Jon Heyman takes a look at three teams that underachieved this season and how each might approach the off-season…
New York Mets
- Heyman thinks the payroll will be about the same next season, noting that any attempt to lower the payroll would be a tough sell to the fans.
- Needs include left fielder, first baseman, catcher, starting pitcher and overall depth.
- Mets are looking at Matt Holliday and Jason Bay and could target Adrian Gonzalez and Bengie Molina.
- Starting pitchers the Mets may pursue include Randy Wolf, Jon Garland and Jason Marquis as well as Roy Halladay if he's available.
- Mets may try to move Luis Castillo and replace him with Orlando Hudson.
Arizona Diamondbacks
- Heyman hears the D-Backs will try to sign Brandon Webb to a new deal at slightly less than the $8.5MM option they have for next season.
- The D-Backs may try to re-sign Doug Davis, but that will still leave a couple of holes in the rotation.
- Arizona may try to fill the second base job via trade. Heyman suggests that Eric Byrnes and Chris Snyder could be trade bait and feels Byrnes could be moved for Castillo.
Cleveland Indians
- Heyman says the Indians need to replace Carl Pavano's ability to eat innings.
- The Victor Martinez and Cliff Lee deals saved the Indians $21MM, some of which could be used in free agency.
Other notes…
- It looks like Andy Pettitte will reach most of the incentives in his contract, nearly doubling his base salary of $5.5MM.
- Dan Uggla feels he will be traded this off-season and Heyman says the Marlins won't want to pay his arbitration figure.
