Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Yankees

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-borowitz/yankees-sign-iraqi-hurler_b_150950.html

Friday, December 12, 2008

Bye Bye Show

Mets have traded Scott Schoenewies to the D-Backs for righty relief pitcher Connor Robertson. Robertson was a throw-in in the Dan Haren trade. He is 27 years old with a 2.82 ERA in 217 career-minor league games, during which he struck out 382 batters in 305 innings. He has not pitched much in the majors and when he has, he was not effective. I do not know much about Robertson but as of now I am not a big fan of this trade unless Omar is cutting salary in order to sign Sheets, Dunn, Lowe, Perez, etc. Show was great as a lefty specialist and that's it. He was really only bad when he was misused (aka used against right handed batters). I liked Show (more than Feliciano, although Feliciano is probably better if he can get back to his 2006 level). I hope Omar didn't sell low on him.

Phillies and Ibanez Agree to Deal

The Phillies and Raul Ibanez agreed to a 3 year $30 million dollar deal today. I am actually not upset about this deal. While I am a fan of Ibanez and did want the Mets to possibly get him at the trade deadline last year, I did not want the Mets to get him this year. He is old and probably the worst left fielder in baseball. He is also a Type A free agent which means Phillies lose their first round pick to the Mariners as the Mets did to the Angels with K-Rod. This also means that the Mets have more of a reason to sign Adam Dunn. GET ADAM DUNN!! He's in his prime years, has a ton of power, and excellet OBP, isn't a type A free agent, and we can move him to 1b in 2010. With Dunn we could possibly have the best 1-5 line up in baseball to go along with our best 8th-9th inning duo of Putz and K-Rod.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Phuck Cole Hammels

I read this quote from Cole Hammels over at Metsblog.com and it makes me dislike Hammels even more than I already did. I already disliked him for his bitching over the amount the Phillies were offering for arbitration last year. You're one of the better pitchers in baseball and are sure to make a ton of money when you hit free agency and you're complaining about one year's raise? It annoyed me especially when John Maine was saying that he was happy with whatever he was being offered for arbitration. Now Hammels comes out with this quote that they see the Mets as choke artists. Even if you do, that's just unprofessional to say to the media. Get off your high horse.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Hello New Bullpen!

UPDATE: The Mets also gave up OF Ezequiel Carrera and RHP Maikel Cleto in the trade. So overall the Mets get Putz, Reed, and Green. The Mariners get Aaron Heilman, Endy Chavez, Maikel Cleto, Ezequiel Carrera, Jason Vargas, Mike Carp, and Franklin Gutierrez. The Indians get Joe Smith and Luis Valbuena.

So today the Mets completely revamped their bullpen. First Omar signs K-Rod to be the closer. Then Omar trades Mike Carp, Joe Smith, Aaron Heilman, Endy Chavez (all players I like; Chavez and Smith being most Mets fans' favorites), and an unnamed second prospect for JJ Putz, Sean Green (relief pitcher; not ex-Met OF), and Jeremy Reed (backup OF). As much as I liked Smith, Carp, Heilman, and Endy I have to say this is a very good move. Putz was a dominant closer for two straight years (2006 and 2007) only to get injured last year but still have a relatively good year. Now the Mets have two very good closers for the 8th and 9th innnings (could possibly be best 8th/9th in baseball). If K-Rod gets injured we have a legitimate closer in waiting. Now I would love to see Omar go out and get Chad Cordero and maybe Brandon Lyon or Eric Gagne (preferrably Lyon, but whoever comes cheaper) for the bullpen. This also means that with Mike Carp gone, I see even more of a need to sign Adam Dunn so he can replace Delgado after next year.

Johan, K-Rod, and importance of brand names

I just read this article over at Metsblog.com and think that it is great. This to me shows how important a single player on a team can be regardless of the numbers he puts up. I am a big fan of team chemistry and this is only a good sign. I also think that this article helps show my point that regardless of what Pedro did on the field his off the field presence was very very important to the Mets organization for the present and even more so the future.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Mets Sign K-Rod

The Mets and K-Rod have agreed to a 3 year deal worth $37 million along with a 4th year option that kicks in depending on innings pitched. I am actually happy with this move (although I would have gone in a different direction) because it is only for 3 or 4 years and not a ridiculous amount of money per year. I have always like K-Rod and am happy to see him become a Met. I personally would have signed Kerry Wood because of draft picks but that's just me. Now I would love to see the Mets get Chad Cordero, Adam Dunn, Houston Street or Brandon Lyon, Pedro Martinez or Brad Penny, Oliver Perez or Ben Sheets, and a few reclamation projects like Derrick Turnbow, Eric Gagne, Mark Prior, Mark Mulder, Bartolo Colon, etc. (minor league deals).

