In his most recent Rumblings & Grumblings column for ESPN.com, Jayson Stark the Royals have let teams know they will consider trading starting pitchers Gil Meche or Brian Bannister during Spring Training.
Stark adds, “Of course, both guys have to prove they’re healthy this spring. And at the moment, the Royals wouldn’t seem to have enough starting-pitching depth to make trading away a starter really feasible. But they still appear intent on listening, especially if they get young pitching back.”
Meche, 31, was 23–24 with a 3.82 ERA in his first 64 starts after signing a five-year deal with the Royals, but he was just 6–10 with a 5.09 ERA in 23 starts last season, during which opponents hit .281 against him.
He is due $12 million each of the next two seasons, after which he can become a free agent.
The 29–year-old Bannister is 28–37 with a 4.83 ERA in 85 starts in the three years since being traded by the Mets to Kansas City, during which he has walked just 152 batters, while striking out 288, in 501 innings.
For what it’s worth, in late-November last year, Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com said the Royals had inquired about Mets OF Angel Pagan.
By the way, Stark says free-agent RHP John Smoltz is in no rush to sign a new contract.
Stark also writes about about the next CBA, the declining number of multi-year free-agent contracts, and the situation surrounding Johnny Damon, among other topics in MLB.
At this point I would not trade Pagan for Meche, but would however trade Pagan for Billy Butler. Butler would make a good combo with Murph.
hhahaahahaha
haha?
ya, butler would be our all the time 1B. what are you talking about haha?
what in the world are you smoking… no way in the world royals do that, not even the pirates would make that move.
lol, how about pagan for ryan braun. that should work…….
I’d much rather have Gil Meche than John Smoltz. But thats obvious. Meche is still a starting pitcher while John Smoltz is washed up and won’t be able to pitch a full season. Although, that makes Smoltz sound like he’s already a Met.
No to Gil Meche and Bannister. If its not a proven # 2 i would rather stay with our guys than any of these moves and trade away our young guns
meche is most certainly an upgrade over our #5 however. so take it for what you will Meche at least offers us a little improvement.
if we get bannister back i want him in the minors probably
What “young guns” would we be giving up? Pagan is 27, hardly a young gun.
OK, let me be the first:
Castillo and a lower level pitcher for Meche + $6m. Equals out the salary for this year.
Then we can finally sign the O-Dog.
When did the royals started working for the mets ?
I think O-Dog will be gone by spring trainging
The Royals wouldn’t want Castillo considering they already have 7+ Infielders that could be on most major league teams starting day of the season. Hence why they’ve been open to the idea of trading Alberto Callaspo, the 26 year old 2B in a deal w/ Meche as a way of getting rid of Meche’s contract.. I’d love to see the Mets trade Castillo, Pagan and another decent prospect for Meche to make it worthwhile of the Royals to take the deal, perhaps a Nick Evans or Dylan Owen and Eddie Kunz package.
I don’t have much faith in Meche and and I wouldn’t want Bannister back. At the end of the day I would still rather have Pagan.
If they were to get Smoltz it may pay dividends because he could mentor and help with the mechanics of Ollie, Pelf, etc. If getting a future 1st ballot HOFer that you can use as a starter, reliever and mentor is going to cost less than $4 or $5 Million I say go for it. Along with getting another starter who can step up as well.
No to the fragile 43 year old ex-Brave. The Mets have Santana and Blanco and a pitching coach, and a bullpen coach…they don´t need a mentor, they need a guy who can pitch 200 innings.
Again, last year the Mets had a total of two- that´s 2!– pitchers who pitched over 100 innings as starters. And neither one even sniffed 200 innings. That´s just ridiculous.
That’s how bad the injuries were. But in a typical year Johan is a lock for 200. Pelfrey is a lock for 180 and so is perez. That’s not a bad start, but i’d totally say they need a work horse
And, if I’m not mistaken, Pelfrey may be a lock for 200. He’s done it before.
Starters that go deep make the pen better too.
Meche is a guy I’d love to have, and is worth trading Pagan for. If you can give them Castillo and a low-level pitcher, eat half of Castillo’s contract and get Meche back, then go sign Orlando Hudson (I refuse to call him O-Dog) as Bruce suggests above… I’d be okay with that, too.
But I think there’s a good shot that what you see is what you’re getting with our rotation.
