Jan
2
2011

The Mets And Bargain Hunting

An article by Craig Lerner

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe writes that with the holiday break now over, the “second season’’ of the Hot Stove is about to begin. He lists the Mets among some teams who might benefit from bargain basement players or January trades.

Since they couldn’t enter into the primary market because of budget constraints , the Mets have to rebuild their pitching with the secondary market. They’ll have to take chances and hope to get lucky. Jeff Francis, Bruce Chen, Brian Burres, Kevin Millwood, Brad Penny, Freddy Garcia, and Jeremy Bonderman — OK, none of them are great — are all out there as possible rotation pieces. Don’t expect the Phillies to deal Joe Blanton within the division.

During the last day of the Winter Meetings last month, Sandy Alderson said in a couple of interviews that he would probably wait until January before addressing some of the team’s needs including starting pitching.

Jon Heyman of S.com, still includes the Mets among teams with interest in free agent lefty reliever Brian Fuentes, although he wouldn’t exactly be considered a bargain based on what his asking price is.

That said, Adam Rubin of ESPN New York writes that the remaining left-handed relievers on the free-agent market include: Joe Beimel, Tim Byrdak, Hideki Okajima, Will Ohman, Dennys Reyes, Ron Mahay and Randy Flores. The Mets have had interest in Beimel and Ohman in past offseasons.

Happy Birthday to former Mets pitcher, David Cone.

About the Author: Craig Lerner

I'm a data analyst and researcher for a leading news agency who loves life and is hooked on the Mets. I love following the Amateur Draft and have a particular fondness for the Mets Minor Leagues who I follow each day. Give me a cold beer, a summer day, and a Mets game, and I'm good to go.

11 Comments + Add Comment

XtreemIcon January 2, 2011 at 11:33 am

Okajima re-signed with the Red Sox. Cafardo himself co-authored the piece.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2011/01/02/sox_bring_back_okajima/
t agee January 2, 2011 at 12:10 pm

Like seagulls circling over the landfill instead of putting the time effort energy and money into developing our own players so we can have the best years of their careers in Met Uniforms.
- Metsie January 2, 2011 at 3:17 pm
  
  Well Tag, thats one way to look at it but there is the other side here.
  
  By signing cheap pitching help now they do not have to rush the development of the pitching that is already in the minors (most notably Mejia).
  
  As long as signing someone does not impede your ability to build the farm there is nothing wrong with it. Now if we were going after Type A players and losing draft picks that would be another story.
  
  As you know I think Sandy is just trying to trwad water until he sees if he is a buyer or a seller at the deadline. If the season isn’t already lost by that time then he will probably make moves that will hurt the farm. If it is already lost then he will likely trade some big chips to get the farm we would like him to develop.
  
  It many ways it is the doctor’s approach. Do no harm! At least until the patient is dying and then you make the risky drastic moves to try and breed life back into them when it appears they are goners anyway!
  - t agee January 2, 2011 at 5:01 pm
    
    Your right Metsie, I shouldn’t be critical now that the wild west era of shoot first and ask questions later has finally been put to rest.
Love the Mets. January 2, 2011 at 12:55 pm

Love the Mets.
Met Maniac January 2, 2011 at 1:37 pm

Bonderman is such a bust. I cant believe he mades 12.5M a year in 09 and 10. Thats more than Ollie and believe it or not this guy is just as bad.
alwaysnextyear January 2, 2011 at 4:04 pm

“During the last day of the Winter Meetings last month, Sandy Alderson said in a couple of interviews that he would probably wait until January before addressing some of the team’s needs including starting pitching.”

straight from the horses mouth, yet many posters still are screaming that he isn’t going to do “anything” to improve the team because he hasn’t already made all his off season moves.
RickyR January 2, 2011 at 4:33 pm

The mets are bargain hunting? Really! Wow! Hadn’t noticed
- alwaysnextyear January 2, 2011 at 4:41 pm
  
  omar did all the big ticket shopping for them already.
  - RickyR January 2, 2011 at 6:02 pm
    
    Love your name, it’s should be the mets slogan for the upcoming season
    - Steve from Norfolk January 3, 2011 at 4:08 pm
      
      Nah, lovethemets is the name that says it all. That’s what carried this team’s fans through the 60′s, the last half of the 70′s and the first couple years of the 80′s, in fact all of the bad times. It made the bad times bearable and the good times better!

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