Stark's Latest: Teixeira, Lamb, Ibanez, Blake

While Tex is awesome, it seems really pointless to pay someone THAT much money to play 1st base. It really seems like that's one of the easiest positions to find a productive player, and that money would be much better spent somewhere else. Is that just me?

A-Rod is at least Hall of Famer and likely to break the HR record. Teixeira is a good 1B. But just that, a good 1B. He's not a Hall of Famer. He's not going to break any records.

"Exercising Delgado's option would be a HUGE mistake for the Mets. Does no one remember the year and a half period where he was done?"

Uh, no, it wouldn't be. Signing Tex to anything more then 4/70 would be a HUGE mistake for anybody. If he stinks, you cut him, same as this year. Although if you have noticed ever since Delgado's wrists have healed, he looks like the 2002 version of himself. He struggled through most of 07 with hand/wrist injuries, recovering from winter 06 surgery, started to heat up late in 07, then again hurt his wrist/hand getting hit by a pitch in late september. You bring Delgado back, on a one year deal, and if he stinks, you let Murphy and Evans take over at 1B.

"Well A-Rod is making 275 mil to play 3RD. There are plenty of other (cheaper) options at 3rd who can put up similar types of numbers and play better defense"

Victor said it all. This statement is just so clearly false it makes me wonder what was going through your mind when you posted it. David Wright is not now, nor will he ever be, anywhere close to the level of baseball A-Rod can play. I have not seen enough of Longoria to say the same about him, but it pisses me off when people compare David Wright to A-Rod. It's an insult to A-Rod. Yankee fans who seem to be fed up with A-Rod and his contract.... Wright for A-Rod straight up right now? Sign me up for that everyday.

He is just so much better then every other 3B, and pretty much every other player for that matter. Pujols the only guy who is in A-Rods league as a hitter, but take any of the other 3 tools and there is no comparison. There is no 3B in the league that can even come close to doing all the things A-Rod can do.

And for the record, I agree with you about Delgado looking finished for about a year and a half. But he is finally healthy, and on a one year deal, bring him back. There were times that Giambi looked finished as a hitter also (him and Delgado had similar 07's), and now he is a productive offensive player again. And Delgado he proven in the last 2 months that there is no way he is done. As a stop gap, I am fine with it. Just no multi year deal.

"yeah I dont know alot of 3b that can hit 50+ homeruns per season when fully healthy"

Yeah, seriously. I also don't know a lot of players who are coming off an MVP season, posting a 158 OPS+, and getting boo'd regularly. Just goes to show how stupid NY'ers are as fans, both Yankee and Met fans. But of course we like to think of ourselves as the "best fans in the world".

Me neither. I don't think that they are 100 percent related, but there is definitely something to that. They must have really not got along well, even Delgado's hustle and defense has improved drastically since Manuel took over.

nrmax88 says "David Wright is not now, nor will he ever be, anywhere close to the level of baseball A-Rod can play. I have not seen enough of Longoria to say the same about him, but it pisses me off when people compare David Wright to A-Rod. It's an insult to A-Rod. Yankee fans who seem to be fed up with A-Rod and his contract.... Wright for A-Rod straight up right now? Sign me up for that everyday"

lol, you should just become a yankmee fan! You are an idiot when you come over to metsblog.com and these statements are an example of that. I will take Wright anyday over A$$-rod. Contract-wise and defense-wise Wright is much better and production-wise there isnt much difference. A$$-rod has 3 rbi's after the 7th inning this year and he has seen his best years. Wright is only 25 years old and not even in his prime yet!! A$$-rod plays in a much better hitters park and a more hitter friendly league in the AL. On another note, you nrmax88, was totally against the Santana trade saying that he wasnt worth the 4 prospects plus the big contract he signed for!! I recall your love affair for Carlos Gomez and not wanting to give him up. PLEASE!!!! Without Santana, where in the hell would the Mets be???? He is an ace and something the Mets havent had since Doc Gooden.

OK,OK...Geez you guyz really defend A-Rod... news to me cuz you boo him nonstop. I mistyped, what I meant was that there are other 3RD baseman who are just as valuable to there teams as A-Rod and are much cheaper. For example: Chone Figgins. He may not hit 5o+ HR or drive in 120+ RBI but he is our catalyst who gets on, steals bases and scores runs. Not to mention he only has 4 errors this year at 3rd.

