Gather the wood. . .time to fire up the Stove!!

[Guest sharpie]

Both Franco and Billy Wagner are listed at a generous 5'10.

[Vic Sage]

don't like signing aging closers to long-term, big-money deals.

sign Konerko and B.Giles, then trade Cameron for pitching. Put Jacobs back behind the plate and play Whooze at second...no, wait... Whooz on first; Whats on second.

[Guest Edgy DC]

What sort of pitching?

The Mets have a solid seven-man rotation as it is.

[Elster88]

Barry Zito. I heard we could get him for Milledge.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Please, we're on Cammy here.

[Vic Sage]

You can't have too much pitching.

And there are probably a number of good young relievers setting up for decent closers (Twins come immediately to mind; i'm sure there are others if i bothered to look around) that could solve our bullpen problems alot more cheaply than the $8-$9m/yr for 3-4 yrs that Wagner, Ryan, Hoffman will likely command. This allows us to spend the money on Konerko's power and Giles' OB% and all-around play.

I know folks think that Cammy is worth more than some relievers, but

1) I don't, because he's going into that "injured and aging" phase of his career, at $7m/yr;
2) his offense in RF can be replaced more easily than fixing the bullpen; and
3) if he IS worth more, than they might be able to GET more.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I hear you on number three, but I don't think he's particularly susceptible to injuries. I also think we are swimming in more or less solid relievers and don't know it.

[Guest Rotblatt]

Vic Sage wrote: And there are probably a number of good young relievers setting up for decent closers (Twins come immediately to mind; i'm sure there are others if i bothered to look around) that could solve our bullpen problems alot more cheaply than the $8-$9m/yr for 3-4 yrs that Wagner, Ryan, Hoffman will likely command. This allows us to spend the money on Konerko's power and Giles' OB% and all-around play.

I agree in principle, but at this point, I'm resigned to the fact that the Front Office is going to overpay a veteran reliever to come here. My hope is that they'll do that AND sign Konerko & Giles and trade Cam. In theory, we've got plenty of money to do all that and keep our payroll under $110M or so.

I also agree with Edgy that we've got a good number of solid young relievers already--Heilman, Padilla, Bell & Ring all come to mind--as well as Hernandez. However, I wouldn't have a problem adding one of Oakland or the Twinkie's good young relievers . . .

[smg58]

Our bullpen as it stands has Heilman, Bell, Padilla, one or both of Ring and Hamulack, probably Hernandez back, Aybar pitching well enough to warrant another look, possibly Bannister, possibly Zambrano, Soler at some point, and who knows Yates might even get healthy. Depth is not the problem. I think they do need to add one reliever to the top. Whether you go all out for one of the bigger names depends on whether or not you think you have a future closer in house, but keep in mind that it's a buyer's market for closers right now.

[metirish]

Paul Kinzer the agent for Furcal has said that the Mets will have to pay more if they want Rafael to play second...

http://www.ajc.com/braves/content/sports/braves/1105/02braves.html

[Guest sharpie]

Don't really want to get in a bidding war with the Cubs. They've got deep pockets.

[metirish]

Nope, and they need a SS and a number one hitter.

[MFS62]

Brad Ausmus is listed as a Houston Free Agent.
He's from Connecticut. Do you think he would want to move back East?

Yeah, I know he's about 35 yrs old. But he is still a good defensive catcher, not exactly an automatic out, and might come a whole lot cheaper than some of the other names (e.g.- Molina and Hernandez) that have been thrown around.

Thoughts?

Later

[Diamond Dad]

I like Ausmus as an option if we think we've got a catcher in the organization that is a few years away from being a good big-league player (Joe Hiepus?) If not, Ausmus is just a band-aid.

I heard that Brian Schneider might be an option. I think he's got some good years ahead of him, and he'll be cheaper than the higher profile guys.

[MFS62]

Schneider woud be a welcome addition. But I didn't notice his name on a quick look at this list:

http://fantasy.sportingnews.com/baseball/voices/brendan_roberts/20041109.html

Did I miss him, or did his team not pick up his option this week?

