Lucky Charms 11/5/08

• The Hot Stove Talk begins. I love the Hot Stove discussions. It's fun to theorize and make up different scenarios that will most likely not happen.
  
• Mets are looking at Raul Ibanez to shore up left field. Ibanez is 37 years old and one of absolute WORST fielders in baseball. On the flip side, he is a very solid middle of the line up bat and a great clubhouse guy. Peter Gammons at ESPN.com had this to say of Ibanez "“His 338 RBIs the past three years are more than Ramirez, Teixeira, or Vladimir Guerrero; he is a leader, a tremendous person and a legitimate middle-of-the-order bat.” Ibanez is also a native New Yorker and a friend of Carlos Beltran. If the Mets can sign him for 2 years I'd definitely take a good look at him especially since he has said he wants to play in New York. His defense won't be as big of a factor because of Beltran being the best defensive CF in baseball which brings me to the next point.
• Congrats to Carlos Beltran and David Wright for winning Gold Glove Awards for the 3rd and 2nd straight years. Reyes seemed to have a bad year in the field but he should be getting some in his future. The only reason Santana probably did not win one was due to Greg Maddux winning his 18th.
• Ryan Church spoke about Mike Francessa's comments about how Church hates playing in NY for the Mets. Here is a more detailed story at Metsblog.com. Basically Church likes it here and said he would like to finish his career here. Sounds good to me.
• Rays still like Aaron Heilman (with good reason) and there are rumors of Edwin Jackson/ Andy Sonnanstine for Heilman and another player. I have mixed feelings about this. I think Heilman still has a lot of protential and I'm not sure about this trade if it happens. I think the trade for Jackson could end up being pretty good but I probably wouldn't do it for Sonnanstine. I would try to pry Crawford away from them and although we'd have to give up a lot I think he is worth it.
  
• There are also rumors about the White Sox shopping around Javier Vazquez. Now I have never been a fan of Javier Vazquez but he has always put up solid numbers especially his K ratios. Also there has been rumor of Castillo for Vazquez. Now altough I've never been a fan, and do like Castillo, it would be dumb not to make this move. Murphy can go to second and we would have a very solid pitcher on our hands. That being said, this trade probably won't happen.
• Word is that Russell Martin is on the trading block as well. It would obviously be great to get him but I really don't see it happening. I am perfectly content with Schnider/Castro behind the plate and think that there are more things we need to improve on.