22
2009
A Nightmarish Scenario
An article by 
Did some of you catch Adam Rubin’s column this morning in the Daily News?
Well I did, and it made me feel quite woozy afterward. Adam revealed a potential Mets backup option if they were to fail to get either Matt Holliday or Jason Bay.
Meet Plan C?
That’s Jose Guillen, currently of the Kansas City Royals. The same Jose Guillen who has worn out his welcome with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Tampa Bay Rays, Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, Cincinnati Reds, Oakland A’s, Los Angeles Angels, Washington Nationals, Seattle Mariners and now it looks like the Royals will be the tenth team in thirteen seasons to bid him good riddance.
Guillen has a resume packed with some bizarre stunts and outrageous behavior. In 2008, Guillen confronted a fan and gave him the finger and cursed him out and had to be restrained from going into the stands because the fan heckled him after he failed to run to first and was called out. The fan was reseated for his own safety. I’ll leave all the steroids and HGH problems out of this post, but suffice it to say there are plenty including a suspension for that.
Adam Rubin writes,
The Royals, who are looking to deal outfielder Jose Guillen, identified the Mets as a potential trading partner, although there was no deal considered close, sources said. Guillen, 33, was limited to 81 games last season with Kansas City because of right leg injuries, including with a ligament tear in the knee and hamstring discomfort. He hit .242 with nine homers and 40 RBI in 281 at-bats.
The Royals want to acquire an inexpensive outfielder in return for Guillen, and are impressed with Angel Pagan despite his shortcomings. They’d be willing to eat money in a swap: Guillen is owed $12 million in 2010, the final season of a three-year, $36 million deal.
Angel Pagan? For a washed up, good for nothing player, who doesn’t even provide the power we desperately need out of leftfield?
Obviously (or should I say luckily?), just because the Royals want to dump Guillen and are enamored with Angel Pagan, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the Mets would do the deal. However, it does raise the specter of that “what if” scenario we have alluded to quite often on this site; What if the Mets fail to sign Bay or Holliday?
Jose Guillen is just the kind of player the Mets would be looking at as a “Plan C”. And if they could find a trading partner like the Royals who would be willing to kick in the cash to make it work, well that would play right into the Mets hands.
What makes this particular proposal so bad, isn’t just the player we would be getting, but more so the player who we are giving up.
Sure, Pagan isn’t the perfect leftfielder, but he is certainly better than Guillen and has far more upside, power and speed at this stage of their careers. And let’s not forget the superior defensive player Pagan is as compared to the leagues worst defensive outfielder in Guillen. Pagan, 28, batted .306 with 6 homeruns, 11 triples, 22 doubles, 32 RBI, 14 stolen bases and 54 runs scored in 343 at-bats last season.
I’m certainly not building a case for Angel Pagan as the Mets everyday leftfielder. At this point I see him as a superb fourth outfielder or part of a productive platoon. But if the choice is between him and any player like Jose Guillen, I’d rather keep and play Pagan in left.
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
Went to my first Mets game, a Mayors Trophy game at Shea, in '73. We beat the Yankees 8-4 and I was hooked. I marched in two Banner Day parades, and before the Grand Slam single, there was the "Hendu Can Do" grand slam - I was there. I've collected Mets memorabilia all my life and started Mets Merized Online to feed my addiction.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationals | 26 | 18 | .591 | - |
| Braves | 26 | 20 | .565 | 1.0 |
| Mets | 24 | 21 | .533 | 2.5 |
| Marlins | 24 | 21 | .533 | 2.5 |
| Phillies | 23 | 23 | .500 | 4.0 |
Last updated: 05/25/2012
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Adam Rubin better be wrong about this. If Omar does this, he needs to be canned instantly. For all of Pagan’s deficiencies, at least he is developing rather than in serious decline. This is one deal that should never be made and is totally ridiculous. If this was ever announced, it would truly be a nightmare for Mets fans.
