Mets Merized Online

Free Agent sinker-baller Joel Pineiro, one of the top free agent pitchers left on the market, is available no more. Pineiro has agreed in principle to a $16 million/2 year deal with the Los Angeles Angels.

Pineiro started his career with Seattle, as a starter, before shifting to a bullpen role with mixed results. He made his way to the Cardinals in 2007, and as many down-on-their-luck pitchers do when they come to a Dave Duncan team, they improve. Pineiro finished 15-12 with a .5 HR/9 innings ratio, and 3.49 ERA.

Pineiro drew interest from other teams, most notably the Brewers, Mets, and Dodgers. He recorded two dominating compelete game shutouts against the Mets, including a gem in the final week of the 2007 collapse, and a 2-hitter this season, that would have been a no-hitter had Luis Castillo not hit a single to CF, and Jeremy Reed not get a pinch-hit in the 9^th. The 2009 gem only took 100 pitches.

With the impending signing of Pineiro, it appears that Ben Sheets, Erik Bedard, Jarrod Washburn and Jon Garland may be the best pitchers left.

Till Next Time

Ben Sheets, who after refusing to throw for teams early in the offseason, will apparently put his repaired right arm on display for suitors. Sheets, 31, has drawn interest from many teams, though it has generally been tempered because of his exorbitant contract demands for a pitcher with injury problems. Sheets has asked for a $10-12 million deal for at least two years. While interest in him is there, those numbers have scared off most teams looking at him, after missing the year with flexor tendon surgery on his throwing arm.

Sheets has put up ace-quality numbers when he is healthy, although he makes an annual visit to the DL in most seasons of his career. He has a career ERA of 3.72, career WHIP of 1.20, and career K/9 of 7.6. His best statistical season was 2004, even though the W-L record may be deceiving, he posted an astounding 8.25 K/BB ratio, and recorded a 20 strikeout game against the Atlanta Braves.

The Chicago Cubs have had discussions with Sheets lately, though they do not have the money that Sheets is looking for. The Rangers would have signed Sheets last offseason, had he not needed surgery. The Rangers have, however, signed Rich Harden, so they may have reached their quota of injury prone pitchers. The Mariners, Orioles, Yankees, and Mets are believed to have some interest.

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Free agent 1B Adam LaRoche has agreed to a deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks worth $5.5 million over 1 year. This comes after the well for LaRoche dried up after he turned down a 2-year $17.5 million deal from the San Francisco Giants. The Giants signed Aubrey Huff and moved on. The Atlanta Braves do not get a compensation pick, because they did not offer LaRoche (Type B) arbitration.

Remaining 1B available include Hank Blalock, Carlos Delgado, Mike Jacobs, Ryan Garko, and Russell Branyan.

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A name that has been thrown around as possible moving to 1B is Jermaine Dye. Dye has had terrible outfield defense, and at age 35, teams are wary of putting him out there full time. He was in discussions with the Texas Rangers before they signed Vladimir Guerrero. Dye has shown interest in moving to 1B if it would improve his contract offers. The San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs have shown lukewarm interest. An ideal fit for Dye would be as DH in the American League, though if a National League team put him at 1B, they would get middle of the order power numbers. From 2004-09, Dye averaged 31 HR per season, only A-Rod has averaged more per year in the AL in that span. Signing Dye (Type A) would not cost a pick, as the White Sox did not offer arbitration.

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Yesterday, the New York Mets began construction on a Mets Hall of Fame outside the Jackie Robinson Rotunda. The Mets Hall of Fame will be adjacent to the Team Store. The move was announced during the season in response to criticism about a lack of Mets history.

Till Next Time

The 2009 MLB Winter Meetings are now underway in Indianapolis, and will provide fans with either much joy or just as much angst. Last year’s Winter Meetings certainly fit that bill.

In 2008, we suffered through another miserable bullpen, and it seemed like money would be no object to revamp it in the off season. GM Omar Minaya was under the gun to retool the bullpen and deliver a winner. This year, the details of need are different, but the gist is the same. Minaya will under even more pressure to deliver a winner after suffereing though a ridiculous number of injuries and a barren farm system.

The Winter Meetings were in Las Vegas a year ago, and we were witness to a very interesting turn of events:

Hot and Cold

The 2008 Winter meetings were home to two huge deals for the team, which would turn out to have strong and opposite results. The Mets signed Francisco Rodriguez for 3 years/ $37 million; much less than the 5/$75 mil he was anticipating after setting the single-season saves record. Not bad considering that the Mets were the one team that Frankie knew had the money he wanted, and the Mets were looking for the best of the bunch.

