Billy Witz | New York Times- The general manager meetings are usually a somewhat sleepy cousin to baseball’s winter meetings, but that could change this year. One general manager who will not be in attendance is the Mets’ Sandy Alderson, who is skipping the meetings to have an undisclosed medical procedure. Representing the Mets are John Ricco, the assistant general manager; Paul DePodesta, the vice president for player development and amateur scouting; and J. P. Ricciardi, a special assistant to Alderson.
(Chris Soto: Our hearts go out to Sandy Alderson who seems to be going through far more than the Mets are giving off. Any surgical procedure, whether your a 23 yr old athlete or a 67 yr old General Manager should be taken seriously due to any number of complications that can occur. Sadly, I think you may begin to see a transitioning of the guard between Alderson and the Ricco/dePodesta tandem. Stay Strong Sandy!)
Michael Baron | Just Mets- On Friday, the Mets made Daniel Murphy a $15.8 million qualifying offer. If he accepts, the Mets will retain Murphy on a one-year deal for that dollar amount. “You always have to anticipate that he’s going to accept,” Ricco explained about Murphy’s qualifying offer. “Otherwise I don’t think we would have done it. We’ll see what he does first at the end of the week, I’ve been around long enough to know a lot of things can happen over the course of the winter."
(Chris Soto: Early words on the rumor mill is that a few teams with protected picks have already contacted Murphy about potentially signing him to multi-year contract. Most specifically, the Colorado Rockies have a heavy interest in bringing him in as their full-time 1B. If Murphy were to sign with a different club this off-season, the Mets would receive a pick at the end of the 1st round of the Rule IV Draft. Some notable names from that area of the draft are: RHP Mike Nikorak [#84 MLB], RHP Jonathan Harris, [#80 MLB], RHP Luis Ortiz [#86 MLB], and RHP Jack Flaherty [#100 MLB] )
Chris McShane | Amazin Avenue- Former Mets shortstop Jose Reyes was arrested after he allegedly assaulted his wife in a hotel room in Hawaii on Halloween, according to a report from Hawaii News Now. The news report says that Reyes's wife Katherine told police that she had injuries to her thigh, neck, and wrist. The report also cites sources who said that Reyes's wife told police that he had grabbed her throat and shoved her into the sliding glass door that led to the room's balcony.
(Chris Soto: If anyone still harbored any desires to bring Jose Reyes back to NY...this burst a huge hole into that dream. Talk about despicable! One thing the MLB has always been good at is avoiding these types of situations as compared to other leagues such as the NFL and the NHL. After the whole Ray Rice situation, the MLB proactively instituted an extremely strict domestic violence policy that allows “the Commissioner can issue the discipline he believes is appropriate in light of the severity of the conduct.”)
HOT STOVE REPORT (courtesy of mlbtraderumor.com)
(Chris Soto: Very interesting situation with the Mets in regards to Byung-Ho Park. Over the last 2 seasons, Park has blasted 108 HRs in an extremely offense heavy league. That said, last year's Korean crossover, Jung-ho Kang performed very well in his first MLB season before sustained a serious ending leg injury. The fact that the Mets made an offer tells me the club is not 100% confident in Lucas Duda going into the off-season.)
(Chris Soto: Our hearts go out to Sandy Alderson who seems to be going through far more than the Mets are giving off. Any surgical procedure, whether your a 23 yr old athlete or a 67 yr old General Manager should be taken seriously due to any number of complications that can occur. Sadly, I think you may begin to see a transitioning of the guard between Alderson and the Ricco/dePodesta tandem. Stay Strong Sandy!)
Michael Baron | Just Mets- On Friday, the Mets made Daniel Murphy a $15.8 million qualifying offer. If he accepts, the Mets will retain Murphy on a one-year deal for that dollar amount. “You always have to anticipate that he’s going to accept,” Ricco explained about Murphy’s qualifying offer. “Otherwise I don’t think we would have done it. We’ll see what he does first at the end of the week, I’ve been around long enough to know a lot of things can happen over the course of the winter."
