Mets To Make Offers To Free Agent Targets

as a met fan, this doesnt make sense to me...k-rod is so much younger than Billy Wagner, and we're LEARY of giving him a 4th year? We did it for billy, just do it for k-rod..get it out of the way, get it over with, and work on the other holes on the mets, like another bat, another copule of bullpen arms, and a starter

Yea because giving Wagner 4 years worked out so well for them.

Yes, it would have been hard to predict Wagner's injury, but considering Krod has lost a noticeable amount of mph off his fastball from 2007 to 2008, an injury is bound to finally occur within the years of his next contact (probably with the Mets).

sampsonite,

EXACTLY. Anybody see how quickly Bobby Thigpen fell off the face of the planet after his previous record setting season.

He basically had two average at best years after his record setting year before being out of baseball. Go ahead Mets, give him 4 or 5 years.

"as a met fan, this doesnt make sense to me...k-rod is so much younger than Billy Wagner, and we're LEARY of giving him a 4th year? We did it for billy, just do it for k-rod..get it out of the way, get it over with, and work on the other holes on the mets, like another bat, another copule of bullpen arms, and a starter"

Exactly. I mean, we need a closer, so lets just overpay him in years and dollars just so we can have him in November! Forget about his declining peripherals, and about all the bad things that can happen by giving a closer an extra year! I want him now Dadddy!!!!!!!

"Exactly. I mean, we need a closer, so lets just overpay him in years and dollars just so we can have him in November! Forget about his declining peripherals, and about all the bad things that can happen by giving a closer an extra year! I want him now Dadddy!!!!!!"

I think it's pretty clear that by year 4 of a K-Rod contract, he won't even nearly be the pitcher that he is now. He's throwing his fastball at 92-93 rather than 96-98, but that's not even the big thing here. The fact is that not only has he taken something off of his fastball, but his slider has declined to the point where he's needed to make his change up a key part of his arsenal. Without that dominant slider, he just simply can't be the 11-13 K/9 pitcher that he was for the past few years. As his physical decline continues, the guy is just going to continue to strike out less guys and become less dominant.

I just wouldn't want to have a top 25 closer be paid like a top 3 one, because he saved 62 games on the best team in baseball once.

''Plus, he is coming to the NL, where he can have a few more good years if he happens to be declining. At least K-Rod has a career, Fuentes has been so up and down, he couldn't even keep his closers job with the Rockies. Do the Mets really want to invest money in a guy like that? ''

Fuentes was an all-star for three straight years in Colorado in '05-'07, and he only lost his job on a roadtrip prior to the All-Star Break in '07 where he gave up ten earned runs in five road appearances in Toronto, Chicago, and Houston over the course of a week and his ERA went from 1.89 to 4.17. Then, the Rockies gave the closer job to Manny Corpas, Corpas thrived, and Fuentes gave up a total of THREE earned runs the rest of the season. Don't say Fuentes doesn't even have a career, I mean come on.

With that being said, I am in no way condoning giving Fuentes 3/33, or K-Rod 4/56. I am totally against giving closers long-term deals for big money such as the $15 million per year that K-Rod wants.

Why do people think that because Bobby Thigpen went bad after his saves record season? Last time I checked, Francisco Rodriguez is NOT Bobby Thigpen. And besides, do you see how many IP he had in the years before the decline? He was avergaing 75 innings before he went downhill. That very well could be a reason.

"Why do people think that because Bobby Thigpen went bad after his saves record season? Last time I checked, Francisco Rodriguez is NOT Bobby Thigpen. And besides, do you see how many IP he had in the years before the decline? He was avergaing 75 innings before he went downhill. That very well could be a reason."

Eric Gagne.

"Eric Gagne."

Threw 82.1 Innings in 3 consecutive seasons prior to his arm injuries, Apples and Oranges.

Again, K-Rod only threw 68.1 Innings last season, and hasn't thrown over 73 Innings since 2004.

The "50 save" thing is mostly overblown.

In major league history, there has only been 11 50-save seasons; one of which, obviously, came this season.

Most of the other pitchers did quite well after their 50-save years. Gagne saved 50 in two straight years - after that, he posted a 45-save, 2.19 season. Mariano did it twice; after the first time, he did get hurt the next year. The second time? He came back with one of his best seasons ever.

The best example, other than Thigpen, of a pitcher breaking down horribly after a 50-save campaign was Rod Beck...Beck's ERA climbed to over 5.00 in only 43 appearances the next year.

When you save 50, the likelihood is pretty high that you were worked harder than normal in that season. When you factor in normal attrition rate amongst ALL relievers, and sure - you would expect a few 50-save pitchers to decline the next season; just like a lot of relievers who have fantastic seasons often decline the next year.
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I am not a Mets fan, but I don't see any issue with giving K-Rod a 4-year deal. However, do they NEED to do it? I am not sure. I realize that the Mets bullpen was terrible in 2008, but sometimes the wisest thing to do with the bullpen is try to go as cheaply as possible, while spending the money elsewhere.

So what is the alternate route for the mets?

They don't have a good farm system, it's unlikely they could acquire a closer comparable to Krod.

You could overpay for Fuentes, which would save you 5-10 million. Or you could stop citing "declining peripherals" and realize how abysmal your bullpen is.

Sure you need more than just a closer but a good bullpen starts at the top..who the hell can currently and consistently close games for NY?

Wagner's injury should have been easy for a scouting department to catch. Bad mechanics + old = ???

K-Rod's mechanics are better, but not perfect and he's younger. Less likely to get hurt, but that 3 MPH velocity decrease with no increased command should concern people.

paulio,

actually i can multi-task. I focus on both. I also have posted on many of the pages on here, whether it be Giants, Tigers, Yankees, Nationals, etc, so go ahead and "TRY" to peg me, but you're wrong. You know its funny because I've only gotten comments like yours from Mets fans.

If I were Omar Minaya, I wouldn't go after K-ROD, I'd go get Wood, (Affeldt sorry he's gone now), Beimel and another solid righty reliever and go ahead and drop Schowenweis, Heilman (maybe you can convince someone he can be a 5th starter) and Feliciano. Also I'd go get Manny, whatever it takes. maybe he could do for you what he did for the Dodgers. Money seems to be little option for the Mets, so why not get the best.

But as a Phils fan, i hope you do none of that.

Wood. Cruz. Ayala. Affeldt. Maybe not Wood. I would like to have Wood, but I I think building a pen with Cruz, Affeldt, and Ayala in the back end would be fine.

And keep Heilman. He can still pitch. One bad year doesn't ruin you. Ask the Phils if they are happy they didn't give up on Ryan Madson, when he posted a couple of Heilman 08 type seasons. They are similar pitchers also, with a similar history and similar stuff. No reason to just give up on Heilman. It is just stupid. I know, I know. Buy high, sell low. Thats our motto.

Whoops. This is what happens when I take like 36 hours off from checking MLBTR. My life goes to shambles.

HiHaters6,

i've been a fan since i was 10 and went to game 6 of the World series in 1980. Best game since the "Blanton home run game" that i went to this year. So its not all of a sudden, but some of us are a lot quieter when we suck.

Ya Victorino got crap for that from his teammates. He shouldn't have done that but that was funny. At least he didn't do it in a game in the middle of May against the Nationals though. You know we love Jose about as much as you love Jimmy.

We'll see IF you get him and IF he's dominant closer for you and if so for how long. Like I've said before, spend all you want to try to catch us, its fun watching you all try.

" In 2007 Madson had injury problems and suffered confidence wise and was banished for a short time to the 6th or 7th innings while I believe Heilman was doing OK."

Exactly. The same can be said about Heilman this year. He was a solid workhorse in the pen for 3 years, and he has the potential to get back to that. He is still under relatively cheap control, so why not try to get his value back up. I'm sure a lot of teams would take a chance on him for 2 million.

As a Mets fan, I would like to see the Mets bring in:

Cordero (previous closing experience)

Ayala (didn't completely implode as a temp. closer last season; would be better in a 7th inning role)

Beimel and/or Ohman (maybe both then get rid of Feliciano; if only 1 then keep Feliciano). I really like Beimel. He has only let up 1 homerun in the last 2 seasons and that was to Beltran. Thats the type of pitcher I would like to see in a Mets uniform.

KRod

Im not against Fuentes since the left handed hitting in the NL East (Utley, Howard, McCann, possibly Adam Dunn) can really hurt a pitcher but I just am more confident in KRod.

Guys I don't like:

Wood - Too many injuries to be worth the type of money he will likely command. I like his stuff but the last thing the Mets need is to be paying 2 closers not to pitch this season.

Cruz - I HATE walks from a reliever and his Type A status means PASS!

Farnsworth - ENOUGH SAID

R.P. Francisco Rodriguez
R.P. Joe Smith
R.P. Joe Biemel
R.P. Pedro Feliciano
R.P. Juan Rincon
R.P. Chad Cordero
R.P. Eddie Kunz

let Ayala go because he is a type B free agent and the Mets receiver a sandwich pick for him if he declines Arb and signs elsewhere

"haha. Diplomatic? is that what Beltran was when he said "THE METS" were the team to beat now they have Santana last year?

Oh and your Mr Reyes makes up for all your "diplomatic" players with his "style". It would be fun having the contrast of Lidge and K-ROD as closers."

I actually forgot about Beltran's comment, but really that's the only "eff everyone else" evidence I've seen from him. As for Reyes, I liked his personality before he was pressured to calm down. I just think that if the NL East (particularly the Phillies and Marlins) are going to hate so much, we might as well go for broke and use it as fuel and stop trying to please everyone. Having players like K-Rod and Reyes play off of each other would not only be tons of fun to watch, it would make Reyes more comfortable in his element. Fans, and the rest of the team, would/should rally behind that.

"I don't want K-Rod. Gimme Lowe, Fuentes and Manny: http://tinyurl.com/5czy43"

Ugh, Lowe? My gut tells me he really just doesn't want to come to the Mets. It seems like a last resort. I'd rather have a team member than a hired gun. I'd rather have Ollie if the Money is right. Something like this:

Santana
Pelfrey
Maine
Ollie
Neise and/or Pedro (incentive deal)

Then spend the bulk of the remaining payroll on the bullpen and maybe an extra bat....possibly Manny or Orlando Hudson...but that's a whole other post.