Orlando Hudson Expects To Leave Arizona

I remember very well Hudson's comments about JP prior to the 01 season, and JP took that the wrong way. Hudson was being complimentary. Believe me, up until this year, the Jays have missed O-Dawg's glove at 2b, but Aaron Hill has done his best this year to help us forget Hudson.

Hehehe, he really got sent down for saying JP looked like a pimp? Wonder what the context was, I can only imagine it was a lighthearted like statement...

Anyway, what do his pre-Arz splits look like? Was he always a 'HomeHero' type who just plays up to the crowd or is there something about the ballpark there that he just likes? If he falls to about 280/340/430 after leaving the DBacks then he will still be a plus guy for 2nd, but probably not live up to the likely cost he would comand...

If the PaleHose do plan on rebuilding for 09 then I imagine that would be a great destination for him after next year, but would probably be wasted money up till then unless KW really thinks he can find a way to buy a quick rebuild off the FA scrapheap.

BurBro,

Yep, I do think he would fit there well, but really don't see him going there till he's a FA before 09.

In the meantime I actually think he could possibly be sent to Cleveland this year, making Barfield more a middle-infield backup and spot starter for the playoff push (team needs a better bench guy there and Josh's spot in the order is the one we don't have internal options for). Would take pressure off him and he could still spell Peralta, Hudson and even maybe 3rd a couple times a week to get playing time in before taking the spot fulltime again. If Josh does seem to correct his problems then Hudson could be dealt again in the offseason, if he doesn't then O-Dawg could man 2nd in 08 for the Tribe as he's still under control.

I would LOVE Hudson wearing the orange and blue next season. It would give the Mets an outstanding double play combo, and an excellent 1/2 in the batting order. Its just such a perfect fit for the Mets. They need a 2nd baseman next year, they need a number 2 hitter next year, and Willie LOVES slick fielding second baseman. Hudsons attitude towards the game and just the way he loves to play would fit perfect with the Mets roster, particularly Reyes, and he would also quickly become a fan favorite. Wouldnt surprise me at all to see him in NY next year.

Yeah BurBro, a lesser guy would works but wouldn't be much of an upgrade over Barfield. Bringing in a daily guy for 2nd like ODawg would mean Josh becomes that SS/2B backup and works on playing in the ALC that way. 2B has been our weakest production this year and replacing Josh for the remainder of the season would just be a huge upgrade for the playoffs. Our OF us doing better with Francisco and FrankieG (Nixon sitting and DavidD hurt), our Bullpen looks better with Roberto gone and some kids really stepping up ~ 2B is just the logical upgrade, as well as one more reliever...

I can't see Hudson going back to Tor at all, but you never know.

NY is a nice fit, but they should use their trading chips on pitching instead which would make the bigger impact.

And like I said, its kinds pointless for Chi to get him right away.

Come back to the Jays O-Dog!

"NY is a nice fit, but they should use their trading chips on pitching instead which would make the bigger impact."

No, then you havent been watching the Mets lately. Their pitching got shelled in colorado, but still, the reason they are so pathetic is because they simply cannot hit. Its that simple, they just cant score runs. I have never seen such a pathetic offense full of underachievers. Right now, if I ranked the top 10 offensive teams in baseball, the Mets wouldnt even enter my mind. Especially Delgado. He is probably the most useless/ overpayed player there is right now. This is what can be expected when Delgado comes up right now.
50%- strikeout
23%- popup
20%- ground out to second base on a ball on the outer half.
2%- A home run
2%- He walks (about half of this 2 percent is intentional.)
2%- A que shot into left field that only got through because of the shift.
1%- Some other kind of hard hit ball.

Dont even get me started on the butcher he is in the field, and the single most annoying thing about him is, it seems like he couldnt care less. One thing Delgado is good for is a 9th inning double off the left center field fence once the game has already been decided one way or the other. He cant even crack .300 in the OBP department. That is pathetic. Shawn Green, enough said, hes Mr April. Valentin is done, his great defense from last year is nowhere to be found either. This team just has no kind of consistency. They beat down Philly 3 in a row to open up the division lead, then, in the next 4 games, they lose all 4 by a combined 25 runs. And right now they are getting beat by 11 so that number may be rising. Lose by a combined 25 runs against Kyle Kendrick, Jason Hirsch, Aaron Cook, and Josh Fogg. Lol. That is pretty bad. Not to mention Colorado just lost 9 of 10. How the Mets are in first place, let alone competing for the divison, let alone a .500 team, is way beyond me.

Nrmax,

Don't disagre with ya on the Mets offense not being what it should have been to this point, but I think it can be summed up pretty well with 'right now'. I find it hard to imagine they continue to underproduce like this...

I also find it even harder to believe the pitching will continue to overproduce ~ and that is why I mentioned they should focus there. Just like you mentioned, getting beat by 25R in the 4 games and giving up 11R today shows that they are infact starting to lose it a bit. Doesn't really matter how good you are at scoring if you're giving up 7 or more a game...

So, where ODawg would be an upgrade to the lineup and help them score a run or two every couple days, I still see pitching as their more pressing need...

