Mets Rumors

Sabathia Open To All Teams

By Tim Dierkes | October 5, 2008 at 7:24pm CDT

All kinds of quotes from C.C. Sabathia this evening, as the Brewers were eliminated by the Phillies. Sources: MLB.com, the AP, and SI.com’s Jon Heyman.

Sabathia will consider all interested teams, and isn’t focused on California:

All those who say I only want to go back to California to play, that’s not true.

Sabathia on New York:

I like it there, but we’ll have to see what direction the teams are going and would my family be uncomfortable being on a whole other coast? We’ll have to see.

He won’t be touring the country, and doesn’t want the process to drag out:

I want to get it done pretty quick. I try to be as less free as possible. All that is is stress, having it drag on through the winter. I can guarantee you I won’t be flying around going to different cities. I’ve pretty much been to every city. I’ve got a lot of friends around the league. They’re going to have to come to me.

Heyman says the Brewers will be in on Sabathia, and are willing to exceed $100MM. Sabathia enjoyed his time in Milwaukee and the NL quite a bit.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Holliday, Teixeira, Mussina

By Cork Gaines | October 3, 2008 at 1:12pm CDT

A look at what is being written around the Blogosphere…

MetsBlog recognizes that Francisco Rodriguez will improve the team and appease fans, but is not sure he is worth a four or five-year deal.
Mets Geek projects the Mets ’09 roster and looks at some options from outside the organization with Pat Burrell and Derek Lowe being the biggest offseason targets.
Was Watching says bringing back Brian Cashman was a mistake.
River Ave. Blues assesses the Matt Holliday market and feels that Phil Hughes and Robinson Cano for Holliday "doesn’t make much sense."
Sox and Pinstripes provides an in-depth preview of the upcoming offseasons for the Yankees and Red Sox and wonders if Theo Epstein can convince the Rockies to take J.D. Drew and a top prospect for Matt Holliday.
iYankees notes that Brian Cashman wants to make the Yankees’ OBP a priority this winter and feels Mark Teixeira fits the bill.
Oriole Post does not want to see Mike Mussina return to the O’s and would prefer they "stay the course" with young players.
C70 At The Bat takes a look at the Cardinals’ decision to sign Kyle Lohse and what it could mean for the offseason ahead.
Viva el Birdos projects the Cardinals ’09 roster and payroll.
McCovey Chronicles reacts to some quotes from Brian Sabean and what they mean for the Giants’ offseason.
Newberg Report thinks the price for the Rangers to acquire Jake Peavy would be too high, even if he’d waive his no-trade clause to go there.
Athletics Nation sees no point in signing Jason Giambi.

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

Odds and Ends: Lowe, Redmond, Timlin

By Tim Dierkes | October 3, 2008 at 10:46am CDT

Linkage for Friday…

River Ave. Blues discovered that Mike Mussina’s wife may be a bigger factor than we thought in regard to his retirement decision.
David O’Brien tosses out some names for the Braves to consider: Derek Lowe, Matt Cain, Roy Oswalt, and Josh Willingham. Everyone likes Lowe…Anthony McCarron says the Yankees and Mets should consider him. Those clubs could also enter a bidding war for C.C. Sabathia, says Bob Klapisch. Will C.C.’s postseason record diminish his contract? I don’t think so.
Greg Couch doesn’t want Javier Vazquez pitching for the White Sox again. Maybe Ozzie is right, Vazquez is not a big-game pitcher. But why say that publicly?
Joe Christensen seems certain the Twins will exercise Mike Redmond’s $950K option.
Chris Carpenter’s shoulder injury is unprecedented among pitchers. Do the Cardinals need to add veteran rotation insurance? Speaking of unprecedented procedures…Takashi Saito had platelet-rich plasma injected into his elbow in July.
Joe Starkey thinks the Pirates should…non-tender Adam LaRoche?
Mike Timlin could retire.
Huge E-Ticket Manny Ramirez feature from Bill Simmons, wherein Scott Boras is blamed for his Boston exit. Good read.

