Mets Shopping For A Second Baseman?
According to Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune, the Mets are shopping for a second baseman with Jose Valentin expected to be out two months with a partially torn ACL. Valentin would like to return in four or five weeks for the sake of his contract incentives. However, Rick Wilton of Baseball Injury Report notes that the ligament can’t heal in six weeks and Valentin will likely play at less than 100% for the rest of the season. Who might be on the radar if the Mets are looking for more certainty?
With the Mets sporting at least a top-three NL offense (boy the NL East can really hit) Omar Minaya probably doesn’t need to make a major move here. He could try to pluck a struggling Tadahito Iguchi from the White Sox. Iguchi will reach free agency after this season and is sitting at .241/.351/.380. His power stroke should come around.
You may recall the Mets’ strong attraction to Luis Castillo. Should the Twins deem Alexi Casilla ready for full-time duty, they could shop Castillo in hopes of bringing in a good prospect before the veteran walks after this season. Additionally, the Mets considered signing Mark Grudzielanek in the winter of 2005-06. There’s no good reason for the Royals to hang onto him.
Baseball Prospectus’s John Perrotto lends another name to the discussion – he considers the Pirates’ Jose Castillo a possibility for Omar Minay. Perrotto would know; he’s the team’s beat writer for the Beaver County Times.
Mets Trolling For Pitching
Like many teams, the Mets could use another starting pitcher. I like the depth Omar Minaya came in with, but another rehab project or two wouldn’t hurt. You have to respect this approach to building a rotation as opposed to just signing Barry Zito.
David Lennon of Newsday says that Minaya is indeed working the phones, looking for a deal similar to last year’s Orlando Hernandez acquisition. A minor league contract for Brian Lawrence is one option. What other starters might Minaya gamble on?
The Indians are one club with an apparent surplus of starters, once the main guys are healthy at the same time. The price might be too high for Fausto Carmona, though Paul Byrd could be had if salaries can be worked out. Byrd has looked decent in the early going, but he’s earning $7MM. Byrd made 55 relief appearances for the Mets back in 1995-96.
If for nothing else than the confusion angle, MInaya could consider another O. Perez (Odalis of the Royals). The Dodgers are already paying a large chunk of Perez’s $7.75MM salary. A little Rick Peterson tutoring could do him some good.
It wouldn’t be a minor deal, but the White Sox could start offering up Jose Contreras, Jon Garland, and Mark Buehrle in coming months. Greg Couch of the Sun-Times thinks a fire sale is in order.
The Angels could spare a Dustin Moseley, but will probably hang on to Joe Saunders for depth. It seems like the A’s are willing to trade anyone in the right deal. The Brewers go seven-deep with starting pitchers. The Cubs are about ready to cast off Wade Miller. And the Rockies are still stuck with Josh Fogg and Byung-Hyun Kim.
I’m interested to see who Minaya comes up with here; he’s usually pretty clever when bargain-hunting.
The Salt of New York?
As far as Retrosheet and I can tell, the last time the Mets and Braves hooked up for a trade was November 25, 1996, when the Mets sent Paul Byrd and a PTBNL (the inestimable Andy Zwirchitz) to the Braves for Greg McMichael. Over the years John Schuerholz has preferred to trade with Milwaukee, Kansas City or Oakland over the Mets.
But with a friendly new GM in Omar Minaya and a player with all the promise and last name of Jarrod Saltalamacchia (Salt-uh-la-ma-chee-a) on the board, anything is possible. As was pointed out in this space a week ago, the young catcher is a good fit with the Detroit Tigers. But with the Braves’ obvious dilemma of having one good young catcher too many, combined with the recent freak double-injury of Brian McCann and Brayan Peña forcing the Braves to give the youngster a major league debut for his 22nd birthday, other catching-starved organizations are bound to stand up and take notice.
The Mets’ 2008 catching situation was the subject of this MLBTR post. Without repeating what was said there, I’ll add that the Mets committed a big blunder by keeping single-A catcher Jesús Flores off their 40-man roster, allowing him to be taken by the Washington Nationals in the Rule 5 draft. While he is seriously overmatched in the big leagues, he could still develop into a solid, power-hitting backstop.
