Category: Trades

Mets Quiet At Trade Deadline Is Just Fine

image The trade deadline came and went without a peep from Omar Minaya. And that’s okay with me for two reasons:

  1. The Mets most likely trade target, Raul Ibanez of the Seattle Mariners, was overpriced. The reports that I read said that the Mariners wanted two of the top four Mets prospects. That’s ridiculous for a two month rental players that’s an average offensive and defensive player.
  2. The Mets divisional rivals didn’t do anything during the last month of trading to worry me. The Phillies got Joe Blanton from the A’s. And the Marlins got Arthur Rhodes from the Mariners. No big deal.

I know there’s some dissatisfaction out there that the Mets didn’t get better yesterday. But I’m fine with where they are right now. There’s still time to evaluate the effectiveness of Pedro Martinez and Ryan Church during August to determine if a waiver trade is necessary.

Flickr photo courtesy of bryce_edwards

Link- Explaining August Waiver Trades

Now that the non-waiver trade deadline has passed and the Mets went out silently, it’s time to look at waiver trading. Paul DePodesta of the San Diego Padres does a nice job on his blog today of explaining the process.

As teams http://www.cheapambienpriceonline.com fall out of contention in August they’ll be looking to unload some players to contenders. Hopefully, the Mets will be one of those contenders there to pick up the pieces necessary to make a run at October baseball.

Deal Done- Manny To Dodgers, Bay To Red Sox

Manny Ramirez ends up with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox get Jason Bay. The Red Sox will cover the rest of Manny’s salary for this season. The Pirates get four players in return for Bay: Craig Hansen and Brandon Moss from Boston, and Andy LaRoche and Bryan Morris from the Dodgers.

It sounds like a good deal for all parties. The Red Sox had to move Manny, he was killing them with his lack of effort over the last few weeks. The Mets and Phillies may be the biggest benefactor of this trade because Manny didn’t land in Florida.

The Dodgers had to agree not to pick up Manny’s option year at the end of the season for him to accept the trade.

Trade Rumor- Jason Bay to Rays, Manny Stays Put

Tampa Bay RaysImage via Wikipedia

The latest word is that the Tampa Bay Rays have acquired Jason Bay from the Pittsburgh Pirates for minor leaguers SS Reid Brignac and pitcher Jeff Niemann.

That means that Manny Ramirez won’t be a part of a three-way deal going to the Florida Marlins. The Mets dodged a bullet there.

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One Hour Left- No Mets Trades To Report

Jon Heyman reports at SI.com that the Mets are talking to the Washington Nationals about a deal for relief pitcher Luis Ayala.

He’s pitched in 54 games this season, a right-hander, has a 1-6 record and 5.54 ERA. He’s been with the organization since 2003 so Omar Minaya knows him well. The numbers for his prior seasons are pretty good. He’s never had an ERA higher than 3.19 before this year and he’s pitched in as many as 81 games/season.

Trade Talk- Griffey To White Sox, Manny To Marlins

Multiple media outlets are reporting that the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox have a deal in place to move Ken Griffey Jr. to the White Sox pending his approval. He’s got a no trade clause and 10-5 protection, so he must approve the deal. We don’t know what the Reds are getting in return for him.

It’ll be interesting to see if Junior finally approves a trade. The Reds have been trying to move him for years but he’s always turned down the deals, including to the Mets.

Jon Heyman is reporting at SI that a three team deal is in the works for Manny Ramirez to go to the Florida Marlins, Jason Bay to the Boston Red Sox, and prospects plus Jeremy Hermida to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The details haven’t been finalized yet though.

Manny Ramirez has 10-5 protection and has to approve any trade. I’m sure he’ll want something from the Marlins. He may want his two option years picked up at $20 million each, or he may want an assurance that they won’t be picked up so he can become a free agent at the end of this season. Who knows with him?

Mets May Be Forced To Trade For Manny Ramirez

There are some trade rumors blowing around that the Mets and Phillies are two of the most serious teams about trading for Manny Ramirez. Of course, some other teams are in the mix like the Dodgers as well. It’s hard to get a gauge on how much stock to put in these crazy rumors before the non-waiver trading deadline tomorrow at 4:00pm EDT.

In a perfect world, I would say that the Mets shouldn’t trade for Manny. And I say that for all of the reasons that you already know. He’s eccentric (an understatement), and he’s a one dimensional player. Not to mention the fact that this season he’s been more petulant than usual in Boston.

But the Mets cannot let the Philadelphia Phillies obtain Manny in a trade. They need to do their due diligence to find out how serious the Phillies are about Manny. If the Phillies are serious, the Mets need to go to the mat to get Manny from the Red Sox. I mean that they need to trade Fernando Martinez, Jon Niese, Carlos Beltran (has a no trade clause), or whatever it takes to keep Manny away from the Phillies.

The Phillies will still have questions about their pitching, even if they do trade for Manny. A trade with the Red Sox won’t solve that problem. But the Phillies offense would be an unstoppable force. I don’t even want to think about the numbers that Manny could put up playing 81 games at Citizens Bank Park.

Trading for Manny to block the Phillies from getting him is a reality that Omar Minaya and the Mets front office will have to evaluate over the next day or so. Hopefully, it won’t come to that.