18
2011
Here’s My Plan for 2012; What’s Yours Sandy?
An article by 
There are a lot of people throwing their “plans” for the Mets out there, so I figure why can’t I?
I think most if not all of us have come to the realization that the Mets are not printing money at Citi Field. Their biggest offseason move may be bringing the fences in.
However, we start at Catcher:
I think Paulino’s biggest crime as a platoon catcher was that he was acquired by Sandy Alderson.
It clouds people’s judgment. I’m not saying he was an All-Star, but when he was signed what was the message to all of us? “He’s here to hit against lefties” Was it not?
The problem was he was needed to do MORE because Thole proved or is proving he is not a starting catcher.
.289 average, .363 OBP, .389 SLG, .752 OPS 90 AB was Paulino’s lefty splits, yet he had 138 AB versus Righty.
Paulino had a terrible 2nd half, no doubt about it. But if Thole is the starting catcher then the backup is primarily going to be used versus LHP, so if Paulino is not coming back, which I haven’t heard he officially is not then I am looking at:
Kelly Shoppach or Jason Varitek
Shoppach is 31 years old, and from 2009-2011 he has hit .262, with 16 HR, 44 RBI, .372 OBP, .488 SLG and a .860 OPS versus lefties.
Varitek would be a good sign if he could in fact teach Thole something, anything about leadership.
In terms of lefty splits, Varitek has hit .241 with 11HR, 34RBI, .332 OBP, .463 SLG and a .795 OPS from 2009-2011.
If we are assuming Jose Reyes is leaving us, then I feel like the Mets badly will need a veteran SS. Much like the Indians did for Asdrubal Cabrera, I think bringing in Orlando Cabrera would help Ruben Tejada immensely. If you told me that Tejada for his career would mirror Cabrera’s, I’d be happy with that.
If Cabrera is off the table, then Rafael Furcal would be my 2nd choice. Basically, I’d look to get a SS who can be the type of player Tejada should become one day. Omar Vizquel could be a nice option too, but no disrespect to the Hall of Fame Defender but the Mets would need somebody who could step in and start if things with Tejada do not go as planned early on.
In the outfield as of now it looks like it will be Bay-Pagan-Duda, and while I’m rooting for Duda, I don’t trust him. If the Mets didn’t (or don’t) tender Pagan, I would have loved to see a guy like Coco Crisp in CF, but it doesn’t look like that will happen.
I would kick the tires on David DeJesus. I’ve been a fan of his for years, in fact I think I wrote a blog on here about him 2 years ago. He had a TERRIBLE 2011 season, but he’s a Brooklyn native and his terrible 2011 campaign could drive the price way down.
I am not on the “Bring Endy Back” bandwagon, mostly because I think the 4th OF needs to be one that can actually produce because I think the odds of Bay-Pagan-Duda being producers every day is slim to none. I think the 4th OF needs to have a chance to steal a starting job.
If he’s a signing like a Willie Harris, then I do not mind it.
The starting rotation appears to be Johan-Niese-Pelfrey-Dickey-Gee, so in reality, signing any pitcher who thinks they deserve a guaranteed spot in the rotation is out the door. That’s why I can see them bringing Chris Young back. I know Alderson’s critics despise Young but if you think realistically, what free agent pitcher would come to the Mets if he wasn’t guaranteed a spot?
The only ones that would are pitchers with something to prove.
I could see the Mets kicking the tires on guys like Dontrelle Willis, Brandon Webb, and maybe, just maybe, Tim Wakefield.
In the bullpen, those that intrigue me are: Jonathan Broxton, Todd Coffey, Chad Durbin, Scott Linebrink, and of course Joe Nathan.
In terms of a lefty, I prefer Mike Gonzalez to any available, but Josh Grabow wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
I think a big piece to any successful bullpen is the ability to call up players and have them fill-in immediately. I’m not looking at the Mets as a team that can buy a championship right now, so I’d like to see what some of these kids have to offer.
Pitchers like Schwinden, Herrera, and Mejia could play a huge factor in who the Mets do and do not go after in terms of bullpen help.
