1. Daniel Murphy is just too valuable to the 2012 Mets to consider trading. Look, no one is expecting much from this team next season; however, if they are going to compete at all, they need bats like Murph. The long range plan for second base doesn’t include him. Reese Havens will be next up, followed by Danny Muno and Phillip Evans. What exactly is wrong with Murphy until that? And, by the way… no team trades for a DH. Designated hitters are ex-field players with bad legs. Murphy doesn’t have bad legs. He has a bad glove and the only way to improve it is to use it.
2. MetsBlog broke a story this morning that Alex Gonzalez turned down an offer from the Mets before he signed a one-year deal with Milwaukee (In 149 games with the Braves in 2011, Gonzalez hit .241 with a .270 on-base percentage, 15 home runs and 46 RBI in 564 at-bats. He’s a career .247 hitter with 152 home runs and 665 RBI in his 13-year major league career). You have to understand that veteran players only sign one-year contracts either with the team they just played for or someone that can get them to the World Series. The Mets are way behind the eight-ball when it comes to any WS quest and they simply are going to have to first build a potential championship team from within first.
3. Ben Berkon, over at http://risingapple.com/2011/12/10/why-the-mets-should-go-matt-moore-all-over-their-own-young-players, wrote a fascinating article on why the Mets ought to follow the same path Tampa Bay went down with Matt Moore, and sign both Jon Niese and Ike Davis to a similar contract. His contention is obviously, in the long run, an economical way of retaining players like Jose Reyes and David Wright. It’s a cute idea and only works when the player doesn’t come down with a long-term injury. I remember when both Reyes and Wright were signed to their Mets deal and they seemed endless. I would consider doing this with Davis, though I’m still in shock how long he had to sit down after that marshmallow bump into Wright. I would give my mother-in-law eight years before I’d sign a pitcher.
4. Ryan Braun? You gotta be fucking kidding me. Ryan Braun? So, there really isn’t a Santa Claus. You know, fuck it. Just throw out the drug rules and let everybody do whatever the hell they want to. I mean, if I’m going to pay $11 for a hot dog, you better play that game a lot better than I do. We can make Steve Howe the Commissioner. Don’t worry about chewing tobacco, we’ll even let Jim Leyland light up his Marlboro Reds in the dugout. I mean, you’re paying some of these guys over a million dollars a month. They can afford health insurance and bail when they’re busted. Oh yeah, this happened the same day Manny Ramirez was reinstated. Really?
3 comments:
@ Mack, I've been waiting for this to post so I could comment all day!
1) AGREED!!! Murphy is hugely important to the Met offense right now. Justin Turner might be an okay #2 hitter but Murphy is a much better all-around bat. Trading Murphy for Dirks sounds like fixing a broken leg by breaking a hand.
2) Making an offer to A-Gon (The SS) was simply do diligence by the Mets. He was bound to sign elsewhere but he'd buy the Mets a season or two while they searched for Jose's heir.
3) I agree and disagree. The article was a good one and I love the idea of the Mets locking up homegrown talent. I just feel (with each passing day) that Jon Niese doesn't NEED to be in our plans for the future and that we could use him right now to fill a position that we have nobody ready to play (Catcher).
4) It broke my heart to read this. Not because he's on my fantasy team (he is and it's lame, but the New York Half Men can win without him.) Not because he shares a religion with me (if all these Christians can use PEDs why not the Jews?) It's not even because he reminds me of my cousin. Ryan Braun was one of those guys I found it SO VERY EASY to like. I don't want the allegations to be true and therefore I'm firmly in his camp of something screwy went on. I mean... that test score indicated he was the physical embodiment OF testosterone. That seems to look like someone may have misplaced a decimal somewhere.
With all that said, I had the same thought as you. Why should we bother at this point? Every athlete we fall in love with is either cheating and not being caught or cheating AND being caught. Lets allow everything under the sun to be legal and put an asterisk next to every stat that came out after 1960.
Must keep murphy unless you are in complete rebuild mode which they are not. As far as Gonzalez, I'd rather have Tejada. Maybe he's not the Mets' future SS, but until the day he's replaced, let him grow into something you could get a valuable piece with via trade. I wouldn't lock any players up until the Mets are competitive again. If you lock them up now and the pitching prospects don't pan out, here you are with contracts you don't want again. Keep the players on one year contacts, thats a luxury. Ryan Braun...does this shock anyone anymore? I never really cared about who took what. I also think that the game is alot cleaner then it was and perhaps now, after yet another revelation, some players will think twice. I do think that they should amend their rules so that if any player gets caught cheating, any personal awards he won within three years of the failed test should be striped and given to the second place finisher. Also, any failure automatically disqualifies you from any all star game for the remainder of your career. These players shouldn't be representing their teams or the sport.
I have to disagree on Murphy. He's a nice player and I'd hate to lose him, but if the return is good he goes. I don't think they Mets are actively shopping him, they're gauging the market on most of their players.
I agree with Dave though, trading him for Dirks is counterproductive.
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