I just think that the bullpen is the part of the team where having "home grown" talent is the least important. I mean even the awful, overpaid bullpen contracts like Show only amounts to what, a little over 3m a year? If they ate everyone's contract in the bullpen it wouldn't even come close to the amount of money they pissed away this year alone on guys like Alou and El Duque who contributed nothing. What annoys me the most about these last couple years is that Omar has squandered Reyes and Wright playing for peanuts and still producing at an extremely high rate. I mean it's hard to envision the Mets being in a better position to succeed then they were these last few years
Omar Minaya, I had no idea you posted here! Wow, I'm starstruck. I don't know what to say! Wait. Now I remember. Go fall off a bridge.
It's not up to Delgado - there is a team option for one year, which is exactly the length of time the Mets should be interested in. The problem is that there won't necessarily be anybody all that great to replace him with a year from now. It is vastly easier to get a first baseman or move someone from the outfield to first than it is to replace one of the best third basemen in baseball who is 25 and underpaid for his performance. Wright isn't going anywhere. The IF next year will hopefully be Delgado - Murphy - Reyes - Wright, which should be as good as anybody's. I have no real hopes for the bulk of the bullpen. There's a reason that middle relievers are middle relievers - they're not very good. If they were, they would either become starters or 8th/9th inning guys. Most of the current crop should go, but to me it's a complete crapshoot as to whether anyone decent will replace them. I'm sure the Mets will make a strong play for Perez, but so will other teams. His poor performance in September will lower his price, I would think. It's nice to say that the team shouldn't overpay for someone like K-Rod, but IMO unrealistic. The Mets have absolutely no one now who is even a twinkle in the eye as a closer - no great setup man waiting to step up, no stud closer in AAA, nothing. They have to bring in someone via trade or free agency, and I'm afraid that they don't have the spare parts to get anyone good in a trade, so that means big money. They probably have to count on Church for RF next year, which will either be fine, or a disaster of epic proportions if it turns out he's really the guy we saw in September. And of course, they need someone in LF, but I have no idea who.
as for Shea: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080926&content_id=3553254&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
That is a very good point, we have way too many holes in the bullpen to use the farm to fill, we would have to pay money for a closer, and honestly I don't want to piss away another one of Santana's prime years. Maybe we could get lucky with the farm to get new 7th and 8th inning guys. We badly need a new LF that can hit and field and I don't think that Fernando Martinez is near ready thanks to injuries to command that spot and we don't have anyone else in the farm for that spot either. We will have to suck it up and try to see if Church can actually play next year. Put Murphy in at 2nd base and leave him there, maybe have Evans back him up on occasion. If they are going to get rid of Delgado they would have to replace him with Teixiera because our lineup would be significantly weakened without a legit power hitter there. So to me it is either Delgado or Teixeira, I don't see any other good options there. I think we would be better off not signing Ollie back and go after a legit consistant starter that we can trust behind Santana. One thing that came in my mind was that Manuel had to yank Ollie out of yesterday's game in the 6th due to the constant fear that bad Ollie may show up. We can't have what may be our #2 pitcher be a constant coin flip on whether he has ace stuff or whether he is even a major leaguer. And we also need to bring in another low cost starter who is just hungry for a job so that we could finally have starting pitching depth for once, instead of always parading garbage in our #5 slot. And it may not hurt to revamp the bench a bit as they are all getting old. There is no need to touch the core when we continue to fail to address the key issues of this team over and over again. And I don't have a problem bringing Manuel back since even HOF managers would look back with such a mess of a bullpen.
And if we consider Manny which I think Omar probably will be interested, only a 2 year deal should be considered, but honestly I would like us to go away from old players for once. And I still hate the fact that we gave away a viable option at closer (Lindstrom) for absolutely nothing
I was listening to the fan at around 11:00 this morning and (I believe) Jerry Coleman was on and proposed a trade. Royals get: Carlos Delgado (Mets signed him to trade him), Aaron Heilman, and Nick Evans Mets get: Joakim Soria Soria would be your closer obviously. Highly doubt something like that would happen, but it would be interesting.
