Mets talking to Santana … and everybody else
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- November
- 29
GM Omar Minaya said the Mets’ priority is pitching and any team with an arm is on his speed dial.
“Believe me, we are in contact with the clubs of all these guys,” Minaya said today. “No club has told us, ‘you’re not in it.’ ”
The list includes Minnesota’s Johan Santana, Baltimore’s Erik Bedard, and Dan Haren of Oakland.
Last year, Minaya told ownership $126 million over seven years was too steep a price to pay for free agent pitcher Barry Zito, but he hasn’t said the same thing about Santana.
However, Santana would cost more than money.
Shortstop Jose Reyes is off limits.
“We are very happy with Jose Reyes,” Minaya said. “Jose Reyes is part of our core. I don’t see us trading Jose Reyes.”
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on Thursday, November 29th, 2007 at 2:59 pm by John Delcos.
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I will be happy when the few big names are resolved (traded, signed or officially pulled off the market) so everyone can calm down, and Omar can just go out and look for “normal” guys that will upgrade the weak areas. And not trade every prospect he has.
Santana to an evil empire seems likely, and Bedard just might get extended? Even Haren seems likely to stay on the A’s. He is yong enough, and signed for enough years, that they can rebuild with him.
Blanton isn’t that good, but wil get traded (for that reason) and hopefully Omar doesn’t overpay. That means no Milledge.
Maybe all 3 get traded soon to other teams? Then we have a week of mourning on the Mets blogs, the obligatory “doomed to last place” posts, etc.
Then Omar will actually go out and make some moves to upgrade the team (even if not too splashy), the season will start, and the core talent will carry the team to +/- 90 wins again, and hopefully the playoffs.
My prediction, and you can hold me to it, is that Pelfrey and Milledge are both going to have breakout years in 2008. I just hope they are with the Mets.
Good optimism Stick. I hope you are right…Agreed Blanton is not worth it.
I would sign Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia…they should both come fairly cheap and maybe you will strike gold with one of them…worth a shot.
“I don’t see us trading Jose Reyes.” To me that does not sound like he is “off limits.”
I was just going to say: am I the only one who wants to keep Pelfrey and Milledge?
Guess how old Brandon Webb was when he BROKE INTO THE BIGS? 24. How old is Pelfrey? 24.
Not saying he’s going to turn into Brandon Webb. All I’m saying is Keith Law, who is a highly regarded talent evaluator, scouts Pelfrey as having a mid 90s fastball with plus sink. He also has an easy, repeatable motion. Those guys don’t grow on trees. This guy was a number one pick and regarded as a potential ace. One rough season and we’re ready to pack his bags and fly him out at a moment’s notice. Nonsense I say.
Keith – No, there are at least 2 of us! I agree with you 100% that Pelf and Milledge are keepers.
But, if they can get a really established guy for Pelfrey, that you do. But not for a back end “innings eater”
Agreed. I haven’t given up on Pelfrey. If he is part of a package that can get us an established are, fine. Otherwise, let him develop. Other GM’s gave up on Maine and Perez before they became middle of the rotation guys. I rather make no move than a “stupid” move.
another random thought.
On just about any other team, Milledge would probably be considered practically an untouchable, as opposed to a guy to trhow in for a #5 starter to get the deal done!
Actually, it may just be the fans. Omar must actually understand his value and potential, since he is still on the team (for the moment at least).
I love you guys for thinking everyone in a B-Mets jersey is great and for thinking we only need to tweak to win, and I actually hope you are right…but
stick… if you want “normal” guys to upgrade this staff then you are in a state of denial about the staff. Our # 1 is a big question mark coming off his surgery and reha and if you don’t beleive then why is Omar trying to if he is trying to get an ace. Our # 2 (Ollie for argument) is in walk year and is unreliable from start to start, our # 3 wore out down the stretch, our # 4 and 5 are ???????
Our bullpen is 4 deep and needs to be 7 deep with this staff with extras ready when they burn out.
Jay” Do you really thin k this team is in need of more damaged goods??? I would definitely keep the kids rather than go with Colon and Garcia. Might as well try Lima again.
Keith: Your right @ milz but we should have found out about him last year. Too bad we watvched Green slug those 10 HRs and not quite get to oh too many balls. Milz muight not know how to play the corner but its management’s fault not his. As for Pelf, I think our genius pitchng coach set him ack by changing his repetoire when he was breaking into the bigs. So the jury on his is definitely still out.
“We are very happy with Jose Reyes,� Minaya said. “Jose Reyes is part of our core. I don’t see us trading Jose Reyes.�
I believe this to be not much more than GM rhetoric and definitely not a no-trade proclamation for Reyes. Here’s my major Shea-kup which I feel is beneficial to the Mets and the other teams involved.
First.
