Odds and Ends: LaCava, Colletti, Andruw

If my calculations are correct, Lowe will sign with the Yankees, 8 years, $160M.

Why would the Mets trade Ryan Church when it seems like they already need help in the outfield? Martinez won't be able to help until 2010, and outside of that their corner outfield options consist of Fernando Tatis, Endy Chavez and Terry Evans. Unless the Mets sign an Ibanez/Burrell/Manny type free agent, and/or trade for a young outfielder (Hermida? Francoeur? Pie?) then these Mets will likely need Church in 2009. I think its almost undeniable that the Mets should wish they held onto Milledge. It's not like its that hard to find a player like Brian Schneider, and Milledge will likely be a better player than Church by mid 2009.

"If my calculations are correct, Lowe will sign with the Yankees, 8 years, $160M."

That's one hell of a calculator...

As for the Jones/Colletti thing... damn. I've been enjoying making fun of Colletti.

It is Nick Evans, Terry Evans is a crappy OF prospect for the Angels. My bad.

"Thing is, Mets are interested in FA LF anyway, so if they manage to sign one or trade Castillo for Byrnes, Church could be traded."

Thats what I'm getting at. The Mets are already out looking for outfield help. Now obviously if they are successful in that search, then trading Church becomes a far more plausible option. I just don't believe that Nick Evans, Fernando Tatis and Endy Chavez would produce enough to be even adequate in the outfield offensively.

As for a Castillo-Byrnes trade, that would be simply a great move by the Mets. Byrnes is the kind of player the Mets need, a guy who can give the team some spunk and energy. Castillo just goes out there and gets booed everyday, which is simply not good for anyone. If Byrnes could bounce back to being at least the player he was in 2004 and 2006, he could be a huge help to them. Obviously considering the fact that Byrnes is making 2/22, the Mets wouldn't have to eat any of Castillo's 3/18 thats left anyways. Then they could add a second baseman like Mark Grudzielanek, let Delgado go, move Murphy to first and add a big OF bat. Something like this:
SS Reyes
1B Murphy
CF Beltran
3B Wright
LF Dunn/Ramirez/Ibanez/Burrell
RF Byrnes
2B Grudzielanek
C Schneider

I don't think it would make a lot of sense for the Mets to move Castillo and then spend big money on Orlando Hudson. They'd be better off going after a cheaper option like Grudz and then save that money to put towards an outfielder, the rotation and the bullpen.

mets need a power bat. manny makes more then enough sense

I am in favor of letting Delgado go and getting in a veteran leader. I also think the Mets need to explore a trade with the Pirates for Ryan Doumit who is arbitration eligible and they may want to trade him while he has high value. He could play catcher and 1st base.

It's funny that church told adam rubin that he loves playing in ny on the last saturday of the season. I'll take that from a mets beatwriter that travels with the team over a comment from a fat a##clown who does a show for the yankees network anyday. I'd say you can put the church hates ny rumors to rest.

"I am in favor of letting Delgado go and getting in a veteran leader. I also think the Mets need to explore a trade with the Pirates for Ryan Doumit who is arbitration eligible and they may want to trade him while he has high value. He could play catcher and 1st base."

His value is off the chart he has 3 years of control left and he hit .330 and has power and is a switch hitter. Do the Mets even have anything left on the farm besides F-Mart which he would obviously need to be in the deal.

Luis Castillo and Nick Evans for Jose Guillen. Would either pull that trade of bad contracts? I'm sure the Royals would love to be rid of Guillen and his surly attitude, while the Mets would like his bat, and would probably translate his surliness as "passion."

I can't see Castillo for Byrnes because Byrnes has a no-trade clause, loves Arizona, and recently said he is not waiving that NTC. Arizona, you're stuck with him.

No way $160m or 8 years for Lowe.

I say 4 years at about $65m.

"The Jones/McCourt/Colletti thing is very interesting, especially in light of the excellent moves to pick up Blake and Ramirez that Colletti did make."

The Blake deal is still on the bubble, he was far from impressive, though admittedly his numbers were better than Dewitt. And I still think giving up Meloan was an error. However the Ramirez deal was impressive for how little he gave up. If you want to point to one team and say they won in that deal, it's the Dodgers (Though funny enough, the Red Sox did pretty good without Manny).

I have to admit, finding out Colletti didn't engineer the Jones deal makes me begrudingly see him as less of an idiot.

"The Blake deal is still on the bubble, he was far from impressive, though admittedly his numbers were better than Dewitt."

You have to realize when Blake slumped. It was toward the very end of the year when he was playing through injury and the race had pretty much been decided. The numbers on which Colletti based his decision and the numbers Blake put up early in his time with the Dodgers when healthy were more than adequate to make the decision.

