Mets Merized Online

Jon Morosi and Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported yesterday that Tampa Bay Rays RHP Andy Sonnanstine could be on the trading block.

There will probably be plenty of trade rumors surrounding Rays right-hander Andy Sonnanstine over the final few weeks of spring training. But no one has made a formal inquiry yet, one major league source said Monday afternoon. Among the teams that could use another starter: the Diamondbacks, Mariners, Mets, Twins, Dodgers and Nationals.

Tampa Bay's Andy Sonnanstine

I’m not so sure that Sonnanstine is even worth our while at this point. I look at him and I look at Mike Pelfrey or John Maine and wonder if there is any real difference, or if Sonnanstine is even an improvement.

With Jenrry Mejia waiting in the wings, Jon Niese ready for his opportunity, and good spring performances from Nelson Figueroa and Hisanori Takahashi, I really don’t see where he would fit in.

Then of course there’s the question of what we would have to give up to acquire him.

Mike Silva of NY Baseball Digest posted an interesting article speculating a possible Chris Carter swap for Sonnanstine. However, despite Sonnanstine’s non impressive performance in the Majors thus far, I strongly doubt that the Rays would simply trade him for a career minor league corner outfielder with a bad defensive reputation.

Sonnanstine won nine games last season and posted a 6.77 ERA in 99 innings pitched with a 1.67 WHIP. Hardly the kind of numbers that jump out at you, but at 27 years old he still has time to improve.

The Mets passed on guys like Joel Pineiro, Randy Wolf and Jason Marquis this offseason citing that they felt those pitchers were not better than what the Mets already had in the house. 

Sonnanstine seems like an even worse option than any of the pitchers the Mets passed on, so why would you want to give up multiple prospects to get Sonnanstine when you could have gotten better pitchers without having to give anything up?

As most of us Mets fans know by now, Jose Reyes is expected to start the season on the disabled list due to an overactive thyroid. He is expected to cease all activities for 2-8 weeks.

Both Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya have said that Reyes will most likely be replaced with 20-year old Ruben Tejada, who played in Double-A last year, this according to the New York Daily News.

Tejada batted .289 last season and hit five homers in 488 at-bats in the minors, and claims he’ll be ready to play in the bigs.

“It’s baseball,” Tejada told the Daily News. “Everywhere I play the game normal. I’m ready for everything.”

The Mets could also use Alex Cora, who was re-signed for $2MM in the offseason, but manager Jerry Manuel seems to prefer Tejada.

To me, Alex Cora seems like the better bet because of his experience and all the hard work he put into last season when Reyes first went down, but Manuel is prepared to bypass the steady Cora for the light hitting untested youngster.

You know how on a mini golf course, you might be playing well, and then you meet a green where the hole lies in a hump or mound. . Nothing feels worse than thinking you’re going to reach the top, sink the shot, only to realize you’ve come up inches short, back comes your ball, and now you’re in the same or worse position, plus a stroke and the blow to your confidence to-boot.

For many of MLB’s recurrent disappointments of years past, which clubs are poised to conquer the proverbial hump in 2010, who will find themselves back where they started, and can any fantasy sense be made of this?

Kansas City Royals W

Perpetual underdog Kansas City Royals have posted one winning season since 1994, however the 2010 club finally looks poised to move in the right direction in the seedy AL Central. Acing arguably baseball’s best young pitcher Zack Grienke, GM Dayton Moore is set to finally fulfill is prophecy of turning the royals from a last place team into a team that might finish somewhere in the middle. Acquisitions of veterans like OF Scott Podsednik who atop the order should be a spark-plug and run-generator, and C Jason Kendall who’s known as a positive presence in the clubhouse and strong defensively, bring leadership, and offensive support to the Royals who were lacking prior. I felt as though they expected too much from their younger position players in ’09 and the pick-up of once promising superstar Josh Fields is a risk with a tremendous upside. Plagued with injury, if Fields can stay healthy we might see a glimpse of the budding star who replaced third basemen Joe Crede in Chicago. KC boasts a strong, hard-throwing bullpen with Juan Cruz and 100 mph man Kyle Farnsworth as well as one of baseball’s best closers and all-star, Joakim Soria whose drawn comparisons to Mariano Rivera in recent years.

