While the Mets consider the virtues of Daniel Murphy as their starting first baseman in 2010, Mets fans continue to debate his pros and cons. Several other first base options are also being weighed in the balance including stop gaps like Aubrey Huff or Russell Branyan, and multi-year options like Adam La Roche, Jorge Cantu and Nick Johnson.
Mets prospect Ike Davis has the base excited, but most realize he may be a year or more away from being a legitimate option. Davis by the way was named to the Arizona Fall League’s Rising Stars Showcase, which is nice, but lets not get too carried away as he was one of two first baseman selected from a whopping six teams.
Several Arizona sources believe that Diamondback’s first baseman Conor Jackson, may be non-tendered after hauling in a $3.06 million dollar award for the 2009 season, a significant increase from the $425K he made in 2008. Even in a season that Jackson lost to a bad case of Valley Fever, it’s expected that he could still get another increase which is a big problem for the cash strapped D’Backs.
Jackson practically missed the entire season in 2009 and played in just 30 games after a huge breakout season in 2008 that saw him bat .300 with a .376 on-base percentage.
The former 2003 first round pick, lost almost 20 pounds due to his bout with the disease, but he has gained most of that weight back and is quickly getting back into baseball shape. He is off to a hot start at Escogido of the Dominican winter league, hitting .350 with a .518 OBP and a 1.043 OPS in 13 games. Aside from his impressive output thus far, is his 14 walks as compared to his 8 strikeouts. A small sample size for sure, but we’ve seen this before from Jackson in his career. He also has four stolen bases and no caught stealing. It’s safe to say that Jackson is healthy again and the best may be yet to come in 2010.
A few more things to note about his last full season in 2008 was Jackson’s 11.3 K% and his .321 BABIP. The 27 year old Jackson hit 12 homers that season and stroked 31 doubles.
When you compare Jackson’s 3.5 WAR that season against this years available first basemen: LaRoche 2.4, Cantu 1.6, Huff -1.2, Branyan 2.8 and Johnson 2.4, it’s easy to see how much more valuable Conor Jackson is, and remember he’s much younger than all of them too. By the way, Daniel Murphy’s WAR was a disappointing 0.6 last season.
When Jackson was originally drafted, he was projected to be an excellent contact hitter with moderate power and a great eye at the plate. He hasn’t disappointed, and he could be on the verge of a power spike as he enters his peak years.
If the rumors are true and Arizona non-tenders Conor Jackson, I’d be very interested if I were the Mets.
There’s alot of talk about the mets building up their farm club but trade Ike Davis, Murphy, and F-mart and whoever else to get Halladay. Then your probablly thinking what about first base and left field well by trading for Halladay I’m sure that would be enough for Holliday ( a left fielder ) and Conor Jackson ( a first baseman ) or whoever you want to get. That would show them that the Mets mean business and they should be willing to go to the Mets and in that case I’m sure that would have Molina very interested in coming to the Mets and be our backstop. Thanks and please leave comments and let me know what you think
I agree with you getting Halladay is top priority.If we can get him Barajas might want to come here also?
Yes he is a top priority if not him I would even settle for John Lackey. I like Barajas but I would prefer to have Molina because if I’m correct he is a better hitting catcher and is better for the rotation.
it’s not tough to find out if you’re correct or not. but, you aren’t. Molina was awful last year with an OBP around 290(!!!). His one saving attribute is his power, but unless the walls are brought in, that could suffer also in Citi Field. If he will take 2 million I’d do it, but he won’t and Omar will probably offer him 2/10 million after extending frenchie for three years at which point I will drink hemlock.
Ok well thanks because I wasn’t really sure what his numbers were but I don’t think Rod Barajas would be a better option because his OBP was .258 and if you say Molina’s was around .290 then Molina would be the better option. Barajas had a OBP of .258 with 19 HR’s and Molina had a OBP of .290 with 20 HR’s so there stats in those category’s are fairly similar. As for bringing in the walls at Citi Field I don’t thinks its necessary because look at all the HR’s hit by opposing hitters.
