Category: Latest News

Mets Lose Bengie Molina, Fans Rejoice

San Francisco Giants Photo Day

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If you could draw up a player that doesn’t fit the Mets team and their new stadium, that player would be Bengie Molina. As part of my full disclosure, I’ll tell you that I can’t stand Yadier Molina. Sure, it goes back years now to 2006. But it’s hard for me to picture in my mind a Met player with “Molina” on the back of his jersey.

Bengie ended up signing a 1-year/$4.5 million deal to go back to the Giants and I couldn’t be happier. I wrote that I’d like to see the Mets go into the season with a Santos/Thole platoon behind the plate. The biggest reason was because the list of free agent catchers this year is so weak. That won’t happen because Henry Blanco will be on the roster. But I can live with that.

Molina has some nice offensive stats but a 35 year-old, overweight catcher is just what the Mets don’t need right now. That’s not the profile of the type of player that the Mets should be committing their financial resources to. The Mets would be much better served to put a little more money into a starting pitcher than they had planned, and work on upgrading at first base.

Continue reading “Mets Lose Bengie Molina, Fans Rejoice”

Mets Links: Beltran, Minaya, Stearns, SpongeTech

Mets vs. Rockies

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I was just talking to someone the other day about how early January can be kind of slow for happenings with the Mets. I thought the biggest news might be the team signing a free agent pitcher or Bengie Molina. Then that old Mets dysfunction reared its ugly head again late this week when Carlos Beltran had unauthorized knee surgery.

There have been a few other lesser stories going on as well this week. Here are the links:

  • NY Times– Omar Minaya says that the Mets don’t have a problem with Beltran and he’s smoothed over the issues with him. Yeah, sure.
  • NY Post– The Mets are suing SpongeTech for bouncing checks and failing to make payments since October on their advertising contract for Citi Field
  • NY Post– A good article about John Stearns and what he’s up to now

Mets 2010 Arbitration List, Maine Agrees To Contract

MLB: New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers

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The Mets had six players file for arbitration today and John Maine was the first player to agree to a new contract. Maine will return to the Mets on a one-year/$3.3 million deal plus bonuses that could go to $225,000 based on the number of starts that he makes.

The other players are: Pedro Feliciano, Jeff Francoeur, Sean Green, and Angel Pagan.

I thought it was time to move on from Maine and non-tender him. I don’t think anyone would have thought that Maine deserved a raise coming off his 15 start 7-6 season last year. But he will be getting a raise from his $2.6 million 2009 salary. It’s funny how baseball contracts work sometimes. Or maybe the Mets are just that desperate for starting pitching.

There are some huge names on the arbitration list this year including Tim Lincecum and Felix Hernandez. It should be really interesting to see where they end up.

The Mets players in arbitration had 2009 salaries of:

  • Feliciano- $1.615 million
  • Francoeur- $3.375 million
  • Green- $0.471 million
  • Pagan- $0.575 million

Carlos Beltran Responds to Mets on Surgery

Carlos Beltran

Image by Keith Allison via Flickr

It didn’t take long for Carlos Beltran to recover from his minor knee surgery enough to issue a response to the Mets. The team sure didn’t like his actions in having surgery, supposedly without their consent. But Beltran claims that the team knew all along what his plans were.

From The Star-Ledger:

I am totally surprised by the reaction to my recent knee surgery. I have done nothing but follow the directions of my doctors. Any accusations that I ignored or defied the team’s wishes are simply false.

On Tuesday, Dr. Steadman consulted with the Mets’ doctor — Dr. Altchek — about my knee. Dr. Altchek agreed with Dr. Steadman’s diagnosis that I needed surgery, and said he would relay his approval to Mets management.

I also spoke to Omar Minaya about the surgery on Tuesday. He did not ask me to wait, or to get another doctor’s opinion. He just wished me well. No one from the team raised any issue until Wednesday, after I was already in surgery. I do not know what else I could have done.

The most important thing here is that the surgery was a total success and I expect to be back on the field playing the game I love sooner rather than later.

It doesn’t look like this controversy will be going away anytime soon from Beltran’s statement. A big problem here is that the Mets need to keep him happy and productive, at least for the next two seasons, if they have any chance of being successful. This is just what this struggling team didn’t need right now.

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Video: ESPN On Carlos Beltran Surgery

Here’s some video from Buster Olney at ESPN on the Mets’ problem with Carlos Beltran’s surgery. Angel Pagan isn’t a bad option in center field for a month and a half. I wouldn’t sign another free agent outfielder to play center, like a Rick Ankeil. See Olney’s opinion below.
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Carlos Beltran Surgery Highlights Mets Medical Problems

Antonio Margarito v Kermit Cintron

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By now you’ve likely heard the news that Carlos Beltran had knee surgery without the Mets permission. The surgery was performed by Beltran’s doctor in Colorado. His contract requires that the Mets provide written permission to have elective surgery from the reports that I’ve heard. At issue is whether the knee surgery was medically necessary or not. Now Beltran will miss spring training and likely won’t be able to play until mid-May.

There are several factors involved here including:

  • NY Times– Beltran’s agent, Scott Boras, says that they did have the Mets permission for surgery
  • NY Post- David Wright wonders like every Mets fan why the surgery is being done now?
  • Always Amazin’– Beltran has gone against team medical advice before, in 2000 with the Royals and got suspended for 30 days by the team

This is where the Mets are going to get killed by us and the media for not making any changes to their medical staff after last season’s miscues. Every star player was on the disabled list at some point last year and there was constant confusion about what to do with the players. Remember Carlos Delgado flying to San Francisco for the Mets series there, only to be sent home to go on the disabled list? This situation goes as far back as the 2008 season when Ryan Church was flying around the country with the team after his second concussion of the season.

Continue reading “Carlos Beltran Surgery Highlights Mets Medical Problems”

Mets Links: David Wright, Jay Marshall, John Smoltz

Mets vs. Marlins

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It’s 27 degrees and windy outside right now. I’m watching the NFL playoffs, but I’m thinking of warmer times when baseball is the sport of the season. With that, I’ve got some more links for you on this Sunday afternoon. Here are the links:

  • Jay Marshall claimed off waivers– I like this move. Marshall is a sidearming southpaw that has had great success in the minors, even at Triple-A level. But had no success at the big league level. He’s 26 years-old and it’s worth a shot to see if he can figure things out. This is a nice, low-risk move.
  • David Wright expects to bounce back in 2010– Mark Hale of the Post got an interview with Wright. Of course, he says all of the right things. He doesn’t blame Citi Field or the depleted lineup for his lack of production. Wright is media-savvy enough to make his 2009 10 HR, 140 K season all about himself.
  • Mets considering John Smoltz– Smoltz looked totally washed up to me last season. His 8.32 ERA with the Red Sox was atrocious. There are many options better than Smoltz at this point. The only way that I’d consider Smoltz a viable candidate is if he would take a minor league contract, and I don’t think there’s any way he would do that.
  • The Mets are actively scouting in Dominican Republic– Always Amazin’ has a link to a Peter Gammons-led discussion with Theo Epstein and Omar Minaya about the two teams being very active in the Dominican.