The Mets signed first baseman Mike Jacobs to a minor league deal. The contract pays $900K if he's in the Majors and has another $1.15MM in incentives. ESPN's Jerry Crasnick first reported the near-agreement last night, with SI's Jon Heyman tweeting contract details today.
Jacobs, 29, hit just .228/.297/.401 with 19 homers in 478 plate appearances for the Royals last season, which led to the team declining to tender him a contract. He's the lefty power threat the Mets currently lack, though his .313 career OBP and poor defense are big negatives. He also struggles immensely against southpaws.
Jacobs broke in with the Mets back in 2005, though he was included in the Carlos Delgado trade after that season.
awesome…
Yikes.
I think Jacobs will do his thing…Just a tad.
Eh…. Mets should be focused on signing Wang
I like this move. It’s funny Yusmeiro Petit & Phil Humber (used to be two of their best pitching prospects) recently lost their place on their teams, I thought to myself, if they used to be so high on these guys, why not pick them up, for AAA depth?
Why not just sign Russell Branyan?
Because Branyan wants guaranteed money and Jacobs will take a minor league deal?
Right, because Russell Branyan hits for the same amount of power, but actually gets on base and plays decent defense.
It’s obvious the Mets have little faith in Murphy, so why not just sign Branyan? He’d be a huge upgrade for the lineup
if the mets sign Branyan they have to waive someone of the 40 man roster. With Jacobs they dont since he is invited to spring training
And removing Shawn Bowman from the 40-man to make room for Branyan would be a huge loss for the Mets?
…or Jay Marshall, Pat Misch, Oliver Perez, Chris Coste, Omir Santos, Luis Castillo, Alex Cora, Fernando Tatis, Jeff Francouer, or Gary Matthews Jr.
Do you think Branyan is going to repeat his numbers from last year? If you do, share whatever it is you’re smoking.
The guy had a horrible time on the Royals but hey, It’s a signing!!!!
He did pretty well for the Marlins before he switched to the AL. I still want to see a Felipe Lopez signing with a Castillo being released.
“He did pretty well for the Marlins before he switched to the AL”
As long as you mean “absolutely no skill other then the ability to hit the occasional HR”, I agree with you.
Releasing Castillo would make no sense. Met fans may not like him, but you’d be eating 12 mil over the next two seasons for him to do nothing. He’s still a servicable player, just not at 6 mil a year.
If they didn’t do that to get Hudson, they won’t do it to get Lopez. Plus I think there are bigger problems to address than an overpaid second basemen who hit .302 last season. I mean the Castillo contract is bad, but it’s not Oliver Perez bad.
Yes he is exactly what the Mets need….big LH bat….oh wait, they guy can’t actually hit? What do you mean? Oh that’s right he wasn’t good enough to play in KC, but the Mets have found a potential all star…..spin much anyone?
Now Branyan might have given them some help offensively, if he were healthy.
The Mike Jacobs I remember hit 11 home runs in 100 at bats, plus batted over .300 for the Mets. He then hit 32 HR’s for the Marlins. Might be an inexpensive fix for a big hole!
That was 5 years ago. He can’t hit lefties, get on base, or play 1st base. He sucks and blows
Wow…sucks AND blows. So he’s not good?
I never thought it was humanly possible, but…
She’s gone from suck to blow!!
You’ve won the thread for a SpaceBalls reference.
Epic Win!! New favorite commenter right here.
Might be an inexpensive fix for a big hole!
Yeah, but who is going to “fix” the hole in his glove? The guy has pretty awful defense, in my book.
I loved Jacobs when he came up, but Murphy is going to have a breakout year this year. And diehard, I second the Lopez signing!
Career OPS of 1.085…as Met
Any Mets fans remember when they got into a fight with the Marlins a couple of years ago? Mike Jacobs was the first one to run out of the Marlins dugout with the craziest face I have ever seen.
Wow… I see it now. It’s part of Minaya’s master plan to mix Castillo with Jacobs and have 1 complete player.
Wouldnt a complete player be asked to play defense?
Better go back to that chemistry set and find yet another player.
*Complete hitter
Hey, no fair changing parameters.
The answer I was looking for would have been more along the lines of “they better start negotiating with Joe Crede”
LOL
When the Royals cut you, you know your career has taken quite the sharp turn.
