Mets Press Release On Taylor Tankersley

47 Comments + Add Comment

• t agee January 11, 2011 at 9:43 pm

  Tank doesn’t look like he has much left in the tank.
• XtreemIcon January 11, 2011 at 9:56 pm

  At least it’s a minor league contract. I’d give a minor league contract to Taylor Tankersly’s grandmother to see if she could provide some depth.
  • Mykey January 12, 2011 at 5:38 am

    This made me laugh!
• Hitman January 11, 2011 at 9:56 pm

  Tank is a guy that was on my minor league list so if true, I really like this signing. He needs to cut down on the walks & hits. I’m hoping he will make an efficient lefty if he performs well in the minors.
  • t agee January 11, 2011 at 10:23 pm

    Cut down on the walks and hits? Is that all. Well If he was on your list he can’t be all bad and he’s not taking up a roster spot. It can’t hurt to bring anyone in at this point and he probably hasn’t killed anyone in the last couple of weeks like the Orioles reliever so he’s bound to get a few more guys out then Alfredo Simon will. That can’t be a bad thing.
  • Harry C January 12, 2011 at 10:23 am

    When Omar signed junk it was horrible. When Sandy signs junk its wonderful. In two years it will be horrible.
    • SFloridaMetsFan January 12, 2011 at 11:43 am

      Right, in 2 years. When none of these players Sandy signed will be here? When Omar signed junk the problem was length of contract and amount of dollars for said contract. I bet you if this deal was a major league contract for more than a year people would be mad. But its not, its a minor league deal. There is no risk or commitment to this deal. Nothing wrong with signing depth!
      • Hitman January 12, 2011 at 12:01 pm

        You hit the nail on the head, SFloridaMetsFan.

        Seriously Harry, you cant think of anything more original than the “Omar signs junk its horrible; Sandy signs junk it’s wonderful” bullcrap I’ve seen you write all offseason?
        • Sean Kenny January 12, 2011 at 12:04 pm

          Sandy and Omar did the same thing with low risk signings. Why criticize them? Thats why they are low risk. When you buy a cheap meal, if its excellent your thrilled, if it sucks your not surprised.
        • Harry C January 12, 2011 at 1:34 pm

          HITMAN my lines are a hell of alot better than you being Sandy Al,derson’s lap dog and licking his behind all winter. At least I want my team to win. Youy accpet mediocrity. I guess someone like who spends his life in mediocrity finds it acceptable. Good for you. Your a loser and you want a loser fine, fdoesn’t mean people with brains and desires have to be as pathetic and helpl;ess as you are. Noew go run to Sandy an ask him what to say next. Oh, I bet he’ll tell you tell us that in several years we’ll be good becaus ethere will be 6o0 mil to spend.
          • Donal January 12, 2011 at 3:55 pm

            Wow, someone forgot we are talking about grown men playing with their balls.

            And people are not accepting mediocrity. Many of us accept that to fix the current mess requires time and some unpleasant realities. We want long term success, not some flashy names that are going to eat up payroll and not perform. Alderson is getting a grace period, but believe me, we have high expectations. We are just realistic about letting him do his thing to fulfill them.
          • Hitman January 12, 2011 at 9:02 pm

            Anyone who have seen my posts knows that I’m nobody’s lap dog. I find it amusing that you are implying that YOU have a brain when you can’t even complete (or even spell for that matter) a sentence. Then again, I don’t have the IQ of a doorknob like you. Don’t you dare say for one second that the Mets are YOUR team. I haven’t read ONCE from you how this team can be improved. It’s always been “the Mets haven’t won anything in 25 years”, how fans won’t show up, how Sandy hasn’t made moves, and when he did, it was awful, etc. from you.

            You want them to win so bad? Okay. Let’s hear YOUR plan because I have been doing that time & time again on here.