Trade Billy Wagner, Ben Johnson, and Johnny Estrada to the Orioles for Ramon Hernandez and Danys Baez.
The O’s need a closer, lack LH bench help and want rid of the Hernandez/Baez contracts, and the Mets lose the malcontent rat with one year left on his deal and gain a catcher and setup man.
Then.
Trade Jose Reyes, Carlos Gomez, Aaron Heilman, Ruben Gotay, Philip Humber and 1st Rd pick to the Twins for Johan Santana, Joe Nathan, and Brendan Harris. The Twinkies get their starting CF and SS, play newly acquired Delmon Young in LF, and get two controllable arms in Heilman and Humber. The Mets get the number one starter they’ve lacked, an outstanding underrated local-boy closer in Nathan,a serviceable infielder in Harris, and still have the Braves 1st round pick for Glavine. The lineup could be Milledge, Harris, Beltran, Wright, Delgado, Alou, Hernandez, Castillo. Lost speed/added pop. The rotation is pretty with Santana, Pedro, Perez, Maine, Duque/Pelf. Nathan closes with Baez, Sanchez, Feliciano, Smith, Sosa, Scotty S.. Bench is Castro, Easley, Anderson, Chavez, AHern
mrmet845, I think you’re going a little overboard with moving all those parts, but I would consider adding wagner (if he’s truly unhappy) to the minny package for santana and nathan, but that would run you the farm in trading wagner (plus $$$) gomez, pelf, humber, and they’d probably want Martinez or milly as well, unless they like one of our corner guys in the minors
They aren’t trading Reyes.-JD
JD: So why wouldn’t Omar just say…”We are not trading Jose Reyes period you know what i’m sayin?” Instead he does leave it open to have his mind changed.
Then they aren’t getting Santana.
JD: Let’s say the Mets do not trade for a number one starter and are forced to go into the season let’s say with Livian Hernandez or Silva/Pedro/Maine/Perez/Pelfrey…I think we can pretty much all agree that the bullpen will need to be shored up. The Mets have already seen two Japanese (?) pitchers signed, Brad Lidge traded, and Troy Percival signing with the Rays. Who is out there in your opinion that can be had who would really improve the pen?
If you trade Reyes you are officially declaring yourself to be a small market team. We are acting like one wth the add-ons, but we haven’t acted like the Pirates and Marlins since we dumped Seaver.
You guys forgive Omar for failing the team last Summer but a 24 year old kid has his first slumop in the bigs and couldn’t handle it, and you’re ready to dump him. Wow!
sorry steve but the ship sailed on relief pitchers and Omar missed the boat.
MrMet,
You have alot of mistakes to fix. Your first trade has us sending a guy with a full no trade clause to the O’s to be replaced by a guy looking at Tommy John before the start of next season. Wags has 2 years left as well. The mets can’t trade a draft pick, mlb rules do not allow it. Also, as good as reyes is, no way that gets them santana and nathan. Also, why is Ahern on your bench, 2 backup middle infielders isn’t enough? He can’t hit, so why waste a bench spot? Also, that lineup doesn’t look very good, and the whole farm system just got traded.
My bad on the draft pick error. Santana has a no-trade, so if not expecting him to wave it there’d be no Santana trade talks, period. I can assume the same with Wagner as he’s expressed his displeasure with the team’s direction and may welcome a change. Baez is accepted to even out the Wagner salary. They can keep him and the Mets could send money, but I believe there’s a limit to the cash that way. Reyes is the centerpiece obviously, but I tried to address the Twin needs for a CF(Gomez) allowing them to keep D. Young as a corner OF. The whole farm isn’t getting traded at all as the Mets would retain Milledge, Mulvey, Pelfrey, F-Mart, etc. The only kids I proposed sending were Humber, Gomez, and a kid named Reyes. If you don’t like AHern on the bench, keep him in NO to work on his hitting. The lineup has gained some hitting in the C spot and lost alot at SS. I hear Eckstein’s still available. The tremendous gains in the staff I feel will outweigh any loss in the lineup. I am also not anti-Reyes based on Sept., I am simply aware you must give up something of value to receive something of value.
To Steve (RE: Reyes): In addition to what I quoted Minaya as saying, he also said ``trading Reyes doesn’t make sense.’’ He had been quoted earlier as being more definitive on not trading Reyes, but didn’t put it those terms today. But, Reyes isn’t going anywhere, and Santana isn’t coming to the Mets. Not happening.-JD
All the stuff being written seems to indicate the Mets don’t have the goods to get a #1 or even a #2/#1 wannabe SP.
I don’t want to sell the farm for any Joe Blanton’s. All it will do is create other holes.
There are too many ifs on the team now. If Pedro stays healthy. If El Duque. If Alou. If Castillo. On and on.
Forget all this and gear up for 09. Get Tex from Atl if available. Hope Sanatana or Bedard is available.
