The Mets are considering John Smoltz for a rotation spot, according to Anthony McCarron of The New York Daily News. Matt Cerrone of MetsBlog.com was all over this earlier in the week.
The 42-year-old righthander has drawn interest from the Nationals, Phillies, and Cardinals this offseason. Even though his ERA was an ugly 6.35 last season, Smoltz still posted strong strikeout and walk numbers. A National League team seems like the best fit, and a contender could do a lot worse at the back of the rotation.
McCarron adds that the Mets continue to negotiate with Bengie Molina, however things are moving along slowly.
Good….. the Braves need someone to really tear up this year…
imagine john smoltz vs braves lol wow
Seeing how well Tom Glavine worked out for the Mets, I can’t see why the wouldn’t sign 42yr old Smoltz.
Seeing as how well it went with Tom Glavine for the Mets, I can’t see why they wouldn’t want to sign the 42yr old Smoltz.
If he signs with the Mets I will loose a lot of respect for Smoltzie. His issues with the Braves front office last year were the Braves fault, but if he signs with a rival team such as the Mets I dont know how I can respect a guy who claimed he loved playing for ATL. Plus at this point to says its about money is bogus, he has made over $100 million.
We offered him more than a fair contract for the ammount and quality of work he put in last year. Just because we wouldn’t WAY overpay for a guy who pitched half a season’s worth of ineffective innings means we mishandled it?
No Smoltz is just like most other atheletes. I thought he loved ATL but he really just loves money and the precieved greater chances of winning. There is nothing wrong with that, but he is no longer my favorite Brave.
I agree with you that we offered him a fair contract, but at the same time you can blame the front office for that. Although I am over that saga I will never forgive smoltz if he signs with the Mets
Not following you here. They made a smart baseball move by not topping BOS offer but it’s STILL the FO’s fault?
Anyways, if he pitched a full season he would have made more on ATL’s offer than BOS’s but he knew he wouldn’t pitch a full season so he wanted more for doing less.
Sorry so confusing, still early in the morning. Haha, okay the whole situation was dealt with incorrectly. Yes they did make a pretty fair offer to him but I think they said some bad things. Either way it worked out better for the Braves that we did not sign him. Bottom line is you can blame the Braves for not matching BOS base salary but you cannot forgive Smoltz for signing with the mets.
You think they said some bad things? Was this “thought” before or after Smoltz said w/ Boston w/o a warning and then said bad things about Smoltz?
I agree, he wouldn’t be ready until June plus he was coming of TJ. How much money did he want, he has enough.
Ugh, quit hating. The Braves clearly went in another direction regarding their pitching and they’re better off. Let the guy play where he wants.
Wainwright
Carpenter
Lohse
Penny
Smoltz
Very injury prone, but it seems like it could get the job done.
lol @ the people who believe hes terrible because of his high hit-rate and ERA last year. Please learn what FIP is and what qualifies as a very unlucky BABIP and LOB%.
lol @ textspeak in a blog
Terrible argument. You can buy into peripheral stats all you want. BABIP is a strawman. If guys are getting tons of weak base hits up the middle, then yeah, BABIP is useful. But if they’re ripping his tits and spraying the ball all over the field, then BABIP is a terrible argument. EVERY stat has its flaws. So what if some choose to look at ERA and BA against, instead of these weak stats showing how well a guy does on a 3-1 count if the defense was filled with gold glovers.
Big waste of money. Mets need top of the rotation guys, even injured ones, not trash heap, back end guys.
I wouldn’t say “big” waste of money but the Mets need a Joel Piniero or Doug Davis to solidify the top of their rotation. You just don’t know what you are going to expect from John Smoltz
we know as much about what we will get from Pelf Perez Maine Neive and Neise as we would from Smoltz, more of the same we don’t need
I don’t know if signing John SMoltz is a good thing or bad thing?
But for one thing, I KNOW THAT BENGIE MOLINA SPELLS DISASTER METS FAN!
Believe me i had to watch him every single game of last year.
FRUSTRATING!
Agree. Enough with this guy. Take back the offer. I say roll with Blanco & Santos. Put the $ towards LaRoche at 1B.
If it’s for a low base salary with incentives, it makes sense, as long as they acquire another starter they can count on.
Smoltz’ results were horrible, but he looked like he still had life in his arm from what I saw last year. Everything was there except the command, which is understandable given the time off. If he’s motivated to pitch this year, I think he can contribute.
