we even have Cancel any more.
We haven’t had a good hitting catcher since Paul LoDuca. The Brian Schneider experiment was a complete bust. Bengie Molina hit 20 home runs in a worse hitters park than CitiField and with no protection in the lineup. I’ll sign up for him and a two year deal any day of the week. We could expect atleast 25 home runs from him with the talent that we have in our everyday lineup. Sign me up for Bengie Molina. He makes our lineup so much deeper. The last three seasons our 6, 7, 8, 9 hitters were the following:
Church, Castillo, Schneider, Pitcher. = That is PATHETIC.
Now it could be with the addition of Holliday:
Frenchy, Molina, Castillo, Pitcher… Something like that is SOOOOO much better. And if we do trade Castillo and bring in Hudson too…forget it.. Our offense would be right there with the Phillies.
The Phillies won a WS with Carlos Ruiz who is hardly a good hitting catcher. There are only a few good hitting catchers in baseball. You can still win w/out having a good hitting catcher as long as you get production from other positions. And that’s where the Mets problem is.
When you have mediocre production from LF, RF and 1B as the Mets do as is of course positions like 2B and C are going to stand out more. Upgrade those positions and 2B and C won’t hurt you as much.
Are you serious???? Every other guy in the Phillies lineup can hit 20 home runs thats why they could get away with Ruiz behind the plate. Not to mention Ruiz is an excellent defensive catcher and is clutch offensively.
We need a good hitting catcher.
Clearly I said that the concentration should be more so on upgrading the other positions so having a poor hitting catcher isn’t an issue. That’s why I brought up the Phillies example of teams that are able to compensate for a poor offensive catcher by having the rest of the line-up being filled with good/solid hitters.
The Mets need upgrades at 1B, LF and RF more so than they do at Catcher.
A lot of Mets could hit 20+ HR in CBP, too.
It doesnt matter where they play. We didnt exactly hit tons of home runs at CBP this year. Did we?
they won in spite of him much like the Mets won in spite of Rafael Santana
I think the MEts should be competing to get LAckey and Holliday or BAy. This is what I’d do. Sign LAckey. Sign either Holliday or Bay for LF. Sign Molina or Barajas. Trade for Phillips and Arroyo or Harang. Trade CAstillo for bullpen and bech players. Re-sign Cora.
Reyes
Phillips
Beltran
Holliday/Bay
Wright
F-Core
Molina/Barajas
Murphy
P
Johan
Lackey
Arroyo/Harang
Pelfrey
Maine/Perez
That’s very unrealistic. I mean, I feel that the Mets DO have the resources to pull that off. I just don’t think they would. Plus, you’re assuming that this Phillips + pitcher rumor is true. Which I do not. And that someone would take on Castillo.
It would be awesome, though.
your finger-tips to omar and jeff’s eyes
No thanks. That’s just too much…besides, a trade for Phillips means bye-bye Ike Davis. I’m not willing to part with him right now, considering our current situation at 1B.
Holliday, Lackey (or Wolf/Harden, and maybe Sheets in an incentive-laden deal), and Barajas.
I don’t like Barajas, but he’s a better option than Molina. We would have to live with him for about half a season or so until Thole is ready.
Other than that, I don’t think we need much more. Bench help should never be on anyone’s list of priorities, because those are usually made up of prospects and has beens, which are readily available at any time during the winter.
If we can trade Castillo, great…sign Hudson. But that’s a big if.
Maine should be our setup man. No questions asked…he’s built for that role.
That gives us a great team next year…without giving up prospects and only losing a couple of draft picks.
IMO, it isn’t unrealistic. Omar just has to smart and do this. The Mets can do this and it should happen.
Catcher – Barajas
LF – trade for Crawford…or sign Dye to a 1 year deal.
2B – Keep Luis (Hudson will be more expensive than Luis and he lost his job last year to RONNIE BELLIARD!!)
Rotation – Ben Sheets, Erik Bedard, Randy Wolf, or Joel Pineiro.
LHR – Will Ohman or Brian Shouse
What about first base? TRADE FOR ADRIAN GONZALEZ and lock him in long term!!! Do it now!
