According to multiple reports the A’s have signed Ben Sheets to a 1 year deal worth 10 Million guaranteed and incentives for more. All I got to say is exactly what Heyman said:” sheets got $10 million plus performance bonuses. not bad after idle ’09″.
You guys know I was against it before I was for it. I shall now run for political office. In all seriousness I was OK with 10 million guarnteed if it was part of a 1+1 deal for say 8 million and a 2 million buyout. 10 million for this season alone not including incentives seems extreme. I can’t blame Omar for not topping this. Keep in mind that it’s not just so easy to say “Man Omar missed this one I would have offered him 10 too.” We have no idea the level of interest from Sheets or the Mets nor do we know if the Mets did indeed make an offer and Sheets chose the relaxed Oakland community.
So now the greater question is what to do now?
I had mentioned Garland and I would not be upset if that happen. However, there is a case for just standing pat and getting a guy like Smoltz for insurance. No reason to overpay for mediocrity.
64 comments
dirtysanchez
1/26/2010-1:44pm at 1:44 pm (UTC -4)
Yea…10 mil guarenteed w/o incentives and pitching in a market where expecations arent too high…Sheets got the deal he wanted for sure.
I guess we will have to go to war with the same rotation as 09 more or less. I can see them picking up garland but ultimatly it will be
Santana/Pelf/Maine/Perez/niese,nieve,garland
I dont see smoltz(if they get him) as a starter but i guess you never know with this team.
trs86
1/26/2010-1:46pm at 1:46 pm (UTC -4)
I have not seen what they are yet but there are incentives to go along with it.
I have doubts on Garland and now think Smoltz might be best. Why not just go with your above rotation and give Smotlz a chance to earn the 5th spot. If he does not get it then he waits for the next guy to drop.
dirtysanchez
1/26/2010-2:08pm at 2:08 pm (UTC -4)
yea when i re-read my comment i realized that i meant to say 10 mill guarenteed w/o incentives calculated in. Ive read a report that he did not want to be a front of the rotation guy and in ny that would be the case. I dont know how this will work, just gotta hope people bounce back..
trs86
1/26/2010-1:49pm at 1:49 pm (UTC -4)
I don’t agree, but this comment was funny.
“Omar has a plan and he likes it… I’d love to know what the plan is, to get himself fired in April?”
metsfan4decades
1/26/2010-2:07pm at 2:07 pm (UTC -4)
LOL.
I can only hope that Omar knows something about our current starting rotation that we do not….
DNDJohan aka kistics
1/26/2010-1:53pm at 1:53 pm (UTC -4)
Nice…
trs86
1/26/2010-1:53pm at 1:53 pm (UTC -4)
Another interesting thought. Take 2 more chances for Damon of the board with the A’s and Cubs. I still think we should not miss the opportunity to bring a player like Damon on for peanuts. He will be this year’s Abreu.
CaseStreet
1/26/2010-1:58pm at 1:58 pm (UTC -4)
glad to have you on board
GravediggerHebner
1/26/2010-2:02pm at 2:02 pm (UTC -4)
Abreu had a certain starting role. What is Damon’s role on the Mets except to hope Beltran doesn’t come back, wait for Francoeur to suck or hope Bay gets hurt?
DNDJohan aka kistics
1/26/2010-2:06pm at 2:06 pm (UTC -4)
I agree with you. What is Damon’s role? And at what price? Do you honestly want to deal with Boras? Just like every other players out there, Damon would rather sign with the Pirates with $1M discount than to play with the Mets.
CaseStreet
1/26/2010-2:15pm at 2:15 pm (UTC -4)
stay in NY.
start in CF or 1B(?).
Unless you think Damon isn’t an upgrade over Pagan, Frenchy or Murphy.
Could do, Bay-Damon-Pagan or Bay-Damon-Frenchy or give Bay a day off and it’s Damon-Pagan-Frenchy.
GravediggerHebner
1/26/2010-2:35pm at 2:35 pm (UTC -4)
I think if GMJ weren’t here it could possibly work, and my wild guess is GMJ is here at least partly because no one believed Damon would sign for his role, which I see as sharing back up duties with Pagan, Sunday starter and pinch-hitter, and insurance in case Francoeur remembers who he is or one of the other two starters gets hurt. If I am misreading Damon that much and he is willing to accept that role and it’s corresponding low salary then I welcome him, but I just don’t see it and I don’t truly see 1B as a factor related to him.
I do agree with you on the concept that he could be very useful to the team. That role with the Mets might be the only option available to him and then rather than retire or go to Japan he’d probably take it, but I believe that if he has any other choice for slightly more certain playing time elsewhere he’d take that.