I think there is enough out there for the Mets to turn their 2012 team into a respectable team on the field.
If the Mets do bring Reyes back, it changes everything. If Ruben Tejada is a SS for the future, and the Mets re-sign Reyes, then Tejada either becomes a 2B for the future, or somebody else’s SS.
If they don’t sign Reyes, then Daniel Murphy may find himself sent elsewhere mostly due to the fact his stock will never be higher. While some believe Wright could be traded this off-season, I do not. If the Mets do not sign Reyes, there is no way they trade Wright during the winter.
Wright will likely benefit from the fences being pushed in, so if he were to ever be traded, it’d be after he improves his numbers.
Don’t forget about Johan Santana either. If he proves to be healthy, will he ask to be traded if this team appears to be a full-on rebuilding one?
After this season, I’d like for Sandy Alderson along with the Wilpon’s to stand at a podium and tell us all what the plan is. I am a patient guy, but I need to know what I’m waiting for and for how long. How bad are things really? I don’t BLAME Alderson like others do.
I believe his job is to HELP whatever problems may exist within this organization. Those problems existed BEFORE he ever got the job.
However, after two years go by, I believe we all deserve some answers on the future of this organization.
About the Author: Michael J. Branda
My time with MMO began in July of 2009 when I wrote a Fan Post defending Omar Minaya (before it was cool to do that.) I grew up a Mets fan with the mid 1980's teams. My favorite Met of all-time is (and was) Wally Backman. When it comes to sabermetrics versus old school thinking, I like to think I meet in the middle. I believe thinking of new ways to get answers is helpful, especially when the same way has not produced results. However, I think over-thinking certain situations can get you into trouble. I'm excited for the new regime, because I believe they have pieces in place to focus on several aspects of the Mets organization. I've waited this long for a World Series, waiting a few more years for another chance isn't going to kill me.
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Here you go again, yelling for the sake of yelling. Yelling doesn’t make your point look more valid, nor does lying as you did in the other post claiming I’ve ever said those guys are “crap”
For a plan moving forward Metsie, I don’t think it takes a genius blogger to say “scout amateur players better and be a major player in international free agents.”
Wow. Look at that.
The only thing the Mets CAN do without totally selling off every piece of talent they have is develop the guys they have right now, and draft wisely and sign wisely, and not over spend for veteran free agents.
In the meantime, they still need to maintain a level of respectability on the field. Nobody wants to see them go 62-100.
LETTERS HAVE NO VOLUME!
So get over your hearing issues when reading my posts!
There was NO PLAN there save a rotiserie baseball menu for 2012!
There was not ONE signing there that had anything towards helping make 2013 or 2014 a competitive season. not a ONE!
“For a plan moving forward Metsie, I don’t think it takes a genius blogger to say “scout amateur players better and be a major player in international free agents.”
What good is all of that if you never play those guys (like tejada and duda) for signed retreaded tires you signed for a good kick?
You really have exposed the fact that just about everything you have said to date about long term build from within smartness is just an excuse to play hot stove lets guess on crap and every then pound our chest at our brilliance when one of the ten scrubs has a decent year for him at minimal cost!
Which does nothing because the next year he wants 4 times the money and we have to let him go…Like capuano!
The ONLY signing Sandy made to date that didn’t stink worse than a flu turd!
“Here’s My Plan for 2012; What’s Yours Sandy?”
My Plan for … 2012.
You see that right there don’t you?
My plan for 2012.
Not my plan to see this team regain respectability over the next 5 years. That’s going to take time, and avoidance of poor free agent signings that cost picks (depending on CBA) and not avoiding players in the draft due to signing bonus, and being active in the IFA market. And developing players in the minors by surrounding them with the best coaching talent possible.
Does somebody really have to tell you that’s what they want for this team moving forward for you to beleive there is some sort of plan in place?
You’re so hell bent on pounding your fist and declaring that you see something nobody else does that it makes all of your posts appear to be written by a screaming lunatic.
This blog was merely written to make the 2012 Mets as competitive as possible without tanking or spending large sums of money.
