20
2010
Why Mets Should Be Buyers AND Sellers at the Deadline
An article by Tom Terrific (Stephen Hanks)
Even when the Mets sputtered into the All-Star break, the most skeptical of fans had to admit that this team still had a chance at either a division crown or a wild-card spot.
While the offense might have been inconsistent, the bullpen not always reliable, and the manager a strategic misfit, the Mets still boasted some brilliant starting pitching, the resurgence of Wright and Reyes, and the most spunk, heart and personality we had seen in years. If they weren’t quite as talented as the 2006 or 2007 teams, they were certainly better than the 2004 team that the front office misguidedly saw as a contender and forced that regrettable trade-deadline deal with Scott Kazmir.
With the current team still in the post-season discussion, the question the last few weeks has been what kind of starting pitcher or relief help does Omar shoot for before the deadline. Well, here’s the reality: If Jose Reyes continues to show he can break down at the drop of a bunt, Jason Bay provides no signs he will return to Red Sox form, K-Rod always a late-inning accident waiting to happen, and Mike Pelfrey reverting to his former psychological mess, no deadline deal will give this team a chance at meaningful October baseball.
But in spite of all those obvious problems, which may never abate, we still shouldn’t throw in the towel on this season, especially since the team can’t be eliminated from the race on July 31. If Omar can bring in a Ted Lilly or a Jake Westbrook and an Octavio Dotel (or reasonable facsimile) without trading top tier prospects, he should do it. However, he also should be pro-active and consider dealing guys on the current major league roster who might bring back some valuable pieces to build on for next season. It’s time for Omar Minaya to really get creative and make the Mets buyers AND sellers.
Here’s a list of six players Omar should consider moving who could bring back some building blocks without necessarily ending the team’s chances to win a wild-card this season.
1. Oliver Perez: I admit this is going to be a tough road to hoe. Who really wants a guy who gives head cases a bad name? Well, I would trade our problem child in Perez for the Cubs’ drama king Carlos Zambrano in a heartbeat. The Cubs want to unload the hot head and his hefty contract and they’d get salary relief even if they took back Perez’s contract. Zambrano still has upside if he gets a change of scenery and could help next year, if not this one.
2. Luis Castillo: I admit I’m not up on which contenders need a second baseman right now, but if there is one out there, I’d send them Luis for a prospect and eat some of his money in the process. Classic addition by subtraction.
3. Rod Barajas: His early season slugging helped the team get taken seriously in the race and he’s great in the clubhouse (although I think his backstopping prowess is overrated), but he’s completely collapsed offensively (he had plenty of holes to begin with) and at his age there is no future for him on this team. Did anyone ever think he was anything more than a stop-gap to begin with? The Mets have been floundering in the catching department since Piazza was done and the time has come to either develop Josh Thole or trade for a young catcher to build around. Thole and Blanco are more than adequate to get the job done for the rest of this year.
4. John Maine: I don’t know what we can get for him at this point, especially since he won’t be able to establish that he’s overcome his problems by the deadline. But given his mound demeanor, lack of command and poor secondary pitches, I’d get him out of here for a bag of balls.
5. Pedro Feliciano: Yes, I agree he has been abused by Jerry, but this guy couldn’t get a good right handed hitter out if his life depended on it and is probably one of the most overrated relief pitchers in the game. Yet he would still have tons of value to a division contender in a pennant race as a situational lefty. Honestly, would Takahashi or Pat Misch in the lefty relief role really be much of a downgrade, if any? Move Pedro now, get a mid-level prospect or two and give the job to one of those guys.
At this point, we pause because you’re probably thinking that number six on the list is going to be Jeff Francoeur. Well, we can’t really trade Frenchy. One, even if a team felt he had some value as a stopgap to replace an injured player, I don’t think that we can get much for him. Two, we would need him to play right field the rest of this year because the sixth player we should move is:
6. CARLOS BELTRAN: You heard me right. This is the scenario I’d been hoping for since Beltran’s operation; that he would come back before the trade deadline and get enough at bats to show teams he still had something in the tank. You want a pitcher to slot in behind Johan or a big time catching prospect or a future closer, then this is the guy who has to go. I’ve always respected Beltran’s talent but his passion has always been lacking and he hasn’t exactly provided inspiration since his return. He could be one hard slide into second base away from a career-ending injury. But do you think the Yankees would take him to play centerfield? In a heartbeat. How about Jesus Montero and that second base prospect Adams? How about moving Beltran to one of those contenders in the NL West, especially the Padres and Giants who desperately need a bat and have pitching chips to trade?
