SNY has confirmed the Mets have signed C Henry Blanco to a one-year deal.
Original Post, 6:36 pm:
Blanco told Francisco Blavia of Lider en Deportes he has agreed to a one-year, $1.5 million deal with the Mets.
…thanks to Andres M for the link and translation…
…i like this signing a lot, he is the perfect back-up catcher… it’s the other 10 back-up catchers i am confused out… like i said earlier, blanco is one of the best defensive catchers in baseball, he has a strong arm, frames pitches well, he is steady behind the plate… of course, he is not a very good hitter… yes, he can have a hot streak or two, but, for the most part, he’s known for his defense not his bat…
Earlier today, Jon Heyman of SI.com said, despite signing Blanco and Chris Coste, the Mets are still in the market for free-agent C Bengie Molina.
Update, 6:53 pm:
…initially, i was confused by why blanco was given twice as much money by the Mets as he earned last season from the Padres…
…however, as Joe DeMayo pointed out to me in an IM, the Phillies just signed Brian Schneider to two-year contract that will pay him $1.35 million per season… so, paying blanco roughly the same, but for just one year, considering blanco is signifianctaly better than schneider, it’s a pretty fair deal… these are good points…
Banner day in Mets history. Coste and Blanco all in one day. How did we pull this off? I love how the Phils go out and get better and we sign these two clowns.
How did the Phils get “better”?
Placido Polanco, that’s how.
That’s not “better’ that’s worse. Taking a player out of position, especially when they already had an affordable guy that played some darn good D at third isn’t a good idea,……….paying him 6 million per season for his age and skill level is even worse! Polanco may get on a little more, but he doesn’t have the pop Feliz does and certainly does play as good of defense especially at an unfamiliar position. Theres no upgrade in that move except in cost of the player.
BTW, offense wasn’t the problem for the Phils in ’09 pitching was. Even though they added Cliff Lee, Cole Hammels came back to earth in ’09 and the rest of their rotation is a mess. Granted at the moment ours is some pretty rough shape itself. I guess my point is they spent 13 million dollars more on Polanco and gained virtually nothing. When they could have kept Feliz for 5 million.
The Phils did not get better. Polanco is going to be their Castillo, you watch. If he stays healthy, he won’t do much. He’s surrounded by great hitters, though, so he will do okay. But he’s not worth what they gave him…no way.
The winter is young, guys. Understand that Omar is actually doing the right thing so far. We were short on catchers the past two seasons, and we should not hand the reigns over to Thole yet. Plus its better if Thole gets to work with Mejia and Holt…
Cost will be in AAA. No need to fuss about that signing. He’s an improvement over Robinson Cancel, and he’s a “gritty,” knowledgeable baseball guy who can work with young pitchers.
Blanco is a good signing. For just over a million dollars, why not? He’s another smart catcher who’s good on defense, and he can serve this team well. If its offense your looking for out of the catcher position, too bad. Offensive catchers really are a dying breed, which is why we need to focus on Thole’s development.
Holliday will come later. Trust me. Trust Omar.
That made me feel better.
agreed
I wonder if Omar thinks that if he signs a bunch of catchers for smaller contracts that it will equal 1 really good catcher.
What else is available? It’s seems so easy to complain about this signing but who would you sign instead? Molina? Not much out there, and this is all about securing a viable option for a key position. Do you really think Omar is now done? It’s silly to complain about this signing when we need someone to platoon with Omar. And the amoun may have to do with the competitive market for Blanco. Now Omar overpays for sure, but Blanco was going to get interest and it’s now done and we can turn to more important positions.
yeah, it’s like “Devastator” from Transformers 2 it takes six catchers to make one good one! Seriously though Omar could have done worse.
$1.5? That’s twice as much as he was paid last season.
I’m fine with Blanco as it gives the team some depth and flexibility, not to mention a great defensive backstop, but why pay him double?
Inflation??? lol
I gotta get me a job where I can get double my annual salary for being a decent but not great worker! Anybody know where I can find a job like that?
apparently in the majors as a backup catcher.
Look at the bright side guys atleast we haven’t spent 10 million on 2 relievers One who is 40 and another darn near 40!
Alright so far we signed…
Cora for 2m
Blanco for 1.5
Coste for ? If it is more than 1.5 I will find Omar and tal;k to him. I just really want to know what he’s doing. I am so mad at him. Does he think 3 catchers (includign Santos) will get the job done. I would have just got Barajas for 3 mill and forget about Blaco and Coste. This sucks. Some one plase cheer me yp b/c I really want to yell at Omar. He’s dumb.
whats wrong with you? The offseason isnt even done yet. Not every signing is a big signing. These are important too.
