About Last Night
-
- September
- 8
Nice recovery by Mike Pelfrey. That’s the most important thing from last night.
Big game by Lastings Milledge and it is nice to see Carlos Gomez. Those two around Carlos Beltran is next year’s outfield.
They might go for somebody in the free-agent market, but assuming they don’t deal one of them for pitching that’s my guess.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, September 8th, 2007 at 10:33 am by John Delcos.
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I don’t know—I think you want some pop coming from your corner outfield positions, and I don’t know that either Milledge or Gomez is ready to provide that at this point. I could see them bringing Alou back, and letting the three of them share the two corner spots, but I can’t envision them both out there as the uncontested starters.
On another note, I watched “21 Grams” this morning. I always have trouble following the time-sequence cuts in that film. But Naomi makes it all worthwhile.
I agree with you Benny. That wouldn’t be alot of power coming from either corner. I can also see Alou back. There aren’t a lot of great options on the free agent market, so they might just go for him and let the kids share one corner. I wouldn’t be shocked if they traded Milledge either.
I was thinking they might let Gomez cook a little longer in AAA and keep Alou, bringing up Gomez when he goes on a three month DL stint again.
Milledge is ready to stick around if he can continue to mature mentally, but I don’t think the Mets can afford to have two guys that are really still developing on the ML roster. Not if they want to continue to dominate the East anyway.
Unlike some on this blog I am very pleased with how the Mets are playing and where they stand with only days left in the regular season.
Omar and Willie have both spent their lives in baseball – from the street to the pros. They have known each other for over thirty years and they have created and built a wonderful team – varied in many ways, but somehow, working well together.
Since my sports background is in competitive women’s USGA golf tournaments, I do not feel qualified or the necessity to question either Omar or Willie about the Mets and/or professional baseball. I’ve never been a GM or a manager.
I am perfectly happy to follow the team, ask questions of those who know answers and cheer like crazy for the Mets = both veterans and rookies. I delight in the progress of Lasting Milledge as I did with David Wright and Jose Reyes. I am impressed with the baseball knowledge and talent of Tom Glavine, El Duque and Pedro Martinez and hope that the young pitchers will pay attention to their work and their workouts. I respect players like Delgado and Alou who are just trying to keep on playing the game they love.
And I remember the Tugger – who believed.
I would be willing to give Alou a similar one year deal next year. He has proven that he can still mash and the kids will still get plenty of playing time anyway because Alou is bound to get hurt and need days off.
I see them bringing Alou back for another year. Gomez still has some developing to do.
Joan,, don’t you know that insanity reigns!!! Good post but you’ll be ignored for being all positive….
Mel – I’m a civilized woman – you should read Eddie Coleman’s blog on the WFAN website addressed to his bloggers -
Milledge has some pop in his bat, he’s just got to get more disciplined. That comes with more quality AB’s. Bringing Alou back and allowing Milledge to mature is the prescription.
I think you’ll see Milledge being an easy 20-20 guy in just a couple of years.
I don’t want Alou back under any circumstances because:
1) He’s too old and his production next year will probably be worse than this year. Even if you prorate his production this year based on 150 games that comes to only 75 RBIs. I think Gomez could come close to that while providing vastly better defense.
2) When Alou is on the DL there’s this “big gun missing” mentality that adversely impacts the team.
3) His presence blocks development of younger players.
4) He’s got the lowest batting average this year of any Mets regular with runners in scoring position. It’s really bad.
5) He’ll cost around $8-9 million to bring back which is too much to pay for what you’ll get out of him from both an offensive and defensive standpoint.
6) He does nothing to add energy to what is sometimes a listless team.
If they want more power next year, then sign a younger free agent or trade for someone else. But how much power do they need? Delgado has missed 11 games this year. They are 8-3 in those games.
I would be perfectly happy to start with an outfield of Gomez-Beltran-Milledge next year. They can always try to trade for some pop mid-season if they need to.
I’d grab one more year of Alou as a bridge between Gomez and us. If he gets injured, you just push Gomez a little faster.
Dude probably needs a little more AAA work on discipline before being up here for the big time for the full time.
Not a whole season, probably, but a good chunk of one.
I agree Mike C…..
I would look for a better option as a power OF bat than Alou. When he is healthy I like him on the team. Unfortunately as this year showed he doesn’t play much and the 8 mill is a waste.
If we can’t get something better than I guess we have Beltran, Alou, Chavez, Milledge maybe Cargo ( maybe AAA ).
Either way both the young guys need to play winter ball. I think Lastings probably will end up being a good player but he has much to learn on fundamentals, approach, etc and so needs lots of practice.
For next year we probably need to try and find a stud pitcher. Make the young guys force their way onto the roster.
Mike C I totally agree. For $8 million, the offensive production you get from Alou is a great deal. I mean really, considering that a big money offensive OF could cost upwards of $12 million a year, you are already getting the “injury shortened prorated season” discount by paying Alou the $8 mil. And as long as he can stay in the lineup he will be an offensive threat.
The other thing is that there are no big power OFs who are going to be free agents (not considering Barry Bonds, who I don’t think is a real option). The biggest names are in CF, with Andruw Jones, Torii Hunter and Aaron Rowand. None of those are fits.
Who do you like better than Alou on this list?
Left fielders
Moises Alou (42) – $7.5MM club option for ‘08
Barry Bonds (43)
Milton Bradley (30)
Adam Dunn (28) – $13MM club option for ‘08; becomes free agent after season if traded
Cliff Floyd (35) – mutual option for ‘08
Luis Gonzalez (40)
Geoff Jenkins (33) – $9MM club option for ‘08
Reggie Sanders (40)
Shannon Stewart (34)
Brad Wilkerson (31)
Center fielders
Milton Bradley (30)
Mike Cameron (35)
Darin Erstad (34) – $3.5MM club option for ‘08
Torii Hunter (32)
Andruw Jones (31)
Kenny Lofton (41)
Corey Patterson (28)
Aaron Rowand (30)
Right fielders
Bobby Abreu (34) – $16MM club option for ‘08
Milton Bradley (30)
Kosuke Fukudome (31)
Shawn Green (35) – $10MM club option for ‘08
Jose Guillen (32) – $9MM club option for ‘08
Geoff Jenkins (33) – $9MM club option for ‘08
Trot Nixon (34)
Reggie Sanders (40)
All of the players who’d be worth picking up on that list over Alou would want more than a one-year deal and…
I want the outfield to be Gomez-Beltran-Milledge in 09 but I concede that Gomez probably won’t be ready to start every day in the majors in April of 08.
I just want the best player you can get to hold the spot in the outfield with Beltran and Milledge without holding Gomez down long-term.
That’s Alou.
I despise Adam Dunn, by the by. So many strikeouts, so much horrific fielding but everybody loves him because he can crank dingers in a little league park.
Oh. Man. So amazingly overrated.
Mike you and I are definitely on the same page here. $8 million is a deal for Alou. If he could play 162 games then you’d probably have to pay him $15 million. For a team like the Mets $8mill is reasonable. Dunn is a complete butcher in the OF and his offensive game is fairly one dimensional, and he’d probably be asking for $15mill/year on the open market.
The Mets are going to have to save trade chips for a starter or bullpen help. I don’t think Gomez will be ready at the beginning of next season, especially since he missed so much time this year being hurt. Bring back Alou, start Gomez in the minors, and if something happens to Alou Gomez can step in.