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Olney: Mets Will Not Sign Pedro

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According to ESPN 1050 Radio (via MetsBlog), Buster Olney is reporting that the Mets have decided to fill the fifth spot in the rotation with an in-house candidate and will not pursue Pedro Martinez.

Buster Olney is reporting that there is "no chance" that Pedro Martinez will become a Met. Olney says the Mets will stay with what they have at the fifth spot and will not entertain the thought of bringing Pedro back.

According to MetsBlog, the Mets are clearly cutting costs as evidenced by the release of Duaner Sanchez and there was little chance they were going to offer $5MM to Pedro. They add that for the same reasons, they don’t see the Mets signing Ivan Rodriguez. MetsBlog would prefer Livan Hernandez as the fifth starter.

Earlier today we learned from Ken Rosenthal that Pedro is seeking a similar deal to John Smoltz. Other than the Mets, Rosenthal listed the Dodgers, Marlins and Indians as potential suitors.

Jon Heyman said that Pedro was possibly interested in reuniting with the Dodgers, but that the Dodgers have yet to show any interest.

Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com and can be reached here.

Stark On Red Sox Offseason Moves

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In his latest column, Jayson Stark weighs in on the moves the Red Sox made this off-season. While Boston did not spend nearly as much as the Yankees, their moves have a ton of upside potential and that no team "had a more underrated offseason than the Red Sox."

  • Stark spoke to one scout that thinks the Red Sox did a better job than the Yankees at filling their needs through free agency.
  • Stark notes that the amount of guaranteed dollars for the Red Sox four free agents (John Smoltz, Brad Penny, Takashi Saito, Rocco Baldelli) is less than what the Yankees will pay AJ Burnett this season.
  • The Red Sox moves also did not leave the team with "long-term inflexibility."
  • One scout believes Smoltz will come back healthy at some point and compares the signing to trading for an impact pitcher at the trade deadline. Stark says the Sox believe $5.5MM for Smoltz is a better gamble than a five- or seven-year deal for "any free-agent pitcher."
  • Stark notes that Penny did not need off-season surgery and one scout says pitching coach John Farrell is the one person that should be able to get the best out of Penny.
  • One scout says that if Saito is healthy, the Red Sox got a steal.
  • Stark says the Red Sox rotation is more "October-ready" than the Yankees, even if the Yankees have the better long-term outlook.

Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com and can be reached here.

Milton Bradley Comments

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Milton Bradley’s comments to Gil Lebreton of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram are causing a mini-stir.  He spoke about how the Rangers wouldn’t commit to him:

"My agent was saying that Jon Daniels was telling him, ’There are days when he doesn’t want to play because of his health.’  Well, you can get a healthy guy to go out there and play 162 games, but he won’t do what I did in 120."

As Lebreton said, the comment was "crudely self-serving" but "mostly right" given his production last year.  Worse, though, Bradley seemed to admit to prioritizing his stats:

"If I’m being paid, and I’ve got the commitment to me that I give to them, you make more of an effort to be out there every day.  When you’re on one-year deals constantly, you’ve got to put up as good numbers as you can. When you have days where you’re not feeling like you can contribute, you’re not going to go out there, because you’re not going to want your numbers to suck.  So, if you’re in a situation like I am now, if they want me to go out there when I’m feeling a little banged up, I’ve got no problem doing that because they’ve made the commitment to me."

Sheets Rehabbing In Texas

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According to MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez, free agent righty Ben Sheets is rehabbing in Arlington, Texas at a facility owned by the Rangers’ team doctor Keith Meister.  While the Rangers remain interested in Sheets, GM Jon Daniels cautioned that he did not advise Sheets to work with Meister and said "There’s not a connection there."  Sheets had surgery on a torn flexor tendon in his elbow on February 13th and will probably return after the All-Star break.

Offseason In Review: Oakland A’s

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Next up in our Offseason In Review series, the A’s.  Here’s what we wrote about the team on September 16th.  Changes for 2009:

Additions: Matt Holliday, Jason Giambi, Orlando Cabrera, Russ Springer, Mike Wuertz, Nomar Garciaparra, Edgar Gonzalez, Jerome Williams, Corey Wimberly, Chris Schroder, Ben Copeland, Kevin Cameron.  Midseason: Eric Patterson, Sean Gallagher, Adrian Cardenas, Josh Outman

Subtractions: Greg Smith, Emil Brown, Alan Embree, Carlos Gonzalez, Huston Street, Frank Thomas, Mike Sweeney, Donnie Murphy, Keith Foulke, Dan Meyer, Kirk Saarloos. Midseason: Joe Blanton, Rich Harden, Chad Gaudin.

