24 hours after the bittersweet news that Jose Reyes had signed a six-year, $106 million dollar deal with the Marlins, Sandy Alderson decided to get Mets fans minds off of Reyes and back to baseball, by orchestrating a flurry of moves climaxed by a trade that sent center fielder Angel Pagan to the San Francisco Giants for reliever Ramon Ramirez and outfielder Andres Torres.
Torres is coming off a disappointing season after a breakthrough season in 2010, and at 33 years old he’ll be hard-pressed to rediscover that form at the plate. Defensively he is above average at all three outfield spots and also has good speed which will come in handy at Citi Field.
The steal of the deal for Alderson might be Ramirez who may now be the leading contendor for the Mets setup role in the bullpen, and he can also close if the need arises. The 30-year-old righthander had a 2.66 ERA in 66 appearances for the Giants last season.
Both Torres and Ramirez are in their final year of arbitration and will become free agents after next season. On the surface the deal looks like a good one for the Mets and even if Torres ends up becoming a fourth outfielder, I still like the deal because of how badly the Mets needed a reliever like Ramirez in the bullpen.
As for Angel Pagan, he got his shot and lets face it, he blew it. He regressed in the field, at the plate and on the base paths. Pagan, 30, hit .262 with 32 steals and a .322 on-base percentage in 2011 after having a career year in 2010 with a .290 average, .340 OBP, 11 home runs, 69 RBIs and 37 steals. He also became a problem in the clubhouse and had become a loner who was always pouting.
All in all, a good deal.
