The New York Mets must be banging their heads on the wall right now as the off season continues to evolve into a public relations nightmare.
As Omar and Jeff make appointments to see their chiropractors to have their necks checked out, after suffering some severe whiplash last night courtesy of the Phillies and Red Sox, the hits just keep coming in for the woeful Mets.
According to a tweet from Ken Davidoff of Newsday, one of their top off season targets, and not a very good one at that, has given the Mets an ultimatum. Free agent catcher Bengie Molina has informed the Mets that he will not play for them unless they offer him a guaranteed three year deal.
Actually, for Molina, 35, it’s a very smart move. Why not? After all if Jason Kendal and Pudge Rodriguez can land a deuce why shouldn’t he hold out for a trey?
Molina had 20 homers and hit .265 for the San Francisco Giants last season.
Of course for the Mets, it would amount to sheer lunacy and so thus, this will most likely spell the end of all the Molina to the Mets rumors which should make many of us very happy.
The question now is, where do the Mets turn to now?
It’s kind of a scary thought as the Mets are currently operating under panic mode, so hopefully Omar won’t do too much damage, although that may be asking a lot.
*Mets Merized Online Needs Your Help*
LOL…everyone is playing the leverage game with us. They know we’ve lost out on Lackey (Thanks Moron and Company), Halladay (Not that we ever had a chance), and HOlliday (We’re NOT going all in on this guy…everyone knows that).
So it comes as no surprise that guys like Molina are giving us the finger and demanding more than what they’re worth. Doesn’t help that the market is heavily in favor of free agents (Kendall and Rodriguez getting 2 years?!?! wow…)
And so our shafting continues. Here’s to Angel Pagan in LF, Murph at 1B and Marquis are our Number 2 guy!
Wohoo…..(sarcasm)
They didn’t miss out on Lackey. Lackey wanted no part of the Mets. This was pretty obvious and reports of it are coming out. Why the heck would Lackey play for the Mets when Boston/Yanks would give him the same amount of money? Play for a winning organization or a losing one? And to make matters worse, Boston gave in to the Burnett money!
Now as for Molina, yeah screw him. Go with Barajas and end it. Same power basically, same OBP, close to the same RBI total. Only difference is batting average, Molina’s .260 to Barajas .228. Whatever. Go with Barajas because this is ridiculous!
I agree. Barajas is better defensively too. Blanco is one of the better defensive catchers in captivity. Molina is terrible at everything except hitting a few home runs. Is there a worse baserunner in MLB??
Interesting article on Catchers defense:
http://www.drivelinemechanics.com/2009/10/13/1082419/2009-catcher-defense-filling-in
Col, u left out molina’s apparent track record for getting the most out of young pitchers like caine & lincicum, while i’m not in favor of succombing to him, exactly what huge offensive upside does he bring over those we’ve already cornered in coste & blanco. it isn’t like his name is piazza or even hundley. i’d call his bluff, lose his agent’s phone number, ignore his future calls & focus on bay+ if he’s still unsigned by anyone come jan 31, perhaps i answer his agent’s latest call.see if he’d like those 2y @ maybe 10 instead of 12m if someone else gets him, so be it. it’s blanco #1, coste #2 & santos #3 in wings. signing a barajas is ludicrous & letting molina’s stubbornness hurt us. i like that he’s thickheaded much as grote was & perhaps that’s why he’d be best at finally getting the most out of our enigmas named pelfrey,perez & maine. it won’t be the first time he’s tried this crap. remember his rejecting 3y/18m forcing us to get paulie? this time, i let him stew longer; but don’t let him hold anything up like bay or whomever else omar’s seeing in our future.
Bust
Molina is a slob. Forget him.
The only reason Miniya is really going after this slob is because he’s Hispanic.
Are we that thirsty for this hog looking catcher?
Santo/Blanco suits me fine until Thole is ready.
I love the racism remark
greg, stifle the prejudice crap! it’s boring & beneath u!
Cool. This should make it easier for Omar et. al. to say “no.”
You know what, let Molina find three years somewhere else. When they meet with Torreodore or whatever his name is, they should kiss and make up and give him a two year deal for the $6 million he wants. We’ll save a bundle and have a catcher. Sheesh, these players and their agents are greedier than Wall Street bankers.
