29
2011
Bring On The Hot Stove!
An article by 
Not even a few days have passed since the last out was made in the New York Mets 2011 season and at least for Met fans – the Hot Stove is about to be stirred. I was annoyed at how Jose Reyes’ season came to an abrupt end – the blow thankfully softened by the fact that He is now the first player in Met history ever to win a batting title.
His bunt single didn’t bother me in the slightest as it did to some fans. In fact for a leadoff hitter, it’s almost fitting for Reyes to go for the drag bunt single. However I was one of the many fans, including the SNY broadcast booth, who sat stunned as Reyes left the game right after his bunt single.
I think it’s safe to say that every Met fan would have loved to have seen Reyes at least take the field the next inning. Terry Collins, calling time, could have sent Justin Turner in a slow deliberate jog out to relieve Reyes – providing the fans and Reyes a chance for some mutual appreciation.
Cue the theme music from the movie The Natural and the crowd would have eaten it up.
Ok I admit it’s a bit cheesy and maybe we’ve been conditioned by Hollywood to expect and believe in these melodramatic moments. Maybe it’s just because as a franchise we haven’t had a whole lot to cheer for the last few years. Maybe it’s just splitting hairs when unfortunately it’s all that we have left to do.
Either way and for whatever reason or whoever is at fault, I think like many situations involving this team, this too could have been handled a lot better. But what’s done is done and it’s time to once again move on.
Will Jose Reyes get his chance for that roaring standing ovation in 2012….as a Met? All season we’ve speculated what Reyes’ agent will demand for his now 2011 NL Batting Champ. Let’s assume that Reyes and the Mets cannot come to an agreement; where does that leave the organization? Alderson isn’t the type to allow negotiations to go on ad-naseum so if a deal isn’t likely to happen soon it probably won’t happen at all.
If the team simply isn’t willing to entertain the idea of signing a player to a multi-year, close to one-hundred million dollar contract, then this is moot. But if they are then it begs a question, what about the real 800 pound gorilla in room, Albert Pujols?
Here’s is my reasoning on this, and I know I’m assuming a lot but hey, that’s what the Hot Stove is all about. If the Cardinals cannot for whatever reason sign Pujols, and the Mets pass on Reyes, should the Mets throw their hat in the ring and try to land Pujols?
Pujols is a player that any GM would salivate over having. He absolutely fits Alderson’s criteria. He’s a power bat with the ability to drive in runs and get on base and yes, an absolute marquee name that will undoubtedly fill the seats. He’s not young but he’s not necessarily over the hill either at 30.
The last marquee 30 year old the Mets acquired will most likely enter the Hall with a Mets hat and the title of being the greatest hitting catcher of all time. And perhaps more importantly, unlike the uber-fragile Reyes, Pujols has been healthy the majority of his career and is clearly a Hall of Famer if he were to hang up his cleats today.
If the Mets are willing to give Reyes at least 18 million a year for 5 years would they be willing to go to 22 to 25 a year for Pujols, with the question being how long? Does it make sense signing Pujols who can alter this team in ways that Reyes can’t?
Would coming to New York entice Pujols or are both free agents more likely to simply return to their familiar settings in the end? Perhaps Reyes’ quick exit on the last game of the year shouldn’t be worried over as much as it has?
So many questions and so many possibilities it’s going to make for an exciting Hot Stove this Winter. One thing is sure at least from my perspective, if we do lose Reyes and not replace him with someone of substantial substance; it’s going to be a long road ahead. What say you?
About the Author: Joe Spector
I'm just your regular Joe. Staff writer @ Metsmerizedonline.com. Happily married and a father to a baby girl. I attended my first Met game at the ripe old age of 3 where my father scored a foul ball and had it signed by Lee Mazzilli, Joe Torre and Joe Pignataro. It was my Holy Grail - 'till I buried it in the backyard.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 26 | 17 | .605 | - |
| Nationals | 25 | 17 | .595 | 0.5 |
| Marlins | 23 | 19 | .548 | 2.5 |
| Mets | 22 | 20 | .524 | 3.5 |
| Phillies | 21 | 22 | .488 | 5.0 |
Last updated: 05/22/2012
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If only Pujols played SS or CF or pitched…
PUJOLS’ AGENT ISN’T LIKELY TO EVEN GLANCE AT HIS CALLER ID FOR LESS THAN A 30M/Y OFFER DIDN’T ALBERT ALREADY DISDAIN STL’ OFFER FOR WHAT U R ERRONEOSLY SPECULATING @?
PERSONALLY, I’D NEVER EXPECT TC TO EVEBN THINK CHEEZY, LET ALONE CONSIDER IT, U MAY HAVE NOTED HE WAS ASKED BY A REPORTER DURING THE POST IF HE’D CONSIDERED SUCH A MOVE(REMOVING JOSE FROM FIELD @ SS). AFTER SEEMINGLY LOOKING AT THE INQUISITOR AS IF HE WAS EITHER A CHILD OR A MARTIAN, TC RESPONDED NEGATIVELY IN A MANNER AS TO SAY “WHY IN HELL WOULD I DO SUCH AN EXTRORDINARY THING?
MOST OF U SEEM TO KEEP FORGETTING THAT NEITHER SANDY,PAUL, JP OR TC WERE MORE THAN BARELY AWARE OF THE HAPPENINGS IN FLIUSHING SINCE ’07. NONE WERE NYM FANS OR LIKELY EVEN VIEWED A MET GAME BEFORE THIS SEASON. IT’S NOT AS IF THEY EVER ANTICIPATED GETTING INVOLVED HERE.
