Heyman's Latest: Piazza, Matthews, Milledge

"Mike Piazza is considering DHing in Japan if he doesn't find anything he likes in the U.S."

Just retire already....

As if someone will go "nooooo, wait Mike! Don't go to Japan! We weren't serious when we said you were falling apart!"

Can we stop reading the following posts every year PLEASE:

"This is crazy. How do you figure is worth ?

is so dumb.

Does he not realize that is available for ?

baseball needs a salary cap. look at 's numbers:

fans are going to hate this guy.

my life sucks, so i'm going to hate some dude because he gets to play a game for a living and make jillions of dollars. id prefer some no name owner who is really driving up the prices at the ball park, and making TEN dollars for every ONE that the player actually makes, because he also owns the plaza 3 blocks down from me which is causing my rent to be so high, who is also rich enuff to dodge taxes which also makes it more expensive for me to breathe in america. but heck, i'll hate the player, because he's actually some spanish dude who grew up using a milk carton for a baseball mit who is supporting 27 families back in his home countries, becuz well, i'm an asshole."

thanks guys, we've heard this 1000 times from u now. go read an econ book and save the cyber space for intereting topics.

what makes milledge seem like a bad attitude type to you? aside from the sexual assault allegations in high school (which were bad, but haven't recurred), he hasn't done anything wrong. there was the high five thing, which was blown out of proportion, the claims that he didn't fit in the clubhouse, which is the same bs the dodgers are saying about kemp, and a rap song. i don't see where people are reading bad attitude from any of that. he got in an argument with an ump down the stretch this year, but who on the mets didn't? if it weren't lastings, people would applaud his passion. meanwhile, the kid's a 23 year old with an exceptional track record and a great skillset. if anything, he's not hyped enough, which is exactly why the mets should NOT trade him.

Hummm…

An Often-Injured, LgAvg hitting, steroid using, questionable Defensive 33YO CFer making an average of 10.5M for 4 years with a full NTC will be easy to “unload”, right? Yeah, I question his going anywhere…

And is it really a surprise that the Mets would be willing to deal Lastings with comparables just a stones-throw away in the minors? Beltran being locked up and Green stuck in RF; they don’t really have anything else to do with him. Letting him waste away on the bench is foolish…

Don't the Mets already have their two catchers? Why would they keep talking about other guys?

oops, sorry ~ mistakenly said Green but meant the other injury-prone outfielder; Alou.

They don’t really have a place to upgrade the team though with 1B, SS and 3B locked up. We know they weren’t able to upgrade at 2B really, and C is still a bit of a question. The team almost certainly will upgrade their offense though and the RF spot is only left to do so with, correct? Trading Lastings only to have a guy like Gomez in his place for 09 seems such a logical progression…

anyone think the twins would possibly want GMJ if they trade santana to the angels? he, ervin santana, possibly wood/mathis and some other pitcher?

Yeah Milledge is over hyped. All fans usually over hype their own players. For example Braves fans, they think Jo-Jo Reyes and Chuck James are the next great things to put the Braves uniform on. The Milton Bradley comparison is right I think. A possible star player but attitude problems. The Marlins wouldn't even accept Milledge for Dontrelle Willis and your hoping to get Haren or Santana..... keep dreaming.

If I like the Uribe and cash for Dukes idea...but then the Rays might be looking for some slender amount of uspide for Dukes so as to not look completely foolish...

Actually I think Chuck James sucks and should be in the bullpen. Jo Jo is an average 4th starter and has the potential of a 3 but not an ace or nothing.

More gems from zito4cyyoung.

"I don't see why Lastings Milledge is so hyped. He seems like another bad attitude Milton Bradley type..."

When healthy Milton Bradley is a very good outfielder capable of playing all 3 positions. And...oh yeah...he mashes the ball. He was the Padres best player until he got injured...again. The Mets would be stoked if Miiledge became Bradley w/out the injury.

"and we finally got rid of Bonds"

Bonds -- OPS
2004 -- 1.422
2005 -- 1.071
2006 -- .999
2007 -- 1.045

He must have come to your house every morning to crapped on your face while slapping your mom...otherwise it didn't matter how bad his attitude was considering the sheer ridiculousness of those numbers.

All I know is that Miguel
Cabrera is going to be an Angel, I personally want GMJ, he is a stud when he is leading off or 2nd. We put him into 5 spot after Garret Anderson got hurt. Then Willits emerged. He is a good player.