The Mets were as many as 9-11 games over .500 when Beltran was out. Let’s not screw around with Angel Pagan, keep him in centerfield, muddle along with Frenchy in right until the end of the year, and bring in a significant young player or pitcher for Beltran. Not to mention getting out from under the last year of that contract so we might be able to actually sign a GOOD free agent next year.
Omar, it’s time to think out of the box or you’ll be thinking on the unemployment line in October.
About the Author: Stephen Hanks
Stephen Hanks (Tom Terrific) is a magazine editor and writer based in Brooklyn, NY, who has been the publisher and editorial director of publications ranging in subjects from sports to health to archaeology. Hanks began his career at the late, great SPORT Magazine in 1977 and in 1983, he co-founded NEW YORK SPORTS Magazine (which ceased publication in 1985). He has written and edited coffee table books on baseball history, penned unauthorized biographies of Bo Jackson and Wayne Gretzky, and in 1990 authored "The Game That Changed Pro Football," an oral history of the 1969 New York Jets Super Bowl Season. Stephen has also played baseball for 45 years and currently plays in an Over-40 hardball league based in Northern New Jersey. Even though he grew up near Yankee Stadium, he loathes the team from the Bronx and has been a die-hard Mets fan since attending his first game at the Polo Grounds in 1963.
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FINALLY, someone said what i’ve been thinking about Beltran. Thanks!
Ok, who put you up to this?
Trade Beltran? yes because now is the best time to trade him.
Trade Maine? Yes I can see the Mets getting a bag of balls there.
Trade Ollie? That will at least get the Mets what again?
Trade Barajas? Hello Philly?
Trade Castillo? clearly you have not been keeping up with Castillo news. No one wants him.
Trade Feliciano? “Yet he would still have tons of value to a division contender in a pennant race as a situational lefty” I guess the Mets are not a division contender in a pennant race.
Ok for the last time, who put you up to this?
Jersey, other teams in the race may be more desperate for a lefty in the pen than we are right now. Like I said, I don’t think Misch would be that much of a downgrade, in fact, we might be able to get more out of him. As for getting rid of guys like Castillo–that’s what creativity in a GM is all about. It’s a longshot but not impossible. Oh, I forgot, we’ve got Omar.
lol @ terrific,
as i said many times, THE WORST GM with an open wallet in baseball!!!!
Pedro Feliciano will be a Type A FA this offseason. Offer him arbitration and if he refuses you’ll get 2 first round picks. If they trade him for some mediocre prospects they would be making the same mistake as the Billy Wagner deal.
The Wagner deal wasn’t a mistake. He wouldn’t have accepted arbitration or re-signed anyway, not with no chance to close. So they worked out a deal in which he had to agree before the deal even happened not to accept arbitration with the Sox before he could waive his no trade clause. It was a very deeply thought out deal.
“He wouldn’t have accepted arbitration or re-signed anyway, not with no chance to close.”
Hello? That’s exactly my point, it’s obvious that he was going to refuse arbitration so instead of trading him to the Red Sox for some scrub non-prsopects like Chris Carter, we could have had 2 1st round picks. That’s why the trade was a mistake. If you trade Pedro you could end up doing the same thing.
You probably don’t remember the situation the Mets were in. In order for the Mets to have offered him arbitration, Wagner to decline and sign elsewhere for the Mets to get an extra pick, it would have cost the Mets near $5 mil, the remainder of his salary for that year and the 1 mil buyout.
That’s the best case, one extra pick for $5 million dollars. The worst case is he accepts arbitration, because he knows he wouldn’t make nearly as much money in a contract negotiation as he would in arbitration (he only makes $7 mil from Atlanta, and even that was deemed a silly contract at the time, although it turns out everyone was wrong), which would have been stupid in the first place because arbitration would have paid him more than if his option was picked up!
