A few weeks early...but...what ya gonna do. I'd like to see Omar gone, but that won't happen. I don't blame Manual for this, he couldn't pitch the 7th, 8th, and 9th inning every night himself....but I think the whole coaching staff needs to be blown up and people brought in from outside the organization. Santana, Maine, Pelfrey........ I'd resign Oliver. He'll cost and arm and a leg, but he's under 30 and a lefty. I'd get a whole new bullpen top to bottom. I don't know if their is one guy in there worth keeping. Murphy to 2nd base after winter ball and a full spring training playing there. I still like Delgado but if we don't bring him back I wont be crushed. At least we have this to look forward too:
id say you trade for joba, phil hughes, and ian kennedy since theyre all future 20-game, cy young award winning pitchers.
I'd give Delgado his year. He put this team on his back and carried them. The problem is if they don't the only guy they could sign woudl be Texiera and he's not worth 200 mllion. I'm with you on Murphy as the 2B and bringing back Perez although I wouldn't lose sleep if they didn't provided they could find a good replacement although AJ Burnett wouldn't be a bad replacement. I don't know if the Royals will bring back Olivo but he is a good platoon guy. We definately need some corner outfielders. I'd honestly approach Seattle about a trade for Ichiro. I think he is a legit .300/20/80 guy if he would drop a bit in the order. Maybe drop him to 3rd in the lineup and leave Beltran at 2. The starting pitching is loaded but that's about it. There are some decent players on the market but not too many legit stars.
Problem with Delgado is that he'll want more then a one year deal, and I don't know if he has more then one year in him. I woulden't be that upset if we moved Wright to 1st.
Resign Ollie, move Murphy to second, keep Manuel. Make a Godfather offer for K-Rod, and blow up the bullpen. Pick up Delgado's option...Not sure who's available for the corner outfield positions, but we need work there. I think that'd be enough. It won't happen, but who knows, I guess.
moving wright to first would be silly. he has problems with his throws occasionally but his range and hands more then make up for it
Left Fielders Moises Alou (42) Garret Anderson (37) - $14MM club option for '09 with a $3MM buyout Milton Bradley (31) Emil Brown (34) Pat Burrell (32) Carl Crawford (27) - $8.25MM club option for '09 with a $2.5MM buyout Adam Dunn (29) Cliff Floyd (36) - $2.75MM club option for '09 with a $0.25MM buyout Luis Gonzalez (41) Jerry Hairston Jr. (33) Raul Ibanez (37) Gabe Kapler (33) Kevin Mench (31) Jason Michaels (33) - $2.6MM club option for '09 Craig Monroe (32) Greg Norton (36) Jay Payton (36) Wily Mo Pena (27) - $5MM club option or $2MM player option for '09 Manny Ramirez (37) Juan Rivera (30) Fernando Tatis (34) Right Fielders Bobby Abreu (35) Casey Blake (35) Cliff Floyd (36) - $2.75MM club option for '09 with a $0.25MM buyout Brian Giles (38) - $9MM club option for '09 with a $3MM buyout Ken Griffey Jr. (39) - $16.5MM club option for '09 with a $4MM buyout Vladimir Guerrero (33) - $15MM club option for '09 with a $3MM buyout Gabe Kapler (33) Jason Michaels (33) - $2.6MM club option for '09 Fernando Tatis (34) Brad Wilkerson (32) Not a whole lot of quality. Although should the Rays not pick up the option on Carl Crawford I think that's a no brainer. Certainly Adam Dunn looks attractive.....
What are you guys going to do with Pedro? If he doesn't come back, you have that extra spot in the rotation. It's not hard to find a 4th/5th man, but who might it be?
Honestly it's far fetched but I'd be for letting Pedro and Ollie walk and go after Sabathia or Burnett.
Don't play for next year. Stop going for mediocre plugins. Build a fucking team. No multi-year contracts for relief pitchers. No Type-A free agents, we need the picks. Keep Delgado for a year while developing Evans and Carp. See if Murphy can handle second base. Keep developing young relief pitchers life Kunz and Parnell without getting frustrated if they aren't immediately successful, like with Bell or Owens/Lindstrom. Use common fucking sense and at least some semblance of advanced analysis, no more multiyear deals for shitheads like Castillo. Make sure Church gets healthy. Pay above slot in the draft, you have the money. NO KNEE JERK MULTIYEAR CONTRACTS FOR RELIEF PITCHERS: BULLPENS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY. Keep Perez, for the money he'll get it would still be better than signing some schlub like Jon Garland who's a "winner." When it comes to long term contracts, don't trust anyone over 30.
It's nice to dream, but unless Omar is gone you know most of this is not going to happen. He's going to go hard after K-Rod or Manny, or both, and try to make another "big splash" and ignore other options until he either gets his guys or loses out and panics and gives out a couple of Show deals to whatever trash relievers haven't been signed yet. Frankly I'm not sure which would be worse. I'm not sure there's any way around handing out at least a couple contracts to bullpen guys though. I mean, Heilman, Ayala, Sanchez and one of Feliciano/Show have to be gone next year. And while I won't say that's alot of talent to replace it is alot of holes to fill. Even though he wasn't a factor this year with the injuries Burgos will never pitch for the Mets with the domestic abuse stuff. The arms are going to have to come from somewhere.
Well yeah, they need to sign people to pitch in the pen. I just mean that they need to stop going about it in a stupid way. Relievers fluctuate wildly. You've got to take flyers, fill out the middle spots with a rotations of Stokeses and Ayalas and Sosas, etc. Some will work out, some won't. But for the core members of the bullpen, I'd really like them to grow some of their own talent.
if we sign k-rod and manny, and some other bullpen help, i will admit the sting of this season wont hurt as much