And yet Minaya is willing to out-stupid the entire MLB and give this guy a chance. Like it was suggested, just sign Branyan. He’s actually able to produce, and for a cheap contract, given that his demands have come down.
No room on the ML roster once Beltran comes back…..12 pitchers, 8 starters, that leaves- Tatis, Blanco, Cora, Pagan and Matthews…..Jacobs will fight with Catalanato for the last spot…again neither will fit on the ML roster once Beltran returns….good pick up though….but where will he play in AAA with Ike Davis starting at first?
minor league contract drama queens.
If your a cinic you say Jacobs couldn’t even stick on the royals
If your an optimist you say jacobs did fine before as a met and he’s low cost
I would have given murphy a full season to prove he can stick as their starting 1B.
For his first full season I think he did alright.
Although..
Remember him in LF? I lol’d.
I’d love to hear what Murphy thinks about becoming the new firstbasemen only to be stuck in some other position next year when Ike Davis comes up. BUT there might be hope for Murph, there is always the chance that Minaya might trade Davis away for Derek Lowe or some other below average starting pitcher.
o boy….
maybe he’s auditioning to be starting Catcher
Last time I checked, it’s hard to hit a home run in Citi Field. He won’t make the team, on the count is he is like Andruw Jones, and relies on a home run. If he does make the team, have Tatis play about 120 games, and Jacobs at about 42 games. Jacobs actually did better at first base than Tatis did last season.
Jacobs – 5.5 UZR/150
Tatis – 3.0 UZR/150
The question is how does this affect Murphy. If Jacobs beats him out for the 1B job, where does Murph go? Bench?
Tatis
Murphy
Cora
Pagan/Mathews
Blanco
I’d like to see him play, but I’d also wouldn’t mind him sliding into the Mark DeRosa-esque role I think he’s destined for.
No not on the bench. Jacobs can play the outfield too. I dont know which one though.
I like this move, I like mike jacobs, deberian firmar a dos pitchers
The Mets are so cheap.
The Mets are so cheap and yet they have the 2nd highest payroll in the Majors.Haha
nope they dont. thanks for playing.
I meant/was reffering to last years payroll.
YES!!!!
Mike “Close your eyes and swing” Jacobs…………..
It could be alot worse though, Mets fans. Your GM could be named “Dayton Moore,” or “J.P. Riccardi,” or “Benito Mussolini.”
replace Ricciardi with Ed Wade or Brian Sabean and I will agree.
I’d throw Bavasi or Baird in that group too.
Minya did something right. Minor League deal, Nice…
how are some people trying to tell me that jacobs sucks? 1 dimensional or not the mets were last in the mlb in homeruns. and he has a lot of power potential. more potential than russel branyan, hes been on like 9 different teams. theres a reason for that.
his inability to get on base or play defense at one of the easiest positions in baseball far outweighs his ability to hit home runs. You don’t need to hit a ton of home runs to be a successful team, much more important to not make outs.
Potential, have you checked his age recently, he’s going to be 30 this year. His OBP has steadily gone south in each season he has played in.
Jacobs is apparently an NL guy .Some players do better in different leagues .He was good as far as offense goes for the Marlins.Maybe thats all he needs is to be in the NL but Citi Field isn’t gonna be easy to jack them out.His defense is horrible so thats not really an upgrade.Offense wasn’t great last year so you can’t really say he’ll do great idk.Its pretty much an IF if he makes the team.No telling if he will bounce back or not.But IMO I think its a decent pick up.
Why would the Mets sign Branyan when they are basically the same player? Neither can play defense and are homeruns or nothing hitters. Terrible idea. People would be jumping on Minya for signing Branyan for 5 million per but 1.25 million minor league deal is a bad signing.
LOL
Branyan is actually pretty good with the glove if I remember correctly. I’m just glad Omar did something to ignite some competition. If Murph/Jacobs performs poorly, they know the other is right behind them ready to take their place.
You failed to mention that Branyan actually takes walks, 12% for his career, and Jacobs doesn’t. Oh, and Branyan actually isn’t bad defensively at first base, he’s about league average.
Signing either of these players was a silly idea.