The real key might lie with their tenured guys and, Dejesus, Gordon, Butler, coming into their own as leaders and consistent hitters. Alex Gordon has had difficulties living up to his decorated college career at Nebraska and has suffered injury. His dislocated thumb last Saturday will likely result in a 2-3 week absence, but Fields should have no inhibitions filling his cleats at third. Gordon is long due for a breakout season and to enter the ranks of MLB’s best third basemen. Don’t let the thumb injury deter you; he’s worth a late round fantasy pick as he sits well down the list. DeJesus is often overvalued, but Butler and Aviles are tempting (remember these are possible late round scores). This team will go far with fundamental baseball, and is no longer a bottom feeder in the AL Central.

Washington Nationals

Jim Riggleman’s been dropping hints as of late, that 21 year old righty, Stephen Strasburg will be playing in the minors to start 2010. Even after glowing endorsements from C Ivan Rodriguez. Last year in the twilight of his career at San Diego State, a top scout boasted,

“You could put him in a rotation right now, and he could be a No. 2 or No. 3 starter,”

“Right now, he’s better than A.J. Burnett.”

The talk of D.C and area, the tall righty carries a slider in the mid-nineties, a fastball that sits in high nineties, a knee buckling curve ball and a well manicured changeup in his arsenal. Washington, give your fans something to watch and simultaneously give your future star a full dose of MLB hitting. By not starting Strasburg, who has to be better than someone in your rotation, you’re telling your team their future will have to wait, which could hurt morale among veteran players. He’s 21 and not exceedingly young. With an 0-6 in Grapefruit action and only 1B Mike Morse showing any offensive pulse; expect more of the same in Washington amidst the fierce NL East and another last place finish, but some fantasy diamonds in the rough. 3B Ryan Zimmerman, OF Josh Willingham and SS Cristian Guzman tend to be undervalued. I often look at low end teams for late round scores like these.

Seattle Mariners L

I’m not sold on this team. The only players that stoke me are the returning guys, Hernandez and Suzuki. Eric Bedard however, is still showing signs of an impending breakdown, like when my ’94 Nissan Sentra started sounding like Susan Boyle going no. 2 after hemorrhoid surgery. The city has an unbreakable bond with Griffey and he’ll likely be the teams DH following arguably the worst year hitting of his glorious career in ‘09 at .214. As a fan I love to watch him play, from an organizational standpoint, he may become an offensive liability. I don’t feel like monotonous bad boy Milton Bradley has anything physically or mentally left after his Chicago experience and feel a fit coming. Figgins was paid too high above market value. Brandon League has not shown any commitment to developing his amazing raw talent. They do possess one of the strongest rotations in the league with Hernandez, Lee, Rowland-Smith, Bedard? and ex-pirate Snell, but pitching has never been this team’s problem. This team has no one to cash in runs; Jose Lopez is likely your biggest bat. If your league accounts pitching, Hernandez is a really strong pick, otherwise no one’s landing on my fantasy radar. I see a strong start in a weak division and obviously not a last place finish, but an underwhelming result.

Baltimore Orioles W

A top to bottom roster comprised of strong defensive talent and looming offensive breakout seasons from CF Adam Jones and C Matt Wieters. Coupled with proven hitters the likes of Tejada, Atkins, Scott and run generator Brian Roberts and you have a competitive, watchable season ahead in Baltimore. Kevin Millwood has proven that he does has much left to give (strange how that was under debate when he left Philadelphia years ago), pitching almost 200 innings in ‘09 posting a 3.67 ERA. If he can inspire that staff, look for the Orioles to make tremendous strides in the right direction this season and be competitive in this division for years to come. P Brian Matusz has looked strong in Grapefruit action as well. Fantasy wise Matt Wieters is a solid risk as a “tier 2” catcher, but 2B Brian Roberts, OF Adam Jones, OF Nick Markakis and 3B Miguel Tejada are all safe early round picks. Tejada’s ability to hit the long ball seems to be dwindling but he has not skipped a step with runners on base cashing 86 RBIs in ’09. To think the O’s finish any higher than third in the AL East is nonsensical. A very likable team here, I presume a hot start which will obviously taper leaving them and Tampa to battle it out for a respectable third place.

