A Super batch of links..
- In a piece for Fangraphs, Dave Cameron writes that the Twins are in the mix for the best offseason in baseball. Earlier this week, Minnesota agreed to a one-year deal with Orlando Hudson for just $5MM and appear to be close to locking up Joe Mauer.
- Even former Met Darryl Strawberry offered up a critique of the Mets' quiet offseason, writes Newsday's David Lennon. Strawberry said that the offseason "could have been better," when asked about it. Lennon's piece looks at some offseason targets that never became a reality for New York.
- Following up on yesterday's news that Bobby Kielty is converting to a pitcher, MLBTR heard from Kielty himself via email. Kielty says his ultimate goal is to be a right-handed bat off the bench and eat up some relief innings if necessary. He threw some bullpens for the Mets last season and has thrown for Oakland as well. Kielty says he reads MLBTR every day. Thanks for the support, Bobby!
- Peter Abraham has the full list of players who will be with the Red Sox in training camp this year.
- Jeff Zrebiec of The Baltimore Sun reports that Erik Bedard seriously considered an offer from the Orioles similar to the deal he signed to return to Seattle.
- Joel Sherman of The New York Post spoke one agent about the Mets, who said "How can you have that payroll and still not have a starting catcher or first baseman, a second baseman you hate and no legitimate starters after Johan?”
- Paul Lo Duca is unlikely to accept a minor league assignment if he doesn't make the Rockies, reports Troy E. Renck of The Denver Post. Colorado signed Lo Duca to a minor league deal in January.
- Rob Biertempfel of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says that Pirates' GM Neal Huntington admitted that there are "a lot of rumblings" that prospect Jose Tabata might actually be in his mid-20's. Tabata's listed age is 21, and ESPN's Keith Law ranked him as the 57th best prospect in baseball last month. The Pirates originally acquired Tabata from the Yankees in 2008 as part of the Xavier Nady–Damaso Marte trade.
The Rockies have a better back up catcher than Lo Duca. They have to.
Yeah Miguel Olivo is a better catcher than Lo Duca and he is also a better veteran presense. Denny Matthews even said that he would let Miguel Olivo babysit his kids. I can’t imagine he’d say the same about Lo Duca.
Tabata previously had that situation where his wife got arrested; If he infact lied about his age, This would be bad bad news for the Pirates. The guy is already shady as it is. Come on Jose!
In other news, we discover that Pujols is really 36 years old, two days after he signs his 10 year 300mil extension with STL……………………………………………..
lol, that might not be the only thing that comes out once he signs.
You know, I really want to believe in a childlike fashion that Pujols is as old as he says he is(29-30.) But I have been watching him from day 1 since his debut for the Cards, and his body just bespeaks a man 5 years older. I know there are some fast-growing guys who defy the pace of puberty and whatnot, but Pujols was just so ridiculously developed and muscular at the age of 21. A man just really can not get so muscularly thick and developed at that early of an age(without “help.”) The human body will not move into its peak-era for strengh until around age 28 or so.
Even now, I look at him and he appears to be in his mid-30’s. I honestly don’t want to affront his integrity, but I just don’t believe it. I’m a Cards fan and I hope he stays in STL, but I am concerned we might be paying him 30 mil at age 45 or 46, unintentionally of course.
His dropoff in September of last year homer-wise is also a mild concern.
The earlier Lo Duca leaves the Rockies organization, the better. I don’t even want him as the Triple A starter, because we have a legitimate prospect we need to give starts to along with Paul Phillips. Go away.
Mets just need to play. Forget all the planning, scheming, and gossip. They just need to Man Up and Play. The over the top bashing by the media has reached annoying levels. Reyes and Wright will come back strong. 2009 was a humbling experience for both of them and they will be hungry to play and earn $$$ a big contract. Biggest key is Beltran, if he’s done Mets will challenge for last, if he bounces back they will play well enough that management will acquire a starting pitcher.
Over the top bashing? The Mets are in the largest media market in the world, a payroll that will be in the top 5 in baseball, and that has yet to take into account this is a team with 3 major disappointing seasons in a row.
Now, the Mets rotation has major question marks after their ace (yes all teams do but for a team that expects to compete the question marks are much bigger), a starting first baseman who was second only to Huff last year as worst hitting first baseman, a second baseman who while has OBP was 4th worst in OPS of second basemen also was the worst fielding second baseman), a right fielder who was the third worst in OPS last year, and I still go back to the question marks after the starting rotation. Right now the Mets are a combination of Santana, Bay, Reyes, hoping Beltran is healthy, and hoping Wright’s power returns surrounded by a cast of highly questionable characters.
