13
2013
Mets Consider Bringing Back Jon Rauch
An article by 
Chill out guys and stop looking so bored.
With pitchers and catchers reporting in just 29 days, the Mets continue to hold out on filling their major league roster with the hope that prices in the free agent market will tumble and become somewhat suitable for front office’s not so rich tastes. The team has the money to spend and is not restricted, a fact reiterated by Alderson during a conference call last week, but they sure do have a funny way of showing it.
The Mets have yet to sign any player to a major league deal, mostly because of Alderson’s aversion to giving any free agent current market value, and he’s hoping for a 1929 style crash to occur between now and Opening Day. So for now, the team continues to play the waiting game – a game that has become a Rite of Winter for these New Mets.
Marc Carig of Newsday says that the market still includes high-profile targets such as former Yankees closer Rafael Soriano, outfielder Michael Bourn, starting pitcher Kyle Lohse and relatively strong pitching depth and that the budget-conscious Mets “look to be in good position to take advantage as they remain focused on adding a back-end starting pitcher and veteran help in the bullpen.”
I don’t know about that… I’m not so sure Scott Boras is suddenly going to urge Lohse, Soriano or Bourn to sign one year, $4 million dollar deals just so they could accommodate the “no-money-ball” front office. But who am I to squash their dreams. Dream On guys…
However I do agree with Carig who also says the Mets are “pretty comfortable with the options left on the board” in veterans Carl Pavano, Shaun Marcum and Chris Young. Those three are right up Alderson’s alley. The Mets have also not ruled out the return of righthanded reliever Jon Rauch.
The front office have once again shown interest in trading for Justin Upton, and also once again they backed off when they realized he was still not on Clearance Sale. In the meantime, Hairston still hangs around.
So chill out, stay calm and keep waiting… Eventually the Mets will have to get this 25 man roster thing sorted out… They have to… It’s in the rule book….
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 24 | 18 | .571 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 20 | .535 | 1.5 |
| Phillies | 20 | 23 | .465 | 4.5 |
| Mets | 16 | 24 | .400 | 7.0 |
| Marlins | 11 | 32 | .256 | 13.5 |
Last updated: 05/18/2013
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I’m going to save many posters here some time and trouble and just post the STOCK (33% Off) Answer…
There is STILL plenty of time…..
Between now and when they have to take the team phot in Spring Training.
And really more cause they can use cardboard cutouts on the backline to fill in.
And who is to say those cardboard cutouts wouldn’t actually play a better OF than who Sandy plans on signing anyway?
Alderson is our Grim Reaper here to collect the soul of the team which has already been gutted of any star caliber talent. What is left now is just a rotting corpse of a team. We’re never gonna sniff a winning season with this guy, but the Wilpons love his money making moves. That’s all that matters now; money not wins. Older Met fans may remember a time like this. “Take your kids out to see our kids”. Grim memories.
A MP3 of the Sandy Alderson Report from 2009
http://www.xxsportsradio.com/common/global_audio/40/2410.mp3
listen to how clueless this idiot is in describing how he runs a club
LMAO….JDD How about reading these forum posts by San Diego Padres fans when Sandy Alderson and DePodesta took over the team with Kevin Towers in place of where JP Ricciardi would be for us….
Theyre saying the EXACT same things Mets fans are saying now on MMO…lol…look at how many of them are praising Alderson and DePo for improving the Padres farm system which was supposedly weak….See how optimistic they were about the Young talent on the farm?
Now with hindsight ask your self how many great players did that Pares farm system produce???
How great has that Padres team been in the years after Alderson and Depo’s supposed built up the farm?
Donovan Tate
Allan Dykstra
Nick Schmidt
Matt Antonelli
Nick Hundley
Kyler Burke
SMH….All 1st rd picks whom all suck..I didnt even name the other numerous 1st rd busts and 1st rd compensation pick busts you would think they would hit on some. But To give them credit they did produce Matt Latos
When Alderson says that the Mets may still add to their pitching and outfield before spring training, I suspect he is waiting for an offer similar to what the Mets did when they got Bernard Gilkey for 3 non-prospect minor leaguers or John Olerud for a decent AAA pitcher in Robert Person. Or maybe one of the remaining free agents will say that he always wanted to play in New York and would gladly take whatever the Mets are offering to fulfill his dream. Good luck, Sandy.
