31
2009
Wild Card Teams Get Help, But Not The Mets
An article by Hojo's Mojo
Here is something fascinating I wanted to share. The following are the current standings for the National League Wild Card race. The Mets are currently in eighth place and 6 1/2 games back. The top five teams all made deals to improve themselves leading up to todays trade deadline.
1. San Francisco 56-46 WC
2. Colorado 55-47 1 GB
3. St. Louis 56-49 1.5 GB
4. Florida 53-49 3.0 GB
5. Atlanta 52-50 4.0 GB
8. NY Mets 49-52 6.5 GB
San Francisco – Giants acquired first baseman Ryan Garko from the Indians, and second baseman Freddy Sanchez from the Pirates. They completely upgraded and revamped the right side of their infield.
Colorado – The Rockies added left-hander Joe Beimel from the Nationals today, after getting righthanded reliever Rafael Betancourt from the Indians a week ago,. Today’s move further bolsters their pen with one of the games best relievers over the last three years.
St. Louis – The Cardinals went all out and added Matt Holliday and Julio Lugo days ago, and those moves followed the acquisition of Mark DeRosa from the Indians earlier this month.
Florida – The Marlins acquired first baseman Nick Johnson for Double A lefty Aaron Thompson, and get this (Are reading this Omar?) the Nats are paying Johnson’s remaining salary. They were also very hot on the heels of acquiring closer Heath Bell.
Atlanta – The Braves acquired first baseman Adam LaRoche from the Red Sox for Casey Kotchman. LaRoche became expendable after the Red Sox got Victor Martinez. There was some speculation that the Mets were getting LaRoche on another Mets blog, but it was never corroborated by any of the mainstream journalists, so who knows.
Mets – Well the Mets did swap Church for Francoeur a few weeks ago. Wasn’t that enough?
Yesterday, Omar said he’d been working the phones non stop and admitted that he had turned down deals for big players. That is totally understandable because the last thing this team needs right now is big players.
Adding big players this far along into the season can ruin the teams chemistry sort of like when Manny Ramirez went to the Dodgers and Carlos Beltran went to the Astros. Good grief!
I’ve noticed that many of my friends on Twitter are pacifying themselves and consoling themselves with phrases like these:
“At least Omar didn’t give up the farm. I’m glad we didn’t make a trade.”
“Great job Omar, you did the right thing and salvaged our future.”
“I’m just glad that Niese and Parnell are still Mets. We don’t need Halladay on this team.”
I need to find me some smarter friends…
Finally, a statement from Omar Minaya only moments ago.
“With what teams were asking for, we just couldn’t find a match. We had some last minute things we were working on, but ultimately we couldn’t get anything done.”
Let me see if I got this figured out…
1. All of our prospects are untouchable because Tony Bernazard did such an excellent job finding and cultivating these cant-miss, blue chippers that have scouts all over the world drooling.
2. Who needs help? We got all of our core players coming back. For example Carlos Beltran is willing to play through the injury, Jose Reyes may even start running next week, John Maine will be back but not until 2010, and Carlos Delgado recently hit some balls off of a tee.
3. We can’t afford to move any of our healthy guys like Angel Pagan, Brian Schneider and Daniel Murphy. Those guys are the cornerstones of our franchise.
Now I get it… 1+1+1=0
About the Author: Rob Johnson
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The team is a joke from ownership all the way down to the players…I really dont have any other words for the Mets. Unfrigginbelievable. Omar better not be employed after the season or we’ll be saying the same crap in 2010…
I swear somepeope want to trade simply for the sake of trading and have absolutely NO idea what is going on, but would rather ASSume they know.
Tell me – who would you have traded for and who do you think anyone would have wanted and at what cost?
Kay, can you please stop with the “ASSume” bit? It’s getting quite old and does not really add anything. Sorry to pick.
ok
First of all Kay, let me just bow down to your genius. From now on I wont read anything about the team unless it comes from you since you seem to know it all. 2nd, I didnt want to trade just to trade so your ASSumption is way off. With the WC in grasp you didnt want anything to be done to help the team? Victor Martinez could be a Met today, instead he’s with a team that is actually run with efficiency. You really want Delgado back next year or would you prefer a full time Murphy? You want another season of subpar offense from the C position? Well VMart would have helped tremendously in both areas beyond August and Sept. I cant help it that you are satisfied with not making the playoffs AGAIN. Its obvious what the team is doing isnt working. The teams above the Mets all made moves as the article points out. Omar has proved himself to be a joke. But Ill wait for you to tell me what is going on, deal?