If this is going to be the only guy we’re going to get this offseaon, then I say forget him. Let him sign somewhere else. We don’t need him, so Goodbye to you Benji. Go calling elsewhere.
2010 wil be all about seeing how far we get with the returning injured players. After Omar is fired after the season blows up, we start over for 2011 with the new GM. Meanwhile, let’s all stay home so the Wilpons can file for banruptcy and put the team up for sale. New owner and new GM and we’ll be set to roll for 2011.
Bye…welcome Thole. The $%^& with waiting a year. Just bring him up.
Bay will not sign and the Mets will pass on molina…forget 2010 and 2011 and 2012
Ladies and gentlemen welcome to the demise of the mets
no farm sy stem/ no elite prospects/horrible and laughable front office and an owner that wishes it ran the Brooklyn Dodgerss…
Met fan for 40 years and this is the most angry and disaponiten i have ver been. g
This speaks volumes about how bad the free agent market is this offseason. I would only be interested in that fat piece of lard for one year, let alone THREE! Who does he think he is, friggin Mike Piazza?
actually theonlymaskman said it best…but i will add
Manuel gets fired before july 4th..beacuse they will be 10 games under 500
1.Reyes off to a slow start and out for the year by june 15th
2.Wright improves but still striking out…still no power..7 hr in july
3.Johanonly hitting 90 on the gun
4.Franceur hitting 230 with no power becuae thumb healing slowly
5.Beltran healthy and trade rumors swirl at the trade deadline finally getting traded for 3 b level prospects
Finally Omar is let go on Oct 2 and Jeffrey Wilpon promises to reinvest in the minor leagues and tells Mets fans to be patient and expects to play meaningfull in 8-10 years
Sounds about right to me, but you forgot to mention that Castillo regresses to his mean and Cora is on the DL as well.
Castillo regresses – you experts do realize that last year was the standard for him, you all act like 08 was the norm for him, when in fact, it was his worst year ever not HIS norm. I forgot you all do your homework and know that. So what are you assuming he’ll regress to?
How about adding this. Santana (and his agent) march into Miniya’s office and demand to be traded.
Wow, he knows that the mets r against the wall and he’s using that to his advantage to ink a deal, what a pathetic attempt to get a deal, if I’m omar I’D say hell to the no!!! Move on already, don’t we have like 20 backups already!!!! Pass on this fat phu-ck.. Ugh..
Maybe he will be happy with a one million dollar guaranteed third year!?
Just say goodby and move on to the next player.
Not 1 year, he wants 3 years coz the mets r against the wall.. Get barajas he’d be ok wit 2 years 3 mill per
Yo!
Whether we suck or not, we got our pride. Good-bye No-lina!
Yeah, totally agree, ditch Molina. Maybe we can trade for Chris Snyder from AZ?
4th place with or without Molina! Sign Barajas or Olivo!
Hey Jetsnut you missed your post earlier today with TomTerrific, your post would have backed up his whinning and crying when the season hasn’t started yet plus you cannot be optimistic as a Mets fan when you wish that injury on Reyes and kick Wright to curb on one bad season. I think you are a part time Met fan and don’t what you are talking about. I am a Jets fand but you cannot compare Mets to Jets. At least Mets have made it to playoffs lately, Jets haven’t, so get some more baseball savy before you start crying.
Hey Greg enough with the Hispanic bias and just criticize the performance not the color of the skin of the player. Molina sucks and Pudge and Kendall, I believe, got good contracts cause they are “in shape” not a knee injury or back problem away from collapsing. Bye Bengie cause I never wanted to invite you anyway, bring on Barajas and Blanco then Thole in 2011.
maybe im in the minority, but i say you give it to Molina. There are other options out there, but Molina is a guy that makes the pitching staff that much better. Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum and jonathon sanchez have developed into fine pitchers. I know 3 yrs might be a year too much in some peoples eyes but that could work out to be perfect if we can find a way to give him the larger portion of his contract in the first two years and in the third yr, you let Josh Thole go out there and prove he deserves the job. You give him nothing, he is a “prospects” and with that title you go out on the field and show the team and the league that you are better than advertised.
