Let the madness begin !
Well it’s finally here ! No not Halloween ( that’s also awesome !). No I am talking about the third act of the baseball season that we affectionately call the “Hot Stove“. This is the time of year that us fans and bloggers break out our wish list of what free agent players we want our team to sign while hoping the team gets rid of players that we deem as being unworthy of being on the 40 man roster.
As a Mets fan, my hopes are remarkably low. The Mets General Manager, Sandy Alderson has fully admitted that in order to conform to the strict budget that the Mets can afford, he will need to trim the budget by at least 30 million dollars. Yes folks neither Albert Pujols nor Prince Fielder will be bringing their services to Citi Field next season in a Mets uniform. I hate to say it but I also feel that Jose Reyes has played his last game as a Met.
This hot stove I believe Sandy will have to make some hard and prudent moves. I feel that he will be active in the free agent market, but he will be in pursuit of mid level free agents as well as reclamation projects like he did last season. I do feel he will spend more money on a closer in the mold of Matt Capps, Joe Nathan and Jonathan Broxton. I believe he will scour both the free agent as well as the trade markets for a center fielder like Grady Sizemore or David Dejesus as well as a seasoned catcher to help tutor Josh Thole.
I feel that Angel Pagan will be non-tendered. He did not impress the Mets front office, and at a time where the Mets are trying to keep spending low, I just can’t see how Pagan – who could get upwardsof 6 million dollars in arbitration can be considered a viable option. I also feel that Chris Capuano will sign elsewhere for more money. I feel that he has re-established himself as a healthy back of the rotation starter, and will be paid more than the incentive laden contract that he received last season.
All in all I admit that I am both looking forward and dreading the next few months. I wear my feelings about my team on my sleeve, and I admit that I will be disappointed if and when the winter meetings come and gone with no big splashes.
But remember where Omar Minaya and all his big splashes, lack of farm system depth compiled with the Madoff mess has gotten them.
And with that said… HERE COMES THE INFAMY !!!!!
Mets alumni celebrating a birthday today includes:
Mets pitching coach/guru from ’04-’08, Rick Peterson is 57 (1954). Damn I wish the Mets would have rehired him this off season instead of retaining the services of Dan Warthern.
Reserve infielder from ’02-’03, Marco Scutaro is 36 (1975).
Reserve catcher from the ’05 season and Omar Minaya’s brief “answer” to first base, Mike Jacobs is 31 (1980). He was suspended by the MLB last season for violating the leagues ban on P.E.Ds.
Reserve infielder for parts of the ’05,’06, ’07 and ;09 seasons, Anderson Hernandez is 29 (1982) .
The Mets granted second baseman, Willie Randolph free agency on October 30, 1992. He would promptly retire soon afterwards.
The Mets granted reserve catcher, Sandy Alomar Jr free agency on October 30, 2007. Alomar was used more as a third string catcher after Paul LoDuca went down with an injury.
The Mets granted middle reliever, Aaron Sele free agency on October 30, 2007.
The Mets granted second baseman, Damion Easley free agency on October 30, 2008. Damion was one of Omar Minaya’s better under the radar signings, he was originally penciled in as a utility player, but when Jose Valentin went down in ’07 Easley received the bulk of the duties at second base.
The Mets granted middle reliever, Matt Wise free agency on October 30, 2008. He would only appear in eight games for the Mets that season before succumbing to rotate cuff tendinitis.
Mo Vaughn will be dressing up as Count Chockula for Halloween tomorrow !!!
9 comments
Anonymous
10/30/2011-3:57pm at 3:57 pm (UTC -4)
Agreed across the board my friend.
The bottom has not quite been reached in the disaster Minaya left us; when Jose signs elsewhere and the realization that nothing major is happening with most of the money coming off the books—that is when we hit bottom.
Then, we can focus on the minor league pitchers and a future that has to be brighter.
