Jan 19
According to Buster Olney’s Twitter Page: “Heard this: Bengie Molina has turned down the Mets’ most recent offer, and the Mets are beginning to focus on Joel Pineiro…”
Buster also added that the M’s seem the most logical for Molina if the Mets move on.
As for Pineiro, Buster also said the Angels were in on Pineiro.
MLBTradeRumors
Twitter Tweet: Mets Trade Collin McHugh For... { Compensating for the Coors Field... } – Jun 19, 9:16 AMVideo: Braves Announcer Less Than Classy Hoping... { Back when Skip Carey was... } – Jun 19, 9:07 AM
Twitter Tweet: Mets Trade Collin McHugh For... { Who cares? There is way... } – Jun 19, 9:02 AM
Twitter Tweet: Mets Trade Collin McHugh For... { Not that McHugh was anything... } – Jun 19, 8:55 AM
Twitter Tweet: Mets Trade Collin McHugh For... { They must have DFA McHugh... } – Jun 19, 8:40 AM
47 comments
mrose
1/19/2010-11:24am at 11:24 am (UTC -4)
this fatty is starting to piss me off..
Where else has he possibly been linked to this offseason? He is aging, fat, rumored to be liked by Pitchers.. but come on.
I say move on, i’m ready to go with Santos/whoever until Thole is ready at this point…
ugh
prismo
1/19/2010-11:31am at 11:31 am (UTC -4)
Agreed. He’s way overvaluing himself. For a guy with an OPS of .727 last season, who’s on the decline due to age, and who runs like molasses, he must be out of his mind to be asking for a multi-year deal.
Time to move on – sign a cheaper catcher, and spend the extra money on 1B, pitching, or the bench.
trs86
1/19/2010-11:34am at 11:34 am (UTC -4)
Funny thing is they don’t have to move on. That is what is great about the Blanco and Coste signings. They have depth so while they work on everything else than can tell Molina keep looking buddy… If you find ANYTHING let us know.
CaseStreet
1/19/2010-11:36am at 11:36 am (UTC -4)
Que Cojones!
mrose
1/19/2010-11:42am at 11:42 am (UTC -4)
loco o cojones?
GravediggerHebner
1/19/2010-11:59am at 11:59 am (UTC -4)
Good luck with that Bengie. I hear the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks might be interested, all the sushi you can eat.
GravediggerHebner
1/19/2010-12:12pm at 12:12 pm (UTC -4)
Since Buster Olney tweeted this Molina info I will post this here.
Apparently earlier this morning Olney also tweeted this:
“Mets’ GM Omar Minaya was never given a budget this offseason. The front office is making recommendations to COO Jeff Wilpon on a case-by-case basis without knowing if they’re approaching a payroll limit.”
metsfan4decades
1/19/2010-12:23pm at 12:23 pm (UTC -4)
I heard an interview with Cashman, concerning the Yankees off season last year. After the Tex signing, they asked if he was done. He said something like ‘you’re never done. It’s my job as GM to present all legitimate offers to the owners. For most they said, no, you’ve got enough depth there, or move on, we’ve got talent there. But I would be negligent in my duties not to present all ideas for making the team even better, to the brass’. Or some such similar wording.
So it made it sound like Cashman wasn’t operating under any kind of budget guidelines either.
wannybackstra
1/19/2010-12:23pm at 12:23 pm (UTC -4)
The money Molina was rumored to be seeking is roughly the same amount of money Ben Sheets could expect guaranteed in a contract.
So perhaps this works out better for the Mets with $6m to guarantee Sheets. I’d rather have Sheets, Pineiro & scrub catcher (whether that’s Santos or Barajas) than Pineiro, Molina and one less high end option for the rotation.
metsfan4decades
1/19/2010-12:25pm at 12:25 pm (UTC -4)
Couldn’t agree more.
trs86
1/19/2010-12:27pm at 12:27 pm (UTC -4)
Problem is last rumored Sheets wants 12 guaranteed. No I don’t think he will get it but at this point I am not sure Molina gets 6 either. I am also not sure either are connected unless you think the Mets are going to sign 2 SP. Right now it appears they planned on signing Molina and Pineiro/Sheets.
wannybackstra
1/19/2010-12:45pm at 12:45 pm (UTC -4)
I want $12m too. But last year’s injury class were signed to contracts last offseason for:
Pedro – $2m
Smoltz — $5.5m
Wang — $5m
Penny — $5m
Jennings — $4m
I don’t think $6m is an unreasonable offer/expectation for Sheets.
