Mets and Padres swap pitchers

[metirish]

BY KEN DAVIDOFF
Newsday Staff Writer

November 15, 2006, 11:54 AM EST


The Mets traded relievers Heath Bell and Royce Ring to the San Diego Padres for pitcher Jon Adkins and outfielder Ben Johnson, Newsday has learned.

The announcement is expected to be made later today.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Whoah.

[metirish]

Heath Bell will probably be very happy to get a new start.

Ben Johnson bio from Padres site....

] Benjamin Joseph Johnson (Ben)...enters the 2006 season as the Padres' No. 4 prospect according to Baseball America

[soupcan]

How come every Met my son gets an autograph from gets traded?

Royce Ring being the latest casualty.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Johnson's Nickname: The Alchemist.

This makes sense. We have depth in major-league ready relief pitching that we don't nearly have in the outfield. It showed.

[Frayed Knot]

Hmmmm, not too sure what to make of all that.
Ring seemed to be just getting to the point where they (Mets & the ChiSox before them) hoped he'd be when they traded/drafted him. He had a nice year last year but I guess the multitude of LHPs ahead of him was a problem. Bell seemed to be loved by the stat hounds but would alternate looking great & horrible.

Adkins will turn 30 next summer.

Johnson (25) seems to get a decent amount of XBHs to go w/a high number of Ks.
Hope he left his steroids at home.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Ben Johnson might be this year's Nady. Ex-Padre, cheap, talented, still not in his prime, but has frustrated SD enough that they're okay letting him go, and like he got with Nady, Omar gets an able-bodied, right-handed, power-hitting outfielder that adds depth to the OF situation.

That 2005 season for AAA Portland for Johnson looks like something nice to build off of.

Adkins looks like a warm, pile of doodie. No offense to Jon Adkins or warm doodie.

[Guest Rotblatt]

Benjamin Johnson, 25 YO, right-handed OF

2006 AAA
198 AB, .263 AVG / .344 OBP / .434 SLG / .778 OPS, 23 BB, 55 K

2006 MLB
120 AB, .250 AVG / .333 OBP / .425 SLG / .758 OPS, 14 BB, 36 K

2005 AAA
414 AB, .312 AVG / .394 OBP / .558 SLG / .952 OPS, 51 BB, 88 K

So what the hell happened last year? Dude lost all his power last year. Was he injured?

At any rate, he walks a decent amount but also strikes out a decent amount, which is only troubling because he didn't hit for any power last year.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

="soupcan"]How come every Met my son gets an autograph from gets traded? Royce Ring being the latest casualty.

We had a close encounter of the Royce Ring variety ourselves this season (photo courtesy of lubitul) -



Good luck to Royce and Thick Legged Heath Bell in SoCal!

[Guest patona314]

he is the next nady, cross your fingers on this one. johnson could be a steal.

[Guest OlerudOwned]

Freed Heath Bell

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

CF who hits cleanup and LHPs pretty hard. You might see him as a half a pplatoon at least.

[smg58]

Johnson covers Shawn Green and provides upside. Adkins looks primarily like insurance in case Bradford goes elsewhere.

Bell and Ring just weren't going to get a fair opportunity here. And Johnson didn't get much of one in SD. He didn't always get steady AB's and that ballpark kills most people's powers numbers. I wouldn't worry about last year.

[Guest iramets]

Edgy DC wrote: Johnson's Nickname: The Alchemist.

Huh?

[Guest Edgy DC]

[Guest cooby]

I thought of him

[metirish]

From the Mets blog on Newsday....

] The 6-1, 220-pounder constructed a .341 (15-44) batting average away from PETCO Park last season.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Constructed a batting average?

Wow! I've never heard of anyone who did that.

I wonder what materials he used.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Also, he constructed four strikeouts against the Mets on April 21.

[Willets Point]

I'm more concerned about his connections to Gadhafi.

[Guest OlerudOwned]

Edgy DC wrote: Johnson's Nickname: The Alchemist.

