Mack Ade – Morning Report – 10-28-13 – Pablo Sandoval, Alex Castellanos, Mike Napoli, LAD-OF

Kevin Shelly  -

Just reading in MLBTR that the Giants could make Sandoval available.  What do you think of a Murphy & Familia for Sandoval trade to put our 1B issues to rest?  I think his bat and positional flexibility would be a nice fit for this team since Wright hasn't shown he can stay in the field for 150 games. Familia could help if they lose Romo, Murphy can help at either 2b or 3b. Maybe include a guy like Lutz to see if he can get a chance to play some 3b to see what he's got.

                Mack – Well, there goes Murphy again. I guess I’m going to have to sign on that he’s one of the team’s top trade bait this off-season.

                Kevin, no one would like to put first base to rest more than I do, especially after projecting Dominic Smith to solve all this in 3-4 years, but all that’s projection fluff and right now we have to deal with Lucas Duda and Ike Davis.

                The Mets have a lot of holes and this wasn’t supposed to be one. And, I can’t help but remember the amount of home runs Davis hit in the back end of the 2012 season.

                If I was Sandy Alderson (and I’m not…), I would concentrate my efforts in improving shortstop, the corner outfielders, and a fifth starter before turning to third baseman that hit only 14 home runs to play first base. But that’s just me.

 

 

Friday, October 25, 2013 - BOS - Alex Castellanos (lf) - Traded from Dodgers to Red Sox for Jeremy Hazelbaker

                Mack – This one almost got by me.

                I don’t understand this trade at all. First, I had hoped the Mets could get their hands on Castellanos in some package with the Dodgers, but instead, they trade him for another AAA outfielder. Now, can you tell me where a AAA outfielder is going to play for the Dodgers in the next three or so years? Yes, AAA.

                Add to this the fact that Hazelbaker doesn’t jump off the page either and I just shake my head at this one. 

 

Barry Federovitch -

Most of all, the Mets need to get their house in order and avoid the negative public relations, which have become the norm during the recent year of the Wilpon era. With the crosstown Yankees in transition (to a lesser degree), the Mets have their best opportunity since the early 1990s to add new faces to their fanbase and create a more positive identity. As local bills have been approved to clean up the area in Queens around Citi Field, so must the Mets continue to do so with their organization. Theirs is an angry fan base that has not won a pennant in 13 years, which came 14 years after Orosco’s aforementioned celebration. In recent seasons, the Mets have become one of baseball’s most irrelevant franchises, which was virtually inconceivable on this day in 1986, when they ruled the world. http://www.nj.com/times-sports/index.ssf/2013/10/federovitch_mets_have_work_to.html

                Mack – I couldn’t say this any better. Every member of their immediate front office (Wilpon, Alderson, Collins) are on the record that they are ‘all in’ during this Hot Stove season. There must be things already in the works. No, I don’t expect the answer to all our problems, but I do expect to see a more expanded effort to improve this team. You will read this on Monday morning after Game 4 of the World Series. If St. Louis won Game 3, we could be days before the first Hot Stove deal. Keep your computers on, folks. This may be fun.

 

Mike Napoli could net a three-year deal on the free agent market –

                Mack – This came out of a story in the Boston Globe and was reported yesterday on MetsBlog.

                You all know how I thin k about first base. I still would like to give Ike Davis one more shot through opening day and the all-star break… however… and his is a big however… if I could get Napoli for 3-yrs at $39mil, I would jump at it.

                Dominic Smith may have only played at the GCL level so far, but there is a good chance he could be ready by opening day 2017. If you want to play it safe, give Napoli a team option for 2017 which backs up Smith to OD 2018.

                Davis (and Duda) would be an excellent trade for ‘a player to be named later’ based on what his productivity will be in 2014. Josh Satin can back up.

 

MLBTR’s spin on the LAD OF –

                That pretty much covers the Dodgers' holes, but they have quite an enviable talent surplus in the outfield with Yasiel Puig, Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp, and Carl Crawford.  The Dodgers could plug their other holes by moving one of the four.  It goes without saying that Puig is staying put.  Crawford is probably staying put too, seeing as how he's owed a small fortune between now and 2017.  One would probably think that Ethier is more likely to be moved than Kemp, but from the outside it looks like either one could be moved depending on how the market plays out.  Ethier has been maddeningly inconsistent but Kemp should bring in a greater return, injury concerns and all.  There is an option C, of course: keeping all four.  The Dodgers know that they can't bank on the health of Crawford or Kemp, so having four high-level outfielders would be a wonderful luxury to have.

                Mack – The Dodgers might be one of the only teams that could afford to keep these four guys on the same roster. I agree that Puig isn’t going anywhere though he is starting to show a few Valdespin signs. The key here might be who the manager is. Donny Baseball had problems with Ethier and benched him at times during the year. Look for him to go if Mattingly comes back.

                As for the Mets, I don’t see them putting a good enough package together. They just signed 2B Alexander Guerrero so that takes away the Mets biggest trade chip (Daniel Murphy).

                No, the Dodger ship may have sailed.