The Mets need a leader. Somebody similar to when Pete Rose went to the Phillies or when Keith Hernandez came to the Mets. And that Pete Rose/Keith Hernandez type player who everybody is talking about that would really help the Mets is a guy by the name of Chipper Jones in Atlanta. He has an option on his contract but he could very easily become a Free Agent and has expressed interest in playing in New York. A move to first base could really help him with his injuries and I think he would be a great fit.
This idea is brilliant and terrifying at the same time. Not really sure what to say. He has to be available first, but it's a thought
Does anyone know how long the Mets have to exercise Delgado's option? There could be a timing issue here as to when Larry would become available and when they would have to make a decision on Delgado, and the worst possible result would be having nothing at all. I am not against the possibility of Larry in principle, I guess, although there is real risk. If the Mets do sign him, then I'll call him Chipper.
I'd much rather the Mets sign Burrell or Dunn than Manny. I can't tell if Grant Balfour is arbitration eligible or a free-agent after this season, but if he's on the open market, that's who I'd want the Mets to target as a closer. I'm an idiot when I said no multiyear deals for relief pitchers, because I meant middle relief pitchers, the Schoeneweises and Sauerbecks of the world. Balfour is 30, has serious heat and good downward breaking stuff that either misses bats or stays in the yard when hit. They could blow him away with money and still be offering a fraction of what Rodriguez will be getting. Of course, again, I don't even know if he's a free agent.
Cot's Baseball Contracts had Balfour as being under a 1 year deal, but the blog Rays Index says he's under team control for 2 more years. Wishful thinking on my part, I think.
I think the leadership/heart angle is overplayed, what we need isn't a leader but an overhaul on our role players as we have none, other than Delgado/Wright/Reyes/Beltran the production from the rest of the lineup has been putrid in comparison to the rest of the league. That is the primary reason why we see so many 2-3 run games last and this year is that when one of the 4 is cold we have huge holes in our lineups, also that is why we fail so much in clutch situations when they can pitch around the Carloses and know that the bottom of the order will fail continuously over and over again. That is the difference between the Mets and the teams that passed us by in the standings And that isn't bringing up that by the end of the year about 3 out of 20 pitchers on our roster was worth a damn by the end of the year.
I think the leadership issue is a big one. They need someone to take that role and relish it. It obviously's not in Delgado's makeup, nor Reyes or even Beltran, although it seemed he took strides to becoming a leader a little bit. Wright puts too much pressure on himself, he just needs to worry about playing ball and not being the face/voice of the team. Someone like Chipper would be awesome if he were really available. 2 failures 2 seasons in a row, in almost the same manner speak to not only the talent on the club, but also to it's character, It cannot be ignored. Clean house in that pen obviously.......I'd rather have new guys screw us than have the same one's do it 3 years in a row. K rod won't help if you can't get to him.
When you have 5/9ths of the lineup stink it doesn't matter what the leadership is like on the team the offense will be inconsistant, that isn't a leadership issue that is an talent issue. And that isn't even bringing up that we had only 3 starters that we could count on which crushed us down the stretch as Maine turned into Al Leiter and then he was out by mid way through the year, and lets not even get to Pedro. And no bullpen to speak of. There is too many holes on the roster to come up with the corny leadership issue.
Leadership stuff aside Chipper is probably the best hitter in the NL not named Pujols. But he's also going to be 37 and I read several times that he wants to play 4 more years. If he did become available the Mets would have to lay out a ton of cash and a multi year deal with a strong possibility of another Alou situation. Pretty much the same stuff applies to Manny, he is going to want a 4 year deal and I wouldn't feel comfortable giving him more then 2. Minaya has shown no interest in Dunn before and unfortunately I don't think that will change. Burrell is the same type of player and had a miserable 2nd half. Juan Cruz is a reliever that might not be terrible although his control isnt great and he's prone to the HR ball.
