smg58

I'm with Elster on this. I'd be fine with the bigger line-up if we had ten teams, but there just aren't enough players to go around for twenty.

He could catch a break out of this, depending on who needs a first baseman. Or he could wind up in Japan, which isn't MLB but at least he'd play and probably get well-paid for his efforts.

I'm in.

1) Who establishes himself as the rightfielder? Diaz or Nady? Diaz, unless his OBP tanks. 2) Will Heilman reward the faith shown in him with a successful spring. I agree with the person who said he'll be OK. 3) Which lefty or lefties will get a shot in the bullpen? They'll all get a shot; I hope it's Royce Ring because that's where the upside is, but I don't trust Willie to give the kid the ball. 4) Who will open the season as Billy Wagner's primary setup man? Remember that last year we opened with what'shisname (Mike DeJean, I had to look it up) as our primary eighth-inning guy). Sanchez. He's better than Julio. 5) Will Keppinger or Hernandez make the team? Only if Kaz gets dealt. Valentin and Woodward will be the reserves. 6) Will Mitch Wylie make it, knowing that the Mets lose him if he doesn't get carried? (I'm guessing no, but the Mets pay his ransom anyhow.) The Mets have never had a Mitch, right? No. 7) What non-roster retreads survive? Nobody. 8) Who will open the season batting second? LoDuca, unfortunately. 9) How openly will Minaya talk with the media about the unpopular (at least in these quarters) Seo and Benson deals? He'll defend them once and that will be the end of it. It may come up in the regular season if the deals start to look bad, though. 10) Will Pedro's toe enter into the picture? God, I hope not.

Edgy DC wrote: It's funny that the one that really kills the Mets from the 2002-era trades isn't Alex Escobar or Billy Traber, but Jason Bay. Steve Reed was the major acquisition in the deal that sent Bay, the lefty Bobby Jones, and somebody else to San Diego, but Phillips also insisted on Jason Middlebrook. I can't help wondering if we could have kept Bay if Middlebrook was not thrown in. It also goes to show that sometimes really good players sneak up on everybody.

Bergmann is a rookie reliever who had a lot of strikeouts in limited action at the major-league level (21K in 19.2 IP), along with a 2.75 ERA. He'd have been a good pickup before the Mets got overloaded with righty relievers. I'd have given Benson and Diaz for Wilkerson and Bergmann a few months and several deals ago. But now, what's the point in getting him? You'd not only be cutting off any chance of Padilla or Bell making the team, but you'd also be blocking guys you just traded starting pitchers to get. Vidro and Livan have more than enough question marks to justify taking Milledge off the table; I'm still interested in the both of them, but I hope to God any rumors involving Milledge aren't serious.

I can't imagine that isn't pissing off every Astros fan. That's a horrible way to treat the guy who's been the face of your franchise for fifteen years. I know it's a lot of money to pay somebody who may or may not be able to play, but they signed the contract, they face the consequences. And since Bagwell's getting the money regardless, presumably he's trying to come back because he sincerely believes he's capable of playing and contributing, and I do think they at least owe him the benefit of the doubt.

I'm glad he's on with somebody. I don't know how many HR's he'll hit in San Diego, but I bet he'll do all right. I'm guessing the mutual optionninvolves a decent-sized buyout, so that he comes away with more than $2M.

We probably could have traded Cameron for Shoppach and Mota, avoided having one right-handed hitter too many, and we'd still have Gaby Hernandez and either Seo or Benson. Riske is no slouch, though, and is probably a significant upgrade over Mota. Jason Michaels is no slouch, either; his number have always suggested he could be an everyday player somewhere. Rhodes had a terrific year last year, but at his age I wouldn't bank on him doing it twice. I'd say it's a good deal for the Sox and a great one for Cleveland. But do the Indians have room for both Shoppach and Ryan Garko?

Trax may have been a little too candid with that one. Not that I disagree with him, mind you.

That situation is getting really confusing. I can't say any more than that until something actually happens.

