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The news came in today that Brian Stokes was sent to the Angels for Gary Matthews, Jr. Not only that but the Angels are paying $21.5 million of the $23 million left on his contract (over two years). Now that’s a team that really wanted to get rid of a player. When I first heard that the Mets got Matthews, I assumed that Luis Castillo was going to the Angels. I’m still shocked that the Mets couldn’t dump Castillo on the Angels in return for Matthews.
This trade shouldn’t make that much of a difference in the 2010 season. If it does, the Mets are in trouble. That means that Carlos Beltran didn’t recover from knee surgery and return in May as planned. And Matthews ends up getting more playing time than anyone could have anticipated. He’ll still have to fight off Angel Pagan for playing time in center while Beltran is out. I like Pagan’s chances in the match up.
I really hope Matthews can return to playing like he did when he was allegedly buying HGH in 2004. His career started to take off in 2005 and peaked in 2006. MLB doesn’t test for Human Growth Hormone so there’s no reason to think that he can’t return to form. Not that I’m condoning HGH use, but you have to do what you have to do, Gary.
Matthews did play in two games for the Mets in 2002, getting one at-bat before being traded to the Orioles.
Here’s some video analysis from ESPN.
http://espn.go.com/videohub/player/embed.swf
The Mets Report 
I don't like this trade at all. I'm happy we dumped Stokes, who really isn't that good, but Matthews Jr. has been terrible the past 3 seasons. I guess the good news is its for less than $2M and so the team could just DFA him once Beltran returns, unless hes somehow doing better than Pagan at the time, which is very unlikely.A better use of resources though: trade Stokes for a minor league body .. sign Randy Winn, 1 year $2M.
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Stokes was fair, at best. So that's no big loss. But Matthews Jr. for less than $2M is ok with me. I'm not a big Randy Winn fan. He looked pretty old the last couple of years in SF. Like you said, if Matthews is worthless they can just release him. No big loss. Pagan should start the year in center anyway.
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I only particularly like Winn because defensive metrics have him as a much superior defensive outfielder to Matthews Jr. I actually think Matthews can be a fairly reasonable hitter if he gets his slugging percentage up.
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I'm concerned that Matthews isn't the type of guys that plays well in a limited role. Some players need to be in there everyday to be able to be successful. Matthews may be that type of player. Whether it's Winn or Matthews, if they have a big impact on the 2010 season for the Mets, it would mean the Mets are in for a bad season.
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Dave, I think you had mentioned a while ago that it's always hit or miss with middle relief. I agree with that wholeheartedly. I would have preferred to see them NOT trade Stokes. I think he's due for a big season in middle relief. Of course the next season he'll stink. So flip a coin I guess! Hopefully there is a decent replacement not named Nelson Figueroa.Sounds like Matthews Jr. is an insurance policy when Pagan inevitably ends up on the Disabled List. I'd love to see Pagan stay healthy for an extended period. He's a lot of fun to watch, however he's a bit scary running the bases.
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There's a lot to like about Pagan. I'd actually like to see him get a starting job somewhere else to see what he could in a full season. But I just don't trust him to stay healthy. And the middle relievers are so up and down from year to year. Feliciano is the only Met in recent memory to show any solid consistency.
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There's a lot to like about Pagan. I'd actually like to see him get a starting job somewhere else to see what he could in a full season. But I just don't trust him to stay healthy. And the middle relievers are so up and down from year to year. Feliciano is the only Met in recent memory to show any solid consistency.
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I'm concerned that Matthews isn't the type of guys that plays well in a limited role. Some players need to be in there everyday to be able to be successful. Matthews may be that type of player. Whether it's Winn or Matthews, if they have a big impact on the 2010 season for the Mets, it would mean the Mets are in for a bad season.
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