Shake Up the Mets

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

You've been denied the chance to fire the manager but you still need to shake up the Mets. What's your next move?

[metirish]

I would fire the rest of the coaching staff , not that I want to but my other option is to DFA Delgado which I might next week anyway.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Sign up O.K Ockatur.

[Gwreck]

Fire Sandy Alomar Jr., Tom Nieto and Jerry Manuel?

More realistic:
I'd like to get an outfielder on this team NOW. Find somebody, make a trade. Church should've been put on the DL 5 days ago instead of pinch hitting each night. If Pagan isn't available, let's get someone here who can hit (ie. not Chavez or Easley).

[batmagadanleadoff]

Barry! Barry! Barry!

[Willets Point]

Fire Omar.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I'd like to see Raul Casanova and Ramon Castro in a potato sack race.

[Benjamin Grimm]

That's a tough one.

Who are their players with the greatest trade value? Wright, for sure, but he's not going anywhere. Maine, too, but I'd keep him as well.

Santana has a no-trade, and I'm pretty sure Beltran does too.

Alou, during an interlude when he's healthy, might have some value to a contender who'd like a veteran PH/DH for the stretch run, but that's more of an August 31 thing, if ever.

The Mets are pretty well-fixed at catcher. They could possibly trade Schneider or Castro and promote Casanova. But you're not going to get a big-time player for either of those guys.

Reyes' trade value is probably down from where it was last fall, but it's probably still pretty high. I think Perez could bring a good return too.

Delgado: little or no value. Castillo: same. Vargas: Probably not much. Pelfrey: I bet somebody would take a shot at him.

For the short term, it's not really a shakeup but I'd let Evans keep playing so we can see what he can do. Let Pedro displace Pelfrey, and send Pelfrey to New Orleans. I won't put Ryan Church on an airplane any time soon. The next Mets road trip is to San Francisco: If Ryan's not on the DL, hire a Winnebago with a couple of changes of drivers and drive him non-stop cross country. And let him travel by ground to the next stop, San Diego. And continue that way as long as it's necessary, and a little longer than that. I once flew with a bad head cold, and it messed me up for about a day. Flying with a concussion is apparently a lot worse, and just plain has to be avoided.

[Guest AG/DC]

Um, toughie.

Fine 'em if they don't take the first pitch when they're behind and they're not at least the tying run.

Ban all sac bunting not done by pitchers.

I really don't have much of a clue.

[soupcan]

I identify the problems being first base, second base, left field and the bullpen.

I don't know what you can do in the middle of the season but I'd sit Castillo if I couldn't completely jettison him. Maybe try to swap out Heilman for somebody else's problem. See if there's some potential in packaging Aaron and Delgado (and his expiring contract) for a young first baseman or outfielder?

Could we throw F-Mart into the major league mix and have him and Evans coming off the bench while sharing playing time in left?

I like the starting pitching especially if we can get Pedro back in the next week or so and Pelfrey in the pen.

Catcher, shortstop, third base, center and right (assuming Church is playing everyday) are fine. Anderson and Easley should be better if not relied on as much. Schoenweiss, Wise, Smith and Wagner seem fine. Duaner needs to throw more so I'm keeping him in the mix.

I'm not a GM nor do I play one on TV so my ideas are probably not at all realistic, but I think that's what I'd try to do.


All this being said - I think Omar knows all this already.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I'd trade Delgado to Toronto before tonight's game and install Nick Evans + Mike Carp as the everyday 1B platoon.

This prolly won't help the Mets win many more games but would be satisfying as a statement.

I'd leave Heilman where he is and whack Matt Wise instead.

I'd tell Pelfrey he is being replaced by Bobby Parnell unless he shapes up soon.

[Guest AG/DC]

Parnell has been bringing it in an on-again/off-again positively Pelfreyan manner for Bingo this season:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Robert%20Parnell&pos=P&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=458730

[batmagadanleadoff]

I'd hire Gary Carter as bench coach. I'd put Gary in the same potato sack together with Willie and have them race Castro and Casanova before the game. Then I'd make Willie and Gary stay in the sack throughout the game also.

[DocTee]

I'd trade for Brian Giles. SD ain't going anywhere and a change of scenery might help him. Oliver Perez and his expiring contract might do it.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Who's the threadstretcher?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

AG/DC wrote: Parnell has been bringing it in an on-again/off-again positively Pelfreyan manner for Bingo this season:

Yeah, that way Pelfrey feels even worse. I mean, you could also go with Tony Armas Junior, but how is that fun.

[metirish]

I would call Julio Franco and see if he would like to come abroad as bench coach or whatever , but come as a coach.

[seawolf17]

I'd cut Delgado and Vargas and see if Mex and Ronnie have anything left.

[Guest AG/DC]

metirish wrote: I would call Julio Franco and see if he would like to come abroad as bench coach or whatever , but come as a coach.

Hard to bring him on board as a firestarter when his tenure ended here last year due to his flame diminishing enough for him to end a game by dogging it to first.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I would make Gary Carter the manager and then when everybody got to the game, I'd say "Just Kidding".

[HahnSolo]

DFA Delgado and call up Carp.
Bring Valentin back as a player or coach if you think he's finished as a player.
Trade Heilman to Tampa Bay, bringing Cliff Floyd back for a half a season (at least D-Wright liked his leadership).

[metirish]

Peter Gammons in his insider column .

] Maybe Minaya needs to blow something up, to do something such as trading Beltran, cash and pieces to a smaller media market and bringing back a package with Alex Rios and A.J. Burnett. Maybe Martinez will revitalize them. Minaya tried to sign David Eckstein last winter. Maybe a Scott Hatteberg, Kevin Millar or Ryan Freel would change the mix.

[Gwreck]

Millar would be a good addition. Additionally, unlike Mike Carp, he can actually hit at the major league level.

No offense to Carp, but I don't think he's shown that he could be more effective than Delgado has been.

[duan]

ok first off, I'm not totally freaked yet. The team has had some bad luck with injuries and has thrown away some games that it should have won.

However, if I'm the manager, I'm telling the players that from FIRST PITCH tonight I want to see thoughtful, purposeful at bats, I want to see plate discipline and if we get a starter out early, I want the bullpen worn to bits too.

I don't want any playing for one run, unless it's past the 7th inning and I don't want any sacrifices. I also want Castillo out of the 2 hole while he's hitting into double plays at a fantastic rate (9 so far this season - go Luis!)

If Carlos Delgado isn't hitting, bench him, no point in DFA'ing him. his long ball capacity makes him a (crazily expensive) bench threat.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Isn't it disgusting? The marlin pen pitched 10 innings in a DH Sunday, they traavel to NYC on Monday and the Mets let them get away with 8-pitch innings.

Integrating Evans as a full-time RH platoony of Delgado isn;t a bad idea either.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I'd stuff as many baseballs as I can into the mouth of Luis Castillo and then take a picture of him like the one that's on the cover of Exile on Main Street.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Batmag should be banned from this thread.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Batmag should be banned from this thread.

Which of my suggestions do you have a problem with?

[Benjamin Grimm]

Ignoring you from this point forward.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Ignoring you from this point forward.

I wish you wouldn't.