This post will be used to log players who the Mets might have interest in, and who have been offered, or not offered, salary arbitration…
For instance…
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Braves will not offer arbitration to 1B Adam LaRoche, who is a Type B free agent.
RHP Jason Marquis, who is a Type B free agent, has been offered arbitration by the Rockies, according to Inside the Rockies.
The Blue Jays offered arbitration to C Rod Barajas, who is a Type B free agent, according to the Boston Herald.
The Royals will not offer arbitration to catcher Miguel Olivo, according to the Kansas City Star.
The White Sox will not offer arbitration to OF Jermaine Dye, RHP Octavio Dotel of OF Scott Podsednik, reports MLB.com.
Dye and Dotel are Type A free agents, meaning the White Sox will not require draft pick compensation if they sign elsewhere.
The Tigers did not offer arbitration to 2B-3B Placido Polanco, LHP Jarrod Washburn or 1B-DH Aubrey Huff, reports AOL Fanhouse.
The Padres will not offer arbitration to OF Brian Giles or C Henry Blanco according to MLB.com.
Alyson Footer of MLB.com says the Astros have offered arbitration to Jose Valverde, but declined to offer arbitration to SS Miguel Tejada, P LaTroy Hawkins, and P Doug Brocail.
According to Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times, the Dodgers will not offer arbitration to any of their free agents, including Orlando Hudson and Randy Wolf.
The Twins offered Carl Pavano arbitration, according to Lavelle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
The Cardinals will not offer arbitration to free-agent 1B-3B Troy Glaus, who is a Type B free agent, says the Post-Dispatch.
Last month, Marty Noble of MLB.com said the Mets will show interest in Glaus, ‘according to people within the organization who are familiar with the club’s thinking.’
The Yankees will not be offering arbitration to any of their free agents, including Xavier Nady, Jose Molina, Hideki Matsui, and Johnny Damon, says Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
Miguel Olivo is certainly an interesting option.
better bet than Molina, especially for less money and likely less years.
I agree. How is he defensively?
He is pretty bad in general
Olivo is relatively young and has good pop. Should look into it.
And by relatively young I mean not extremely old.
So far only Type B’s, who do not cost the new team compensation, so that’s good.
And Dotel might be an interesting guy to look at on an incentives laden deal such as the Red Sox gave Saito last season.
I’ll take Barajas.
No compensation for Hudson or Dye. It may be a very inexpensive free agent year.
Add Randy Wolf to the list as well, he wasn’t offered either!
I prefer Barajas over Molina. Can get probably get him on a 2 year deal for like $7 mil maybe? He’s younger, way better defensively and would hit 20 homers in the NL and drive in 70 runs.
He will? How do you know?
I looked at his away only performance from 2004 – 2009. This serves as a basis for a neutral park.
I generated HR / PA and RBI / PA for each year and assumed 240 away PA reflects about 55 away games (110 total games). This may be conservative and 120 to 125 games may be more appropriate.
I took 90% of the figures to reflect CitiBank. This may be conservative.
I added the expected Away and expected Citi stats.
The result is an average of 20.1 HR and 69.7 RBIs
I’d say it was a pretty good guesstimate.
Barajas was offered arbitration.
But as a type B he wouldn’t cost the Mets a draft pick. Toronto would just gain a supplemental pick, which doesn’t really effect the Mets at all as they are in the AL.
Lavelle E. Neal III…..what a comfort it is to
see that clown’s name again..remember all
the bad things he said about the Mets during the Santana sweepstakes…….such fond memories,
I’ll tell you what, Dodgers fans are not at all happy about Wolf and Hudson not being offered! I get the feeling the Dodgers aren’t going to be players at all this offseason.
Lucky for them they have a slew of good, young, farm generated, cost effective, players already on the roster.
A Mets fan can only dream…
I’ll take O-dog for 2nd base, Barajas for catcher because 1) he will cost less than the Molina’s and 2) he is also younger. Those 2 combined should be 8 mill.
barajas is crap…. lets stop with this non-sense. molina is fine for a one-year deal….. who is going to give him more than that in this economy? be patient minaya…… be patient.