Wow you got all that from my reply? I’ll ask the question again, who would you trade away, who do you think any team would have wanted and who would be able to get in return.
Yeah I also said I want Delgado back.
Come on, I know its sucking right now, but I also think people think its alot easier then it really is.
Blow off steam with your comments go right ahead, but don’t in turn put words in my mouth.
VMart for Holt and the other pitcher like the Indians offered….its simple if you ask me.
KAY, YOU MAKE EXCELLENT POINTS, THOUGH I AGREE WITH THE ASSUME, CRIOTIQUE. TOO MANY PSYCHO FANS THINK MLB TRADES ARE LIKE SHOPPING AT MACY’S, THE PRICE IS THE SAME FOR EVERYONE ON EVERY PRODUCT OFFERED, FOR INSTANCE ANY THOUGHT THAT OMAR HAD A SHOT AT SAY DeROSA OR ANYONE ELSE FOR WHAT THE CARDS GAVE UP DOESN’T KNOW BASEBALL IS A SHARK FRENZY AT TRADE DEADLINE TIME. ONCE OTHER TEAMS KNOW A GM’S UNDER FIRE & NEEDS TO DEAL, THE PRICE RISES EXHORBATANTLY EVEN FOR THE MORE MUNDANE JOURNEYMAN, FOR EXAMPLE, IF OMAR HAD WANTED BANNISTER BACK, IT WOULDN’T SUPRISE ME IF KC DEMANDED D.WRIGHT+ INSANE? NO ONE WOULD DO SUCH A DEAL? EXACTLY. IT COSTS KC NOTHING TO ASK ESP IF THEY DON’T MIND WALKING AWAY. THAT WAS AN EXTTREME EXAMPLE BY ME; BUT IN REALITY THE CLEVELAND REPORTED DEMAND FOR BOTH HOLT & MEJIA FOR VICTOR MARTINEZ, A POTENRIAL RENTAL FREE AGENT CANDIDATE IS JUST AS OUTRAGEOUS TO ME, THOSE 2 ARE OUR “BEST” IN THE MINORS RIGHT NOW, OUR SEAVER & RYAN AS OF THIS MOMENT; NOW THEY MAY BOTH NEVER REACH THAT POTENTIAL IN MAJORS; BUT FOR OUR MINORS RIGHT NOW, THIS MINUTE, THAT’S WHO THEY ARE NOT POTENTIALLY BUT RIGHT NOW, IN OUR MINORS. FOR A PLAYER WE MIGHT GET JUST AS WELL FOR MERELY $ THIS DECEMBER. DAMNED STRAIGHT, THE PRICE WAS WAY TOO HIGH! ESP 6+ GB IN WC & 10GB IN DIV. WAS MARTINEZ GOING TO CHANGE THAT SINGLEHANDELY? NO! WHY SHOOT YOUR LAST & BEST BULLETS AT A PAPER TARGET INSTEAD OF THE CHARGING ENEMY? LET’S GET REAL FOLKS! IS THERE ANYONE IN THAT WC RACE THAT’S ADDED A REYES? A BELTRAN? EVEN A DELGADO, RENTAL? NO. NO. NO. WE’RE ABOUT TO ADD ALL 3 AT NO COST TO PROSPECTS! HOW GOOD WILL THEY BE? NO ONE KNOWS; BUT WE DO KNOW HOW GOOD THEY ACTUALLY CAN BE & THAT ALL 3 WILL BE WELL RESTED. JUST ABOUT ALL THOSE COMPETITORS HOJO CITES, ARE ALL CLOSER TO A PLAYOFF SPOT THAN WE ARE. IF WE WERE “ON THE VERGE” I’M PRETTY CERTAIN OMAR WOULD’VE PULLED THE TRIGGER. I’VE ALWAYS BELIEVED JEFF IS GUNNING FOR OMAR BECAUSE HIS DADDY, MADE OMAR JEFF’S ‘NANNY’ & JEFF RESENTS OMAR; IT CERTAINLY WOULDN’T SUPRISE ME IF JEFF ORDERED OMAR NOT TO INCREASE PAYROLL DESPITE HIS PUBLIC QUOTES TO THE CONTRARY. WHY ELSE WOULD OMAR HAVE NEEDED ATL TO KICK IN $ BEFORE FRENCHY DEAL? JEFF’S A COWARD. A BACKBONELESS JUDAS TRYING TO MANIPULATE FROM THE BACKGROUND. WHO’LL ONLY STEP FORWARD FOR ACCOLADES AFTER SUCCESS; BUT WILL REMAIN IN SHADOWS BHIND THE DUQUETTES, BERNAZARDS, RANDOLFS,MINAYAS UNTIL HE CAN MAKE A “HEROIC” ENTRANCE ON STAGE. DID WE ALL FORGET IT WAS JEFF PULLING DUQUETTE’S STRINGS AT PETERSON’S URGING ON ZAMBRANO, BENSON DEALS? FRED HASN’T & THUS HE HIRED OMAR TO PROTECT HIS SON FROM HIMSELF. OMAR’S REAL JOB, LIKE THE SECRET SERVICE IS TO TAKE BULLETS FOR OWNERSHIP’S BAD CHOICES.
