2/10/10

Angel Pagan, Hearn For Cone, Reyes Trade Bait, Starting Infield...and Ike Davis

Angel Pagan:


Adam Rubin of the New York Daily News reports that the Mets have worked out a deal with outfielder Angel Pagan to avoid salary arbitration. The deal will pay Pagan $1.45 million for 2010. The Mets had offered him $1.275 million compared to the $1.8 million he had requested when the two exchanged figures on January 19th. Pagan's contract falls $87,500 below the exact midpoint between them, $1.5375 million. The deal still works out to a 152% raise from the $575,000 salary he earned in 2009 his final season before salary arbitration. - link  

Hearn For Cone:

Back then, it seemed a bizarre trade from the Mets point-of-view. I remember it vividly, being a diehard Mets fan and owning an abnormal affection for Hearn (hey, I’m a catcher, and love ALL catchers!). To me it was a strange deal, because although he was one of three young and capable backups the Mets had on the roster — Barry Lyons and John Gibbons were the others — Hearn was head and shoulders above the others in terms of defense, and Gibbons had a hard time staying healthy. What made the trade stranger was that the Mets traded steady Eddie for, of all things, a pitcher.  -  link



Reyes Trade Bait:

It might be something we've heard about for months, like Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox. It might be one that could make sense even with the ink barely dried on a player's contract, like Ben Sheets with the A's. And you can pretty much bank on there being a doozy or two nobody had any idea was coming. Plus, with an impressive list of possible free agents for 2011, the trade possibilities figure to expand, if not just in number than in quality of player. Stars such as Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, Cliff Lee, Derrek Lee, Carlos Pena and Brandon Webb are heading into 2010 with nothing set for 2011 and others such as Aramis Ramirez, Jose Reyes and Jimmy Rollins have club options pending. So depending on circumstances surrounding those and others, some big names could be part of the rumblings this summer.- link

 Starting Infield:


David Wright and his presumably chiseled pecs will be back at third where they all belong, hopefully passing on Citi-Field-specific hitting tips and just going at it as he has in the past. His HR/FB took a nosedive last year, plummeting from 16.7% in 2008 all the way down to 6.9%. Some of that was the ballpark; the rest of it, who knows? Even if it rebounds to the 10-12% range -- and not all the way back to his 13.9% career mark -- he should still see a nice bump in homeruns.

Jose Reyes is healthy and rearing to go, and the Mets need him to get back to the five-win shortstop monster he was from 2006-2008.

Luis Castillo is all we've got at second right now. Orlando Hudson is off the market; Felipe Lopez is still out there, and while I haven't read anything specifically linking him to the Mets, Joel Sherman hasn't yet told me that Lopez would never sign with the Mets so we'll just keep him on the 'maybe' list for now.

Daniel Murphy, a perfectly capable utility player, is apparently your starting firstbaseman. How does that taste? If it's any consolation, Fernando Tatis might get some reps over there against tough lefties, so there's that. - link

Ike Davis:

1B (2009 – Power 79; First Base Rate 59; Discipline 32; Speed 31) - After being drafted in the first round of 2008, Davis posted one of that summer’s most disappointing debuts. 2009, however, was a different story entirely, as Davis was solid in the FSL, before destroying ESL pitching to the tune of a .951 OPS, posting the #12 Performance score in the League. He continued his torrid pace this Fall in the AZFL. His quick wrists provide him with plus power, and at least average contact skills. Defensively he is sound at first base. The downside is that Davis can get into grooves where he pulls everything—making him vulnerable to tough breaking ball pitchers. With no real threat in front of him in the organization for the first base job, the certainty factor is relatively high. We see his ceiling to be that of a Major League average, everyday, firstbaseman. Look for Davis to begin 2010 in AAA, with a strong chance of seeing New York before the season ends. - link

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