I think Molina will sign at the least is 2 years whicjh is how long I want him. arajas isn’t bad and he would certainly be an upgrade. If you think Barajas is bad what do u think about Schneider?
i wouldnt hate signing barajas if he was offered arbitration, but he was. i still dont see who is going to give molina to years. i would be fine with one year and an option that kicks in if he puts up certain numbers. i doubt we sign mauer. and having molina mentor thole would only help.
Yeah, Thole will proably get a mid-season promothion and come to the Mets.
giving up a top 5 round pick for one year’s service of a 36 to catcher is insane. If he isn’t offered arbitration then I’m warming to Molina. If both Thole and Davis are called up midseason then Molina can spell both, get in a good amount of at bats, and minimze the number of games caught thereby extending his usefullness. Same idea for 2011 and perhaps even 2012. Until Thole and Davis are you can put him at 1B and catch Santos against lefties. This would minimize Murphy’s playing time; or Delgado’s If signed. Actually you could carry Thole, Santos, and Molina and use him as a power bat off the bench as well. I am really warming to this.
Hmmm… Aubrey Huff could be interesting for the short-term at first. Only four errors in 93 games at first last year, for a .995 fielding percentage, plus he drove in 85 runs. Would he wind up being an offensive upgrade over Murph?
Yes, but he is a want. We have to only focus on need right now which are Bay or Holliday, Sheets, etc.
If Nady is healthy, I’d rather sign him cheap and platoon him with Murphy at 1B.
He won’t be ready by Spring Training.
Ok, so you have Evans up for a few weeks and get a few starts. Not a big deal considering he’s a platoon player. My question is whether he can start 50 games at first base?
Again, Nady is a want. The Mets have to go after neccessityies like Bay or Holliday ans Sheets etc. By the way, anyone watch Loudmouths. They said that the Mets should compete to get Doc. I’m not saying they shouldn’t but because if we get him, we can fill LF with Ankiel. I’m just saying that the Mets shouldn’t overpay for Doc and trade too many prospects or players for him because I have a hunch that the Red Sox will be all in for Doc. If we get Doc and Sheets, Boston won’t have to worry about the Yankees. The Mets will beat the Yankees IF they get bats like O-dog, a catcher, Ankiel and pitchers like Doc and Sheets. Imagine this
Johan CC
Doc AJ
Sheets Wang?
LAckey will end up in Boston if they don’t land Doc.
I dunno, I’d list first base as a one to two year need. I don’t think we can forget about the offense that should be generated from that position, and the defense we should have there. We need a good defensive anchor at first.
look at the last comment.
One of the needs this off season is improving 1st base production. A righty platoon would be a great up grade. I would take a shot on Gluas. He should be much better from his injury and be ready to produce again. He was awesome not to long ago and could be had for a low cost perhaps. Think of the potential upside.
I’d rather have Glaus full time, or 75% starts. He is much better than Murphy. Use Murphy as a defensive replacment if he needs to be on the roster. Glaus can also spell Wright every once in a whole too without a major loss to the offence.
Then what would you do with Murphy?
trade him for what you can get or lefty PH duties. I’m missing why Murphy not playing would be a problem. You need to explain why getting more playing time for someone at the absolute bottom of 1Bmen offense with no minor league indicators to the contrary is a good idea
I’m just saying that I think Murphy should be at 1st more often. If he’s on the bench, we’ll have a really good bench:)
IMO, it isn’t. But that’s my opinion so don’t get pissed. I’m just saying, you can leave Murphy alone right now and get a LF like Bay or Holliday, pitchers like Sheets and Wolf or MArquis, a 2nd baseman like O-dog, some cheap catcher. Barajas? Get another arm in the pen’ either Putz or Biemel. All that equals up to 40 mill spent. (I calculated it. It equals no more than 40 dependign who you go after.) I think the Mets can go with that and let Murphy progress at 1B. If Omar has more money left which I don’t think he will, go after Glaus. Although, the time that all that is done, I don’t think he will be available anymore.
Orlando Hudson had a worse offensive year than Castillo, and was benched for Ronnie Belliard. There is a reason nobody gave him the deal he wanted last year. The only improvement you get with him is defense. Signing him to anything more than a one guaranteed year is irresonsible.
On the other hand, Placido Polanco is a much better all around second baseman, hits for average (career .300 hitter, .285 last year), gets on base (.348/.331 OBP), and he won a gold glove in two of the past 3 years. If the Mets move Castillo, Polanco is who you go for.