ACTUALLY, MASK, RUBEN’S “BREAKING” THIS STORY, IS THE BEST NEWS. EXCLUDING SANTANA, WHO WAS THE LAST TRADE TARGET REPORTED BY PRESS THAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED? ZERO,ZILCH. NO SOSA, NO MANNY, NO PUDGE. FOR ALL THE CRITICISM ABSORBED BY OMAR, HIS GREATEST ATTRIBUTE IS HIS STEALTH, COME TO THINK OF IT, THAT MAY ACTUALLY BE A REASON FOR PRESS IRE AS HE’S'SCOOPED’ THEM CONSTANTLY & REGULARLY. CATCHING THEM WITH THEIR PENS UP THEIR BUTTS WITH CAMMY-NADY, MILLEDGE-SCHNEIDER,CHURCH, CHURCH-FRANCOUER, BENSON-JULIO,MAINE, NADY-HERNADEZ,PEREZ, YOSHII-SANCHEZ. NONE OF THOSE DEALS WERE EVER LEAKED. BTW HOUDINI COULDN’T HAVE PULLED OFF SANTANA CLANDESTINEDLY; BUT OMAR CERTAINLY CAME CLOSE. WEREN’T RUBEN & HIS COHORTS IN THE MIDDLE OF TYPING THE DEALS OBIT WHEN OMAR ANNOUNCED SUCCESS?
62, You may very well be right about that insofar as Rubin publishing that thing may very well be the kiss of death for it. Hopefully that’s the case and this is a tempest in a teapot that will go down the drain when the teapot gets washed out. Hopefully Omar has already laughed to himself when he read that story. At least we can hope that’s the case.
Guillen is nother one of those guys that O has always coveted. But if he has nothing to say about personnel, there is nothing to worry about. This move smells of cheap. Therefore the Wontpons just might do it. They never learn
MASK, FROM THE TONE OF RUBINS COMMENTARY IT SEEMED LIKE KC CALLED US; THOUGH CONJERCTURE IS IT WAS NYM IDEA. TYPICAL NYPRESS OBFISCATED FEAR MONGERING.
How is it we jump to ‘Pan C’ from ‘Plan A’…what about the ‘B’ i’ve been touting for the past several days…? Forget Guillen..actually, i think the Mets higher-ups realize how irate the fan base is and will do their darn best to not screw-up and give us the likes of a Guillen or a Milton Bradley, or some other disgruntled multi-millionaire.
‘Plan B’ is comprised of getting the likes of Marquis, Sheets, Wolf; trading Castillo for Pierre or somebody, signing Figgins, signing Nady/Jacobs for 1B and OF, and/or trading for Crawford or Granderson instead of Pierre…this is a good complement of good players that would make us very competitive next year.
Madden in the Daily News today talks of ‘DeRosa’ for LF…i like DeRosa and have mentioned him as a possible pickup, useful across the IF/OF but i hear the Yankees ‘really’ want him and half of you guys panned the name anyway…
Madden also talks about the Mets ‘reducing’…yeah, shrinking their payroll for 2010 by 10mm…please give me a break..i doubt they’d have the chutzpah to do that…it’d foment a rebellion among us Met diehards. No way we should let them get away with that if they attempt it…storm the airways and print media and blogs with vitriol if they even whisper it…i never heard ‘that’, heard Jeff Wilpon say he’d keep the payroll the same, and be aggressive in reshaping the team…Madden hates NY teams, the guy bugs me…
Your plan is a sound one for the Mets to pursue if this were any other year but 2010. The Mets need a player who gives the other team a reason to think twice about pitching to him, they have plenty of line drive hitters, they need pure power! You’d want the opposing manager to have to manage two to three innings ahead. Pitchers have no fear of throwing a pitch right down the middle, the Mets have to invest in a home run threat.
I believe he means Plan A Holliday, Plan B Bay, Plan C (who knows). I think you’re talking about priorites, but the author is talking about the plan for leftfield.
Now your are talking. A little boycott sounds nice. Don’t-don’t- don’t support the won’t-pons. Actually the only true hope for this franchise is that they sell. And they never will, unless, perhaps, people sty away in droves.
If this player (Guillen) manages to find his way into a Mets uniform, I think we should all protest and not go to Opening Day and send a signal to the Wilpons. I never thought I would ever see a worse period than the M. Donald Grant years in my lifetime, but sadly Omar and the Wilpons are getting dangerously close.
yes i would definitely hold onto to Pagan over this guy.
