smg58

DeRosa's an interesting free agent, because basically everybody with an open position (or several) to fill has a reason to give him a look. He might not be so cheap as a result, though. I look at the Mets staff, and I see plenty of guys capable of league-average production if they're right. So given the choice of making a sizable commitment to pitchers like Piniero or Marquis who may not be much better than that, or an incentive-laden deal to somebody like Sheets or Wang who will be significantly better than that for as long/short a time as they're healthy, I'd aim for Sheets or Wang. Otherwise, I'd look for short-term commitments. Washburn might not be such a bad option if a year is all he wants. Harang intrigues me; the Reds might eat some of the contract and still not ask for anybody we'd miss. There may still be some upside there. As for leftfield, keep in mind that we have somebody coming of an .837 OPS season who is average defensively in center and comfortably above average in left. Sure Pagan could regress, but if I'm committing significant money I want to know I'm doing better than that. DeRosa could easily play some place else, which certainly helps his value, but I think the team that signs him will have to look on him as plan A. Nady could play first or left against lefties, and he may fall under the radar and be a nice bargain. I actually think that first base will be an easier position to fill if we miss out on Holliday and Bay. If Delgado would come back for a year and $4M or so, I don't think I'd say no.

Armando was much better than his reputation suggests, but those two games to the Braves in September 01 still linger in my mind more than anything Wagner ever did.

I had really high hopes for the 2006 team right up until the last pitch.

A very slight edge for Wright, on account of his being an elite player for more seasons this decade than Piazza.

Tough to be objective here, as 2009 is so fresh in my memory. Plus I had zero expectations going in to 03 and 04, and figured out quickly enough in 02 that the team wasn't as good as advertised.

If the 2006 team won one more game, this wouldn't even be close.

Phillips' best moments came in the 90's, so I had to go with Omar.

This is how it looks as of now. The Blue Jays get from the Phillies: Kyle Drabek -- bounced back nicely from injury-plagued 2008. Was decent but not spectacular after promotion to AA. Two years older than Mejia, but only slightly closer to the majors. Michael Taylor -- 24 in a couple of days, but has little left to prove in the minors. Looks solid. Travis D'Arnaud -- catcher is three years younger than Thole, and about where Thole was two years ago in development. The Phillies get: $6M from the Blue Jays -- it's outrageous that the Jays have to eat any portion of Halladay's $16M contract. The Mets could have paid for Halladay in full and also taken Overbay's $7M, and still be below last year's payroll. plus three prospects from the Mariners. Phillipe Aumont -- Quebec native throws strikes, but a 5.09 ERA out of the pen after promotion to AA makes him look very expendable. Tyson Gillies -- another Canadian. 44 steals and a .430 OBP in high A make you take notice. He may take some of the sting out of losing Taylor, but a lot can happen between A-ball and the majors. Juan Ramirez -- 23 and hasn't seen AA yet. Numbers don't impress, but he was pitching in an extreme hitters environment. The Mariners win this deal. The difference in the prospect packages is bigger than the difference between Halladay and Lee. As for the Mets, we couldn't match Taylor, but we have very comparable guys to the other two. We would have been more generous financially, and we could also have accommodated the Jays with a choice of two decent shortstop prospects (widely reported to be on their wish list). We can debate whether it would have been prudent to beat the Phillies' offer, but we could have beaten it if we wanted to.

Speculation is running wild right now. I'm sure I'll have plenty to say once I know who's going where and what Halladay is signing for.

Shouldn't Cameron be on this list?

Very thin selection here outside of Floyd; I have to go with Endy and "the catch" for my second vote.

Didn't have to think too hard on this one.

Gomes could be a good platoon option in left if the bigger names exceed our price range. Alfredo Amezaga was also non-tendered by the Marlins. Before the injury he was a plus fielder pretty much anywhere you could put him, and if he's healthy that would give him value.

I do my fair share of complaining about Minaya, but I look at what the Royals, Astros, and Diamondbacks have done so far this offseason and think, "there but for the grace of God..."

Holliday's OPS+ (ballpark independent) the last 4 seasons: 137, 151, 138, 139. He had a bit of a blip in 07, but has otherwise been consistent. The ballpark factors at Oakland and St. Louis (according to Baseball Reference) last year were 99 and 98, meaning both slightly favored pitchers. Citi had a 98, so Holliday's overall numbers from last year are more or less what you should expect if he came here. Bay's OPS+ the last 4 seasons: 138, 94, 134, 134. 2007 was a lost year, but you probably know what to expect from him, which is a bit less that what you should expect from Holliday. He will hit more home runs, perhaps 10 or so more, but Holliday will make up for it with more hits and a higher OBP. And if the cavernous gaps in left field are considered when evaluating offense, they certainly need to be considered when evaluating defense. Fangraphs has Holliday saving 23 runs relative to average over the past four seasons, while Bay cost his team 40 runs in that stretch. The Fielding Bible is more conservative, but it still has Holliday at +10 runs and Bay at -19 over that stretch. Both sites show 2006 as Bay's one positive year and Holliday's one negative year over the last four, so if if anything Holliday has gotten better while Bay has gotten worse. Honestly, I think it's obvious who the better player is, and would make my offers accordingly.

PS Elmer Dessens returns with a minor league deal.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Assuming this is so... Garko as a RH first base playmate for Murphy, anyone? Add Navarro to our catching Dim Sum platter instead of FatBengie? Or on the mound... do you roll the dice on Wang? Correia? I'd still like to see what Garko can do behind the plate. If it doesn't work out, he can always platoon at first, and we're not short of other options at catcher. I'd be willing to offer Wang the league minimum plus lots of incentives. I liked him when he was healthy, but his ETA is May at the earliest. If somebody wants to guarantee him over a million, they're welcome to him. If you work under the assumption that Marquis and Piniero will both regress to their means, Correia would offer comparable quality at a much cheaper price.

Is it me, or is the market for relievers this year hyper-inflated?

The Royals make a bunch of minor-league signings that include Bruce Chen, Vance Wilson, and Adam Bostick. Bostick bugs me, as it would have only cost a spot on the 40 to keep him.

I can see why Minaya would still have an interest in Everts. Zero-risk, so why not? Fernando Nieve was a similarly good prospect whose stock crashed after an injury, and the Mets have gotten (and may still get) some decent work out of him.

The thing that's always puzzled me about Jacobs is that he's been such a poor defensive first baseman, you have to wonder if he really would have been any worse behind the plate.

I'm surprised the Rangers couldn't do better than that for Millwood. I'd have committed to one year of him before three years of Wolf or Piniero. Harden, of course, can more than make up for it if he's healthy most of the year.