Category: Roster

Mets Non-tender Redding, Sullivan, Reed, Broadway

Tim Redding

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The Mets didn’t offer contracts to Jeremy Reed, Cory Sullivan, Tim Redding, and Lance Broadway before the midnight deadline last night. None of these guys would make or break the 2010 season anyway. Redding was the only player that I had any expectations for last season. If you look at his game log for 2009, he got hammered with frequency and only sprinkled in a few good games here and there.

I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Sullivan come back as a fifth outfielder/pinch hitter. Although he finished with only a .250 avg, I liked what I saw of him in the field and on the bases. He also hit .321 with RISP.

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Mets, Jason Bay Closer To Contract

BOSTON - JULY 05: Jason Bay #44 and David Ort...

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In a report for Foxsports, Ken Rosenthal writes that Jason Bay has officially turned down the offer that was on the the table from the Red Sox. It was widely reported at the end of the season that the Sox had offered Bay a 4-year/$60 million contract. Last week the Mets trumped that slightly with a 4-year/$65 million offer.

It appears that the Red Sox aren’t willing to move from their original offer. Rosenthal notes that the Mariners and Angels are both rumored to have some level of interest in Bay as well. The Mets are now in a stronger bargaining position than ever. That’s good news for those of us that would like to see Bay come back to the Mets organization.

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Mets And MLB Winter Meetings 2009

Jason Bay at a game between Orioles and the Re...

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We haven’t seen much from the New York Mets yet this offseason but it’s still early. None of the big free agents that the Mets should be interested in have come off the board yet anyway. It’s been in the news since yesterday that Chone Figgins signed a 4-year/$36M deal with the Mariners. As far as I’m concerned, that’s fine with me. I like Figgins but don’t see where he would fit in with the Mets roster. Maybe left field. But that’s a stretch for a guy with a long term contract at $9M/year.

At least the Mets are set at catcher. That was easy. Chris Coste will be the third string guy staying in shape at Triple-A Buffalo. And Henry Blanco should back up Omir Santos. Yahoo Sports wrote that the Mets are still in the market for a starter at catcher like Bengie Molina, Yorvit Torrealba, or Rod Barajas. But I think the Mets have bigger fish to fry than another catcher.

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NY Times: Mets Should Trade For Halladay And Wells

Vernon Wells

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A couple of writers that I’ve never heard of at the NY Times are touting the idea of the Mets trading for Roy Halladay and Vernon Wells. I hope that Elena Gustines and Jay Schreiber are only temporarily filling in for Ben Shipgel on the Bats blog there. We need the voice of reason back.

The writers touch on the idea of multiple needs on the Mets (and forgot to mention the Mets need a first baseman that can hit). They also only touch on the fact that trading for Halladay and Wells adds $36 million to the Mets payroll next year, which is the total amount that the Mets are likely to add based on the salaries that are coming off the books.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mind the idea of bringing in Halladay and Wells. The problem that Gustines and Schreiber don’t address is how complicated it’s going to be to reconfigure the roster to address the existing shortcomings at catcher and first base within the $140 million payroll.

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Audio: Heyman On Hot Stove November 21, 2009

Roy Halladay

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Here’s the audio from WFAN’s Saturday morning show with Evan Roberts. SI’s Jon Heyman calls in to talk about:

 Jon Heyman audio on WFAN

As far as I’m concerned, Halladay shouldn’t even be on the Mets radar until they resolve some of the problems with their position players. As Heyman says, it’s unlikely that the Mets want two starting pitchers making #1 starter money. It’s not the right allocation of resources unless Halladay falls into their lap.

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New York Mets 2009 Offseason: All About The Bats

Matt Holliday of the Colorado Rockies hits aga...

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After the 2008 season ended, the Mets went looking for pitching. More specifically, they were looking for bullpen help coming off 29 blown saves. Mets GM Omar Minaya made no secret about the fact that he was looking at pitching, pitching, and more pitching. He came away with a solidly revamped bullpen led by Francisco Rodriguez, J.J. Putz, and Sean Green.

Unfortunately, we ended up with Daniel Murphy manning left field and no depth among the position players. Minaya let the rest of the team go for the sake of solidifying the bullpen and re-signing Oliver Perez. It showed when the Mets suffered an abnormally long injury list and there were no replacements waiting in the wings, minor leagues or otherwise.

Although there are some serious question marks on the pitching staff, this offseason needs to be all about generating some offense. The 2009 Mets finished 25th in the majors with 671 runs. Teams like Kansas City and Washington scored more runs than the Mets. They were dead last in the big’s with only 95 team home runs. Sure, the new stadium played a part in that. But there’s no excuse for the team with the highest payroll in the National League to finish in dead last in all of MLB.

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Mets 2010 Starting Pitchers- Question Marks Everywhere

IMG_0217

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There’s only one certainty when it comes to the Mets starting pitchers for 2010: Johan Santana. As long as he’s healthy, there’s no reason to think he won’t be one of the best pitchers in baseball. He’s had some minor injury problems but I don’t expect to see any decline in his performance. After Santana, the situation gets very murky, very quickly. This is about to get ugly, so Mets fans hold onto your hats.

Mike Pelfrey– In 31 starts Pelfrey finished the season at 10-12 with a 5.03 ERA. 2009 was a serious regression for him from his 2008 line of 32 starts 13-11 and 3.72 ERA. Pelfrey had some disgusting performances like June 4th in Pittsburgh giving up 8 runs in 3.2 innings and giving up 9 runs in 4.1 innings in Atlanta on July 17th. There were other ugly games but you get the idea. Often Pelfrey looked uncomfortable and frustrated, but who wouldn’t be while pitching poorly? He had a bad year but the Mets have too much invested in him for him not to be back in the rotation. He’ll be there. You can bank on it. But I doubt that he’ll be considered the #2 starter. He should be demoted in the rotation. I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t have a bounce-back year in 2010.

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