Isn’t it funny how in twenty four hours our organization went from looking like a confident organization that was willing not to overspend for fading talent ( Bengie Molina) to looking like a organization that’s in shambles? Well with the announcement that pitcher Joel Pinero had reached an agreement with the California Angels pending a physical the Mets once again look like laughing stocks of the MLB.
Look honestly I was ambivalent on obtaining Molina, and my feelings on Pinero were tepid at best. So you are probably asking me why do I think this organization suffered a black eye yesterday? Well the answer lies in the media reports that both Molina and Pinero were hesitant to sign with the Mets had to do in part with the way that the Carlos Beltran fiasco was handled. I would venture a guess that if knee gate had gone down during the negotiations with Jason Bay, he too would be playing else where this season.
Look I hate killing my team, but last nights announcement was a punch to the gut. So where does this leave the Mets in terms of the starting rotation ? Well I think that Ben Sheets will prove to be too rich for their blood so I wouldn’t be surprised – barring a trade with the Reds for either Arroyo or Harrang – that we might possibly see Pedro Martinez part deux, or the rotation standing pat the way it is currently constructed – but with either Jonathan Neise or Fernando Nieve as the fifth starter. I can’t see the Mets bringing John Smoltz aboard . All I know is if the Mets get off to a slow start this season, expect Jeff Wilpon to move swiftly with his axe and we will be bidding Omar Minaya his adieu.
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                                                                   ” Is it time for Pedro part duex?”
And with that piece of depression over with - IT’S TIME FOR SOME INFAMY !!!!
Happy Birthday wishes go out to Mets pitcher from the ’67 team – William Graham ( 1937).
Utility infielder for the Mets of the early ’80′s – Bill Almon is 58 (1952).
New York Mets released catcher Bruce Bochy on January 21, 1983. Bochy currently manages the San Francisco Giants.
The California Angels signed outfielder Ellis Valentine of the New York Mets as a free agent on January 21, 1983. To think we traded future dominant reliever Jeff Reardon for him !
New York Mets signed free agent catcher Rick ” From What I Can Gather” Cerone on January 21, 1991.He will always be first and foremost a Yankee to me !
New York Mets traded shortstop Luis Lopez to the Milwaukee Brewers for Bill Pulsipher on January 21, 2000. This was “Pulse“‘s second go round with the Mets and unfortunately he didn’t fare any better the second time.
New York Metstraded outfielder Benny Agbayani and infielder Todd Zeile to the Colorado Rockies for Alex Ochoa, Craig House and current Florida Marlin Russ Gload.
New York Mets traded outfielders Alex Ochoa , Lenny Harris along with pitcher Glendon Rusch to the Milwaukee Brewers  for outfielder Jeromy Burnitz pitcher Jeff D’Amico and prospects Mark Sweeney and Lou Collier on January 21, 2002. This was definitely one of those head scratching deals.
The Milwaukee Brewers claimed outfielder Brady Clark  of the New York Mets on waivers on January 21, 2003.
The Milwaukee Brewers signed reliever Ricky Bottalico of the New York Mets as a free agent on January 21, 2005.
New York Mets traded pitcher Kris Benson ( along with wife Anna )  to the Baltimore Orioles for PITCHERS John Maine and Jorge Julio on January 21, 2006. This was possibly one of Omar’s better trades.
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And don’t forget while you ponder who will be in our starting rotation this coming season , don’t forget that there are just 74 days until the Mets open the 2010 season against the  Florida Marlins at Citi Field.
24 comments
trs86
1/21/2010-7:28am at 7:28 am (UTC -4)
“…well, much like with Bengie Molina, it appears pineiro didn’t want to pitch in Citi Field, as well; instead choosing the Angels for what i believe was essentially the same contract offered to him the Mets…”
No wonder the Mets deal with Molina fell through. If I were him I would not want to pitch either.
Not a big loss.
Rusty you mentioned Pedro. I would have no problem with him in the Smoltz role as a swingman but not sure I would count on him for much more.
prismo
1/21/2010-7:35am at 7:35 am (UTC -4)
I would be very happy if the Mets signed Sheets and Garland.
Garland for ~$7MM (Doug Davis got 5, Pineiro got 8 – have to figure Garland is in-between)
Sheets for ~$9MM plus healthy incentives for games started or innings pitched.