No, they would get 2 extra 1st round picks had they not traded Wagner. Also, they only saved 3.5 million by trading him, which is not worth as much as the value of 2 1st round picks. And what did they do with that money they saved? Sign Cora and Coste with that money. Basically you are saying that you’d rather have triple C of suckness Cora, Coste, and Carter instead of the picks. Any wonder why this team sucks when you have a GM was inept as Omar.
honestly I really don’t think anyone wants to pick beltran’s contract. he’s owed a lot of money. secondly I rather have him on this team. yes, he looks a bit slow but give the guy time to get his legs back. he’s one of the best hitters in the game and he’s gonna help us win.
I’m with you on a lot of these points. Beltran might be able to really get some prospects. Who knows though. As far as the other guys that’s a bit of a no brainer. The danger of this is the constant rebuilding mode that has taken over some great franchises the past ten years.
There’s not one guy on your list that you can move anywhere. Not one, not under any circumstances.
if we go 9-1 the next 10 games wouldvthis post even matter??
good points though, i will celebrate when i see castillo maine and perez gone, follow by minaya (who destroy this team by adding garbage on top of garbage) and manuel
If the Mets can actually trade Castillo, Maine and Perez, I’ll buy you the cake.
Right, and IF my aunt had balls she’d be my uncle. 9-1 next 10 — that’s funny.
She should give them to Wilpon, Minaya, Big Pelf,chicken hearted John Maine,Ollie P……and anybody else in a Met uniform.
lol @ xtreemicon, what the article writer forgot is that minaya is a scout not a gm, he has no idea what he’s doing…
Do you like Fudgie the Whale? Haven’t had one of those in forever.
Guys, I know some of these observations may be in the no-brainer category, but WANTING to move them and actually having a GM with the skill and creativity to do it is two different things. Sure, nobody is breaking down the door for Ollie or Louie, but that’s where you have to make deals based on contracts, etc. There is always a team out there who may not see a guy the same way you do. Besides, we have so many addition by subtraction guys, just dumping some would be an improvement.
As for Beltran, he may still be a good player but will he be the superstar he was before the injury at this age? I seriously doubt it. We have to move him before something happens and we end up with nothing for him.
Can I get an Amen? Finally, someone gets it!
If the Mets lose 2 of 3 to Arizona and then 3 of 4 to the Dodgers for a 3-8 road trip, Jerry cannot come back to NY as manager and this is why Bobby V must get the job: If you want the Mets to have any money in the off-season for free agents, they have to draw fans in the second half. That will only happen is the fans have something to get jazzed about and Bobby V would help supply that and perhaps keep the team in the race long enough to generate some revenue. If the team tanks by end of July and Jerry stays in the job, Citi Field will be a morgue in August and September and you can forget any big signings.
So far the Mets are 1 and 5 on this trip and you are scoping wins?
Bobby V – really? This obession with the guy kills me. I swear Mets fans have the shortest memories…..he really inspired his team – during a pennant race he has two guys playing cards in the clubhouse while a game is being played. Constantly threw his players under the bus, also some very questionable managing decisions…..
I don’t remember too many fans being upset when he left town, but hey lets bring him back anyhow.
The guys baseball acumen makes Jerry Manuel look like a kindergartner. Valentine almost won a World Series with an expansion team outfield and an average pitching staff. Yeah, I’d bring him back in a heartbeat.
