Tag Archives: Twitter
Carlos Delgado, Brian Schneider, and Gary Sheffield have been categorized as Type B Free Agents by Elias.
…in other words, if the Mets offer salary 
arbitration to any of these three players, and if they decline it and sign with a new team, the Mets will be rewarded one additional draft pick for each player in the ‘Sandwich Round,’ which occurs between the first and second round of the draft…
…the thing is, i don’t know if i offer arbitration to any of these three guys, because i think all three might accept it… it’s a tough call… i have to think sheffield and schneider would prefer to find some place where they can start, and delgado would prefer to be a DH… but, they’re all probably looking at one-year deals anyway…
Tagged Twitter |According to the Daily News, the White Sox have agreed to send 2B Chris Getz and 3B Josh Fields to the Royals for infielder Mark Teahen.
Teahen hit .271 in 144 games 
for the Royals in 2009, during which Getz started 100 games for the White Sox at second base, while batting .261.
…i think we’re going to see a lot of trades like this…
Last week, in this post, I mentioned how Buster Olney of ESPN.com explained why, “The arbitration process is now outdated,” as a high-ranking MLB executive told him.
…in case you missed, in that post, i wrote:
…olney makes an excellent point… from what i understand, last july, before the trade deadline, Mark Teahen was discussed a lot, because he fits the mold of what olney is saying, which is, he is a good player, not great, but still with upside, but also due too much money through arbitration the next two seasons for the Royals to justify keeping him around, but enough money for a team like the Mets or Yankees to take a chance on, especially in return for a prospect or two… Jeff Francoeur fit in to this bucket as well, when with the Braves… as does Marlins OF Jeremy Hermida this off season…
In his report, Olney listed Brewers SS J.J. Hardy among two players in a similar situation, and whose contract might get him non-tendered.
For a list of other players who could find themselves non-tendered, and free agents, such as Garrett Atkins, Mike Fontenot, Ryan Garko, Conor Jackson and Delmon Young, check out this October post from MLB Trade Rumors.
Tagged Twitter |
Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said in a chat yesterday that the Cardinals and Matt Holliday have discussed a six-year, $96 million contract.
…hat tip to MLB Trade Rumors for finding the link…
…look, the Cardinals are going to work to re-sign holliday… obviously… he’s an awesome player, he did well there, they even hired Mark McGwire, his off-season hitting instructor, to be their batting coach, and what better way to show Albert Pujols how serious they are than to bring back holliday, who they traded top prospects to get… the thing is, holliday can and will likely get more than a six-year, $96 million deal… especially if the Yankees, Red Sox, Braves, Angels and Mets are legitimately roaming around the market place…
…i had one agent predict to me that holliday will sign a seven-year deal, and he’ll likely get a full no-trade clause… he compared holliday’s position in the market place to where Carlos Beltran was in 2005, when he got a seven-year, $119 million deal from the Mets… he believes most teams will prefer to give a five-year deal, there will be talk of an option, but, in the end, boras will get the seventh year for his client, and he will sign with whomever guarantees it… in fact, the agent said he feels holliday will get a very similar deal to what beltran signed years ago, i.e., seven years, $17 million per season…
Last month, in a post to his blog for Newsday, Ken Davidoff said Holliday’s first choice is to sign with the Yankees, followed by the Mets.
Holliday hit .353 with a .419 OBP, 13 home runs, 16 doubles and 55 RBI in 63 games batting behind Pujols this season, after being acquired by the Cardinals from the A’s in June.
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Tagged News, Twitter |Mets 1B prospect Ike Davis has been named to the Arizona Fall League’s 2009 Rising Stars 
Game, which matches up the best prospects from each MLB organization in an East Division against West Division format.
The game, which will take place on Nov. 7 at 8 p.m., will air on the MLB Network.
Davis is batting .340 with a .370 OBP, six doubles, three home runs and 10 RBI in 12 games with the Surprise Rafters in the AFL.
He hit .298 with 20 home runs and 71 RBI between Single-A St. Lucie and Double-A Binghamton in 2009.
According to Baseball America, he was the best first-base prospect in the Double-A Eastern League, and the 13th-best prospect overall.
To see video of Davis, during at at bat in the IBAF World Cup, click here.
Tagged Twitter |
This morning, Jeff Francoeur had surgery to repair the torn collateral ligament in his left thumb, the team announced in a press release.
The surgery was performed by Dr. Gary Lourie in Atlanta.
Francoeur originally injured his thumb on a diving catch at Citi Field against the Phillies on August 23, but played through the end of the the season.
Francoeur is expected to be ready for Spring Training.
Tagged Twitter |
In a report for Newsday, David Lennon talks with Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. about the Mets and Omar Minaya, and building a potential back-to-back World Champion.
In the mid–to-late 90s, the Phillies lost 90 games in back-to-back seasons, after which Ed Wade took over as GM, hired Dallas Green as a top adviser, among others, and drafted Chase Utley in 2000, Ryan Howard in 2001, Cole Hamels in 2002, and acquired Shane Victorino as a Rule 5 selection in 2004.
“I don’t know how many people he fired and hired, but he really revamped the entire system,” Amaro told Lennon. “The fact of the matter is, without bringing that type of talent into our system, we wouldn’t be here. That was Ed’s goal. The goal was to get here and stay here and we had to do it from kind of the ground up.”
Additionally, as Lennon points out, “The Phillies deep farm system allowed them to make the key midseason trade for Cliff Lee.”