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Arbitration

Well the date has passed when teams had to decided to offer their free agent players arbitration, which for those of you who don't know is an offer to negotiate a one year deal for more money. If a player declines and he is ranked A or B, the team gets compensatory draft picks when he signs with another team. If a ranked player is not offered arbitration, the team that signs him does not have to surrender any draft picks to the team losing said player. Here are the ranked players who were and were not offered arbitration:
Type A free agents who have been offered Arbitration
:

Jason Varitek, Mark Teixeira, Manny Ramirez, Rual Ibanez, A.J. Burnett, Derek Lowe, Oliver Perez, C.C. Sabathia, Ben Sheets, Darren Oliver, Brian Fuentes, Francisco Rodriguez, Orlando Hudson, Juan Cruz, Orlando Cabrera

Type A free agents who were not offered Arbitration:

Edgar Renteria, Bobby Abreu, Andy Pettitte, Bob Howry, Russ Springer, Trevor Hoffman, Kerry Wood, Adam Dunn, Pat Burrell, Jamie Moyer, Doug Brocail

Type B free agents offered Arbitration:

Mark Grudzielanek, Casey Blake, Paul Byrd, Jon Garland, Brian Shouse, Brandon Lyon, Milton Bradley, David Weathers, Dennys Reyes

Type B not offered Arbitration:

Ivan Rodriguez, Gregg Zaun, Jeff Kent, Garrett Anderson, Moises Alou, Braden Looper, Gregg Maddux, Brad Penny, John Smoltz, Luis Ayala, Joe Beimel, Eric Gagne, Jason Isringhausen, Frank Thomas, Alan Embree, Randy Johnson, Paul Lo Duca, Mark Loretta, Juan Uribe, Luis Gonzalez, Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Wolf, Arthur Rhodes, Rudy Seanez

First off I would have liked to see the Mets offer Luis Ayala arbitration because if he sings accepts, he wouldn't make that much money and is a solid pitcher. If he declines we get a Sandwich draft pick (comes between 1st and 2nd rounds of draft; David Wright was picked in this round btw). The two biggest names that I would have liked the Mets to sign before arbitration decisions were made just got sweeter because of these decisions: Kerry Wood and Adam Dunn. The Mets could (and should) sign both of these players because neither was offered arbitration. Kerry Wood comes with injury risk and Adam Dunn plays a poor left field, K's too much, and has a low BA but the upside to both of these players is much greater than the risk. Kerry Wood was a gritty fan favorite in Chicago and wouild be loved by New York. He had a phenominal year as his first as a closer. He has great stuff and posted a better WHIP than K-Rod last year. I would additionally trade for Houston Street (or another player with closer experience) to be an injury back up (sign Chad Cordero). As for Adam Dunn he is still only going to be 29 next year which still puts him in his prime. He has tremendous power and gets on base at close to a .400 clip which seeing as he only hits .250 is amazing. He also could potentially move to 1b when Delgado leaves after next season. A line up 1-5 of Reyes, Dunn, Wright, Beltran, Delgado is amazing. There is the potential to hit 150 homeruns, take 400 walks and score 500 runs. The most important thing is that we do not have to surrender draft picks when we sign them thus helping our farm system. We would only have to sign one type A free agent (starting pitcher) and we would get draft picks back in return anyway because of Oliver Perez (and if we sign him, we don't lose picks). All of this being said, I highly doubt that the Mets are going to sign either of these players unfortunately.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Bobby Abreu?

So reports are that the Yankees are not offering Bobby Abreu arbitration which means that whoever signs him will not have to surrender draft picks. While I think this is a dumb move by the Yanks, it could end up being good for the Mets. While I do not like Bobby Abreu and never have, he is a solid player. If he does not have a high asking price I would sign him for 2-3 years. He is probably the cheapest option out there because you would not have to surrender draft picks. The Mets would be getting a solid bat to shore up the OF until F-Mart is ready while being able to keep their draft picks.