You just supported the argument that Omar needs to be replaced and a real baseball exec put in as GM. Someone that has some clout and can deal with the other GM’s. Then realistic deals can be made the same way in which other teams have made them. The sooner Omar is dismissed and genuine ML players obtained, the sooner we can put this sordid period behind us.
I love your Holt and Mejia are Seaver and Ryan statement. Getting a little ahead of yourself are you? I want to see those 2 in the HOF in 20 years! Do we know if they are even going to stick in the Big’s? UHHH, no actually!
Unless we are in the front office we 1. Dont know what other teams asking prices were and we can assume that they were high 2. Dont know if teams even liked our prospects or proposals.I didnt see much action today at the deadline by many teams and I was surprised by that. But there are sill many opprotunities through the waiver wire to make deals. Listen I was hoping the mets were going to make a deal too…but we dont know (at least not yet) what many of the proposed deals were asking and who knows maybe they were asking too much. And maybe Omar did make the right move by not emptying the farm when it seems that Beltran, by his accounts will be back in a few weeks, Delgado hopefully soon (his rehab is going well), and Wagner. Its easy to say they did the wrong thing by not making trades because we as fans are frustrated by the season but sometimes trades made for the sake of making trades is the wrong move. Lets hope some of the core guys make it back for a good run and maybe they make a few wavier wire deals, which many baseball insiders say will happen this year, and they continue to climb in the wild card standing. Lets Go Mets!!
Someone fire Minaya.
omar will probably pick some crappy player off of waivers and attempt to convince us that that’s all we needed…
The trading period was a disaster for the Mets as expected. Many teams picked up excellent players especially the Cards, Phils, Giants. Even the Yanks come up with Jerry Hairston Jr. Very sad. Omar must go. He is the pits. How could we even expect him to come up with anything? He’s got his head in total disarray as the laughingstock of baseball. I don’t want to hear the price was too high. Other teams made great deals. The Pirates gave away their entire team, but not to us. Fire him and bring in a real baseball exec please.
2009 Injured Players: Reyes, Beltran, Delgado, Pagan, Cora, Ollie, Maine, Nieve, Putz, Wagner. That’s ten (10) players that are core members of a 25-man roster. More than one-third of the roster decimated by injury.
I am as frustrated as any other dedicated Mets fan. I am glad Omar stuck to his guns, and the fact that he did so while under duress is admirable. Its not what we want, but we’re not entitled to revamp more than one-third of the roster at the trading deadline. It ain’t happening and we, as true fans, don’t have the right to expect it.
It’s time to be realistic and prepare for the future rather than deplete a minor league system that was fallow for years. Look, the Madoff’s just ripped-off our owners somewhere between $400-$700 million dollars. My goodness, have some sympathy and some patience. Its not as if they’re not trying to do the right thing. They gave us a new ballpark, for cryin’ out loud.