Important Note: There is NO way the Mets will sign Smoltz. In order for a player to be on the current Mets roster, they needed to be part of the Expos organization at one time or another (Majors, Minors, or drafted but did not sign). Rules are rules and you can’t break them. ~ Omar sayz
theres not a shot in hell he pitches a full healthy season as a starting pitcher
This is exactly what the mets need
another number 5 starter to go with the collection of number 5 starters theyhad last year LOL. Now all they gotta do is trade santana and they can rival the padres/nationals as worst rotation in the NL
P.S- fire minaya!!
If Maine, Pelfry or (please God) Ollie are going to be moved in a trade for a #2 or #3 starter, I see the logic.
Santana
*Zambrano (assuming Pelfry must be included in a package)
Maine
Smoltz
Ollie
Carlos has a NTC, but seeing the astrik(sp?), you were just using him as an example right? Even while trading for a num 2 guy, I don’t see the point. Mets don’t need to be trading unless it’s for prospects. They need to sign Peneiro, O-Dog, and LaRoche… assuming they still have that kind of money, which I doubt. Trading Castillo would be a good start.
1st and foremost.. the cubs WILL NOT give up Carlos Zambrano UNLESS they get back a big name in return.
What we should do!
1) Sign Joel Piniero as our #2 guy; 2yr 15mill
2) Trade for a starter!
– Mets acquire RHP A.Harang & Cash considerations from the Reds in exchange for LHP John Niese.
* Mets receive 8million of 12.5 owed to Harang in 2010. Mets are entitled to either exercise Harang’s contract in 2011(12.5) or buy him out(2 million).
Rotation:
LHP Santana
RHP Piniero
RHP Harang
RHP Pelfrey
LHP O.Perez.
I can deal with this.
piniero is not a number 2 lol
On that staff he might be.
So you get Harang AND 8 mil for….John Niese? someone is sipping on some delusion juice.
Looking at your mock rotation there’s no Maine (who is certainly a better option than Pérez) so we should assume he would be part of your trade? If so, who else should be traded in your deal for Zambrano?
And what about Piñeiro? Nobody’s biting on his demands for a 4-year deal, yet he’s adamant. How do you suggest the Mets get him off that trip?
Just wanna know: what’s your plan?
Trade Niese for Harang and his career 4.24? batters have been hitting .285+ off him, sorry no thanks. Sign Piniero and Bedard [or Sheets or Wang], and dump Ollie. Trade Maine for a 4th outfielder, what he’s worth basically.
If Smoltz were coming off a good year I wouldn’t mind but it’s obvious he is done. Hasn’t Omar learned from older pitchers who have failed him via injury or poor performance before remember the names Martinez, Orlando Hernandez, Glavine, Trachsel, and Livan Hernandez. Smarten up and sign Garland and Sheets to one year deals. Garland is solid and less expensive than Piniero while Sheets is a big injury risk, but has power arm upside. Now we would have 8 starters, that’s a positive considering the MASH unit assembled in 2009. Moreover, the Molina situation is so annoying, but at least Mets are not bidding against themselves like past years. Finally, dump or bench Castillo and sign Hudson. Hudson has more power and is a better defender.
If Smoltz were coming off a good year I wouldn’t mind but it’s obvious he is done. Hasn’t Omar learned from older pitchers who have failed him via injury or poor performance before remember the names Martinez, Orlando Hernandez, Glavine, Trachsel, and Livan Hernandez. Smarten up and sign Garland and Sheets to one year deals. Garland is solid and less expensive than Piniero while Sheets is a big injury risk, but has power arm upside. Now we would have 8 starters, that’s a positive considering the MASH unit assembled in 2009. Moreover, the Molina situation is so annoying, but at least Mets are not bidding against themselves like past years. Finally, dump or bench Castillo and sign Hudson. Hudson has more power and is a better defender.
All you Braves fans, Get Over Loyalty! I have lived in GA all my life and I know the Braves were hated so much because they SUCKED!!! Then, the Braves went on a remarkable run of pennants and every year all I heard was “I have been a Braves fan all my life, I sat everyday in front of the TV and watch Dale Murphy and Bob Horner”…That’s BS!!! Then, the string of 14-15 pennants came and every year all we heard was,” The best in baseball from May through September but they’ll get swept in Division Series”….So my point is your LOYALTY to the Braves is worse than say a 42 year old pitcher trying to be competitive and show he still is a force, and trying to support himself and family. Plus, your front office will go out a make a BIG trade in July and then not re-sign in off-season or go pay 4 years 60 million to a player and want to trade him the next year…..
Wow! That’s some point you made. Very well said, so Bravo (hee hee)!
