Category: Latest News

Manny Ramirez Is Not Right For The Mets

Manny RamirezThere’s been so much talk among Mets fans about why Manny isn’t a Met, and if he’ll be a Met. I certainly hope not. Looking at Manny’s offensive statistics is stunning. Even better than I thought when I thought about writing this post. I’ve never watched Manny play every day during his time in Boston or last season with the Dodgers. I probably watched more of him last year with the Dodgers than I did during the totality of his Boston career.

He’s an offensive juggernaut like the Mets haven’t seen since the days of Darryl Strawberry, or maybe ever. But he isn’t right for the Mets. And I’m not writing that because I have some delusion that the Mets will only employ players of the highest personal integrity. I even supported the Mets before the 2007 season when they signed Guillermo Mota knowing that he would face a steriod suspension to start the season. It didn’t work out very well but I thought it was a good move at the time.

As I look over Manny’s numbers at his Baseball Reference profile, its difficult not to fall in love with his stats. His 162 game career average of .314/ .411/ .593 41 HR and 133 RBI is intoxicating to imagine in a Met uniform. And I honestly believe he can continue that late in his career, as he’ll be 37 years old in May.

The reason that I don’t want to see Manny with the Mets is because he gave up on the Red Sox. He didn’t even try last year. He quit! I believe that he faked knee injuries so he wouldn’t have to play. I believe that he didn’t try to play well in the field or at-bat. And that I can’t take.

I can live with players making bad decisions to extend their careers or improve their performance (e.g. steriods and HGH). I don’t like it but I can understand it. But I can’t live with watching a player every day that isn’t trying. If Manny isn’t highly motivated, and he may not be for whatever team he ends up with, he very well may not try to win or even step on the field. And that is something that I don’t want to see with the Mets. The Dodgers can have him.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

Mets Sign Freddy Garcia

Freddy GarciaFree agent Freddy Garcia signed off the scrap heap for as much as $9 million according to various media reports. Garcia has basically missed the last two seasons due to injury and surgery. He’s only pitched in 14 games over those two seasons.

His deal is a minor league contract so the Mets have the flexibility to start his season at Buffalo, or possibly keep him there all season. Garcia will be 33 years old this season, so he’s looking to have a positive season that will propel him to another major league contract.

It’s interesting that Garcia chose the Mets to sign with. There were rumors that several teams were looking at him including the Yankees. He must have felt that his best shot at a spot on the major league roster was with the Mets. He’ll compete with Tim Redding and Jon Niese for the fifth rotation spot in spring training.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

Mets Minaya Still Has Holes To Fill

We’re about three and a half weeks before pitchers and catchers report to Port St. Lucie. And we still have one big hole in the pitching rotation. Derek Lowe is gone, and gone to a division rival in Atlanta. There have been several quotes in the media that Omar Minaya isn’t going to move forward to fill voids in the Mets roster until the pitching situation is settled.

Omar_MinayaThe bullpen needs have been addressed, and in a big way. Francisco Rodriguez and J.J. Putz are fantastic additions to the team. That’s great… But holding up the rest of the roster for a starting pitcher doesn’t make sense anymore.

There has been speculation that the Bernard Madoff- Ponzi scheme has affected the Mets ability to sign free agents this year. By now, we’ve all heard that Mets owner Fred Wilpon was victimized by Madoff to the tune of as much as nine figures. There are other writers that claim that the Madoff scheme has nothing to do with the Mets losing Derek Lowe. The truth is probably somewhere in between.

The point here is that Oliver Perez, Randy Wolf, Ben Sheets, and Jon Garland are still out there and won’t require a significant financial commitment for the Mets. I could understand waiting to see if the Mets could sign Derek Lowe, he would require a major financial commitment and would affect the Mets’ ability to sign other free agents.

We still need to look at adding an outfielder. I like Fernando Tatis and Daniel Murphy. I should say that I liked seeing them last season in small doses. It’s questionable, in my mind, how things will turn out with them playing every day in left field. Minaya should really take a look at an outfielder with experience playing every day like Garret Anderson, Jay Payton, Ken Griffey Jr., Adam Dunn, and Bobby Abreu.