The following day, The Mets, Mariners, and Indians swung a three way trade that had All-Star closer J.J. Putz coming to Flushing. Among the notable players the Mets dealt were Aaron Heilman, Mike Carp, and Endy Chavez to Seattle; and Joe Smith to Cleveland. In two fell swoops, it looked like Citi field would be home to the best back-end of the bullpen in the National League.

Or so we thought…

That’s What You Get For Waking Up In Vegas

The Putz deal would go on to be one of the worst trades by the organization this decade. Putz would get injured in May and miss the rest of the season with a bone spur. And ironically, Billy Wagner ends up coming back from Tommy John Surgery, and Putz would never return from his bone spur.

As for the players we gave away, Heilman was later dealt to Chicago, where he was far from inspiring. Endy Chavez suffered a terrible knee injury and missed the rest of the season, and will miss part of this season. Joe Smith only pitched 34 innings due to rotator cuff injury. Mike Carp actually had a good run after he was called up by the M’s, though he is blocked at 1B. We also got Sean Green and Jeremy Reed, but with Reed a non-tender candidate, it looks like the inconsistent reliever Green may be the only thing we have to show for this “blockbuster.”

But this year…

Shut Up and Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

Simply put, Omar Minaya’s best deal was his own, as it forced the Wilpons to keep him rather than eat his contract. This was one year he’s like to forget.  Fans can complain in blogs, radio call-ins, or the Mets Merized Chatroom all they want, but the only way to put pressure is to stop paying for the team. The Wilpons have a new stadium that they need to fill, and people will not show up to watch a AAA team, injuries or not. The front office traveled the talk show circuit in October saying that money will be no object. Well, show us. Last year, we fixed the bullpen (or at least it looked that way), but this year we have more holes to fill.

How can they make moves for fans and quality players?

If You Want Me, You’re Gonna Have To Break The Bank

The Mets, according to random rumors, are not expected to be big players in the meetings. Other fan comments (you know, the ones that start with “If I were the GM…”) seem to choose between one big move or a few smaller ones. It may be unlikely that we see any of the second-tier starters go early, as pitchers like Marquis, Harden, etc. will wait to see what John Lackey gets.

Omar Minaya made a statement supporting the likelihood of more trades than signings. Tom Terrific pointed out in his column yesterday that money is the big factor in deals, and it’s true.  But as Joe D. will point out, value is everything, as you can’t just go pumping money into a three year deal for Oliver Perez (wait…). Most likely candidate to be signed looks like Bengie Molina, the only haggle will be how many years. How much will that leave for a #2 starter and a power hitter?

I wish a Katy Perry lyric had the answer to that.

Till Next Time

No NL East Report today, as the division is clinced, everybody is eliminated, and nothing has really changed. Monday will feature a year-in-review edition of the NL East Report, though.

Today we will take a look at the award races across Major League Baseball and my picks.

National League MVP: Albert Pujols has had this award sealed since June, and there is no other player as all-around offensively accomplished. Could have had a shot at the triple crown if Hanley didn’t run away with Avg.

Verdict : Albert Pujols

American League MVP: The two best offensive players in the American League have been Mark Teixiera and Joe Mauer. Teixiera is tied for the lead in HR (with Carlos Pena who hasn’t played since August) and leads RBI’s. Mauer finally found his power as unleashed 28 HR’s and 95 RBI, but he decisively leads the league in Avg., OBP, SLG, and OPS.  Mauer leads Tex by 71 points in Avg., while Tex leads Mauer by 11 HR and 26 RBI. The month of April was a wash for both of them, but Tex’s team is the best in the AL, and Mauer’s is fighting for the playoffs.

Verdict: Mark Teixiera

National League Cy Young: Adam Wainwright’s Wins/K/ERA (rank in parenthesis) line looks like 19(1^st)/204(4^th)/2.58(3^rd). Fellow Cardinal and former winner Chris Carpenter has 17(2^nd)/144(25^th)/2.24(1^st). Defending winner Tim Lincecum has 15(4^th)/261(1^st)/2.48(2^nd). This really could go any way. If it were Game Seven of the World Series, I’d be confident in any of them. Lincecum is hurt because his wins are less than the two Cards, but he’s actually had a better season this year than his Cy Young year last year.

Verdict: Tim Lincecum

American League Cy Young: CC Sabathia is the only one with a chance at 20 wins, as he has 19 with one start left. However his peripherals don’t match up to the Greinke, King Felix, or Roy Halladay. Verlander leads K’s by 20+ over Greinke(237), but his ERA is considerably worse. The two all around best pitchers are Felix Hernandez and Zack Greinke. Greinke has 17 wins with one start left and leads the Majors with a 2.06 ERA. Felix has 18 wins with one start left with 211 K’s(4^th) and a 2.48 ERA(2^nd).

Verdict: Zach Greinke.

National League Rookie of the Year: Let’s start with hitters. Chris Coghlan (FLA) leads Runs, Avg., OBP, and OPS. Everth Cabrera (SD) and Dexter Fowler (COL) have 20+ Steals, and Andrew McCutchen (PIT) has double digit HR’s and SB’s. Among pitchers, Tommy Hanson (ATL) and JA Happ (PHI) have both had great seasons and similar numbers, though Hanson had 36 fewer innings than Happ.

Verdict: Chris Coghlan

American League Rookie of the Year: Ricky Romero (TOR), Rick Porcello (DET), and Jeff Niemann (TB) had the best seasons among starters. Gordon Beckham (CHI) had the best all around year among hitters, though Matt Wieters (BAL) lead batting avg., and Elvis Andrus (TEX) and Chris Getz (CHI) both finished with 20+ SB’s.

Verdict: Gordon Beckham

NL Manager of the Year: Jim Tracy took over a Colorado team that was headed for a high draft pick at the end of May. Now, they’re heading to the playoffs, and have a chance at stealing the division.

Verdict: Jim Tracy

AL Manager of the Year: Joe Girardi does have the highest paid team, but they have the best record by 8 games over anyone else.

Verdict: Joe Girardi

Till Next Time

Atlanta Braves: (8-2; -5)

The Braves swept the Nationals and will face the Marlins for three this weekend. Atlanta is in strong position to steal the Wild Card from the Colorado Rockies, as the Braves finish with four at home against the Nationals while the Rockies finish with three against the Milwaukee Brewers followed by three against the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are currently separated by 2.5 games.

Florida Marlins: (5-5; -7.5)

The Marlins were eliminated from division contention and almost out of it in the Wild Card. They do have a chance to share the misery, as they could eliminate Atlanta this week with a sweep and a Rockie series win.

Philadelphia Phillies: (5-5; Magic Number 3)

The Phillies pulled closer to their third consecutive division title, as their magic number is just 3. They close with four against the Astros, and three against the Marlins. The Phillies are two and a half behind the Dodgers for the top seed.

Washington Nationals: (2-8; -38)

In what had to be a miserable weekend of sports in Washington, the Nationals broke the 100-loss plane, getting swept by the Atlanta Braves. The Rockies would be justifiably upset if the Nationals hand the Braves the Wild Card next weekend.

The Nationals magic number for clinching Bryce Harper is 1. Interesting to note is that the Baltimore Orioles are making a hard charge at Anthony Ranuado (2), as they have now lost 10 straight. The Mets are 2.5 back of the 5^th pick and 3 back of the 4^th.

Around the Majors:

The most, and maybe only, exciting race in baseball is the AL Central. The Detroit Tigers lead the Minnesota Twins by 2 games heading into a four game series between them starting today. The Twins are by far the hotter team, winning  8 of their last 10. The Tigers close out the season against big rival Chicago, and the Twins finish against Kansas City.

The Atlanta Braves have announced that longtime manager Bobby Cox will return for the 2010 season and then retire from managing. Cox will then move to a consulting job for the team for five years afterward. Cox will retire from the Braves as one of the most accomplished managers in baseball history.

Cox managed the Braves from 1978 to 1981, and then returned to the Braves bench in 1990. The Braves proceeded to win every division title from 1991 to 2005 (excluding 1994, of course). Cox is a three time National League Manager of the Year (1991, 2004, 2005) and also has an American League Manager of the Year award (1985, Toronto Blue Jays). Though Cox has a boatload of division titles and is the 4^th all-time winning-est manager, he only has one World Championship to show for his five National League pennants. Oh, he is also the all-time leader in ejections, and is also the only manager to be ejected from games in two different World Series (1992,96).

The biggest complement to Cox may be that none of his players really have a bad word to say of him. Players and fans of other teams show their respect for him also. As big as the Mets-Braves rivalry once was, the only complain we have for him may be that we hated that the Braves were usually on the winning side.

Atlanta Braves: (8-2; 7.5)

The Atlanta Braves completed a three game sweep, and will take on the Philadelphia Phillies. Sunday’s pitching matchup looks to be interesting, as Tommy Hanson will be up against Cliff Lee. The Braves hot streak has put them 4.5 games back of the Colorado Rockies?

Florida Marlins: (6-4;

The Florida Marlins took two of three from the St. Louis Cardinals, and lost the opener Thursday to the Cincinnati Reds. The Marlins will continue their four-game series in Cincinnati, where they have not won in three years.

