Some links on a Sunday evening:
- SI.com's Jon Heyman tweets that Chip Hale will be on Terry Collins' coaching staff after losing out on the Mets' managerial job. Meanwhile, Andy Martino of The New York Daily News tweets that both Mookie Wilson and Dave Wallace will "definitely be considered" for the coaching staff as well.
- ESPN's Adam Rubin offers up ten tidbits about new Mets' manager Terry Collins.
- Omar Minaya is in no hurry to accept one of the many offers he's received, writes ESPN's Enrique Rojas. The former Mets GM says he's received offers for various positions from several teams, including some to be an assistant general manager.
- Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tells us that the Pirates are set to hire four coaches for Clint Hurdle's new staff: Ray Searage as the pitching coach, Gregg Ritche as the hitting coach, Jeff Bannister as the third base coach, and Nick Leyva as the bench coach.
- Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times feels that the Rays will hang onto B.J. Upton this offseason and likely won't trade a pitcher (candidates include James Shields, Matt Garza, Jeff Niemann, or Wade Davis) until July, unless the offers get "crazy good" once Cliff Lee signs. He does believe, though, that Jason Bartlett will be traded by Spring Training.
- Bartlett's availability will likely have a negative impact on the market for Marco Scutaro, writes Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal.
- Bob Brookover of the Philadelphia Inquirer looks at Ruben Amaro's five best and five worst moves, and says the jury is still out on the Philly GM.
I disagree with that…So this means that Jeremy Hellickson will not be in the Rays rotation next season?
How often does a teams opening day rotation stay intact? There’s always injuries or ineffectiveness, having 6 guys is a luxury. Let one start in the pen and go from there
I disagree. They could turn one of those starters in to a good young first baseman, and a couple of relievers…
For example…Matt Garza for Jeremy Jeffress and Mat Gamel…
Matt Garza for Logan Ondrusek and Yonder Alonso
Mat Gamel would be a nice pickup
the brewers called. they want to know if you have the authority to do this… RIGHT NOW…
I wouldn’t be a huge fan of that trade because I think Garza is one of the most overrated pitchers in the majors and Jeffress is one of the most underrated pitchers in the minors, but I guess the Brewers have to take what they can get at this point.
I wouldn’t be a huge fan of that trade because I think Garza is one of the most overrated pitchers in the majors and Jeffress is one of the most underrated pitchers in the minors, but I guess the Brewers have to take what they can get at this point.
Why?
Why?
The Brewers and the Reds won’t do that is probably the reason they don’t happen. Keep Garza.
As the cliche goes, “you can never have too much pitching”. Honestly, it just takes a DL stint for one and a slump for another and suddenly your rotation is shot. Having a 6th guy is a great insurance policy.
The real Ruben Amaro’s five worst moves:
1) Trading away Lee
2) Signing Howard to a 5 year $125 million contract
3) Signing Brad Lidge to a 3 year $37.5 million contract
4) Signing Raul Ibanez to a 3 year $31.5 million contract
5) Signing Joe Blanton to a 3 year $24 million contract
srsly. In what world does Howard’s contract extension not make the top five? It’s arguably number one with its potential to cripple the Phillies financially over the next half-decade.
Honestly, it might be number one, because the Lee trade only effected one season, the Howard deal kills five.
It could, but if they increase their payroll each year and get their young talent up in the bigs, it won’t cripple their team at all…
Yea, let’s assume that the team increases payroll every year and that all of their prospects pan out, that’s a great idea.
That’s would be the key for any team though isn’t it? How much more is ownership willing to spend over last year’s 138$M opening day payroll?Ryan Howard is not very likely to put up enough value to come close to his contract (He’s never put up a season worth $25 Million, according to fangraphs). While it’s certainly possible to work around a bad contract it’s not an optimal position to be in, and planning for prospects (most of whom are in the lower minors) to work out to provide excess value to cover is not the best plan either when spending resources more wisely would allow you to have both your prospects and spend on improving your team now.
….said as they watch Werth leave
At least know what you’re talking about. Brad Lidge signed an extension with the Phillies in July of ’08 under Pat Gillick’s reign. It may be easy to say that it was a bad deal now, but at the time, Lidge was en route to a perfect season as the Phillies first dominant closer since god knows when.
Secondly, I’m going to disagree on your number two. While I agree it was a bad signing, the blame shouldn’t be put on Ruben Amaro directly (although I assume he was partially responsible). Ownership was largely in favor of locking up Howard long term and in favor of paying that contract. My guess is that they wanted to get him signed before guys like Fielder and Gonzalez signed their deals, as stupid as that may sound.
Minaya was never in a hurry to do anything so that’s no surprise.
Solid coaching staff moves, not sure what kind of coach the new hitting coach is but someone who hit well professionally usually would seem like a better choice. I like Nick Ley as bench coach, though.
The first task is toimprove Avg. with RISP.
The reason it is bad is because the hitters are poor, so the first thing is too get better hitters and pitchers and coaches.
That’s not true!! Don’t you dare say that about Cutch, Walker, Tabata, or Pedro! Their young and they need to be taught how to wear down pitchers!!!
