All-Purpose Mets-Related Trade Rumors Thread

[Guest mt8thsw9th]

Just wondering, but any reason for Cliff Floyd being out of the lineup tonight? Is it just because Pettitte is on the mound, scheduled day of rest type deal?

[metirish]

Yep, WWSB on the FAN said he wanted to rest Cliff in the Rockies series but the way things went he couldn't, Woodie in LF, Offerman at 1st, Doug will play tomorrow.

[Valadius]

Although the Brewers have indicated that they won't trade Lyle Overbay, if I were them, I'd do it now, to maximize his value. He's hitting .379 for the week with 4 hr, 8 rbi. They've got Prince Fielder in the minors as their first baseman of the future.

Also, a prediction:

The Milwaukee Brewers will be a legitimate playoff-contending team within the next 3-5 years.

I'm not kidding.

[Frayed Knot]

Mets & Sox apparantly dropped the D-Rays as a possible trade partner and tried talking just to each other. One suggestion was Manny & money for Cammy & Milledge - but the Mets wanted more money and the Sox wanted more prospects ... and so it's "99.9% dead" according to Jayson Stark on BB2N.


Now my biggest worry is that Omar will feel pressure to "do something" after all these teases and so will do something simply so they can say that they did something.

[metirish]

]Now my biggest worry is that Omar will feel pressure to "do something" after all these teases and so will do something simply so they can say that they did something.

Yeah, that and the fact that the Mets are in an offensive slump right now, Gary Cohen had the Mets taking on all of the contract plus Lastings, if that's true then I can't see how the Sox will get a better deal if they are that desperate to deal him...

[metirish]

Well now it's the Mets and Sox, deal maybe back on, thing is the Sox have to deal him, they benched him tonight...

]Ramirez to Mets deal 'hanging by a thread'By Jayson Stark ESPN.com Related Video: Buster Olney tells us who's buying and who's selling Manny Ramirez might still become a Met, but he wouldn't land in New York via Tampa Bay. The Red Sox and Mets agreed Saturday to stop working on an intricate three-team deal with the Devil Rays, and instead began talking only with each other, according to an official of one of the three teams. The current deal being proposed would send Ramirez and about $15 million in cash to the Mets, in exchange for Mike Cameron and the Mets' top prospect, Lastings Milledge. But the Red Sox are believed to have told the Mets they would need more talent back to sign off on the deal. In the meantime, however, Boston is calling other teams to see if it can move either Milledge, or Cameron, or even both, in deals that could help the Red Sox address multiple needs. With all those details yet to be worked out, and the clock still ticking toward the deadline, the official said that while there was "still a chance" of Ramirez being traded, the trade was "hanging by a thread. I wouldn't say by a noose. I would say it's hanging by a thread." As the Mets and Red Sox talked with each other, the Devil Rays turned their attention to other deals. According to executives of two teams that spoke with the Devil Rays and White Sox, those two teams were talking about a major deal that would send both Danys Baez and Aubrey Huff to Chicago in exchange for a package of three or four top prospects. According to three baseball men familiar with the three-way conversations, the original three-team involving Manny broke down over a dispute between Boston and Tampa Bay. The Devil Rays were insisting that Boston trade both its top offensive prospect, Hanley Ramirez, and its top pitching prospect, Jon Lester, to the Rays. The Red Sox were balking at including both, and they were unable to bridge that gap. The Red Sox, Mets and Devil Rays had managed to revive a proposed three-team blockbuster, at least temporarily, by early Saturday. But by 2 p.m. ET, an official of one of the three teams was describing the trade as "close to dead." The Red Sox, Mets and Devil Rays had managed to revive a proposed three-team blockbuster, at least temporarily, by early Saturday. But by 2 p.m. ET, an official of one of the three teams was describing the trade as "close to dead." Under the proposed deal, the Red Sox would have acquired Mets outfielder Mike Cameron and pitcher Aaron Heilman, and Devil Rays outfielder/designated hitter Aubrey Huff; the Mets would have received Ramirez, Devil Rays reliever Danys Baez and shortstop Julio Lugo; and Tampa Bay would get four prospects. In fact, the official several times referred to the deal in the past tense, also said at one point that the teams were "out of time" and, at another point, that "I just think it's not going to work." Major League Baseball's

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

I don't wanna part with Millege.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Me neither. I'd rather deal Petit than Milledge.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

�Those who would give up their good prospects to obtain a winning record neither deserve nor shall have either good prospects or a winning record.�

[Guest Rotblatt]

Manny's great and all, but I'm absolutely convinced we could get him from the Red Sox for a shitload less than this in the offseason. Boston doesn't want his salary on their books, but they're not going to be able to make use of that salary flexibility in the next 8 hours, so it doesn't help them compete this year, which is why they're asking for MORE than Milledge & Cameron.

We could probably trade Cam for Manny straight up in the offseason and get a chunk of Manny's salary paid for to boot. The only reason to try and pry Manny away now is to compete this year, and that's fucking retarded, especially given how poorly we've played recently.

[Guest Rotblatt]

Relevant info from BP:

]Reports from multiple sources indicate that while the much-rumored three-way deal between the Red Sox, Mets and Devil Rays is dead, that the machinations to move Manny Ramirez remain in motion. The Devil Rays overplayed their hand, insisting on Hanley Ramirez, according to most triangulations of the deal. The Mets were willing to take on all of Ramirez's salary, something that would not have put them in luxury tax peril according to BP's Jay Jaffe. With Cliff Floyd scratched from the Mets lineup Saturday, there are some rumblings that the Mets and Red Sox are working with a clean sheet of paper. Gordon Edes of the Boston Globe has done his predecessor proud with his work on this story. Again, there are multiple reports that the Red Sox will not stop with one blockbuster, seeking to deal for Adam Dunn (using Abe Alvarez, Jon Papelbon and Lastings Milledge) or for Billy Wagner (for Jon Lester and Milledge, plus a pitcher widely expected to be Bronson Arroyo). The Reds continue to insist they are not making any deals.

