Mets Roster Will Take Shape At Winter Meetings

The Mets 2009 roster is full of holes but should start to take shape this week at the Winter Meetings. The meetings start up on Sunday December 7th in Las Vegas and Omar Minaya will be able to start making some moves, whether trades or free agent signings, during the week.

There have plenty of rumors over the last several weeks about the closer, starting pitchers, and second base. But the activity has been curiously slow so far. Be it the 21st century version of the Great Depression or the astronomical contracts that the top-tier free agents are seeking, the free agent market is still undefined.

Until K-Rod, Derek Lowe, CC Sabathia, and Manny Ramirez sign contracts we won’t see much action happening. They need to set the tone for the market by signing contracts so the lower end free agents gain an understanding of their value. Not to mention the fact that some teams, like the Mets, may need to go the trade route for key roster spots if the K-Rod’s of the world sign elsewhere.

Expect the Mets to settle the closer the position this week. Whether we end up with K-Rod, Brian Fuentes, J.J. Putz, or Huston Street this week is still up for debate but I expect the issue to be resolved this week.

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Closer Market Gets Crowded As Hoffman Joins Free Agents

This week Trevor Hoffman joined the ranks of the currently “between contract” closers. It’s a pretty impressive list right now with K-Rod, Brian Fuentes, and Hoffman all free agents. Bobby Jenks and J.J. Putz are rumored to be available for trades as well.

The Mets couldn’t have picked a better time to be in the market for a closer. We haven’t heard any rumors about the Mets making an offer to anyone yet. So we know they’re not immediately jumping into the fire after any of the available free agents.

Hoffman could be a good one year stop-gap until Eddie Kunz is ready to take over the reigns as the closer. Sure, he’ll be 41 years old this year. And his fastball is topping out in the mid to high 80’s now. But he’s still got the great change up. And he’s not far removed from some excellent seasons.

Last season Hoffman had 32 saves with a 3.77 ERA and 1.037 WHIP. Not bad for an old man. The Mets would’ve killed to have someone like that last season after Billy Wagner went down. In 2006, Hoffman had 46 saves and finished second in the Cy Young Award voting and tenth in the NL MVP voting.

I’d rather have Hoffman for one season than Fuentes for three and K-Rod for four or five. The way relief pitchers are up and down from season to season, you just can’t trust them to be consistent over any great length of time.

Omar Minaya should really think about getting into a short-term deal with Hoffman. Not to mention the fact that his price tag will be significantly lower than the other free agents. And the Mets are still on the hook for Billy Wagner’s $10.5 million salary in 2009. It’s not my money that they’re spending but I’d rather see the resources applied across the multiple potential openings in the bullpen, left field, and rotation than to one “great” closer.

Image via Wikimedia

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Mets Hire Alicea To Coach First Base

Jerry Manuel finished off his coaching staff by hiring former Red Sox coach Luis Alicea. Alicea has been coaching first for the Red Sox for the past two seasons.

Alicea has done some managing in the minors for the Red Sox and I can’t help but wonder why Terry Francona let him go. I suppose we’ll find out soon enough.

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Report: Mets Aren’t After Sabathia

What a shock! The Mets aren’t interested in having two $100 million starting pitchers on the team. Marty Noble at MLB.com confirms that the Mets won’t be offering CC Sabathia a contract.

The word in the press is that the Yankees already offered Sabathia 6-years/$140 million. And I’m sure the Yankees will go as high as it takes to get Sabathia.

The Mets going after Sabathia never made sense from the beginning. With holes in the outfield, bullpen, and rotation, there’s no room for another $100 million contract on this team.

It’s a nice dream to think of Johan Santana and Sabathia pitching back-to-back days all season, but it’s not happening.

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