Mets Deal Cameron to San Diego

[Elster88]

If we turn around and use Nady to get Delgado, suddenly I like the Cameron for Nady trade a lot more.

[Valadius]

The trade has been completed...

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AjxcjueG98DsOXTUInBwl.c5nYcB?slug=ap-mets-padrestrade&prov=ap&type=lgns

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

"Xavier has the versatility to play first base, third base or the outfield," said Mets General Manager Omar Minaya. "He's a young guy who we feel will get better and better with more playing time."

now maybe he can return buster olney's phone calls.

[Valadius]

Quote from Omar:

"Nady gives us a lot of flexibility as we put our team together for 2006," Minaya said. "He has not been given the opportunity to play every day. We feel he is capable of being an everyday player."

The first part sounds like they're flipping him somewhere else. The second part is ambiguous.

[Guest mlbaseballtalk]

="Valadius"]Quote from Omar: "Nady gives us a lot of flexibility as we put our team together for 2006," Minaya said. "He has not been given the opportunity to play every day. We feel he is capable of being an everyday player." The first part sounds like they're flipping him somewhere else. The second part is ambiguous.

Ah the "covering all bases" quote"

Steve

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Minaya justifies Cameron trade

BY ADAM RUBIN
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Omar Minaya rejected the suggestion that the Mets could have gotten more for Mike Cameron, saying injuries to the displaced center fielder and a 10-team no-trade clause had severely diminished the market for him.

"You're dealing from a position of weakness because of the injury. There's no doubt about that," the GM said last night, after Cameron passed a physical and the Mets completed their acquisition of first baseman/outfielder Xavier Nady from the Padres. "The truth of the matter is there are a lot of people looking for center fielders. But let me tell you, we shopped around."

Minaya acknowledged that during a meeting at the end of the season, Cameron had expressed a strong desire to play center field elsewhere because he was uncomfortable in right field, particularly in light of his horrific Aug. 11 collision in San Diego with Carlos Beltran. Cameron, however, said it would be a "farce" to go so far as to suggest he demanded a trade.

"I don't do stuff like that," he said.

Minaya said he chose to move quickly in trading Cameron to San Diego because other teams wanted to take a wait-and-see approach to ensure he was healthy. By the time those clubs were convinced of Cameron's health, perhaps during spring training, they would not have the financial flexibility to take on the contract without the Mets absorbing some of the $6.5 million guaranteed to Cameron.

Cameron was limited to 308 at-bats last season because of wrist tendinitis that sidelined him into May, then the season-ending collision.

Padres GM Kevin Towers suggested it was important for him to move aggressively in obtaining Cameron. Towers said other teams, after discovering the exorbitant salary demands of the few center fielders on the free agent market, eventually would have come to the Mets, creating fiercer competition for Cameron.

"We felt it would be wise on our behalf to move swiftly and quickly before more clubs came into the fold and started pounding on Omar's door," Towers said.

Minaya said the savings - more than $5 million - in a deal in which no money changed hands was a secondary factor. The GM intimated the Mets would hold onto Nady rather than spin him off in another trade, though whether Nady mostly played first base or right field would be answered later depending on other moves and the performances of Mike Jacobs and Victor Diaz. Minaya indicated the 27-year-old Nady would be part of the Mets' core with David Wright, Jose Reyes and Beltran for years to come and should be a power threat with a full season of at-bats.

Nady was vacationing in Mexico and unavailable, Mets spokesman Jay Horwitz said.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I kind of hate when they feel they have to stoop to answer baseless criticism.

I'd like to read something like, "Confronted with suggestions that he failed to shop around outfielder Mike Cameron before dealing him to San Diego, Mets General Manager Omar Minaya responded by flinging dung and pounding his chest until the interview room was cleared."

[Guest Edgy DC]

Check out how the Canada Press is pitching the story.

[metirish]

They are correct in calling Nady a utility player, between Cameron's believe in the good Lord and Kevin Towers believe in fate this should be a great season for the Padres...

[Guest Edgy DC]

Everybody who plays more than one positon is a utility player. The spin is the implication that that is all he is and all he ever will be.

Devil Rays Flip Zambrano for Minor Leaguer is technically correct but doesn't really sum up the story.

[metirish]

Good point and very true, Nady figures to get a chance next season to be a regular ,where is the question.

[seawolf17]

]"He felt much more comfortable in centre field than in right field," Minaya said. "I had to take that into account."

It's funny to see Omar speaking Canadian.

[Vic Sage]

This deal blows monkey chunks.

Cameron -- an all-star CFer with 2 GGs in his trophy case, with career .880 OPS [340.ob + .440slg],and an OPS+ = 106, with an average line = .250/90r/80rbi/25hr/30sb...