I think the Binghamton Mets will be more fun to watch than the New York Mets.
The B Met should be a good team this year. As an organization we need to teach our kids how to win in the upper minors.
it is a good sign if the talent bubble in the minors keeps pushing up (strong team at PSL, followed by a strong team in AA) since that gets the players either finally to the majors or as prime trade bait.
The issue I have is when you project 2-3 years down the line (which is a reasonable time frame to think about A and AA Ball players)
I don’t see where the guys we have fit….
We do have a lot of promising Pitching and will need one more rotation arm once Santana rides off….
Nimmo should have no problem getting onto the roster, Not so much because of his ranking but merely on the basis that the best options ahead of him are Den Dekker Kirk and some converted Infielder. He could be awful and still play better than those guys.
That means a lot of them are going to serve as mere trade bait.
And that says to me that there is no reason to WAIT for those guys to develop we are better off trading them NOW for other kids that will meet needs either next year or on the same titmetable, or to get an MLB player that accelerates the time frame by a year or two and can make the team we have filled (mostly IF) competitive so we don’t waste thier years of control.
SOme of that pitching will serve to fix the pen but there are not THAT many spots and if a guy is good enough to be in an MLB rotation he is worth more in trade than using in the pen.
It makes zero sense to keep a guy like Flores to be on the bench.
You might do that with someone like Havens if you let Turner go.
One thing to wait till your ready, to wait and hoarde hoping you can bring new blood in whenever READY is….
But the kids you have must be able to either replace, improve the players you have to the point you can let original guy go or your wasting a lot of the value of a kid.
My problem is I dont’t think Sandy is PLANNING fr the future and I don’t believe he is evaluating his farm to project whenever this ready is….
He is just collecting and hoarding and not really doing what some think the goal is, Building a Minors that actually solves anything as things stand now.
Well why shouldn’t they be Sandy has been rebuilding them by sacrificing all his MLB performers! LOL
highly unlikely the Mets are signing one of the “big 3″ in limbo guys and giving up the #11 pick next year. Unless it is one hell of a deal presented.
Back when the FO signed Rauch and FF, many Met fans though it was an overpay (especially for FF), stating he pulled the trigger too soon on those deals and should have let the market play out a bit first.
Fast forward two years……
One year…
Wasn’t Hairston signed right around 12 Jan last year?
I’m not sure why he’s still hanging out there – unless he really would prefer the Mets as the rumor goes – and he’s waiting for them to match his price/years. Saw an article on a Phillies blog yesterday where Hairston would be an upgrade for their OF but they’ve only got 7 MIL left before the luxury cap so they didn’t think Philly could afford him.
Just how much is he asking for anyway? I think he got 1.1 MIL last year. Is he really asking for 4 MIL this year?
I think he is asking in the 2 year 7-8 mil range.
Money is not really his issue he probably got some offers close to that but he seemed to be looking for playing time and not many were going to give it to him with his splits vs Righties.
I wouldn’t say that was the main Bitch with them SRT….
It was the fact there were a lot of BETTER pitchers out there for the same or less money and what most thought he did was offer too much money to guys he would have gotten cheaper if he waited….
He basically just bought the same bottom of the barrel guys he’s looking at now only he paid a premium because he wanted to have something to announce the same day Reyes had his announcement about bolting.
Just like Wright a case of paying more than he likes merely for the PR perk.
”It was the fact there were a lot of BETTER pitchers out there for the same or less money and what most thought he did was offer too much money to guys he would have gotten cheaper if he waited….’
Yes, that’s where I was going…I probably could have clarified that better.