you are living a fantasy if you think anyone would take the Mets garbage. No one will take Ollie Pee off the Mets hands (good pun huh?) not even for a bag a balls, unless the Mets pay all of his remaining salary. No one will take Castillo for the same reason, unless the Mets pay most of his salary. Barajas, you are right about, and you might be able to unload him to a team like Boston or Texas but would receive nothing in return (still a worthwhile move though). Maine? Of course he sucks big wet ones, but he can’t even throw a baseball, can’t pitch, and may never pitch again. Who is going to trade anything to the mets to get him?! Are you totally insane? Or do you just think everyone else is? Careful, that’s a trick question. Feliciano? He was once brilliant but after Jerry’s misuse and abuse the guy is shot and probably will never be the same again, so who cares if they trade him or not? Sure, go ahead unload him. But you idiocy really shines at the mere suggestion that the Mets would be able to find a taker for Beltran. Yes he’s this and he was that and could always do this BUT, he has suffered a debilitating injury, and at his age, guys do not return to form. He simply is damaged goods right now, whether he was great once or not. He can’t even play every day and is hobbling in the outfield. He is one play away from being finished. He is due to make about $9 million the rest 9f this season and $18 million next year. Who in their right mind would ever trade for Beltran unless someone was holding a gun to their head? Yes Omar is a bad GM. But how can you ever suggest that he would be able to do the impossible and trade away his fine collection of trash?
No one has mentioned Beltran’s no-trade contract. Excuse me, UNCONDITIONAL no-trade contract. Carlos and Scott must have found a gypsy with a working crystal ball. The only way we trade him is as a DH and eat about half of what he’s owed. Think the Astros would take the whole bunch listed for Oswalt???(I can hear the laughter from here!)
Seriously, the picture that comes into my mind is Bo Jackson after the hip transplant – in his last season. Just like Bo then, we’re not seeing the end of a rehab, but the continuation of an experiment – or the end of a career.
Yes, Beltran has a no-trade, but I’m sure he’d waive it to go to a contender.
Tom, why does Barajas deserve to go but not Blanco? Henry actually has a slightly richer contract! (My take is it’s because he gets his full $700K in roster bonuses if he is released for any reason other than right shoulder injury.) Apparently Henry is a good lawyer!!
In any case, let’s not get too zealous and unload both of them now. Thole looks good but the farm hasn’t been bought yet.
Yeah and then we all woke up and realized that this article was a dream.
As desperate as Mets are, why would anyone give us anything we could use this year or next? They have fans they are accountable too also.
It’s been a rough few days, lets not get crazy here, trading Ollie was an innovative thought, glad someone had enough stones to say that, oh same thing on Maine, who!
How about reyes too?? Beltran to s.f for bumgarner whiteside. Reyes to chisox for danks. Barajas and pedro to boston for ellsbury.and frenchy to toronto for downs.
Steve, I wanted to include Reyes in this scenario because I’ve been a big advocate of trading him for a couple of years now, even before last year’s injuries. And before everyone starts yelling, “But look how we played when he was out…he’s the catalyst” and all that other nonsense, just consider how sad it is that a lead-off hitter with questionable baseball savvy is such a key to a team that it falls apart when he’s not around. If that’s the case than the team is badly constructed.
the most realistic scenario to me was 6, moving Carlos Beltran. I’d say “let’s talk”
The idea the Yankees would take Beltran off the Mets hands is comical. He’s owed 22.0 M next year, injuries, skills declining. They actually have a budget this year per Hank. Beltran would hurt the budget next year and let the Metsies get Cliff Lee. First read of this blog and last…. you show no insight on the trade ideas.
Feliciano and Beltran have value. I am a skeptical met fan who did enjoy the first half. The spunk you talk about, however, is really only apparent at home. The mets play like fools and cowards on the road: why, I have no idea? Fact is, they were in it at the break, because we all know how weak the division is. Now they are falling fast in a weak division, and that make you wonder if this has been a house of cards from the git-go. No team should just be a buyer or a seller: Their mission should always be to improve the team, not just to dump salary. I agree with that. But careful consideration should be given to the mix we have here. There seems to be a lack of perseverance in met-land. I would say that if it were not for Pelfrey, Dickey and Pagan playing miles above their heads, we might be jostling with the Nationals right now.
What value does Beltran have, exactly. He can’t run, hasn’t shown an ounce of power and makes a billion dollars. The only “value” he has is if the Mets eat his contract, and if they’re going to pay him anyway, may as well see if he cound round into form in the next month.
I wouldn’t trade Beltran!
Every day someone is going to bring up “Trade Beltran” talks, and every day it will be mentioned that he has a NO TRADE clause in his contract, but that won’t stop people from saying it over and over and over again.