Also, Jayson Stark = Zero credibility.
what has omar done recently that would lead you to believe that he would all of a sudden go on a rampage and make all these moves? .. we are lucky if they sign 1 sp.. let alone trade for one and sign a 2nd baseman all while unloading castillo
how about pull santana out of his arse or francouer? you are a monkey if you think minaya is not trying to make moves that benefit the team. when they come up he will do them, if they do not then obviously there is nothing to do.
Ah Bannister for Burgos.. another Omar Minaya classic.. trading away young cheap pitching (the most coveted thing in the game) for a bag of beans.
at the time…i liked the move. Burgos was young and had a lot talent just needed to harness it. We still had the “15 minute” teacher on staff at the time as well.
Plus Bannister was an extra arm at the time. He was making the team out of ST. He had a limited ceiling to begin with and so we traded from a strength. We need a power arm in the pen at the time as well.
Obviously, it didn’t work out. But thats easy to say. It was a fair deal at the time though.
Yeah it was a pretty easy move to make. Trade a guy with no upside in the majors in Bannister for a young Hard throwing reliever who was in the majors and had some success in the bigs. He had a monster fastball and some upside..
The mets traded for him and he underwent Tommy John surgery, then beat hs girl friend and ran over 2 women in his SUV in the Dominican republic and was rightly released.
At the time of that deal it was a good decision.
It was never a good decision. The guy couldn’t throw strikes.. and we trotted out the likes of Jose Lima in 2007 instead of keeping on Bannister as a 4/5 game starter.
We lost the division by one game that year as I don’t need to remind anyone. Check out Bannister’s 2007 stat line vs the likes of Jose Lima, Vargas and the other clowns we used that year.
Probably cost us the division.
jose lima wasn’t even on the roster on opening day.
You can criticize the lack of fore-sight, certainly.
But in April of 2007, we had a rotation of Pedro, El Duque, Maine, Oliver, and Pelfrey.
Bannister got beat by Pelfrey for the #5 spot. I am a fan of depth, so its a shame we didn’t keep him. But we did need a power arm in the pen. So we traded a minor leaguer for a guy who was raw but had more upside. AT THE TIME, it was a fair trade.
I bet we can go to EVERY GM in all of baseball look at their trade track records and come up the same poor “decisions”. Had Burgos gone on to become Dotel, we would even mention this trade because it would give him too much credit.
LOL
lol no you are whining that we dont have another number five starter that we had, 3? years ago…. im surprised some of you can even type considering all the nonsense you spout
Jose Lima didn’t even play for the ’07 Mets.
It was a TERRIBLE move by Omar getting yet another hard throwing, wild pitcher who was a reliever vs. a guy who could’ve been a solid #5 pitcher under their control for at least the next 3 years.
if the mets are going to trade Angel Pagan. this is the best time for it because his value is as high as it will ever be. but not for Gil Meche. i’m sure we could get something better for Pagan and a prospect
With Beltran out, Pagan is not going anywhere. He’s CF and GMJ is the 4th OF.
How is Meche’s shoulder?
Pagan has never had a healthy season … including last year (he started the year on the DL).
well last year’s start wasnt because of durability, he was in the DL because he separated his shoulder in LA when he dove into the seats. the hamstring injury at citi is another story
So getting injured one way is not durability but getting injured another way is? I do not understand that statement one bit.
If a guy gets hurt a lot, weather it’s diving into the stands or straining a hammy, an injury is an injury… I didn’t see a difference except one is preventable (diving into the stands) and one isn’t.
And there has been a DL visit EVERY year of his career.
Get castillo and a prospect and ship him to the royals for meche.. I could care less about meche’s shoulder.. as long as castillo is off the team it’ll be a happy day in metland!!!
not if Meche is a mess and instead of a 6 million dollar dead weight we have a 12 million dollar one.
Mark at least it will be for one year, castillo is here for 2.. oh, and don’t forget perez makes 12 million as well..
but alex…Ollie can still pitch, regardless what metblog fans complain about. If he is healthy, i bet he wins 15.
Meche on the other hand, we have no idea if he is good. If trade for him now we have 12 million on our rotation and then we he has a 6 era in june what do we do then?
Would the Royals be willing to take Castillo is a deal for Meche. Castillo makes $6M for the next 2 years. Meche mays $11m … but how many more years lest on his current deal? 1? 2? more?
Do the Royals even need a 2B? Their projected starting 2B is Alberto Callaspo. Who??? But looking at his stats from last year: 576 at bats, 11 HR’s 73 RBI, batted .300. So I don’t see them in any rush to get a 2B, especially a $6M 2B
If you hate Castillo, fine. But who do you think would play 2B? It is NOT going to be Orlando Hudson. Cora would probably get the job.