The other problem that needs to be dealt with is the fact that the Mets have two backup catchers in Brian Schneider and Ramon Castro. I like them both as backups but neither is suited to play every day for various reasons. Schneider is an automatic out and Castro is an injury waiting to a happen. Unfortunately, there aren’t many options for an every day catcher on the free agent market now. Names like Pudge, Varitek, and other 30-something players dominate the remaining free agents. So a trade might be the only way to get a starting catcher to Queens.

These important issues with the Mets roster shouldn’t be left on hold waiting for a back of the rotation pitcher to sign a free agent contract. It doesn’t make any sense to me to leave other business left unattended while Minaya dances with Scott Boras and Oliver Perez. Minaya needs to be able to multi-task and we’re not seeing that right now.

Farewell Pedro, Mets Fans Hardly Knew You

pedrom11Although the signing of free agent pitcher Tim Redding to a one-year contract may seem very benign, it actually is significant for some current and former Mets. I thought that the Mets could have gotten Redding to sign a minor league deal. But by signing a major league deal, he’s guaranteed to be competing for the fifth spot in the starting rotation.

First, the impact of this signing means that Jonathan Niese and Bobby Parnell have a tougher fight to make the major league roster than they did earlier this week. I thought Niese, especially, had a great shot to secure the fifth spot in the rotation out of spring training. And that may still happen. But it won’t be easy. He’ll have to supplant Redding and his $2.25 million major league contract and relegate him to the bullpen. That won’t be easy. Most likely, Niese will start the season in Buffalo and have to work his way to the majors.

Second, the Mets haven’t ruled out Pedro Martinez returning to the Mets. And Pedro wants to come back to the Mets. By signing Redding the Mets have all but eliminated the possibility of Pedro coming back. Pedro likely won’t come back with a minor league contract. And Pedro won’t work out of the bullpen for the Mets. He’s a first ballot Hall of Famer not a long reliever.

Let me preface this next paragraph by saying, I think Pedro is great. That said, I don’t want him back again. This is a time where we should look back on Pedro’s four years with the Mets because he won’t be coming back. And that’s okay.

Don’t feel bad for Pedro. He’ll be just fine. He’s made just over $146 million in his career. In his 17 year career, Pedro made about 36% of his money from the Mets over four years. The Mets were extremely generous to Pedro.

Pedro’s Mets career was great in 2005, but a disaster since then. We only saw Pedro in 79 games total as a Met. His record over the four year span was 32-23, not exactly beefing up his Hall of Fame resume. Since 2005 we’ve only seen Pedro in 48 games during the last three years of his contract.

Although it would be nice to see Pedro come back and get a chance to redeem himself for the last three miserable seasons he spent with the Mets, it’s not going to happen. I don’t say farewell to Pedro  with the same disdain that Yankees fans said goodbye to Carl Pavano. Pedro was almost always with the team, supporting them from the dugout. You can’t say that he didn’t care, he did.

The bottom line is that you have to be able to be on the field to make a contribution. And Pedro just couldn’t do that. Farewell Pedro, best of luck to you. See you in Cooperstown but it won’t be as a Met.

Flickr photo courtesy of bryce_edwards.

Chipper Jones Talks Mets Baseball

The past two seasons have seen the Mets and Phillies engage in a war of words. But the Phillies have gotten it done on the field, winning the division in both seasons. Jimmy Rollins, Carlos Beltran, Cole Hamels, John Maine, and Francisco Rodriguez have all gotten involved.

Chipper Jones finally landed the Atlanta Braves on the trash-talking map this week in an interview with The Sporting News. From the interview:

We won for 14 consecutive years, and you never, ever saw any bulletin board material. And now that these two teams are on top of the division, they can’t keep their mouths shut. Just go play baseball. It’s Cole Hamels now. It was Jimmy Rollins and Carlos Beltran the past couple of springs. These two teams are constantly going at each other verbally. You know, win with class, lose with class. Just keep your mouth shut and go play your game.

