With Shawn Green gone and Moises Alou signed, the assumption is right field could go to either Carlos Gomez or Lastings Milledge? My feeling is Milledge has done enough to earn a shot at the full time job.
But, he’s still regarded by other teams, who will ask for him or Gomez as part of a deal for pitching.
If given the choice, who do you keep and why?
36 Comments
I have to say keep Gomez.
He doesn’t have the tarnished attitude that people will not let Milledge forget. He seems to be branded for life. Gomez has a quick bat, and a nice glove. He also doesn’t make it an adventure to shag a simple fly ball (see: Milledge) I think he could set up nicely either in the 2-hole behind Senor Reyes, or as a number 8 hitter, getting on base, and making sure that sacrifice isn’t wasted. He has the ability to pick up bases at his will, and that could be huge to get production out of the bottom of the lineup.
Milledge alone won’t land a top flight starter. I would keep him and package Gomez. Milledge is no longer a prospect and deserves to play. That would also give Omar more payroll to devote to pitching rather than seeking a veteran OF.
This is not an option. One player is major-league ready and projects strongly, with a low end as a slightly below-average corner outfielder (and above average center fielder). One player is not ready and has and extremely wide projection, with a low end as a minor league scrub. There’s not really a question here.
Milledge!! A thousand times Milledge. Gomez may never be a major league hitter. Remember Alex Ochoa? Milledge is alreay a pretty good major league hitter. Why would anyone want Gomez over Milledge?
I guess I am alone then. Haha
I’d let the market decide.
Who can net the best possible return? Who can get the best talent?
Although I would prefer to keep Milledge since I am scared of Gomez failing. I would still be willing to trade Milledge if he can bring back something Gomez can’t…
Milledge is ready to play in the majors now.
Gomez is at least another year away. He did little with the bat this past season. His minor league #’s were OK, but he needs more seasoning.
I keep Milledge in order to fill the RF hole this coming season and years into the future. He also would be a good fit in the #2 spot behind Reyes. Good extra base power, good speed. He showed dramatic improvement with the breaking stuff at the end of the year. That will only get better with more playing time.
If someone offers a good arm for Gomez, do it. If not, he can play left in 2009.
Has the Mets option on Green already been turned down? They should keep him (even though they won’t). He did a good job, has the right attitude and would give us more flexibillty, in the ability to to trade Milledge more easily, if there is a decent matchup.
I have an idea
Move Alou to right field.
Move David Wright to left field.
Sign A-Rod and put him at 3rd base.
Trade Milledge/Humber/Carp to A’s for Dan Haren.
I agree they should keep Green one more year. I did not like in what I saw from Gomez’s bat last year. It looks like he fields better than Milledge, but I am not certain if he will be able to consistently hit major league pitching. I would keep Milledge and trade Gomez.
I have one question: After studying the free agent list, it looks like Josh Fogg could be available. I think he might be the right guy for our rotation anyone have thoughts on this..or am I wrong.
I would keep Milledge because he has shown the ability to hit and his defense is fine for a corner position.
Gomez is faster and a better defender but he still needs seasoning and needs to develop more plate discipline, he looked really overmatched while Milledge atleast has an idea up at the plate.
I knew the fan base would be screaming for Green eventually!!!I’m sure Omar Phillips won’t be far behind.
81-81 will be a long shot. Actually we need both because Alou will be out for at least 3 months and Chavez isn’t a full time player. But please, don’t keep this team the same. I can’t wait until we resurrect Mo Vughn!
I’d keep Lastings Milledge – I think he’s going to be fine with the Mets.
(your blog clock needs to be re-set)
I think Sloppy is being way to pessimistic on the Mets record for next year. This team should win 85 games in their sleep.
Actually they did that this year didn’t they.
On Milledge trade him if you are getting fair value, but I think no one will give the Mets fair value because of all his issues.
Trading Gomez is a big gamble because he may be another Mike Cameron, (I hope without the drug suspension) or he could be
Ricky Ledee. I would package him in a deal for the right catcher or bullpen help in a heartbeat.
On Mike Carp. If someone wants him trade him, he will never amount to more than a triple A slugger / DH.
Omar has said he has dreams of Reyes and Gomez in the 1 and 2 spots in the batting order. Remember Gomez was forced to come up after only a couple of months in AAA because of injuries to the outfield. He showed both superior speed and a rightfielders arm. For someone with his experience, I think he showed a good idea of the strike zone, and decent power which will grow as he matures. I’ve seen comparisons of Milledge with Milton Bradley which I agree with. If we can get a good pitcher for him do it now.
I would get the best I could for either or both.
Milledge has done enough to show he can play at this level however he has issues ( poor defense, can’t hit breaking balls, questionable behavior/judgement ).