CaseStreet
1/26/2010-2:51pm at 2:51 pm (UTC -4)
I agree.
CaseStreet
1/26/2010-1:55pm at 1:55 pm (UTC -4)
hey weren’t you the one saying not to let $2-3M extra stop the Mets from signing Sheets?
Get me Wang and Washburn. And if we’re looking at bottom of the barrel guys like Smoltz, might as well look at Pedro, too. He did pitch pretty well in the playoffs.
Also, can we please sign Damon, even if we trade him mid-season and get some prospects. Poor guy.
CaseStreet
1/26/2010-2:01pm at 2:01 pm (UTC -4)
oh what’s the use, Omar doesn’t seem to want to do anything
trs86
1/26/2010-2:37pm at 2:37 pm (UTC -4)
That was up to 10M not over… LOL.
Mr North Jersey
1/26/2010-1:57pm at 1:57 pm (UTC -4)
Well I can’t say I am surprised to see Sheets sign with the A’s.
While Sheets wasn’t in my radar when this off season started he only came into my radar in a last ditched attempt at trying to sign what slim as they were a front end type of pitcher.
I can only hope the Mets know what they were doing this off season and all these moves and non-moves will bare fruit in the end.
What next? At this point I am tired at trying to guess what is next only to find I guessed wrong and have to guess again. Lackey, Halladay, Marquis, Sheets and possibly Arroyo all pitchers I thought the Mets might get and with the possible exception of Arroyo I am 0 for 4 but most likely I will be 0 for 5.
Smoltz, Garland, Washburn, Bedard and even Wang who knows if any of these guys will be a part of the Mets or how good they will be. Maybe they will be 20 game winners or maybe busts I know all I can hope for is that Minaya has made and will make the right moves so 2010 we can make the post season.
Santana, Ollie, Pelfrey, Maine, Feliciano, KRod, Wright, Reyes, Bay, Frenchy, Murphy if your listening we need big years from you guys. I hope you don’t disappoint.
DNDJohan aka kistics
1/26/2010-2:03pm at 2:03 pm (UTC -4)
There were lots and lots of holes to fill going into this off-season.. Which hole did we fill? IMO the least needed hole was filled.
So far, the Mets have basically the same lineup as 2009(minus Beltran for a month or so) plus Bay.
If I remember correctly, the Jeff Wilpon and Omar have said that we’ll explore every option out there to fill the holes. WTF???
I really wonder who’s running the show here and IF they have ANY IDEA where the team is compared to the Phillies. Even if Smoltz is added to the back-end of the rotation, I don’t see the Mets competing against the Phillies. I really don’t. I see the Mets as the contenders of wild card at best.
CaseStreet
1/26/2010-2:08pm at 2:08 pm (UTC -4)
We’re not competing w/ the Phils. We’re competing w/ the Marlins and Braves, though unless we get lucky, we might be competing with the Nationals.
DNDJohan aka kistics
1/26/2010-2:29pm at 2:29 pm (UTC -4)
well….. well…… um……. hmmm….
DNDJohan aka kistics
1/26/2010-2:09pm at 2:09 pm (UTC -4)
And if the Mets were concerned about Sheets health conditions, I doubt they’ll be interested in Wang or Bedard.
GravediggerHebner
1/26/2010-2:16pm at 2:16 pm (UTC -4)
I strongly hope they have no interest in Bedard. He is just not mentally tough, and I will never forget watching an interview with Brian Roberts on MASN a couple years ago in which he said essentially that. Roberts had just returned from spending a couple of weeks at a Canadian hunting cabin with Bedard and a couple other teammates and spoke about what a ‘strange bird’ Bedard was and how he ‘marched to his own drummer’ and ‘lived in his own world.’ Combined with his often being injured, and the public perception (if not the reality) that he is soft and waits longer than average to come back from injuries, I say pass.
whataputz
1/26/2010-2:21pm at 2:21 pm (UTC -4)
This is the attitude that’s led to this lack-of an offseason. Yes, these guys are all quaetion marks. This means that some people want to sign these guys, while others don’t. There really weren’t any no doubters this offseason, and it stinks, i know it does. But at some point you have to make a deal. You can’t go into a season with an ace coming off an injury, a mediocre sinker baller, and a bunch of question marks coming off injuries. That will win you jack. Grave, I don’t mean to attack you personally, but first it’s “Lackeys too expensive”, then “Wolf is too expensive”, “sheets is too risky”, “Bedard is too soft”, “Peneiro isn’t that good”, which while these points may be true, you also cannot deny the potential of these guys. You also cannot deny the glaring need we have to fill some spots in our rotation. Yeah, Sheets is a risk, but IMO he is a much better risk than needing Maine and Ollie to stay healthy and consistent, just to point out a few of our concerns. Sometimes you gotta take risks to succeed.