Philadelphia Phillies: (8-2; Leader)

The Philadelphia Phillies completed a three game sweep of the Washington Nationals and will hhead to Atlanta to take on the Braves.

Washington Nationals: (4-6; 35.5)

The Washington Nationals were swept by the Phillies and will face the Mets in what may be the saddest series in baseball. On the bright side, someone’s gotta win.

The Nationals have a 6 game lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates for Bryce Harper, with the Mets 3.5 games back of the third overall pick and 6.5 back of Anthony Ranuado at 2.

On 9/9/09, Major League Baseball announced a fan poll contest, called the All-Time 9. What that means is that fans can go to official website of their favorite teams and vote for the best single seasons at a position in team history, with the goal of putting together an all-time lineup.

After a quick jaunt to the Mets page, I found quite a nice list of memorable single season stats, some positions deeper than others. The second thing that I noticed is that an individual player can only have one nomination. For example, Mike Piazza’s 2000 season was nominated as one of the finalists for Met catcher, but one can make the argument that his 1999 season was better, you’ll see what I mean if you check out the website. Today we’ll take a look at the field.

First Base:

These seasons were the best statistical seasons that these players had in their Met tenures, as well as better than any other seasons put up by Met first-basemen. The highest HR total is Delgado’s 38 in 06 and 08, though he finished with better numbers in 08. I have a bit of hesitation voting for Delgado after watching him struggle badly in the first half of 08, before Willie was fired. John Olerud had the highest batting avg. by far. Keith has the 2^nd highest batting avg., but is beaten in every counting stat. BTW. Stolen bases are kind of irrelevant for 1B, so I’m not looking at it.

My verdict:  Delgado’s HR, RBI, and Runs are the best on this list, even though his Avg. is the lowest and his 1st half was miserable.

Second Base:

Edgardo Alfonso has the edge here in HR’s, RBI, and R. Castillo’s not-yet-completed season leads the field in SB’s. Wally Bachman leads Avg by 10 points over Castillo. Alfonso is simply strong in every category while leading three of them.

My verdict: Edgardo Alfonso.

Third Base:

Since players can only have one of their seasons nominated, Wright’s 2007 and HoJo’s 1989 got in. I mention this because Wright’s 06 and 08, as well as HoJo’s 91 are better than Knight and Randle. Ventura had the most RBI’s on this list, but Wright and HoJo lead everything else. Wright and HoJo are the only 30-30 seasons here, but HoJo leads HR by 6 and SB by 7, while Wright has a 38 point advantage in avg. while leading RBI by 6 and Runs by 9. Wright also had the better OBP and OPS, while HoJo had the better SLG. Sidenote: HoJo’s 104 Runs in 1989 led the National League.

My Verdict: This was a fairly tough decision, but I’m giving it to Wright. Feel free to argue this one.

Shortstop:

There isn’t much choice here. No Met SS has had any season to compare to Reyes’s 06. Jose’s 05, 07, and 08 are better than anything put together by Kaz-Mat, Tavares, Ordonez, Santana, or Harrelson (among players who manned SS for years) as well. Though Reyes had 78 SB’s in 07, 06 was his best all-around year to date.

My Verdict: Jose Reyes by a mile.

Catcher:

Here is where I have my first real issue with a snub. Any way you look at, this list comes down to Piazza and Hundley, but Piazza’s 1999 was better than his 2000. As it stands right now, Piazza would beat Hundley in every category except HR, and Piazza takes a huge 65 point advantage in Avg. Now compare Piazza’s 2000 to his 1999 totals of .303/40/124/100/2. Piazza’s 1999 edges 2000 in everything relevant except Avg.

My Verdict: Mike Piazza, though I believe his 1999 was better.

Outfield (Pick 3):

Okay, so let’s make sense of this. Carlos Beltran has the most HR’s edging out Darryl Strawberry by 2. Cleon Jones has the highest Avg. by 7 points over Lance Johnson. Bernard Gilkey has 1 more RBI than Carlos Beltran. Gilkey, Beltran, Strawberry, and Staub are the only ones with 100+ RBI. Carlos Beltran has 10 more Runs than Lance Johnson. Beltran, Johnson, Gilkey, and Strawberry are the only ones with 100+ Runs. Roger Cedeno’s 66 SB’s beat Johnson by 16; Cedeno, Johnson, Henderson, Dykstra, and Strawberry are the only ones with 30+ SB’s. Strawberry and Beltran have the two greatest all-around performances. Next pick depends on what categories you consider important and break it down from there. Cedeno’s 66 steals are a big number, but he doesn’t have the strength in other categories, though his R and Avg. are nice. Lance Johnson is 2^nd in Avg., Runs, and SB. Bernard Gilkey is strong all-around, though he doesn’t lead any categories.