(Chris Soto: Early words on the rumor mill is that a few teams with protected picks have already contacted Murphy about potentially signing him to multi-year contract. Most specifically, the Colorado Rockies have a heavy interest in bringing him in as their full-time 1B. If Murphy were to sign with a different club this off-season, the Mets would receive a pick at the end of the 1st round of the Rule IV Draft. Some notable names from that area of the draft are: RHP Mike Nikorak [#84 MLB], RHP Jonathan Harris, [#80 MLB], RHP Luis Ortiz [#86 MLB], and RHP Jack Flaherty [#100 MLB] )
Chris McShane | Amazin Avenue- Former Mets shortstop Jose Reyes was arrested after he allegedly assaulted his wife in a hotel room in Hawaii on Halloween, according to a report from Hawaii News Now. The news report says that Reyes's wife Katherine told police that she had injuries to her thigh, neck, and wrist. The report also cites sources who said that Reyes's wife told police that he had grabbed her throat and shoved her into the sliding glass door that led to the room's balcony.
(Chris Soto: If anyone still harbored any desires to bring Jose Reyes back to NY...this burst a huge hole into that dream. Talk about despicable! One thing the MLB has always been good at is avoiding these types of situations as compared to other leagues such as the NFL and the NHL. After the whole Ray Rice situation, the MLB proactively instituted an extremely strict domestic violence policy that allows “the Commissioner can issue the discipline he believes is appropriate in light of the severity of the conduct.”)
HOT STOVE REPORT (courtesy of mlbtraderumor.com)
- According to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, the Mets posted a bid for the services of Korean 1B Byung-ho Park. The Minnesota Twins won the rights to negotiate with Park for $12.85M.
- According to Mike Puma, IF the Mets could trade LHP Jonathan Niese, they would be highly interested in bringing Bartolo Colon to be the club's #5 SP/swingman until Zack Wheeler returns.
- In Joel Sherman's opinion, the Mets could look to acquire a SS who is a buy low candidate such as Jurickson Profar. At the same time, Mets shortstops posted the 10th best overall WAR numbers in baseball last season giving reason to wonder if an upgrade is even needed.
(Chris Soto: Very interesting situation with the Mets in regards to Byung-Ho Park. Over the last 2 seasons, Park has blasted 108 HRs in an extremely offense heavy league. That said, last year's Korean crossover, Jung-ho Kang performed very well in his first MLB season before sustained a serious ending leg injury. The fact that the Mets made an offer tells me the club is not 100% confident in Lucas Duda going into the off-season.)
Duda does not inspire strong confidence. Especially in the playoff furnace. Any objective observer ought to tend towards that conclusion.
ReplyDeleteNiese can go if the trade value coming back is good. I'd keep the unflappable Colon.
Get well, Sandy. We're praying for a quick and full recovery.
I am one writer who, while I often bashed Tejada before his 2015 resurgence, feel that the Mets should run with that tandem in 2016. Possibly better minor league options are getting closer and closer. Fix the pen and outfield first.
Information from GM meetings is always comical.
ReplyDeleteGM's have conversations with other GMs about players that might or might not be available. Names are thrown out and the responses are either yes, no, or maybe.
Then, 95% of the information you read about is from a reporter that ran into a GN in the hall and is asked if he had discussed with the Mets anyone.
So, sometime all this can be is a GM asks one of the Mets guys if Niese is available, the Met VP says 'could be for the right deal' and later on in a hallway a reporter asks the GM from the other team if he talked to the Mets about anyone and he's told ""we did discuss Jon Niese'.
You now have enough to write that 'team A and the Mets are discussing a deal that would include Jon Niese.
The Mets could have bid $1 and the report they posted a bid would be accurate. I had advocated getting Park and trading Duda, but that won't apparently happen now.
ReplyDeleteAs soon as Sandy fainted in front of reporters I assumed we'd see a FO change. His time here might be finished and he might feel like he's done his job.
ReplyDeleteMichael -
ReplyDeleteHe hadn't eaten all day... might have only been a low blood sugar