Odds and Ends: Cabrera, Sabathia, Gillick

By Tim Dierkes | October 2, 2008 at 11:56am CDT

Your hot stove links for Thursday…

Ken Fidlin of the Toronto Sun thinks the Blue Jays should consider Rafael Furcal. I concur. But even after missing most of ’08, Furcal probably won’t have to take a one-year deal unless he wants to.
Phillies GM Pat Gillick didn’t rule out the possibility of returning to Toronto as the team president.
River Ave. Blues doesn’t see the Yankees or Red Sox acquiring Matt Holliday.
The Mariners are down to 10-12 names in their GM seach, before conducting a single interview.
David Steele of the Baltimore Sun wants the Orioles to give Daniel Cabrera one more chance. Cabrera is arbitration-eligible and should earn at least $3MM in 2009.
Jim Baumbach of Newsday looks at free agent considerations for the Yankees and Mets.
Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle says there are indications the Giants will gauge C.C. Sabathia’s interest in signing with them. I would be surprised to see the Giants win the bidding.
Angels owner Arte Moreno seems willing to stretch payroll past $124MM for the right players. The Angels’ postseason performance will be a big factor.
Central Maine Sports Blog talked to Gary Carter, Buster Olney, Brad Wilkerson, and others about the Montreal Expos.

Minaya Extended; Delgado Will Stay

By Tim Dierkes | October 2, 2008 at 11:44am CDT

The Mets made Omar Minaya’s extension official today. It runs through 2012 with club options for two years beyond that. Matthew Cerrone at MetsBlog likes the decision, but feels the term is excessive.

Additionally, Minaya announced that the Mets will exercise Carlos Delgado’s $12MM option for ’09. This seemed like an easy decision given the $4MM buyout. The Mets were not going to find an .800 OPS first baseman on the free agent market for a one-year, $8MM deal.

On the bullpen front, ESPN’s Buster Olney says rival execs expect the Mets to aggressively pursue free agent Brian Fuentes. I’m thinking three years, $30MM.

Odds and Ends: LaCava, Colletti, Andruw

By Tim Dierkes | October 1, 2008 at 12:00pm CDT

Links for Wednesday…

I did a Q&A with the Roselle Press. The article includes a sweet picture of me hacking the Internet.
Greg Cote of the Miami Herald speculates on the new-look 2009 Marlins. If defense is a goal, they could look to acquire Adrian Beltre and try Jorge Cantu at first base. Randy Winn could improve the defense in right.
John Fay runs through the Reds’ nine free agents. He believes Jerry Hairston Jr. wants to return.
Brian Cashman wants to acquire a real first baseman, rather than have Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui spend time there.
The Mariners received permission to interview Blue Jays assistant GM Tony LaCava, according to Geoff Baker.
It’s still not known whether the Dodgers will bring GM Ned Colletti back for the final year of his contract. Interesting note from ESPN’s Buster Olney – the Andruw Jones signing was engineered by owner Frank McCourt rather than Colletti.
Olney feels Brian Cashman is more likely to pursue Derek Lowe than Mark Teixeira.
Will Joe Girardi’s presence discourage free agents from signing with the Yankees?
McCovey Chronicles sees the Giants trading for a second or third baseman this winter. I tossed out a bunch of names in my Offseason Outlook.
Pedro Alvarez clammed up when asked precisely what time he accepted the original deal from the Pirates.
MetsBlog tries to figure out whether Ryan Church loves or hates New York.
Oliver Perez predicts a tough offseason following the Mets’ final-day elimination. On the bright side, he stands to earn a ridiculous amount of money as a free agent.

How To Fix The Mets

By Tim Dierkes | October 1, 2008 at 10:07am CDT

I will offer my own opinions on how to improve the Mets in the Offseason Outlook, due within a few weeks. Many journalists have already weighed in – let’s take a look.

