The White Sox, Pirates and a third team have all expressed interest in Dodgers OF Juan Pierre, according to Marlins reporter Joe Frisaro of MLB.com.
…also, i was just reminded by someone that the Cubs and Royals have discussed OF Milton Bradley, and that the Royals are rumored to be trying to move RHP Gil Meche… and so, the point is, between the Dodgers, Cubs, Rays and Royals, with bradley, Luis Castillo, Pat Burrell and meche, there has got to be a deal in here some place… i’m hoping for the first Do-Over, Five-Way deal in MLB history… let’s do it, guys…
…i wonder if the White Sox are motivated to move closer Bobby Jenks, who is likely going to earn around $7 million in arbitration next season, and who is two years away from free agency…
According to Jayson Stark of ESPN.com, the Rays and Cubs are still discussing a swap of Burrell and Bradley, despite the Mets not wanting Burrell, with the big obstacle being the large sum of money still due to Bradley that Tampa Bay would have to pay.
Original Post at 8:36 pm:
Jon Heyman of SI.com told the MLB Network the Mets are willing to send Luis Castillo to the Dodgers for OF Juan Pierre.
…however, from what i can gather, the Dodgers, though they have no problem with castillo, are exploring other opportunities first, such as a deal for a pitcher… i think it’s pretty obvious, at this point, and i’m making an educated guess here, that the Mets and Cubs, and the Mets and Dodgers, have a way to switch out these bad contracts, including castillo, pierre and OF Milton Bradley, but they need a third, and maybe even a fourth team, to help facilitate it… and so, it’s no wonder there are so many rumors involving these guys…
Last season, Castillo hit .302 with a .387 OBP, while 90 percent of his hits were singles.
Speaking of catchers…
Ken Davidoff of Newsday says, “Add free-agent C Yorvit Torrealba to the list of catchers on the Mets radar.”
…umm, doesn’t he still have a pending grievance with the Mets, regarding how his contract situation evolved from November 2007…
I think Pierre would be a good fit on a team that needs a lead-off man and has trouble scoring runs. That is not the Mets. I would try to trade Castillo for a bullpen guy or some prospects. If we are getting a player like Pierre in return for Castillo, I wouldn’t do it. It isn’t an upgrade in power and that will cost us our chance to get either Holliday or Bay. Or you can put Castillo in a deal that gives up Phillips and Arroyo if we miss out on the Bay and Holliday sweepstakes which I doubt. The Mets have to think what is best for the team and it is not getting Pierre. If we had an option to trade Castillo for Pierre I’d say no and keep Castillo at 2B.
Castillo hit over .300 last season, was a model citizen, stole a few bases – OK, he dropped that imfamous popup and he’s maybe in decline. That said, we probably could live with him at 2B and his 6 million for next season and I can’t stress enough that this guy Minaya CANNOT do too much at the same time. These are the WINTER MEETINGS! This is a waste of precious time. Other teams are working on stuff and we will be left empty handed if this is how our GM is expending his energy. If ownership is really holding to some sort of strict budget where his hands are tied to make other moves until he unloads his previous bad contracts, it’s not gonna matter. While taking the time to unload the previous contracts, the prices go up sometimes on the remaining players – or the best players are taken and desperation sets in for the ones left and then, new bad contracts get signed, which ownership might make the next GM unload before he or she can make the next deal. How ’bout unloading the GM.
I seriously doubt that Omar has put everthing on hold untill Castillo is traded as it’s likely going to take a 3 or 4 team deal to do so and sometimes those can take days to weeks to complete!
I’m not sure whether everything else is on hold or not, but it’s certainly seems, at least from what is being reported (which of course, could be off), to be taking a lot of his time and energy, which might be better spent on something else.
I’m not at all surprising given that he is nothing more than a singles hitter, and never really been any thing more.
To further prove that he has no power, I created I stat 2 weeks ago, check it out: http://teenbaseball.blogspot.com/2009/11/idea-for-evalution-of-power.html
how bout dodgers get castillo
reds get pierre
mets get arroyo ?
uuuuuuhhhhhh…
no.