Trust me, I hate cora too, but I rather see him there than this f*ing jinxed on the team
I think they just pay the money and get Meche.
No team is interested in Castillo, the Mets are stuck with him
But Meche is available and would be a sturdy addition to the rotation.
We’re paying Oliver Perez the same amount and will return lesser results than Meche.
They’ve done a good job saving money this off-season.
How many bench spots do we have open?
12 pitchers means 5 bench spots … you have to carry a back-up catcher, a back-up SS (Cora) and a back-up CF (Pagan or GMJ) … so that leaves 2 spots. One of the two is now Tatis.
yeah but we know one thing….they will carry 3 catchers. Because they are dumb. So include Coste in that roster makeup.
Last year. We needed 3 catchers because Castro actually had some pop which the team lacked.. and he could have been used as a PH. Also, at any given time.. 2 of those catchers were hurt.. Not DL hurt but nagging injury hurt.
Meche would be a nice addition. however we are stuck with Castillo, but I;m sure Pagan and a low level prospect would do the trick. That is if there is any truth to this story and I’m not convinced that this is anything other than speculation.
i do not get it …
Meche is an ok pitcher, but at his contract, is a mistake. If i am Royals, i would like a do-over and just be able to release him with no further financial obligation.
Pagan, at his contract, is an asset.
Why would we give our (currently) starting CF, an asset, for a pitcher that is not very good, and coming off of an injury, lousy year, and pay a salary 50% more than going rate for similar middle of road FA pitchers? And then throw in another low level prospect?
am i wrong? is meche much really better than pineiro, marquis, etc.?
How could the Royals release Meche without any financial obligation?
If he better than Pineiro, Marquis, etc? Probably not, but they are no longer available. Omar played poker and lost.
As an aside, Marquis is nothing special. He had a great first half last year, followed by a fair second half. If you remember, before the Putz deal last winter, the Cubs offered Marquis to the Mets for Heilman. And the Mets said no. Maybe the Mets are stupid. Ot maybe Marquis is just a guy that they do not like.
marquis for heilman that so be a due over !
should*
I know that they cannot release without financial obligation … just like Mets cannot release Ollie or Luis. I am just making point that i think the Royals would if they could, b/c the guy is not worth his contract. And fact they are paying him 11M when Pineiro, Marquis, etc. all signed for less is proof.
Since that’s the case, why would Mets have to offer a valuable asset to Royals to trade for him … agreeing to take him off their hands should be enough.
Pinero had one good year and turned down the mets offer they disn’t offer marquis a contract figuring they would sign pinero so here we are
a think he is worth the risk.
Who cares? The Mets are open to trading Castillo!! Hopefully thats the most recent post on every other team’s blogs.
Open to trading him? Castillo has been on the block now for months. No one wants him unless the Mets are going to eat a significant portion of his contract (and they won’t).
It´s really how the recurring theme on virtually every site I´ve visited has been the loathing for Luis Castillo. I know the Mets can´t make moves just to please fans, but releasing Castillo would be a smart baseball move that would please their fans at the same time. They´re worried about Pelfrey´s psychological state and his effectiveness, yet they do nothing to make his ground ball style more effective by improving the IF defense.
If the Mets released Castillo … they’d have to shut down MetsBlog … there would be nothing to talk about. :-)
They are NOT going to release him and eat $12M. If they found a sucker to take him in a deal, the will NOT sign Orlando Hudson. We’d hear how much of a clubhouse leader Cora is … and he’d get the job. Castillo’s roster spot would probably be taken by Anderson Hernandez.
Does that make the Mets better?
And if the Mets wanted to “please their fans”, they’d lower prices.
I agree, the Mets aren´t going to eat $12 million–it´s not their style. But look at what the Angels did with GMJ, and what the RedSox were willing to do with Lowell. They determined that they didn´t want the player anymore, and realized that the salary was a sunk cost.
If the Wilpons fell off their boat while trying to raise the anchor, they´d hold onto it until they sank to the bottom, because they wouldn´t want to buy a new one. ¨It´s a perfectly good anchor, really. We can´t just let it go….glub, glub, glub…¨
First of all.. GMJ was coming off horrible seasons. He deserved to be dumped.. Lowell was not dumped.. They probably knew he had a bum thumb and tried to trade him before he needed surgery.
Castillo had a bad 2008 and the dropped popup against the hated YANKEES which no one can seem to forget! He actually had a good year last year. One of the bright spots on a horrible 2009 team! He doesn’t deserve to be dropped. If he repeated 2009 after 2008 then yes he should be dropped, but he didn’t!