Good point about how every team has question marks after the ace. However, when I try to figure out how bad the Mets are after the ace, I compare to what I consider some of the more top-flight rotations in baseball right now, the Yankees and the Red Sox (also the only two I really know pretty well :P). The Yankees also have the bona fide #1 in Sabathia, and then it’s Burnett, Vazquez, Pettite, and Joba/Gaudin/Mitre. Burnett is always a question, simply because he’s not at all consistent. Vazquez could either pitch like last year, or he’ll revert back to his old AL ways. Likely he won’t regress too much, but it’s possible that the league change really affects him that much. Pettite is dependable but aging, and of course we don’t even know who is going to -be- the number 5 for sure yet. The Sox have Beckett and Lester to headline the rotation, who are followed by Lackey, Dice-K, and likely Wakefield, maybe Buchholz. The top of their rotation isn’t as concrete as the Yankees, as Lester is still developing (although he’s one year away from being a dependable ace), and Beckett has not been quite himself lately. Lackey could have injury troubles, Dice-K is a HUGE question; he could either become the pitcher they paid for, now that he’s on their training regimen, or he could continue to be the spotty, inaccurate pitcher he’s been. Wakefield is slowly breaking down, and Buchholz is still a rookie in many aspects of the game. However, for both these teams, it would take a catastrophic amount of bad luck for their rotation to collapse, as each pitcher is more likely to do well than to fail. When I look at the Mets rotation, I see Santana, who we know will pitch well, and a lot of huge questions. The last four spots in their rotation look like competitors for the #5 spot in the Yankees rotation…granted, some of those guys have the upside to play much better than that, but it’s still a huge risk right now. To have those four guys as the rest of your starting rotation has got to be worrying. I don’t know why a pitcher wasn’t a priority for the Mets; Lackey may have been too expensive, but Bedard, Duscherer, Harden, and Sheets were all great options. Risk, of course. But the upside of those pitchers is much higher than most of the options the Mets have already, and the risk is not much greater than their options either.
idk about anyone else but your first paragraph where you were talking about the large market city, top 5 payrolls in baseball, & 3 disappointing seasons in a row, if you didn’t put the word Mets in there, i would’ve thought you meant the Cubbies honestly!
Heh. But there are 2 big differences. Cubs won the division in 2008 and 2007, their disappointment came in the postseason… of course they didn’t win any games in the postseason of both years… and that video of he Cubs fan burning his hat was absolutely priceless. The other is I think Cubs fans at this point are used to disappointment.
There are sad similarities between the Mets and Cubs, that is very much true. Hence my avatar.
That said at least Hendry has tried to correct most of his problems, and he has been able to recognize (with the help of others) areas of concern. Minya seems content in letting his issues be, while continuing on the same path that led to them in the first place.
If by(Hendry) correcting his problems, you mean “throwing money at the problems(Grabow?),” than you are spot on.
Either that or by making senseless moves that solve a smaller problem by creating a much bigger one, like trading Ceda for Gregg, or moving DeRosa to make room for Bradley(to add a switch-bat………….. A perceived answer to a smaller issue solved by getting rid of a quality guy for nothing.)
Please note my exclusion of the word “well”. Never did I claim his addressing the problems were always done in the best possible manor. But he did recognize, acknowledge and attempt to address said issues which is so much more then Omar has done.
Please note my exclusion of the word “well”. Never did I claim his addressing the problems were always done in the best possible manor. But he did recognize, acknowledge and attempt to address said issues which is so much more then Omar has done.
They did deserve 2 get bashed for the Beltran situation. But Don’t u think Gammon’s Jason Bay obsession is ridiculous? Don’t u think them getting dissed for not signing Molina/Piniero is unjustified bc they r either declining or 1 hit wonders. Don’t u think Olney writing an article bashing Santos is moronic. Face it Mets r not winning and they know it, but won’t say it publicly. They r buying time for their prospects (Thole/Davis) 2 develop and players 2 heal. For once they r showing patience
Not even Red Sox fans listen to Gammons.
As for not signing Molina and Piniero, that more goes to the deeper issues. Well… Omir Santos is your starting catcher. Minaya couldn’t at least buy low on Chris Snyder? Point being I refuse to believe Santos was the best option. Also the Mets clearly needed a solid #2 pitcher, they should have been all over Lackey. While admittedly Lackey signing with the Sox is out of left field, everything I read at the time had the Mets either disinterested or playing hard to get. Heck, even picking up Kevin Millwood would have been big.