If anything..people should be applauding Omar. For once he is strengthening our bench and giving us depth.
I’m sorry I’m just beng all frustrated. I just want the Mets to do the follwing. Sign Holliday, Sheets, Wolf or Marquis. Sign Barajas and try and trade CAtillo. Sign Hudson for 2B. Get Biemel as another arm in the pen’. Maine will also go to the pen’.That is possible because it equals 40 mill or it WAS possible.
On Hot Stove Report, Heyman is saying Santos will be the odd man out at AAA as Thole will get most of the starts and Coste is there to play 1B and help to mentor Thole.
If this true I think Santos gets traded. His value as a back-up will never be higher.
Of course he’s the odd man out in AAA. He’ll be the backup in the majors like he was last year!
No he won’t Blanco will be the backup to Molina.
That is probably best for all involved… especially Santos.
Though if Heyman said it there is a 80% chance that it does not happen…
Maybe Omar is actually thinking outside the box for once and planning to do what was mentioned by someone here or on another Mets blog recently: carry 3 catchers including Thole. This way Thole can get a lot of starts but be replaced by Blanco in the 7th, with Santos on the bench as BC. If you didn’t want to replace Thole, Santos could be used to pinch hit and Blanco stay on the bench as BC. If Blanco or Santos were starting, Thole would be a nice pinch hitter with the other staying on the bench as BC. I have been against Thole starting 2010 in the bigs since the season ended, but with his hitting in VWL, lack of reasonable alternatives, and the right partner(s) it could work nicely. Anyone else like 3 catchers with Thole as the main guy?
I hope the plan is to sign a LF and PH bench bat instead.
They’ll have 15 or 16 position players if they do that and carry three catchers.
None of the catchers hit well enough to be used as PH’s so it doesnt really make much sense, imo.
So now lets say we have spent 5 mill on the 3 players so far. Subtract 5 from 40 mill and that is what we have to work from. 17 mill for Holliday. 6 mill for Sheets. 6 mill for Wolf or Marquis. That’s 29 mill so far. 6 more then we are out of money. Say 3 mill for Barajas. I know this won’t happen b/c Omar is such a freak, he wants to pay 8 mill for Molina when the highest the Yanks would go is 5 mill. My dead grandma is smarter than him. Alright so that’s 32 mill. We can’t trade Castillo anymore because if we did, we would pay Hudson 5 mill which we don’t have. If we didn’t get Blanco or Coste this would be no problem. If we got Hudson it would be for 5 mill which would increase the total to 37 mill. And the 2 mill for Biemel would increase it to 39 mill. We still have to get a bullpen arm like Biemel or Putz. (leaning toward Biemel b/c he would only cost like 2 mill and Putz would cost aroung 6 mill. Omar is so weird.
Easy on the $ figures. Let’s see how it shakes out and maybe they aren’t afraid to spend a bit…
Your right. Maybe Omar will push the budget to 45 mill. MAYBE.
Where are you guys getting this 45 million budget? Because that’s what it was last year? Didn’t Coupon say the budget was around 20 mill? I tend to agree that the budget will be lower and not higher.. EVERYONE is cutting the budgets. Attendance is down, the economy is bad. You’d be foolish to spend and not cut.
Well, there was a post or something of Omar himself saying that money wasn’t a problem and we will spend enough until the job is done.
And btw, I said maybe he’ll make it a 45 mill off-season. I said that right now, we are proably aiming for 40 mill.
what is the point? now you have 4 catchers on your 40-man roster, and all of them can be platoon/ every day guys… I don’t know what Omar is thinking, but I don’t like it.
That is unless he hopes Coste will play first too…. Or he trades someone…
Thank you for someone who is agreeing with me. He might trade them or one of them hopefully. And please correct me if I’m wrong but If the Mets trade CAstillo ang sign Hudson for 5 mill. The Mets still save 1 mill on that right because Castillo is due 6 mill.