And I was one of those fans who expressed that opinion. Hindsight is 20/20 though and maybe he thought he’d better strike while the iron was hot. This off season is almost a complete turn around, isn’t it? No hurry or panic by this FO to fill some holes…..
Well it may be easy to dismiss as Hindsight but he IS the GM and is supposed to have FORESIGHT…Especially when the majority of his work is all supposed to be GREAT IN FUTURE but not for years to come…
Cause to wait 4 years to find out HINDSIGHT shows he was wrong is decimating and can’t be recovered from. You lost 4 years of your rebuild to it.
And in the end there were some who were not happy with that deal or those players for ANY amount of money….They didn’t get tripped up by hindsight and they are not GMs for an MLB team…
I know what your saying about that though and understand the sentiment but in the end the GM gets paid not to make such mistakes and while they all do make them very few get forgiven unless there is some other deal that overshadows and makes up for it….
And throw Pagan trade on top of those signings it was a VERY BAD DAY and WEEK for Sandy! Despite what we were told in editorial! LOL
I only corrected you because I’m sure some yahoo from the peanut gallery will run with the notion (for a week or month) that we complained about not doing anything and complained the only time he did act on a timely basis…
While that may be part of the story the truth is if he had gotten better players no one would really care WHEN he got them or how soon.
He just didn’t get them.
All GMs make some bad deals as well as good.
Yeah but right now he is roughly 50/50…
For argument sake lets assume the Dickey trade was a good one (I think it will fall short because I don’t believe hype regarding a A Ball Pitcher but anyway for arguments sake lets say WIN)
WIN Trades
Dickey
Beltran (again yet to be seen but we will see soon)
BUSTS
K-Rod – Got NOTHING of any worth
Pagan – Got LESS than Nothing!
At BEST you can call the Beato trade a wash….
A GM needs to do better than that and considering those are the only trades made in 3 years it’s not looking too good for him.
He’s also about 50/50 on FA signings which may appear good based on where he has been buying but again he CHOSE to buy there….
Let him be. I’d rather take my chances with Jose Valverde than Rauch.
8 to 10 million for Valverde…3 million for Rauch. He has got to go with Rauch!
You really think Valverde is gonna get that much? The most Valverde will probably see is $6.5-7 million for one year.
I wouldn’t pay him more than 4 then incentives to go to 8. He was awful.
I know he’s a SP, but didn’t Pelfrey get 4.5 MIL from the Twins? There’s no guarantee he’s 100% healthy either.
I wouldn’t want to pay more than 4 MIL for Wilson either.
I meant Valverde…..
Actually, if they’re taking a chance, I’d rather take it on Wilson than Valverde.
I’d rather take a chance on both guys. Both you & TRS say that Valverde isn’t worth more than $4 million right now? There’s your reason to get him: buy low, high reward. Have him as a setup man with Parnell, and once his value goes up during the season, swap him for arms.
IDK…did you see Valverde in the post season? He was so awful he lost his closing job.
Apparently, they had no idea what’s wrong with him. I know BP arms are fickle from one year to the next but w/o some injury concern, you have to be concerned with him.
Well considering he was only in one other Playoff and they lost that game it’s not a big deal to assume the guy just had issues dealing with the pressure.
A-Rod had issues in the playoffs for years and since I don’t see us getting to one with the OF we currently have I don’t expect it to come up this year, Maybe next.
Get them now sign them for two and you can trade one next year at the deadline for something you need and keep the other you like the best,.
It’s a bit different when it’s a BP Arm and CLOSER your talking about….
Starters get rested for 4 days and you get a chance to see any setbacks inbetween starts in the workouts…
BP guys and especially closers you don’t get the rest or the extra look to head off relapses at the pass….
But at less than 5 mil per with 25 Mil still in the budget to spend as much as last year?
Why the hell not?
And as Hitman said why not BOTH?