The Mets could have made some trade to make them better… they have Martinez in the minors, now blocked. If they’re not about winning this year fine. But you seem to be in the minority of Mets fans in your opinions.
Who is Martinez blocked by? Bay – He’s much better. Frenchie – He has a lot 2 prove. Also, u can’t count on Martinez bc he only hits in Feb and is always hurt. If he tears up AAA and Frenchie sucks(a possibility) he will take over RF or he will be dealt while his value is high. As for Snyder, OK maybe that can happen but he has a bad back. As for Lackey I love him but he’s an injury risk. Millwod is running on fumes and Texas got rid of him off a good year. Mets aren’t winning this year, so give Neise a shot
My point about Martinez is he’s the perfect trade chip right now, could have used that. Point about Snyder was an example stating I refuse to believe Santos is the best they can do. Point about Millwood was simply to say the Mets need a pitcher.
Ur 100pct right about everything cept Martinez bc his value is still too low.
Em… the D’Backs aren’t exactly giving away Chris Snyder. And they sure as hell weren’t giving him away for a non-salary-relieved Luis Castillo.
I never said they would give him away nor should they give him away for Castillo. I simply made an example that Minaya should have been able to find a better catcher than Santos. Regardless, Snyder’s trade value is fairly low.
What over the top bashing?
Omar Minaya has gotten away with some of the worst GM decisions in the history of this organization at a time when the team needed to have one of its best offseasons ever.
What happened to his mantra of ‘pitching, speed and defense’ being the priority for the offseason? His only major FA acquisition was drastically overpaying a LF who had few other suitors and whose performance doesn’t justify his contract.
Omar has a history of atrocious contracts as GM. Luis Castillo + Francisco Rodriguez + Oliver Perez will literally make more than the entire Florida Marlins roster this season. And there’s a very likely chance the Mets finish with a worse record than the Marlins this year.
It’s completely unfathomable to spend the money the Mets do and not have even have a major-league caliber catcher on the roster. A good GM wouldn’t let the albatross contracts of Castillo and Perez hold the team back, he’d probably realize they are dead money and figure out a good way to save ANY money by unloading these guys.
But Omar isn’t Tony Reagins. He trades FOR guys like Gary Matthews JR rather than dumping his guys.
Sherman is an idiot. Mets tried moving castillo, it couldnt be done without sacrificing another area, so whats the point? As for Murph, i have no problem with him playing 1B and developing, besides Davis is expected up by next season. And for catcher, Thole is our catcher of the future, so why sign molina? And finally, Maine and pelfrey are legit starters. Not to mention Niese has looked good. Btw, Mets payroll is in the $120mil range right now, much lower than last season.
What does it say when you as a GM lock up Luis Castillo to a contract so bad no other team would take it no matter what kind of creative deals you tried to offer?
What does it say when your payroll is over $120 million and you still don’t have a Catcher, you have a 2B, you hate and your depending on Mike Pelfrey and John Maine to be the anchors of your rotation.
With all the money they overpaid Jason Bay they could have given Bengie Molina and some actual pitchers the more money they wanted to come play here. The fact this team is completely incapable of multitasking free agents is just unconscionable for a market that the Mets are in.
Josh Thole and Ike Davis aren’t going to help the team this year at all. Omar Minaya, if he really does have any clout left, would have to be a complete idiot to think otherwise.
This Mets team on paper is worse than the team was on paper going into last year. You’re basically admitting we are spending $120 million on a team that’s rebuilding. Kind of sad really. This team has been a worse investment for the Wilpons than anything Bernie Madoff might have cost them.
Just about all teams have given out a bad contract. And we do have a catcher, his name is Thole. Content with Pelf and Maine because I know they are good pitchers. Ollie is the wildcard as far as performance goes.
And I’ll take Bay over Molina and garbage pitchers. If they weren’t getting Sheets or Lackey then they were better off not wasting their money. It’s not like the Mets ran out of money. There just isn’t much out there worth overpaying for that is at most marginally better than what we currently have.
Thole and Davis are actually both expected to see action in ’10. Davis probably in sept, but thole could see action much sooner since he’s come off as a very good hitter. He does need to work on his defense a little though which is probably the only thing holding him back in AAA at the start of the season.