But to be fair, let’s not kid ourselves. At these heights, a historically well-paid future HOF’er like Smoltzie doesn’t REALLY have to worry about “supporting his family.”
Glavine wasn’t a failure, and won 2 post seson games for us, but when the aging “ace” of your staff gets bombed during his last 3 outings in 2007, it shows the staff wasn’t put together well. That’s when you need an ace the most
Uhh…yeah, I actually agree with that statement but it has nothing to do with anything I said. Maybe you want to address MRMETFAN4EVER on that point?
Don’t let your dislike of a team cloud your discernment friend. Braves fans aren’t the most loyal to their team, but you are talking about the ones that you hear. True Braves fans, just as with any other team, keep their mouth shut. You are just mad at them because you like near so many. TRY LIVING IN PHILLY… Anywho, who is this BIG trade you mention? LaRoche for Kotchman was not a big trade and we didn’t have the money for him. If we thought Tex would stay for a reasonable deal, we’d have kept him. Also, we only tried to trade Lowe because he was the most expensive of the 2 pitchers we could trade on a rotation of 6 pitchers. Don’t see the problem in that. Braves needed the money to fill 6 spots on their team. Because of the Javier and Soriano trade we could only fill 4.
The Mets don’t have enough to get Zambrano, they woulldn’t trade Pelfrey, and they’ll want to save whats left of the farm. Smoltz would be a nice addition to the rotation, and could teach the younger pitchers.
Zambrano really doesn’t have much trade value at all thanks to that contract. He should command one decent prospect, tops. No way Zambrano commands Pelfrey in trade.
If the Mets are willing to eat the salary, they should be able to get Zambrano for a very low prospect cost. It’s purely to free up salary for the Cubbies.
The Dodgers should look into Smoltz, he looked really good against them in the playoffs. Dont know if he can manage 160 innings however.
If the METS sign Smoltz could PEDRO be next????????????????????? Good Grief!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Mets don’t have enough to get Zambrano, they woulldn’t trade Pelfrey, and they’ll want to save whats left of the farm. Smoltz would be a nice addition to the rotation, and could teach the younger pitchers.
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Actually I think the Mets would trade Pelfrey who has a good deal of upside but has been inconsistent. He would likely do better in another market, and he could easily be the centerpiece for a Zambrano deal. Could see the Cubs interested but not sure Z would waive his no-trade.
Santana, Venezuelan. K-Rod, Venezuelan. Recent head-scratching free agent signing Kelvim Escobar – Guess what, he’s Venezuelan.
3 reasons Zambrano waives his no-trade.
I see Zambrano as a Met this year, finishing the season with more HRs than Murphy.
The presence of fellow countrymen on the team might SWEETEN the idea of going to Flushing for Zambrano. However, receiving some meaningful financial compensation for waiving his no-trade clause would be more likely to be a persuading factor – for example: a significant extension on the remaining three years of his current contract. However, given Zambrano’s recent slide in performance, the headache he could present attitude-wise, and all the other big contracts the Mets have taken on already, I wouldn’t bet they would be up for such a move. They weren’t willing to offer more than 4 years to Lackey, and as it stands now they don’t want to sign any FA pitcher beyond 2 years. Besides, since it is unclear whether Zambrano has started to decline, do you really think the Mets would want to risk signing him for more than the 3 years he’s already got? I’m not convinced they would.I might as well add that players being of the same nationality is no guarantee of anything. Look at Edgar Rentería & Orlando Cabrera…both Colombians, and they can’t stand each other.
Smoltz? Seriously? Ugh. Roy Oswalt or Zambrano + Piniero would put us at the wild card spot. Roy/Zam for Pagan, Maine, Niese, two of their SS prospects. That’s even a eh deal at best.
smoltz go back and sign with the cards and stay the hell out the nl east because there is no way you’re coming back to the nl east. newsflash phillie fans go get him cause once he’s hurt then your team will choke so go ahead sign him. he will be fine in phillie. you guys like to run your mouth so go and sign him. omar won’t sign him. you just wait. watch once he signs with phillie then u can go and start crying.
Smoltz for the right price could add the player who fits the role of the wise old sage. This Mets team needs one of those since jettisoning Julio Franco a few years back. Sign him and stick him in the ‘pen to let those other guys sponge motivation and information from. Or let him pick up the back end of the rotation while guys like Niese, Misch, Parnell, Pelfry, Perez, and Nieve just watch.
Remember the Effect Glavine had on guys like Bannister, Maine, and Ollie?
He’d be being paid for more then just playing … thats for sure.