Jones also chides the Mets for using their financial resources to secure the two best closers available on the market. He chalks this up to “the rich get richer”. You have to take a few minutes to read the column. Jones also discusses how the Braves made the best trade offer to the Padres for Jake Peavy, but Peavy didn’t want to play for Atlanta.

I guess it’s about time that someone from the Braves popped off. But Jones’ comments seem contrived, like he’s trying to make the Braves relevant in the NL East. The Braves have had an incredibly quiet off-season and don’t appear to be poised to make a run at the division title in 2009.

I have to say that I like that the Mets are the talk of the NL East. Clearly, the Mets have gotten into the heads of the Phillies and Braves. Hopefully, that will translate into wins on the field.

Flickr photo courtesy of darkensiva

Enhanced by Zemanta

Mets Offer Derek Lowe Contract

Jack Curry of the New York Times is reporting today that the Mets made an offer to Derek Lowe. It’s no surpise that he’s the pitcher the Mets are after right now. Ben Sheets, Oliver Perez, and Randy Wolf are still available as free agents as well. But Lowe is the best starting pitcher on the market.

Curry reports that the offer is a 3-year/$36 million contract. Lowe will be 36 years old next season so it makes sense to keep the contract to three years or fewer.

Lowe is reported to be seeking a 5-year/$90 million contract. So the Mets are pretty far from Lowe’s desired deal. The Red Sox and Phillies are also reported to be interested in Lowe. But it’s difficult to tell how interested they are. The Red Sox just signed Brad Penny to a one year deal. So they may not go after another starter.

I’m completely on board with this signing, especially if Omar Minaya can keep the contract to just three years. I would even go to four years, but there’s no way that I’d go to five. Lowe is probably going to get closer to the $50 million range than the $90 million that he’s seeking.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Mets Have Options For Rotation

It isn’t news to a fan of the New York Mets that they have at least one hole to fill in the rotation. The Mets have a solid three starters in Johan Santana, John Maine, and Mike Pelfrey. Jon Niese offers a possible alternative as a fifth starter as well.

Niese went 1-1 in three starts last season including a brilliant eight-inning start against the Braves on September 13th, giving up no runs. But he did get hit hard in his two other starts against the Brewers and Cubs resulting in a 7.07 ERA. He’s got potential but it wouldn’t be wise to bank on him to hold down a spot in the rotation.

The top of the Mets shopping list has to be Derek Lowe. But Oliver Perez and Ben Sheets offer interesting alternatives. We know all about the inconsistent Perez. But he did seem to fare well under the tuteledge of pitching coach Dan Warthen last season.

Lowe and Sheets are both Type A free agents and were offered arbitration by their teams. So the Mets will have to give up draft picks to sign them. The Mets already gave up draft picks to sign Francisco Rodriguez, so that will make it tougher to stomach signing Lowe or Sheets.

Jon Garland is an interesting option. He’s a Type B free agent that was offered arbitration by the Angels. He’s an innings-eater and a consistent performer. Tim Redding and Brad Penny are available as well and wouldn’t cost any draft picks.

Randy Wolf has been rumored to be flirting with the Mets. But he’s wanted to stay on the West Coast for several years. He’s even taken one year deals to stay in Los Angeles and San Diego. I think he’s using the Mets to get a better offer out west.

The list of starters available to vie for the fifth spot in the rotation is pretty long. It includes names like Pedro Martinez, Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia, Mark Mulder, and Mark Prior. The Mets may sign Pedro to a one year deal. But for anyone else it’ll be a race to see who the Mets can get to accept a minor league contract with an invite to spring training. They can have a competition in spring training with Niese.

Although the Mets seem to be moving slowly to shore up the rotation, there are plenty of options to fill the one or two spots available. I expect the Mets to announce a signing soon after the new year.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia