Jon Heyman of SI.com dishes out some Mets tidbits on his blog the Daily Scoop. If you’re not already a subscriber to Jon’s blog, you should be. Heyman is by far the best resource out there during the Hot Stove Season.
Early impression: The Mets favor Matt Holliday for left field over Jason Bay, though either would help immensely. Mets COO Jeff Wilpon said they expect to spend money this winter, and really, they have no choice.
Mets higher-ups made it fairly clear that the heat is on both GM Omar Minaya and manager Jerry Manuel. “Omar would be gone if not for that extension,” said one Mets person loyal to Minaya, referring to his $3.5 million, three-year deal. One tipoff that Manuel’s in slightly better stead is that he got to make coaching calls (such as keeping Razor Shines), while Minaya was pressured to fire friends Tony Bernazard, Ramon Pena and Julio Franco. One plus for Minaya, according to several sources, is that Fred Wilpon likes him.
Minaya is considering jobs for Kevin Towers and J.P. Ricciardi, particularly with longtime scout Sandy Johnson telling Mets people that he’s likely to retire. Towers has proven to have excellent scouting instincts over the years.
Matt Holliday finished the regular season with a .324 batting average to go with 24 homeruns and 109 RBIs. His on-base percentage of .394 and .909 OPS clearly show he was just as good away from Colorado as he was when he played for the Rockies.
Holliday would look great batting third in the Mets lineup, followed by Carlos Beltran and David Wright, or you can flip him with Wright. Either way, he would add a a great jolt of power that was missing far too often last season.
He won’t come cheap, but I’m not one of those Mets fans that are bent on pinching the Wilpon’s pennies. He won’t cost the Mets any prospects, and it’s very clear that Fernando Martinez is years away from being major league ready, and Angel Pagan would bolster the Mets bench and he’d get plenty of at-bats keeping everyone fresh.
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If Minaya is allowed to hire Kevin Towers (sounds like a paradox doesn’t it?) not only would it be a fantastic move but he would be hiring his most likely successor.
Holliday should be favored over Bay because he is a lot better on defense.
he didnt show that in game 2 of the nlds
CAPSLOCK=DISABILITY ACCOMODATION
IF MEMORY SERVES, HOLIDAY LOOKED SHOCKINGLY OVERWELMED BY CITI’S LF VASTNESS, IN RECENT SERIES V. CARDS. PERSONALLY, I’D PREFER OMAR KICK THE TIRES ON RAYS’ CRAWFORD OVER EITHER HOLIDAY OR BAY
I think if the Wilpons are saying they will spend whatever it takes to build a championship and its all Omars call what and who he brings in. Omar should then make the folloiwng moves since money is not a problem
Sign Matt Hollida
Trade for Prince Fielder
Sign Orlando Hudson
Trade for Roy Halladay
Sign John Lackey
i know most of you would think that is crazy however if money is no option it is 100% doable. holliday, lackey, hudson are free agents. You trade 2-3 prospects for fielder and 2-3 prospects for holliday. understand our minor league system will be depleted but who cares it sucks anyways might as well build a real major league roster and start the minor league stystem from scratch. our team would look incredible
Jose Reyes
Orlando Hudson
David Wright
Prince Fielder
Carlos Beltran
Matt Holliday
Jeff Francouer
Josh Thole
Johan Santana
Roy Halladay
John Lackey
Mike Pelfrey
John Maine/Oliver Perez/John Niese
Now that is a championship team
The Brewers said they will not trade Fielder, but Adrian Gonzalez might still be available from the cash strapped Padres.
Either way, having Fielder or Gonzalez would make Ike Davis expendable and he would most likely be in a trade for either, and that’s just for starters. You inlcude Halladay in the rotation and Pelfrey too. Logic would dictate that Pelfrey and Niese would both go in a Halladay trade.
CAPSLOCK=DISABILITY ACCOMODATION
GREAT IDEA; BUT UNFORTUNATLY JEFF STILL ANSWERS TO DADDY. FRED QUOTE, “I’LL NEVER PAY A DIME OF LUXURY TAXES!” LOOK IT UP, METS NEVER HAVE & CEILING IS $170M FOR 2010, 178M FOR 2011.
HOW’S ABOUT INKING LACKEY (2-4 YRS @ 15-16M PER), TRADING FOR FIELDER(10.5M) OFFERING NUCLEUS OF PELFREY/NIESE, SIGNING MARQUIS(12M?) TO REPLACE PELF, TRADING FOR CRAWFORD(10M), SIGNING MOLINA TO COMPETE WITH THIS:
ROTATION- SANTANA,LACKEY,MARQUIS,PEREZ,MAINE
LINEUP:
REYES
CRAWFORD
BELTRAN
FIELDER
WRIGHT
FRANCOEUR
MOLINA
CASTILLO
PROJECTED 2010 PAYROLL APPROX $147M
NOW, THAT’S CHAMPIONSHIP CALIBER FRED MAY LIVE WITH A DREAM WORTH DREAMING & CERTAINLY SPENDING 147M THE RIGHT WAY.
SURE, I’D PREFER HALLADAY TO LACKEY; BUT I DON’T THINK WE’VE THE CHIPS TO LAND MORE THAN ONE BIG TRADE TARGET. 2 POSSIBLY. 3 NEVER!
Personally if they are going to spend money, I would Sign Holliday, Trade FMart, Mejia and lower prospects for King Feliz. Sign Dotel and Wolf and move Maine to the Bullpen.
Here is what u have.
Reyes
Castillo
Holliday
Beltran
Wright
Francour
Murphy
Santos
Santana
King Feliz
Wolf
Pelfrey
Perez
That would be my plan.
I dont like the game plan. it is continuing to plug holes instead of building a dynasty. i like the trade for king felix but we need a real offense. if you look around baseball all the teams with a strong offense 1-8 are in the playoffs. Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Phillies, Cardinals, Dodgers. Offense takes you to the playoffs, pitching wins championships. we cannot just settle for Matt Holliday and think our problems are solved. Remember we had Delgado in our lineup last season until he was injured and our lineup was still weak. we need 2-3 strong offensive players to make this a potent lineup. the last time mets made the playoffs was in 2006 when they had the best lineup in baseball. we need to get that back!
Reyes
Hudson
Wright
Fielder
Beltran
Holliday
Francouer
Thole
it has speed, power, and batting avg. it is nice mix of lefty/righty and it has gritty and hard nosed players like Hudson, Holliday and Francouer.
First of all, in relating to above posts, the offers that the Red Sox threw around at the deadline for Halladay, Adrian, and Felix were obscenely high, and they were all turned down. The story goes that Theo gave the respective teams a list of the entire farm system and said to pick any 5 players and they’re yours. We can’t offer that in any scenario, and if we did, the Red Sox would beat us.
Second, I think Kevin Towers could be the biggest signing, as we would have a GM in waiting. Bart Hubbuch writes that Omar would have incentive to hire Towers, because of how shaky is security is.
Third, let’s look at the potential salaries.
Bay wants more than JD Drew, who makes $15 mil for the Sox. Bay would likely get $17 mil or above.
Holliday would want something in the same neighborhood, plus there’s the Bora$$ factor. How each does in the postseason could play a part in who gets more. My best estimate on Holliday could be $17 mil, give or take.
Fourth, this would be huge if they got Holliday. Pagan would be the best 4th outfielder in the NL. It would allow F-Mart another 2 yrs. in AAA. But most importantly, it would show that the money is back.
I love your ideas guys.But i think your missing the catcher position.I like Josh Thole but lets not rush him.Lets go sign rod Barajas,between him and Santos we will have a good catching combo.I hope in priority Omar goes this way.Trade for Halladay.Trade Castillo to Tigers for Bonderman.Sign Hudson.Then sign Holliday or Bay.Then go after in this order Lackey-Marquis-Harden-Bedard-Wolf-Garland.I dont think the Mets have enough in the minors yet to make 2 big trades,so singing a 1st baseman is needed.Offer Delgado an incentive laden contract.Or Larouche.I could live with Murphy as a 1st baseman or platooning him with Evans.
So this is my wish list.
Halladay
Hudson
Barajas
Holliday/Bay
Lackey/Marquis/harden/bedard/wolf/garland
Plus if we loose Parnell in the Halladay trade we can use Maine as the setup man
TWO HUGE INTERNAL PROBLEMS TO OVERCOME: FRED REFUSES TO EAT PLAYER CONTRACTS 2 GET HUDSON, U NEED TO MOVE CASTILLO?
HOW CAN U COUNT ON A PITCHER COMING OFF INJURY HAVING HAD TROUBLE GOING EVERY 5(MAINE) & THEN COUNT ON HIM FOR HOPFULLY REPEATED USE WITH LITTLE REST IN A ROLE HE’S UNACCOSTUMED & UNPROVEN IN. MY OPINION, SIGHT LOWER FOR LACKEY INSTEAD OF HALLADAY, DEAL PELFREY/NIESE TO BREWS IN FIELDER DEAL. REPL PELF WITH MARQUIS AS #3 SP ROTATION:
SANTANA,LACKEY,MARQUIS,PEREZ,MAINE W/ SETUP OLDER, MORE EXPERIENCE,MATURE PARNELL WITH STOKES & FELICIANO AS SECONDS.
HUDSON WOULD CERTAINLY BE NICE ADDITION; BUT UNLIKELY DUE TO CASTILLO CONTRACT. RUMOR IS RAYS UNWILLING TO INVEST 10M IN CRAWFORD OPTION SO HE MAY BE DEALT OF FREED & CERTAINLY BETTER TAERGET THAN HOLLIDAY.)(SEE SPEED-DEFENSE)
[...] Mets higher-ups made it fairly clear that the heat is on both GM Omar Minaya and manager Jerry Manuel. “Omar would be gone if not for that extension,” said one Mets person loyal to Minaya, referring to his $3.5 million, three-yearRead more at http://metsmerizedonline.com/2009/10/heyman-has-the-scoop-on-the-mets.html [...]
It would be foolish to try to turn this team into championship caliber in one year. The Mets need time to rebuild the farm system and to allow their younger players a normal maturation and progression.
Too often this organization has been comprised of a thin upper crust of All-Stars but laden with a mosh pit of inexperienced rookies, journeyman and has-beens. I am not a big fan of signing free agents in their 30s or trading quality prospects for ballplayers that have already peaked. It sends the wrong message to the younger players that comprise our minor league system who the Mets had either drafted or acquired through trades or otherwise.
Halladay is in his 30s as is Orlando Hudson, and the latter is particularly injury prone. These ballplayers are particularly talented but probably not in our teams best interest.
I believe that the Mets should focus on improving their organizational structure from the bottom up and not from the top down. There should be an emphasis on fundamentals and promotion from within – with a particular focus on quality pitching. I have seen little evidence of this emphasis for the past two decades, which is why we suck.
I am all for acquiring a ballplayer provided that he is just entering his prime and is durable and is well-suited to team as it is currently constituted. Therefore, my recommendation to Omar is that he utilize his time more wisely in seeking to acquire quality young ballplayers rather than throwing millions of dollars away at questionable talent and rummaging through the bargain bins to patch the rest of his roster like bricks held together with cheap mortar.
I would like to see Brandon Phillips in a New York Met uniform next year.
Here. Here. We need good YOUNG homegrown talent COMPLIMENTED by a few big stars. The Mets cannot sustain any success because they always build a team that has a few all-stars and not much else. You can’t have continued success when you build a team that has at best a three-year window.
If you can trade for Halladay and sign Lackey and Hudson a long with maybe other key quality character guys, done. Getting Halladay would be incredible feet alone for Omar. Focus on pitching, thats the key. But I guess dare to dream right guys?