While the future plans happen behind the scenes, we as fans have to turn on SNY and watch SOMETHING in 2012.
This post is merely me stating what I think will be the best thing to watch while the behind the scenes stuff goes on.
“Not my plan to see this team regain respectability over the next 5 years”
Yeah we noticed!
Point is you have been supporting SANDY’s plan saying it is the right one and now you are trying to say his plan is different than yours?
Is that how you expect to weasel out of this mess you posted yourself into?
Doug and I posted a LONG TERM PLAN, what that seems to NOT coincide with what Sandy seems to be doing.
But your plan seems to fit RIGHT TIGHT into what Sandy is doing!
Since you seem to be the biggest Sandy supporter here and the most active excuse and defender of his move, coupled with the similarities of what he is doing with what you propose we can only conclude that what you propose is what you WANT to defend Sandy to do!
Which just gopes to show what I said about your plan exposes everything about the crap you been trying to paint Sandy’s moves as being…
Not a LONG TERM plan, Not a BUILD FROM WITHIN plan…
Just a pack off everyopne who makes over a certain amount, buy crap to replace them and collect picks so you can root for the only team you REALLY are interested in building the Buffalo Bisons!
And when those kids are ready you will send them off or refuse to play them too in favor of buying more cheap crap!
Just like you are proposing to do with Tejada and Murphy now!
Metsie… your “long term plan” for the Mets was keep Reyes, great… but the bulk of your so called long term plan was centered around 3 hugely false or insane statement
“Not only does such a player only occupy one roster spot, but it affords you the luxury to place more Kids on the roster, protect them from Rule 5, and pay them only League Minimum. It would still solve your financial issues with payroll and might net you a pleasant surprise in much the way Ike Davis, Lucas Duda and Dillon Gee did when they were brought up despite no one thinking they were MLB ready?”
“Wouldn’t separating the wheat from the chaff in the Minors by testing them on the MLB level in a season that everyone says is for nothing, make next season much less of a waste of our time?”
“If you want to save money, then let’s stop spending on stopgap fillers who are a waste of time and instead use those roster spots for kids that cost next to nothing and at worse JUST AS USELESS as any one year reclamation project we could sign.”
All that is, is a short term plan on how to ruin the development of your young players. You don’t just call players up to the big leagues simply because you don’t want to sign a guy like Willie Harris. That’s a great way to kill your farm system.
For starters, what if he’s not ready? You just killed an option year and now what are you gonna do with that roster spot? What does that do to a young players confidence if he’s brought up to the show and isn’t ready?
You have a minor league system for a reason, you don’t just throw players who aren’t prepared for the big leagues into Citi Field and say “good luck.” If that is your long term plan then good luck to ya.
By calling up just anybody to the big leagues it not only cheapens their possible development in the minor leagues but destroys any credibility the franchise may have left at a big league level.
Quit patting yourself on the back, calling up minor leaguers who do not belong in the big leagues is not a long term plan for success, its a short term plan for being a laughing stock.
I already called him out on that, but he just continued to yell about how we think the minors are terrible.
Right? It’s amazing to me.
The only “long term plan” you as a fan can possibly suggest without
*seeing the books
* being a minor league scout yourself (one who scouts other teams minor leaguers)
*totally tearing it down and starting over
Here are a few things:
Hire the best on field and amateur scouts you can
Actively scout other teams minor league systems for potentially undervalued players
Have a clear organizational message when it comes to the type of players you look for
Hire the best minor league coaches/instructors you can
Draft the best possible players
Don’t waste your picks on old free agents who force you to over spend
Keep your young players as healthy as possible
Be very involved in the International Free Agent pool
Know when to hold em and when to fold em – with regard to trading veteran players for young return
Have a clear idea of when your young players could be ready to make a big league impact.
That’s a long term plan Metsie. Not “just throw minor leaguers in there to save 750k you’d spend on a 1 year veteran contract.”
Everybody knows the things you need to do in order to sustain long term success, its whether or not you do them right or wrong. Dan Duquette KNOWS what he needs to do in Baltimore, its whether he has the right skills to actually do them that will determine if he’s a success in Baltimore.
