12/8/09

Early Breakfast Links: Jose, Phillips, Schneider, Lackey, Wolf, Cruz, and Steve Cohen


Jose Reyes:


Joel Sherman of the New York Post says Mets SS Jose Reyes began light running a few days ago, and the team is confident he will be 100 percent by Spring Training. …man, i can’t wait to see R

eyes out there, doing his thing, in St. Lucie… that, more than any one free-agent signing or trade will give me confidence for 2010…  metsblog.com





Steve Phillips:

Making for the door, however, I saw one last chance for a good story. Steve Phillips, still gainfully employed by ESPN, stood against a railing, looking into the stream. Realizing the potential hilarity of such a souvenir, I approached him and politely asked him to take a picture.

"Sure kid, one second." He then pretended to get a call about Johan Santana getting traded in his headset, ran toward Buster Olney, strategically positioned by a garden gnome, and pointed toward me and whispered. Then, like girls on a playground, they both quickly scampered away. Incredulous that my opinion of Steve Philips could get any lower, I just stood there.

"You're not going to let Steve Phillips get you down, are you?" Clay asked.

"No."

"Good, he's a dick."

amazinavenue


Brian Schneider:

I'll begin with a mildly depressing trivia question. According to Fangraphs the 2008 Mets leaders in WAR were, in descending order, David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey, and Carlos Delgado. Here's the question: do you know who their seventh most valuable player was (again, by Fangraphs WAR)? The seventh most valuable Met in 2008 was Brian Schneider (*gasp*), who contributed a WAR of 1.6. And therein lies the problem. When a team spends $137 million on its players and features Brian Schneider as its seventh-best player, something went very, very wrong. Brian Schneider can get on the 7 train and not even be the seventh-best baseball player on board. That Schneider somehow was the seventh best player on the New York Mets, a professional baseball team, illustrates the fundamental flaw in the recent rosters: a lack of mid-level talent. - amazinavenue



John Lackey:

Buzz from Indy surrounding the Mets is that they are more focused towards pitching in John Lackey, than hitting in Matt Holliday. According to Buster Olney of ESPN.com via Twitter, the Mets will meet with John Lackey's agent tonight. Speaking of meetings... tonight Minaya will also meet with representatives for Randy Wolf, Joel Pineiro, and Bengie Molina. - link


Randy Wolf:

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports says the Brewers are making a strong push for Randy Wolf. Rosenthal says the Brewers are looking for a couple of starting pitchers to slot in with Yovani Gallardo. Last week, also on Fox Sports, Rosenthal said the Yankees will take a look at John Lackey, Rich Harden,... To read the rest of this post, as well as other news, notes and rumors, go to MetsBlog.com. - link

Can confirm reports that #Brewers on verge of 3-yr deal wtih Randy Wolf, a pitcher who also was on #Mets radar   -  Joel Sherman


Steve Cohen:

According to the Cyclones Twitter page, Steve Cohen -- the teams GM, has won the Mets' Sterling Minor League Executive of the Year award. Congrats to Steve. He served as my boss when I interned with the Cyclones this past summer. He was a real nice guy and even gave me great seats to a Mets game on one occasion.

link






Nelson Cruz:

According to a MLB source, the Mets have inquired about the availability of Rangers OF Nelson Cruz. Cruz, 29, hit .260 with 33 HR, 76 RBI, and 20 SB in 128 games for the Rangers last season. At a bargain basement price, Cruz made $400K last season and is under control until 2013. I’d love to see Minaya go after and trade for Cruz. He’s young, under contract, and it looks as if he’s coming into his own, after his 2009 breakout season. With the Mets more focused on pitching in John Lackey, rather than hitting, Cruz is a more viable option than Willingham or Rivera.  -  nybaseballdigest

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