Trade Deadline Countdown

[Guest Edgy DC]

Milledge and Petit? Pass, pass, pass!

[Elster88]

]but New York sent a scout to Arlington to watch Soriano over the weekend.

Is this really necessary with MLB TV?

[MFS62]

Omar was supposed to have come on the Mike Francessa show at 1:05 today.(WFAN)
The interview was then rescheduled to after 2:00 PM

That has now been pushed back to after 4:00 PM.

Will we hear a deal has been completed today?

Later

[Vic Sage]

Soriano has approximately a .700+ OPS away from Texas over his last 1 1/2 seasons (500+ road ABs).

To put that in context, thats about what we've gotten from Kaz Matsui. Sori will probably run less and hit a few more dingers but overall production would be in a similar range, based on Sori's road numbers.

How stupid do you have to be to pursue a guy like this, given that his overall career has been in steady decline, and he's a non-hustling PITA to boot?

I guess we may soon find out...

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Vic, come and climb on the Ray Durham Bandwagon with me. The guy is only due to be paid thru the end of this year (with an option), is an above-average offensive player, only his skill is OBP and not slugging (so much -- he's got 21 doubles already). I'm the only guy in the whole city who wants him, so what's wrong with me?

[Guest Rotblatt]

I sincerely hope not.

Where's the spin machine for Cameron? Cam's only 3 years older than Soriano, plays gold glove defense and is putting up dominant numbers for a CF in a pitcher's park.

Right now, Cam's road OPS is .959. Taking into account the fact that Cam can actually hit outside of a hitter's park, and IMO it's a good bet that Cam at Arlington will outperform Soriano at Shea over the next few years--probably with ease.

Cameron for Soriano straight up--despite all of Soriano's flaws--might be a decent deal, if you ask me. But once you throw in Milledge AND one of Heilman and Seo, it becomes a disaster of Kazmirian proportions.

I fucking hate the trade deadline.

[Guest Rotblatt]

Oh, and I'd be okay with Durham, depending on what we gave up for him. I'd still rather see us promote Lambin or Hernandez, though, and deal one of our pitchers for a young catcher or first baseman before the deadline.

And another thing--dealing with Texas at all is retarded. They're not a contender, which means they don't NEED to do a deal. That lessens our leverage considerably. The Sox, the Orioles, the Yankees--these are the teams we should be dealing with because they all have serious, short-term needs for pitching, which we happen to have in spades. That means that any of those three are probably willing to give up more than Texas for one of our pitchers. And the Yankees would surely give up more for Cam than Texas would.

Personally, I'd rather have H. Matsui than Soriano, and I'm willing to be we could get him for Cameron, Milledge & Heilman.

And how about Boston? We could probably get Damon & Shoppach for the same Soriano package, since they need relievers & Damon's a free agent after this season. Granted, we have to stick Damon in RF if we didn't flip him for prospects, but we'd have a great lead-off hitter and would get a supplemental draft pick after he signs as a free agent next season. AND we'd have Piazza's heir apparent.

I'm not saying I like any of these deals I'm proposing, but I DO think they help us a hell of a lot more than Soriano would.

[duan]

Carroll's latest update;

"The Mets have been reluctant to give up two of their best prospects to get Alfonso Soriano, knowing they'll need to fill some gaps in the off-season. That knowledge let the Reds stick their nose into a possible deal. According to two sources with knowledge of the discussions, the Reds would send Sean Casey and his contract to the Mets along with Soriano. The Rangers would then give the Reds one or two B level prospects such as Juan Dominguez or John Hudgins."


put on the record for saying
That'd a massive fucking gamble that would be a really, really, bad idea.

[Guest ABG]

Duan--I don't follow what we'd give up in that deal.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

But who are the Mets giving up in that deal?

Is Soriano a freebie? The way it's worded the Rangers are getting Sean Casey for two prospects and Soriano. The Reds, who don't want Soriano's contract, give him to the Mets for nothing.

Good deal for the Mets. Good deal for the Reds, assuming they like the two B-level prospects better than they do Casey. But it sounds like a crazy deal for Texas.

Either I'm misreading this, or something's missing here.

[Elster88]

I'm dying here. Yancy's analysis made me crack up. I like it too, but I also think there are a few details missing. Maybe Texas wants Ishii?

[Guest rpackrat]

I'm not averse to getting Soriano, if the price is right. His road OPS causes some concern, but this is a guy who put up great numbers at Yankee Stadium, which is not a great park for righthanded hitters. But any deal for Soriano should not include any of Reyes, Milledge, or Petit, all of whom have been mentioned.

Durham also would be a decent pickup. His terrific OBP would make him a nice fit at the top of the order though, like Soriano, he's subpar defensively.

Kent has too much bad history with the Mets.

[Guest ABG]

Of all the players even briefly mentioned, I think Kent is the best fit. He'll play a fairly average 2b or 1b and be a top-notch middle of the order hitter. Say what you will about his attitude, he consistently produces and his teams generally win.

He's relatively old and expensive and playing for a team that is out of contention. Hopefully he'll come at a significantly cheaper cost than Soriano.

[Elster88]

]Kent has too much bad history with the Mets.

He did have bad times when he was here, but is anyone who was around then even remotely involved with the club? Seems like it could be a clean slate. Only the dickhead boo birds would give him a hard time.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I never understood the particulars of the bad history between Kent and the Mets and their fans. His sins to me were (1) he played well for some bad teams, (2) he continued to improve after the Mets unwisely traded him, (3) he had something of a child molester moustache, and (3) he didn't like being hazed because he felt he had already been through that with the Blue Jays.

