Non-Tender deadline Thurs - catchers available maybe ...

[Frayed Knot]

Thursday night is the deadline for teams to offer contracts to their arb-eligible/pre-FA players.
Several rumored players who may be cut loose are catchers, one or more of which might be the type we could hook up with Thole in Queens next season (as long as they don't hook up AS queens if you know what I mean).


- Russell Martin - LAD
Russell Nathan Coltrane Jeansone Martin is coming off two declining (and somewhat injured) years since his two consecutive AS seasons.
Hits R and not even 28 until spring training (good). Not known for defense plus the whole injured and declining thing (bad)
Of course if everything were good about him he wouldn't be on the list of possible non-tender candidates now would he?

- Jeff Mathis - LAA
The one-time hot prospect in the Angels system has never really hit (.199/.265/.311 in 1,000 ABs across parts of 5 seasons) and now has young'uns pushing him out.
Also hits RH and will be 28 in spring 2011 - rep on defense is good

- Dioneer Navarro - TBR
One time MFY farmhand seemed to break-out with an AS season in 2008 - but then regressed the next year and even more in 2010. Was left off the post-season roster this year and, instead of traveling with the team in case a catcher went down, he pouted and went home to Venezuela.
Switch-hitter who doesn't turn 27 until ST

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Assuming our favorites are looking for a backup, Mathis seems the best fit. Navarro pouted during the regular season, too, refusing to be sent down for the Bobby Jones treatment earlier in 2010; if he didn't take kindly to sitting behind Shoppach, he probably won't like sitting for someone younger who's still learning the position.

Martin's a little intriguing, though. I have ABSOLUTELY nothing empirical to back me up on this, but he has the feel of a needs-a-change-of-scenery guy, like he just needs a tweak and he'll be better? (Maybe it's the bad-relationship-seeking-17-year-old-girl inside me talking.) Ultimately, I'd like to see him resurrect his career... but I don't think it'll be here.

[Guest sharpie]

Carter
Hundley
Piazza
Phillips
Lo Duca


Mets and Dodgers seem to share starting catchers. Martin will be a Met one day. Thole will be a Dodger.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Backups too, with Trevi�o and Grote and such.

[Vic Sage]

Isn't Olivo available, too? I like him as a pairing with Thole. He hits LHPs with some power, and is a solid glove, i think. And he's neither old nor broken down.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Martin weirds me out. Sometimes he looks black, other times, very white. He wears his Mama's initial on his jersey. He's good, and he also sucks.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Oooh, I'm so scared. Russell's gonna get his crew and go all Ed Hardy on my ass.

[Lefty Specialist]

Martin's intriguing, but I don't think he wants to be Josh Thole's understudy at this point in his career.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Vic Sage wrote: Isn't Olivo available, too? I like him as a pairing with Thole. He hits LHPs with some power, and is a solid glove, i think. And he's neither old nor broken down.

Had a good year last year, though... with Buck off the piss-poor catcher's market, he's the next biggest catch. IOW... likely too rich for our blood/the role.

[Guest attgig]

I'm not sure if mathis gets non-tendered. Soscia loves him, and plays him regularly over the great hitting napoli. I don't think soscia would be willing to let mathis go because of his defense. People were saying that it's more likely that napoli would get traded because they also have hank conger coming up and could platoon with mathis, and from scouts talking, he can be a great hitting catcher with defense superior to that of napoli.

[Frayed Knot]

Vic Sage wrote: Isn't Olivo available, too? I like him as a pairing with Thole. He hits LHPs with some power, and is a solid glove, i think. And he's neither old nor broken down.

Yes. Colorado traded him after the season was over to Toronto with an option year still on his contract.
The Jays declined the option and offered him arbitration instead. Oliva then declined arbitration making himself a FA (Type

I didn't mean to imply that those listed above were the only FA catchers around - only that, via the non-tender process, they could be joining the list of backstops on the open market.

[Guest Edgy DC]

With only a fistful of dollars availabe; even fewer after Pelfrey, Dickey and Pagan get their raises; a GM whose main purpose so far has been to temper expectations; and only three-fifths of the rotation in place, I thik whatever resources of any substance the team has left are going to be/have to be focused on staring pitching.