Stick with everyone else on the team. Brings the payroll to around $140MM (closer to $150MM if Sheets hits all his incentives)
trs86
1/21/2010-7:41am at 7:41 am (UTC -4)
I would not mind that at all but I don’t see it now. I see Sheets with the Rangers where he was going to sign last year and has wanted to pitch all along.
Garland I would still like.
At this point I am expecting Omar to be in the trade market.
trs86
1/21/2010-7:42am at 7:42 am (UTC -4)
Hey NJ, it’s ok to panic a little now. Especially if the Rangers lock up Sheets. Then my only rebuttal will be there’s always a chance for a trade.
Mr North Jersey
1/21/2010-9:50am at 9:50 am (UTC -4)
I am waiting for the press conference when Minaya announces the signing of Sheets and the trade for Arroyo. Because I want to see Minaya’s face when he Sheets and Arroyo get continuously asked why did they sign with NY and did the reports of other players deciding not to sign here have any impact in their decision making?
But I digress he 1st has to sign a pitcher.
trs86
1/21/2010-7:46am at 7:46 am (UTC -4)
I agree with Silva at this point:
Garland, Smoltz, Gritty McHudson on 1 year deals.
Something else to consider. The Brewers were looking at Mulder but who knows if they are still interested after signing Davis. Mulder is another low risk guy to give a shot in ST. He has not been healthy since 2005 but he would not hurt any more than Garcia did last year.
trs86
1/21/2010-7:53am at 7:53 am (UTC -4)
Sandy Alomar Sr., who was dismissed as bench coach after last season, has been rehired as manager of the Gulf Coast League Mets.
stickguy
1/21/2010-7:58am at 7:58 am (UTC -4)
Quick morning rant while I can.
1) I need to stop listening to XM home plate morning show, especially when Duquette is on. What a ding dong. But, they do love to lead with the Mets. I guess if they talked about the royals, indians, twins, etc. it wouldn’t do as much for the ratings.
2) Who knows if knee gate really makes an impact, but I think the current Met situation is being given too much play. Ihonestly don’t think players (or agents) care that much about the FO. They like money. And what is being overlooked is that in most cases, players have to be paid MORE to play in NY (both teams, although Yanks get the coattails to the WS benefit), and it has been like this for a long time.
Between taxes and the media (and of course, being a “big city”) a lot of guys just prefer to play elsewhere.
Molina it seems never had any intertion of coming here, unless he got a ridiculous 3 year deal. He wasn’t leaving home, even for a little more money. Pinero? Probably decided the anonymity and nice weather of LA was more to his liking.
3) Bigger picture, it is silly to say that the Mets can’t get anyone (they did get the 1 “big” FA they went after) just because a couple of mediocre (and overpaid) players decided to take similar contracts in california. Ding dong even said that missing out on these guys meant the Mets were a 4th place team in the division. They may be, but he was actually implying it was because they did not ink these 2!
4) again, guys like pinero and molina are expensive mediocrity (molina being a jumbo 36YO catcher, and Pinera being bad-ollie most years in his career). If anything, Omar should be applauded for setting a ceiling, making an offer, and not being willing to wildly overpay when they decided to go elsewhere. The team should be better off without adding more Castillo type contracts, when they can likely get similar production for less years and less money (and with more upside potential!)
5) Assuming Beltran does come back in early May (and stays back), THIS IS NOT A BAD TEAM. They have a lot of talent (more than most teams). They even have a lot of talented pitchers.
I know they aren’t guaranteed (then again, no pitcher is), but they at least have a nice mix of talent/stuff/youth. And frankly, what gives you a better shot of having a big year: young talented guys putting it together and taking the leap, or guys in their early 30s that have never proven to be anything more then mediocre to average? marginal innings eaters sound like a nice idea, except they still aren’t very good.
Do I know (think?) that all the mets SPs will pitch 200 innings and have career years? No, but if they even come close, the rotation will be a major strength.
I also think that the BP potentially could be the best it has been since 2006, and easily as good. SOme real interesting arms out there, but we shall see.
648 1/2) off season isn’t over. I Still won’t be surprised to see another catcher (Barajas?) 1B BU (Garko?) and SP signed (Garland?), but they will get by even if not. Also very, very likely a trade goes down, and it could be a big one. Omar really has been too quiet up to this point, as has the trade market. Look for a flurry of moves soon (not jsut from the Mets)
trs86
1/21/2010-8:02am at 8:02 am (UTC -4)
I do indeed still look for a trade.
Agree with most of what you said.
metsfan4decades
1/21/2010-8:04am at 8:04 am (UTC -4)
I like your thinking.