He is also one of the slowest men on earth.
CAPSLOCK=DISABILITY ACCOMODATION
DANIEL, I HEAR U; BUT THE BIGGESTISSUE IN DEALING FOR ‘DOC’ ISN’T AS MUCH WHO WE SACRIFICE; BUT SIGNING HIM TO STAY ONCE ACQUIRED. YOUR PROPOSAL PUTS US IN THE SAME ‘DO OR DIE’ CONTRACT POSITION JOHAN HAD US IN. ONLY HIGHER PRICED. MY QUSTION IS DESPITE THE DOMINANT PITCHING ROTATION, CAN THE METS SURVIVE & CONTINUE TO COMPETE CARRYING THE BURDEN OF 3 CONTRACTS OF 18-20M PER FOR MULTIPLE YEARS WITH NO-TRADE CLAUSES? SANTANA+BELTRAN+HALLADAY ISN’T THAT THE SAME BINDING ISSUE THE YANKS FOUND THEMSELVES IN YEARS AGO? NYM DO NOT HAVE THE FREESPENDING, NO-BUDGET CONTRAINTS OF NYY. I FEAR THOUGH YOUR PROPOSAL IS LIKELY THE MORE OBVIOUS W & L SOLYUTION IT’S UNTENABLE REGARDING P & L.
Ok and yes I agree. So then from your opinion who do you think the Mets should go after ? What about Lackey he would demand less then Halladay.
Daniel,is you K24?
K24???
Great idea to go for Conor Jackson, if the D*backs don’t tender for him. I’d also sign Matt Holliday AND Mark DiRosa to play 1B/2B/OF if Murphy labors (or is included in a package for Haliday), or Castillo falters and just to have as a great, versatile, backup, if nothing else, but i bet he’d be a lot more than that. Then trade for Doc Haliday, sign John Lackey.
And, again, i’d trade Beltran to Boston for Buchholz and prospects, such as a combo of Kalish, Nava, and pitchers Williamson and/or Portice.
Reshape and shake this team up. Give it discipline, versatility, power, grit and PITCHING and we’ll win it next year.
Yeaa, Umm I agree and disagree. I think we should go after Halladay and Holliday as well as Jackson but Derosa I’m not to sure about him as is the fact I don’t know much about him so. I would love to sign Lackey and Halladay but I don’t think it’s necessary to sign both because if you have Santanna and Halladay at the top of the rotation then everyone else drops and there roles decrease and have less pressure on them to perform as a number 2 or 3 starter. As for trading Beltran I’m not for breaking up the core meaning trading away Beltran, Wright and/or Reyes but then again your right we do need to mix things up a bit. What do you think about signing Jaramillo the former hitting coach of Texas. I believe he would change fix our power shortage that they had last year.
I said no to molina and yes to barajas above b/c rod will prolly cost us 1/6 to 1/10th of what molina will want.
I don’t understand why people STILL bring up the sox trading Buch. They will not trade him. If they re-sign beckett a 1-3 of becks lester and buch is prolly the best in baseball.
Holliday is a no-brainer, and I really think it’ll happen.
In regards to lackey, Robcast23 over at AA made a pretty good argument against signing him and i agree unless he will come for a 4/70 contract which prolly won’t happen.
Derosa is kinda pointless… where is he gonna play? Murph can be expected to put up somewhat batter numbers next year and Derosa is anything but our solution to the power situation and he had a worse OBP than frenchie which is hardly a compliment to frenchie. And you wanna give a multi-year deal for derosa?
Yeaa your right he will probably cost less. I don’t know why they do but whatever because Minaya would never do that and yeaa that would be the best starting rotation in front of the Mets if they get Halladay. It will happen only if Minaya pulls the trigger but with him being on the hot seat he better make some moves to improve the club. Yeaa Lackey is going to want a big contract no doubt there. Even if the Mets were to sign a utility player I don’t think it would be Derosa. As far as Murphy I know the Mets like him but if they want to go out and get a pitcher like Halladay or a power hitting HR hitter I don’t think he will be at Met by spring training.