Besides, the veteran guys hazing him were mostly players Met fans never warmed to anyhow.

Since leaving the Mets, we've learned that (1) the guy is surly (many a fine player has been), (2) Barry Bonds' personality can stick in his craw (get in line), and (4) he lied about wrecking his bike in the offseason.

That last one is all I see that's an issue for me. So you tell him not to do that no more and hope he doesn't, and enforce the out in his contract if he does.

[Elster88]

I agree with all that, but by "bad times" I was referring to problems with management, too. Didn't he and Dallas make a bad couple?

[MFS62]

Omar/ WFAN update.
No deal to report.
He said the Mets were in the hunt, but are not in just an '05 mindset.
He also said that he would not overpay for a name player (Soriano?) but the team needs to add offense.
He supported Beltran and is sure he'll improve over the rest of the season.
yadda yadda

Typical GM-speak.

EDIT: About Kent. He was an Amos Otis redux - a player who the Mets tried to move to third base to fill that historic chasm. When they couldn't (Otis) or didn't want to (Kent) they were traded away.
When the Mets got Kent, there was some criticism of his defensive play at second. So I checked. When he was in the Jays' system, he had twice led his minor league in fielding and DPs converted by second basemen (the only statistics available at that time).

So he wasn't the second coming of Bill Mazeroski. So what? But he played the position at least as well as Todd Bellhorn and Todd Walker do today, and you had to like his bat.

But when they moved him to third, his clubhouse "personality" must have escalated and he may have walked around with a case of the RA. But we'll never know if his clubhouse problems were with his teammates (to paraphrase the bakery ad- nobody doesn't hate Barry Bonds), or with the press. As someone noted above, that doesn't mean the guy can't play.

Later

[Guest Edgy DC]

]Didn't he and Dallas make a bad couple?

You know, I didn't look so good next to Dallas Green myself.

A team keeping Chris Woodward, Marlon Anderson, Jose Offerman, and Gerald Williams on their bench, but keeping Victor Diaz, Eric Valent and Brian Daubach in the minors needs to add offense.

[Guest Rotblatt]

It's strange, but I think the problem is our bench has been too good. I mean, Anderson, Woody & Offerman have all been really solid pinch hitters. None of them possesses much power, but they're all hitting for average--Woody at .311 (.803 OPS), Anderson at .297 (.714) & Offerman at .320 (.786). So no one has played themselves out of a bench spot, which means we're keeping Valent, Diaz & Daubach, all of whom has more power but might not adjust to life on the bench as well, down at AAA . . .

I'd really like us to move one of those three. One of them might be enough to tip the scales on a pitcher for young hitter trade, and it would free up space for a power bat off the bench.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Five days, seven hours remain.. Still no announced deals, which makes me more worried.

By the way, I like the notiion to restrain teams from announcing deals that are still pending the consent of player with the right to reject.

[Guest KC]

I think I counted nine 'that being said' in the WFAN interview this afternoon,
and I missed some of it.

I hope something major and bizzare happens that's so lopsided that everyone
will have to just say, "wow, we really screwed _____________".

Otherwise the deadline can come and go without anything happening and I
could care less.

[duan]

hey sorry about being unclear earlier, but i was quoting direct from Carroll, how I read it was .....

the mets were unhappy giving up two prospects for Soriano when they had places to fill next year, but would give up two prospects for Soriano & Casey, as that would fill 1b for next year.



I could of read it wrong.

[duan]

how's about acquiring Roberto Petagaine; not exactly sexy i know, but a left handed power bat that should be able to be had for some AAA with ML experience pitching (do you hear me JW Seo?)

[Guest KC]

Why is there two trade deadline threads started by the same poster?

I thought there was an edict?

[Guest Edgy DC]

Very different themes.

Very different.

Almost no overlap. Practically a different language.

[smg58]

I liked the article. The writer seems to have a very good grasp of the situation, and if I were a Ranger fan I'd demand that much for Soriano too, because a few people out there (mistakenly) think he's worth that much.

Durham has a player option for next season, which he'd be crazy not to pick up, so it would be more than a two-month commitment. That's the thing with him, Casey, and a couple of other players: the Mets have to be sure they'll still want them next year before emptying their wallets and farm system. The money we would owe Casey and Soriano would make it difficult to do much else in the offseason, especially if we still have Glavine and Matsui.

Our pen has ben a LOT better lately, so barring a good pitcher becoming available fairly cheaply, I'm not sure there's anything to be gained there either.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

I thought Durham's option was a team option. That changes things for sure.

Really, all I want right now for the Mets is to play somebody at second base who's better than Cairo/Anderson. If that means calling up the kid from Norfolk, that's fine, or if it means a trade, it doesn't have to be an earth-shattering one.

Otherwise, if there's opportunity to set up next year's group now we obviously should look at it.

[Guest Rotblatt]

What JD said.

Let's STAY PUT right NOW!!!!












and NOW!


and NOW!

(you get the idea.)

[smg58]

I'm getting my info from http://www.mlb4u.com/teampages.html , which is really detailed but I can't guarantee its accuracy.

[MFS62]

From Rotoworld:

]Alfonso Soriano - 2B - TEX At one point yesterday Alfonso Soriano got a call from his agent telling him to pack his bags and that he was traded to the Mets. Only moments later did he receive another call telling him that the deal hit a snag. The Rangers want pitcher Aaron Heilman and AA pitcher Yusmeiro Petit, but the Mets want to substitute Victor Zambrano for Heilman. Regardless, it's looking more likely Soriano will be headed to the Mets this weekend. Jul. 28 - 1:21 pm et Source: Dallas Morning News " Later