My Verdict: Carlos Beltran, Darryl Strawberry, and Bernard Gilkey. To take that a step further, Beltran’s 2006 was the best season by any Met outfielder.

All in All: 1B Carlos Delgado 2008; 2B Edguardo Alfonso 1999; 3B David Wright 2007; SS Jose Reyes 2006; C Mike Piazza 2000; OF’ers Carlos Beltran 2006, Darryl Strawberry 1987, and Bernard Gilkey 1996.

Final Thoughts: I tried to focus only one position at a time when making judgments, and it appears that I picked a lot recent players, including players from the last four seasons. In fact, I didn’t realize it at the time, but all of my picks were in the last 22 years.

You can find the list of choices here. Now, the point with any list like these is to get you to think and to compare across the years and argue about it. Questions or disagreements, let me know.

Till Next Time

Today, Major League Baseball announced it’s masterr schedule for 2010. Some notable dates for the New York Mets include:

Opening Day: April 5 at home vs. Florida Marlins

April 30-May 2: First Mets-Phillies series in Philadelphia

May 21-23: Subway Series at Citi Field

May 25-27: First Mets-Phillies series at home

June 11-13: Interleague series in Baltimore

June 15-17: Interleague series in Cleveland

June 18-20: Subway Series in the Bronx

June 22-24: Interleague series at home vs. Detroit

June 25-27: Interleague Series at home vs. Minnesota (Santana vs. Twins)

July 13: All-Star Game in Anaheim

July 15-25: Perilous 11 game West Coast road trip, including 4 in San Francisco, and 4 in Los Angeles

September 24-26: Final Mets-Phillies Series of season, in Philadelphia

October 3: Last game of the season at home vs. Washington

Other Notes: We play three series’ against Central Division teams in September, including two four-game-series’ at home vs. Pittsburgh and Milwaukee.

No game times have been announced, but you may find the full schedule here.

Till Next Time

Atlanta Braves: (4-6; -8)

The Atlanta Braves took two of three from the Houston Astros, and will head to St. Louis to play the Cardinals. Nate McLouth has hit three HR’s since returning from the disabled list. Top prospect Jason Heyward won the Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year award. I do these columns twice a week, so I end up reading a lot about Brave prospects, especially Jay-Hey. If I were a Brave fan, I’d be so excited, and if I could steal one prospect to put into the Mets system, it’d be him. He hits for a high average, he get on base a lot, his power is growing, he walks, he doesn’t strike out, he has great baseball instincts, smart base-runner, and he’s improved every time he’s been promoted.

Florida Marlins: (7-3; -5)

The Florida Marlins finished up a… well you know. They will return home to play the Nationals. Sunday’s giveaway is a Hanley Ramirez bobblehead. Yep…not much going on. Other than the Marlins are 5.5 back of the Rockies. That’s right, they’re closer to the division than they are to the Wild Card.

Philadelphia Phillies: (4-6; Leader)

The Phillies took two of three from the Nationals, and will face the Mets. Nelson Figueroa will face Cole Hamels in the opener, and we won’t see Cliff Lee this time around. The story with the Phillies this week has been Brad Lidge. Lidge has been pitching in lower pressure situations lately, due to his ballooning ERA (6.97). Ryan Madson and Brett Myers would be the recipient of saves while Lidge works his way back. He’ll have every chance to re-claim his job before the playoffs, but he needs to be good from here on out.

Washington Nationals: (2-8; -32)

Wow, what a debut for Ian Desmond, The Nationals lost two of three to the Phillies, but the one they took was a big story. Ian Desmond was drafted by the Expos in 2004, and spent 5 yrs in the minors before being called up. In his first game, against Phillie starter Joe Blanton, Desmond went 2 for 4, with 4 RBI. 3 of those RBI’s came off a huge HR that he hit off Blanton to centerfield that went far. The Nationals won the game in spite of the bullpen huge effort to grab defeat.  The Nats were leading 8-2 in the 8^th, before the Phillies tried to comeback, making the score 8-7. Then Ron Villone got Ryan Howard to ground into a double-play. Jim Riggleman has asked current SS Christian Guzman to move to second, to fit Desmond in regularly.  The Nationals have stretched out a 7 game lead in the Bryce Harper sweepstakes. The Mets trail the 5^th pick by 1.5 games.

Weekly Useless Stat:

The Washington Nationals have 36 bullpen losses and are just 4 away from the record held by te 2004 Colorado Rockies.

If you have any requests for a future “Weekly Stat” please let me know in the comments section.

Till Next Time