Murphy’s main value is that he is still young controllable and cheap for a few more years. He should improve next year and he CAN be our everyday 1b if he gets the OBP a little higher and we get a Holliday and if frenchie plays the entire next seasn like he did at the end of 2009. That 2nd part is very iffy. I dont see frenchie doing too well.
Id love to get Halladay and ive been in disagreement with a lot of people but i dont see him costing very much. It is only 1 season and Lee was cheaper for a season and a half and didn’t cost a ton in prospects. As long as Mejia and Davis arent included id be fine with a Holt, Flores, and Tejada or maybe Nieuwenhius or however its spelled. Id rather hang on to tejada though and try to throw in parnell or murph.
DANIEL, NOT EVEN JARAMILLO CAN TURN WATER INTO WINE OR PIG EARS INTO SILK PURSES. I BELIEVE WE NEED TO SIMPLIFY IT. GETTING HALLADAY,LACKEY OR WHOMEVER IS A MUST FOR #2; BUT NOT EVEN BOB GIBSON OR TOM SEAVER EVER WON A 0-0 GAME! THIS TEA, IN MY OPINION AT MINIMUM HAS 3 POSITIONS 1B,LF,C TO ADD A MINIMUM OF 50 HR GUARANTEED ANY COMBO THAT EQUASLS LESS THAN THAT FAILS TO MEET MIN REQUIREMENTS. I’M ALSO BULLISH ON WRIGHT & FRENCHY PROVIDING AT LEAST 30 MORE THASN ’09 BETWEEN THEM. I’VE FLOATED A HYPOTHESIS OUT THERE NO ONE SEES AS CREDIBLE. YET WE’VE ALL SEEN HOW D.WRIGHT CAN ADJUST/DRESIL HIS APPROACH TO ACCOMODATE A PERSONAL GOAL AS HE DID PRIOR TO THE HOMERUN HITTING CONTEST HE LOST Vs HOWARD. I BELIEVE THAT UNDERLYING HIS BA OVER POWER APPROACH LAST YR MAY BE ATTRIBUTABLE TO HIS CHARITABLE GOALS Re. THAT UNFORTUNATE CONTEST HE ENTERED Vs JETER FOR CHARITY BASED ON HIGHER BA.
I hear what your saying but Jaramillo is an improvement over Johnson now I love Johnson as a coach but not our hitting coach. Just look at what Jaramillo has done 4 players won MVP awards and Micheal Young was a 5 time all-star under his tenure. No Met player over our history has won a prestigious MVP award. Jaramillo had Juan Gonzalez, Pudge Rodriguez, Alex Rodriguez and Micheal Young. So I imagine what he could of done for Wright, Francoeur etc… Well I’m going to stop talking about this cause it can’t happen cause he is now the hitting coach for the Cubs.
CAPSLOCK=DISABILITY ACCOMODATION
DANIEL, YOUR LIST OF JARAMILLO SUCCESS STORIES SHOCKED ME WITH THE REALIZATION GONZALES,I-ROD, A-ROD ALL HAD SOMETHING ELSE IN COMMON IN ADDITION TO RUDY,,,(JUICERS) WONDER WHAT HONEST RESULTS WOULD’VE BEEN. PERSONALLY I THINK HITTING COACH IS TOO OVERBLOWN, WHAT ANGERS ME RE. OUR GUYS IS MY BELIEF THEY’RE COUNTING ON VIDEO TOO MUCH, OBVIOUSLY CONCENTRATING ON THAT GAME’S SP WHICH WOULD EXPLAIN THE STUMBLING OFFENSE AGAINST RELIEVERS. TOO OFTEN OUR LINEIP STARTS BANGING EARLY AGAINT THE STARTER, THEN SUDDENLY FIZZLES AGAINST MEDIOCRE RELIEVERS. WHY? I THINK IT’S VIDEOS INSTEAD OF BUILDING SEE-REACT ABILITIES TOO MUCH GUESSING RELYING ON VIDEO TENDAANCIES! THAT’S MY 2 CENTS WORTH OF GUESS.
