Eno Sarris @enosarris - I don't think Jose Abreu is a great fit for the Mets. He's probably a good slugger, but he'd be the Mets' fourth first basemanThe Blue Jays may consider trading Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Reyes, and others this winter, according to Ben Nicholson-Smith from SportsNet Canada. http://metsblog.com/metsblog/blue-jays-may-consider-trading-bautista-encarnacion-reyes/#comment-1078709381
Mack – As Matt Cerrone points out, that the Mets might (and should) have interest in Bautista. Yes, he’s been injured for parts of the last two seasons, but he’s put up better numbers thatn anything the Mets had anyway. Bautista would play 2014 as a 33-yr. old.
The Reyes-back-to-New-York is a pipedream. There’s no way that Sandy Alderson would take on that contract unless he got a similar phone call from upstairs that he got when the David Wright contract went down. You know me… I think the Mets erased half their face when they shunned Jose and I will always feel that way. I’ve been a Mets fan all my life and I’ve gone through cycles… the Gil Hodges’ Mets… the Tom Seaver Mets… the Doc Gooden Mets… the Mike Piazza Mets… this is supposed to be the Wright and Reyes Mets… period.
Seattle Mariners –
J.P. Schwartz (@Jaypers413) is off and running again with his top 20 prospect lists http://topprospectalert.com/2013/10/10/seattle-mariners-2014-top-20-prospect-rankings/ Here’s the first, Seattle: 1. Taijuan Walker RHP, 2. DJ Peterson 1B, 3. Danny Hultzen LHP (1.7mil thru 2015), 4. Luiz Gohara LHP, 5. Victor Sanchez RHP, 6. James Paxton LHP, 7. Austin Wilson OF, 8. Chris Taylor SS, 9. Edwin Diaz RHP, 10. Gabriel Guerrero OF, 11. Tyler Pike LHP, 12. Patrick Kivlehan 1B, 13. Tyler Marlette C, 14. Abe Almonte OF, 15. Ketel Marte SS, 16. Julio Morban OF, 17. Xavier Avery OF, 18. Tyler O’Neill OF, 19. Stefen Romero OF, 20. Dominic Leone RHP
There’s a tremendous amount of money coming off the books… the $84+mil 2-13 salary is currently on the books at the level of $34.257mil. Six major players (1B Kendrys Morales, LF Raul Ibanez, RP Oliver Perez, OF Endy Chavez, C Humberto Quintero, C Henry Blanco) hit free agency.
Here’s how the 2014 team stacks up right now:
1B – lost to free agency – backup (Justin Smoak - .238, 20-HR, 50-RBI) ARB-1
2B – under contract through 2014
SS – pre-ARB
3B – pre-ARB
LF – lost to free agency (backup – Michael Morse – 31.yrs old - .226)
CF – lost to free agency (backup – Abraham Almonte – pre-ARB - .264
RF – ARB-1
SP1 – signed thru 2019
SP2 – signed thru 2014
SP3 – can opt out before 2014 season (Joe Saunders)
SP4 – Adam Harang – now on Mets
SP5 – Erasmo Ramirez – pre-ARB
Summation – This team needs just about everything, but it is desperately in need of starter. Their two top pitching prospects, Taijuan Walker and Danny Hultzen, should both wind up making this rotation in 2014.We can’t help them in the outfield, but we sure could with a 1B/DH.
Ron Darling –
“They have to get a starting pitcher with (Matt) Harvey out. Maybe you get a veteran guy out there on a one or two-year deal to help with the younger pitchers, teach them how to be pros. And they need offense, whether you make a big splash or do what the Red Sox did and get some capable pros. The toughest decision for the Mets is what players on the roster they want to keep.”
Mack – I really don’t any problem with what Darling is saying. There frankly is more decent pitchers available than every day players. I like what he said about determining which players they want to keep. You can’t fill every hole (one SP opening + 6 every day slots). An approach might be to remain in a platoon situation on both first base (Flores with either Duda or Davis) and centerfield (Lagares and den Dekker) and concentrate your free agent dollars on corner outfielders and shortstop. I don’t know… we keep hacking around the same fucking names. Jeez, I can’t wait until these playoff games are over.
Michelle Bachmann -
“"This happened and as of today the United States is willingly, knowingly, intentionally sending arms to terrorists," she said. "Now what this says to me, I’m a believer in Jesus Christ, as I look at the End Times scripture, this says to me that the leaf is on the fig tree and we are to understand the signs of the times, which is your ministry, we are to understand where we are in God’s End Times history.”
"Rather than seeing this as a negative, we need to rejoice, Maranatha Come Lord Jesus, His day is at hand," Bachmann added. “When we see up is down and right is called wrong, when this is happening, we were told this; these days would be as the days of Noah.” http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/08/1245335/-Rep-Michele-Bachmann-declares-that-we-are-in-the-End-Times-His-day-is-at-hand#
Mack – It seems that Ms. Backman, an actual member of the United States of America Congress has this all figured out. You can stop worrying about whether or not Jose Abreu is going to sign up or if Lucas Duda beats out Ike Davis on first base. Nope, according to Backman, this is the beginning of the End of Days and we’ve got a lot more to worry about than a Justin Verlander curveball.