GravediggerHebner
1/26/2010-2:43pm at 2:43 pm (UTC -4)
Not only do I understand but I agree. I wanted the team to overpay for Lackey. When he was gone I wanted the team to sign Sheets despite injury concerns due to his high ceiling when healthy. So you are not attacking me at all but thank you for your concern related to that.
I absolutely agree that sometimes you have to take risks. My personal judgment is some risks are worthwhile, and the Mets for whatever reason passed on those risks. I am in the Pineiro is not that good camp but the Mets did take a risk on him despite his career being marked by consistent inconsistency, they offered him 2/$15, he didn’t shop his offer from LAA to the Mets he just took it, good for him. I don’t know how the Mets feel about Bedard, it’s me that thinks Bedard is too soft, google his name and read some articles about his constant putting off coming back from injury.
If you feel more comfortable with taking some of these risks than I do I respect your different opinion on that. But I do think and desperately wanted the team to weigh risks the way I do and take the ones I wanted them to take. For whatever reason(s), they didn’t.
Mr North Jersey
1/26/2010-2:55pm at 2:55 pm (UTC -4)
Right now I I am sitting in front of my laptop alone in my room very sad and disappointed at the outcome so far that our off season has been.
I feel deceived.
whataputz
1/26/2010-2:12pm at 2:12 pm (UTC -4)
If the Mets are truly in Knicks mode..next year better be a great offseason.
GravediggerHebner
1/26/2010-2:16pm at 2:16 pm (UTC -4)
Dude, the Mets are getting Wade and LeBron next year! I’m pumped!
Mr North Jersey
1/26/2010-2:22pm at 2:22 pm (UTC -4)
Swooosh!
whataputz
1/26/2010-2:22pm at 2:22 pm (UTC -4)
First off, i honestly believe Lebron could probably wind up thriving in MLB, but that’s neither here nor there. What I mean is that I hope the Mets haven’t conceded this season to wait for the 2011 off-season.
Kingman 26
1/26/2010-3:16pm at 3:16 pm (UTC -4)
LeBron is going to be very, very happy leading the Nets next year to the greatest one-year win total increase in NBA history.
And as bad as 2009 was, comparing the Mets to the Knicks is ridiculous.
The Knicks are a REAL laughingstock organization who spends a ton and cannot make the playoffs in a league where over half the teams make it. The Mets are only a laughingstock in the national media and to folks who are a tad unreasonable.
whataputz
1/26/2010-2:16pm at 2:16 pm (UTC -4)
I’m still in disbelief that 5 days away from February we still haven’t added a single starter. We probably need 2 of them, and currently have added 0. I understand that there were a ton of question marks with a lot of these pitchers. But you aren’t going anywhere by not taking any risks. We really don’t deserve to be playing in NY. This is supposed to be the luxury of being a big city team. You can take risks and eat the money if you need to. I’m not saying go spend 30 mil on mediocre pitchers, but can we sign a Bedard/Sheets type or two to a 1 year deal! Is that too much to ask. II get that Bay was a big move, but we had more holes than 1 outfield spot. A lot more holes.
CaseStreet
1/26/2010-2:21pm at 2:21 pm (UTC -4)
Seems like the Mets are stuck in mud but would rather let the mud dry than do anything to get themselves out.
begonewithwilpon
1/26/2010-2:22pm at 2:22 pm (UTC -4)
Another fine mess for the Mets.
I would love to link up with your site. My blog is located at:
http://begonewithwilpon.wordpress.com/
DNDJohan aka kistics
1/26/2010-2:23pm at 2:23 pm (UTC -4)
This is my interpretation of the Mets off-season plan.
- We don’t have enough money to sign FAs to fill our hole
- We don’t want to dip into our minor league to trade for someone
- But our fans are pretty pissed (even thought it wasn’t our fault)
- So we’ll pretend that we have all the resources in the world and tell them we’ll explore every option out there
- We’ll make ONE big FA signing to splash something on the newspaper (right before the season ticket holders renew)
- Let’s make couple low-ball offer to show the fans we’re trying (and if they don’t sign with us, it’s not our fault)
- Let’s hope that everyone comes back healthy and some of Phillie guys get hurt
DNDJohan aka kistics
1/26/2010-2:25pm at 2:25 pm (UTC -4)
Oh and
- Let’s see if we can dump Luis contract on someone to get a good player back
trs86
1/26/2010-2:41pm at 2:41 pm (UTC -4)
I would not call the highest offer to Pineiro a low ball offer nor would I call the highest offer to Molina a low ball offer. They were not enough to get them to play in NY but certainly not lowball offers.