Yeaa I believe he can be its just that if the Mets are to go get Halladay I think there going to want Murphy who can play everyday and who has the value that you speak of. Halladay’s cost right now I think would be a little high because its the off-season but if it were during the season and the Blue Jays status as a team changed like if they fell out of contention early then yeaa he would come cheap. As far as what I would give up for him I wouldn’t give up Tejeda or Parnell because Tejeda is still very young and talented and Parnell early on showed what he is capable of but I would be willing to give up Murphy, Martinez and whoever else. Now say we do get Halladay what do they do with numbers 3 through 5 because I don’t trust Perez as for Maine you don’t know what your going to get with him and as for Pelfrey he needs more time.
My point was Halladay will be (maybe significantly) cheaper in prospects than Cliff Lee. F! I wouldn’t give up, he is still insanely young for the levels he has been playing at and has played very well in the minors. Murphy may have to go in that deal, I am just not sure what the new jays GM would be looking for exactly.
Pelfrey’s surface stats this year were worse than 2008, but if you look at the process he was essentially the same. Losing reyes and dubs having an awful year defensively really hurt him. He struck out more batters and walked a little more, but his peripheral numbers were very similar. He should be expected to duplicate or maybe exceed his 2008 numbers and with a bit of luck have a very good year.
Ollie we are stuck with and while not the mess he was last year, he wont be ollia circa 2007 IMO. Id expect a 4.5 ERA with lotsa strikeouts and another insane amount of walks.
I am hoping we go out and sign Bedard and maybe also Garland as a legitimate pitcher who stays healthy but doesnt pitch as terribly as Livan. But i could see us gettin bedard on a 1/6 with 5-6 mil in incentives
I’m with MetsKnicksRutgers on Halladay not costing asmuch as some people think. The BJAYs blew their chance to get max value for him mid-season. However, I only make the deal if Mets are given the chance to negotiate an extension with him before the deal is completed.
Yeaa that’s true but I still think the Jays are going to be asking a little high for Halladay as they would try and get whatever they could for him kind of like with Santana.
the man made 30 errors at 1b in 2008….with numbers like that it wont be too different then daniel murphy
Jim B who are you referring to ?
Cheaper in prospects maybe but like you said we don’t know what their new GM would want in return. I’m hoping for Pelfrey to have similar stats to 08 and as for Reyes if he’s healthy then I think that says it all he just needs to grow up. Yeaa were stuck with ollie I don’t know why Minaya didn’t just give Lowe that extra year or so I think it was that he wanted. Garland had kind of an off year compared to the last few years but yeaa if he’s out there why not as for Bedard he got hurt and only pitched in 15 games and was 5-3 so yeaa I geuss if he comes cheap. I had some other options like Webb or Sheets or Marquis to fill that 3 slot and drop Pelfrey to 4 and then maybe sign like a Josh Fogg or someone to fill the number 5 slot. Then what would you do with Maine,Perez and Neise well I would put Maine and Perez in the bullpen being as they were talking about moving ollie to the pen and keep Neise in the minors and let him get more work in were he can pitch more then he would in the league.
Niese should def start the year in the minors, but the guy is ready, and Id be fine with him being the 4/5th starter with ollie switching back and 4th if we can get a bedard and maybe even harden combo and STILL get Garland allowing Niese to start in AAA.
W/L for a pitcher are terrible indicators of success especially future success as shown by Johan who could have easily won 22-23 games in 08 if it weren’t for hte BP and jerry over-managing.
And I didn’t want ollie or lowe at the time of the deals. Lowes is actually worse now considering Ollie can only improve and has 2 years left while Lowe will regress and still has 3 years and 45 million on that contract. We could get lowe right now if we wanted to were we to assume the entire contract. Thatd be stupid thouhg.
Webb would be an automatic yes, but the Dbacks are gonna pick up his option and I wouldnt wanna give Marquis anymore than a 1/4-5 million dollar deal. He got extremely lucky this year, and has plenty of room to regress.
Sheets is similar to Bedard and Harden for me, if I had to pick itd be a tie between sheets and bedard and harden a disant third.