The A’s had the worst offense in baseball in 2008, so GM Billy Beane added sluggers Holliday and Giambi.  They also upgraded at shortstop with Cabrera.  Last year the A’s gave over 2,100 at-bats to Bobby Crosby, Daric Barton, Jack Hannahan, Emil Brown, and Carlos Gonzalez.  Brown’s .682 OPS led the group, so subtracting or reducing the playing time of these guys will make a huge difference.

Last year the A’s scored just 4.01 runs per game, worst in the league.  I plugged CHONE projections into David Pinto’s lineup analysis tool, and their 2009 estimate is about 5.04 runs per game.  Such production would’ve ranked fifth in the AL in 2008.

Last year Oakland’s starters posted a 4.29 ERA, 7th in the AL.  From that they subtracted 204 innings of 3.97 ball provided by Joe Blanton and Rich Harden (Blanton was actually at 4.96 though).  Oakland starters have typically fared better; here’s how their ERA ranked in the AL in years past: 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st, 2nd, 1st, 3rd.  So this was actually the A’s worst rotation this decade and it was still middle of the pack.  Even though the ’09 rotation lacks household names, Brett Anderson and Trevor Cahill may emerge and Beane may again find a way to get by.

The bullpen should be solid, with Joey Devine and Brad Ziegler flanked by new additions Springer and Wuertz.  The team’s defense was very strong overall last year, and that should be the case again in ’09.

Bottom line: The remade Oakland team now has at least an average offense, and if the pitching and defense hold steady this team should win more than 90 games.

Odds & Ends: Crosby, Vizcaino, Andruw

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Links for Tuesday…

Rosenthal On Pedro, A-Rod, Beimel, Ohman

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Here’s the latest from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports…

  • One executive tells Rosenthal Pedro Martinez seeks a contract similar to the one John Smoltz received (a $5.5MM base plus $5.5MM incentives). Rosenthal’s speculative candidates for Pedro include the Dodgers, Marlins, Indians, and Mets.  He says the A’s, Orioles, Nationals, and Brewers are out.
  • Rosenthal does not expect a major acquisition by the Yankees to cover for Alex Rodriguez.  He adds that the Yanks will not collect insurance on A-Rod’s salary.
  • In addition to Orlando Cabrera, Manny Ramirez has a clause in his contract prohibiting his team from offering arbitration if he’s a Type A free agent after the season.  Orlando Hudson and Bobby Abreu do not have such clauses.
  • Two GMs told Rosenthal Joe Beimel wants a one-year, $2.5MM deal, but the pitcher’s agent Joe Sroba says they have’t gotten that specific.  Sroba says new teams are in the mix for Beimel and he’s waiting for one to be "aggressive and sincere in their pursuit."
  • The White Sox and Dodgers are two teams in on free agent lefty Will Ohman.

Duaner Sanchez Released

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According to David Lennon of Newsday, Mets GM Omar Minaya announced that reliever Duaner Sanchez has been released.  The Mets did not feel Sanchez could be effective in the Majors.  I believe the Mets only have to pay him about $281K now since his contract was not guaranteed.  Sanchez, 29, posted a 4.32 ERA in 58.1 innings last year.  His fastball was down about 3.5 mph from 2005-06 levels.

Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post says the Nationals may have interest in Sanchez.

Pedro Martinez Won’t Chase Mets

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Christian Red of the New York Daily News talked to free agent starter Pedro Martinez, who spoke about the Mets:

"You know what? My phone is off. And I won’t (call Minaya) unless he calls my agent (Fernando Cuza) or he calls me. I have a lot of respect for Omar and the Mets, but I’m not going to go chasing the Mets.  I’m not in that bad of shape. I’m okay and they know I am okay.  Yeah, I would like to be back (with the Mets). But I’m not just gonna follow the Mets. They have their own plans and they have their own thought process.  Yes, I would love to go (to Citi Field) and hopefully have the same success I had at Shea. Shea was a great stadium for me. I hope the new Shea pretty much follows up on the old one.  But I have my goals and I have my things that I want to achieve in life. If it’s not with the Mets, it will be with someone else. But if they want a fifth starter who’s been there – I don’t know how much they want me – I’m available."

There’s been a decent amount of hand-wringing in New York over the fifth starter job, as no one is running away with the gig.  The candidates: Freddy Garcia, Tim Redding, Livan Hernandez, and Jon Niese.  ESPN’s Rob Neyer says the Mets don’t need Pedro and should just choose between Niese and Redding.  Joel Sherman of the New York Post would also pass.

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