smg58

It's worth pointing out that Young had very negative defensive numbers during his tenure in Colorado last year, and that the defensive metrics of Rockies' outfielders generally improve when they change teams (Fangraphs has had several articles on that, the most recent coming when Fowler got traded). UZR pegged Young at a -6 in right field last year (that's where he was mostly playing with the Rockies, despite not having the arm for it) and a +4 in left (mostly with the Mets), while the Fielding Bible had him at -4 and +3 (I don't remember the exact number, but his FB rating in left was negative for the season when he arrived here in June). He also put up strongly positive metrics in center in 2012. I would make the argument that left field is not where you really want to stick a guy with a .650 OPS, but I think the notion that his outfield glove was valueless is misleading -- especially when he replaced somebody who put up a -12 (12 runs is roughly three wins) in less than 500 innings in left. As for second base, Murphy has put up a -24 (from the Fielding Bible) over two full seasons. If second is Young's natural position, he should be able to do at least that "well."

His performance is up and down. His last six seasons include two excellent years, two mediocre years, and two years that are worse than we can get from Tejada. Not sure I'd pay for that.

I wouldn't have budged on three years while other options were out there, but he's a good guy and will upgrade the offense. Neutral.

Smith had a really good K/BB ratio as a reliever last year, but he's also very vulnerable to the long ball and moving to a home park that plays to his weakness. I'm assuming the Brewers see him as a starter, but I think the risk outweighs the potential reward if the price is a legitimate starting outfielder.

It's a head-shaker from the Tigers' perspective, that's for sure. I can't imagine there aren't teams out there who'd have offered more than that. But hey, tip your hat to the Nats for what looks like an excellent trade.

I'm surprised by Hefner, especially sine he wasn't even arb-eligible. He pitched well enough before his injury to justify keeping him around for the league minimum and seeing how he looks in 2015. Players like Turner are easy to find for less than Turner would make in arbitration, so I'm glad to see the team wasn't overvaluing him.

I'll go on record saying I'm more comfortable with Mejia and Montero filling out the rotation than I am with our current outfield (Chris Young included). Naturally it doesn't have to be an "either or" as far as what we can improve on, but none of us really knows how much the Mets have to spend, and Young and Arroyo's combined salaries would get us one of the front-end outfielders. Not that I'm against adding pitching depth (FK expressed it well), but I'd be looking for 6th stater/long relief types unless I knew I could load up the outfield AND still have significant resources left over to address pitching. Like I've said before, Montero has more AAA experience than Wheeler did at the time of his call-up and pitched significantly better than Wheeler at Vegas. And Mejia pitched very well for us last year while dealing with an injury. Health remains a concern with Mejia, of course, but I don't think of him as a minor-leaguer at this point.

I think it's either Murphy or Young, depending on whether Murphy could land us a better-hitting outfielder or something of similar worth. Young probably wouldn't be any worse defensively, and an OPS around .650 would look a lot better at second than in left.

One one hand, I think the Mets still have much greater needs in the outfield and at shortstop. On the other hand, there's nothing wrong with him and I wouldn't object to him signing on.

The team's handling of Church's concussion was the low point of Minaya's tenure. I still feel bad for Church; he was horribly unlucky to begin with, and then the manager and front office seemed to get annoyed with him for not recovering to their satisfaction. Minaya did have a knack for getting value from throw-ins, though, and Church played better (however briefly) than Milledge wound up doing. But the trade still revolved around trading a top prospect for a catcher who was worth less than his contract.

d'Arnaud kind of had a lost year but I see no reason to sour on him. He'll figure things out at this level. Recker could use some competition, though. I wouldn't oppose bringing Buck back as a #2.

I like the guy. He'd be a more reliable OBP guy than Young, provided we don't give up too much to get him.

The career OPS+ of 114 is below the other available outfielders, most of whom are younger, and that's before you factor PEDs into the equation. The fact that he turned down the qualifying offer already means he's not coming at a discount. I see nothing positive at all unless the asking price plummets.

His career OPS+ is 125. Andre Ethier's is 123. Shin-Soo Choo's is 134. Cargo's age and salary still make him very desirable, but there are players of comparable ability available who won't cost anywhere near the same amount in terms of personnel.

Career-high OPS+ of 108, but that was a while ago. Declining numbers with the bat and glove. He had a quad injury early last year, and you can hope that dragged down his performance the rest of the way. It's low-risk, low-reward. You can do worse for one year, but I'm glad it's not for more than that.

My biggest memory of him was watching a Fox game where they interviewed him in the dugout and I came away thinking he was a really easy guy to root for. While I don't think he was a great bet to duplicate this season either, I'd have thought he earned the right to get $4M or so from us to find out. I'm a little concerned that $2.25M was too steep for us to match.

Based on OPS+, his good years are what Andre Ethier does consistently. So there are a number of guys I'd look at first.

I'd also ask about Kemp while we're at it. Etheir's contract (and Kemp's, for that matter) might not look so prohibitive after the ink dries on this offseason's free agent signings. His OPS+ compares favorably to all the FA outfielders except Choo. The splits are a concern, but not any more than they'd be with Choo. I'd take the contract if the cost in players was minimal.

Hunter Pence just got 5 and 90 to re-up with the Giants, and Choo is generally considered (and rightfully, given the high OBP and .900+ OPS against righties) the more desirable commodity. Somebody will bite, but Choo has enough weaknesses at that price that I won't lose sleep over him.

His home park makes that tough to gauge. I also think he overadjusted to his park to the point of diminishing returns. That being said, he could still be a nice asset for the right price. I'd go 3 and 45, but I doubt that's enough.

Andrus might come cheap (players-wise) given the long-term deal and his underachievement last year. Furcal had a lower OPS than Tejada in 2011 and 2012 and while Tejada wasn't any good last year, at least he suited up. Pass.

I'd aim for 2 and 15, would go up to 2 and 20 if the market necessitates it. That's assuming that his knees are healthy enough to justify a full workload in right field, but a workout a physical are pretty much given before signing him anyway.

Beltran's history of postseason success has been discussed over and over the last two weeks, but I can only remember the time he stood there and looked at the exact pitch that everybody else on the planet knew was coming. Sigh.

You can't blame the park for Jason Bay. He came unglued, pure and simple. Plus Choo gets a high OPS without a whole lot of home runs, which I would think would make him well suited to CitiField. The three issues are 1) his defense, 2) the likelihood that he will never see a righthanded pitcher in a meaningful late-game situation, and 3) the contract hunter Pence just got. That doesn't mean there isn't plenty to like, it's just that there's a limit to how much I'd spend for him even if payroll really isn't an issue.

I do think Hamilton is a better bet than Cruz to perform at career-norm levels next season. I don't have a problem with giving guys second chances. I'm against giving multi-year deals to guys for whom expecting performance to stay at recent levels is unrealistic, even if you take character completely out of the equation. Melky Cabrera got a nice deal from the Jays, and while you could arguably give him a pass because of injuries, his numbers this year went back to what they were before 2011. I'd bet on Cruz getting a similar deal and being similarly unimpressive. Peralta will probably perform at the .700 OPS level he played at in 2009 and 2010. Somebody is likely to pay him for more than that, and I hope it isn't us.