Molina seems like a good guy to have in a clubhouse and teams have won with him. hes shown that he can carry and offense (SF) and he has developed a pretty good staff as well. so honestly you give him the contract knowing that you get 2 yrs as a starter and 1 yr as a teacher to the young guy. regardless of what anyone says, you cannot doubt that he has been great and you cant be mad about the other teams moves. guys want to play with this guy and maybe if we would have gotten him earlier, maybe lackey would have had a different opinion about this team. do what u must, look at numbers or check whatever, but this could work out in our favor.
oh and use santos to maybe get a decent reliever, which we need. dont forget we dont have much of a pen and im not comfortable with parnell in the 8th inning
Andy, Is there anything we should be comfortable about with this team?
Three years is asking too much. I don’t think the Mets will bite for three years. They will stand for two and not much further for Molina.
Hey Sarge,
Time to wake up and get a clue!
Try to be a realistic Mets fan and take your huggies off
This team has been a disaster for three years with the worst collapse in baseball history. You sound like a 12 year old….You are probobly one of those fans trading Castillo and Pagan expecting to get Adrian Gonzalez
BTW jets made playoffs in 2006 which was the last time the Mets made it.
go back to watching womens basketball. you obviously are not a Jets fan
The Jets and Mets are a lot alike….Devastaing losses resulting in teams that should make the playoffs but don’t making fans angry and wondering what type of leadership they have and why they don’t have gamers to pull them throuugh
Hey nut, I have been a fan of Jets since Joe Willie so please give me a break dude. And if I decide to wear huggies what is that to you? Mets like Jets have broken my heart over the years but I don’t approach a season expecting the worse, I expect the best then adjust cause every season is different so stop the whinning dude.
As stated before rotation and a couple of injuries hurt in 07, BP collapse in 08 was the problem and this year injuries was a problem.
You have to have a perfect scenario for a team to win plus luck.
Phillies have only lost Myers the last 2 years and none of their core unlike Mets this year.
Mets not beating Washington and Marlins in 07 and 08 hurt us but at least the season was great until the end but we didn’t give up or have injuries predicted “BEFORE” the season starts as you like to say. So if that is your prediction then don’t watch and prove yourself wrong.
So the mets have no designs of any kind on Joe Mauer next year. They hve already written themselves off. They give up easy, don’t they? I would want to e sure that I put in abid for the second best player in the game. Screw Fatass Molina–he played games with us last time and we blew him off. I recommend the same this time.
jdon, you’d be 100% correct if the met’s were free to spend as freely as nyy; but it seems we’re not as most teams aren’t. see philly blinking at opportunity to become dominant with lee following ‘doc’. alas, not to be since they refuse to exceed 140m. mauer most likely never sees the mkt; but meantime we need a #1 cathcer who gives us the best shot this yr. since molina has established himself as a hardnosed,stubborn sob(much like grote) his track record at coaxing the best out of youthful talented pitchers may be worth more to us than a slamdunk upgrade @ #2sp. imagine if he could actually get the best out of our 3 amigos, err make that enigmas (pelfrey,perez,maine). wouldn’t that be worth it? i’m certainly not advocatuing giving in nor would i slam the door like last time, i’d ignore him totally until jan. 31, then if he’s still available i may deem to retn his agent’s call changing that supposed 2y/12m to 2y/11m indicating a short shelf life until 2y/10m preceeds a final 1y 6m take it or leave it position! i’d move onto securing marquis after bay as i wouldn’t scoff at his consistant 15w ability @ #2 being a good matchup vs hamels after halladay & santana duel to the death.lol from there i’d certainly trust perez vs blanton, pelf vs. happ & maine vs moyer IF molina was milking best out of those back 3.
Unless Joe Mauer completely collapses this year, mark my words Joe Mauer will be the catcher for the Yankees.