It sounds like the new owner will be aggressive. I don't know how much he can do at this stage of the offseason, but it wouldn't shock me if they become players for Weaver.

January 3, 2000 New York Mets released Bobby Bonilla. What's not to like? January 14, 2000 New York Mets traded Masato Yoshii to the Colorado Rockies for Bobby Jones and Lariel Gonzalez. Ultimately not very significant either way. 3 then, 3 now. March 17, 2000 New York Mets signed free agent Timo Perez. Didn't notice it at the the time, but it did help us get to the Series. 3 then, 5 now. March 18, 2000 New York Mets traded Jesse Orosco to the St. Louis Cardinals for Joe McEwing. 5 then, 2 now. It seemed like highway robbery at the time, but take out two months in 01 and McEwing was Ordonez without the glove. Plus, you just knew that Melvin Mora was going to go at some point. May 13, 2000 New York Mets released Rickey Henderson. Same with Bonilla; what's not to like? June 2, 2000 New York Mets traded Bill Pulsipher to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Lenny Harris. 3 then, 4 now. June 5, 2000 New York Mets selected Jeff Duncan in seventh round of free agent draft. I didn't pay any attention to this, but obviously passing on the D-Train looks brutal in hindsight. July 28, 2000 New York Mets traded Melvin Mora, Mike Kinkade, Pat Gorman and Lesli Brea to the Baltimore Orioles for Mike Bordick. They needed more defensive stability at short than Mora was providing, but I can't help wondering if the O's would have taken McEwing instead. Still, they might not make the Series without this deal, so I can't hate it. 4 then, 3 now. New York Mets traded Paul Wilson and Jason Tyner to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for Bubba Trammell and Rick White. 2 then, 4 now. For some reason, I thought Tyner was going to be a good player. December 9, 2000 Colorado Rockies signed Mike Hampton of the New York Mets as a free agent. 2 then, 5 now. Losing Hampton set the team back, but keeping him at that price would have ultimately been worse. December 10, 2000 Pittsburgh Pirates signed Derek Bell of the New York Mets as a free agent. See my comments on Henderson and Bonilla. December 11, 2000 New York Mets signed free agent Kevin Appier of the Oakland Athletics. 2 then, 2 now. New York Mets signed free agent Steve Trachsel of the Toronto Blue Jays. 2 then, 4 now. New York Mets signed free agent Tsuyoshi Shinjo. 3 then, 3 now. Appier did give the Mets a decent year, but he was badly overpaid and made Mo Vaughn possible. I didn't think Trachsel would be an upgrade over Bobby Jones, but I was wrong. Shinjo was a useful reserve, but nothing more than that. New York Mets traded Bubba Trammell to the San Diego Padres for Donne Wall. 2 then, 1 now. It was around here when the Mets started overstocking the team with righty relievers (generally overpaid for), a bad trend that Minaya seems intent on continuing.

1) the power arm: and the balls go out (35 HR in 204.1 IP over the past three seasons) as fast as they come in. Granted, he should give up less HR at an NL pitcher's park, but that would elevate his numbers up to mediocre, instead of simply awful. 2) Heilman in the rotation: I'll believe it when I see it. Plus, the one-hitter notwithstanding, he was a lot more consistent in the pen. 3) Pelfrey and Iriki: I'll believe those when I see them too. Iriki was serviceable in Japan, which is like being serviceable in Norfolk. Pelfrey hasn't played any professional ball yet. And why is he more of a keeper than Petit or Kazmir? 4) Maine: If only some are noting last year's regression, how do the others justify ignoring it? 4) (yes, he had two 4's) getting younger: Was Heyman critical of Jacobs and Petit for Delgado? Or signing Billy Wagner? I like getting younger when it also means getting better, or at least clearing out older guys who can't help the Mets win anymore. I'm not sure the latter is true for Benson. 5) I don't like Anna either, but she wasn't in the Mets' rotation, her husband was. 6) Julio is arbitration eligible next year too, so it's closer to $10 million. But the Mets aren't strapped right now, and they've made some rather large investments this offseason with the ostensible purpose of winning right now. Perhaps there's another deal forthcoming, but otherwise you're gambling that Heilman over Benson in the rotation gives more than Julio over Heilman takes away in the pen.