Having Maine, Perez, Niese, Nieve, Garland etc. battling for the 4-5th spots with Johan, Bedard and Pelf id feel pretty comfortable with.
Yeaa he should but I don’t think he’s ready he showed some signs but he didn’t pitch a whole year so we can’t really say what would of turned out. Santana would of won anywhere from 18 to 21 games but like you said the bullpen blew so many games that I lost count. The only reason why I can say ollie can improve is because the first couple of starts he had when Warthen became the pitching coach Perez pitched well so yeaa I can say he could improve but will he we don’t know. The D backs will pick up his option but if they don’t then I would sign him in a heart beat as for Marquis if they were to sign him as there number 4 or 5 starter I could live with that. My situation with Sheets is that I think he wouldn’t cost a lot and it would be a high reward low risk because if we sign him cheap and pitches well then were good and if he didn’t then it wouldn’t bother me because they didn’t shell out a lot of money for him. You can’t have Perez fighting for a rotation spot because the money you paid him so he has to have a spot in the rotation which kills us.
Yeaa, but Murphy isn’t overrated he’s still young. Minaya would never trade Beltran the only reason why were talking about this is because some reported posted a blog saying that. Plus if the Red Soxs were to make that trade they would be losing a lot. They would be losing Buchholz which gives them the best rotation in baseball and if you say Beltran’s knees would be a problem then they would be losing cause what if he got injured and was out all year then what. I think with the whole idea of getting gritty players and what not I’m 50/50 on it I think we need to get players who know how to play and who want to play.
yes, good idea to sign Jaramillo. i’d include Murphy in the trade for Haliday;Murphy is asslow as a slug and over-rated, although i like him too, but we get better without him.
DeRosa is clutch, versatile, gritty, all-around good player and has some power. He’d be a great addition.
Beltran is the one to go; he’s getting older; i still bet his knees are gonna be issues; and he doesn’t SLIDE! And yes, the Sox seem to want him and they would trade Buchholz for him..it was from their side, that Buchholz was mentioned.
We’d be a much much better team, with real deep pitching and gritty players with power.
i am convinced, it’s the way to go. Trade Beltran and sign the other guys, including Conor Jackson, which was a great idea….and we win it!
Ok… why would Epstein trade Buch for beltran? Please explain because it really makes no sense. If he wouldn’t include him in a deal for Agon or Halladay, why would he do it for Beltran who is coming of a knee injury and is an FA in 2011 while buch is controllable and awesome. This rumor was pure speculation. We cant trade beltran right now we WILL NOT GET FAIR VALUE, and because he doesn’t slide maybe 1-2 times a year we need to get rid of him? Did you forget that this guy is a top 2-3 CF?
And Derosa is terribly overrated. His OBP was 319 last year, and his perceived value hasn’t plummeted meaning we would have to overpay for him to play where exactly? LF is for Holliday, that move must be made. 1B is murph and hopefully evans/jackson for 2010 unless Ike is ready earlier. Castillo is our 2b unless somebody takes on his contract which would be great but is unlikely.
Not to mention those 2 sliding catches he made against the braves on Sept 22
Derosa beat out murph in wOBA by 9 points, while a decent amount is not a significant number especially considering contractual differences, and murphs age and potential for growth while Derosa can only regress
Yeaa but with Castillo he had a bounce back year compared to the year before but can his knees hold up. If we do trade Murphy who do you see the Mets going after ?
Beltran has peaked; he’ll break down, he’s still a 5-tool player, but will fade soon. Yet, ironically, Epstein does want him. Let’s take advantage of that. They’re down on Ellsbury and they will trade Buchholz for Beltran.
Beltran has no energy; no emotion on the field; we have too many players like that. We have to reshape this team
DeRosa is, in fact, under-rated for the intangibles he brings to a team. He can play about 5 positions; is a better 2B than Castillo for pete’s sake, and would spark the offense and stabilize the defense.
Murphy should be used as one of the pieces to get Haliday.