            What’s the matter? Upset that Sandy has changed up some glaring problems that doesn’t even have to do with adding players in general in less than 3 months than what Omar failed to do the last 2-3 years? The Mets have been plagued with injuries & inconsistent hitting under Omar’s watch the last few years, yet the Strength & Conditioning coach as well as the hitting coach (HoJo) stayed put. Why is that?

            Unlike you, I ALWAYS do my homework on players, and Tank on a minor league deal is a fair move. To be honest, I’m surprised and didn’t expect the Mets to acquire Tank. Like I said before, his big faults are his walks and giving up hits. At best, he’ll serve as an efficient LOOGY if he ever gets called up. His slider is very good and is capable of striking batters out (career 8.8 SO/9). He managed to retire 20 out of 21 left handed batters he faced at one point last season and maintained a .200 BA Vs LHB.

            Educate yourself because you come at me again.
            • Hitman January 12, 2011 at 9:03 pm

              before you come at me again*
          • t agee January 12, 2011 at 9:18 pm

            Harry, Hitman HAS provided ideas, pretty reasonable ones too in my opinion. A minor league sign is nothing to get excited about one way or the other. No need to impugn someone’s character because you don’t share the same opinion on a no risk, slight chance of reward minor league signing. Especially if you didn’t speak up about any of the guys Omar brought in here at huge bucks and way too many years.
      • Harry C January 12, 2011 at 1:31 pm

        Its still the same old story…… Omar signed junk and Omar signed good players, Omar made good trades and and Omar made bad trades. This new guy can’t make a bad move because he forgot how to make a move. You don’t have to regurgitate the Sandy PR.. Everybody has heard it. But you people who really are coninced that waiting a year to do something is good have tried to revise history and claim that omar never did any good move. Well you are wrong.
        • SFloridaMetsFan January 12, 2011 at 2:36 pm

          Ok, since you appear to ignore rational thinking people, lets try this again. Who did you want the Mets to sign that would make such a huge impact?
          Werth and his 7/126?
          Lee and his 5/120 w/ a vesting option?
          Crawford and his 7/142?
          Well lets see here
          Werth has had 2 or 3 good years playing in a band box and was horrible in his other stops.
          Lee who is awesome, is 32 and starting to have big time back issues,which is never good and hardly ever go away.
          I would take Crawford, but not at 20 mil per. His whole game is speed, which is what we have Reyes(even though his game isnt all speed, it is most of it)so Crawford is one injury away from being almost useless.
          The difference between when Omar signed junk compared to Sandy signing junk is Sandy is only giving out 1 or 2 year deals for minimal dollars. Omar signed the biggest piece of junk to 3/36(LOLie) REsigning Alou after an injury plagued year, REsigning El Duque even though it was obviously apparent he was toast.
          So keep spewing venom. It just shows you are NOT a real fan, just a fan of whining and trolling.
• Gina January 11, 2011 at 10:18 pm

  What happens if Chris Young agrees to sign but then refuses to sign a minor league deal and signs with another team instead? If we’re still looking to sign major leaguers shouldnt those spots be already open on the 40 man roster? I dont understand how this works.
  • t agee January 11, 2011 at 10:28 pm

    We’d have to DFA (designate for assignment) someone off the 40 to make room for the new guy. The Cubs just had to DFA a catcher to add Garza from the Tampa trade and the Sox nabbed him but then they had to DFA the same guy to make room for Okijima and the Cubs grabbed him back DFA’ing someone else.
• Lifelongmetsfan January 12, 2011 at 4:15 am

  “..should be a capable replacement for the departed Pedro Feliciano as the Mets situational left hander in the bullpen.”

  Really? So why did the Marlins send Tankersley to the minor leagues if he is so effective? I mean, I’m all for positive spin, putting lipstick on a pig, etc etc but..

  The Wilpons have replaced Pedro Feliciano, a higher quality thus better paid left handed reliever with a much lower quality, damaged thus cheaper left handed alternative, Taylor Tankersley.
  That is the real story here.