Milledge and cash for Mike Hampton.

No physical will be provided for Hampton.

MEddler..

I didn't say He WAS. I said it "seems" like he is...

Man, people get crazy here when you say something about one of their guys...

haha

Milledge can hustle all he wants, but he's not really that good.

Fair enough zito. I just felt you were being fairly presumptuous, even if it was speculation. Milledge being a player I like very much, I took exception. Plus, I'm bored and I like writing about baseball, so don't start the fire if you can't take the heat ;).

As far as how "good" Milledge is:

He's not a fully developed ball player, but draw up some comps for yourself, you'll see he's well above average for his age class in just about every way. He's a good natural hitter, but his batting eye needs improvement. This doesn't come across from his statline, but watching him, he's still learning to shorten up in certain situations. He gets away with it due to excellent raw batspeed.

Going with the batspeed, his power numbers project very nicely, especially for a player with other good tools. He could be a 20 HR threat as soon as next year if he got everyday playing time (7 HR in 184 ABs in 2007).

Like his hitting, a lot of his other skills are also plus but unrefined. He has excellent speed but poor acceleration. I don't mean Jose Reyes speed, but probably a better top speed than David Wright. He needs to work on explosiveness on the basepaths and out of the box if he wants to use it as an offensive weapon though.

The good speed/low acceleration works out pretty well for him in Center Field though, but what happens every now and then (especially in the corners) is that he takes a bad first step and has much more trouble compensating than he should.

The thing to be taken here is that he HAS the tool (speed), the skills can be learned, and he's doing it at a very nice pace.

Its a similar story with his arm. Its a canon, but he's wild with it. He's made some of the best RF throws I can remember from the Mets in recent years (including those of Endy Chavez), but he's also made some really bad ones.

Basically, he's a very solid, budding ballplayer, but he's still got a few rough edges. Is he a Future Hall of Famer? Certainly not. Is he a perennial all-star candidate? Probably not. Will he make a few all-star teams and have a solid above average career? Highly probable. Does he have the trade value of Matt Kemp? Nope. Does he have the trade value of Melky Cabrera? He probably has more.

Fair enough for an amateur, slightly biased, fan's eye scouting report?

"Milledge can hustle all he wants, but he's not really that good."

Man I hate to think what you'd have thought of Tori Hunter at age 22. Or Jose Reyes. Or Carl Crawford. Or even Alex Rios at age 23. Funny, the the only one Milledge hasn't clearly outperformed through this point in their careers is Crawford. And even he put up basically the same hitting line Milledge did as a 22 year old, he just stole more bases. But I guess in this case we can ignore the fact that Milledge's minor league numbers are much better.

Hard to get ABs?

Alou in LF
Beltran in CF
Milledge in RF

Milledge hasn't stayed at one level long enough to put up eye-popping numbers, but other than his first major league stint in 2006, Milledge has hit well at every level.

Let's look at Milledge's accomplishments:

2007:
-Slugs .446 and posts 105 OPS+ as a 22 year old in MLB

-Racks up .970 OPS in 19 minor league games

2006:
-Puts up .388 OBP in a brutally difficult hitting environment in Norfolk at age 21

2005:
-Shreds AA ball at age 20: .337/.392/.487

2004:
-Crushes A ball pitching to the tune of .340/.380/.580 at age 19

Despite being young for every level he's played at, and spending some time in some very difficult hitting environments, Milledge's career minor league line is .306/.380/.480. He also plays a premium defensive position if you need him to, and has a cannon arm.

People who say he isn't good are just haters. The guy has done nothing but play excellent baseball since the day he was drafted.

Purple...

Nice comparisons...

You are right, Jerry Rice looking into a mirror for a long time is DEFINITELY as bad as choking a woman

Cal Ripken playing hurt is FAR WORSE than drug trafficking...

You certainly showed me!

JK47: "Puts up .388 OBP in a brutally difficult hitting environment in Norfolk at age 21"

How is Norfolk a difficult hitting environment? I've lived in that neighborhood and gone to many games there and it's a pretty small field...I agree though that Milledge is going to be a great player. he needs more regular playing time, but a remember more than a few extra-inning games that he'd get a walk-off hit.

Also, I don't think that Brian Schneider is all that available. the nats value him for what he does behind the plate, not in the batter's box. he's still needed to teach a thing or two to Flores (thank you Mets).