My point is that we have no shot this year— or any year omar runs things. He is a factotum. And I am glad that you mention the yankees. For, while they have the most money, and Mauer probably will re-sign in minny, if he does come free I think the mets should go toe to toe with the yankees for this guy. Of course they cannot have a team payroll like the yanks, but they are a big market team and they should go toe to toe with other large market teams once in a while on individual players. If they constantly write themselves out of any competition then they are sunk. They are mice. If they don’t want to bid then they should just admit they are second rate and move to dayton or nome.
jdon, ur no mets’ fan. no ny met fan writes a season off in december.
be careful what u wish for(move) we already lost 2 teams due to that type of attitude.
are the mets a big mkt team? yes, are the owners super-rich? absolutely not! consider this….almost the entire wilpon family, fred,jeff, uncle sol are tied to this baseball franchise for significant livlihood especially considering their base, ‘core’ source of income is real estate development. have you looked into the ecconomic state of realestate latey(incl japan)? jdon, your problem is u live across from the rediculous spending nyy. hell, atlanta(entire south) is a big mkt as is philly & boston. what are we told is necessary to be ‘rich’ in baseball? a ‘new’ stadium+ a broadcast network atlanta had both before us & their stadium was built as part of olympics. they are the only professional mlb team from virginia to georgia & have the broadcast rights to prove it. none of those teams are spending like we do or u suggest. philly got haladay; but had to deal lee to afford him, check their record it states clearly they aren’t prepared to exceed 140m, btw atlanta has consistantly dropped amongst the ranks of the total payroll & boston has stopped exceeding luxury taX line as unprofitable. relax u wanted santana, they got him, u wanted k-rod, ditto, same with wagner,beltran, pedro. no one can outbid nyy for someone they want esp. not boston or nym. that’s not a knock on boston or nym; but a simple fact. the yanks ownership is more widely diversified from an income position; a look at the nym org chart re. ownership compared to that of sterling int’l is a mirror image. I believe we can still give phillies a run for the finish line by ading bay,molina,marquis. everyone likes to point to the collapses as abject failures;but certainly all seem to forget the one ingredient needed for a collapse….a late season lead.(being #1, late)
do not lecture me about whether I am a fan or not. i have watched these guys since 1962. I am not going to say they will be good when I believe otherwise. I have predicted the failure of this team for the past three years. I also thought they were going to the Series in 2006. It is called being honest. They have to strip themselves down and do it again. Not rebuild. Just get the garbage out. And the biggest loads of garbage are the GM and the manager. If you want to wave pom poms be my guest. Disagree if you want, but do not tell me I am not a fan. I don’t tell you that I think unrealistically optimistic fans are fools, do I?
I guess being a fan does give u some liberties but to write off a whole season before it has started is really confusing. Just because u have been a fan since the inception of this team does not mean that you have to pessimistic, maybe question some moves, but this is not 1962-1966 when Mets were laughing stock of baseball. Bad moves by mgmt the past 10 years have hurt the Mets but this is our team. Remember that Mets came cause Dodgers and Giants left cause of money or fans but in spite of bad past few seasons these are our Mets and I do not wish them a bad season in spite of my dislike for GM or Mgr cause you have to let the season play out and not judge a future season based on moves or lack thereof cause if so then Yanks and Sox would win every year. Please!
I have not always been pessimistic. I must admit that the Wilpons have a lot to do with it. I do not like the way they run things. I liked the way Frank Cashen ran things. But when you look at this team and some of the people they have had runnning it, you have to wonder. I will root for them to win every game they play. I cannot say in all honesty that I think they are going anywhere. Is it so hard to comprehend that? If I were making a plan, aas I have said several times on this board, I would not now invest in guys I do not think will have great impact, like Bay and Marquis and Molina. To me the smart thing to do is to save those funds, since Lackey and Halladay are gone, and use them for a real impact player next year, or at the trade deadline. But because they kkept Omar for another year, they are going to let him tie up funds that the next GM, the one who can have a positive effect, will not have available to him. So I have a plan and I do not think this year is feasible. Don’t worry about what kind of fan I am. Just be the fan you are. I don’t sit on these boards laughing at people that I think are being led by the nose by an incompetent organization and its laughable attempts at public relations? If they are happy being that way fine. Don’t ecpect everyone to be the same. It is no fun when they are. It is also no fun having to answer personal attacks.
I agree with you that keeping management in place this year was a big mistake, and I have said so many times on these boards. Expecting a different result on the field with the same top tier management on board makes no sense to me. Harpooning you or anyone for that matter for having a different opinion or view of this organization is equally as wrong. Now, Mets fans are desperate for a big FA signing, so everyone is crying out to do whatever they need to do to get Bay. I would agree with most that Bay can make a big impact on our team. On the other hand, I think most would agree that Theo is one of the most respected GM’s in baseball; so, does anyone wonder why Theo is willing to let Bay go? Must be a reason he doesn’t want to go all out to keep Bay like St. Louis has done for Holliday.