As for DeWitt, you don't seem to have paid attention to the fact that he raised his OBP to .344 when he came back up and posted the following line in the last 4 weeks.

.274 .391 .425 .816

Not to mention his defensive play.

"And I still think giving up Meloan was an error."

I don't. Meloan has regressed and never really fit into the Dodgers' plans. As for Santana, he may amount to something, but he would have been blocked at catcher and his numbers were put up in a high A league that is a notorious hitter's league.

"Anyone who listens to mike francesa knows to discount anything he states as fact. He's one of those radio/tv personalities that only generates buzz by saying ridiculous things. His opinions and thoughts aren't insightful enough to generate an audience, so he follows the models set by guys like skip bayliss and jim rome. If the church rumor ever gets thrown out there by a credible source, I'd put some stock in it, but you can throw anything francesa says straight into the trash."

Yeah, he has had the most succesful and longest running sports radio show pretty much in history because he makes stuff up and doesn't know what he is talking about. Met fans really amuse me. They complain about the Mets all year but when Francesa says the same things we all do, they suddenly become untrue and Francesa is just some stupid fat idiot with no knowledge. Does he play to get under the skin of people sometimes, sure. But he does a good job doing what he does and if he simply made things up I doubt he would have lasted a year doing a radio show, let alone 20 years.

"Yeah but Delgado is on the Mets and the Mets might need to shake this core up and moving Wright, Reyes, or Beltran is not the answer"

If you are against moving Beltran, Wright, or Reyes, then just shutup about moving the core. They are the core. Moving Delgado is not going to somehow make this team better because of addition by subtraction. This idea has been picking up steam, and I can't for the life of me understand why. It is the stupidest idea in the world.

Fire Colletti-

"To say Santana was blocked by Martin is very true. However, to say that therefore it's okay to trade him for anybody is not."

Thank you. That goes for blocked prospects on other teams as well. Just because he is blocked does not mean that it is OK to trade him.

"Colletti also didn't pursue any Manny trade, so to give him credit for it is excessive. Theo had to make a move and contacted Colletti to figure something out. It fell into his lap, and he just had to say okay."

Really? Hard to believe. Link? And your username doesn't help, no offense.

"Thats exactly what I was saying before about Santana. Just because you already have a good catcher doesn't mean you trade one of the best catching prospects in the game for an average rental third baseman."

First, the Dodgers weren't sure that Santana was going to stick behind the plate. He is a converted OFer and was slated for a potential reconversion. As for Blake, he was what they needed when they got him and they got his contract paid for.

"Regardless of circumstance, Santana was too good of a prospect to trade for Blake. A team like the Dodgers shouldn't need to be so cheap that they have to give up premium prospects to land average players."

Santana wasn't considered a premium prospect yet and Meloan had fallen in the Dodgers' eyes. Meanwhile, Blake was putting up the following line in July:

.341 .418 .576 .995

Even Dierkes thinks Blake is the class of the FA market at 3B

"I just think that Dodgers did a poor job of maximizing the value of Santana."

Look, that may be the case and Santana will be Cleveland's version of Pablo Sandoval. It may also be the case that Santana doesn't turn out to be much. I do know that it was a concern that playing in San Bernardino was inflating his numbers.

"Obviously this conversation changes a lot if this Dodgers team makes some noise in the playoffs, although I don't attribute a great deal of their success to Blake."

Blake faded at the end, there is no doubt. However, he put up a .822 against Arizona and allowed the team to further develop DeWitt, who did contribute big time down the stretch.

"I'm just saying that if I'm the Dodgers, and I decide I'm willing to move Santana, I look around for better options than Blake. Maybe that was the case and nobody was available. I'm just a little surprised they couldn't at least get a Kouzmanoff/Encarnacion type for him"

With Kouzmanoff you have multiple reasons why he wouldn't be dealt to the Dodgers. First, I think the Padres would be rather hesitant to deal their second best power hitter who is under control for some time to come to an intra-division rival for anything resembling a fair deal for the Dodgers. Second, Kouzmanoff's numbers are rather hollow given his terrible OBP and lack of versatility compared to Blake and I doubt the Dodgers saw him being much more productive than what they already had in Blake DeWitt.

As for EE, his numbers are roughly comparable to those of Blake, though he also doesn't have the same versatility and he would likely come at a major price tag given his age and potential.

I also think that the fact that the Dodgers had already swapped numbers on Blake in the Sabathia talks helped facilitate that deal and the deal was a calculated risk.

Meloan has developed a pretty obvious ceiling and while Santana may turn out to become something special, you have to give something to get something and the Dodgers wanted Blake and wanted him paid for so they had to take that risk.