smg58

the regulars:Lyle Overbay (16 HR, 52 RBI, .284/.380/.493), 1B: Certainly has the potential to be an Olerud-type first baseman, and might blossom in his fourth season (next year) the way Nick Johnson has this year. This, coupled with Prince Fielder tearing up AAA, makes him desirable to a lot of teams, including and especially the Mets. The catch is that Brewers GM Doug Melvin is a shrewd dealer, and he'll get somebody to give till it hurts in the offseason. Keep both eyes on him, as the Mets might be faced with a very hard decision concerning him in the fall.Rickie Weeks (7 HR, 20 RBI, .247/.347/.429), 2B: Rookie with upside has been slumping lately, plus somebody reported complaints on his defense.JJ Hardy (.211/.317/.315) and Bill Hall (13 HR, .272/.321/.485, plus 12/13 in SB), SS: the rookie Hardy has the glove, but has yet to show much at the plate. Hall has the bat, but questions about his defense have kept him in a utility role. Keep an eye on Hall, as he could potentially blossom and pay huge dividends for somebody looking for a cheap gamble at second, short, or third.Russ Branyan (9 HR in 145 AB, .269/.376/.510) and Jeff Cirillo (.280/.376/.433), 3B: Branyan is the classic platoon lefty, who murders righthanded pitching but any of us could hit lefties better.Carlos Lee (25 HR, 85 RBI, .266/.333/.520), LF: A great producer who still leads the NL in RBI, yet the White Sox seemed to have managed without him.Brady Clark (71 R, .317/.378/.434), CF: He's come a very long way since his 10 games with the Mets in 2002. A solid leadoff hitter, but his 8/18 in steals is rather alarming.Geoff Jenkins (13 HR, 50 RBI, .281/.373/.469), RF: Got off to a tepid start, but tore through July with a 1.105 OPS for the month. One of the hottest guys in the league right now.Damian Miller (.268/.333/.400), C: Steady, if unspectacular. Chad Moeller (.216/.267/.345) might play one as well.pitching match-ups:Tue Zambrano vs. Tomo Ohka (2-3, 4.42 for the Brewers, 6-6, 3.87 overall)Wed Pedro vs. Victor Santos (3-11, 4.08)Thu Benson vs. Doug Davis (9-7, 4.01)The good news is that the Mets miss Chris Capuano (12-6, 3.58) and ace Ben Sheets (7-7, 3.26 but finally back in last year's form after some ailments early in the season). Santos looks like he's been a victim of horrible run support, but he can't expect that to change here. The match-ups favor the Mets, but SOME offense will be required.Out of the pen, Derrick Turnbow (4-1, 2.03, 21 SV, 1.02 WHIP) has emerged as a quality closer, and Matt Wise (54 IP, 4-3, 3.33, an excellent 0.98 WHIP) is the work horse. Otherwise, not much. Julio Santana has a 1.18 WHIP but has given up 6 HR in 35 IP, Jorge de la Rosa has a 1.91 WHIP and a 4.60 ERA, and Justin Lehr, Dana Eveland, and Rick Helling have 14 IP between them.

The good news: Farnsworth has a suspension appeal pending.The bad news: 55 K's in 42.2 IP, .192 BAA, 2.32 ERA, 6 saves since taking over for Percival. Officially he's setting up for Reitsma, but don't assume that will last. Do Colon and Minor have any upside to report, or has Schuerholz once again made a killer deal?

You have a point JD. The Astros series did show that the 05 Mets are not the kind of team you go for broke with. Perhaps the Mets gained by losing.Having said that, "reliable" sources this offseason had Pedro and Beltran using the Mets as a bargaining chip and Sosa fitted for the orange and blue. It's impossible to speculate on which deals were seriously considered, which deals were suggested once with no follow-through, and which deals were the invention of a journalist. The bottom line is, Minaya opted to wait until the offseason to do anything major.

Hooray. No deal beats a bad deal. I think Omar showed he really is running the Mets differently than they've been run in the past. He's willing to think big, but he knows when and how to say no.

How about the Rays keep Lugo, the Sox get Baez, and we get Shoppach?

Nevin and Park would both probably benefit from the park switch. I'm guessing Texas is eating the difference in salaries ($15M vs. $10M). And they get to close the book on what is arguably the worst free-agent signing ever.

If the D-Rays get the Mets' two best prospects and two of the Sox' best prospects for Huff and Baez, something is seriously wrong. And if they can't build a contender in five years with the set of prospects they'd have plus Kazmir, something is seriously wrong.It seemed like the Mets were breaking even (if they took on Manny's full contract), and the Sox were getting stiffed.Do we have any confirmation on Shoppach going to Colorado? I cannot imagine they couldn't get more than Bigbie for him. The Mets would be obligated to offer the Red Sox more than that, wouldn't they?Unfortunately, the last two days make the Mets look more like sellers than buyers. Losing twice to the team we most need to beat with pitching matchups heavily in our favor is a bad sign.