Gomez is good in the OF but has yet to prove he can hit at this level. He has no pop right now while Lastings has proven he can hit the mistake fastball. And as someone above pointed out he was rushed this year because of the rash of injuries.
In the minors we have FMart who is projected to be better than both but is yet 18.
I think that Lastings deserves to be one of the first players off the bench to give the corner spots a breather or when Alou comes up lame, but his D makes me nervous. Endy is a superior defensive player who has proven he can slap the ball around but has no pop.
I think that we need to get another OF to replace Green in Left.
Bottom line I won’t shed a tear if either gets packaged in a trade for the pitching we need.
Dave
Keep Lastings. He is years ahead of GOmez. At least Milledge has shown that he can be a ML quality hitter. Gomez is much more of a project, who really needs at least a fulll year in AAA.
The answer depends on what exactly the question is. You seem to be asking, which one for a FT job in RF in 2008. That is a no brainer, Milledge. But, if you consider them both down the line prospects, and you can only keep one, then you have a choice.
If GOmez is the everyday RF, he will be totally overmatched at bat. LM could settle in and rake.
Also, I don’t think either one should be riding the bench for the Mets. Either start em, or play every day in AAA, and at least Milledge has shown he can dominate at that level.
Shawn Green is not an everyday right fielder anymore.
He is not good defensively.
He doesn’t hit all that well.
He is better suited to play 1st at this point, but he is not a power hitter, so he is a poor fit for the Mets.
Keep Milledge. This years free agent class is weak and it is not worth overpaying for an aging right fielder or a japanese right fielder who has never seen major league pitching. Gomez is a good player but only looks good in the field or running the bases, when hes at bat he looks like a pitcher. Milledge is still young and if u project his numbers out this year he would be a solid right fielder. If Milledge got at many AB’s over a season as Carlos Beltran he would have around 21 hr’s and 87 rbi’s. Milledge finished the year hitting .272 with 7 hr and 29 rbi’s most of the time hitting out of the #8 spot in the lineup with the pitcher behind him. If the mets dont resign castillo the mets could move Milledge into the #2 hole and would see a lot of strikes and probably a lot of fastballs especially with reyes on base in front of him and beltran and wright to follow. Instead of the Mets wasting away money on A-rod this season with that ridiculous contract (because A-rod wont be able to pitch every game for the mets in the playoffs) they should keep this offseason low key and not foolishly spend money because next off season is a pitching rich off season (Johan Santana, C.C. Sabathia, Ben Sheets). Pitching is what money needs to be spent on especially considering the mets already have Reyes, Wright, Beltran, Alou guaranteed for next year…and oh yeah that guy Delgado if he ever wakes up. What is the need for more offense and shaking up positions (moving wright or reyes to accomodate a-rod)?
Simple.
If you trade Milledge, you get more now without sacrificing the next 10 seasons in CF.
If you trade Gomez, you get less now and leave the Mets vulnerable in CF from 2 years from now to 10 years from now.
It’s Trrue that Gomez provides only depth in the OF for 2008, and Milledge should be capable of playing full-time OF in 2008.
However, what is the motive for making a trade?
If a trade will secure a position for many years, then as long as that void filled is greater than the void created then it should be worthwhile, IMO.
For example, it’s ok, IMO, to trade a great young CF prospect for an ace in his prime, then you are fulfilling a need at a more dificult position than the one you have created a need in.
If you can get an ace using a RF’er, rather than a CF’er, then you are maximizing your assets, IMO, if the prospects are both highly rated at their respective positions.
If I could use a package built around Milledge rather than Gomez to obtain an ace, then that is the deal to make.
Better to fill a short term RF need now than a long term CF need later.
Remember, Beltran can evantually be the power bat RF, once Gomez is ready to take over CF.
However, if the only way to obtain the Ace is to trade a package around Gomez, then you still do it.
An ace is more valuable than a CF in my book, but both are very, very valuable.
Hopefully, Omar can trade for a young Ace without losing Gomez.
I agree with Benny. Trade the one who can bring back most in a trade.
you keep milledge and use endy as a late inning defensive replacement.
I’d like to keep both and not just make a trade for the sake of making a trade. But….if the opportunity came along to really improve the team through a trade and we were forced to give up either Milledge or Gomez then it would be bye bye Lasto! I think Gomez isn’t as developed as Milledge at this point but projects alot higher than Milledge. I think Gomez has the potential and the tools to be a star player and that Lasto will be a decent servicable outfielder but nothing special.
I would trade Gomez for Walt Terrell and Ron Darling.