I have nothing against A-Rod (other than his contract). He is a great player and gets my vote as one of the greatest ever.

This quote makes me laugh.

"yeah I dont know alot of 3b that can hit 50+ homeruns per season when fully healthy"

I never knew a guy that hits 50+ HR's 3 out of 13 years in his career is a guy that hits 50+ homers per season.

"but when was the last time giving a contract like that to a pitcher worked out well?"

It's worth noting that out of all the pitchers who got big contracts, only one of them (Barry Zito) won a Cy Young award.

Chan Ho Park, Mike Hampton, Kevin Brown, Zito, etc. were never the type of player Johan Santana is. It's more about who you sign and when than just how long you sign them.

I understand it to be that the Yanks would go after CC and if they couldn't get him then they would go after Sheets. However with all these rumors of the Yanks spending loads of money this offseason they could end up going after and signing both. I would hope not though, bad news for the rest of the AL.

"wrightreyes1, d. wright isn't even the best 3rd basement in the NL EAST."

Uh, no. Wright is the best 3B in the NL East. While Zimmerman is very talented, he's had two mediocre seasons since his rookie year. He had a 107 OPS+ in 07 and has an 89 OPS+ so far this season. Wright had a 150 OPS+ in 07 and has a 138 OPS+ this season. So far, Zimmerman's career high OPS+ is 114. Wright's worst in a full season is 133.

No one is sayin with the dodgers and blake staying, dewitt playin 2nd, well then the dodgers r out of the trade/free market for cano, hudson, and uggla

Non-Yankee fans will see that ARod is hitting .308 28 79 and call Yankee fans "spoiled" for booing him. Those who actually watch the games can point to the facts that:

He is only 16 of 33 getting a runner home from 3rd with less than 2 outs.

He is hitting .246 RISP....but .348 with the bases empty.

Hitting .100 with the bases loaded (1-10)

.175 with a runner in 2nd.

By contrast, look at Jeter's numbers:

RISP - .315
RISP 2 outs - .315
Close & Late - .323
Runner at 3rd less than 2 outs - 19-23
Bases loaded - .333

That's the difference between "putting up numbers" and being the Captain!

In short, what the Yankees and their fans want and expect is simple...if you're "the best"...come up big when it counts...not just when we're winning or losing 8-1. (another words...and i HATE to say this...but hit like MANNY)

I see NY getting 2 of any combination of: CC, Sheets, Burnett and Tex...

The Yankees have Giami and his 20 million, Pavano and his 10, Marte will be released, and abreu at 16 million coming off...

They take Giambi and Pavano and that pays for 1.5 of the players... our bullpen is set hopefully Ramirez, Veres and Rivera have like seasons and Robertson will only get better...

Outfield wise Matsui DH, Damon in LF, Gardner/jackson/Cabrera in CF, and Nady in right.

The infield is already set.

realistically we could be looking at:

Sheets/CC/Burnett/Pettite
Joba
Wang
Moose

With Sheets/CC/Burnett/Pettite taking up 2 slots..

With hughes in the pen, or in AAA in case someone goes down.

Maybe even package Kennedy and Cabrera in a trade to a smaller market NL club (where i think both would do great in)

I just don't think a 10 yr contract is smart for anyone... arod or tex... and I think you offer CC 5 years with mutual options, or performance options for however many years he wants on top of that.

I really don’t understand ignorant posts like the one provided by jjyankeesfan2. Here, lets break down a couple of the complaints:

“He is hitting .246 RISP....but .348 with the bases empty.”

…What you fail to mention is the fact that he gets on base at a .395 Mark when there are men on. Infact, he takes a walk 16% of the time when there are RISP and only 8% when the bases are empty. Considering he is hitting .315/.365/.562 with a 6% walk rate when there is a runner on 1st, its not hard to see that he is completely pitched around when there are RISP. So I can only say that I’m not sure what you expect a persons BA to be (as if that is somehow an important stat anyway) when they arent given any pitches to actually hit…

“Hitting .100 with the bases loaded (1-10)”

…Well there you go, you got a whole 10 ABs worth of evidence there proving he is obviously a bum…

“.175 with a runner in 2nd.”

…you fail to mention it is in 54 PA where he also has 13 Walks and a HBP. Again, hard to do anything when the pitcher gives you nothing to hit.