Darkstar I agree to an extent. I think Maine is the real deal. Now am I expecting him to finish with a 2.70 era or whatever, probably not, but he is getting better and better. His slider is nasty all of the sudden, and his changeup is improving. We all know he has the fastball. I know I am overreacting, but to see what this team did offensivly last year, it is so hard to watch them struggle like this. I think Pedro will be pretty good, barring any setbacks. People can say he wont come back the same, which is a definite possibility, but I disagree. We will have to wait and see. The backup guys are fine. One of them will be able to be a decent guy. The thing about them getting shelled this week in colorado is, Glavine gave up 6 runs but didnt do that bad, aside from the bomb holliday hit off of him, most of the other hits were bloopers etc. El Duque just didnt have it and that will happen every now and then, and Vargas was just plain bad, no excuses. Blackops, I like Milledge and Gomez both a lot, and I am not sure if I agree with you about Milledge will have the better bat. I am not saying he wont, but I just dont know yet. Gomez is still so raw but he was getting better and better every day. He will develop power, and we know he can fly. He has shown he can go into the right center gap. His problem is he has the home run swing right now. If Milledge isnt dealt they will probably both be in the outfield together next year. This may be far fetched, but if I was Omar I would try my best to sign Big Z in the offseason if he makes it to free agency, and if Arod becomes a free agent throw huge dollars at him and move Wright to second base. Supposedly Wright has been taking balls there everyday "just in case" lol. I know that a lot of money, but with Glavine, Alou, Green, Lo Duca, possibly El Duque and Valentin coming off the books, plus the money they saved last winter by not really making any moves would free up a lot of cash. Then you can afford to have Milledge and Gomez both start the season in the corner OF spots, and learn on the job, they would be 23 and 22 respectively, and would be cheap, and that outfield would catch everything. Just a thought, or a dream, but hey its a rumor site. And as much as I have complained about how they needa bat, like Darkstar said they more then likely will start to hit at some point. For me it is just amazing that Jose Reyes is leading the Mets in batting average, walks, and on base percentage.

Nrmax,

Couple things you also have to think about…
Shea is a pitchers park! If they are going to win, pitching is their best chance at home… If they need to upgrade anything for a playoff run, adding a guy like Contreras or Vasquez could mean a lot in a short series. They currently have 1 starter I would really have confidence in (Maine) and only like 3 BP arms (Wagner, Feliciano and Smith). Oh, and I hope no one gives me that “ElDuque is lights out in the playoffs” line people always spit out, that was 7+ years ago! Since then he has been a little above average from time to time I guess, but not one to be counted on at this point at all.

How good is the Mets pitching though? Well, through March they were at 2.96ERA, May they posted a 3.73, June they were at 4.20 and have so far posted a 8.56 in July. They pitched over their heads and it seems to be evening out big-time already… Most surprisingly is this split: the pitchers numbers in games they won has been 1.92 ERA, .185 BA-Against & .548 OPS-Against (47G). In games they lost? 6.61 ERA, .305 BA-A & .899 OPS-A (36G). That’s a huge swing, and those numbers in games they won are just flat out impossible to duplicate much longer. They have really won more games than they probably should have because of fluke dominance from a non-inspiring staff and you know that is going to start evening itself out. Adding a better pitcher or two would minimize the leveling out some.

But really, El Duque, Perez and Sosa have played way over their potential, Pedro is a complete unknown, Glavine is showing himself to have little value at this point and Maine has pitched great but his .226 BABIP on the road accounts for much of his ERA being under 3.0. His road line is actually 2.25ERA, .184BA-A and .571OPS-A, I find it hard to imagine that will continue… Otherwise we have Vargas, Williams, Lawrence, Sele, Park, etc as the other starters available from within? These are not the types you expect to come in and be lights out ~ or really even play better than league average. Add to it the questionable bullpen and you have a need for a couple arms in a major way if you’re serious about winning…

If the pitching is good then you don’t need to have amazing hitters to win games, if the pitching is bad or hit&miss then you will find yourselves in situations where you need the offense to over-produce to make up for the shortcoming. I will agree they should maybe think about a hitter to add to the lineup, but it should be an OFer and not for a position that inst causing problems to the current club ~ they have actually gotten a .261/.329/.441 line from 2nd, which isn’t bad at all for the position...

The starters mentioned?
Contreras is currently posting a 4.47ERA and .698 OPS-A on the road and 6.02ERA/.778OPS-A in hitter friendly Chicago. Although that 4.47 isnt super inspiring, its still in the AL-C where the competition is much stronger than in the NL. He has also been a 2nd half pitcher for most of his career and has been at his absolute best in Sept/Oct (12-6 3.64ERA, .237 BA-A, .691 OPS-A). Problem is, he isn’t a guy who you can really count on for more than 6 innings and he is a pitcher who is either ‘on’ or rather off in that horrible way…

Vasquez on the other hand has been better at Home than on the Road this year. (3.42ERA, .212 BA-A, .647 OPS-A vs .392 ERA, .241 BA-A, .700 OPS-A) He too is usually at his best in Sept/Oct (3.74ERA, .242 BA-A, .682 OPS-A) but has recently pitched in the NL and showed that his numbers were almost exactly the same as his AL numbers. Arz is a hitters park, but his Home/Road splits show that his BA-A and OPS-A were actually much better at home in that pitchers park than away in 05. (.249 BA-A, .728 OPS-A in Arz, .280 BA-A, .792 OPS-A on the road). Oh, and Vasquez himself doesn’t usually get out of the 6th so you wouldn’t really have an advantage with his 6.2 to Contreras at 6.1

Oh, and either of them would be around next year when the team will have Maine and a bunch of question marks in the rotation…