UPDATE: Non-tendering Estrada is still an option for the Mets, but they’ve unloaded Mota’s contract. The Mets may shop around for better options, knowing they have an adequate fallback. According to Jamey Newberg, the Mets found the asking prices for trade targets Gerald Laird and Ramon Hernandez to be unacceptable.
The Mets found their catcher today in the person of Johnny Estrada. To get him from the Brewers, Omar Minaya only had to surrender Guillermo Mota.
It was a swap of a couple of unwanted guys. The Brewers would’ve non-tendered Estrada rather than pony up $4MM+ for him. However they’ll probably plop down something close to that for Jason Kendall, who is superior to Estrada only in the intangibles department. Doug Melvin offered Estrada to the Mets while naming six different players he’d accept in return.
Mota was actually decent in terms of his 2.6 K/BB ratio this year, but he was hittable and home run prone. Maybe the Brewers can make something of him, though at $3.2MM it’s a slightly pricey gamble. Mota of course brings more steroid stigma to Milwaukee’s pen, which already has Derrick Turnbow.