Kingman 26
1/26/2010-3:21pm at 3:21 pm (UTC -4)
Why do you write the lowball offer thing?
Do you know what “lowball” means?
Do you have evidence of all of the other offers made?
Our offer to Molina was for MORE. That’s lowball? Our offer to Bay was his best offer. Should Omar have thrown Ollie money at Pineiro, who just had his first good season in half a decade?
Sorry, the nonsense complaining gets to me. There is more than enough to complain about without adding the untrue lowball silliness.
DNDJohan aka kistics
1/26/2010-3:26pm at 3:26 pm (UTC -4)
Yeah you are probably right… I’m just little frustrated…
Kingman 26
1/26/2010-3:32pm at 3:32 pm (UTC -4)
Sorry, don’t mean to be rude.
I guess I am frustrated at the anti-Met undercurrent as well, even among fans.
CaseStreet
1/26/2010-2:35pm at 2:35 pm (UTC -4)
Somehow I’m reminded of the story about the farmer in the flood who refused help from a boat and helicopter because he was waiting for God to save him.
trs86
1/26/2010-2:42pm at 2:42 pm (UTC -4)
Manny renewed his contract so no help there.
saltygary
1/26/2010-3:00pm at 3:00 pm (UTC -4)
God is a Yankee Fan.
Mr North Jersey
1/26/2010-3:07pm at 3:07 pm (UTC -4)
Hey Salt saw The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus last night.
All I can say is the movie is a visual work of art and the use of the word Imaginarium is well deserved.
I can’t say I gave it a 10 only because while the story is good and the actors all did a great job I found the pacing of the movie was poor.
I will give it a 8 because the actors did give fine performances.
If your into that type of Genre I highly recommend it.
Kingman 26
1/26/2010-3:34pm at 3:34 pm (UTC -4)
Was Heath Ledger great as usual?
Mr North Jersey
1/26/2010-3:44pm at 3:44 pm (UTC -4)
He was and it was eerie as well I don’t want to spoil it but when he makes his 1st appearance you will understand.
Kingman 26
1/26/2010-3:49pm at 3:49 pm (UTC -4)
Cool; he largely stole the show in the good but overrated Dark Knight.
That guy took a lot of amazing performances with him to the grave.
trs86
1/26/2010-2:44pm at 2:44 pm (UTC -4)
SI_JonHeyman
between sheets and nady, they had 0 W’s, 0 HRs, 0 SBs but 2 RBIs (both nady’s) in ’09 but get $13.25 mil.
royhobbs7
1/26/2010-4:31pm at 4:31 pm (UTC -4)
That’s still better than what Ollie did last year and he got $39 Mil for 3 years!!!!
royhobbs7
1/26/2010-4:33pm at 4:33 pm (UTC -4)
sic. $36 million.
GravediggerHebner
1/26/2010-3:06pm at 3:06 pm (UTC -4)
You know how in situations with friends, people you care about and are close to, you bust their chops. You know, you mock and denigrate them but it’s not truly felt, it’s for fun and done in a loving way.
As Mets fans I expect us to have some fun at the Mets expense, to laugh about the silly things they do and throw barbs their way. They are our team, our family.
But it’s really getting to me that anything and everything the Mets do is subject to mockery on an international scale. I don’t want to hear the sarcastic denigration of a Seattle Mariners writer, or a sportscaster in LA, or a blogger that primarily covers the Cardinals. So in that context you can understand why this from a Yankee beat writer and regular guest on the YES network upsets me:
TylerKepner tweet: Or Charlie Leibrandt RT @AndrewMarchand If the Mets sign John Smoltz, they should sign Greg Maddux, Steve Avery and Pete Smith.
Eff you Kepner. Yeah, the Mets are effin hilarious. Whoop dee doo! Maybe they should sign Phil Neikro too!
metsfan4decades
1/26/2010-3:15pm at 3:15 pm (UTC -4)
What you said, Grave.
I’m clinging to the hope when all is said and done, we’ll have the last laugh.
GravediggerHebner
1/26/2010-3:21pm at 3:21 pm (UTC -4)
Because I’m a Met fan I’m going to make fun of our team and respond this way:
“When we sip a little champagne later on, it’ll be a little sweeter.â€
And I’m sorry about my potty mouth above. I got a little angry and let my language guard down a bit.
metsfan4decades
1/26/2010-3:27pm at 3:27 pm (UTC -4)
Ha! I thought it was rather tame, considering.
