Rosenthal's Latest: Teixeira, Closers, Castillo, Cantu

How are teams like the Nationals supposed to get better if players won't sign there? I guess being the worst teams can only get better by drafting and signing half assed players who end up being good like Pena.

Leather Pants Bowden's interest in Taveras is strictly because the Reds have been rumored to have interest in him.

Bowden is trying to dick around with the Reds like he did last year with a possible trade.

Bowden will "show" interest in Taveras until it is time to put up or shut up. Then, once he is shown to be the fraud he is (has NO interest in Taveras), he will slink back into the ooze.

Thames looks interesting for the Rays. They match up since the Rays have pitching.

I dont see the brewers going after any big name closers. you may see them offer a contract, but i dont think that fuentes or hoffmann will sign. after what happened with gagne, or should i say GAG-ne, i dont think the brewers will go after another big market closer. even if the brewers dont sign cc or sheets, i think theyll still go after a starter with the money, maybe wolf or garland. theyll stick with julio as their closer.

Murphy over Hudson?

Hudson a "poor defensive 2B with declining range "?

What's next Church is better than Dunn?

If you accidentally skip a line above (as I did) you can read: "The Mets are desperately trying to unload Luis Castillo so they can make a run at another bad contract." Hilarious.

As to the O-Dog being a light-hitting declining fielding 2B, his hitting has always been pretty good for a 2B, but remember that he's been in hitter's parks and, more importantly, that he's 31 years old. I think around he same age that Luis Castillo was when he signed his four-year deal. 2B do not tend to age well into their 30s, and when their defense goes, they don't have another position that they can play.

On a level playing field, I'd take Hudson over Murphy.

When taking the Marcel projections for both Hudson and Murphy, both are estimated to have similar offensive production, so I'll say those two are a wash.

The defensive differences between Hudson and Murphy are NOT good enough to warrant paying 10MM/yr on a 3-4 year deal for Hudson, when Murphy is sitting around for league minimum.

I wouldn't call Orlando Hudson a "tremendous" defender, Rolling Hawk.

RZRs for some second basemen around the league:

Mark Ellis: .897
Brandon Phillips: .860
Chase Utley: .839
Brian Roberts: .829
Kelly Johnson: .826
Dustin Pedroia: .826
Jose Lopez: .821
Howie Kendrick: .819
Freddy Sanchez: .818
Dan Uggla: .812
Robinson Cano: .809
Ian Kinsler: .801
Alexi Casilla: .800
Kaz Matsui: .799
Orlando Hudson: .798
Alexei Ramirez: .790
Akinori Iwamura: .787

Hudson ranks toward the bottom, and his .798 mark is right where Castillo's was in 2007.

The comparison is there. As Melonis said... tough to make errors when you can't get to the ball.

Hudson's plus or minus put him in the top 5 defensive 2b until this past season, which he missed most of due to injury.

He's also a gold glover which is extremely subjective and usually a joke, but rarely given 3 times to horrible defenders.

I don't know what the hell Melonis is blabbering about, he likes to think he has insight we do not.

And like Kenan and Kel stated which i forgot to write about, those stats are the way they are because Hudson was hurt most of this season so i dont know how he would "GET TO THE BALL" when David Eckstein was filling in for him and he was sidelined.

''can someone tell me the numbers on castillo's and jones' contracts?''

Well Castillo's contract is 2 years longer but Andruw is owned $9 million more than Castillo next year. I still think Omar is stuck with Castillo and he's going to have to keep him. Andruw Jones is finished. One could only hope that Castillo will at least stay a pesky hitter and come into next season healthy (maybe with that horribly overpaid contract of his, he could buy two new knees?).

I think everyone should pump the brakes on Daniel Murphy. His numbers were trending down at the end of the season and he was starting to come down to earth. Platooning him with Tatis and seeing if he continues his development is probably the best bet before we retire his number.

By the way, I meant to say that Castillo's contract, with 3 years left, is 2 years longer than Andruw Jones' one-year deal, not that Castillo has two years left on his contract.

MattyMets- I'm not saying the Mets shouldn't have a backup option. If the Mets are going to pursue a 2B, why not sign Ray Durham or someone else to be a bench guy, and let Murphy take the reins. I'm not saying "Murphy will be awesome at 2B". I'm saying the reward is high enough that the Mets should give him a shot, with a backup option ready. That backup might end up being Castillo, if the Mets end up having to keep him. If Murphy ends up being a problem, move him back to the OF or send him to AAA, and trade for a 2B at the deadline.

Hudson has also been in the negatives since 2006 (he was really, really good in 2004 and 2005, which could lead to the misconception that he's been really good defensively).

thanks mattymets for the contracts. look, the mets are shedding a bunch of money off their payroll. obviously theyre not going to try and be the twin of the yankees and spend all their money on FA but if you have the money and the players to fill your needs, go for it. without a doubt hudson is a better 2b than castillo. murphy hasnt completely proved himself in the mlb. all hes done is show his POTENTIAL (keyword to describing murphy). like everyone has said, he hasnt started an mlb game at 2b so who knows what can happen there. now that i know the contracts, i say just trade castillo for jones just becasue you'll only have jones for one year at 9mill. but another question that comes up is what are the chances f-mart will be ready for the next season at all??

sign hudson and as a back-up to hudson have murphy as well as having murphy platoon with the corner LF.

trade heilman and ???? to rays for sonnanstine or jackson. (street is just a younger heilman)

sign K-Rod

...... comments?

Martinez is in AA, so it might be hard for him to put dominating numbers in A ball.

But yeah it'd be ridiculous to count on him for anything.

and if they were planning on signing releivers out of FA then dont trade castillo. whats he at? about 6mill a yr? for 3 yrs

MattyMets-

No.Take into account the signing bonus, and Jones has 17.1MM owed to him in 2009, along with 5MM in deferred signing bonus money owed to him in 2010.

6MM for a bench player is steep, but if it benefits the team more that Castillo sits, he should definitely languish on the bench. Castillo should see a few ABs in the beginning of the season to see if he can bounce back, but if he can't (which is the more likely outcome), he should be relegated to the bench.

"No.Take into account the signing bonus, and Jones has 17.1MM owed to him in 2009, along with 5MM in deferred signing bonus money owed to him in 2010. "

Exactly. Andruw Jones is due 22.1 million over the 2 years, 17.1 million of which is paid in 2009.

No chance in HELL the Mets make that deal, even for Luis Castillo. Financially speaking, the Mets would be better off outright releasing Castillo, since there's little chance Jones will be worth even just the difference in salaries.

That's like suggesting the Mets should take on Carlos Silva, or Barry Zito, or whatever else (extremely) bad contract you want to name. Castillo's deal is bad, but not THAT bad.

Frankly, if the Mets want Orlando Hudson that badly, then perhaps they should start treating the Castillo contract as a sunk cost and just sign Hudson anyways. Stick Castillo on the bench, release him, whatever it takes. It's bold, but no less bold then when the Angels did with Gary Matthews Jr last year when they signed Torii Hunter (Yeah, like him moving to Left Field was ever a good idea).

AdropOFvenom- Exactly. If the money owed was even, I'd say do it, simply to get the money out of the way and free the Mets from the commitment. However, with Castillo owed less money than Jones, the Mets are best off holding on to Castillo, whether it be a release or simply paying him to sit on the bench and fill in when needed.

Ken and Kal

"OPS+ of 102, 106 and 108 in the last three years doesn't indicate a light hitting Luis Castillo"

Where did you get these numbers for Castillo. Baseball-reference has him at 91, 93 and 77 the last three years.