Mack,
ReplyDeleteHer last name is "Bachmann", not "Backman". Please don't insult Wally Backman's name by associating it with that lunatic.
Also, interesting to think about Seattle as a landing spot for Davis or Duda. Neither one will net a top prospect but Seattle does have some interesting left-handed arms, which the Mets are lacking outside of Steven Matz.
What is the fascination with platoons? If David Wright came up as a prospect right now Collins would likely platoon him at 3B with Omar Quintanilla!
ReplyDeleteBautista would be a very good pickup, but I'm not sure I'd be willing to give up a significant prospect or two for a 33 year old, who hasn't been able to stay all that healthy the past two seasons.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I think the mets need to be very careful about which prospects they trade.
ReplyDeleteThe Mets haven't had a good system in a long time and honestly still don't. They are not at the point yet where they could start trading away prospects and still have a good system. Right now, they have an ok system and if they trade away even two of their top ten, they'll have a bad system.
It's just that it's been so barren for so long that now that they've gotten themselves a few good arms, fans think it's okay to start dealing a few. That's so shortsighted and wrong it's incredible. Our FO hasn't nailed a draft yet and only in 2013 do I envision having at least one draftee ever make a MLB top 100 list(Dom Smith). Their best prospects have come via trade.
Even with some available funds, it's obvious the Wilpons are still handcuffing the franchise with this 88 million dollar payroll crap. ITS A CRIME THAT THE NY METS CANT AFFORD A 125 MILLION DOLLAR PAYROLL. Fans really need to wrap their heads around then idea that the NY Yankees will LOWER payroll to 189 million and our owners will spend about 100 million LESS in the same market.
Mack love reading your sight.i look at it a few times everyday thanks. My guestion there isnt to much talk about c peullo, how does the front office think about him. And what do you think of him?
ReplyDeleteThere really are not that many options available when it comes to a slugging corner outfielder. I had been talking up Bautista for some time now, because I would rather get him than CarGo. Frankly, CarGo's away splits scare the spit out of me. So, until I read that the Brewers might consider shipping Braun and his baggage out of Milwaukee, I was for either trading for Bautista or signing Cruz. I still believe that if we can't get Braun, either Bautista or Cruz will be our best options. But to me, trading for Braun is by far the best we could possibly do.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mack that the Reyes ship has sailed. There are too many excellent SS optionsd out there to consider taking on that outrageous contract that Miami used to lure Jose south. Lowrie, Asdrubal, Andrus, Aybar, Peralta, Drew . . . 'nuff said?
I'm only a platoon fan when I think one player cannot do the best job. For that reason, Ike would be my first baseman next year. I'd like a right hand hitting backup, like Satin, to spell him occasionally. To me, Flores is a great trade chip and should be used as such, even though he did nothing to enhance his status this year. Similarly, I think Lagares is our primary CF, and we should consider including dD in a package if another team is interested. I'm not eager to lose den Dekker, but he is far from untouchable.
I'm going to answer this as part of Monday morning's report...
ReplyDeleteThanks. Sorry to bring my political views into this but that woman drives me insane.
ReplyDeleteI agree on your point about Reyes. Toronto's GM loves him and moved heaven and earth to get ownership's approval to take on that salary. He doesn't get traded unless AA is fired as GM. Also, I don't see Toronto doing any kind of salary dump where Reyes would become available. The Canadian dollar is very strong right now so Toronto isn't the small market club many fans believed them to be a decade or so ago.
Bautista would be a good fit but only if the Mets also sign another free agent outfielder. I noted elsewhere yesterday, Bautista, Alex Gordon in KC, and Yoenis Cespedes in Oakland are all signed through 2015 (Bautista and Gordon have 2016 team options) at roughly the same salary. I could see Sandy try to swing a deal for one of these guys. It gives him a short-term solution to see if one or two of Puello, Nimmo, den Dekkar, Ceciliani, Vaughn, and others are capable of becoming viable major leaguers.
From Ian Hunter on the blog "Blue Jay Hunter":
ReplyDelete“I can’t really foresee a situation where the Blue Jays would trade Jose Bautista this offseason. While it’s true they’re in desperate need of elite starting pitching, moving Bautista would create a huge hole on the roster.
“The truth is the Blue Jays are no longer in rebuilding mode, they are in “win-now mode”; and subtracting an elite-like player like Jose Bautista from the lineup may put them further behind, regardless of what player or players they receive in return.
“The only rumours I’ve really heard this season related to Jose Bautista is just a hypothetical deal that some people have floated out there with the Rangers involving Jurickson Profar. Looking at the Mets roster, I can’t really see anyone who could fill that starting pitching void the Blue Jays need — unless Matt Harvey was suddenly 100% healthy.”
It doesn't appear that a trade for a slugger will be easy to come by. I am still hoping and praying that Sandy tries to take Ryan Braun off Doug Melvin's hands. (lol) The BIG question is whether Alderson believes it is essential to bring in 2 outfielders. I am worried that he will see fit to try to make do with EYJ in left and Lagares/den Dekker in center, signing only one new outfielder. That could be especially true if his primary target is Choo, who might require Pence money, leaving no salary flex for another OF. I'd much rather get 2 of
ReplyDeleteCruz/Beltran/Byrd than Choo alone.