That works with the author connection and the roided up sprinted connection.

I likes.

[metirish]

] ''Bell is probably the one guy that we certainly feel that has tremendous upside,'' general manager Kevin Towers said. ''The guy has always had really good strikeout-to-walk ratios in the minor leagues.''

[DocTee]

Dear Edgy:

On behalf of my client, the self-proclaimed coiner of Met nicknames, I hereby request that you immediately cease and desist from bestowing cute and/or catchy sobriquets on all Metly personae. The individual you refer to as "The Alchemist" shall henceforth be referred to as "Sprint" or some other banal name as designated by Valadius. I trust you will comply.

As ever,

Lawyer Tee

[Guest Edgy DC]

Fuck. I get those sorts of letters all the time.

[metirish]

] Milledge on way out? Omar could be ready to deal the outfielder, but his stock is down BY KEN DAVIDOFF Newsday Staff Correspondent November 16, 2006 NAPLES, Fla. -- The Mets picked up another young outfielder yesterday, acquiring 25-year-old Ben Johnson, along with righthanded reliever Jon Adkins, from the Padres, in return for relievers Heath Bell and Royce Ring. Mets general manager Omar Minaya and his Padres counterpart Kevin Towers announced the deal together here at the GMs' meetings, discussing the trade as a potential win-win for both clubs. But as the Mets stockpile some options, this offseason increasingly looks like a potential loss for Lastings Milledge. The jewel of the Mets' farm system a year ago, Milledge now appears more like a present trade chip than a future Mets All-Star. "There's a lot of interest in some of my young guys," Minaya said yesterday at the Naples Grande. "My young starters, definitely some of my young outfielders. But it's one of those things where it's got to be the right names." If Milledge does return to the Mets in 2007, it might speak as much to other teams' lack of interest in him as it does to the Mets' desire to keep him. The Mets have spoken with the White Sox about their abundance of starting pitchers, but Chicago would want a pitcher - like Mike Pelfrey - and not Milledge, in return, a person familiar with the situation said. Mets officials internally discussed the idea of offering Milledge and reliever Aaron Heilman to the Blue Jays for Vernon Wells, with the idea of moving the centerfielder Wells to rightfield and shifting Shawn Green to left. But Toronto would need more than that package if it were to move the All-Star Wells, who is a year away from free agency. Milledge would be a natural piece of a package to land Florida's Dontrelle Willis, if the Marlins became amenable to such talks. Milledge, 21, hit .241 with four homers and 22 RBIs in 56 games for the Mets in 2006 as he shuttled between the Mets and Triple-A Norfolk. Far more troubling than his numbers, however, were behavioral issues like showboating and tardiness, and that seems to have put his future in question. Yesterday, Minaya spoke highly of Milledge, saying the outfielder's status was "fine. Perfect. He's solid. We could go with him as the every-day guy. If we don't do anything [to get a veteran leftfielder], I think he'll be ready to play." On other fronts, the Mets continue to wait on Tom Glavine, who is taking his time deciding whether to sign with the Mets for 2007 or return to Atlanta, where he lives year-round, and the Braves. The Mets are still confident that they will retain Glavine, and friends of Glavine believe that the lefthander will come back to Flushing. Compared to the Braves, the Mets have a seemingly better chance of winning next year's World Series, they have the ability to pay Glavine a higher salary for 2007 and they have the willingness to give Glavine a no-trade clause. The Mets also have been in touch with Glavine's agent Gregg Clifton about free-agent lefty Mark Mulder, who underwent shoulder surgery in September and is more of a long-term project. Clifton said that he would meet with Mulder today to go over all of the pitcher's options. Mulder had a shaky relationship with Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson when both were with Oakland, but Clifton said that Mulder respects Peterson and would be open to working with him again. Negotiations have begun with manager Willie Randolph for an extension, and SI.com reported that the talks are off to a slow start. The Mets have a two-year extension in mind for between $1 million and $1.25 million a year, the Web site reported, and Randolph wants a three-year deal for more money.