Easily milledge. Hes way more polished,knows how to draw a walk,and has more pop than gomez. This is all at this point. If you want to make an argument that gomez will be the better player in 3-5 yrs.,I could see that. But the question being who’s better right now,or who’d I would want,its milledge all the way.
He’ll probably hit some bad slumps,and he can be an adventure in the outfield at times. But hes earned his chance.
Haven’t the Mets given away enough young talent for… what?
This kind of must-do thinking has to cool down. Everybody, take a nice cool drink. The Mets would be better with both. They have the $$ to buy somebody else without giving away the future. Lastings may work out, considering that he is still a young man. (Anybody out there do something stupid/act dopey when they were young?) And the book is still wide open on Gomez.
Remember who won the NL pennant this year. Whatever you think of them, they were a combo of old and mostly young. The Mets don’t need any more players who may be broken down just when they need them the most.
do you people really think willie will even play a youngin consistently? why are we even discussing this? some1 like jeff conine would easily get 75 percent more playing time and he’d bat 6th
Milledge/Gomes I don’t know what to expect from them. They both can be here today and gone tomorrow. Why is everyone so down on Green? Do you have to hit home runs to be successful. He makes his plays in right and plays a good first base. He is a veteran that goes out and gets the job done. I would expect at least a 280 average out of him. JD is he officially gone??????
There´s two question here:
Win now or win later?
What can you get back for either player?
If you think (and I do) that the Mets need a true young ace (a Haren or Harang type) and a trade can get them, then Milledge will probably have to be a part of the deal (along with pitching). Gomez won´t get you an ace, not with the other chips the Mets have. You could fill his slot for a year or two with a Geoff Jenkins or someone like that, while giving Gomez more time in AAA to develop, and giving FMart time to recover from his injuries and play at AA.
If you can´t get an ace, don´t trade either.
We need pitching.
There is nothing to upgrade us the way it needs to be done in FA.
Lastings is the best young chip we have, then Pelfrey/Humber.
Green proved last year he is essentially a backup. He is a 260/270 OF with no pop. He can run the bases a bit has below avg defensive skills. Why do we want him as a starter?
He proved he is a capable fill in at first base and our resident hall of famer 1b announcer gave him passing grades at that position.
Traditionally OF/1B gives you power and Green does not have that anymore. His defensive skills do not make up for lack of OF production.
I think he is fine as a backup but I believe we have better backups in Endy/Lastings so there is no need to keep him.
We need pitching and if that means giving up some of the young players to solidifying our rotation now and the future I say goodbye.
We were in the same boat last year. We did not overpay in trades for the pitching we wanted and we did not overpay in the FA class. Our rookie pitcher won the #5 spot in spring training and proved he was not ready to handle his position.
That was not the only reason we failed, but that was a big part of it.
Dave
Scott:
I don’t think I am being too pessimistic. This team that everyone wants to retain, played .500 ball for over 100 games. They have a LF who will bat 5 or 6, key spots who will miss half the season and will give up as many runs on defense as he accounts for on offense. He can’t throw and he has slightly better range than I have. We have a starting rotation that has # 1 a man who was great and came back and could barely touch 90 and he needed a 6 man rotation because of his recovery. This is super high risk for next year. Our next two guys are Ollie and Maine who have shown little long range consistency, a bullpen who is in place with long term contracts that well you know how bad it is. We look to bring back a catcher who has lost his skills, could never throw out guys and who will once again have no place in the lineup with Castillo in the 2 hole. Now you want to being back Green who has no power and no range any more and on and on… The young Braves will continue to improve and they have Tex for a full year, the young Phils will continue to improve and we get older and older with little in the way of prospects…So why am I being too pessimistic?
You keep both… Blastings starts in RF this year obviously… Gomez is not a major league right fielder right now.
Sloppy – I agree that the Braves are acary, but why do you think the phils are particularly young, or going to improve, as opposed to the Mets doing it?
I keep whomever can get the least in return as part of a package for a young starter…the rest of the lineup will help carry either during the growing pains—especially with A-Rod in the 4 hole.
QUOTE: “Gomez is a good player but only looks good in the field or running the bases, when hes at bat he looks like a pitcher.”
REPLY: Ditto
May I add that Gomez “looks like a scared deer in the headlights” at the plate….and he has a Jose Reyes machismo post-contract-upper-cut, home-run, star-struck, strike-out 99.9% playoff hopes-killing-swing…and Edge at least smells victory whilst Gomez stinks of rookie fear.
let me qualify the aforementioned stab at my favorite Metsie
Reyes with the fact that I have been the hardest Edge critic there is but Gomez just ain’t ready and Edge is and Reyes needs to adjust by watching “Major League II”
Da Movie.
How about Beltran, Ricky Ledee and Timo Perez as the OF?