smg58

He seemed to have a lot of games where he got through five innings OK, then caved his third time through the lineup. Scary stats from his situational splits: 10 home runs against him in 119 at-bats from pitches 76-90, followed by a .412 BAA from pitches 91-105. CitiField helped him, for sure; at home he gave up 10 HRs in 101 IP, with a respectable 3.81 ERA. On the road: 17 HR in 84 IP and a 5.42 ERA. That should have scared off everybody except maybe the Padres, and yet he got a rather nice deal.

I would assume that the Mets would go in on another free agent if they don't land Reyes, and Beltran would actually be a good plan B if they don't have to guarantee more than two years. Whether Collins and Alderson have actually discussed that is anybody's guess.

Chris Capuano to the Dodgers for 2 years and $10M. Better them than us.

metirish wrote: I'm guessing he won't be opting out. He didn't. metirish wrote: Vernon Wells , he should kiss his agent nightly. As for what kind of relationship he has with his agent, one can only speculate.

I can't help wondering if the Angels would have taken Bay over Wells for Rivera and Napoli. Wells had the better 2010, but his contract makes Bay look like a bargain. On a somewhat related note, I'm hoping that the Mets apparent interest in a defensive-minded catcher will not lead to 80 games of Jeff Mathis behind the plate.

Part of me thinks he didn't get enough of a shot here, part of me thinks that reserve righthanded OF/1B types are easy enough to replace.

It was Capuano's first full season back from TJS. I see him as sort of the low bar for what to expect from Johan (27 homers in 180 IP while pitching half your games in Citi? There's no positive spin to that), with the naively optimistic high end being Chris Carpenter's full return. I'll happily take something in the middle. The rotation definitely leaves room for improvement, but at least we have five guys who belong on a major league roster (yes, I think Gee pitched well enough to warrant that distinction). Right now I count four major league relievers (Parnell, Acosta, Beato, Byrdak), and the Mets could use three guys who are better than any of them.

bmfc1 wrote: Thole may be the nicest guy around but he doesn't do anything well. He is weak at catching a baseball which is an important part of being a catcher. His arm isn't great. He has little power. Maybe he "runs well for a catcher." If he could hit .300, then we could have the making of a Jason Kendall-like player but he hasn't shown that ability. In other words, I'm not a fan. As for next year, Sandy will say he's looking around and then decide to spend some of their limited resources elsewhere which means a Thole-Nickeas combination. I hope that they trade for a big-time catching prospect soon. Thole's defensive performance might be a bit skewed by his difficulties catching Dickey, and his OBP is very good for the position, but on the whole he just didn't look like a guy who could be starting catcher on a winning team. That being said, I'm not sure bumping him for a short-term veteran would be preferable to giving him the chance to prove me wrong. The Reds and Yankees have two catching prospects each. The Red Sox have Ryan Lavarnway, on whom opinion is much divided (30 HR power, but questionable with the glove). All those teams would be looking for major league help, though, which means we'd need to replace what we give up. As for Paulino's lost power, well, he did flunk a PED test.

The Broxton deal appears to to be $4M plus incentives, and he looks to be taking on a setup role. I guess his injury scared off everybody (evidently the Mets included) in the market for closers.

Former Met (I think Gil Hodges managed him) Bruce Chen gets two years and $9M to stay with the Royals. You really have to applaud the guy's resilience.

The Marlins trade John Baker (backup catcher) to the Padres for pitcher Wade LeBlanc.

Not sure the Rangers are necessarily out on Wilson, but they've put themselves in a position where they can easily move on. A lot of middle infielders have gotten more money than I would have expected. Personally, I'd look at Jose Lopez before I'd have given a second thought to Barmes or Ellis or Carroll. He's the youngest FA, is two years removed from a season the other FA second basemen can't match, fell off a cliff for a while like a lot of Mariners, but seemed to be getting back on track with the Marlins late last year (the average wasn't there, but 8 doubles and 6 homers with only 13 Ks in 106 ABs is a good step in the right direction). Young, cheap upside trumps expensive, safe mediocrity any day.

I thought Nathan might be a nice fit, but $15M over two years is more than I'd have gone.

The Phillies get Ty Wigginton from the Rockies for a six-pack of Coors Light and a bag of pretzels to be named later. It's bad enough to be sent off along with half your salary and not knowing who, if even anybody, is going the other way, but to the Phillies? Poor Ty.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I suspect, though, that if teams are wary of Jose it's more because of his legs than his head. I would hope so, at any rate. But I'll see what he winds up getting before drawing any conclusions.

Reyes or not, I'd trade Wright before I'd trade Murphy. He's much cheaper, under control for longer, probably a better defensive third baseman at this point, no slouch at the plate while Wright is no guarantee to return to his All-Star numbers, and in spite of all that, he'd most likely get us less in a deal.

Of that group, only the Brewers were considered serious suitors for Reyes, and Melvin's quote in no way suggests they're out of it. They and the Cardinals have their own star players to worry about first, though, so Reyes is not their top priority. The other NL team I could see getting into this is Atlanta, although they're looking to free up some money first. In the AL, the Tigers have the money and Peralta could move to third base. The Yankees and Red Sox are, happily, not shopping for shortstops, and the Rangers won't be either. So I don't see more than a handful of teams getting involved, but that doesn't mean a bidding war won't happen.

I'd go as high as 6 and $96. I could live with that not getting it done, but I wouldn't allow Florida to sign him for less than that.

metirish wrote: The Kemp contract is the biggest in NL history Twitter tells me, seventh biggest overall. Until Albert signs, most likely.

Not sure what to make of him. He's sort of Ichiro lite, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. His K/BB is close to one, light years better than that of a certain Japanese infielder who came this way a few years back. His numbers plummeted when they switched to a new ball last year, though. If he has difficulty making adjustments, that would be a red flag. I might give him a year at $3.5M, but I don't trust him enough to guarantee multiple years or pay him more than we'd have to pay Pagan.

I'm curious to know whether the Madson deal was as close as it was reported to be a couple of days ago. I can't imagine Madson's agent would have paused if 4 and 44 were on the table. When the Phillies fall, they will fall hard. And it won't happen later than 2013. Not sure if it's been reported elsewhere, but Pridie and Evans have been taken off the 40 and both are minor-league free agents.

Prince Fielder Yankees Albert Pujols Cardinals Jose Reyes Brewers Yu Darvish stays in Japan Jimmy Rollins Phillies C.J. Wilson Red Sox Aramis Ramirez Marlins Carlos Beltran Tigers Edwin Jackson Angels Mark Buehrle Mets Ryan Madson Phillies Jonathan Papelbon Marlins David Ortiz Red Sox Kelly Johnson Rockies Roy Oswalt Yankees Heath Bell Padres Francisco Rodriguez Rangers Josh Willingham Braves Michael Cuddyer Rockies Javier Vazquez Marlins

Bizarre, horrible, upsetting. My prayers are with him and his family.

Ceetar wrote: intriguing, but given the interest by others I'm not sure the Mets are in a position to buy on hype. Given that Aroldis Chapman is still more hype than results, and the Blue Jays invested substantially in a Cuban shortstop who may or may not make the majors at all, I'd let somebody else do the buying.

In other news, the Phillies just signed Bono.