Interestingly, most of those guys did not really live up to their ends of the deals. Pedro was the best (and his deal was prorated anyway). I guess Penny combined for a $5m value with his good SF performance. But the team that paid him didn’t get the better performance. Smoltz performed well for St. Louis but like Penny after being cut by Boston who paid him to pitch elsewhere.
DNDJohan aka kistics
1/19/2010-2:33pm at 2:33 pm (UTC -4)
Not really injury class, but Pettite got something like $5.5M going to $12M.
I would give Sheets similar to Pettite’s contract. Maybe slightly more on guaranteed money, but no more than $7-8M. But then Omar isn’t really known for overpaying…
And no I don’t think Luis and Ollie were overpaid… (Luis over extended though…)
Mr North Jersey
1/19/2010-2:39pm at 2:39 pm (UTC -4)
What are the odds that the Mets have one more big move in them before camp begins?
njstuckintx
1/19/2010-2:55pm at 2:55 pm (UTC -4)
If you consider Pineiro a big move, then yes.
njstuckintx
1/19/2010-2:56pm at 2:56 pm (UTC -4)
And by yes, I mean “very good odds”.
DNDJohan aka kistics
1/19/2010-3:46pm at 3:46 pm (UTC -4)
Yuk…
GravediggerHebner
1/19/2010-12:35pm at 12:35 pm (UTC -4)
While I’m disappointed that multiple factors combined to prevent John Lackey being a Met, where we are today if this team signs Sheets, gets one of Pineiro, Washburn or Garland at roughly Marquis dollars or even less ideally for the latter two, and doesn’t sign Molina, I would have to say I would be about as satisfied as I could be.
CaseStreet
1/19/2010-12:44pm at 12:44 pm (UTC -4)
Unless Maine gets traded (doubtful), there’s no way we get two pitchers.
BTW, Maine did a pretty good job on MLB Network last week.
GravediggerHebner
1/19/2010-12:57pm at 12:57 pm (UTC -4)
Well then I won’t be “as satisfied as I could be.” But as long as Molina is not behind the plate, I will still be pretty satisfied. If they still do sign him and he stays healthy and performs at roughly his previous levels of production, and the pitchers love throwing to him, and passed balls go down, and the plate gets blocked when runners approach, and opposing base stealers don’t run wild, then I will happily admit I was wrong.
I mostly agree about Maine, I like how he was particularly unimpressed with the fact they had put all his wins up on their scoreboard. Except, was it me or was he slouching/slumping noticeably in his chair like a 3rd grader talking to his teacher about an overdue book report?
CaseStreet
1/19/2010-1:35pm at 1:35 pm (UTC -4)
yeah, I think he was waiting for a lap dance
Mr North Jersey
1/19/2010-12:57pm at 12:57 pm (UTC -4)
All things considered if signing Sheets is as close they will get at possibly getting a front of the rotation type pitcher and they take a chance and sign him to a one year deal but he fails to deliver I won’t kill them because they took a chance.
Signing a Piniero, Washburn or Garland to a short term deal is playing it safe so if they sign them and they fail I will be more harsh on them.
The Mets will need Lackey to fail in Boston or show everyone their concerns with his arm were valid for me to give them the benefit of the doubt that they were right about not signing him.
I just can’t get Lackey going to Boston out of my head.
Mr North Jersey
1/19/2010-12:31pm at 12:31 pm (UTC -4)
So Bengie was days away for a few weeks and is now reported to have turned down the Mets offer?
I guess in this backwards world of “Tweeporting” that means he will sign by tomorrow.
BTW remember I coined the phrase “Tweeporting”.
Mr North Jersey
1/19/2010-1:32pm at 1:32 pm (UTC -4)
Looks like I am late again at being the 1st at anything.