And all yours and Xtreem’s plan is to stifle that development while wasting money on CRAP!
And NEITHER of you have replied to the question I asked…
HOW does bringing a kid up to the MLB HURT his development?
He has BETTER players, Coaches to learn from…
Will face BETTER Players and Pitching!
Will learn how to DEAL WITH and ACLIMATE to the big leagues
and gain experience he isn’t going to get in Buffalo!
YOU GUYS SAY THEY SUCK!
SO what exactly do you think we are going to hurt by promoting them?
Florida didn’t seem to have a problem promiting from the Minors when they had two sell offs!
You guys are only interested in getting guys on BA’s list and haveing the best AAA team but NEVER seem interested in PROMOTING them!
You say you want to build from WITHIN yet when it is suggested to DO JUST THAT you guys say you can’t!
I think I can speak for a lot of posters here and say we all wish your Slashers would make up you god damned mind!
You say don’t spend then only want to build by spending!
You say build from within but say you can;’t promote kids in AAA
Which side of the mouth talking should we be listening to here and how do we know which side is talking when you guys flip then flop?
“HOW does bringing a kid up to the MLB HURT his development?” Well here’s 2 reasons
A) If he’s not good enough to be in the big leagues but is put on a big league roster he will start to feel and act like a failure
B) You’re not in the major leagues to learn, coaches and managers aren’t in the big leagues to teach players, you’re in the major leagues because you have surpassed your goals for minor league development. If you skip lessons of how to be a big leaguer and just throw them into the mix, they will fail.
You’re argument is totally idiotic. Why even have the minor leagues? Why not just throw everybody in the majors?
If you HONESTLY think that a player who hasn’t proven he’s ready for the big leagues will benefit MORE from being a NY Met than a Buffalo Bison than you are more crazy than I thought you were.
“Florida didn’t seem to have a problem promiting from the Minors when they had two sell offs!”
In 1998 the year after the Marlins World Series win their starting lineup consisted of
Gregg Zaun 27 years old 4th year in the bigs
Derek Lee, 22, 2nd year in the bigs
Craig Counsell, 27 career minor leaguer til then
Edgar Renteria, 21, 3rd year in the bigs
Todd Zeile, 32
Cliff Floyd 25, 6th year in the bigs
Todd Dunwoody, 23 played 19 games in 1997
Mark Kotsay, 22
then they had Livan Hernandez 2nd year, Brian Meadows, Jesus Sanchez, Andy Larkin, Rafael Medina
So if your goal is for the Mets to have Todd Dunwoody, Jesus Sanchez and Andy Larkin… sure just call up anybody! Who cares if you go 54-108 right?
“You guys are only interested in getting guys on BA’s list and haveing the best AAA team but NEVER seem interested in PROMOTING them!”
No I’m interested in promoting guys when they can help the big league club, not because the mets need to fill a uniform
By the way Metsie your last post had 9 ! in it.
Oh please Jessup thats all just a load of Bull!
You have said many times these guys are nothing more than Bench Fodder!
They are never going to amount to real MLB players according to you!
So if you feel that way then using them for what YOU CLAIM is the only thing they are good for can’t ruin them!
Can F-Mart be ruined by starting in the MLB next year as our CF?
If so hasn’t he been ruined years ago then?
Tell us what is more likely to RUIN Tejada and stunt his development? Starting him at 2B or SS or replacing him with Furcal?
Duda is not ready either in your eyes that we need to get CoCo Crisp?
I guess Duda should go back down to the Minors until he is ready?
All I see you doing here is buying opther people’s crap and avoiding the BUILD FROM WITHIN approach you claim and Defend sandy as doing and when someone else suggest it’s you say it is dumb and BAD!
I know you don’t read my posts but you should actually try reading yours and see just how often you flip on what you think depending on who suggests it!
You claim you have a long term view then focus on 2012 only!
You say you want to build from within then when kids show any signs of success you move to quicky replace them with cheap crap!