Rather have Pierre than Arroyo, by far.
Wow. A good pitcher for a hitter who I can hit farther than. BTW, I’m 16 so that’s kind of surprising.
are u crazy, Pierre over Arroyo?? that’s just nuts!
The Reds are looking to move salary
Pierre doesn’t help our outfield situation. He has zero power. Perhaps you can look at it as a swap for no-power Castillo, but I think it’s a mistake to have a corner outfielder who can’t hit the ball over the wall from second base. Now, maybe Omar knows something we don’t, like, can he flip Pierre for help someplace else?
i think pierre would be a decent fit… but the dodgers would have to add cash, and if thats the case… pierre should be a bench player… sign hudson.. always liked him but since he passed on changing positions for the phillies, i love him even more …
by adding a guy with speed to the bench and hudson at second.. while getting rid of castillo (have a lot of respect for him from stepping up last year, but he does not fit into the mold of the 2010 mets)… this would give the team an upgrade we are looking for ..
speed and defense.. smart baserunners and leaders in the clubhouse .. add power to that, along with the return of wright and a healthy beltran and a gritty franceour and murphy and you are looking at a solid lineup … (although im still undecided on molina.. a lot of people here hate the guy by just looking at his stats… thats like the rest of the baseball world looking at castillos on base percentage and saying he was awesome this year, meanwhile us fans know that he hit ONLY singles…. but hearing giants fans saying they want him gone is not a good thing either)
First, I have been in record that Castillo is NOT that bad. I agree that it is a waste of time to trade Castillo given the tight budget the Mets are under AND unless the result is a vastly improved team (not only at second base but over all). There are far worse things that could happen than to have Castillo of 2009 be our second basebman for 2010 and 2011.
Second, trading Castillos bad contract for Pierre’s worse contract only makes sense if Pierre can be further traded. If the result is that Pierre is a Met, then the Mets would have ended up with the same type of hitter as Castillo with a whispher perhaps more power. This is not a good idea, especially given that Pierre’s contact is worse than Castillos.
Omar should be fired if this happens. Making these types of moves will not help you win. Omar I hope this is just a rumor b/c you’ll get a mouthful if you do this.
I see little point in trading Castillo’s contract for Juan Pierre’s. Pierre may be a bit more productive, but doesn’t really help the Mets at all. What we need, obviously, is a power hitting outfielder, so adding Pierre to an outfield situation that is already full (Beltran, Francouer, Pagan, leftfielder TBD, etc.) just makes things more difficult. If Pagan can first be traded, and Pierre plays the backup outfielder, that would make more sense, but trade Pagan first, so as not to signal to other teams that he needs to be traded, thereby decreasing his value
But honestly, I think I’d rather have Pagan than Pierre. But I’ll deal with Pierre if we are sure to bring Hudson in.
What part of this year’s injury situation causes you to still think an outfield can ever be “full”?
What’s everyone’s problem? Pierre will fix all our power problems!
Oh wait..
can everyone relax about omar… hes our gm and will be for the entire off season … at least he is attempting to make the team better… we (including him) all know that we need power, and the time will come when the FA market starts to heat up…but that will take a while (thanks scott boras) .. until then (probably mid to late january) i have no problem with omar doing other things to help the ballclub get better
its like last year, when we needed another bat and he was so focused on signing lowe or ollie that we missed out on dunn .. hes keeping all options open and when the time comes will pounce on a move
With all due respect, I found your post a bit confusing, since from my perspective the second paragraph seemed to contradict the first one. If it is like last offseason, that’s bad. He was overly focused on a situation with the starting pitching that he didn’t handle very well and didn’t feel a need to upgrade the offense. Yes, there were injuries, but it was Omar that picked up Delgado’s option and didn’t trade him. It’s easy also in hindsight to question whether Putz was hurt when we got him, but I do wonder whether due diligence was done to investigate his medical condition before that deal was made. We certainly had an opportunity to sign Dunn, but the Mets didn’t seem at all interested. It was Murphy, Beltran and Church in the outfield – that was their plan and Delgado at first base. None of them ended up there.