He have the pieces to create an aggressive offensive team!
The reason it is bad is because the hitters are poor, so the first thing is too get better hitters and pitchers and coaches.
Great decision Clint on bringing back Ray Searage as pitching coach. He seems to be the only soul who can resurrect the career of Charlie Morton. Take that Joe Kerrigan!! Smuck!
As long as Don Long has no influence on the Pirates hittiers, I’m confident looking towards the Pirates future. Contention for the 2012 season now doesn’t seem so unobtainable.
Hurdle is going to do all of the decisions on the hitters, you must have a known hitting coach though.
Why? That’s just a waste of money
I sure won’t miss Tony Beasley’s ever-spinning windmill at third.
What will be missed is his rendition of “peanut butter jelly time!”
Omar should be in a hurry to take one of those job offers before the people offering realize what theyre doing. Really, how is this clown up for any front office position anywhere? The dude could screw up a sandwich.
Minaya and Childress should start their own sports management consulting service.
maybe the other organizations know more about Omar Minaya than the fans on MLBTR do…
what is with your undying love for omar minaya?
He’s still a highly respected scout in this league.
Problem with Omar, is he’s an awful negotiator. As long as you put him in a field that suits his strengths (scouting) and not one that uses his weaknesses (negotiating), you’d be a better organization having someone like that around.
i have debated this to no end…and in thinking about it…while scouting is one of his better attributes…i dont think negotiating is one of his worst…i just think there are 100 things a GM has to do well for an org to succeed…and Omar hasn’t spent enough time under a successful mentor to do those things well..
I think Omar would be best served under a successful organization like the red-sox or twins for a few years to understand how a successful team is run. its not just signing players or draft picks, its the whole philosophy on developing them as well.
im an omar fan but i will call a duck a duck. omar is def best as a scout right now, but in the right situation he can def be groomed into a top GM. had the mets hired Sandy in 04, with Omar as his right hand man, he would be ready in 2011 to take over a team that has structure. Omar doesnt have any experience laying down a foundation like that…its almost as if he was playing GM on MLB 2010 rather than building an org from the ground up. part of that is playing in NY.( win now ) part of that is not having the leverage to tell ownership to be patient. ( inexperience and no other GM offers )
He’s still a highly respected scout in this league.
Problem with Omar, is he’s an awful negotiator. As long as you put him in a field that suits his strengths (scouting) and not one that uses his weaknesses (negotiating), you’d be a better organization having someone like that around.
First off, I dont care one way or the other what Omar’s ethnic background is. Its completely irrelevant. Also, how could anybody bring up the latino race card in reference to baseball? The latino presence is greater in the MLB than pretty much anywhere else in the US.
Second, I dont think Omar is all that great as far as scouting goes either. Who have the Mets drafted under his time running the show who has turned into anything? There are a few that are still have time and could turn into productive MLB players, but as it stands now the list is pretty small. Throw on top of that what could be the worst trade of young talent in the history of baseball (the Cliff Lee/Grady Sizemore/Brandon Phillips for Colon deal), and the trading of Jason Bay, Carl Pavano, and Chris Young for nothing in particular, and you really have to question Omar’s value to any team at all. I really dont think he knows what hes doing.
i think trading away josh hamilton for cash considerations ( cubs ) might rank up there as being slightly worse than lee/sizemore/phillips for colon…everyone was under the impression the expos were being contracted and the expos got a good 2nd half out of colon, who then traded again. they were in a pennent race with a payroll bordering 48 million.
edit: and yes the latino presence is greater in MLB than any other sport…please explain why there are still fans asking the mets to get rid of losmets on their website. i feel like im in arizona border patrol when i go to a mets game.
First off, I dont care one way or the other what Omar’s ethnic background is. Its completely irrelevant. Also, how could anybody bring up the latino race card in reference to baseball? The latino presence is greater in the MLB than pretty much anywhere else in the US.
Second, I dont think Omar is all that great as far as scouting goes either. Who have the Mets drafted under his time running the show who has turned into anything? There are a few that are still have time and could turn into productive MLB players, but as it stands now the list is pretty small. Throw on top of that what could be the worst trade of young talent in the history of baseball (the Cliff Lee/Grady Sizemore/Brandon Phillips for Colon deal), and the trading of Jason Bay, Carl Pavano, and Chris Young for nothing in particular, and you really have to question Omar’s value to any team at all. I really dont think he knows what hes doing.
“Bartlett’s availability will likely have a negative impact on the market for Marco Scutaro”
So let me get this straight… as supply goes up and demand stays the same then the price goes down. Yay! We’ve now reiterated one of the first things you learn in Economics 101.
SS’s are 3.128/gallon
Personaly i thought Omar Minaya was hired becuase he is latino and lets face it there are plenty of good latino baseball players and that can give you leverage. He just happened to make a lot of bad deals that the average fan could have told you was bad at the time Perez and Castillo are really about it but a professional GM shouldnt make 2 contract offers that a fan could tell you was a bad idea, they shouldn’t make any.