How is this team worse than last yr? Bay is an upgrade over Sheffield in LF, and Murph while a downgrade in power, but will be better defensively than delgado. And he has room to grow. Better 5spot options in Nieve, Niese and possibly Misch as opposed to Hernandez or Redding. And the main difference in the pen is instead of an injured Putz, we are taking a chance on Escobar and Rygota. The bench should be deeper as well. When beltran returns Pagan will be one of the better 4th OFers in the league.
I know its the in thing to bash the mets right now. I get it, and i agree the mets season rides on the performances of Pelfrey, Maine, and Ollie. These guys have been a mainstay in the rotation since 07 and have done well each yr except for last season. One year isn’t going to change my perception of them.
Take all the free agent catchers. Cover up their names and look at the their stats from the past 3 years. None of them are starting catchers. Unfortunately, you have idiot baseball writers who see only the name and automatically assume Ivan Rodriguez and Bengie Molina are still be starting catchers.
Gregg Zaun for $2.15 million was a steal for the Brewers. If Thole is as ready as people claim he is, having Zaun for a season would have made a ton of sense. Just because a player is waiting in the wings doesn’t mean a team should just throw the position until that player is ready.
If you think Zaun is a steal at $2M, I’m afraid to ask what you think he’s actually worth. Surely you can’t be serious?
Zaun is one of the most underrated catchers in baseball. He owns a career .344 OBP and plays great defense. FanGraphs had him worth $8.2 million last season–not that I’d pay that much, but as I said, at $2.15 million, he’s a steal.
People tend to look at HRs to judge whether a catcher is a “good-hitting catcher.” Since catchers aren’t expected to hit much, I’ll take good defense and OB skills over some pop.
FanGraphs also said Ben Zobrist was worth $38.5M; more than Pujols ($38M) and Mauer ($36.8M). Zobrist had a very good year last year, but any formula that says he’s more valuable than Pujols and Mauer shouldn’t be taken very seriously. Zaun is a backup catcher, a fine one but still a backup catcher. He really shouldn’t be making more than $1.5M, especially when you take into account his age.
Not really sure how that’s relevant. FanGraphs takes offense, defense, and position scarcity into consideration–so a “2B” who posted 27 HR, 91 RBI, 91 R, 17 SB, a .405 OB, and plays fantastic defense (at 2B and RF) is worth a lot. I would take Pujols and Mauer over Zobrist, but that’s not to say Zobrist–overall–didn’t have a comparable 2009.
Anyway, my point was that while Bengie Molina was able to score a $4 million contract, Zaun–who is a better catcher–will make half of that. It also shows that the Mets didn’t have to spend much to get an above average or league-average starting catcher.
I can’t think of a position more scarce of good players than catcher. Mauer’s season was in the top 3 of catchers all time. The Value stat (if you can even call it one) should be used for nothing more than amusement. I’m not against advanced stats, I like them even if I don’t fully comprehend all of them. But something like Value just shouldn’t be taken seriously if it says Ben Zobrist is more valuable than Pujols or Mauer. No one in their right mind would start a franchise with Zobrist over those two.
But I digress. Zaun is neither a starting catcher (there really weren’t any on the FA market to begin with) nor a steal for the Brewers. He’s getting what he’s worth and even that’s being very generous.
Give Zaun everyday playing time and he won’t be anything special, but he is solid defensively and will give you an OBP around .340, which sadly can’t be said for a lot of starters in this league (at catcher). 400 ABs at a .340 OBP and only 2 mil is a steal.
Give Zaun everyday playing time and he won’t be anything special, but he is solid defensively and will give you an OBP around .340, which sadly can’t be said for a lot of starters in this league (at catcher). 400 ABs at a .340 OBP and only 2 mil is a steal.
I can’t think of a position more scarce of good players than catcher. Mauer’s season was in the top 3 of catchers all time. The Value stat (if you can even call it one) should be used for nothing more than amusement. I’m not against advanced stats, I like them even if I don’t fully comprehend all of them. But something like Value just shouldn’t be taken seriously if it says Ben Zobrist is more valuable than Pujols or Mauer. No one in their right mind would start a franchise with Zobrist over those two.
But I digress. Zaun is neither a starting catcher (there really weren’t any on the FA market to begin with) nor a steal for the Brewers. He’s getting what he’s worth and even that’s being very generous.
Not really sure how that’s relevant. FanGraphs takes offense, defense, and position scarcity into consideration–so a “2B” who posted 27 HR, 91 RBI, 91 R, 17 SB, a .405 OB, and plays fantastic defense (at 2B and RF) is worth a lot. I would take Pujols and Mauer over Zobrist, but that’s not to say Zobrist–overall–didn’t have a comparable 2009.