Let Milledge play and see if he can be something.
Leave Pelfrey, Humber and Gomez down at AAA. They need more time to development.
08 is (and 07 were) lost b/c Omar did not go crazy high on a bid for Dice K in 07 off season.
:(
“b/c Omar did not go crazy high on a bid for Dice K in 07 off season.”
Seriously? Omar’s bid was very high, significantly higher than the third place bidder, the Yankees. Nobody, nobody, predicted anyone would go as high as the Mets did, and then the Red Sox came in with a crazy high offer.
And, by the way, I recently read an article saying that the Red Sox hadn’t seen all of the extra money from marketing that they thought they were going to get with Dice K. The last thing the Mets needed was to blow their whole budget on a pitcher who was used to going every sixth day. Not with the bullpen they assembled.
If you want to come up with a reason that 07 was blown (i guess you already know about 08?) try again, because not signing Dice K is not the answer.
Do people read posts?
I stated Omar did not go “crazy” high on a bid for DK. Crazy means that the Sox bid was crazy.
But simple math would tell you that adding 15 wins from DK would have put The Mets in the playoffs in 07….easy.
And 08 The Mets would not have a need for a #1 pitcher. DK would be fine at that in the NL.
All The Mets would need is a inn eater to replace Glavine. And some BP of course.
51MM was a crazy bid but it helped to get the Sox a WS.
JD, comments from in papers today from Omar seem to indicate that he will not sell the farm for a pitcher. He is not desparate.
Is this for real or is it posturing?
Did you get that sense sitting in the room?
I’m ok w/not overpaying but I also don’t want any Silvas being given long term, overpriced deals.
You could probably make a case like that for Barry Zito too. You can go on like that all day though in terms of “ifs” and how the Mets would have made the playoffs.
If:
Carlos Delgado had hit
Mike Pelfrey had gone 5-6 instead of 3-8
They didn’t keep using Brian Lawrence
They hadn’t gotten swept by the Phillies so many times
El Duque was able to pitch down the stretch
Moises Alou hadn’t gotten hurt
They had a better, deeper bullpen
It goes on and on. Bringing Dice K into it is completely abritrary. And I can’t even say that he’s the reason the Sox won the WS. Sure he helped, but they have people waiting in the wings to replace him. They have a kid in AAA who pitched a no-hitter in the big leagues. So sure, Dice K would have helped, but so would numerous other players. I still say you can’t say that not getting Dice K is the “reason” that the 07 season was lost. Because there are SO many other things that contributed to that, and clearly they could have won the division without him. After all they did build a 7 game lead without him, no?
PS – Look at Dice K vs. Carlos Silva. The numbers are pretty similar. (Yes I know Dice K is pitches in the AL East, but he also has a potent offense behind him)
I said DK helped. I didn’t say he won the WS.
15 wins from DK gets us in the playoffs. You can’t dispute it.
But if you believe Silva is comparable to DK, I live on Mercury and you live on Pluto. They are not even close to the same P. And therefore, we agree to disagree.
Do people read posts?
I stated “The numbers are pretty similar.” Indeed, they are. You can’t dispute it. Of course if you asked me to, in a vacuum, pick one I’d take Dice K. His ability and ceiling are clearly higher. But for the total price and how it would impact the rest of the team, it is not a slam dunk.
I agree that 15 wins would have helped. But to make a comment that not signing Dice K is the reason both last season and next season will be lost is fairly short sighted. You could also blame the fact that Omar wasn’t able to get a deal done for Oswalt. Yes, I know it wasn’t his fault, but it is the same logic.
And by the way, if they had Silva last year they would have won as well.
I consider H/inn, and BAA to not even be close b/w these two guys. Silva’s numbers (Hits/inn, BAA) indicate to me that his 4.19 ERA won’t last. His BAA is .297 for his career. Yeah he doesn’t walk anybody but he gives up a ton of hits. That is why his ERA has bounced around b/w 4.19 and 5.94 b/c those hits can turn into 3R HR easy, like 06 when he gave up 38 HRs.
Silva has no out pitch. He doesn’t strike people out. He doesn’t create swings and misses. He is a #4 starter. DK is not.
G inn H R HR W SO W L in/g WHIP BAA ERA
32 204.2 191 100 25 80 201 15 12 0 108.8 1.32 .246 4.40
33 202.0 229 99 20 36 89 13 14 0 92.7 1.31 .287 4.19
By comparision Johm Maine
32 191.0 168 90 23 75 180 15 10 0 102.2 1.27 .235 3.91
Hollywood: David Riske is going to be signed by the Brewers. There goes another one. Though to be fair, the Brewers are allegedly giving him a chance to close which the Mets can not offer.
Did they seriously just trade Milledge for Church and Schneider? I can’t believe it.
believe it
Awful awful awful awful awful. What an awful trade.