Urban Dictionary says
1. Tweeporter:
A blend of Twitter and Reporter referring to a person who reports an event in real-time, 140 characters at a time. Easy to do at a sporting event like football, baseball, or soccer. Also, valuable when providing news coverage of a meeting, trial, or political event.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Tweeporter
metsfan4decades
1/19/2010-12:36pm at 12:36 pm (UTC -4)
This over on MC’s blog:
‘by the way, in talking with people connected to the team and to the player, as well as in the organization, i get no sense there is a riff between Beltran and the Mets… instead, it sounds like there is a BIG riff between the Mets and Scott Boras, and maybe even between Beltran and Boras, as some people believe he put his client at risk…’
I guess we’ll get in line with the other teams that seem more and more reluctant to deal with Boras. Thing is, as long as he remains the top agent, I don’t see how that’s possible. I remember Omar saying last year what a great rapport he had with him……
mrose
1/19/2010-1:09pm at 1:09 pm (UTC -4)
Its funny how he is still a top agent though…
I mean, ARod ended up doing his own deal basically.. Holliday lucked out in my opinion and didn’t necessarily do that great.. Tex was in the market at the right time..
I dunno.. His head is getting too big and if this debacle had anything to do with him, then I hope by some miracle players start leaving him.
GravediggerHebner
1/19/2010-1:20pm at 1:20 pm (UTC -4)
Cot’s doesn’t list the agent of every player in it’s database, but of those they do list Boras specifically represents two Mets: Beltran and Pelfrey, and Perez is represented by someone who works for Boras.
Interestingly enough neither Boras nor his agency is listed for any Phillies players, they do OK without his clients. Jered Weaver is the only Angel. I think teams can win without him.
DNDJohan aka kistics
1/19/2010-2:14pm at 2:14 pm (UTC -4)
If I were the Mets, I don’t really care what Boras thinks. Even if the relationship is bad, Mets are one of the top spending team in the league. And the Mets have nothing to lose if the relationship is no good with Boras. Mets can always find other players with other agents, but Boras only has handful of teams that will pay top dollars for his clients.
Beltran on the other hand is a different story. I’m getting the sense that Beltran doesn’t care for all the non sense that’s going on. He just wants to get healthy and play ASAP. Perhaps he’s annoyed at the whole situation? Who knows… But the Mets will need to navigate thru this real carefully and not piss off Beltran any more than they have.
Kingman 26
1/19/2010-3:12pm at 3:12 pm (UTC -4)
Wow, a “riff” between them, huh? I wonder if it is a BB King-style blues riff, or maybe something more Salsa-like, or a heavy metal riff??
I wonder if Matt knows that the word he meant was “rift”??
And his newest post bravely has Jim Edmonds’ name boldly misspelled in the title.
metsfan4decades
1/19/2010-3:21pm at 3:21 pm (UTC -4)
LOL – well, if he didn’t know the difference between riff and rift, he does now – if he reads comments on his posts. Someone corrected him on that. They say some things never change….
wannybackstra
1/19/2010-3:29pm at 3:29 pm (UTC -4)
They will soon be banned pending further auditions the next time Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson come to their towns.
Kingman 26
1/19/2010-3:34pm at 3:34 pm (UTC -4)
HA!
I was reading comments there the other day and that Alex kid was back, being rude to everyone who was defending David Wright.
Alex said he “hates” Ollie, Slappy, and Wright with men on base.
Gee, what a shame I am not allowed to post on the Mensa Met Site over there.
wannybackstra
1/19/2010-3:43pm at 3:43 pm (UTC -4)
I was going to post the same riff v. rift comment earlier but last week someone was offended when we were picking on Mattsblog.
I’m glad you opened the door instead!
Riffs are somewhat of a lost art in pop music these days… well, art is lost in pop music these for that matter. Of course, guys like Slash, Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhodes always played fantastic riffs (among other things) but one guy I always thought underrated was Vernon Reid. I like when Buckethead incorporates simple riffs into his wild stuff.
GravediggerHebner
1/19/2010-3:46pm at 3:46 pm (UTC -4)
“Cult of Personality” has a truly spectacular riff, although I must admit I am not familiar with his work beyond that album.