What, then, would it take for the Mets to acquire Salty? A Mets/Braves trade wouldn’t happen this year, so we shouldn’t be talking about improving the Braves’ 2007 rotation, at least not in this context. But would Philip Humber be of interest? The Braves also lack a solid left fielder, and will likely be short a center fielder come 2008. The Mets have three great prospects for these positions in Lastings Milledge, Carlos Gomez and Fernando Martínez. Finally, at first base the Mets could offer Mike Carp, who was so impressive this spring that he spent most of it with the big league Mets before being sent to AA-Binghamton.
If it took both Humber and Milledge to do it for the Mets, I think it would be worth it.
John Peterson writes for the Mets blog Blastings! Thrilledge.
The Eventually Expendable Julian Tavarez
Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe speculates that when Jon Lester finishes a satisfactory stint at Tripe A Pawtucket, it will be necessary to move a Red Sox pitcher either through waivers or a trade. "The affected pitchers could be Julian Tavarez, Joel Piñeiro, J.C. Romero, or Kyle Snyder… Tavarez would have value to several teams, particularly National League clubs looking for a middle reliever or a starter. The Mets, Cardinals, Phillies, Rockies, Marlins, and Reds would all be candidates."
I am with Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog.com, who cites December 2005 pieces from the New York Daily News and the New Jersey Star-Ledger that discussed the Mets’ negotiations with Tavarez when he was a free agent. Just because the Mets were once interested, does not mean they still are.
However, with Aaron Heilman struggling, it’s likely that Omar Minaya (or some other GM) might dream of restoring the 34-year old Tavarez to his 1995, 2000 and 2003-2005 form. His biggest problem right now is that he has been starting, a role he is definitely not suited for.
By John Peterson
MetsBlog Talk Radio
Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog has started up a web/podcast called MetsBlog Talk Radio. Matthew’s already got some quality guests lined up, including Buster Olney. Check out the show tonight at 6:00 eastern/5:00 central. And if you miss it, you can download it from Itunes.
Also, some reading material: Kevin Alderman chats with John Lopez of the Houston Chronicle. Lopez seems Morgan Ensberg and Luke Scott as some trade candidates later this year.
And you have to check out Cole Hamels Facts (CHF). Sample fact: "Cole Hamels refers to himself in the fourth person."
Tim Brown’s Latest
I hadn’t really noticed the MLB Experts Blog from Tim Brown and Jeff Passan until recently. Yahoo’s main baseball guys have some quality rumors, and I’ve been missing out. Let’s catch up by digging through some recent posts:
- Seems like mostly educated speculation, but Brown named Shawn Green as a player the Angels might be able to acquire to fill the void with Howie Kendrick out. However, Lastings Milledge will miss most of May, so that Green may no longer be available.
- The Tigers, worried about their fourth and fifth starters, are already on the lookout for starting pitching help.
- The Indians are looking to acquire a closer, though I think they have some decent internal options. The Tribe isn’t looking to spend big bucks so it would have to be a bargain type guy.
- If Jeff Weaver continues to bomb, could the Mariners trade him back to St. Louis?
Who’s Catching For Mets In ’08?
Paul Lo Duca‘s contract is up after this season. As you may recall, Lo Duca’s reps brought up the idea of an extension at the Winter Meetings in January, but the Mets didn’t want to discuss it yet. Lo Duca, 35, makes $6.25MM this season.
We know catchers don’t age well; there’s a decent chance Lo Duca tanks in 2008 (if not this year). PECOTA might throw him another $5-6MM for ’08, but that’s about it. The Mets are right to hesitate.
Assuming they cut him loose, they could look internally for their new backstop. Ramon Castro might be able to start, or at least serve in a platoon. Castro, 31, has hit a respectable .247/.328/.440 with 15 HR as a Met in 352 ABs. But while Lo Duca has gotten a lot of grief in the New York papers, it’s Castro with the true blemish on his record. It didn’t stop the Mets from signing him initially though; such offenses are often ignored by teams.