John Sickels had rated him #6 last year, but this is what he said in hindsight (http://www.minorleagueball.com/story/2005/11/20/151524/77): 6) John Maine, RHP 6-11, 4.56 in 23 starts for Triple-A Ottawa, though his component ratios were up to previous standards. Hit hard in 10 games in the majors, with a poor 24/24 K/BB in 40 innings. I still think he will be a useful pitcher but I don't like him as much as I used to.

Maine wasn't in BA's top 10 of the Orioles' prospects. Julio had a good year in 2002 and otherwise has absolutely nothing to recommend him. I'd need more confidence in Heilman being consistent as a starter (assuming that's the route they're going) in order to think this helps the rotation, but it WILL hurt the bullpen.

The D-Backs have Quentin and Conor Jackson ready now, but have seen to it that there's no place to put them. In that situation, I would most definitely go with the younger guys. I also think Keppinger would beat Matsui in a fair competition. I'm hoping Bret wasn't suggesting putting Victor Diaz ahead of Cliff Floyd. In the hypothetical situation Bret described, I think $8M per year would make the leftfielder dealable; $10M or more would be another story. If I can't deal one and don't want to deal the other, I'd make sure both players know going into spring training that the job is up for grabs. If Keppinger looks like the better player in February and March, it would not be in the Mets' interest to send him to Norfolk. The same goes for guys like Padilla and Heath Bell relative to the set-up guys the Mets have picked up in the offseason.

Lambin doesn't appear to field nearly well enough to be an everyday middle infielder, and it's not clear that he'd hit well enough to start some place else. He'll probably hit way better than the average utility infielder, though, so unless there's just no hope for him with the glove he'd fill a useful niche on the club either this year or next.

It's not really any different than hockey teams pulling their goalie. I could see it in an elimination game, at least. Get the best combination of hitters you can out on the field and hope for the best.

I think Rice will make it too, and I hope Blyleven does as well. As for the first-timers next year, Gwynn has 3000 hits going for him and Ripken is easy. McGwire... it's not clear that anybody tainted by the steroids issue would have put up Hall-worthy numbers regardless, other than Bonds. I think the smoke needs to settle for McGwire's performance to get a fair hearing, and I'd refrain from selecting him until that happens. It will be interesting to see how the voters feel.

Right now the D-Rays don't have a starting-quality ML third baseman (unless you count Aubrey Huff, who played four games there all last year), so Wiggy should have a fair opportunity to win that job. I had a feeling he was going to wind up with one of the Florida teams (he could start at second for the Marlins).

You say Tejeda, and I say Tejada, Tejeda, Tejada, Tejada, Tejeda, let's call the whole thing off...

What about the other guy in the Seo trade, Steve Schmoll? Never mind, I see him in the 40. Do we know if they're going with six relievers or seven?

I don't know where they see Soler fitting in, and how soon. If he's capable of contributing to the bullpen fairly quickly this year, the Seo deal gets that much harder to defend. It's possible that the Mets will try to fill only one of their two vacancies in the starting rotation next offseason with a free agent, but a lot can happen in the meantime.

It's never an easy question to answer. I certainly don't think Reyes is as untouchable as Wright. But he's also not killing us by a long shot the way Christian Guzman killed the Nats last year, or the way first and second base killed us last year. His glove is fine, and his offense is good for the position even if we all want a much higher OBP out of the leadoff spot. How long you wait depends on factors beyond Reyes too. If another team makes an offer for Reyes like he's a star player, or offers us a star player and asks for Reyes, I'm listening. If Anderson Hernandez sticks around the organization and makes progress this year while Reyes stands still, I'll know I have an option. I think you need to keep realistic expectations of Reyes, but that doesn't mean non-tendering him when he comes up for arbitration.