I wish the season would just start already so we can get down to the business of actually playing and seeing what we’ve got.
metsfan4decades
1/21/2010-8:01am at 8:01 am (UTC -4)
I really had high hopes for this off season, especially because I feel this is more or less do or die for Omar. I expected both him and Jerry to be gone by end of last Oct. When that didn’t happen, I figured Wilpon was giving him one last chance to turn it around, but he’d be on a short leash. If they didn’t come out swinging first half of the season, he’d be gone.
Now…with the way this off season has gone, he’s really got to be feeling the pressure. I can’t see them letting him go during the off season but….
Part of this is his own fault and the Beltran fiasco didn’t help. I don’t think Omar caused that problem but his comments to the media certainly didn’t help. He would have been better off not saying anything, or if he was forced to as GM, supporting Beltran all the way. Unfortunately, that’s not what he did.
As far as SP now, well your guess is as good as mine.
stickguy
1/21/2010-8:04am at 8:04 am (UTC -4)
well, I am glad that (for whatever reason) he has been conservative. Omar comign out swinging could have set the team back 10 years, with terrible FA contracts and gutting the farm.
at least this way, it gives a chance for the prospects to develop, and the farm to improve, something that many people have been harping on the need for.
trs86
1/21/2010-8:07am at 8:07 am (UTC -4)
Omar is always better off saying nothing.
But I still don’t believe the Beltran issue has caused any of this. I think LaRoche going to the Dbacks caused a chain of events. Giants then needed a hitter. Money saved on LaRoche got them Molina and Huff. Molina never wanted to leave as the Mets were not going to give him multiple years. I expect their offer was something like 5 million with a player option and a 1 million buy out. Thus Molina would be moving for about 1.5 million. Most likely not worth it. Pineiro, while I would have been fine with the acquisition most likely wanted to play for the Angels because of familiarity and the fact that frankly they have been the better team. Is Pineiro a guy you want to overpay for just to get the deal done?
metsfan4decades
1/21/2010-8:37am at 8:37 am (UTC -4)
You may be right, but what about Lackey? From what I was reading, Omar had started some preliminary talks with his agent. Was suppose to talk again and next thing you know, Lackey signs with Boston. Made it sound like the agent didn’t even give Omar a courtesy call to see if Mets wanted to beat the offer. And THAT made it sound like it was b/c Lackey had no desire to pitch for the Mets.
trs86
1/21/2010-8:52am at 8:52 am (UTC -4)
But that had nothing to do with Beltran obviously.
But if you were Lackey, how MUCH more would the Mets have to pay you to pitch in NY instead of Boston. He got 5 years/$82.5M (2010-14), plus conditional 2015 option. No way in hell were the Mets going to offer Lackey 5+1 and I am sure the agent knew. We also don’t know if the agent called the Mets or not.
stickguy
1/21/2010-8:06am at 8:06 am (UTC -4)
oh yeah, one last thought:
pinera and molina passing have freed up at least 14 million (using the logic that they were willing to sign both, so they must have ti available).
So, if they don’t use it in a salary dump trade (say harang), maybe it makes it more likely they will sue some to eat $$ on castillo and bring in a replacement 2B?
trs86
1/21/2010-8:14am at 8:14 am (UTC -4)
Agreed, or they could stand pat pissing all of us off only to use that money in a trade later.
prismo
1/21/2010-8:24am at 8:24 am (UTC -4)
Or just say they’ll use it, and not. Remember that $2MM they received when trading away Wagner? We’ll never see that used for the ball-club – went straight into the Wilpon family bank.
trs86
1/21/2010-8:49am at 8:49 am (UTC -4)
Eh, who knows where money is used? Maybe it was used for Alex Cora. LOL.
prismo
1/21/2010-8:51am at 8:51 am (UTC -4)
*barf*
trs86
1/21/2010-8:53am at 8:53 am (UTC -4)
With Lopez and Kennedy still out there, I agree.
njstuckintx
1/21/2010-9:36am at 9:36 am (UTC -4)
Seems both Sullivan and Reed are gone. Looking more and more likely that Pagan is the starting CF. Oh, F-mart, please realize your potential!
Mr North Jersey
1/21/2010-9:42am at 9:42 am (UTC -4)
i saw that also.
trs86
1/21/2010-9:54am at 9:54 am (UTC -4)
LOL, I am not so down on Pagan that I wanted Reed or Sullivan to start. Man that would be down.