And in the meantime you slam and would glady get rid of anyone with a .289 or above BA in favor of signing a 2 Million dollar scrub!
And I’m left wondering what happened to your DEEP STATISTICAL ANALYSIS that is supposed to find those cheap GEMS you talked about all this time!
Where are THEY?
Is CoCo Crisp the guy your analysis spit out and the undervalued gem?
Is Furcal?
Your only plan is to slash payroll so you can list 10 names of crap players from other teams that gave up on them and then hoping one plays a decent game enough to call him a successful signing and beat your chest about how smart you are for naming him!
You have no plan just a Defense of a GM who has no plan either just guys who are good at lying and trying to pass it off as such!
The only Plan Sandy has showed so far is to not spend more than 2 mil on any player!
Sell off any player who is good.
And just collect draft picks Jessup has no intentions of using!
Funny I noted Sandy made sure to call the league to make sure he was going to get his picks for reyes!
What does that tell you about what really is the most important thing to Sandy regarding Reyes?
I don’t have a plan.
I barely have a liver.
Don’t feel bad Mack…
It’s obvious jessup doesn’t have a plan either…
And when the season is over the results of his ‘PLAN” will be so bad I suspect he will be drinking his liver away as well!
Whoa Whoa Whoa WHOA!!!!!!!!
I thought your plan was a LONG TERM PLAN?
Why does it end at 2012?
Or is it that what I said was true and you don’t REALLY have a long term plan just a short term liquidation schedule that doesn’t go beyond slashing payroll until 2014 rolls around and Santana and Bay go off the books?
Funny but I didn’t see any PLANNING there…All I saw were a bunch of names you would be happy to fill with. Not one of them seemed to have anything to do with long term stability and competitive baseball now or in the near future!
So I guess I was right in my piece about the LONG TERM…
You guys don’t really HAVE a long term plan!
None of the moves you would make will make us better in the future and none of them do anything for making us competitive even in the short term!
Your not PLANNING your just treading water to collect draft picks!
Which is WHY I wrote the piece I did!
Because it was the first proposal made on this site that made any strides towards eventual competitive baseball in a year or two!
The ONLY plan that ACTUALLY started kids and would build from within to save money so we could go and spend on GOOD free Agents who actually improve the team!
You plan starts off with replaceing the one kid that seems to be ready to go and play SS for us at league Minimum if Reyes goes!
Which shows all that CRAP you been screaming about building from within was just SMOKESCREEN!
To hide you REAL intention, Play rotisserie baseball every year, Play conga line Roster each year, and CUT every bit of productive salary so you can sign 10 times the UNPROVEN crap in order to say you had a few successes and were smart evaluators!
You just exposed the TRUTH about your plan.
It isn’t long term at all!
It’s just short term SLASHING, and Water treading!
And your not even replacing the youth you claimed so many time you want to build with!
Both Tejada and Duda are being replaced!
Thole too!
You seem to be kicking a lot of tires!
Maybe if you didn’t buy all those clunkers you wouldn’t have to KICK TIRES!
You could just turn the key and drive off to the wins!
A long term plan (assuming that Reyes is not Re-signed) should be as follows:
- Waiting on someone to offer the world for Wright and move him.
- Sign Nathan & Francisco. Nathan to a 2 year + an option deal.
- Look to move any combination of Fmart, Murphy, Pagan, Pelfrey, Parnell, Turner for a SP, CF, C and/or minor leaguers with a little higher ceiling. No clue who would work at either CF or C other than prospects. for SP i’d look for Danks/G. Gonzales/Lirano(?). Murphy becomes more valuable to this team if Wright is moved.
- Consider signing the good slappy (Endy) for at least the year. He can play all OF positions and has proved to be a serviceable 4th OF at the major league level. This is a bandaid, for sure, but he’ll be cheap and brings nostalgia.
- Look to move Santana, once his value is re-istablished. Same for Bay, if that is possible.
- move Duda to LF and let him play every day. Bay moves to right and once he shows his massive splits differential, platoon him with anyone
- Assuming that they’ll have flexibility, look to make a splash in next years FA class
- Once Ike shows he is back, look to extend him and buy out arb years on the cheap.