sorry i forgot to add an important sentence to that second paragraph.. so i can see how its confusing … what i meant was, everyone is complaining now that we need power, but there are other things that need to be addressed.. so instead of wasting his time him boras and holiday now, (when he isnt going to sign for another 2 months) im defending him by saying at least he is doing other – smaller – things to improve the club… NOT like last year when he was so involved in pitching that he let dunn slip on by … has omar made mistakes? yes. absolutely .. but he is our gm so lets get behind him and believe he can get the job done
Sounds like your keyboard is going to be safe lol
mine won’t if the Mets trade CAstillo for Pierre.
LMAO! I hear ya, I gotta believe that in the end that is most certainly a last resort kind of move. I mean one way or another we have to do 2 things A) get someone for left field B) Get someone with Pop if at the end of the day all our prefered options for left fail, I think then and only then would the Mets look to swap out Castillo for Pierre, so they could sign the extra pop in Hudson, but honestly I just don’t see that happening. Now if they involve a 3rd team where we got someone other than Pierre in return, then thats a whole other ball game. I just can’t see Omar swaping out one for the other straight up even if the Dodgers gave us cash considerations.
I just went on MLB.com and looked up Meche. The guy looks solid and can be the Mets #3 instead of Pineiro, Wolf or Marquis. That is solving 2 problems at once. And by the way, how much is MEche getting paid?
Go to Cot’s for salary info
He is owed 12 million each of the next 2 seasons.
huh, could very well be that the Royals could be the third team omar spoke of. WHo knows at this point, the guy would be worth picking up if we don’t have to give too much up, and heck if we shed Castillo in the deal that’s a double bonus! lol
And for Torrealba, I can’t see that happeneing. I think every FA out there is considered, “on the Mets radar”.
Whe Pierre and Castillo were together atop the Marlins lineup it was hard to tell who was more overrated or weaker-hitting…now this?!
I think everyone is forgetting the major difference between Pierre and Castillo – Pierre can be an effective reserve player while Castillo is completely useless off the bench. For that reason alone it is probably worthwhile.
Pierre might be easier to flip than Castillo has been to trade also. Everyone should just relax and realize Castillo would be moved to get a new starting 2B, and if it means taking on a 4th outfielder who played so well while Manny was out that the Dodgers dsidn’t miss him…well that’s not so bad.
If we acquire Pierre in exchange for Castillo all it does is
a) give us a worse contract
b) give us the basically the same production (+ steals, -OBP), but he blocks any chance of an OF power upgrade. Unless you plan on having him be the 4th OFer in which case you have way to many OFers as someone above already pointed out.
c) allows us to get Hudson, who while he is an upgrade, he isnt the kind of upgrade that makes trhe first two points worth it imo.
There would have to be more to this deal for it to make any sense for the Mets. Pierre is owed 3 more years at $28.5 million. Castillo is owed 2/12. If you want to get creative for a second, knowing that the Dodgers are financially strapped, maybe the Mets are making a play for Russell Martin here.
If a deal presented itself where the Mets got Russell Martin and Juan Pierre for Castillo, Pagan, and Thole, I think the they’d would have to consider this. Of course, they would then have an opening for Hudson too. Mets lineup would be:
Reyes Pierre Hudson Beltran Wright Franceour Martin Murphy
(while light on power again, there is a ton of speed and you would have one of the best defensive teams in the game)
Dodgers, on the other hand, would save $6mil next yr with this deal, at least $8mil in 2011, and more than $14mil in 2012- so it might be worth it for them as well…
No thx. I would rather trade Castillo for 2 prospects then sign Hudson. Get Holliday or Bay and 2 of Sheets, Harden, Bedard, Pineiro, Wolf and MArquis for your #2 and #3 SP. Get Barajas or Molina for C. Get Biemel and your off-season is complete.