  Taylor Tankersley???
  • Harry C January 12, 2011 at 10:26 am

    While i agree that Tankersley is not an adequate replacement for Feliciano because he has basically been a crappy pitcher, the mere fact that a team lets a guy go doesn’t mean he’s terrible. with the arbitration rules the way they are teams determine what an arb eligible player will get and if they deem it too hight they non tender the guy. Thenhe signs anywhere but usually makes less money this way.
• Lifelongmetsfan January 12, 2011 at 4:49 am

  Taylor Tankersley is going to help the Mets win the National League Eastern Division or the Wild Card? I don’t think so.
  And spare me all the responses I can already see them …….

  “Lifelong the 2011 is a throw away year.. blah blah blah..”

  But when I first posted that the Mets ownership had decided not to be competitive for the next few years people jumped all over me. Let me say it again just so there is no misunderstandings. I have stated and continue to state that the Mets will not be competitive for the
  3 years and will not challenge for the division title until 3-5 yrs from now. This is not the result of Omar or 2 bad signings…
  Hahaha.. it kills me that people think, Well the Castillo and Perez signings have just killed our payroll! So as a result we now can’t spend money until those two contracts come off the books!
  Yeah, thats right any major league baseball team that has two bad contracts is doomed for the next few years??? Like the Mets are the only major league baseball team to have ad contracts?? BS!
  It’s simple, the Mets ownership group for whatever reason has made a decision not to compete for the next 1-3 years.
  • Steve January 12, 2011 at 8:45 am

    I’m sorry to say I have to agree with you.
  • SFloridaMetsFan January 12, 2011 at 11:51 am

    Im not sure how you figure the Mets wont compete for 3-5 years. I dont see where this is difficult for people like you and Harry C. Sandy Alderson had to come in and COMPLETELY REBUILD the Mets from top to bottom. Do you really think that he would come in here and turn them into a powerhouse overnight?
    On another note, who would you have like the Mets to sign this year? Would you give Werth 7-126? Or Lee 6/140? Or maybe Crawford and his 7/142? Seriously, sandy is building a team that will have depth in the minors, a payroll that probably hovers between 100-120 mil a year. And the payroll minor league flexibility to go and and sign a Lee or Crawford without hamstringing the teams future. As well as giving the team ACTUAL FLEXIBILITY to go out and trade for a stud without killing the farm for 3-4 years.
    But Im assuming you guys want to become the Yankees of a few years ago, with a 200 million payroll and no farm system.
  • Mr North Jersey January 12, 2011 at 2:40 pm

    That is one heck of a crystal ball yep can you see who will win the Superbowl in 2012 and 2013 as well?
    • SFloridaMetsFan January 12, 2011 at 3:41 pm

      What crystal ball? Thats what Sandy has actually come out and said. That he doesnt want to screw the teams long term future with rediculous contracts. Nice try though.
      • Mr North Jersey January 12, 2011 at 3:44 pm

        You mean Lifelong doesn’t have a crystal ball? Darn just when I started to believe in pot of golds at the end of rainbows. LoL
  • Donal January 12, 2011 at 4:36 pm

    Who said it was all just because of the Ollie and Castillio contracts? They just happen to be the poster child of the Omar Era. Here are a few more problems that have led to the current mess:

    1) Botching the negotiations with Delgado when he was a free agent. This emant a year later the Mets had to trade 3 of their top prospects to pick up his bacl loaded contract from the Marlins

    2) Lousy drafting. Drafting amatuer players is no sure thing, but there seemed to be no real plan. No chances taken on high reward players. They kept drafting minimal risk, mediocre guys (with one or two notible exceptions) who at best would ebcome journeymen middle relievers.

    3) Emptying the minors to get big names for the short term. You can argue that he had to do it to get Santana, but why for Delgado and others.