Sign DeRosa, Holliday, C. Jackson, Lackey; trade Beltran; trade for Doc Haliday. This team is totally revamped and hungry.
Keep Beltran and get the same Jell-o in a tught spot.
I don’t know how to answer this but here it goes. This whole Beltran thing was brought up because some reporter posted it and since then we haven’t heard anything from Epstein so. If the Soxs did that they would be losing greatly both with Beltran and by losing Buchholz and what makes you think they would do that if they expect to compete with the now 27 time champion Yankees. I have nothing to say about Derosa and Castillo so….
Your ripping of Beltran is typical for a fan looking for a scapegoat for a teams failures. Beltran is awesome, and the reason he looks like he doesnt have energy is because he is so good, he makes things look easy.
And Derosa is terribly defensively, he plays a buncha positions none of them all that well. In fact most pretty crappy, and at a corner position he loses a ton of value due to his lack of offensive prowess.
Do some research and explain how Beltran isn’t energetic while Derosa is rather than one is gritty and the other isn’t. Because there is no way you can prove it.
Well I’m done for today. Tomorrow we can finish this Good Talking to you guys
I never started ripping Beltran that was Bob L so
The ‘way’ to ‘prove’ it is to LOOK at the results: Beltran does not hustle; does not SLIDE; shows no energy or cohesion with his team, and is emblematic of ‘what’ ails the Mets: lethargy, undelivered potential, and ‘softness’ in tight spots. And Beltran is aboutthe only one of the ‘core’, we could get anything for at this point. Epstein won’t trade Buccholz. Fine, but find out if he would…because the reporter that touted that is an influential sports writer close to the Boston scene. Just find out.
The larger point is, that this team MUST be revamped. We should sign the guys i’ve elicited above or players available ‘like them’.
i’m not wedded to getting DeRosa, but Lackey, Holliday, Haliday, and a 1B (Jackson, or someone else)…and shaking up this team….trading one of the ‘core’ are essential components of making the Mets winners.
The Philies lost last night. But they never seemed out of it. They battled. The Ibanez and even Victorino at-bats late in the game against Mariano for the love o’ Mike, proved their grist, grit, evidenced the reasons they’ve been thorns in our side for 3 years.
My main point is to go get the guys that matter: make the starting rotation DEEP, get some pop, and yeah some grit, hustle, spirit…and go do it.
i ‘pick’ on Beltran, quite frankly, because he’s the only ‘one’ of the vaunted ‘core’ we could get ‘anything’ for at this point. And i believe the Mets being reborn, ‘begins’ with one of the core, in this case, Beltran, being traded.
You notice these things about Beltran, but they are extremely small samples of his overall game. With the exception of 2009 he is hailed by both stat-heads (UZR, Dewans +/- system) and scouts universally for his outstanding defense. And can you think of how many times last year he didn’t slide? Maybe twice I would say. Did those two slides really have anywhere near the impact that his franchise record 41 HRs in 2006 did? or his 909 OPS from 06-08 with 101 HRs and 66 SBs to just 8 CS? How about his 3 GGs during that period (even though I dont take GGs seriously).
If you are worried about Beltran getting old and regressing a whole bunch and thats your reason for trading him, I understand but don’t lump him in with our SP failing us in 07 and the BP falling off of a cliff in 08. The core was mostly injured this year and we went from a 89 win team to a 70 win team, and you blame it on Beltran when he was OPSing 915 playing on balky knees that our defunct training staff ignored.
And saying it was the Phillies grit that won them 3 straight Division CHampionships is unfair to their players (and we kinda owned them head to head in 08 so they werent really a thorn in our side). In 07 they got a career season from Rowand, a near 1000 OPS from Howard, Utley doing the same thing at a non-slugging position, and an MVP year (albeit undeserved) from Rollins along with decent seasons from Ruiz, Werth and Pat Burrel. Similar to everything breaking right for the yanks this season (8 freaking regulars OPSing over 800!) the phils entire pitching staff had career seasons in 08. Moyer was awesome, Hamels was an ace, Myers was hot at the end of the year as was Blanton and Lidge had a very good LOB%.