ACE, I DON’T THINK IT’S THAT SIMPLE. IT LIKELY COMES DOWN TO OPTIONS. I DON’T EVER SEE CAMMY RETURNING TO NY AFTER HE FELT SO SLIGHTED ON HIS RETURN ALONGSIDE PIAZZA W/SD. HIS COMMENTS OF GHURT FOR BEUING VIRTUALY IGNORED BY FANS IN LIGHT OF THE THUNDEROUS OVATIONS GIVEN TO MIKE. ALSO CONSIDER THIS, CAMMY SWORE HE;D NEVER PLAY LF FOR NYM ALSO I DOUBT HE’S EVER BE CONVINCED TO PLAY ALONGSIDE BELTRAN AGAIN. OUCH!
SORRY, I DIDN’T REALIZE CAPSLOCK ENGAGED ACCIDENTLY, NO I’M NOT SLIPPING BACK!
BOSTON LUIKELY TO GET EQUAL CONTRIBUTION FROM CAMMY IN FENWAY. HE’D STRUGGLE REACHING SEATS IN CITI.
J, let me first apologize, if your lat statement was that u interpret anything i’ve ever written as a ‘personal’ attack; by no means has that ever been my intent. i particularly strive to only attack ideas & perceptions rather than posters. i’d also like to point out that “big ticket” solutions are the nyy methodology & it’s course has ultimatly led to many of our difficulties, in my opinion. the names you posted molina, etc. to me are exactly the type of solutions i believe we’ve needed. j, if u look at the phillies as many do, as the grittier, clutcher team i’d point to werth,victorino,ruiz & feliz as their bigger difference makers rather than rollins,utley,howard. i believe their mvp these past 3 seasons has been either of those “also played” guys rather than those ’starring’ ones getting all the ink. i love the francoeur addition for exactly that reason. go back to our “best team ever” the 86ers. look at that game 6 rally outside of carter’s contribution, the culprits were all “cast” members NOT STARS. though knight ended up MVP, his isn’t the name on the tip of anyone’s tongue while reminiscing. i strongly believe bay, molina & marquis are exctly what this team needs, lackey would’ve been a safe addition; but comparativly i like marquis’ consistancy & lack of limelight as much. having a #1A pitcher is overrated rather than a solid #2 consistantly appearing in 30+G with double digit victories you can set your clock by. too often we judge our needed solutions by what nyy would do. nyy have to overget due to bosox. we don’t have a bosox in our division. both phl & atl prefer cost-effective competitivness over “go for the kill” at all costs approach. just look at philly, they could’ve acquired halladay last july; but refused to surrender draybeck(their future) and went for lee instead, then they could’ve attempted getting halladay while keeping lee for the “kill shot”. we don’t need bigger bricks; but stronger mortar. francoeur this week spelled it out as in his opinion “they need more than 1 guy & instead of committing 160m to one guy spread it out amongst a few guys to add.” how often has our off-season additions overshadowed both phl & atl, yet we’ve come up short. i don’t buy this leadership copout nor any sort of “heartless” claim, perhaps we’re too one dimensional prefering the bigger pickups over the multi lesser ones.(in a tugowar more guys typically beat fewer stronger ones) atl & phl have made a science out of bullpen building out of dumpster diving. phl have lost eyre,park & myers yet haven’t replaced any substatially & our fans are panicing in the streets. while comparing accomplishments w/i the div we certainly have come up short, i believe for reasons mostly attributable to decisions & incompetancies dating before omar’s hiring. see jeff,fred,phillips,duquette for accountability. this response is so much longer than i’d intended; but i’d be happy to share those views any other time u may want. keep the faith; but comparing forests phl looks denser; but go tree by tree & it’s closer than u might think assuming those no-names are secured by omar.
Hopefully the reason the mets want only a one year deal is so they can try to steal Joe Mauer away from the Twins next year. Yes Molina’s asking price seems high, but i doubt Minaya would not try pumping up the the years of the contract with a less offering price to try to lure him in if they weren’t trying to consider Mauer for next year at all. It seems a little farfetched with the payroll the mets are on now, but I wouldn’t completely rule it out.