2012 is going to suck. But let’s not try slapping lipstick on a pig and thinking it’s not a pig.
Well NJ I do semi agree with your last line as I read it (not sure it means what I think it does but not important)
No sense in slapping lipstick on an already stuck pig!
Lets play kids who are getting older, or not progressing at Buffalo and play them to save money. If we lose a few more games so be it Jessup gets better pick selection next draft!
Maybe some of those guys create some value while here just as Santana and Bay might!
Then you got some trade chips to go and get the player we do not have in the minors to fill holes the next 2 or 3 years (2013 and 2014)
Lets try and make the kids we have valuable by making them MLB players. They can’t do any worse than some 1 million dollar piece of someone else’s crap and MLB service players are worth more in trade than MiL scrubs!
Lets try to CREATE value for what he have and own not what we can sign on the cheap and will not own once the season is over!
Then maybe we can trade for the talent we need or maybe even find what we thought was no good turns out to be an answer to one of our long term problems!
If we want to eventually build from within then no time like the present!
Why put off till tomorrow what we can do today!
Nobody’s judement is “clouded” when it comes to Ronny Paulino. He’s a terrible defensive catcher. And he isn’t that good of a hitter either.
And nobody despises Young. People just didn’t like the idea of counting on someone with his injury history.
and by the way, is he even going to be ready to start the season?
You know Vinny I’m glad you brought up Young…
I have been on record as saying I have no problem resigning Young to a MiL contract with MLB accelerator if he makes the team.
Most of us who point out Young’s signing as a bad one is not pointing it out because we have a problem with the fact that he got hurt but with the fact that guys like Jessup who use injury as an excuse to disparage Reyes, Castillo, Omar, Santana and even Beltran are the ones who seem to have no problem with Young and his injury problems!
It’s hypocritical to suggest one guy should not be signed because he missed 30 games but resign a guy who missed 158 games as a good pickup!
Either your injury adverse or your not!
This is why Young becomes a topic because they identify INJURY as a thing to avoid except in cases where they make a push to re-sign a guy who has far worse injury history!
ummm
“to disparage Reyes, Castillo, Omar, Santana and even Beltran are the ones who seem to have no problem with Young and his injury problems!”
Omar was injury prone?
Chris Young isn’t costing you 15-20 mil over a long period of time. Clearly a level headed person could see the difference between signing Chris Young to a 1 year deal over signing Luis Castillo?
I was never against the Beltran signing, nor the Johan trade… nor am I against signing Reyes to a 5 year deal.
So again, you just continue to make things up to make your point look like it makes sense
No youblamed him for signing injury risks…
Something you used to say was a FAILURE but not support!
I think that team might lost 90 games, J……
So wait, you defending alderson, then you try to flip the switch by saying you want to know what the plan is at the end of the season?? LMAO. this is comical you know, i thought you knew what alderson plan was, i mean, isn’t that what you’ve been telling us? and you’re ready to write him off after 2 years and kill us for writing him off after one? yeah, is ok for you to do this….
as usual bad job, paulino was TERRIBLE, had he been on the pirates or royals and put those numbers he’d still be terrible.. chris young had 2 good start and 2 mediocre start where he didn’t even completed 5 innings, then of course, his arm fell off after 24 innings, yet, somehow, ppl here want him back.. incredible, i don’t understand the lovefest with this guy, everything we’ve gotten from the A’s have derailed this franchise, first al howe, now alderson and his sabergoons. what’s next, billy beane??
In regards to the 4th OF role, why not bring back Endy Chavez? Especially if you’re comparing him to Willie Harris. Compare their 2011 stats:
Harris: 126 GM 240 AB, 11 2B, 2 HR, 23 RBI, .246/.351/.317 Slash Line 5 SB, 4 CS
Chavez: 83 GM, 256 AB, 11 2B, 5 HR, 27 RBI, .301/.323/.426 Slash Line, 10 SB, 4 CS
Both are 33 years old. The only thing Harris has over Chavez is the OBP. Otherwise, Endy was a better basestealer, produced just as many runs as Harris (59 for Endy, 57 for Harris), and makes better contact (30 K’s in 256 AB vs. 62 in 240 for Harris). The only thing Harris can do that Chavez hasn’t is play the IF.