Kingman 26
1/19/2010-3:51pm at 3:51 pm (UTC -4)
Vernon Reid plays everything, and jazz a lot now, does film scores, and appears on records by artists ranging from Mick Jagger to Public Enemy to DJ Spooky.
wannybackstra
1/19/2010-3:56pm at 3:56 pm (UTC -4)
Grave — check out Living Colour’s Stain. The two newer albums are also very good but I think of Stain as one of the most underpublicized and underrated rock albums of its time.
I’m also a big fan of both of the guys who played/play bass for Living Colour, Muzz Skillings and Doug Wimbish but was really disappointed with Wimbish’s Jungle Funk jazz album — way more ordinary than I anticipated.
Vernon Reid has kind of picked up where Slash left off when he was in limbo a few years back and was playing with everyone.
GravediggerHebner
1/19/2010-4:02pm at 4:02 pm (UTC -4)
Not to besmirch other jazz, but in that genre I tend to stick mostly with my heroes of the 60′s which basically include Miles Davis and John Coltrane and anyone that ever played with them, especially Elvin Jones and McCoy Tyner. Oh and I just love the guitar work of Kenny Burrell and the arrangements of Gil Evans.
I’m not a particular fan of Jagger’s solo work.
I do love me some Public Enemy, but mostly their first 3 records.
DJ Spooky I have 1 song by on my iTunes called “Galactic Funk” which I like a lot.
Kingman 26
1/19/2010-4:20pm at 4:20 pm (UTC -4)
Grave, if you like those jazz guys, check out Lee Morgan’s Cornbread, Hank Mobley’s Soul Station, Wayne Shorter’s Speak No Evil, and of course Coltrane’s Blue Train if you do not have it–four of the greatest post-bop jazz albums, and very much in similar style to the rest of what you seem to like.
GravediggerHebner
1/19/2010-4:58pm at 4:58 pm (UTC -4)
Thank you guys for the recommendations. Music acquisition funds are limited in the budget right now but I do always write down the names of songs and artists that I see you guys discussing in here for future reference.
Kingman 26
1/19/2010-3:55pm at 3:55 pm (UTC -4)
Agreed all-around on riffs and pop in general.
One thing I do like a lot about rap is how they will incorporate riffs. Granted, often they incorporate riffs written by others, but to me, that is irrelevant.
It is like jazz–people have been playing the same standards–written by others often–for many, many decades.
Eddie Van Halen is so ridiculous. Listening to his earlier stuff now, it still blows me away, how he can play, and how incredibly original he still sounds.
Wanny, into any gypsy-style jazz guitar, like Django Reinhardt, Bireli Lagrene etc? Check out a guy named Jimmy Rosenberg on YouTube–most of what he plays falls into the same style, but he plays some of the most unreal blazing fast stuff you have ever heard.
wannybackstra
1/19/2010-4:01pm at 4:01 pm (UTC -4)
I’ll check it out. I haven’t listened to any before. My jazz quitar interests have generally been in the fusion genre (McLaughlin, Metheny, Stanley Jordan, Dimeola, etc.)
As I type this, Iron Maiden (Somewhere in Time to be specific) is playing on my iPod (quietly) in my office. No one relied more on riffs than these guys.
Steve Harris was to the bass what Eddie Van Halen was to the guitar in their days.
metsfan4decades
1/19/2010-3:23pm at 3:23 pm (UTC -4)
I’m reading Feliciano avoided arbitration and agreed to a $2.9 million deal, with another $100,000 attainable in bonuses.
wannybackstra
1/19/2010-3:40pm at 3:40 pm (UTC -4)
heh heh… sounds like a Mattsblog headline.
Kingman 26
1/19/2010-3:48pm at 3:48 pm (UTC -4)
Ha!
Hey, MF4D can gather with the best of ‘em!
metsfan4decades
1/19/2010-3:50pm at 3:50 pm (UTC -4)
Ha!
Actually, I saw it on MLBTR…..
DNDJohan aka kistics
1/19/2010-3:50pm at 3:50 pm (UTC -4)
I hope he gets the 100k bonus…
DNDJohan aka kistics
1/19/2010-5:01pm at 5:01 pm (UTC -4)
Looks like Molina signed with the Giants for 1/4.5M…. Why?????