SIMILARLY, I DO NOT BELIEVE ALDERSON WOULD BE FOOLISH ENOUGH TO LEAD THE FANBASE ON Re REYES INVOLVMENT. IF HE WASN’T PREPAERED TO MAKE A COMPETITIVE OFFER. HE’S NOT A FOOL BY ANY MEANS & OBVIOUSLY KNOWS IT’S A 100M RANGE TOTAL PKG JUST AS IN HIS NY POST INTERVIEW HE RATHER HONESTLY DEPICTED THE ’12 PAYROLL @ BET 100 & 110M A NUMBER WELL WITHIN THE RANGE TO ACCOMODATE RETAINING REYES PLUS MODEST UPGRADES SIOMILAR TO LAST OFFSEASON SINCE PRESENTLY THE 6(SANTANA,BAY,WRIGHT,DICKEY,CARASCO,BYRDAK) CURRENTLY CONTRACTED COMMITMENTS TOTAL $61,650,000. ALLOWING FOR ARBITRATION SETTLEMENTS TO PAGAN & PELFREY, AS WELL AS 2.75M IN MiLB MINIMUMS TO COMPLETE THE 25(TEJADA, TURNER, PRIDIE, DUDA, MURPHY, THOLE, NICKEAS, GEE, NIESE, PARNELL) COMPLETING HIS CURRENT ESTIMATE OF 75M PRESENTLY ACCOUNTED FOR THE ANTICIPATED RANGE FOR REYES BEING BETWEEN 20-25M CERTAINLY IS ACCOMODATABLE.
IT CERTAINLY SHOULD BE NOTED THAT (5 OF
OF THIS YEAR’S PLAYOFF CONTENDERS HAD PAYROLLS LESS THAN 100M.(TB-71M,TX-55M,STL-93M,ARI-61M,MIL-81M) NB 3 OF 4 NL(PHL-142M SOLE EXCEPTION)
TEAM PAYROLL’S ARE TYPUICALLY REFERRED TO AS EITHER BIG MARKET OR SMALL MARKET DIVIDES; HOWEVER THAT SIMPLISTIC 2 CATEGORIES DOESN’T EXIST AS BEGINNING THIS SEASON 26% HAD TOP PAYROLLS EXCEEDING 100M, 33% MID-RANGE PAYROLLS BETWEEN 80 & 100M WITH THE BOTTOM 40% BELOW 72M. OUT OF THIS LOWEST RANGE AS EMERGED 3 OF THIS YEAR’S PLAYOFF PARTICIPANTS TAMPA,ARIZONA & TEXAS AS NOTED ABOVE. 2(STL,MIL) EMERGED FROM THE MID-RANGE GROUP & 3(NYY,PHL,DET) FROM THE UBERSPENDING CONTINGENT
I say go after Paplebon. He’s a free agent and it might be to dangerous for him to play in Beantown anymore a la Billy Buckner.
And if Pujols signed he’d be yet another great player who came to the Mets as a free agent and hit .267 with 11 homers and 56 RBI. I don’t think the Mets end up with either player, and Papelbon would fill a need that kept the Mets from being a winning club, but I don’t see them giving him the money either.
well, at this point, is any team going to give Paps big money or a lot of years?
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If you want to get radical, Lidge cold be available!
It should probably be renamed to the luke warm stove if we actually stick with that 110 Mil payroll target!
We certainly won’t be cooking with a lot of gas if we do manage to re-sign Reyes.
$110 would still be in the top 10 though (based on 2011 payrolls). So not like they are trying to get down to the level or the Rays or Pirates.
USA today actually shows the Mets at 118 for 2011. Not sure how they calculate (there are a lot of different ways for different purposes). CBS sportsline said opening day was about 120mill.
so 110 is not really much of a drop then. Look at it as subtracting Ollie’s salary, and having change left over!
don’t we have ike davis? unless you’re planning to trade him and wright for a bonafide pitcher then yes… i can see you’re point. but then a lineup with pujols can make everyone around him better. certainly a guy like duda would see MILLION of pitches to hit. bay can reverse and be good, i mean who knows. but, reality is, the mets won’t even look that way.
I don’t think Ike will ever hit Pujols (in his prime) levels of production but he could deffinetly produce offensivley at 75-80 percent of what Puljols used to produce as well as premier defense for very little money over the next 5 or so years.
You need to use your free agent bucks to fill a true need.
Now if you got Pujols and put Ike in right (I hear he’s a pretty solid outfileder since he has a great arm) and put duda in left this might work.
you can non-tender Pelf and trade bay to boston for Lackey (swapping bad conracts) to ease the logjam in the outfield.
dan, i was thinking the same thing, sometimes exchanging bad contracts may work out, boston is tired of lackey and we tired of jason bay, problem is, they got a LF in crawford, and have or can have a better DH than bay in ortiz or can go after beltran… bay makes no sense whatsoever for them, OR ANYBODY ELSE on that matter
Hot stove love it. How about trading murphy to toronto for j.p arencibia? The jays have a AA catcher travis d’araud. Trade wright to LA angels for Aybar,and bourjos. Keep the draft picks and let Reyes go. Sign EDwin JAckson, PApelbon.go ahead guys tear me apart!!