Zambrano for Fonzie: So Phillips would deal the guy the Mets dealt their best pitching prospect in 20 for, in return for a player he personally kicked out the door while keeping Alomar/Cedeno/Burnitz/Vaughn? Zambrano is worth more at this point. The Giants would have to throw in and eat payroll.Floyd for mediocre lefty and minor leaguer: This is why I'm glad Phillips no longer runs the Mets...Said minor leaguer for Baez: If only it were that simple.Big mess for Manny: The Sox won't deal Manny before the offseason, unless they get his major league equivalent. This deal wouldn't cut it, and I can't see that happening in general. I wouldn't rule out his availability in the offseason, though.

Technically the Rangers would still have control of him this offseason, but it does seem likely that they would non-tender Soriano before ponying up $10M. So basically, they're demanding the moon for a guy they wouldn't bring back.And in today's rumor mill, we have some papers reporting that the Soriano talks have heated up, and some papers reporting that they have cooled down. This time of year is better than Christmas.Wait a minute, didn't I say that already?

I can't help feeling that Soriano's the kind of guy we'll wish we didn't have in November, and there's a very steep limit to what I'd deal for somebody like that. The same holds for Casey. Are these guys building blocks, or obstacles? The important detail of the Sosa-for-Floyd deal was that it DIDN'T happen. I've got no problem with Minaya pondering all sorts of deals if he doesn't pull the trigger on bad ones. I'm hoping for something like that here. I'm not against dealing top prospects for top players, I just don't see Soriano being a top player in Shea Stadium.As for Heilman or Zambrano... there may be room for both. I do think the Mets need to make room for either Heilman, Seo, or Bannister in next year's rotation, and deal the other two. If they can find a taker for Glavine this weekend, great, but we can buy him out in the offseason if he doesn't reach 200 innings.

And in the rumor mill, we have some papers reporting that the Soriano talks have heated up, and some papers reporting that they have cooled down. This time of year is better than Christmas.

No need to make this interesting, Victor.

Minky's not helping himself any.

Now this is more like it...

And I was just grumbling that Valent would be a much better person to sub in right than Anderson. I should stick to my day job.

I'd like to see if those numbers change if you add more years. The White Sox park is friendlier to righties than Colorado? I find that hard to believe (although I just cut the amount of money I'd be willing to spend on Paul Konerko this offseason by about two-thirds). Does anybody know where the rest of the league's stadiums fit?

I'm getting my info from http://www.mlb4u.com/teampages.html , which is really detailed but I can't guarantee its accuracy.

Well, today would be a good day to give Cameron off, so I'm not sure I'd read anything into that.

I liked the article. The writer seems to have a very good grasp of the situation, and if I were a Ranger fan I'd demand that much for Soriano too, because a few people out there (mistakenly) think he's worth that much.Durham has a player option for next season, which he'd be crazy not to pick up, so it would be more than a two-month commitment. That's the thing with him, Casey, and a couple of other players: the Mets have to be sure they'll still want them next year before emptying their wallets and farm system. The money we would owe Casey and Soriano would make it difficult to do much else in the offseason, especially if we still have Glavine and Matsui.Our pen has ben a LOT better lately, so barring a good pitcher becoming available fairly cheaply, I'm not sure there's anything to be gained there either.

Yep it's official.Yes, the Padres probably would take Matsui for Nevin and eat the payroll difference.No, Nevin wouldn't come here either.Honestly, except possibly for Jason Schmidt, I see nobody available worth expending good bargaining chips for, and the Mets need to move starting pitching more than they need to acquire it anyway. The ballpark shift would make Dunn so-so and Soriano flat-out mediocre, so let somebody else empty their farm system while we look for bargains. As for Sean Casey, my gut tells me we'll get as much from Mintky the rest of the way, and finding next year's first baseman can wait till the offseason.

I went to two games in 1999, their best recent year:One they lost 10-1 to the D-Backs,and the other they lost 16-0 to the Braves.I'm amazed they still let me in.

It's been my impression that it's not so much the first 500 or 600 AB, but the second year that really tells the tale. (At least for hitters; for pitchers it might take longer.) That's good news for Wright, but so-so news for Reyes. (I'm treating this year as Reyes' second because last year kept getting interrupted.)

In fairness to JG, he is hitting better, but it would still take the Yankees eating 75% of his payroll and asking for something less than Cameron before I took that kind of chance on him. Plus some reassurance he'd field the position better than Mo Vaughn.Not a ringing endorsement, MFS, but notice I didn't say no out of hand...

I'm still for giving next year the higher priority, but sacrificing too much from this year no longer looks prudent. Maybe Roberto Hernandez for Shoppach, as was discussed in a different thread, or finding a taker for Glavine, but that's as much major-league talent I'd deal without getting a clear upgrade in return.I'm not sure Durham can field the position well enough to be worth it. I think Bannister can get us more than that.I'd love to deal Matsui, but I think the Ponson/Nevin situation tells us what we could expect for him.

Don't see how Mesa helps us, especially in a setup role. Baez interests me. Kent does too, actually, although the Dodgers aren't really out of it yet and they did sign him for a few years. I'm not sure why we'd bring in Kent and then not play him at second though.