Anyway, my point was that while Bengie Molina was able to score a $4 million contract, Zaun–who is a better catcher–will make half of that. It also shows that the Mets didn’t have to spend much to get an above average or league-average starting catcher.
FanGraphs also said Ben Zobrist was worth $38.5M; more than Pujols ($38M) and Mauer ($36.8M). Zobrist had a very good year last year, but any formula that says he’s more valuable than Pujols and Mauer shouldn’t be taken very seriously. Zaun is a backup catcher, a fine one but still a backup catcher. He really shouldn’t be making more than $1.5M, especially when you take into account his age.
Zaun is one of the most underrated catchers in baseball. He owns a career .344 OBP and plays great defense. FanGraphs had him worth $8.2 million last season–not that I’d pay that much, but as I said, at $2.15 million, he’s a steal.
People tend to look at HRs to judge whether a catcher is a “good-hitting catcher.” Since catchers aren’t expected to hit much, I’ll take good defense and OB skills over some pop.
If you think Zaun is a steal at $2M, I’m afraid to ask what you think he’s actually worth. Surely you can’t be serious?
Gregg Zaun for $2.15 million was a steal for the Brewers. If Thole is as ready as people claim he is, having Zaun for a season would have made a ton of sense. Just because a player is waiting in the wings doesn’t mean a team should just throw the position until that player is ready.
Mets just need to blow it up and start all over. Its too bad their GM is too incompetent to do that.
When you have Reyes, Wright, Santana, KRod, Beltran, and Bay as your core with near ready guys like Niese, FMart, Thole, and Davis, you dont blow it up.
They don’t need to blow the roster up. They just need better secondary players. They need to blow up the front office though.
They need to blow up the front office though.
I’m IN. When can we start?
Sorry to have to be the one to tell you man, but I don’t think he actually meant “blow up” as in “gasoline and dynamite”. Just figured I should make that clear before you get overly excited and land yourself in trouble. 🙂
Well, there goes the rest of MY weekend….
:-/
Heck, even some MLBTR posters will probably better than Omar.
They need to blow up the front office though.
I’m IN. When can we start?
They don’t need to blow the roster up. They just need better secondary players. They need to blow up the front office though.
I’m going to propose something that I don’t think anyone’s suggested yet. Is it possible that Omar’s job ISN’T in jeopardy? I know it sounds crazy. How could it possibly not be, after two epic collapses and the nightmare of 2009, right? It’s hard to imagine Omar surviving a disappointing 2010. But let’s look a little deeper. Articles are surfacing every day questioning how the Mets could possibly have such an inactive offseason. And not just writers looking to fill space – a lot of these pieces quote agents, other GMs, scouts, etc. Yet somehow…Omar has never seemed very shaken or troubled by the idea that this is his make it or break it year. Anyone who saw Burkhardt interview him on SNY’s Mets Hot Stove last week knows what I mean. Kevin asked Omar whether he felt pressure this year and Omar barely flinched. Perhaps that’s what a leader does (“don’t let ’em see you sweat”), but he actually seemed to not even believe he’d be fired for a subpar year. He seemed about as concerned that he’d lose his job as Fidel Castro would be about losing his.
In fact, go back to October 2009 when Wilpon and Omar were interviewed on WFAN. Francesa came right out and told Omar, “if I’m you, I’m spending every dime of Jeff’s money I can get my hands on, because I’m out if we have a bad year!” Francesa even replayed several times a clip of Wilpon telling reporters “Jerry and Omar must step up, and we are confident they will.” Neither seemed to flinch or react much to it at all. In fact, they actually laughed!
SO…I guess what I’m wondering is, maybe Omar has simply accepted his role as a fall-guy for the Wilpons. They don’t want to spend much money or change how they operate, and Omar absorbs most of the public criticism. Maybe there’s a gentleman’s agreement that Omar WONT actually get fired. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s the one theory that would explain why Omar so casually and carelessly passed up on just about every opportunity to improve this offseason.
The Tabata article is really disappointing. This problem with age is so serious. I’m watching guys like Vlad run the bases and think there is no way his age can be correct. It’s already been adjusted once and I would be surprised if he was still another 2 years older than what is listed. This is a huge issue for MLB.
Agreed! As a former college player I would love to be able to say I was 20 again! It seems like people are just looking the other way when it comes to the ages of foreign players. It’s unfair for American players and especially unfair for teams that have to deal with the consequences of these lies.