Newly added bullet: John Harper of the New York Daily News. He advises the Mets to decline Delgado’s option while signing Orlando Hudson, Raul Ibanez, and Derek Lowe and trading for J.J. Putz. Say goodbye to Castillo, Perez, and Martinez in this plan.
Ken Davidoff of Newsday: Sign free agents Francisco Rodriguez, Darren Oliver, Juan Rivera, Fernando Tatis, and Wes Helms. Also sign one of Jon Garland, Derek Lowe, or Oliver Perez. Exercise Carlos Delgado’s $12MM option. Trade/release Aaron Heilman, Duaner Sanchez, Scott Schoeneweis, and Luis Castillo.
Joel Sherman of the New York Post: Sign C.C. Sabathia, even if it takes $150MM over six years. Sherman notes this would lessen the load on the bullpen (Sabathia averaged 7.23 innings per start in ’08). I prefer this plan to spending $100MM on K-Rod and a mid-tier starter.
Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog: Buy Delgado out for $4MM rather than exercise his $12MM option. Interesting, unconventional thought by Cerrone. Cerrone, like Davidoff, finds the idea of trading David Wright or Jose Reyes to be misguided.

Possible Manny Destinations

By Tim Dierkes | October 1, 2008 at 9:16am CDT

Manny Ramirez ranked fourth in all of baseball with a .430 OBP, and second with a .601 SLG. This makes him a very attractive free agent, and he won’t require the massive term of a Mark Teixeira. However it’s possible questions about Ramirez’s Boston departure will limit suitors.

Former Dodgers GM Fred Claire tried to determine possible destinations for Manny next year, talking to an MLB manager, a leading agent, and a national baseball writer. The results of this survey:

All three mentioned the Mets. On Monday, SI.com’s Jon Heyman wrote the Mets appear "disinclined" to go after Ramirez. Yesterday, however, Heyman said on WFAN that Manny was a "real option" and the Mets are "thinking about it."
The agent named the Giants and Phillies as other possibilities. The Phils had interest in Manny this summer, but didn’t make the best offer. They could give Pat Burrell’s money to Ramirez, but it could cost an additional $10MM. Meanwhile Giants GM Brian Sabean says Fred Lewis is his left fielder.
The agent and the writer both expect the Dodgers to make a play to re-sign Ramirez. GM Ned Colletti says he’ll give it a shot, but will the Dodgers pay top dollar? Question for commenters – can you think of any other reasonable destinations for Ramirez?

Odds and Ends: Byrnes, Teixeira, Swisher

By Tim Dierkes | September 30, 2008 at 3:25pm CDT

Random links for Tuesday…

SI.com’s Jon Heyman notes that a Cy Young award for Johan Santana would lock in his 2014 option at $25MM.
Mark Healey of Gotham Baseball wonders if the Mets might end up signing Ivan Rodriguez.
The Jays officially received Fabio Castro to complete the Matt Stairs deal. Buster Olney had this one in August.
Bummer to see Larry Borowsky of Viva El Birdos stepping down from blogging. He’s been my favorite Cardinals writer.
Nick Piecoro wonders if Eric Byrnes could be traded for another bad contract player like Luis Castillo.
The Red Sox treated Mark Teixeira poorly when he was drafted as an 18 year-old. That will have no bearing this winter, though.
From last Friday…Nick Swisher is frustrated with his lack of playing time in Chicago. Doesn’t make him trade bait, though.

Heyman’s Latest: Manny, K-Rod, Cashman

By Tim Dierkes | September 29, 2008 at 4:51pm CDT

Lets discuss the latest column from SI.com’s Jon Heyman.

The Mets are "disinclined" to go after Manny Ramirez or break up the Jose Reyes–David Wright–Carlos Beltran core.
Heyman, like Ken Davidoff, feels the Mets can’t afford to sit out the Francisco Rodriguez sweepstakes. If not him, then at least Brian Fuentes.
Heyman says Brian Cashman "appears likely" to return as Yankees GM. He notes that Cashman wouldn’t have ended up in Seattle anyway because of the return of Mariners chairman Howard Lincoln.

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