Pagan is a good 4th outfielder.He proved last year if Beltran gets hurt or needs a rest ,he can step in for him,plus play the other outfield positions.I dont believe he is a starter though.Id still like the Mets to sign Marquis and Figgins now,just to start.It will put them in a better position,talking to free-agents and on the trade market.
i agree sixxis, that we need a power hitter. My issue is threefold: 1) neither Holliday nor Bay are good fielders for a very spacious LF at CitiField; 2) i betcha their power number dwindle at CitiField…much of Holliday’s power is to right-center (like Wright’s); and 3) there is no way that the Mets beat out either the Red Sox / Angels / Yankees for either Mr Holliday or Mr Bay.
And i fear them trying to do that all winter long…to ‘play’ in the Boras sideshow all winter long for Holliday and come up empty. And there’s no chance that the Red Sox will not re-sign Bay if they lose out on Holliday.
This explains my frenzy over coming up with a comprehensive Plan B strategy that encompasses all our needs: pitching foremost, and if not pure power, then a combo of speed, small ball, and damn good hitting as a replacement. And trading for Crawford or Granderson (31 hrs in a ‘bad’ ’09) would be a very intriguing solution instead of Pierre (both steal bases and have some ‘pop’ and Crawford stole 60 bases last year). If either can be ‘had’ in a trade, they’d be a great substitute for Pierre; also, both are also 3 – 4 yrs younger i think than Pierre. i don’t know what our odds of getting them are in a trade, which is why i keep emphasizing Pierre. Plus we get rid of Castillo that way and could then sign Figgins, whom i think would be a great piece to the team and the lineup.
So, Plan B in my wooly head includes 3 among Marquis, Wolf, Sheets, Harden, Piniero (whom would be my last choice); trade Castillo for someone; sign Figgins; sign Nady/Jacobs for 1B and some OF; or for LF trade for either Crawford or Granderson, if possible.
And, i’d be more than happy to go into 2010 with that combo of players with Santos/Thole as our catchers. None from the bunch of Molina, Barajas, LoDuca, or Snyder (in a trade) excite me at all: the first 2 are 34 – 35; LoDuca is 37…and Snyder very iffy offense #s.
i also think that Thole, very soon, will ripen into a very very good major league hitter…like LoDuca was in his prime.
Plan C: Mark DeRosa
Plan D: Jermaine Dye
No one player is a ‘plan’. No ‘one’ player revitalizes our chances to contend. It must encompass a comprehensive strategy.
A good strategy involves several plans. A plan for LF, a plan for the rotation, a plan for C, a plan for setup man. First you adopt your goal, then you develop your strategy or blue print, then you subdivide it into several working plans for each part of your blue print or strategy.
If u said Castillo for Guillen, i could see some sense in that but not much.
I mean if the plan is something like Guillen, Hudson, Molina, Marquis, i am going to be really upset because that is terrible. Wow my pierre for castillo trade is not so bad when their talking about this bum guillen.
Dave, the ‘Plan B’ i’ve been touting takes all the components needed to be added to the Mets to contend next season…obviously ‘different’ players can be added to our pitching category, LF/1B category, catching, et cetera, and parsed and added to, deleted, et cetera…but Plan B encompasses pitching. power, defense, speed, and all that good stuff…
i was trying to be practical, given the competition for the headline guys and still get to the endpoint, which is winning enough games to get us intothe playoffs.
I like how absolutely no moves have been made yet this offseason, no big FAs being signed or anything, and yet Met fans are running around like headless chickens as if the sky is falling. Get a grip, lets see how it all pans out before burning our Mets hats.
I believe that rumors are sometimes started by teams to gauge any type of reaction, Fans have more say than you think. Many of us have no trust in Mets ownership; they have proven they won’t go top-dollar even when necessary in fact, this rumor smells of it..So yes I want rumors bandied about so the Mets can see that we are watching and won’t tolerate nothing less than a supreme effort in improving this team.
P.S. Bob L. I understand where you’re coming from…nice insight.
i totally agree with you, Sixxis. We Met fans. on the back of a disastrous 2009 have got to keep up the heat…and concrete ideas going forth…virtually daring ownership/management to screw it up once again…when there are multiple options out there that would re-fit this team for success.
Of course, if we do sign/trade forthese guys, we’d have to hold our breath that their recent records hold true and we get no plethora of injuries…but we must be aggressive and pursue a strategy.