I think the Angels were going to release him in spring training, if not before. If they were willing to eat 21 out of 23 he was owed, they would have been willing to eat the whole 23 to get rid of him.
Thinking about Castillo´s ¨range¨ reminds me of the old theatre critic who described an actor as having an emotional range ¨that ran the gamut from A to B.¨
lmao !!!
Omar is open to trading Castillo maybe but he has to find someone who will take him and there doesn’t seem to be anyone who wants him so we are stuck.
And that’s why he should’ve been fired, but no, he was awarded wit a 3 year extension and the he went and gave us another gift.. oliver perez for 3 more years!!!! Ugh.. the paiiinnn!!!
How much does Omar make a year? $1m? $1.5M? 2M? Let’s say $2M … so his 3 year contract is less that what Castillo makes this year.
People are always suggesting that the Mets cut a player, like Castillo, and eat the contract. The Mets could fire Omar at any time and eating that contract is not big deal.
If the Mets are really really cheap and don’t want to eat Omar’s contract, they can just reduce his responsibilities and authority. You know, make him appear to have the power and then be a fall guy … so Jeff Wilpon can fire him and look like he means it, when he says losing is unacceptable. Oh wait, that might already be the plan.
How about a history lesson for the ignorant?
Reign under Omar:
05: 83-79 First .500 season since 2001
06: 97 wins – WS appearance
07: collapse 1 (1 game away from playoffs)
08: collapse 2 (1 game away from playoffs) – Omar gets 3 year contract extension.
09: injury riddled year to forget
So you’re saying Omar shouldn’t get a chance to redeem himself? No matter what you say about him.. He brought the franchise back from the dead. With a healthier core and a couple of minor additions, 2010 should be a good year. If the team is healthy this year and the team still stinks, then you have a case for firing Omar.
They went to the world series in ’06 … really? What planet was this on?
Not on the planet I’m on.
Brought the franchise back from the dead? We went from 97 wins, to collapse 1 to collapse 2 to 92 losses. We’re gonig backwards Metsastic.
>>> If the team is healthy this year and the team still stinks, then you have a case for firing Omar.
LMAO. You mean I can’t make a case for dumping him now.
We lost 92 games last year. The AAA team was 30+ games under. The AA team was 30+ games under (top 3 teams in the organization were a combined EIGHTY-FIVE GAMES UNDER .500.) Consider the case made. There are 8 minor league teams that play a full season. Seven of them had losing records.
He botched every single injury last year and the Church injury the year before.
He falsely blamed Adam Rubin for Bernazard, and totally embarassed the club in theprocess.
He royally screwed up the Randolph dismissal and totally embarassed the club in the process.
He hasn’t made any trades to improve the club at the trading deadline.
He sat with his thumb up you know where while the team was blowing a 7 game lead in the last 17.
He sat with his thumb up you know where while the team was blowing a 3.5 game lead in the last 17.
Any one of those things would be sufficient enough for him to get the boot.
I can’t see how there’s a case to not get rid of him.
Extension or not if they get off to a bad start he and the zen master are gone in june imo.
I wonder if matt post a poll how many mets fans would actually want the team to star bad so he and jerry get fire.. ? I know I wouldn’t, but I would..
I want Jerry fired. He is horrible. Half the times he doesn’t seem to know what he’s doing. He also makes the oddest moves like he doesn’t know the game. I’d rather have WIllie back (never wanted him fired in the first place)!
In the best of both worlds the team does great and they get fired any way!!
I don’t think Gil Meche would fit this team… We got Josh Fogg and RA Dickey….
Stark also says the Mets are looking at Braden Looper. I don’t think Mets fans would be too excited to see him heading back to Queens. Last year he was 14-7 but had an ERA of 5.22. He did pitch almost 200 innings the last 3 years though. If they can get him on a one year deal for about $3-5M he might be worth it. he made $4.75 last year so I’d think he can be had for about the same.
Isn’t Looper the guys who started the Jose Jose Jose chant in the Cardinals locker room after they Mets the Mets in the playoffs.
Yeah, liek I want him back.
