Multiple media sources are reporting that last night the Washington Nationals released Paul LoDuca and Felipe Lopez. The Nats needed to make room on their active roster for Elijah Dukes and Emilio Bonifacio.
LoDuca is making $5M this season and Lopez is making $4.9M. Both are having horrible offensive seasons. And LoDuca has been hurt this season as well. The Nats recently released another free agent catcher Johnny Estrada.
Neither player is a fit for the Mets needs.
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.
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.
Image via WikipediaThe 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.
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.
Here are some links for Mets reading while you’re having lunch today.
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?
The Mets Report 