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Do you think the Mets have the players to make a deal for one of those pitchers??? I have no interest in Contreras or even Willis...

Tim, the Mets have the chips, it's the matter of Omar willing to push those chips to the limit.

I like the fact that the Mets have essentially gotten all their position players in place before the start of the Winter Meetings. Gets Omar and the Wilpons on track w/ bringing in pitching...

I agree with Tyler, Santana may be a little out of the Mets reach.But if by some strange event they DO get him,(and I'm not exactly sure)won't they get a 3 day window to talk extension? If he costs us an arm and a leg AND no extension Omar would have to tell him no way...
Blanton/Haren might be the best possibility or even Bedard(If the Os' decide to rebuild like they do every year).

Adam, I think Haren has a greater chance of becoming a Met than Santana does.

Ken Rosenthal from foxsports.com, reports that Joe Kennedy died early Friday morning at his home in Florida with his family.

Rosenthal goes on saying:

Kennedy, 28, spent seven years in the majors, pitching for the A's, Diamondbacks and Blue Jays last season.
As a free agent, he was not affiliated with any team for 2008. Kennedy had a career record of 43-61 with a 4.79 ERA. He reached the postseason once, as a reliever with the A's in 2006.

The cause of death is unknown at this time, said Kennedy's agent, Damon Lapa. "The best guess at this point is either a heart attack or a brain aneurysm. The way he died was sudden. There is no reasonable explanation for what happened.

Lapa said that an autopsy would be performed.

I think this is where the Mets need to put their foot down. They need to set the market for their "chips", by limiting the quantity that they are willing to include in a trade, and offering an even mix, rather than "just the cream". If the prices are too much, settle for getting a younger, less established SP to add to the rotation. I don't think that teams, other than the A's, will be asking nearly as much as most Mets fans think, especially bc smarter teams like the Yanks, Dodgers, and Redsox are reluctant to part with their big prospects. This gives the Mets the opportunity to swoop in. We actually match up suprisingly well with the Twins as far as our depth, their needs, and the salary of our players. Our players do have value to many other players, whether Newsday, yankee beat writters, etc think so. Thats why, when there is a trade for any available player we hear they asked for Lmilz, Heilman, Pelfrey, + Humber.
Our notable from what i have read from scouts/ gm's, this is the perceived value of our available "prospects":
LMilz-stud CF prospect, high value for MOST GM's, and low of others
Heilman-quality BP arm, some see him as a #3 SP. The most valuable commodity of this list bc he is RARE bc he can be a better than avg SP or BP arm, and has a few years left in arbitration.
Ollie-an enigma that has lights out stuff, could be dealt in the right deal for a true #1, but expect a FA signing prior to his trade
Gotay-swung a nice bat last year, cheap + productive, low risk/high reward 2b/SS/3b option for small market teams. If chavez/roberts/tejada/mora are dealt, or if Minny wants, would be a nice filler and poss solution
Gomez-IS the next Henley Ramirez, with Gold glove CF ability. hope we keep this guy.
Humber-lost some glimmer bc he lost 5 mph on his pitches, teams may still take a chance as he is a contol pitcher who shows grit and good command, with a good chance of getting his velocity back up
Pelfrey-MOST stud SP get rocked their 1st MLB season. Shows 2+ pitches, is one of the more successful college thru AAA SP, with good K ability. Better pro[non-MLB] stats than Graza, slowey, snell, gorzellany, blanton, and haren. Yup, look it up, i was suprised to! Still highly regarded by most GM's. Probably bc if he is a failed SP, can be converted to RP or closer, alla Izzy/Gagne, bc of his power pitches
Others[hopefully untouchible]:F-mart, Guerra, Mulvey, + Pena-all project to be top line contributors in 1+ yrs. All will be asked for, but Small market teams will focus on more MLB ready talent bc they all need atleast 1 more year. They are our future, and are the true keepers. Scouts rank them higher than current semi-prospects in the system.
Various RP: Kunz, Rustich, Burgos, Muniz, + smith-good "stuff" RP's with + pitches, have all been inconsistant, but are young, cheap, viable RP who can contribute and possibly set-up or close as they mature