    4) Rushing what few prospects we had. Like Jenry Mejia, Fernando Martinez and Jon Niese. Luckily, the damage to Meijia and Niese probably isn’t permament, but Martinez may not be so lucky. And lets not go into Lastings Milledge.

    5) Firing the manager because the players weren’t responding to his laid back style and replacing him with a manager with a laid back style.

    6) Having no apparent or at least consistent strategy in terms of player developement or aquisition. He seemed to eager to go where he thought the wind was blowing

    7) Terrible job handling the media

    Granted a lot of the problems Alderson has to solve were there before Omar.
    • SFloridaMetsFan January 12, 2011 at 5:53 pm

      Ugh! Thank you! Finally someone who understands. Dont forget Alou, JaKobs, Cattalanotto, El Duque… He has done WAAAYYYYY more bad than good. You cant even really give him credit for the Santana trade. Castillo talked him into it, plus the Yanks and Sox backed out and all that was left were the Mets. Omar spent money horribly, had NO clue how to develop prospects, never went after anybody with a high upside in the draft.
      Can everyone at leat give Sandy till the 2012 draft before he gets crufified. Rome wasnt built in a day, and the Mets wont be rebuilt in an off-season!
• Lifelongmetsfan January 12, 2011 at 4:51 am

  And Met fans seem to be ok with that. Blows my mind.
  Well I am not.
  • Harry C January 12, 2011 at 10:33 am

    Don’t beleive Met fans agree with being irrelevant for 1-3 yars. A few die hards that post regularly love the strategy of long term mediocrity. We’ll see the attendance figures at the end of the year and we’ll see who’s right. t agee won’t being filling 500,000 seats.
    • Mr North Jersey January 12, 2011 at 2:14 pm

      Attendance? You need to see that to know who is right about what?

      Please… everyone here knows nothing but winning baseball consistently over a long stretch will “start” to bring fans out. Just look at how they came out in droves after the Mets stretch of above .500 baseball in 2010. Oh wait! They didn’t come out.

      Clearly if ever there was a year where attendance was going to be down is this year you don’t need a degree to see the writing on that wall.

      Now if they can actually play better than most predict or if some rookie has an All Star caliber season that fans gravitate to coming out to see well sure there could be a spike in ticket sales at least in my opinion but again I don’t think I am saying anything everybody doesn’t already know for the most part.

      You can’t or refuse to accept what you see for 2011 so far fine take your Mets cap put it on the shelf berate the organization all you want and when and if they turn things around you can put your cap back on and say hey I was with the team showing my support through the bad days and now through the good ones. OH wait! Correction only through the good that should read.
      • Harry C January 12, 2011 at 6:39 pm

        Well Jersey, the winning baseball ain’t coming for years. It could have come sooner but your man Sandy needed to take a yar long nap before he started to do something. Do you think this is the NFL where guys go right to the show? Maybe in 2015. By that time your man will be fired as will as sidekicks.
        • SFloridaMetsFan January 12, 2011 at 6:45 pm

          Lol really? A year long nap? I still don’t see you responding to what you expect him to do this year. You’re a troll.
        • Donal January 12, 2011 at 7:32 pm

          As opposed to all the winning baseball we’ve seen lately?
  • ReyesAdvocate January 12, 2011 at 11:44 am

