smg58

If David Wright ever got hurt trying to pitch in an All-Star game, I would be just a little bit annoyed.

Tatis has an OPS of .756 and Chavez an OPS of .633. Let's not get too excited about having that from left field, especially if we can't take Church for granted. If their hitting has been helping the Mets win lately, their lack of hitting was helping the Mets lose before that. I don't see the need for Fuentes, certainly not at the price that teams ask for their closers this time of year. I'm still worried about guys like Feliciano, Wagner, and Smith wearing down like they did last year, but the pen hasn't been so overtaxed lately (thanks largely to Pelfrey and Perez turning things around). If I can get a bargain price on an innings eater then I'm interested, but I don't see Fuentes as enough of an upgrade over Feliciano and Schoeneweis (both of whom currently have lower ERAs) to justify outbidding other teams for his services. I think Muniz can give a few years like Matt Lindstrom's 2007 for the Marlins. I don't see him being a Heath Bell or Dan Wheeler, but after the 2006 offseason hopefully Minaya has learned that dumping pitchers who have nothing left to prove in AAA, without giving them a fair chance to prove they can stick around in the majors, is not a good recipe for winning. Do you see Martinez starting in the Mets outfield in 2010? If yes (and I think so), then I think your best bet for an outfielder is somebody like Randy Winn, who's signed through 2009. He'd take a need off the shopping list for this offseason, without blocking Martinez or forcing the Mets to commit to more years than he's worth.

I'm really not sure why the Reds didn't offer Dunn (a Texan) to the Rangers instead of Hamilton in the offseason. Assuming they won't bring Dunn back, they'd have been in way better shape going in to next year. I don't think Dunn is an elite player, but he's better than the other LF options available by a wide margin. I can't imagine the market for him is as bad as Sherman is suggesting, but you kind of have to be curious.

I'd consider Randy Winn as well. Bowker is a natural right fielder playing out of position at first, so the Giants would probably move Winn for a young first baseman. We could afford to part with either Evans or Carp, and Winn would still be under contract next year for a little more than what we're currently paying Alou. He's not great, but like Ibanez he's fairly consistent, and "serviceable" would be a significant upgrade for us.

With Benitez, I don't think it was the postseason miscues so much as the two big leads he blew on successive weekends to the Braves in September 2001. I couldn't really blame him for the first one; he had pitched more than an inning in each of the first two games of the series, saving both, and I thought they could trust Franco with a three-run lead. And Valentine pulled a Grady Little by leaving him in when he was obviously out of gas, until the game was tied. But those two losses were particularly painful, and fair or not, Benitez wasn't going to be forgiven. The one thing Wagner has over Benitez is that he's been a top closer for significantly longer. Otherwise, like most top closers, they'll mostly do their job and cause agita the rest of the time. My problem with Wagner is that he's a little too quick to publicly point the finger elsewhere when he hasn't exactly been perfect.

Ibanez would help some, but he'd have to come fairly cheap for me to bite. I don't think two months of him would be worth a top 10 prospect.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I'm less gung-ho about trading Oliver Perez than I was a week ago, but I'm also thinking this his trade value may not be as high as it is now by this time next week. Before the last two starts, you might not have gotten anything for Perez. A couple more good starts, and you might get plenty for him but not want to give him up. It's a Catch-22. I'd still consider dealing him for somebody who could help us next year, though.

We're closer to Philadelphia than to Milwaukee, so at this point I see no reason to worry about the wildcard. Sabathia has very clearly righted his ship after a horrible start to the season, so he looks to be a huge asset for Milwaukee. The Cubs and the Cardinals are now in a position where they're almost forced to counter if they wish to keep up.

AG/DC wrote: I think I'm reading about BABiP way too much. The notion that it's a factor beyond a pitcher's control is still one I don't buy. I don't think it's entirely beyond a pitcher's control, but there is an element of randomness involved in getting hits (particularly singles), plus the defense behind you plays a role. One factor I'd like to see get more attention in this regard is the isolated power (slugging-BA) that batters have against a pitcher. As a measure of extra-base hits, that should tell you how hard he's being hit, and that's a factor of BABIP that a pitcher generally does control.

The Braves are only a game and half behind the Mets, so if they're willing to start selling, we should put some distance between us and them before we even consider buying anybody. (And maybe get over .500 while we're at it.) I also agree with Gwreck that the Mets don't have the prospects to make another big deal, and with Fman that the Braves most likely wouldn't trade with the Mets. I like Teixeira and hope to see a lot of him next year, but he's not going to play any home games at Shea.