Possible trade targets, suggested trade value based on necessity:
#1 SP-Johan, Bedard, Haren, Sabbathia-starts with Lmilz/Gomez + Heilman, as all teams need a quality OF and SP/RP option. Minny + gotay to play 2b + pelf/humber for depth, balt-taking Pelfrey to be their #5, A's taking Pelf as their #5. If there is heavy competition, look for OP to slip into the convo, and we will sign FA like silva, lohse, or kuroda.
#1a SP- Willis/Snell-Lmilz/Gomez + Heilman/Pelfrey/Humber. Both teams could use a true CF stud and mid rotation guy
#2 SP-Garza/Slowey/Baker/Blanton/Gorzellany-Gomez/LMilz + 1. A's would ask for heilman, and we would get a player in return, maybe Dan Johnson, RP, or C prospect. Minny may do it straight up or ask to add 1 Gotay/Humber/Pelfrey . Pitts could do it straight up, or ask for Gotay/Pelfrey/Heilman to add Marte/Torres.
#5 SP-E Santana/C Lee/D Cabrera-any 1 prospect, or Delgado

Wildcards to trade value/costs-teams interest in adding: Gotay to play 2b, Heilman as a starter, Pelfrey/Humber being ready to start this year, and Burgos/Muniz ability to eventually close/set-up in the future.

I think the best trading partner in Pitts and Baltimore, where we can kill 2 birds with 1 stone, getting a legit SP + a RP for 1 OF, and 1-2 players.

Happy hunting Omar, lets hope you dont shoot yourself in the foot.

I think this blog is 100% correct. The Mets have the ability to go out, and trade for these guys. It's just a matter of being agressive, and not stupid. Honestly, Garza, or Haren i think would be great deals.

Thinking out loud here...anyone else thinking that we need to setup 09 as well when we lose Delgado, Alou, El Duque, and Pedro. Trading the farm would not be prudent, especially if we are following the example of the last few NL/AL winners. Bringing up youth to replace expiring contracts, and a few signings has been their key. Can we balance enough to bring a team for 08 + 09, setting it this year? I think Minaya has a lot harder job than we think. Screaming for Santana when we really need to think bigger can be our problem. realistically[my guess] for 09 we can have
gomez, castillo, reyes, beltran, wright, dunn/?1b, castro/?C, Fmart/RF
[yes, if Gomez continues to develop, he could take the pressure off Reyes, and possibly let him hit like Crawford or Henley Ramirez, hitting in the 3 hole, and being successful bc he will be seeing tons of FB's. Always a luxery to have 2 leadoff hitters!, im also assuming LMilz gets dealt]
w/a rotation of: #1[whoever we get this year], Maine, OP, and a 2 of Pelf/humber/mulvey/guerra/bostick/vargas. Possibly Pedro will extend to hang out as a #2 or 3.
That sounds like a contender that will be together for a few years. But, we have to posture now to do this. That means we can only trade a max of 1 of Lmilz/gomez, mulvey/guerra, or 2 of humber/pelfrey/bostick/vargas, and 2-3 of Kunz/rustich/Burgos/Muniz/Smith, and hoping 1 turns into a clutch closer or set-up guy. Gotay and Heilman have become excess as we will either sign a more capable 8th inning guy or give it to sanchez, and we have castillo, reyes, and wrights for atleast the next 4 years.
But we do have to make sure we have enough salary to sign a big 1b like Dunn or Texiera, and a Catcher to either start or back-up casto, depending on what happens, and possibly another SP, keeping the BP stocked with arms.

I do not envy Omar! Failure this off-season could put us behind the 8 ball for 09 and beyond bc our needs will exceed our strengths.

So, next time we salivate of a 5+ prospect trade, sending reyes and/or maine for santana... or we get mad at Omar for not doing it... thing about the whole picture. Im hoping Omar is!

whatdatmean - Thats actually what GM's do that the fans do not recognize. GM's look at the whole picture, now, next year, 3 years down the road, its the fans that only think of the now. As for your lineup I agree Gomez would be a great leadoff hitter in a year or two but my plan was to move Reyes to the #2 spot and drop Castillo to 8th. Many fans seem to think that you should put your worst hitter in the 8th spot. That is by far the wrong choice. If your #8 hitter is your worst hitter then you have a dead end lineup, basicly two automatic outs and an almost guarantee of 2-3 dead innings. This puts so much pressure on the top and middle of the order to be overly productive. You want your lineup to be balanced and have it flow in a way. Your highest strikout threat (unless he is also your biggest power threat) should bat 6th or 7th. Your #8 spot should be looked at as a 2nd #2 hitter. What do you look for in a #2 hitter? well you want someone that can 1. work deep counts, a contact hitter and someone with a high OBP, someone who will do whatever it takes to get on base. Here are a couple situations that seem so small and meaningless to many fans but are in fact a way to manufacture extra runs.