Honorable Mention

Oakland Athletics L

Moneyball is nonsensical. The groundbreaking (at the time) book snubs some of the game’s best like Prince Fielder and Alex Rodriguez as being not of Oakland’s ilk. Seemingly, Billy Beane has turned the club into a minor league team as they seem to dish all their young talent away, landing them a last place finish in ‘09. The AL West is tightening. Another last place finish dawns. Kurt Suzuki is a good pick if you wait late to take a catcher.

Arizona Diamondbacks W

This team is good, if pieces of paper with depth charts and 40-man rosters could play each other. Regardless, barring irreparable injury there is no way this team finishes last. Justin Upton may be a second round fantasy pick, but the starting rotation alone will carry this team to the postseason (my highest endorsement); hopefully they don’t throw “Billy” Buckner if it comes to a game 6 though.

According to Yahoo! Sports, All-Star closer Francisco Rodriguez returned to New York Mets camp on Monday after being hampered by conjunctivitis for more than two weeks. He also threw a very successful bullpen session this morning at Port St. Lucie.

Rodriguez had been told to stay away from the team until the pink eye cleared, but the contagious infection took longer than expected to improve. He was sick when he reported to New York’s spring facility, but his eye went undiagnosed until just before full-squad workouts began on February 25th.

The right-hander said he went to the doctor on Friday and was cleared to return Monday, although he still is infected. He continues to take eye drops and isn’t allowed to wear contacts yet.

“It feels much better,” Rodriguez said. “It’s still a little uncomfortable, but it’s good to be around. I was cleared to be around the guys, so it’s fine.”

While away from the team, Rodriguez found anyway he could to throw and was limited to playing catch with his brother, Edward, in the driveway of his home, but Rodriguez said he is not worried about his progress. He told reporters that he probably only needs one bullpen session before pitching in a game, and is looking forward to getting back into a regular routine.

Rodriguez last stepped on a mound about a week ago when he emerged from hiding for a light bullpen session.

“It’s not the same thing playing catch as doing bullpens, being on the field and doing field drills,” Rodriguez said. “It’s completely different, but the good thing is I played winter ball and I am good.”

Rodriguez first had conjunctivitis in his left eye but it quickly spread to the right eye. He said his entire family back in Venezuela has conjunctivitis as well, and now his brother has it in both eyes.

Rodriguez plans to wear prescription sunglasses for a few weeks until his eyes feel completely healthy.

“The first couple days the infection was really strong, and I kind of lost the vision,” Rodriguez said. “It made it a little blurry, but right now I don’t have that, so it’s good.”

Good to know that K-Rod is back to camp and is slowly feeling better. Hopefully we will be able to get a look at him soon in a spring training game once he feels comfortable on the mound once again.

If first impressions are important to baseball fans in Philadelphia, new Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay aced his entry exam.

Halladay got the Grapefruit League schedule unde way with two near-perfect innings in the Phillies’ 3-2 win over the New York Yankees on Thursday.

The 32-year-old Halladay threw a pair of  innings while striking out three. As we all know, Halladay was at the front of a blockbuster four-team set of trades in December between the Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics.

“I was excited for it,” said Halladay, “You anticipate it, but once you get into the game, the game is always the same. Your approach is the same. I looked forward to it, especially early on. It’s as much fun for me as it is for everyone else.”

Halladay allowed just one baserunner in his first outing with the Phillies. New York’s Jamie Hoffmann, playing first base after Nick Johnson was scratched before the game with a back ailment, reached on an error by Philadelphia third baseman Placido Polanco with one out in the first.

Halladay struck out the next batter, Jorge Posada, before getting Robinson Cano out on a fly ball to end the inning. Halladay struck out Nick Swisher and Randy Winn to begin a 1-2-3 inning.

“He’s filthy,” said New York ace CC Sabathia.

I realize that this was Halladay’s first game of the spring and that he only pitched two innings so I’m not going to jump the gun and say that Halladay is going to pitch well when he plays the Mets, or that he will even have a good season because we don’t know that yet, but what I will say is that the Mets and the rest of the National League East will have their hands full with Roy Halladay, especially when the game is on the line.

Update 10:15 pm

According to Joel Sherman of the NY Post via Twitter, free agent Joe Beimel is still looking for something similiar to the $2 million that he earned last year, but that the Mets won’t go there.

Original Post 2/26

According to Adam Rubin of the Daily News, the Mets have made an offer to free-agent reliever Joe Beimel, and the 32 year old southpaw has confirmed the offer.

