Here’s some video from Buster Olney at ESPN on the Mets’ problem with Carlos Beltran’s surgery. Angel Pagan isn’t a bad option in center field for a month and a half. I wouldn’t sign another free agent outfielder to play center, like a Rick Ankeil. See Olney’s opinion below.
http://espn.go.com/videohub/player/embed.swf
Buster Olney is reporting at ESPN that the Mets and Dodgers are talking about a deal that would send Andruw Jones to New York. Olney writes that the Dodgers would be willing to eat some of the money left on the last year of Jones’ contract.
Jones has been terrible for two seasons in a row now. He gained a lot of weight and lost several steps in the outfield. Olney surmises that the Mets would put Jones in right field supplanting Ryan Church.
I can’t figure out how this makes sense for the Mets unless the Dodgers are willing to take Luis Castillo in return. But Olney writes that the Dodgers likely have no interest in Castillo because Blake DeWitt is playing second base.
Omar Minaya has made some bad signings during his career but he’s usually pretty saavy in the trade market. I’ll be surprised if he’s willing to take on Andruw Jones at this point in his career.
Buster Olney added a blog post at ESPN stating that the Mets call the shots in the closer market. There have been several reports recently that the Mets may make several simultaneous offers to K-Rod, Brian Fuentes, and possibly Kerry Wood. Whoever is the first to jump at the Mets offer gets the job.
The Mets are really sitting in a strong position, as perhaps the only big-market team intent on spending good money on a reliever, and their intention is to present the offers with this marching order: The first reliever who accepts our offer is going to be our closer.
The other teams out there looking at closers right now are the Brewers, Cardinals, Tigers, and Angels. From all of the reports that I’ve read, none of those teams want to be at the highest salary point for a free agent closer this off-season. I agree with Olney that situation does leave the Mets in the drivers seat right now.
ESPN’s Buster Olney talks about the hot topics in baseball news today including the return of Pedro Martinez.
http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/player.swf?mediaId=3425350
ESPN usually keeps their best content from their premier baseball writers as a paid service. Occasionally, they’ll offer up something for free like today’s column from Buster Olney.
Olney talks about how Willie Randolph is in the cross-hairs right now and is managing every day to keep his job. But he also goes on to say that there’s no clear alternative right now.
Read the full story here.
The Mets Report 