The best replacement for Blanco may be Blanco. Behind that you have Nickeas, one or two AAAA journeymen, a few prayers, and that may be the best we can do. And we could do worse, believe me.

[MFS62]

Isn't Barajas a free agent too?
If so, Barajas and Blanco could have a footrace, the Mets signing the winner (loser?).
They could time it with a sun dial.
Actually, forget that. I shudder at the thought of that that Kodak moment.

Later

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Angels apparently did offer Mathis a contract.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Mets to Maine, Green and Carter: Drop Dead

[Guest Edgy DC]

Oh, booo on Carter. Crap, that guy is gonna hit.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Now Chris Carter will surely never appear on a baseball card as a Met.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

You'd think Carter is one of the guys with the work ethic and intensity the new guy would want to have around.

Edited December 3, 2010 by Guest

[seawolf17]

I'm really surprised at Carter; thought he was a no-brainer. In a worst case, he might have had some value as a trading chip.

[bmfc1]

So what did the Mets end up getting for Billy Wagner? The Red Sox got two draft picks, the Braves got an effective Wagner who helped them make the playoffs, while the Mets got one season of Chris Carter, another minor leaguer, and saved some money. They should have eaten the money and kept the draft picks. I'd like to think that Sandy won't do the same thing.

[Guest attgig]

martin was not tendered a contract, so still on the radar. I think some of depodesta's opinion of martin (though i think he was sitll in the minors when he was gm) would weigh heavily on if we pursue him.

[Frayed Knot]

Don't quite understand the reasoning behind non-tendering Carter as he was essentially making the ML minimum and was still two years away from being arb-eligible - but it's a pretty strong indication that they don't want him at any price.

All non-tenders



Trivia note: Neither of the two active Chris Carters are actually named Chris.
Our (now departed) guy is William Christopher Carter whereas the Oakland guy is Vernon Christopher Carter.
Neither should be confused with former Toronto All-Star Joseph Christopher Carter who shouldn't be mixed up with Virgin Island Met Joseph Christopher.

[seawolf17]

Frayed Knot wrote: Trivia note: Neither of the two active Chris Carters are actually named Chris. Our (now departed) guy is William Christopher Carter whereas the Oakland guy is Vernon Christopher Carter. Neither should be confused with former Toronto All-Star Joseph Christopher Carter who shouldn't be mixed up with Virgin Island Met Joseph Christopher.

/head explodes

[MFS62]

Carter became a very reliable pinch hitter by the end of last half of the season. I'm surprised they let him walk. Who is there to replace him? I hope they're not thinking Duda, who needs his AAA at bats this year. Some team will pick him up and he'll come back to bite the Mets in the butt - you just know it.

Later

[batmagadanleadoff]

He'll probably end up in the AL 'cause he throws like a girl which is OK if you're a girl but problematic if you're a national leaguer.

Pinch hitters who can't field are on the way to extinction (and if they're not, they should be unless they can hit like Ted Williams) in the NL what with the pitch counts and having to use three or four pitchers even in a winning effort. These guys'll hurt a NL team in ways that can't be measured by simply looking at their individual stat-lines.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

So... Duda's sticking around on the bench this spring, huh?

I will remember 2010 as the Year of Dickey and the Animal. (I'm still hoping against hope that Hank White and his musk stick around.)

[metirish]

I'm surprised on both Green and Carter I suppose....

[Guest Edgy DC]

The corners of the diamond for Oakland were always full of good batsmen who had little to offer defensively.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Chris Carter was last year's other great Mets feel-good story. But what are we missing, between the lines? He wasn't all that. Or even some of that. I like this non tender because it shows me that the Mets mean business and aren't about to squander things anymore. Hopefully, the days of Miguel Cairo batting second in the midst of a pennant race are over. I'm not talking about Oakland A's who play most of the season.

Edited December 3, 2010 by Guest

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Well, that makes sense.

Tweetin' Adam Rubin wrote: I'm told there's a rational explanation for Carter. You have to make 60% of last year's salary, even in AAA. That's expensive if demoted. about 12 hours ago via web