Reasons to be cheerful: Wlimer Flores, Fernando Martinez, DAniel Murphy, Angel Pagan, Jonathan Niese, Brad Holt, Jennry Mejia, Adam Bostic (check out his guady AAA stats), Nelson Figueroa (slayer of girls softball teams), Fernando Nieve (THE diamond in the rough), Josh Thole, Ike Davis and so on and so forth.
I would rather not see Sheffield, Delgado, Redding & Livan on the roster next year. Nothing against any one of them personally, but if we’re going to re-tool, then we need to do it right. And the way to do it right is to go through the growing pains of building from within your own organization and then add a few key pieces once we learn what we have and what we need.
Meow!
The team has so many needs and there was plenty of opportunity to fill some of them. But some of us want to keep the prospects even though they are unproven and may never amount to anything. I want to see every one of those prospects you list become core members of this team. I want to see many of them become HOF’ers. What’s the chance of that happening? Zilch! We should have picked up some of these gems when we had the chance. Omar needs to go. I am not shedding any tears for the Wilpon’s lost fortune. They should recoup by selling the team to someone who wants to put a winner on the field.
“TOMM” – You’re kinda missing the point. We don’t have a surplus of talent in the minor leagues, a talent-pool if you will, from which to engineer a trade at the deadline to make a key difference. Right now, its better to let these kids develop and determine who are the keepers and who we can tie a bow around for a bona fide major leaguer that will help the ballclub.
Here’s an example: Castillo’s recent good play makes him more of a tradeable commodity. I want Brandon Phillips from the Reds, but he won’t be a free agent for a couple of years. I would determine the Reds needs – let’s say a starting pitcher – and offer them someone like Jennry Mejia or Brad Holt and perhaps a lesser prospect (Eddie Kunz) with Castillo for Phillips. Or perhaps Reuben Tejada, Niese & Castillo for Phillips. Such a trade will only work if our minor leaguers have enough time to establish themselves as legitimate prospects.
No sense playing a lousy hand at this time. Its wiser to hold, let the major leaguers heal, see who stays and who doesn’t, determine our needs and THEN GET WHAT WE NEED.
I think Omar and the Front Office recognize that this season is shot. If that’s the case, then I think its fine to sit tight and see what talent we do have. If we dispossess ourselves of our minor league talent for a ballplayer that stays here for a year or two, then we’ve set the organization back. I’ll tell you this much…F-Mart is no Hall of Famer, but when his trade value increases, then perhaps he can help us land one. That’s part of my point.
We clearly have a difference of opinion. I believe the Mets need to make a serious effort to improve the Major League team NOW. I prefer to field a serious team as soon as possible; yesterday would have been fine. Several teams had big wins picking up excellent players. The Mets were losers. Your opinion is simply waiving the white flag and giving up. Prospects in the minors are of no value if the ML team sucks. Most of those prospects will never amount to anything. We would have been better off trading some of them for a real player or two. You are writing off this team for the next season and a half at least. That won’t fly in NY. Omar needs to be sent packing.
Outstanding post, I wish I could articulate that point as well as you did.
Stupid, Stupid, Stupid of Minaya not making deals. He needs to go.
Omar must go.
A fish rots from the head down.
well I knew that Omar was not going to do anything. if he wanted to he would have gotten us a big name weeks or months ago. No surprise. Just a feeling of neglect.
Really, exactly how would he have gotten a big name? Who would we trade for that big name you speak of.
Kay, Wake up! Just look at the official listing of the deals that were made. Other teams made deals, while the Mets stood pat. Victor Martinez, Cliff Lee, Matt Holliday, Freddy Sanchez, Ryan Garko aare all players the Mets could put in the starting lineup. They were obtainable at reasonable prices. We got Robinson Cancel again. Stop defending Omar. He is non-functional and simply stealing his paycheck. He needs to go for doing nothing whatsoever this season.
I never once defended Omar, and if you ever REALLY read what I write you would know that I loath him as much as the next person but some of you faithful think its an easy thing to do, and don’t think about what cost these trades may becost and will there be any REAL effect on this team or the rest of the season.
He needs to go for many reasons, but to say he did NOTHING this season is not exactly accurate either.
I’m wide awake, are you?
You can continue to say that nothing can be done, but the reality is that other franchises made moves beneficial to their organizations. It is time for the Mets to change mgmt so effective leadership can be put in place. That is the only way to work out of this quandary.