“By contrast, look at Jeter's numbers:”
RISP - .315 (OPS of .780 vs Arod at .801)
RISP 2 outs - .315 (OPS of .811 vs Arod at .867)
Close & Late - .323 (OPS of .801 vs Arod at .850)
Runner at 3rd less than 2 outs - 19-23 (OPS of .634 vs Arod at .596)
Bases loaded - .333” (OPS of .753 vs Arod at .282)

…Other than those 10 ABs with the BasesLoaded, I see Arod being an overall better hitter at the plate in those situations ~ despite this being a strange off year for him as a whole. Its obvious that the Pitchers agree with me as well, otherwise they would stop pitching to Jeter and actually pitch to Arod.

“That's the difference between "putting up numbers" and being the Captain!”

…No, that’s the difference of being a complete hitter that has a strong possibility of destroying you vs a guy with little more than the ability to hit singles; who, if he hurts you, will only do so ever so slightly. I mean, if two guys were walking towards you and you had to throw a rock to pick a fight with one of them, I guarantee you would throw the rock at the guy who is 5’10”, 80 pounds instead of the guy who is 6’5”, 240. Does that make the scrawny guy the captain if he manages to land a bunch of punches that didn’t even break your concentration? But Jeter is the real Captain because no one is afraid to pick the fight with him in an important situation?

I also wanted to point out last years OPS marks for the two players in those situations:

RISP – Jeter .882 vs Arod 1.138 (Arod being + .256)
RISP 2 outs – Jeter 1.025 vs Arod 1.224 (Arod being + .199)
Close & Late – Jeter .856 vs 1.125 (Arod being + .269)
Runner at 3rd less than 2 outs – Jeter .900 vs Arod 1.242 (Arod being + .342)
Bases loaded – Jeter 1.122 vs Arod 1.730 (Arod being + .608)

…Well, I guess you proved that Arod should have been the “Captain” of the Yankees going into this year ~ Arod absolutely destroyed Jeter in each and every way possible in the categories you claim is a factor.

wrighhtreyes.... yeah, I hated the Santana trade. Still do. Whats your point? Who knows where the Mets would be without him? They were in the same position last year without him at this point of the year, actually in better position then they are now, so who knows where they would be? Yes, I love Carlos Gomez, again, what is your point? The Mets gave Santana a massively stupid contract, this is not even up for debate. It is a fact. It wasn't year one of the contract I was worried about, and you look silly trying to call the trade a success when the contract is not even 1/7 finished yet. David Wright is nowhere near as talented as A-Rod. I stand by what I said. NY fans are stupid, I guess the truth just hurts. And David Wright really is not that clutch either. He strikes out a ton with risp and less then 2 outs, and he has become a complete pull hitter, who strikes out a ton and swings for the fences all the time. He is a great player, but not in A-Rods league.

Hey buddy… Man, I was on vacation for about a month, then came back to crazyness in both the work and home life because of. Add in some computer problems, and I’ve only been able to make sporadic visits. Have posted a tiny bit, but they are few and far between. Was, thankfully, here for Guru’s banning day though :) (well, atleast we thought he was banned, and I haven’t seen him post since)

And actually, Delgado is pretty close to what I expected from him. My argument (which I cant seem to find because the search bar isnt working properly) was based on the 04 & 06 numbers (05 was an obvious fluke) and this:
07 on April 30th ~ .188/.262/.260
07 after May 1st ~ .274/.348/.489

Now, Delgado actually sits at this right now:
08 on April 30th ~ .198/.297/.323
07 after May 1st ~ .279/.361/.548

…So, it’s might be a tiny bit more power than I expected, but otherwise it looks about right (the slight OBP difference can be explained because of an increase to IBB from last year). He used to have these horrible slumps in the second and third month of the season, they now just seem to happen in April ~ but be patient with him if he starts off that slow again next year. Its just too much of a trend to ignore, and he has a pretty good track record of being a .270/.350/.500-ish guy at this point in his career (give or take IBB) ~ well, outside of a seemingly inevitable horrible month sometime early in the year...

“Delgado definitly taking HGH or something...This guy was looking like his career was done and then all sudden he's back and playing good again?”

…Foolish remark.

"Delgado definitly taking HGH or something...This guy was looking like his career was done and then all sudden he's back and playing good again?"

It probably has more to do with having completely healthy wrists. Thats where his power and batspeed comes from.