Adam "Prismo"
10/30/2011-5:20pm at 5:20 pm (UTC -4)
I’m right there with Kingman. I think this could be a really ugly year for the franchise. Record-wise I don’t expect much change from last year, though they should remain below .500. However, the big ugliness will happen when fans wait and wait and wait for the team to spend, and the payroll ends up being $100MM or $95MM when the season starts. People are going to be VERY upset at both Sandy (even though it’s not really his fault) and the Wilpons (yes, it’s their fault). I’m not one to care about the number, per say, but the product will certainly reflect the bad contracts of the past several years and the payroll restrictions related to those bad contracts.
TRS86
10/30/2011-7:34pm at 7:34 pm (UTC -4)
If Sandy decides that Reyes is the best use of the money and Reyes takes it so be it. If Reyes does not come back I would hope the payroll would be around 100m. There is very little out there worth wasting money on. Just because the Mets cut payroll does not mean it’s a bad thing. It could be that they have allowed Sandy the authority to fix things and throwing money at this will not fix it. In fact Sandy has already began. Can’t say we are in worse shape as far as the future of the organization.
TRS86
10/30/2011-7:43pm at 7:43 pm (UTC -4)
As for the post itself, I hope that most Mets try and have come to the realization that making moves for the splash factor is what got us here. Also there are no short and easy fixes that will not hurt the Mets in the longrun. Of course it would be nice to have Fielder (Pujols not so much ) but is that what they really need? They have Davis who looked like a budding star. What Mets fans need to do is just be patient does not mean we have to feel hopeless or the worst is yet to come.
Anonymous
10/30/2011-8:23pm at 8:23 pm (UTC -4)
I have no real idea what to expect. Meaning, I expect moves that people aren’t expecting (if you can follow that logic).
If they end up doing nothing much (shuffle a few deck chairs and that is it) I will be aggravated though.
Not expecting (or advocating) trying to make a splash on a big $$ FA (since the ones worth it aren’t at a position of need) other than Jose (potentially), but there should be options for making some trades at least to build up the talent level, without going al in on this year.
Also possible to spend by taking back contract $$. does not have to always mean signing a FA.
MetsFan4Decades
10/31/2011-12:09am at 12:09 am (UTC -4)
Really annoys me to no end that Sterling Mets are in the financial situation they’re in. I believe if the Wilpons had decided to cut their losses last year and sold the team, we wouldn’t be having some of these discussions we’ve been having for the past couple of months.
But as we’ve all been reading, the Wilpons are not selling. They’re looking to ride this out and walk a fine line between lowering payroll to around 100 Mil this year and trying to build the Met brand back up to something fans will spend money on. It’s not going to be done in a year, if it can be done at all with Wilpons as owners. Hence, I’m not expecting much in 2012. What happens after that, will be anyone’s guess.
I think Sandy has an impossible task and would be somewhat interested to know if he realized at the time what he was getting himself into. Either way other than Reyes, I don’t see any big names/money signings and will look to see minor improvements only for the start of 2012.
Anonymous
10/31/2011-12:18am at 12:18 am (UTC -4)
given his age and what he was doing previously, I still feel that Sandy was brought in for a 2-3 year mission, which was to rebuild the organization (not specifically the ML roster) in the right way. Put a solid structure in place, instill a top to bottom culture (the met way?), and build a top notch FO and organization wide staff. Do player development the right way. Stuff like that.
and that as soon as the building (foundation?) was done, he was going to step back and let someone else take over.
If you want a parallel, look at Philly when Gillick came in. Same kind of rudderless ship needing a rebuild, and as soon as he cleaned up the mess, he stepped back into a consultant role.
For the mets, maybe the next couple of years will be lean (rebuilding), but what the hell, over the last 35+ years, I have seen plenty of lean. A couple more won’t kill me!
as long as what rises out of the ashes is a lean, mean, hungry, winning team, I can live with it.
MetsFan4Decades
10/31/2011-12:55am at 12:55 am (UTC -4)
Good point, stick. You could very well be right about rebuilding this org. from the ashes of Bernazard-gate and the like from top to bottom. Get it on the right track and Sandy hands over the reigns.
liz fyke
10/31/2011-3:05am at 3:05 am (UTC -4)
All probably true. I think they try to sign Cappy though. Remember, the Mets took a flyer on him when no other team would. I hope they non-tender Pelf as well. They’ll offer Arb though, have no one else tto eat up 200 innings.