That is a horrible lineup. Hudson was batting 7th and 8th for the Dodgers last year and Francouer batting 6th is a recipe for disaster. The LA press has commented thar Martin has peaked and 2009 is the expected norm going forward.
It’s really about gathering a bunch of character guys. I think that in Pierre-Hudson-Martin you are adding three players used to winning that have an edge to them. Another important thing with Martin and Hudson specifically is the significant upgrade they would give the Mets defensively.
When you consider that Martin is 9 years younger than Molina, and you add the leader the Mets need in Hudson, this becomes less about building a fantasy baseball roster, and one that will play hard every night, and do the little things to win baseball games.
Also, Martin had a OBP of .352 in an off year- Hudson had a .357 OBP- Pierre had a .365 OBP. To me, with a return to form of Reyes, Wright, Beltran- you have a nice balance of speed, power and elite defense to your everyday lineup
Also, with these moves- the Mets would still have $15 million to sign another player like Nady and add another starting pitcher AND maybe a reliever… Something to consider…
cots says pierre is owed 18.5 mil over 2 yrs
how bout mets get meche
dodgers get castillo
kC gets pierre?
Does KC need Pierre? How is their OF?
If Mets get Pierre, they can also bat Reyes 3rd- which Jerry has discussed before too…
If we can move Castillo AND get a good SP that would be awesome.
Castillo for OF/pitcher, I would be happy
I’ll accept pierre only if we get agon, if dont I’d rather have castillo.
I sincerely doubt this rumor. It makes no sense for the Mets. your replacing a weak hitter in a weak position with a weak hitter in a position that requires some pop. If this is rumored to be happening Im sure there is more in place.
Yeah, like Agon at 1st or Phillips for 2B. That is still not good enough as our Plan A though. And I don’t think it will happen.
And who exactly would you trade to the Padres and Reds????
mets -meche
cubs-burrell
rays-bradley +2 mil cash
royals-pierre +prospects from mets
dodgers-castillo
how about that?
those are 2 different trades, but I would do it if I were Omar, not if I was the royals’ GM
how bout this.
Pierre would make a very nice speedy lead off hitter for…….the Rays….instead of Carl Crawford.
Mets get: Carl Crawford
Dodgers get Castillo
Rays get Pierre & Bradley
Cubs get Burrell
I want Holliday.
There is no way the Rays take on two huge contracts (one of which is a headache) while shipping out their reasonably priced and frankly much better outfielder in Carl Crawford! Now too mention I don’t think the Rays can take on that kind of salary period, nevermind the headache.
No Meche. He is to risky with health issues. No Pierre. Don’t we have him but he goes by the name Pagan.
I’d do Castillo, Pagan, and Santos
for Meche and Callaspo
Callaspo can be the Mets 2B for the next 4 years. High Average, solid glove, good OBP. Doubles Machine
Ill take a shot at that one.
For all this insanity it would be better to drop him. It would beat a nightmare (Bradley), an injured 3/4 starter with $24M left (Meche), a glorified PH for $9M (Burrel), a $10M SP that has had three good months in recent memory (Millwood), a $19M pinch runner (Pierre), – have I missed anyone? Seriously, these are all more expensive and make the Mets worse. If he is that horrific just drop him and get on with life.
Who will replace him that is so great to make the m eu and nightmare and lost roster spot worth it? Hudson? Really, he is that great to make all this worth it. Face it – he was benched. He was batting 8th for the anemic Dodgers at the time. Yet we salivate for him to bat 2nd for us. How bad must our lineup be or how blind are the Dodgers? Do we get Phillips who has an OPS of .700 outside of the GReat American Ballpark?? Uggla? Well Dan is a real upgrade on offence. But it would still be better to just release him than to take on one of the aforementioned nightmares.
castillo for pierre…thats silly…pagan is much better than pierre and castillo is owed less than half the money…maybe omar is going to flip pierre for vernon wells..WTF…