George A. King III of The New York Post spoke to free agent Gary Sheffield, who said he has not heard from the Mets but did seem to indicate that teams are interested in bringing him aboard.
“There are things on the table that I have to accept or not accept," the former Mets and Yankees slugger told The Post on Wednesday. “Right now I have not made up my mind."
“I have a few things to weigh," said Sheffield.
There hasn't been much interest in the 41-year-old this offseason, and last we heard was that Sheff was considering two unidentified teams but still waiting for offers.
The Tigers released the nine-time All Star last March, eating basically all of his $14MM salary in the process. The Mets picked him up for the league minimum, and gave him 312 plate appearances during which he hit .276/.372/.451 with ten homers.
Although I want to hear John Sterling say “The Sheff serves one up”, I think he would be a good pinch hitter in a hitters ballpark. He also brings a good personality. Possibly the Marlins? Astros? Red Sox?
The following rant is NOT directed at Mike Axisa or MLBTR, they are simply reporting what’s out there.
But seriously, the Mets not contacting someone is a story? If so George King has about 95 easy stories lined up based on the list of currently available free agents so he can continue to mail it in this off season.
“Mets have not contacted Pablo Ozuna” may be next, the public waits with baited breath. Find something real to write about Mr. King.
The line about having “things on the table” is worth mentioning, because he could mean offers.
I completely agree and that alone makes a fine story, the “not contacted by Mets” seems an unnecessary addition to this observer. And again in case I wasn’t clear initially I have no issue with you passing along the story, that’s your job here and you and your colleagues do superb work. I just find the “not contacted by Mets” to be an irrelevant aside with no particular purpose. The Mets get dissected and bludgeoned for many relevant and real issues which are readily available, there is no need for professional sportswriters to fabricate them.
Its a story because Sheffield finished last season with the Mets. “The Padres have not contacted Sheffield” is not a story.
You make a fair point which would have even more merit if Mr. King wrote stories about every former Yankee and Met and the fact that their former team had not contacted them. He asserts the relevance by noting that the Mets could use some power. Well, the Mets could also use some left handed bullpen help yet I haven’t read a story about their failure to contact former Met left handed reliever Ken Takahashi.
Francisco Cervelli is a nice player but I haven’t read any “Yankees have not contacted Jose Molina” stories either.
I’m going to take R_y_a_n’s advice from below, it’s the best advice I’ve got in a long time. Given how much lazy pandering pro sports writers have done recently regarding the Mets, his advice will restore lots of quality time to my life. Thank you R_y_a_n.
Since the Met’s offseason has been pretty much about who they don’t get rather than who they get maybe it qualifies as a story for this particular team. LoL.
You don’t like it, don’t read it…
Pretty simple.
I think that’s just Sheffields pen name.
Most of us appreciate any baseball news. This story qualifies.
Sheff back in pinstripes?? Is there room? Also Wang possibly signing for 2 million plus incentives? Why wouldn’t the Yankees match that for insurance??
Ah, maybe because the Yankees have no use for either of them going into the season.
Where would Sheffield play.
Where would Wang pitch.
Fans get way too attached to guys, players come, players go, you can’t hang on to every warm body that isn’t productive any longer or in your plans.
The Yankees have
Sabathia, Burnett, Pettitte, Vazuez, Joba, Hughes, (Gaudin, Aceves, Mitre) all hanging around the rotation.
From the looks of Wang last season he isn’t a guarantee for anything moving forward after two shoulder surgeries in 2001 and 2009 and missing time in his rookie year with shoulder issues in 2005, who is to say how long he will hold up when he does pitch again, which no one even knows with certainty.
As for Sheffield, never liked the guy in New York, Yankees got rid of him at the right time when they shipped him to Detroit after the 2006 season, look where his career has gone since then. He is close to done.
Would love to see Sheffield sign and play in 2010. Wish I knew which teams he has offers from. Marlins, Reds, Tampa, or the Braves? Sheff can still hit and hit for power. All he needed to do was lose some weight to play the field and he said he’s done that. Hope he returns.
Good.
Look at all the other players that are getting signed this winter. Most of them are pretty bad. The Mets gave $2 million to Alex Cora to sit on the bench and be a nice guy. Others like Pierre, Andrew Jones, Nady had 2nd TJ surgery, Winn and on and on. So someone signing Sheffield is going to be an upgrade from any of these guys by far.