Chances are that in order to move Castillo the Mets would probably have to pay atleast 2 of the 6 million he is owed, unless we took on someone elses bad contract. At this point Omar has to ask him self is it really worth it to move Castillo, only to sign Hudson, or does he include him and another player in a deal that brings Harang or Arroyo and Phillips from Cincy. The latter to me makes alot more sense at his point. Alot depends on what happens in Left Field. If they get Holiday or Bay, than I think Hudson would be justifyable. BUt if not then I think you have to see what can be done to bring Phillips in. Phillips would be the best choice regaurdless, but if we had a power hitting LF’er than he wouldn’t be as neccessary. In short if there ever was a time to move Castillo, now would be it, but if we had to pay most of his salary and could only sign Hudson then I think I would hesitate to do it because now you are paying almost, if not twice as much for the same postion and not getting double the production, certainly you would get more production from Hudson,than Castillo but not twice as much worth! Does that make sense?
agree.
Don’t you need 4 catchers? 2 in the majors and 2 at AAA? Coste will be mentoring Thole in AAA and Blanco and Santos will split in the majors. I think this is a good thing. This means we will have money to spend on hopefully Holiday and a B tier pitcher. I know it would be too much to ask for Holiday AND Lackey.
How about Holliday and Sheets and Wolf or MArquis. Sheets will be cheaper than u think since he hasn’t pitched in a year.
And Omar still wants to spend 8 mill on Molina. Omar, just spend 3 mill on Barajas.
yup, I dont really see the problem.
Santos should be able to sneak through waivers and Coste’s contract should allow the Mets to send to AAA without waivers.
Seems like good depth to me.
btw, they still have no quality catchers for AA so look for more to be signed, heh…
coste $$ is very cheap since it was split contract.
Like what…? $500,000.
Well, he signed a minor league deal, so it’s not for much I would say anywhere from 400,000- to 750,000 which isn’t too horrible.
No, it’s a lot better than 1.5 mill
LOL. I meant yeah.
Regardless it will not break the bank. I am fine with a Santos/Blanco platoon. Now does this mean we can stop hearing about the 18MM for Molina crap?
Molina isn’t going to get anywhere near that! I figure 2 yrs@ 4- 5 miilion per will get it done, if it doesn’t we don’t need him.
Totally agree. 5 mill at 2 years id definately the max. If not, Barajas is good for 3 mill, 2 years.
After this move (I don’t mind having Blanco as backup), I seems clear to me that the Mets don’t believe Omir Santos can be a capable backup?
If not, why pay $1.5M for a backup catcher? Unless the Mets will start Blanco and use Thole as backup so he can learn from a good defensive catcher?
I really don’t understand the move (from the Financial point of view), and I just don’t want to see them invest $8MM in the 36 year old Molina.
Wow, what an inept organziation. The comedy writes itself. And it is scary how the writers in the site support farces like this, but would whine over Bengie. First, to those who argue that the Phillies didn’t get better (while ignoring the Braves aggression) just know- IT DOESN’t MATTER. The Phillies are LIGHTYEARS ahead of the Mets as an organization, to the point where they could go on scouting vacations next year and be a lot better still. Back to this day in warped Met fan thinking (at least amongst Metsblog writers). Who needs a “perfect fit” for 1.5 mill at BACKUP CATCHER???? Backup catchers are like appendices, utterly useless to the functioning of a team. Want proof? Look at recent Met history and the revolving door of Todd Pratts, Vance Wilsons, Ramon Castros, Omir Santos’, etc. Did they greatly impacyt the pligh of the team? Nope. How many teams attribute their success to backup players? Only in Metland lol… For the price of Cora and Blanco, we could have been 3/4 of the way to Bengie Molina or Barajas. This is not even factoring Coste. Why such a stress on adding more pitiful bench players with the useless strength of defense?
Bad move by Minaya. Be patient Omar. There were plenty of guys just like Blanco…. there was NO need to give him 1.5 mil…. if another team offered him that and you wanted him then offer 1.5, but in this economy who is going to give henry blanco 1.5 million. btw amaro is the next omar…. is signing schneider and polanco for those contracts complete jokes.
When has catcher been an offensive position for most teams?
Backup catcher is often MORE important than a backup at another position. Most good infielders will start 150 games, so the backup is only around for 12 games + ph. Because of the demands of the position, a good catcher (not the superstars) will probably catch about 120-130 games, leaving 30-40 for the backup. Or maybe more games started, but with a replacement later in the game.
We´ll probably end up with Molino and Blanco, with Coste and Thole at AAA, and Omir traded. Coste will mentor Thole and play some 1B when Davis DHs. I´ve got no problem with that.
They already have Nick Evans and Chris Carter to backup 1B in AAA. If Coste plays over those two something is really wrong…
Given the probable major league level catching situation gettin Coste some at bats isn’t a bad idea. Carter is AAA lineup filler and I am starting to believe so too is Evans.