smg58

They wouldn't take Milledge for Lincecum. If they're that desperate to dump Zito's contract, I wouldn't be very eager to take it. I'm not sure what "quality bat" we could afford to part with. Delgado perhaps, but that deal would make no sense at all for them.

I'm amazed by Alston and LaSorda. Two managers in 42 years? Wow.

There's a whole lot of speculation in that article. Which, among other things, means we've already reached the point where commenting on every rumor would take hours out of the day.

Please refer to my comments in the A-Rod thread regarding sticking it to the Yankees. I'm inclined to give more concern to whether a move would put us back on top in the division and advance us in the playoffs than how the Yankees or their fans would feel about it. Perhaps my priorities are misplaced. That being said, I'm not against taking a look at Schilling. My concern is certainly not with his ability, but with whether the Mets can afford a third aging injury risk in their rotation.

The Mets may opt for a lefty bat in that slot too (i.e., re-signing Anderson or Green.) And what about Chip Ambres? Do the Mets still have him? I'd probably call him up for a bench spot ahead of either Gomez or Johnson.

Guys like Barfield or Chris Burke would be worth a low-risk look, but their present value is such that I couldn't at this point justify dealing more than a marginal prospect for either.

But the Dodgers and Boras aren't on speaking terms because of J. D. Drew opting out. It would be kind of ironic if, after all their whining last year, they grab A-Rod.

Hard to argue with either.

Valadius wrote: Jeff Passan at Yahoo Sports listed his top 10 destinations for A-Rod. The Mets come in at #6. ]6. New York Mets Why? To stick it to the Yankees. I'm already really, really sick of seeing this reason thrown about. When the Yankees traded for A-Rod after the Red Sox balked, they were supposedly "sticking it" to the Sox. And we can all see how that worked out. You can justify an interest in A-Rod for other reasons, but please, stop with this one.

My one hang-up with Schilling is that he would be the third pitcher in the rotation who is likely to miss several starts during the season. However, only he and Andy Pettite among this free-agent group would constitute a clear upgrade over what we've got.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3088062 This story upset me, as I've always considered Cameron to be a stand-up guy. The "bad supplement" excuse is wearing really thin, though. And with all the other CF's on the market, what does this do to his value?

I'll bet on Castro, Castillo, and Anderson returning.

Frayed Knot wrote: Actually I was thinking about Elvis Andrus (they're cornering the market on best first names) but he's probably not ready yet and Escobar was impressive last season while Renteria was shelved. Elvis Andrus is in the Rangers organization now, thanks to the Teixeira deal. Brent Lillibridge might get a chance to make the roster out of Spring Training, though.

Wow. So Jose's back to being the third best shortstop in the division. Progress!

I don't see how the Mets would have gotten past the Rockies even if they did win the division, honestly.

Rey Ordonez was on that list too. I never knew that. So I guess we set Alen up in Binghamton and see how he does. If nothing else, we now have one catcher with some upside in the system.

I'm encouraged by the lack of strikeouts, but I have no idea what level the Northern League would even correspond to.

I get the easy one. Steve Trachsel age: 37 (on edit: he will turn 37 on Halloween.) 2007 stats for Baltimore: 25 starts, 140.2 IP, 6-8, 4.48 ERA for the Cubs: 4 starts, 17.1 IP, 1-3, 8.31 ERA health: No injuries reported, but those 4 games with the Cubs in September were clearly not good. pros: Has had some good years, including for us, and was serviceable for most of 2007. cons: His peak was a while ago already. Everybody's last memory of him is the miserable NLCS outing against St. Louis -- but to be fair, he may have been pitching hurt, and compared to Tom's Glavine's last game his effort looks heroic. what he's worth: A minor-league deal. I wouldn't guarantee him anything, but if he's willing to serve as long relief and a (hopefully) occasional starter, he might have 100 decent innings in him.

It's tough to get a read on Tad. His best was only pretty good, and he appears to be on the decline. He's not somebody I'd commit to starting ahead of Gotay against right-handed pitching. If he's willing to come and platoon and try to work his way into more playing time (and be paid as somebody not guaranteed a full-time spot), I'd take a look.

1) What do you give up for him with an extension available? Pelfrey or Humber + Mulvey or Guerra + Martinez 2) What do you give up for him with no extension available? The same. We have a year to negotiate and the resources to get it done. Signing should not be an issue. 3) How important is it that the Mets "do what it takes" blah blah? Depends on what "what it takes" really means. The way I see it, our bullpen is a more urgent need; I'd like another qualified starting pitcher for security purposes, but Santana is a rather big luxury in that regard. I'd go as far as what I listed above or some equivalent involving a major leaguer, but a bidding war could shoot the price over the roof, and at some point you have to know when to say no. 4) Will being around Pedro make him adjust similarly well as he becomes a middle-aged pitcher? Not sure why that would make a difference either way. 5) Who's your next favorite presumably available pitching guy? Can he throw a gyroball? Not sure who's available. As a sleeper, I'll throw out Bronson Arroyo. I don't think there was anything wrong with his 2007 that wouldn't be cured by keeping his pitch counts reasonable, and it's possible the Reds might be looking at his contract extension and getting queasy. 6) You know we'd have to deal with more than the future, right? We'd have to give up Maine or Perez to replace him in the Twin rotation? Which one? I'm not sure if that's true; the Twins have to ask themselves if trying to contend without Santana and probably Hunter is prudent. They should either spend the money or rebuild, because going halfway won't help them now or later. If that does turn out to be true, though, then anybody's on the table except Wright. That includes Reyes -- as great a year as Hanley Ramirez had, I don't think the Red Sox mind having Josh Beckett in his place. The issue would be whether I know I can adequately replace what I'm dealing, because I don't see the point of going through the trouble of getting Santana and winding up with as many or more needs to address afterwards with limited options. But to answer your question... I really think Maine started turning a corner at the very end of the year, and was starting to do a very good job of making bats miss. I'd give up Ollie sooner. 7) Will the Twins say, "Fuck those entitled Met fans," and keep him, even attempting to negotiate an extension? Entitled? We're the second most self-entitled group of baseball fans in this city, which among other things means we won't be alone in pursuing him. I think the Twins are at the point where they should entertain offers, unless they're actually willing to spend money. My money would be on them putting Santana on the market, although I think they need to convince the fans that they're committed to winning and not to saving money. If the Brewers can draw nearly three million fans, there's no reason why the Twins can't, and there's no reason they couldn't afford Santana if they did.

I agree with Edgy about Sanchez. It would be wonderful if he came back at 100%, but the Mets can't afford to assume anything from him.

After seeing what happened to the Mets in September, I'm quite definitely sold on the concept of bullpen depth. But the Mets did spend money on the pen outside of Wagner; they just didn't spend the money particularly well.

And Yorvit Torrealba becomes the latest unlikely hero for the Rockies.

Overseeing a pitching staff that allowed thirty runs to a last place team who had traded away its best hitters can make even somebody with Mazzone's rep look rather bad. That being said, Bedard was pitching really well before the injury, and it's not clear that Mazzone had much else to work with.

="Edgy DC"]Only thing Matsui has in Colorado that he didn't have in New York is consistent physical well-being, and, less relevantly, the support of his team's fans. OPS+ by year: 2004 88 2005 72 2006 76 2007 87 His .638 OPS outside of Coors this year leaves a little to be desired, and Hurdle didn't trust him against left-handed pitching (only 70 AB). But he can look real good for short stretches of time, and he was hot last week.