Agreed! As a former college player I would love to be able to say I was 20 again! It seems like people are just looking the other way when it comes to the ages of foreign players. It’s unfair for American players and especially unfair for teams that have to deal with the consequences of these lies.
jcmets4112….
Hate to awaken you, but you’re far from the first to realize that JW is running everything and Omar is his lackey. The proof will be in the pudding when Manuel gets fired by June and Omar is still around for 2011.
Ther are some mid and small market teams that Omar should be watching and learning how to build a club. Look at Cincy, the GM there is collecting power arms because when all else fails you can fall back on good pitching and defense. Same thing in Minnesota, their young postion players are farther along than Cincy, but they have 8 potential big league starters and more at AAA and AA. There will not be a shortage of pitching in either place and there are other examples of this elsewhere (Whiteys). Aside from Johan none of the Mets starters would be in the rotation in Minnesota, Cincy, or White Sox…
What big market team really IS efficient??? Mets, Cubs, Angels, Red Sox, Yankees??? When you can throw money at your problems or have never had to learn how to work within the confines of a budget, there is no impetus to learn how to be efficient or stretch a dollar.
Small and Mid-market teams like the Twins, Marlins, and Cardinals have to learn how to be efficient, because for the most part they have never really had the luxury of being able to splurge on FA’s, and they have to make every dollar count. It is a culture developed of “trying to do alot with a little,” and the mid-market teams who master this can find success in the weak Central divisions of both leagues. And of course the small market teams that still haven’t quite figured out how to maximise efficiency in all facets(good FA signings, prospect development,) and stop wasting money like Kansas City are still floundering.
A team like the Yankees that can just throw a large novelty check at every problem has no incentive to learn how to play within the confines a budget. The Mets probably could never “streamline” their organization like the Twins, at least until they are forced under a budget cap and just signing a FA to plug any hole won’t automatically be an answer.
With their current administrative structure, just try imagine how ineffective the Mets, Cubs, or Yankees would be if they had to operate with a budget under 100mil per season?
One might try and make the case that the Red Sox are efficient………………. relatively, they might be the most efficient of the big market teams. But after paying 50 mllion just to talk to Dice-K, I beg to differ. And the Angels forays with Piniero and Matthews Jr……………………….. nuff said.
People bag on Castillo and he’s far…far…far from being one of the best in 2009 let alone of all time. However, he is far from being the worst in baseball. People harp on his lack of power but he is still a good contact hitter. He hit’s for average (.302 in ’09 and .292 for career), draws a strong OBP (.382 in ’09 and .369 for his career) and has plenty of speed 20/26 SB last year. His glove has become average at best. My two cents says that he could be a decent #2 hitter behind a healthy Reyes. He hit into a number of double plays last year (15 in ’09 ranked him 9th among 2b) but I think that might be more because of the lack of Reyes in front of him and Beltran, Delgado behind him. To his credit he ranked top 3 in OBP, top 7 among # of pitches taken, top 5 in bat avg, top 6 in SB and #1 in sacrifice hits among all 2B w/ at least 450 AB last year. In my opinion, in a better lineup with his ability to take pitches, get on base and handle the bat he would be a decent #2 or #9 hitter in some lineups. While he offers ZIPPO in terms of power or xtra base hits he seems to be a “victim” (for lack of a better word) of being mildly to very overpaid. His BaBIP was .338 in ’09. That’s somewhat in line of his career line of .332. In 2008 his BaBIP was .267 so maybe that was simply unlucky for him last year. Point is, Castillo even with an average glove is far from the worst 2B in baseball. In fact, in the right lineup he could be a usefull player despite his lack of power.
In the Mets lineup, with everyone healthy, a lineup beginning with…
Reyes
Castillo
Wright
Bay
Beltra
isn’t that bad and with his ability to get on base and to sacrifice runners over, Castillo can be a real impactful player.
I summed the current payroll to be around $125 mil so far. When evaluating how Minaya has handled the payroll vs the team needs the question isn’t so much “How can he spend $125 mil and still not have a starting C, 1B or solid rotation after Santana”. He’s about $24 mil under last years payroll right now. It’s more like “How can it be Feb 7th and they still don’t have those holes filled 1 week before ST starts NOR any suitable in-house options in the minors”. Aside from a coupld of top 100 prospect, Minaya has failed to put together a solid farm system to either fill needs in house or to trade for pieces needed.