My whole plan:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/285588-blueprint-for-world-domination
Your name fits you perfect.
Get Josh Willingham to play LF, honestly he isn’t bad and is cheap.
Then trade John Maine & Brad Holt to the Reds for Brandon Phillips
Luis Castillo to the Dodgers for some minor leaguers
SIgn Delgado to a 1 yr/ 3million contract
Sign Rod Barajas to a cheap realistic contract
then sign John Lackey and Jason Marquis
1.Santana
2.Lackey
3.Marquis
4.Pelfrey
5.Ollie
1.Reyes
2.Phillips
3.Wright
4.Beltran
5.Willingham
6.Delgado/Murphy
7.Franceour
8.Barajas/Santos
9.pticher
honestly that’s the best we’ll come close to doing. Lackey will be the big splash move.
Holliday will not sign here.
I think you’re wrong. I think Holliday will sign with the Mets, only because Omar is good at getting what he wants and what the fans need. We were crying for LF help last season, but he couldn’t pull anything off. He is a GM for the fans, and the fans want Holliday more than anyone else.
I think it is Lackey who will not sign, and we will probably sign Wolf and Marquis instead. 1) Omar missed the boat on Wolf last year, so he’s going to want to make up for that. Besides, he has some of the best numbers on the FA market pitching-wise. 2) Marquis is a hometown boy, and has expressed desire to play in NY. Not that it really matters to us as fans, but I got a feeling Omar is gonna dig that because it makes his job easy.
Omar: “Hey, Jason, wanna play here? Here’s an offer.”
Marquis: “I accept.”
LOL…dramatization of course.
I don’t see us making any big trades for two reasons:
1) We don’t have too many prospects to deal without absolutely crippling our system even more.
2) Omar loves the prospects we do have, i.e. Davis, Mejia, Holt, F-Mart, Flores, Nieuwenhuis.
Omar really likes Davis, so signing anybody to a long term deal at 1B is just not gonna happen. Davis is showing signs of brilliance similar to David Wright, so don’t be surprised if you see him in Citi Field next August if Murphy isn’t doing well (I think he will be, though). Anybody wanting A-Gon, just give it up already. It ain’t gonna happen.
I think the Mets will stick the the FA market, while looking to trade Castillo and maybe trade for a catcher at a low cost.
You can put Wilson Valdez as a converted catcher and it would be an improvement over Brian Schneider.
Snap.
Can Delgado still catch? Haha
thank god we are running out of ex expos that omar liked….
Actually, the Expos used to be loaded with talent because they drafted and developed better than anyone else. The problem was they could never afford to keep anyone there for long, so they were considered the minor league team of the majors.
Props to the Expos because the system just isn’t built for teams like them.
guys, what do you think about Wang? if he is non-tendered by the Yankees, we could sign him for cheap money, maybe an an incentive-based contract. of course we still need lackey.
santana
lackey
wang
pelf
ollie/maine
thats rotation can be nasty!
No, we don’t need to see a ‘Wang’ and a ‘Rod’ in the same game…
Id definitely look into wang if hes non-tendered but I doubt he will be. Also we’d have to get a sure thing to go along with him if his problems continue. Regardless though the Yanks will keep him, if hes good great for them if not who cares whats a couple million.
at the right price i would say go for it…just hope he can run the bases without getting hurt…
I agree but that is not the right order they need,
1. Power upgrade in left
2. Rotational Help
3. Second Basemen if Castillo can be traded
4. Reliever Help
5. Catcher
I’ll throw in my 2 cents. Here’s my plan:
1) Sign Holliday. (See plan “B” below if this doesn’t happen…)
2) Sign Barajas
3) Sign Wolf and Garland
4) Resign Putz on an incentive-laden deal
5) Sign Dotel
6) Keep Luis (I’m sorry, any dump of him is going to return a headache back– no way.)
Plan “B” (which I almost like better)
1) Sign Lackey
2) Sign J. Dye – 1 year deal, with team option
3) Sign Wolf
4) Sign Nady, incentive-laden deal, for 1B starting in May
5) Re-sign Putz (see #4 above)
6) Keep Luis
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