Cutnpaste: - Scott Kazmir, Nick Evans, F-Mart, Bay, and FA Compensation

Scott Kazmir:

Full Details: New York Mets trade P Scott Kazmir and P Jose Diaz to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for P Victor Zambrano and P Bartolome Fortunato - Despite Scott Kazmir’s recent decline, this trade still remains one of the biggest head scratchers in the history of baseball. As the Mets approached the trading deadline in 2004, they were just 49-53 (.480) and sat seven games out (fourth place) in the NL West. However, for reasons still unknown to New York baseball fans, the Mets decided to become buyers, not sellers, at the trading deadline. Maybe it was the fact that the Mets had finished in the cellar of the NL West for the previous two years, and 49-53 was a drastic improvement over anything the Mets had done. - bleacherreport.  

Mack Ade

Nick Evans:

Evans, who has spent his offseason rehabbing the left shoulder strain he suffered at the end of September, has been swinging a bat pain-free and has suffered no setbacks. He will progress with baseball activities “as tolerated,” the team said. -
http://www.mets.com/ 









mzseing

 Fernando Martinez:11-24-10 from: - mets geek  - 3. Fernando Martinez. The higher ranked glass man; I debated even including him in my top 5. He’s still plenty young and still has the tools that have made him the prospect that everyone has been talking about. His problem is staying healthy, which has prevented him from figuring out advanced pitching. Best Case Scenario is becoming a high average hitting, 20-25 hr hitting corner outfielder. Worst Case Scenario is becoming Wily Mo Pena without the fluke season.





michael g. baron

 Jason Bay:

2011 Projection - While his 2010 salary was relatively cheap, it jumps to $16M per year beginning in 2011 — an increase of nearly three times. That said, Bay must be AT LEAST three times better in ’11 than he was in ’10. At minimum, he needs to triple — if not quadruple — his homerun output. Considering his skill set, there is no reason Bay can’t reach 25 HR, 30+ doubles, a .270 AVG, and .370 OBP. Though he’s being paid to be a 30-35 HR guy, I’d be completely happy with 20-25 dingers combined with high hits, doubles, triples, walks, and run totals. The problem is that Bay has tended to be viciously streaky throughout his career, and he has yet to find the “zone” in a Mets uniform. Considering that there are at least three more years on his contract, there is still time for Bay to get hot. I have a good feeling that Bay will rebound in a similar fashion to how Beltran did in his second year in New York; though, I don’t expect an MVP-like performance. Rather, I can see Bay settling in, relaxing, and hitting more like the player we saw in Boston in Pittsburgh. He doesn’t need to be a super hero, he just needs to be Jason Bay.  - mets today  

FA Compensation:

Right now, the only thing accomplished by the free agent compensation system is to give additional draft picks to teams that understand how to game the system and have the financial capability to do so. It isn’t doing anything for competitive balance. It’s a broken system that simply needs to be replaced - fangraphs