Give credit where it is due, they had damn good teams, it wasn’t their hustle and grit that got em where they are. Using that as an explanation is dishonest and takes the easy way out of doing any type of research and thought.
The makeup of the Phillies, the ‘characters’ they are, combined with their ‘on paper’ talent combined to make them Pennant winners the past few years, and WS Champions last year, and giving the Yanks a hell of a Series, this year. It is ‘their talent’ sure, but they have something in addition to their talent that our vaunted core lacks. i call it grit, girst; some would label it ‘clutch’.
Look at the Yanks this year: A-Rod…..he jelled; maybe it’s Kate Hidson, maybe it’s Tex, maybe it’s the rest of the team and he accepting each other. i dunno. But i do recall the number of times the Yankees came back in games all thru the year and into the Post Season and through the WS.
It has mysterious causes; it can be called cohesion.
The Mets have lacked that in recent years.
i’m ‘picking on’ Beltran because i think we have to trade one of our core guys, and he is the only one that we could get ‘anything’ for at this point.
And looking at the possible additions to the team over this off season, discussed in this space, i believe we’d be a better team ‘with’ Lackey, Holliday, Halliday, C. Jackson at 1B (or someone), maybe a Mark DeRosa (if the Front Office agrees with me)…and trading Beltran to the BOSOX for Buccholz (i think it a possibility; you guys don’t) or a package of 1st tier prospects, like kalish, Nava, Rizzo, Williamson (SP), and/or Portice (SP). Thanks.
CAPSLOCK=DISABILITY ACCOMODATION
BOB, I AGREE WITH YOUR ‘NEEDS’ ASSESSMENT; BUT DISAGREE WITH YOUR TRADEABLE COMMODITY ASSESSMENT. WHAT HAS ALWAYS BEEN ONE OF THE MOST DESIRED BASEBALL COMMODITIES IS PITCHING, ESP ROTATION GRADE, WHHICH FOR SAKE OF THIS POINT I’LL BREAK INTO LEVELS 1,2,3,4,5 TO CORRESPOND WITH ROTATIONAL SLOT.
LAST SEASON THE NYM USED 12 SP THROUGHOUT THE ROTATION WITH VARYING DEGREES OF SUCCESS. NONE OF THOSE 12 WERE LIMA CLONES. SOME VIABLE, SOME UNTENABLE. WE HAVE 1 STUD GRADE 1 PITCHER, NO GRADE 2 & AND AN ABUNDANCE OF 3 THROUGH 5. WHILE MOST WOULD SCOFF AT THE VIABILITY OF PELFREY,MAINE,PEREZ,NIESE,NIEVE,MISCH,REDDING,FIGUEROA,ETC. THEY WOULD BE ACCURATE, IF AS WE ‘VE BEEN LED TO BELIEVE IN ST EVERY FRONTOFFICE SEES TYHEMSELVES AS HOPEFUL WS CONTENDERS. IN THE 21st CENTURY THAT IS NO LONGER THE CASE. RATHER THERE ARE AT LEAST 20 OF THE 30 FRANCHISES I BELIEVE WHO’S PRIMARY FRONTOFFICE GOAL IS A PLAYOFF BERTH. TYPICALLY IN THIS ECONOMY THOSE 10 BELIEVERS IN THE WS GRAIL ARE TYPICALLY THE TOP 10 IN PAYROLLS. FOR ’09 THEY ARE NYY, NYM, CHC, DET, PHL, BOS, LAA, LAD, HOUS, CHSX. WITH THIS ECXONOMY THE