Situation #1 - Its the 3rd inning the game is tied, there are two outs and your #8 hitter is up. What is the single most important thing he must do? Its simple.. he needs to get on base by any means necessary so to at the very least clear the pitchers spot. When the other team intentionally walks the 8th hitter they are actually doing you a huge favor. If they retire the 8th hitter, you have the pitcher leading off the next inning and are put in a situation where most likely your going to have 1 automatic out, thus decreasing the chances of scoring in that inning. Also if the 8th hitter gets on and some how the pitcher reaches base as well then you have your leadoff hitter up with two runners on a chance to score a run or two that you otherwise would not have had the opportunity if your #8 hitter was basically and automatic out.

Situation #2 - There is a runner on 3rd and 1 out up comes your 8th hitter. A guy like Jose Valentin failed miserable in this situation as to many #8 hitters because many teams bat their weakest hitter 8th. If your 8th hitter is a good contact hitter and has good situational smarts then he will do whatever it takes to put the ball in play, either with a fly ball or a grounder to the right side. Many managers will bat a guy in the 8th spot who has some power but strikes out a ton and hits for a low average, who will often fail in this key situational.

Situation #3 - Its the bottom of the 8th you have runners on 1st and 2nd and 1 out your down by 1 or 2 runs. Your best pinch hitter in on deck. In this situation you must have 1 of two results, no excuse for anything less. 1. a hit and run single or 2. at the very least bunt the runners to 2nd and 3rd thus giving your PH 2 runners in scoring position.

Christian, I absolutely agree. However, a #2 hitter should show patience, and take pitches to let the leadoff hitter, who should be on first, get a chance to take 2b. Castillo is ideal for that. However, Reyes may be able to so. I just base my idea that H. Ramirez and Crawford are seen as A-typical leadoffs, when they are more beneficial at #3 bc they can get a lot of extra base hits bc they are seeing a lot of FB's bc either the #1 or 2 hitter has reached base. Either way, I feel Gomez is more of a benefit to the Mets bc he will protect Reyes from being exposed, as he was this year. Similar to Beltran, they seem to be more FB hitters, and struggle with offspeed pitches, especially balls moving out of the zone. With speed on base in front of reyes, they will have little choice but to throw FB's, trying to hold gomez or castillo on.
As far as the 8 hole, Castillo would also be very good there. The 8 hitter does need to be similar to the 2 in that they must make ctc, have a decent OBP, and have good speed. Gomez/Chavez fit the 8 hole well for next yr, lending gomez to bat 1 in 09. The castro/estrada tandem should be viewed as 6/7 hitters, occasionally 5, depending who is out.
This is the exact reason i value gomez higher than Lmilz. Where Lmilz can likely bat 5,6,7 due to his long swing, power, and good speed, but high K potential suit him for those spots. Gomez could allow reyes to drop in the order. Sorry, I love reyes, but he is no leadoff hitter. The only recent he does well is bc he is so fast. He gets overmatched, often chasing pitches out of the zone[same as wright and beltran when they arent protected in the order], and popping up. If we get him to a spot to see more fastballs, we could be looking at .310 with 25-30hr, and setting the table for beltran and wright. Where LMilz would be used to be a protection hitter for our big guys, but strikes out too much to hit 2 or 3, especially with reyes, wright and castillo as the likely options.
But, we do have bigger fish to fry.
I cant wait to see what happens.

If a #8 hitter was as productive as someone like Luis Castillo, wouldn't managers simply pitch around him to get to the pitcher's spot in the order?

Drew - as I said above if the opposition walks your 8th hitter they are doing you a huge favor. Many managers today do not look towards later innings. Studies have proven that by walking the 8th hitter and clearing the pitchers spot your much more likely to score a run in the next inning with your leadoff hitter up as apposed to having your leadoff hitter up with a basically a guaranteed 1 out had the opposition retired the 8th hitter in the previous inning. In 2006 many people felt that Valentin was the best #8 hitter because he can hit the occasional solo HR but a solo HR once every 10-11 AB's does not make up for the 5 or 6 times he fails with runners in scoring position. Studies have proven that teams in the NL with a #8 hitter who can handle the bat (good contact hitter + bunter) leads to more scoring opportunities.

Is it possible that we may land two of those pitchers?

It depends which two pitchers. If you're talking about landing Santana and Haren, there no chance. If you're talking about Blanton and Contereas, there a good chance. Christian, I have also heard a study that if you lead off an inning with a homerun, you have a greater chance of scoring multiple runs than a leadoff walk.