Interestingly, Castro could back up Ivan Rodriguez for a second time if the Mets sign him this offseason. Castro was behind Pudge in ’03 for the Marlins. Earlier this week, though, I predicted that the Tigers will exercise Pudge’s $13MM option, if not extend him even further.
The two legitimate free agent options for the Mets appear to be Michael Barrett and Jorge Posada. Barrett is five years younger, and could post his best season in 2007. Plus, the Cubs haven’t really made any effort to extend his contract. Jason Kendall will be out there as well, and he’d probably take a shorter-term deal.
Mets News and Notes
- The Mets haven’t played baseball since Saturday and the process have not only reshuffled the rotation going forward, but it’s also allowed Rick Peterson four additional bullpen sessions with missing link Oliver Perez. His grasp of the strike zone is in direct correlation with the Mets grasp on the division. The move will mean the Mets go with Perez and rookie Mike Pelfrey against the Braves at Shea over the weekend.
- One of David Wright‘s brothers, Stephen Wright, is a student at Virginia Tech University and had a class in the ill fated building that afternoon. There was a brief scare for the Mets’ third baseman as it was hard to track his brother down amidst the panic.
- Curt Schilling thinks Felix Hernandez has better tools then Dwight Gooden circa 1984.
- Sports Illustrated’s baseball blog "Fungoes", takes a pessimistic look around the NL East.
By Nik Kolidas
Jorge Sosa For Todd Williams?
Kevin Davidoff of Newsday has rumor of a small trade that has been discussed. In March, the Mets and Orioles discussed swapping Jorge Sosa for Todd Williams. However, there’s been nothing going on recently.
The Mets picked up Sosa this winter for $1.25MM to add some pitching depth. I imagine more teams will start calling about the 29 year-old Sosa, noticing he’s thrown 13 scoreless innings in Triple A.
Williams is earning $775K from the O’s. The 36 year-old has only made two appearances, and has two scoreless innings under his belt.
Oliver Perez Meltdown
Tuesday’s nuclear meltdown of Oliver Perez in Shea Stadium has an important potential impact on the NL East as the Mets are counting on Perez to hold down the fort till Pedro’s bionic arm heals. Perez is nursing the uneven balance between an ace’s arm and a George McFly mind that has inspired many in the business to toss in their two cents. Perez’s talent has been the lost pirate treasure for many the gold thirsty pitching coach and columnist, each with their own interpretation of the treasure map. After Tuesday’s multi walk extravaganza, the theories were bountiful even if the reward wasn’t.
- David Lennon over at NY Newsday’s Metsbeat blog recaps the performance, as Paul LoDuca feels the Phillies were just patient hitters and Rick Peterson pulls the “Chewbacca defense” out of his back pocket, comparing Perez to the stock market.
- Bill Madden at the Daily News bullets out theories and excuses from numerous personnel.
- Steve Keane at the Kranepool Society asks for patience.
- John Delcos from the Journal News theorizes that Ollie is not mean enough and searches for answers.
- The NY Times focuses on Ollieworld not having his usual thunderstorm after the terrible outing.
- On SNY during the broadcast, Ron Darling and Jerry Koosman gave their two cents:
Koosman: “He was simply trying to aim the ball, instead of throwing it. When you try aiming it, you’ll lose velocity. He threw 94 and went down to 87 with his fastball. When I got into trouble like that I just threw harder and it helped.”
Darling noticed his arm was slightly lower in his delivery, like he was almost throwing side arm. It’s just a matter of him locking down his mechanics and getting into the habit of pitching the "right" way. They also mentioned Rick Peterson had him pitch over and over in side sessions, literally stopping him if he gets into his old routine.
Other Mets tidbits:
- Toasted Joe’s came up with the greatest nickname ever for Ambiorix Burgos. The fans in Kansas City should appreciate the “Amburglar”.
- If you haven’t read the Jose Valentin Experience you’re missing out. This has helped make “’stache” a cult hero in New York. Employees of the Ground Round salute you Jose!
- The Mets are looking at Todd Williams as a possible salary dump pickup.
By Nik Kolidas