Okay, so one more time: if Dunn's available, even at the ridiculously high price of Alvarez, Papelbon & Milledge, we should try and get him instead of Manny. Petit & Milledge for Dunn would be a better deal than Milledge & Cameron for Manny, if you ask me, and it's a package comparable to

Also, Lester, Milledge & Arroyo for Wagner? Are you fucking kidding me? Omar, for the love of God, become a seller RIGHT NOW. A solid #3 starter, a top 15 prospect and a top 150 prospect (IIRC--can't remember more about Lester offhand) for a closer? In this kind of market, we could rake by selling Hernandez or Looper.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

Thank you, Rot, for validating what I've been saying. The Mets could score a fucking coup by unloading Glavine, Piazza, Cameron, Looper, Hernandez, and about a half-dozen other players [u:82959dcae4]who will never play on a post-season Mets team anyway [/u:82959dcae4], distributing their salaries (and those of players whom they could insist go as pure salary-dumps, like Matsui) in exchange for some some pretty good prospects--i.e., [u:82959dcae4]other teams'[/u:82959dcae4] Milledges and Petits, if they only could identify who those prospects are. But the phony-bullshit-image crapola of acting like this is a hot contender (now, or last July 30th or the previous years') is going to keep this ballclub chained to last place.

Enjoy.

[Guest mt8thsw9th]

Rotblatt wrote: and a top 150 prospect (IIRC--can't remember more about Lester offhand)

21 years old, lefty in AA.

107 2/3 IP, 85 hits, 7 HR, 40 BB, 125 K, 2.51 ERA

I doubt that the Red Sox have any plans to trade most of those players, I believe that was just trade ideas cooked up by the writer of that article.

[Guest Rotblatt]

To add more fuel to the fire, Omar is apparently thinking of trading Petit & Heilman to Tampa Bay for Baez.

That's infuckingsane. Heilman's got better peripherals than Baez & is younger, and our bullpen is better than average already. Baez on our team becomes at best our third-best reliever. Why on earth would we part with our second-best prospect--who should be ready to contribute NEXT YEAR--and Heilman for a guy that will be MAYBE a win better than Heilman over the rest of the season?

It just makes no sense whatsoever.

Bret, I think we're totally on the same page. Any GM of a quasi-contender who HASN'T looked at this market and decided to fleece all the other quasi-contenders doesn't deserve to be a GM.

At least the Manny trade idea would provide us with a bat. This Baez trade wouldn't do shit for us but make us look stupid.

Motherfucker, I can't wait for the next three hours to be over with.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

]To add more fuel to the fire, Omar is apparently thinking of trading Petit & Heilman to Tampa Bay for Baez.

I really hope that's not true.

[nymr83]

thats insane, screw baez. take those guys, add milledge, add some other guy and go bang on cincy's door for adam dunn.

[Theoldmole]

Petit for Baez?

[Guest Rotblatt]

Whew. Official word is that there are no deals. Thank God.

[Frayed Knot]

Omar (paraphrased): '... unwilling to give up prospects for relatively minor deals for non-impact players'


So it sounds like those Petit-Baez rumors (Newsday) or the Petit + Heilman for Baez swap (from wherever) were never really close to the truth.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Unless they were true before having shit the bed on this trip again.

[smg58]

You have a point JD. The Astros series did show that the 05 Mets are not the kind of team you go for broke with. Perhaps the Mets gained by losing.

Having said that, "reliable" sources this offseason had Pedro and Beltran using the Mets as a bargaining chip and Sosa fitted for the orange and blue. It's impossible to speculate on which deals were seriously considered, which deals were suggested once with no follow-through, and which deals were the invention of a journalist. The bottom line is, Minaya opted to wait until the offseason to do anything major.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

Frayed Knot wrote: So it sounds like those Petit-Baez rumors (Newsday) or the Petit + Heilman for Baez swap (from wherever) were never really close to the truth.

See, how this works is: If a rumored deal doesn't actually happen, it "was never close to the truth." The principals might have ripped up a signed contract because someone couldn't agree on who would announce the deal, but to FK it will always remain an imaginary figment of malicious lying newspapermen out to sell a few extra copies, or of moronic chatterboxes filling WFAN's airwaves with inane drivel.

Logic tells you, of course, that for every actual deal, GMs discuss dozens of deals that don't quite work out, and some of those get very, very close to being realized. Just not in FK's world of done deals and out-and-out lies. FK, why do you have such a hardon for journos and callers? Did one of them steal your lunch money when you were a kid or sompnin'?

[Frayed Knot]

No, I don't think that most journos are intentionally lying, just that at times like this being in full gossip mode is what generates interest and so they'll often print rumored deals so that if they do come true they can claim to have broken the story first. And even for those that don't they have a vested interest in floating rumors no matter how sketchy since it generates interest in the topic - which sends readers to their papers/websites - which generates more interest in the topic - which sends readers ... etc, etc.
The folks on BB2N looked positively crestfallen tonight to have so little to analyze. The lack of big names on the move seemed to have ruined their day.

"Never close to the truth" may ahve been the wrong phrase since I don't KNOW that's the case, but this week in particular saw no significant prospects dealt for anyone anywhere so maybe this assumption that top prospects were sure to be dealt for relievers wasn't in play as much as suggested and was more wishful thinking than anything.

As for radio callers; in that case yes, I do believe most of them are listening to voices inside their own heads and making up trades that have no basis in fact that they can't understand why their favorite GM hasn't pulled off yet.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

And the lunch money?

[Frayed Knot]

Still have it.