Breaking NEWS!! on MLB Trade rumors.com
“Luis Castillo has just been release by the Mets”
not funny
If they try to get Bannister, every Met front office employee should be fired, if not aborted. He stinks. Meche is an interesting #3 starter, but the they still need a 2. Finally, what is this O-Dog we speak of? Is it a Disney Movie about an inner city canine? Is it something in TIger Woods new tome about tantra? Is it a new species? A new snack cake? Otherwise, I am confused…
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Meche on our team by opening day
most are against getting either of these guys which i agree with they dont make this team better at all,and they dont want castillo so you can get rid of that idea,,, castillo will be the mets starting second basemen no matter whether we like it or not,,,,,he will bat second and hudson will sighn soon somewhere,and not in new york,,,,i really cant belive you all havent givin up on hudson comming here yet,,,i agree with someone else who posted if there not a true #2 guy,,,,then we mind as well go with what we have,, we mind as well grin and bare it were lookin at the 2010 new york mets,,,,for better or worse ill be cheering them on hoping somehow they make it to the playoffs
I think Meche is definitely an upgrade for a 4/5 type starter, it would depend on the cost however.
Carlos Zambrano is the difference maker the Mets need. If the Mets agree to guarantee years 3-4 of his contract, he’ll “love NY” and wave his no trade clause.
This is the type of move that Omar likes to make and it changes the offseason completely.
It would atleast make the rotation formidable if we got meche (solid lefty who would probably do better in the NL). That and Catalanato in the bench (can play 2nd and corner OF) would be nice pickups…. Of course pitching is #1 priority, but these two moves would bring some confidence to the fans. Meche would be a great fit somewhere 3-5 in the rotation and would be better than smoltz, Pedro, nieve, washburn, or anyone else who would really be put in the 5 spot. Now if we got meche for the rotation and a smoltz or Pedro for the bullpen and spot starter, that might be enough pitching to make us a wild card contender.
I was with you the whole way until you mentioned the geezers for the pen. I’d pass on pedro and Smoltz. I don’t think anyone would ever pick up Castillo, that is a contract the Mets are stuck with this coming year and next.
And since they are spending $12 million for Perez, they should realize the better value they will get with Meche. He’s clearly *not* Johan or even SLackey, but “Trachsel-lite” should be a solid member of the rotation for a few seasons.
Suck it up and get him.
Not to bust chops, but isn’t Meche a righty?
I might be wrong, he could be righty, I thought lefty tho
He’s a righty pitcher.
But word on the street is he signed his contract with his right hand.
would i like meche? yes
would i like meche with his contract? no way
would i take him if we get rid of castillo? yes
hes defenitely not a #2. but if we arent getting anyone else who can be close to 2 then i think hes good
“would i take him if we get rid of castillo? yes”
You live in dreamland.
No team is interested in Castillo, even if he were free.
I don’t know why we were so quick to get rid of Bannister. Perhaps we needed to have room to keep Aaron Heilmann. Smooth move exlax.
Maybe because Bannister was a mediore junkballer maxing out at 86 mph? Maybe beause Heilman had better stuff at the time (and still does…)? Why the love for Bannister, who had one ehhhh season? Was it because he worked hard?
At the time our rotation was full and we needed help for the pen. Simple as that.
i will take back everything bad i said about Omar and give him a golden star if we can get rid of Castillo and get Hudson
pl0x? =)
oh i LOl’d at the comment “No team is interested in Castillo, even if he were free.”
It’s true. Mets do not eat contracts that makes them “me-gans” (not Vegans), they do not eat money. Even if they did eat contracts and tried to find a taker for Castillo, I really think they would have a hard time finding a taker. There’s a lot of surplus at the position, he’s not as mobile as he used to be, he is a light hitting (no pop) for a .300 average last year and his glove his suspect.
And all that has nothing to do with his contract.
Anyone suspecting the Mets could deal Castillo AND his contract are smoking something funny.
i agree. i want castillo out of here as much as the next person, but it isnt going to happen. it is looking more and more like the mets are going to make low risk, low cost deals and hope for the best. i really would like to see them sign barajas at catcher though
Thats a great name, burrito jones
i think Omar thinks Castillo is good.
I think your correct.
Meche would be nice at the right price. He is coming off an injury and I do think that he is going to have a pretty good year this year but he is still a risk that can be had, but at what price. The report says that the Royals will look to trade him during ST and probably look to get a pitcher back in the deal. They have also showed interest in Pagan. What the Mets should do is sign Gomes/Thames/or one of the other free agent OF’s right now. They could use another bench guy anyway. Come ST they should offer Pagan and Perez for Meche and maybe a A or AA prospect. If Ollie looks good in ST I think that that they Royals would take this deal and than Ollies contract would be gone with just Castillo to go.
mash and bannister…………omar is interested