Marlon is not as good as he looked for us at the end of last year, but he's also probably not as bad as he looks right now. If you look at his career, he's been streaky at times, but he generally settles around numbers that make him useful for a lefty reserve middle infielder who pinch hits well. The big problem for me is that the Mets see him as a corner outfielder and first baseman, and he's never been a good enough hitter to cut it over the long haul even as a backup at those positions. I think he's more capable of improving his numbers than Nixon or Tatis is, so while he's currently not hitting as well as either he wouldn't be the first guy I'd cut. But the only place I'd consider sticking him in the field is second base, and if he's not needed there, he pinch hits.

If it involved Fleetwood Mac, a great album would come out of it.

Reyes and Wright are surprising, as they've been better than average fielders up to this point in their careers. You have to assume (and hope) that will turn around. Castillo is getting older and has bad knees. He should never have been offered two years, much less four. Delgado I think is being scapegoated for the problems the rest of the infield have been having as well. I'd prefer my defensive replacements at first base to be able to make accurate throws to the pitcher when needed.

Pascucci should have been up before now. How well does he have to hit, and how poorly do the alternatives? Once the Mets don't need 13 pitchers, I'd bring Pascucci up and promote Carp to take his place in New Orleans. I see no benefit to rushing Martinez. I'm glad he's swinging the bat well, but he's not going to help the 2008 team.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Right now Pedro and Perez are the weak links in the Mets starting pitching. Vargas was okay; I don't know why they did the DFA thing to him. I'm really not sure what the other options might be. Tony Armas, I guess. I doubt that Niese is ready to step in. The fact that they knew they'd need a sixth starter this coming week makes the timing of Vargas' removal that much more puzzling. I think I'd move Ollie to the pen before I moved Pedro. But you'd still need a replacement.

I hope he gets cheered at Shea tonight.

Where the hell has this been the past two years?

Nymr83 wrote: there are no such prospects in the mets system. There aren't, but he could still deal Martinez or Niese for a two-month rental, or for somebody we'll wish we didn't have next April.

Centerfield wrote: So, considering no one is really underperforming when gauged against reasonable expectations, who is to blame? The person whose unreasonable expectations got Luis Castillo a four-year contract. And who let the need for another OF/1B who belongs in the major leagues, can actually hit, and is not a converted infielder go completely unfilled.

It's a tough call. I do think that Minaya is more to blame for the Mets current predicament than Randolph was. And I think last night's game proved that the team needs a lot more than a new manager. If you're concerned about the deadline, you need to act quickly. It's possible that either a) the Mets would be better off selling rather than buying, or Minaya would be so desperate to do anything to win now that he's willing to do a Kazmir/Zambrano equivalent deal. If either is true, or at least likely, the Mets should have a new GM in place by the end of the All-Star break.

I don't think we have enough good prospects to deal for Bedard. Since he's still got another year, I have to think the M's won't sell low right now (unless the new GM is even dumber than the old one). It would make far more sense for them to wait until he's had a run of ace-caliber starts, because then they might actually get back most of what they paid. I love Sheets when he's healthy, but I've had enough of dealing with known injury risks. The Mets would need far better contingency plans than they've had in place the past two seasons before I'd pursue Sheets. C. C. has definitely gotten over whatever was bothering him at the beginning of the season. He can't (or at least shouldn't) command Santana money, though. I'd go 5 years and $90M with him, but somebody could outbid that.

Reyes. Defense matters too much at shortstop for me to give this to Hanley.

The Flores situation is kind of strange. They signed him at 17, but he didn't play any professional ball here for two years after that. So five years after he was signed (and thus became Rule 5 eligible), he had three years experience in the system and had done very nicely in high A at age 21. Did Minaya not realize that he was Rule 5 eligible? Or did he simply think that, despite the early investment that had been made on him, his promise with the bat, and the entire system's complete lack of depth at his position, Flores wasn't worth protecting? Either way, I'm beginning to get the feeling that this will turn out to be Minaya's biggest blunder.

Sexson just hasn't been any good for a while. If I had a reason to think the last year and a half wouldn't be indicative of how he'd hit if he came here, then maybe, but right now he looks completely finished.

And they had a similarly nice payoff at the end of last season (not leaving the Eastern Time Zone the last six weeks IIRC).