... is traded straight up for...

Nady -- a part-time corner OFer/1bman, no speed, not a defensive whizz at a key position, with 50 points less of OPS (and an OPS+ of 98), who hasn't been able to establish himself on an offense-starved team. He's a AAAA-player on the wrong side of a big platoon differential.

Yes, Nady is 27. And next year, he has the potential to be 28. If Cameron's healthy, however, he's as likely to reproduce his career average numbers at age 33 as he was at age 31. 33 ain't old in outfielder years.

This deal only happens because Omar is under orders to dump salary. They wanted to move Cameron without having to eat any salary, so this was "the best they could do". I have no doubt that this was the best they could do, under the circumstances... but what was the rush?

With a number of teams desperate for a decent CFer, with nothing available on the FA market, Mets were in position to wait it out and sell him off to the highest bidder.

So what if they had to risk keeping his contract? This ain't Oakland. They've lopped of Piazza's deal and some others, and there is no reason on Earth that a NYC franchise couldn't afford a $6.5m RFer in ADDITION to a closer, a catcher and a backup 1bman.

I don'[t care WHAT else they do with the saved money. With their revenues, and a new sports network on the way, the Mets should be able to afford to keep him AND spend the money on other players, too.

If Nady was all they could get for Cameron at this point, because of Cameron's uncertain health status, then they should've waited until his health status was more certain, or until teams were more willing to bear the risk out of their own sense of urgency.

Monkey chunks, i tell ya... big, gooey, yellow-ish monkey chunks.

[Elster88]

]And next year, he has the potential to be 28.

Potential? I guess he might die and not realize that potential.

[Guest KC]

I'd say Vic's personal assistant has got his biting edge down pat already.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Norrin just stamped this thread for the prediction archives.

[Guest Edgy DC]

]Cameron -- an all-star CFer...

Let's be fair. He was an All-Star once, in 2001. Some of his All-Star teammates were Christian Guzman, Paul Quantrill, and Joe Mays.

]...with 2 GGs in his trophy case...

He was and probably is a wonderful centerfielder, but that, too, was two years ago and centefielders have an advantage in Gold Glove acquisition and he's since suffered a calamitous injury that has cast his defensive future under something aof a cloud. Gold Gloves are a mess.

]...with career .880 OPS [340.ob + .440slg],and an OPS+ = 106...

All true.

], with an average line = .250/90r/80rbi/25hr/30sb...

Well, 22 homers per 162 games anyhow. He's unlikely to play 162 games any time soon though.

]... is traded straight up for... Nady -- a part-time corner OFer/1bman...,

Well, he never really caught his manager's fancy, but he outperformed both Phil Nevin and Sean Burroughs last year. The world is full of Howard Johnsons just waiting for managers to give them jobs.

]no speed, not a defensive whizz at a key position

Excellent defense has rarely been such a concern of yours. But he's versatile, which can be just as good.

]...with 50 points less of OPS (and an OPS+ of 98)..,

Which is exactly what Cameron's was at his age.

]...who hasn't been able to establish himself on an offense-starved team.

That's just a restatement of the part-time label.

]He's a AAAA-player on the wrong side of a big platoon differential.

Nah. The platoon difference is a concern. But it can be an advantage too. But look what the Mets had among extra outfielders last year.

]Yes, Nady is 27. And next year, he has the potential to be 28.

Again.same productivity through 27 as Cameron.

]If Cameron's healthy, however, he's as likely to reproduce his career average numbers at age 33 as he was at age 31.

Big if. Tremendous. And that factored into the deal.

]33 ain't old in outfielder years.

Sometimes it is. And sometimes it's old in outfielder-with-a-reconstructed-head years.

]This deal only happens because Omar is under orders to dump salary. They wanted to move Cameron without having to eat any salary, so this was "the best they could do". I have no doubt that this was the best they could do, under the circumstances... but what was the rush?

That's pretty speculative, isn't it?

]With a number of teams desperate for a decent CFer, with nothing available on the FA market, Mets were in position to wait it out and sell him off to the highest bidder.

Minaya answered that one. Believe it or don't, I guess.

I don't like the deal either. I just wanted to keep Cammy. I like having a versatile player in return, though, and at an age when many hitters blossom.

[Elster88]

="Edgy DC"] ]...with 2 GGs in his trophy case... He was and probably is a wonderful centerfielder, but that, too, was two years ago and centefielders have an advantage in Gold Glove acquisition and he's since suffered a calamitous injury that has cast his defensive future under something aof a cloud. Gold Gloves are a mess.

Three calamitous injuries since August 2004, by my count.

That said, he played magnificently in right field up to breaking his face, so the first two at least didn't seem to impair his fielding.