You know us long suffering Met fans feel much the same way right now. Wish I didn’t think it will only get worse.
.
GravediggerHebner
1/26/2010-3:41pm at 3:41 pm (UTC -4)
I’m constantly spewing expletives in informal situations, but try to be more on guard in others. I still recall being a 12 year old, so this would be 1977, walking down the street after Tuesday night CCD class (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine for those who don’t know) and tripping over an uneven part of the sidewalk.
I skinned my knee and smashed my head, and let out a stream of some the worst words I knew at the time. Then I heard a familiar voice say “are you alright?” and I looked over to see my next door neighbor sitting in her car, presumably waiting to pick up her son from the same class. I was mortified so I just said “yes” even though I was bleeding profusely from multiple wounds, then I forced myself to get up and not limp or rub anything until I was out of sight.
I had so much blood on me that my mother wanted to rush me to the hospital and I almost agreed just so she wouldn’t be home when surely the neighbor would call to tell her of my horrible language, but we didn’t go and that call never came.
Kingman 26
1/26/2010-3:30pm at 3:30 pm (UTC -4)
HAHA!
As you might imagine I agree 100%!!
Who the hell cares what those idiots at USA Today and XM Radio think.
And as I have tried to say, when these national outlets say we had the worst offseason or Omar is the worst GM or the Mets have ugly wives, it means NOTHING.
All these jokers are just trying to get ratings boosts by mocking a NY team when they are down.
I mean, after all, how many people will listen if they mock the Pirates or Royals?
GravediggerHebner
1/26/2010-3:43pm at 3:43 pm (UTC -4)
I definitely need to learn from you about how to better let it just flow off me. I think maybe I need a snack.
Kingman 26
1/26/2010-3:50pm at 3:50 pm (UTC -4)
A raw piece of beef and maybe a few wood chips or shards of metal might be the right snack right now…..
CaseStreet
1/26/2010-3:08pm at 3:08 pm (UTC -4)
List of remaining FA from MLBTR Top 50 Free Agents:
Johnny Damon
Orlando Hudson
Felipe Lopez
Jon Garland
Erik Bedard
Jarrod Washburn
Russell Branyan
Jermaine Dye
Carlos Delgado
Orlando Cabrera
Jim Thome
Kiko Calero
Pedro Martinez
Chan Ho Park
How about Washburn and Bedard, Calero, Branyan, and Lopez?
Kingman 26
1/26/2010-3:26pm at 3:26 pm (UTC -4)
I will take Garland please.
Maybe Dye if he gets desperate and is willing to be 4th OF? And hey, he did play one game at 1B in 2005….
Gotta avoid Bedard. He is a softy, a bit of a nutcase, and many reports from Seattle suggested he was Pavano-like and did not really work that hard to return from injuries. And his career is nothing remotely close to Sheets’ or even Wang’s in terms of concrete results. Like Pineiro, he is a Met disaster just waiting to happen.
CaseStreet
1/26/2010-3:11pm at 3:11 pm (UTC -4)
Finally, something other than Johan that I can look forward to at Citi Field.
Dave Matthews Band to perform at Citi
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100126&content_id=7969820&vkey=news_nym&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym&partnerId=rss_nym
royhobbs7
1/26/2010-4:38pm at 4:38 pm (UTC -4)
The A’s gave Sheets a contract today and offered him a job; Sheets jumped at it because:
1) he doesn’t have to play for a lousy franchise (i.e., the Mets)
2) he will get unconditionally good medical treatment and advice
3) $10 Mil + incentives can’t hurt (and was probably at least 2.5 million more than Mutt & Jeff offered).
Mr North Jersey
1/26/2010-4:43pm at 4:43 pm (UTC -4)
4) It was the only offer extended to him?
stickguy
1/26/2010-5:26pm at 5:26 pm (UTC -4)
how about he is palying for a lousy franchise (cheap too!) since they haven’t been making the playoffs (and that is the only measure of success), I doubt the As have any better medical personnel (and they do have experience with damaged goods pitchers, they just usually trade them before they break down), and no other team was going 10+ guaranteed for a guy that is as good a bet to not throw a pitch as he is to make 25 starts.
Sheets was an interesting risk, but the price seemed kind of out of whack. Unless you believe the Mets have no reason to conserve any budget, like at the end of a fantasy auction, and should have wildly overpaid for this guy.
steveo
1/26/2010-5:36pm at 5:36 pm (UTC -4)
Garland just signed with the padres