For 8 Mil per year you get guys who are LIGHTS OUT better than Francisco who was not the bastion of health either at a 1-2 Mil discount. Fill TWO BP spots that can take turns to ease the stress on those recovering arms. And can throw out a pretty impressive 7th 8th and 9th inning which if our Rotation does what it did for the most part and get to the 7th is really quite enough BP to cover…With Parnell and Edgin, and the still possibility of Mejia or Familia going to the pen we might at least fix the bullpen so the OF is the only thing leftb to worry about.
Do you all really think that Wilson and Valverde would pitch in New York for 4 million a piece… keep dreaming!!
Pitchers and Ctchers report in about a month and they sure don’t want to sit out the 2013 season because of what they think they are worth and want to play for….
You (and others not just you personally here) need to stop commenting on what you think the OTHER THINKS he should get because what he gets is not determined by him but by what someone else is willing to offer them!
If the best offer they get is for 3 Mil then YES they will happily come here for 4 mil!
The Market sets itself and it doesn’t matter what you would LIKE the market to be it is what it is and you can’t really change it unless your willing to stay where you are….
And for two Pitchers they sure know they won’t get more than 4 Mil if they sit out an entire season now will they?
They will take the best offer…If we make it we get them!
And since no one seems to be making an offer now is the time to offer them 3 and see which one panics over the lack on interests and signs first!
C’mon guys, I mean I know he takes a lot of heat for being the face and focus of a franchise that’s going through a (prolonged) rough patch, but do you really think we overpaid for David? He’s had several MVP type seasons, and the biggest difference was he had protection in the lineup back then. David can mash people, that opposite field power is no joke to opposing pitchers.
The actual salary was at or below FMV. However in this case the opportunity cost to stock the farm with ML ready prospects the ilks of TDN was forgone. . SA obviously was told to extend DW. I know the Braves were record dominating after trading Dale Murphy to Philly but they waited too long. as they got nobody for him Maybe they would have won more than one WS if he was traded sooner. After 33 most players are their past prime. Will we have the use of DW in his prime?
“that opposite field power is no joke to opposing pitchers.”
Bro, he only hit 21HR’s last year, 14 in 2011, sacrifice average and struck out a ton to hit 29 in 2010, all because he only hit 10Homers in 2009 our 1st season in Citi…
He is not a power hitter and pitchers havent feared him since 2008….5years ago
He’s a good player but will be overpaid….Mets fans killed Beltran because the Mets didnt live up to there expectations and he was the highest paid position player….Well Wright inherits that burden lets see how much rope he gets under this new deal…his contract is however the least of our problems…well not even a problem since I believe every now and then you have to overpay someone…
I am perfectly fine bringing back Rauch. The guy was very good last year. Couple that with a guy like Wilson on a reclamation and we could have a decent pen.
It is not easy to play in New York esp for the Mets! Rauch had some rough outings and was able to handle the heat and came back very strong. A lot of players would crumble under the media and fan pressure! I hope to see Rauch this year in a Met’s uniform.
rauch did have an overall good year. a WHIP of .98 for a full season is not easy to do.
Basically, JP or DePo will be the Grady Fuson on the Mets as Sandy leaves.
Prepare for another 5-6 years of failure
“New York, of course, is famous for being a very critical market. They want performance, and if they don’t get it they get very antsy very quickly. So it will be interesting to see. I suspect there will be a honeymoon period, and then we’ll have to see where it goes. I mean, he has a job on his hands there with that team. ”
http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/11448/original-as-analyst-discusses-alderson
Eric Walker – former Oakland Athletics analyst
This is gonna be fun
Few thoughts about Sandy having money to spend…
He said that 2011 was a transition year and in 2012 with many of the contracts then off the books, we would be able to go back into the free agent market.
He said last winter he had more money but wanted to keep that in contingency for use during the season.
This season he said we were buyers at the all-star break.
He said in late August that he hadn’t discussed the 2013 payroll yet with his bosses.
So why should we take him at his word that he has the money to spend now?
As said, one way to keep his word about obtaining a power hitting outfielder and bullpen help was to re-sign the players he just released since they are officially free agents and no longer on the team.