…i have talked to a few player agents over the last week, and to a man they all say it is a given that the Mets are notorious for not spending heavily on the draft… and, since this is understood going in, top players do not slip to them…
…for instance, if a future player believes the Mets will pay ‘over slot,’ his agent will begin telling the market that his client will demand a lucrative ‘signing package,’ and, as such, low-spending teams will avoid drafting him because they know he will not sign for what they’re only willing or able to pay, and so the player slips in the draft, on purpose, where the 
big-spending team will scoop him up and meet his demands… this is what the Red Sox have been doing for years… it’s not a fair system… but, it is the system… and, since it can be manipulated, the Red Sox, Phillies, and others, manipulate it, helping to stock their farm system… for instance, by doing this, and doing it well, the Red Sox essentially end up drafting three or four ‘first-round quality prospects,’ every year they draft…
…from what i understand, this is not exclusive to big-market teams any more… for instance, the last two seasons, smaller-market teams have started forgoing less-impactful, major-league free agents, say, a bench player or two for $5 million, a journeyman relief pitcher for $5 million, and, instead, are re-allocating that $10 million to the draft, where they believe they can get a better return on investment…
To read more, including quotes from Amaro about his close friend, Minaya, read Lennon’s report, here.
Tagged News, Twitter |
According to Jon Heyman of SI.com, Manny Ramirez is planning to exercise his $20 million player option, and stay with the Dodgers.
…i actually think i am relieved, since i now know there will be know Manny-to-the-Mets talk, with rallies, bullhorns and endless talk of something that just will not happen…
Heyman also discusses Brandon Webb’s future with the D’Backs.
To read more from Heyman, follow him on Twitter, here, as well as at his Daily Scoop column for SI.com, here.
Tagged Twitter |Mets 21-year-old OF Fernando Martinez had season-ending surgery on his right knee in late July.
According to the team’s website, here, Martinez will begin playing in early November for Leones del Escogido in the Dominican Winter League.
…thanks to Rafael T for the link…
“I have begun to run the bases and my body has responded well,” Martinez is quoted as saying, noting he intends to play left field.
He hit just .176 with seven extra base hits in 29 games for the Mets during June and July.
…i no longer know what to make of martinez… i see the potential… i get it… but, in addition to learning how to take a pitch, it seems his biggest hurdle will be how to stay healthy… people who watched him in Triple-A this season raved about his overall game, saying he hit to all fields, had power and played outstanding defense… the question is, can he manage his body through a full, professional season… i mean, he has never played in more than 90 games in any one season, and this is the fourth-consecutive year he missed time due to some sort of injury… and so, it will be difficult for the Mets to build a team and count on him to ever plug a hole, even if, in an ideal world, he is more than capable of doing so one day…
Speaking of prospects…
The team’s Instructional League started this week at their complex in the Dominican Republic. To learn who is playing, and where they’re playing, check out this post from Adam Rubin for the Daily News.
Tagged Twitter |The Mets won the 1986 World Series 23 years ago today, Oct. 27.
For a recap of the game, check out Mets Merized Online.
In a post to Faith and Fear in Flushing, Greg Prince says, “You never forget your second.”
…i recently moved, and stumbled upon a box i have been lugging around from house to apartment to house over the years… in it, was the VCR tapes i recorded Game 7, the news and parade on… i haven’t watched it yet, because i no longer own a VCR… how’s that for marking the passage of time… but, i look forward to sitting through it… i thought i lost those tapes…
Speaking of which, this video on YouTube from IceManNYR is of the intro to the Ticker-Tape Parade Show on WNBC:
Tagged Twitter |I am not rooting for the Yankees, I just can’t root for the Phillies.
The two teams will compete in the World Series, starting Wednesday night, thus putting a perfect and painful finish on top of what has been one of the worst seasons in Mets history.
In the next few days, you will hear lots of people talk about theories and unwritten rules, all of which dictate who you, the Mets fan, should root for.
Some will say, ‘You root for your own league,’ while others will say, ‘You root for your rival.’ I don’t buy any of these ‘rules.’
To me, in the end, for Mets fans, the choice is personal, and basically comes down to your typical relationship with Yankee fans.
For instance, there are lots of Yankee fans who love to mock the Mets, they boast of their success and laugh at our failure – even though, typically, one has nothing to do with the other. And, while most all of the arrogant Phillies fans live 100 miles away, these cocky Yankees fans sit next to you on the subway, they’re in the next cubicle or live next-door, teasing and mocking all day, all night. In this case, I can totally understand why a Mets fan will root for the Phillies, because, while Philadelphia’s success will be irritating, it can easily be ignored. The Yankees and their fans, however, are unavoidable.
For me, however, my wife is a Yankees fan, most of my friends and family are Yankees fans, and they’re not arrogant about it and they never rub my face in their success… some days that approach can be equally infuriating because I think they’re actually taking pity on me. But, that’s the thing, under no circumstance will a Phillies fan ever take pity on the Mets… and nor should they. The Phillies fan should always rub their success in my face, because I would do the same to them.
In short, the Phillies anger me every day, where as I only think of the Yankees during a few days in June and the occasional October.
So, for me, I can handle knowing my respectful Yankee friends and family are happy, because it means Phillies fans will be sad and disappointed, and their failure makes me happy. So, again, it’s not that I am rooting for the Yankees, it’s that I’m rooting for the Phillies to fail.
For more, check out Greg Prince at Faith and Fear in Flushing, and Adam the Brooklyn Met Fan, who are rooting for the Phillies; as well as Steve Sidoti at Seven Train to Shea, and Matt Falkenbury of the Daily Stache, who are rooting for the Yankees.
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