I’m not saying bringing Chavez back will make or break the Mets in 2012. It won’t. He’s simply a backup. Albeit a potentially useful backup. Having said that, Chavez can be useful off the bench with his ability to make contact, bunt, and run as well as be a really good backup in CF to Pagan or Duda in RF. No, he doesn’t have much power and he is 3 years older since he left the Mets, but the Mets could do worse.
86Mets: that’s exactly what I said
“If he’s a signing like a Willie Harris, then I do not mind it.”
I’m suggesting a guy like dejesus because they may need a guy who can slide into a starting role more than a bench guy you know?
If you’re saying they replace Hairston/Harris/Pridie with DeJesus+Endy then I’m all for it. I’m just saying they can’t just sign Endy and call it a day
I agree. You can’t just sign Endy and be done with it. How about Endy and Scott Hairston as the b/up corner OF’er? You’re 4th OF’er really needs to be defensive oriented because, invariably you’ll have at least one starting OF’er who can really hit, but is challenged in the field (Lucas Duda, Pagan on occasion). Since Chavez doesn’t have much power, bringing back Hairston who can hit for some power balances out your back up OF. Speed/defense (Chavez) and Power bat off the bench (Hairston).
Also, I like the idea of Varitek as the backup, but only on a very incentive laden deal. He hasn’t hit more than .232 in the past 4 seasons and hasn’t managed 100 games played in 3. But he is unmatched among catchers today for his game management skills and leadership behind the plate (Yadier Molina being a close 2nd I would say) and those skills are in demand among the Mets pitchers. And if he can help make Josh Thole a better catcher so much the better. But clearly, Tek is strictly a backup nowadays at age 39 and shouldn’t catch more than twice a week any more.
I think you have to plan the off season assuming Johan will not pitch at all. If he does, bonus, and not like Gee can’t be bumped fromt he rotation if you end up with 6 SPs!
Young? He was actually paid appropriately for what he did. Only made 4 games, but only got paid $1mill. Prorate that, and it would be $8mill over 32 starts.
And you would be doing good to get those numbers over a full season for that price.
Here’s a plan…Do a trade and sign deal with the Rockies with David Wright….they sign Wright long-term, then they have no use for Nolan Arenado (the best offensive minor league prospect in all of baseball) and Wilin Rosario (a good looking catching prospect). For the next season or 2, let Turner and Murphy platoon at third until Arenado is ready to join the show. Then in the not-too-distant future the Mets will have an infield of Davis, Tejada (who I am high on yet, but he has potential), Arenado, and Rosario. Find a 2B or see if Havens can be healthy enough to play 2B ever. Hopefully, Duda will have a good full season and trade him for some pitching…I like Duda a lot, but I say this, because, he is not an OFer, he is a 1B and Davis isn’t going anywhere. Maybe even combine Duda and Valdespin (rumor has it he has an attitude issue) in a trade for a good pitching prospect. Hopefully, Nimmo is for real (which I’m not convinced of) and he can play OF with Cory Vaughn in the future. IF these guys can live up to their potential along with Wheeler, Harvey, Familia, Cohoon…then the Mets could have a decent team by about 2014 and beyond.
I’m starting to get the idea you really want Nolan Arenado.
Is it that obvious? There is nothing not to like about this kid.
Here’s my plan for 2012…. Somebody finally convinces daddy wilpon and jr that they really want to own the Brook… oops I mean the Los Angeles Dodgers…. and they take the whole mess swirling around them to the west coast.
[...] Here's My Plan for 2012; What's Yours Sandy? | Mets Merized Online [...]
Two guys dominate the comment section of this site with their ‘mines bigger than yours’ in mature banter. Let me know when they calm down and bring some meaningful dialog to the conversation and I and probably many others will be back.