If you look at the major contracts on the books though, he has quite a few under market value contracts and a couple of obvious overpays that were made of a need meeting desperation.
Reyes @ 4/$23 and Wright @ 6/$55 are both under market value contracts.
Beltra @ 7/$119 and Santana @ 6/$137 were pretty much fair market value for elite talents at the time. One could argue that Santana’s elbow should’ve given cause for concern but I think most teams would’ve bit the bullet and taken the chance on him at the price as well.
K-Rod @ 3/$37 and Bay @ 4/$66 were clear overpays that the Mets HAD to do to fill gaping needs. Sometimes overpaying is a given when it comes to FA and desperate teams.
The contracts that make you scratch your head are the Perez 3/$36 and Castillo @ 4/$25 as they seem to be way above market value either in value (Perez) or years (Castillo). Who were they bidding against when Perez had a 1.40 whip and 105 walks in 180 IP going into his FA year?
His inability to build a strong farm and to interest FA this year are the glaring problems facing the Mets going into 2010, IMO.
“K-Rod @ 3/$37 and Bay @ 4/$66 were clear overpays that the Mets HAD to do to fill gaping needs. Sometimes overpaying is a given when it comes to FA and desperate teams”
I couldnt disagree more. Neither of those players were guys the Mets needed to sign, and in actuality both are more a part of the problem then the solution.
Closers are sometimes treated as an expendable commodity by teams who recognize the short lifespan and track record of good relievers being able to adequately fill the spot for next to nothing dollar wise. Overpaying a closer when you have glaring holes elsewhere on the club should be considered downright foolish.
They should have spent that money on the rest of the club. You are less likely to have save situations if you have holes on the club around the closer. So a slightly lower save percentage but more save opportunities will likely balance with the fewer save opportunities but slightly higher save percentage.
Similarly, paying Bay (about a 1 Win above average player) almost every offseason penny you have while ignoring the 3 or 4 holes the money could have instead filled is just illogical. One good player is rarely ever going to have a profound effect on a club. But replacing 3 to 4 replacement level range players with league average guys will.
Mets just need to blow it up and start all over. Its too bad their GM is too incompetent to do that.
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I think playing in a market with the reigning WS champs, and being in the 2nd year of a new stadium makes it very difficult to rebuild in 2010. Add to the fact that Minaya is skating on thin ice in terms of his job and the fact that the owenrship doesn’t appear to have much faith in him, and it’s no “shocker” that he’s not trading away his superstars.
One might try and make the case that the Red Sox are efficient………………. relatively, they might be the most efficient of the big market teams. But after paying 50 mllion just to talk to Dice-K, I beg to differ. And the Angels forays with Piniero and Matthews Jr……………………….. nuff said.
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For the most part the Sox are a well run organization but are they really eficient when they’re spending $11 mil for three players not on their 40 man roster in 2010? And are trying to add Mike Lowell and his $12 mil to that list as well?
If you’re using Cot’s numbers then you should know $1.5M of that was in buyouts. Wagner in particularly pretty much cost the Sox Chris Carter and $1M for 2 draft picks. I’d call that efficient.
Every team occasionally finds a lucky bargain, makes a good FA signing, or has a player pop-up from out of nowhere to contribute substantially from time to time……(Carlos Pena, Ludwick, Pujols, being some examples in this decade.) This kind of thing is mostly just draw-luck or an exceptionally fortuitous low-level signing or late-round prospect selection that just winds up paying unexpected dividends………………. Or other times a once-promising prospect who finally gets healthy or in a good situation and comes back determined to prove himself.
Big-Market teams like the Red-Sox, Yankees, and Cubs have certainly had surprise players overperform for them in some years, like Randy Wells, and these help. The RedSox have made some economical deals in recent years, and have done a fine job drafting and developing their prospects, but one can identify several other busts and “sunken costs.”
The thing is that the Red-Sox and Yankees have the funds to enable them to recover from a mistake in the way that a team like the Reds or Indians could be crippled for years by one disastrous contract or trade. If the Red-Sox wind up having to eat several million dollars thanks to a Lackey injury, for example, is it really going to do that much damage to their short-term and long term fiscal structure, or limit their future spending???……….. Probably not. These big-market teams have been capable of eating money and have done so recently for the sake of taking a chance on even bigger FA rewards.
But the small-market teams working on a budget don’t have this luxury. They can be set back for years if they make a bad choice and break the bank on the wrong big-name FA. For my Cardinals, I am rather concerned that Holliday was the wrong FA to throw 100mil+, and thus the future of the franchise behind.