    BAHAHAHAHA!! Lifer you must not pay attention to the select star prospects we have. The Mets may not hit the playoffs this year, but I believe we will be there in 2012. I expect Reyes to have a career year in 2011, thus forcing a long term deal. Beltran is gone after this year, leaving an open spot in RF. Enter our young talent, and I am not talking about F-Mart. Just as Davis lit up Spring Training 2010, I see Wilmer Flores as the big story in 2012. I keep very close tabs on this kid. Right now yes, he is a SS, but he is far too slow to star in the infield. He has the infield arm strength of Reyes, some scouts say he throws even harder than Jose. That equates to outfield arm strength comparable to a younger Vladdy G or a Jeff Francoer. His bat speed and power are far above his age (just turned 19). I see Flores as AT LEAST an All-Star player. To be honest, it is possible that Flores rises to legendary level. Yes I understand he is still a teenager who has not seen MLB pitching, or any pitching over AA, but this is a kid who could hit .400 against professional pitching at the age of 17. That is special. If he adjusts well in 2012 like both myself and most MLB scouts predict, he could win ROY and help us see the Division title in Flushing once again. Thats only offense. By late 2011, Mejia should be truly MLB ready. By 2012, Matt Harvey will be in the rotation and maybe later than year Steven Matz (remember him?) will show what he can do. There are a handful of Mets prospects I am excited about. To end my rant, I’ll list some names for you to look up: Juan Urbina, Cory Vaughn, Caesar Puello, Reese Havens (if he is consistantly healthy), Aderlin Rodriguez (our A-Rod?)
    • t agee January 12, 2011 at 9:02 pm

      I’m on with that Reyes, and I would include Armondo Rodriguez, Tejada and Den Deker (CF) but you hit all the guys I like. There are jobs available at Citi and come 2012 we could start to see some progress.

      One question, when does Flores start playing a position he actually projects to play?
      • alwaysnextyear January 12, 2011 at 9:30 pm

        as soon as he proves he can’t handle playing SS (as opposed to people assuming that he won’t be able to in the future).
• Video of Taylor Tankersley « OnTheBlack.com – New York Mets Video Baseball Blog | Mets News January 12, 2011 at 6:30 am

  [...] the various reports (The first one I saw was at Mets Merized), the New York Mets have signed pitcher Taylor Tankersley. Below are a couple videos of Tankersley. [...]
• Mookie January 12, 2011 at 10:01 am

  Hey like two weeks ago in a comment I left I had Tankersley in my list of relievers the Mets should go after. This is a great signing and I’m sure he got no more than $1MM. He will be just as effective as Feliciano but for a heck of a lot less money! Another great job by Alderson on this.
  • ReyesAdvocate January 12, 2011 at 12:10 pm

    Mookie! I am so happy that I’m not the only one on here who believes in “The Tank.” My own father (METS62FAN) sent me an e-mail basically calling this deal a dissapointment for Buffalo. I see Tankersley in the bullpen of the big club
    • Harry C January 12, 2011 at 6:39 pm

      He will probably be in the Mets bullpen. all that will prove is the Mets truly suck.
• Sean Kenny January 12, 2011 at 10:28 am

  Low-Risk signing. Doesn’t seem to hurt. If he isn’t good in ST, you cut him or send him to the minors.

  Its better then paying a guy like Ohman 2 yr/4 million when he’s on the wrong side of 30.

  They still “apparently” have money to spend, and this is still without saying they can’t trade Castillo. If someone did that, then Christmas would come again in January or February
• darth minaya January 12, 2011 at 2:17 pm

  The difference is Omar signed junk to major league guaranteed deals.

  Sandy doesn’t.
  • alwaysnextyear January 12, 2011 at 2:20 pm

    invite anyone to ST on a non-guaranteed deal. Need bodies there anyway, and if you get lucky, great. if they suck, say goodbye.
• vik ceni January 13, 2011 at 2:38 pm

  “Great publish you’ve established here! The world broad internet is full of unsuitable authorship and I was grabbed by your readability. Your determinations are precise and that i will directly subscribe to your rss feed stay up to date along with up future postings. Sure! I accept it, your publishing fashion is exceptional and i will now work harder on bettering mine.”
  • Donal January 13, 2011 at 2:41 pm

    In Soviet Russia, bots blog you!
• metsbbcatchit January 14, 2011 at 7:16 pm

  The new Mets management team will never make a mistake unless the do some work. Tankersley, Capuano and Carrasco are looking for Major league roster spots not world series rings. Who cares if they play well? If they pay well they will be somewhere else next year.