Later

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Ausmus is old, has zero power, doesn't hit for average and his on-base skills are related at least partly to his frequently batting 8th. No thanks.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Among internal candidates, I think Hietpas is Plan E. But he is playing at a higher level (Bingo and Norfolk) than a most of the candidates otherwise ahead of him. It looks like a make-or-break year for him.

[Elster88]

Johnny Dickshot wrote: Ausmus is old, has zero power, doesn't hit for average and his on-base skills are related at least partly to his frequently batting 8th. No thanks.

Beat me to it.

[nymr83]

Edgy DC wrote: I also think we are swimming in more or less solid relievers and don't know it.

i agree, i think we lack a "closer" (a guy we can honestly put in the top 20-25 relievers in basball) but we have alot of good guys, now if only those guys would be given playing time instead of sent to Norfok to work on a changeup...

[Vic Sage]

i'm ok with trying to solve the bullpen internally.
But I'd still be happy to trade Cammy for best available equivalent talent if we could use Bullpen + Cammy money on Giles and Konerko.

Even if we don't trade Cameron, I still think our NUMBER 1 FA priority should be a slugging 1bman like Konerko, rather than a closer.

[nymr83]

i agree that a bat is the number 1 priority, but we aren't the d-rays, signing a closer shouldn't prevent us from getting a bat.

[seawolf17]

Some reporter from Philly was on with Ed & Sweeney today and said the sticking point with Wagner is going to be a guaranteed third year. Unless his arm is falling off, I have no problem giving Wagner three years. Not more than that, but three I'll give him. Or two for big bucks, then we politely ask Pedro to close in 2008.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

The Daily News reports this morning that the Mets are considering Octavio Dotel for a setup role.

[smg58]

Saw that one too. I'm not against keeping options open, but do we know if he's even healthy, and we need a closer more than we need set-up guys (although I might make an exception for Scott Eyre if he doesn't go above $3M a year).

Counting Dotel as a potential closer, the market now has Wagner, Ryan, Hoffmann, Guardado, Farnsworth, Looper, and Dotel. Plus I wouldn't be surprised if the CWS put Dustin Hermanson on the block. Am I missing anybody?

[Valadius]

Wagner "Definitely Intrigued" By Mets

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=rotowire-illyagneretsntereste&prov=rotowire&type=lgns

Wagner's agent, Bean Stringfellow, said the Mets already had been in touch with him twice since the free agent period opened last Thursday, the NY Post reports. Stringfellow said on Tuesday that Wagner is "definitely intrigued by the Mets."

The Phillies, with whom Wagner played for the last two seasons, have exclusive negotiating rights with Wagner through Nov. 10, so the Mets cannot offer him a contract now. Approximately eight clubs have contacted Stringfellow and the starting point for negotiations has been set by the Phillies with their three-year, $27 million proposal to Wagner. The Mets have also expressed interest in free-agent relievers Tom Gordon and Trevor Hoffman, and indications are that they have done the same for B.J. Ryan.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Bean was a Met minor leaguer.

I would have called him up in September just because.

[Valadius]

Upon looking at my previous post... WAIT A MINUTE!

THERE'S A GUY NAMED BEAN STRINGFELLOW???

Why the hell would a parent name their kid in a way that would get him called "Stringbean" the rest of his life?

[seawolf17]

Isn't Dotel supposed to miss most, if not all, of this upcoming season?

[Guest Rotblatt]

]Isn't Dotel supposed to miss most, if not all, of this upcoming season?

He's apparently making a very fast recovery from surgery in June and is expected to be ready for Spring Training.

People are speculating that he'll get a very incentive-laden, short-term deal.

Sounds like a good idea to me.

[smg58]

So scratch Guardado from my previous list, and add Bob Wickman, Tom Gordon, Tim Worrell, Todd Jones, and Ugueth Urbina. Damn, that's a lot of relievers.

The Mets could probably land Scott Eyre and any one of Farnsworth/Dotel/Wickman/Gordon/Jones/Urbina for significantly less combined than Wagner will cost. That would still give Heilman a fair chance of winning the closer role either in March or at some point during the season, or allow a year or two to give Soler or perhaps Heath Bell time to grow into that role. There are a lot of ways you could go with this.