The point is that those big-market teams can recover from their errors in the way it could take a small-market team more than a decade to so recover, from either a poor prospects-for veteran star deal or a disastrous FA signing.
Every team occasionally finds a lucky bargain, makes a good FA signing, or has a player pop-up from out of nowhere to contribute substantially from time to time……(Carlos Pena, Ludwick, Pujols, being some examples in this decade.) This kind of thing is mostly just draw-luck or an exceptionally fortuitous low-level signing or late-round prospect selection that just winds up paying unexpected dividends………………. Or other times a once-promising prospect who finally gets healthy or in a good situation and comes back determined to prove himself.
Big-Market teams like the Red-Sox, Yankees, and Cubs have certainly had surprise players overperform for them in some years, like Randy Wells, and these help. The RedSox have made some economical deals in recent years, and have done a fine job drafting and developing their prospects, but one can identify several other busts and “sunken costs.”
The thing is that the Red-Sox and Yankees have the funds to enable them to recover from a mistake in the way that a team like the Reds or Indians could be crippled for years by one disastrous contract or trade. If the Red-Sox wind up having to eat several million dollars thanks to a Lackey injury, for example, is it really going to do that much damage to their short-term and long term fiscal structure, or limit their future spending???……….. Probably not. These big-market teams have been capable of eating money and have done so recently for the sake of taking a chance on even bigger FA rewards.
But the small-market teams working on a budget don’t have this luxury. They can be set back for years if they make a bad choice and break the bank on the wrong big-name FA. For my Cardinals, I am rather concerned that Holliday was the wrong FA to throw 100mil+, and thus the future of the franchise behind.
The point is that those big-market teams can recover from their errors in the way it could take a small-market team more than a decade to so recover, from either a poor prospects-for veteran star deal or a disastrous FA signing.
If you’re using Cot’s numbers then you should know $1.5M of that was in buyouts. Wagner in particularly pretty much cost the Sox Chris Carter and $1M for 2 draft picks. I’d call that efficient.
After reading the post about Bobby Kielty…It just makes me think that the MLBTR folks that I talk to every day through posts could be Bobby Kielty, Albert Pujols, and Rod Carew…Interesting…Awesome
I’m just curious about who will be the first person to post claiming they’re Pujols.
The man himself…Albert Pujols.
The man himself…Albert Pujols.
Start_wearing_purple, If you want, we could role play…You are Cody Ross and I’ll be Chase Headley. Or you could be Rickie Weeks and I’ll be Alex Gordon.
I don’t want to be Ross or Weeks. I call Kevin Youkilis.
In that case I’ll be Tex.
In that case I’ll be Tex.
I don’t want to be Ross or Weeks. I call Kevin Youkilis.
Start_wearing_purple, If you want, we could role play…You are Cody Ross and I’ll be Chase Headley. Or you could be Rickie Weeks and I’ll be Alex Gordon.
Chuck Norris
Chuck Norris doesn’t do push ups. He pushes the Earth down.
Chuck Norris can drink a gallon of milk in 37 seconds………………….
What do Christopher Reeve and Stephen Hawking both have in common:
Both survived a fight with Chuck Norris.
Chuck Norris does not go hunting, hunting implies a possibility of failure. Chuck Norris goes killing.
If you can see Chuck Norris, he can see you. If you can’t see Chuck Norris you may be only seconds away from death.
When Superman wants to look tough he puts on his Chuck Norris shirt.
Outerspace exists because it’s afraid to be near Chuck Norris.
Chuck Norris does not go hunting, hunting implies a possibility of failure. Chuck Norris goes killing.
Chuck Norris can drink a gallon of milk in 37 seconds………………….
What do Christopher Reeve and Stephen Hawking both have in common:
Both survived a fight with Chuck Norris.
Chuck Norris doesn’t do push ups. He pushes the Earth down.
Chuck Norris
Not really sure how that’s relevant. FanGraphs takes offense, defense, and position scarcity into consideration–so a “2B” who posted 27 H
Not really sure how that’s relevant. FanGraphs takes offense, defense, and position scarcity into consideration–so a “2B” who posted 27 H
who cares about stillo he makes 15 million dont be jealous he plays a game none of you can what about bobby keilty what is he doing??? I think he can be better than rich ankeil
Jose Tabata will be a mid season call up, along with Pedro Alvarez, Brad Lincoln and maybe Tony Sanchez if Doumit gets traded or hurt like he usually does