Left-handed reliever Joe Beimel confirmed he has received an offer from the Mets. “We’ve been talking to them for a good part of the offseason. I am still just being patient, waiting for the right deal,” Beimel told the Denver Post.

The Daily News reported this week that the Mets would bring in Beimel or fellow left-hander Ron Mahay if the reliever was willing to accept a Rod Barajas-type contract (less than $1 million).

It’s no secret that the Mets have longed for a second left-handed reliever all offseason to help keep Pedro Feliciano from being overworked for a third straight season.

Beimel finished the season with a 3.58 ERA, but if you took away his brutal month of May when he was overused by the Nats and logged a season high 13 innings, his ERA comes in at a sterling 2.67.

Obviously this would be a significant upgrade for the bullpen and one that can have a lasting effect all season long.

I’m really digging Omar Minaya’s tactics and strategy as the hot stove season winds down and he picks up some really good bargains.

Jon Heyman is reporting via Twitter that that the Cardinals have signed second baseman Felipe Lopez for about $1.75 million dollars. The deal includes some incentive bonuses.

Wow… That’s less than what the Mets signed Alex Cora for.

Anyway you look at this it’s an absolute steal for the Cards.

Lopez, 29, has lingered on the free agent market despite hitting .310 with nine home runs and 57 RBIs in 151 games split between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Milwaukee Brewers last season.

I’m shocked that he couldn’t find a better deal. Lopez fired his agent Scott Boras only two weeks ago, and signed on with the Beverly Hills Sports agency after growing frustrated with not having any offers.

ESPN is now confirming and earlier report that Carlos Delgado had hip surgery this week — his second such surgery in less than a year — and will be sidelined at least four months.

Delgado’s agent David Sloane, said the former Mets first baseman intends play again this season.

According to the NY Posts, Delgado also underwent microfracture surgery to repair his hip socket on Wednesday.

“The prognosis is that Carlos Delgado will be the Carlos Delgado of old in four months rather than an old Carlos Delgado,” Sloane told the Post.

Delgado missed 136 games last season for the New York Mets because of the hip injury. He had been playing Winter Ball but only played first base once and didn’t look very good out there. Many scouts detected a limp. Last week there were rumors circulating that Delgado might retire, but at the time his agent denied them.

The Mets were monitoring Delgado’s progress but have since moved on. We wish Carlos Delgado a speedy recovery.

Update 4:00 PM

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports says the Mets have indeed signed free-agent Rod Barajas to a one-year, $1 million contract.

Yesterday, Ken Rosenthal reported that only the Texas Rangers and the Mets remained in the hunt for Barajas. He reported that Barajas was weighing a $1MM minor league deal from the Mets and a $1.5MM minor league deal from the Rangers.

On Thursday, Jon Heyman of SI.com added that Barajas was likely to accept the one year offer from the Mets.

It now appears that the Mets have increased their original offer from earlier in the week, and are now offering a guaranteed major league contract as opposed to a minor-league deal.

If this report is true, I have no doubt that Rod Barajas will accept the Mets latest offer, as the Rangers have already said that their offer was final.

I think Barajas has been leaning toward the Mets all along because he knows that he would immediately become the frontrunner for starting catching position whereas in Texas he was certain to be mostly a backup.

Signing Barajas would probably mean the end of the line for Omir Santos, as I believe the Mets would be locked in with a Barajas/Blanco tandem. I don’t see them carrying three catchers at this point. Especially with the recently signed Mike Jacobs who has already been asked to be the emergency catcher.

Barajas hit just .226 last season, but with 19 HR and 71 RBI, in 125 games for the Blue Jays, while hitting .267 against left-handed pitching. He was second in the AL in throwing out would-be base stealers, and is highly regarded as a signal caller and working with the rotation.

I hold firm to the belief that Barajas would significantly upgrade the Mets at catcher and right now we can use all the upgrades we can get.

Note – Mets Merized Online is now looking for two game-recappers for the upcoming season, as well as a Saturday and Sunday blogger. Please use the contact form on the top of this page if you are interested.

Former Mets first baseman Carlos Delgado isn’t retiring, but you may not find him on anybody’s roster come Opening Day. The first baseman’s agent, David Sloane, tells Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports that Delgado will not be accepting any of the offers that are currently available to him, some of which are major league deals.