Well, probably a better option than Delgado, Tatis or Murphy. I really don’t think the Mets are contenders going forward, that rotation is high-risk/moderate reward and the lineup is still full of questions. Can Wright, Reyes and Bay carry the team enough to counter the lousy rotation? Doubtful. With Washington at least a little improved, the Mets are another major injury beside from Beltran away from being legitmate last place contenders.
Eh.
bum
I would like to point out that a majority of postings about ownership are negative. We spew everything from Wilpons are inept to Madoff. Likewise, Omar is an idiot, makes ridiculous signings, is full of double talk and we could all do better.
Which is it?
Ownership. Convince me it isn’t when we plot moves linearly, play wait for a rebate with every free agent we engage and won’t eat enough of the Castillo contract to move him.
The offseason has more to do with the DOW than talent evaluation & player negotiation.
We are broke Met fans. Hamstrung and broke. That is why Minaya studders and repeats himself. He has no good news for us, or him.
you are absolutely insane if you think the Wilpon’s are broke. They actually made money off the whole Madoff situation. The Wilpon’s have always been cheap and meddling owners, not poor. There is no reason the Mets can’t have a payroll right up to the Luxury Tax limit of $175MM. What are they at now? $140MM maybe, that $30MM they could have spent on Matt Holliday instead of Bay and either John Lackey or someone like Randy Wolf.
I don’t blame Minaya a ton because he has to report to the Wilpon’s on everything, they run the show not Omar.
this is the player i wanted them to get from the start. i think murphy could be a clutch second basemen not first. my idealistic 2010 new york mets lineup is this (minus beltran of course):
reyes ss
murphy 2b
wright 3b
bay lf
jacobs 1b
francour rf
thole/blanco c
mathews jr cf
pitcher
I geuss defense isnt your first, or second, priority
murphy will never play 2nd … get it out of all your heads….. every sports insider laughs when that is brought up.. they tried him at 2b in the arizona fall league and said it was just the worst decision ever made and he will never ever be a 2b… murphy will never play 2b……EVER
they tried Murphy at second already last year, he failed.
I wish I could ‘Dislike’ this comment.
Well…not we have three lefty firstbasemen in Murphy Jacobs and Davis. Wtf?
The Wilpons lost their money to Madoff, OR they got their money out but are afraid now of government “clawbacks”, forced reperations by the “winners” in the fund. They are lying by denying it, but they have to… the owners cant see them as “weak” and Omar Minaya cant trade that way”
Thus, Mike Jacobs ( cut by who? OH KC, that powerhouse), Josh Fogg, Chris Coste are the 99c store bargains the Mets are praying for.
But if Chris Carter ( from Bost for Billy Wagner) and either jacobs or Murphy platoon at first, they could get some HR productionand have at least 1 of their lottery tickets paya t least a small prize
The All Negative Value team strikes again. So far Minaya has brought in:
— GMJ (-$3.8m)
— Mike Jacobs (-$3.3m)
And recently inked to a big FA contract:
— Oliver Perez (-$3.4m)
Of course you have holdovers:
— Pelfry (-$3.7m)
— Reed (-$2.9m)
And I had high hopes that Hernandez (-$2.9m) and Redding could be resigned (-$2.7m). Unfortunately, Redding was snagged but Hernandez is still out there looking for a deal from the Mets. Don’t let us down Minaya.
Reed was actually signed by the blue jays, but nice try, good luck next time.
In his press conference is Minaya going to announce that he’s improved his teams ability to stay off the base paths?
The Mets need new ownership, gm, mgr, scouting Dept and philosophy Pay ABOVE SLOT! Former MetFan Who Is Waiting Out New Ownership. BTW I once stated Jac can rake so, I think he can be productive but why now when they have murphy at first? Why Tatis instead of Garko? Why not sign Yorvit fo 1.4m for a yr? Why not go after Wang, Washburn, Looper, Calero and all the other guys that signed else where w/o even an offer, sign anybody, bueller? Just Waiting It OUT! Play Ball.
This should answer your question:
“ESPN’s Buster Olney reports that before signing with the Padres, catcher Yorvit Torrealba offered himself to the Mets for $1.4MM. The Mets indicated they had no money to spend.”
They are cheap
LOL Mets…just horrible. Idk who’s a worse defender Murphy or Jacobs?? Still can’t get the image of Murphy with that play in left field last year, where it looked like he was scared of the ball haha
I’m pretty sure 1st base and left field are completely different positions champ.
ugh.