WORD IS MANY OF THOSE REMAINING TEAMS ARE REEVALUATING CERTAIN VET PLAYERS TO DETERMINE VIABILITY OF ROSTER SPOT BASED STRICTLY ON ROI. AS SALARY IS DECREASING THE VIABILITY OF CERTAIN HIGH PRICED PLAYERS, LOWER COST OPTIONS ARE EXPERIENCING AN INCREASE IN VIABILITY STANDING. THUS MANY OF OUR “LACKLUSTER” 2 THROUGH 6 SPing ASSETS, BY VIRTUE OF LOW COST WILL BE IN HIGHER DEMAND IF WE PKG THEM PROPERLY. JUST TAKE A LOOK AT THE 2 WS TEAMS THAT JUST COMPETED THE WINNER WITH 3 TOP TIER SP(CC,AJ,ANDY) THE LOSER WITH 2(HAMELS,LEE) GAZE THROUGH ALL OF THE REMAINING TEAMS AND MORE THAN WE REALIZE ARE CHOOSING “GET BY” TALENTS FOR BACXKEND ROTATORS. I DO NOT BELIEVE OUR TRADE SUCCESS WILL BE BEST SERVED IN SACRIFICING A CORE PLAYER RATHER 2 OF OUR SP (MAINE & PELFREY LIKELY MOST VALUABLE COMMODITIES). THAT’S WHERE I’D START NEGOTIATING DEALS FROM BOTH ARGUABLY ARE VIABLE ESTABLISHED MID ROTATION SP. ATLANTA IS ANOTHER TEAM LOOKING TO DEAL A SP, WHO ON PAPER IS DEFINITLY MORE CAPABLE TO CONTRIBUTE BUT ANY ONE OF WHICH WILL EARN MORE THAN BOTH MAINE & PERLFREY COMBINED. THIS IS THE DAWN OF A NEW AGE WHERE ROI SALARY vS. FIELD CONTRIBUTIONS ARE A GREAT FACTOR. FOR INSTANCE, DERRECK LOWE IS EARNING 15M PER WHILE MAINE & PELFREY COMBINED ARE UNDER 6M, IS LOWE’S PRODUCTIVITY PER $ GOING TO BE > OR < PELFREY+MAINE.
THIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN A SUBTLE FACTOR IN PLAY; BUT IS MUCH MORE OBVIOUS IN AN ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT WHEREBY DISCRETUIONARY INC FROM ATTENDANCE,LOGO MKTING, LUXURY TAX DISPERSMENTS ARE SO VOLATILE. FORGETTING OTHER NEEDS LIKE #1C & LF, FOR NOW, I PROPOSE OMAR APPROACH BOTH MILW & SD ON THEIR 1B(FIELDER & GONZALES) MILWALKEE GM ALREADY HAS HELD PRESSER ANNOUNCING HIS OFFSEASON GOAL OF ADDING 2 'ESTABLISHED' SP WITH A WILLINGNESS TO SACRIFICE HIS HIGHLY TOUTED BEST PROSPECT TO DO SO. PADSRES ARE OBVIOUSLY LOOKING TO CONTAIN COSTS OVER LONG HAUL. THE METS HAVE MANY NEEDS AND FEW ESTABLISHED HIGHLY REGARDED PROSPECTS. IT IS IN THE NYM BEST INTERESTS TO COMBINE FA SIGNINGS & TRADES TO FILL HOLES. NOT ALL TRADE TARGETS CAN BE ACQUIRED FROM TEAMS REQUIRING PROSPECTS. ANY HOLES THAT CAN BE FILLED BY DEAKLING OFF MLB ROSTER EXCESS SUCH AS BACKEND LEVEL SPing. ALL BUT PEREZ IS VERY COST EFFECIENT FOR TEAMS SATISFIED WITH W/C. MY PREFERRED GOAL WOULD BE TO USE PELFREY & MAINE AS A NUCLEUS TO A PKG FOR FIELDER AND SIGNING AS F/A MOLINA or BARAJAS,LACKEY-#2, MARQUIS-#3. WITH BOSOX OBTAINING HERMEDA FROM FISH, PERHAPS THAT LESSENS DEMAND FOR BAY AS OPPOSED TO HOLLIDAY AS A VIABLE LF OPTION. JUST MY THOUGHTS, WITH RICK PETERSON AS MILW NEW PC I BELIEVE THE POTENTIAL FOR PELF & MAIN'S VALUE IS FURTHER ENHANCED. WE KBNOW HE LOVES THE 10 MIN FIXUPS!