Heard about the WFAN rumor that has the Tigers sending Dontrelle Willis and Pudge Rodriguez to the Mets as a supposed salary dump. Hmm. Not sure why Detroit would do that, after a huge trade that made them the undeniable favorites in the AL Central, but there's a lot of strange stuff flying around here in Nashville. Can't see that happening, though.
The Mets are giving it their best shot with Johan Santana and Erik Bedard, but it looks like neither pitcher will be moved before the end of these meetings tomorrow. Kind of a buzzkill with all the hype heading to Nashville, but that's how it goes at the Winter Meetings sometimes. Don't be surprised if a deal comes together later in the offseason, but the Twins and Orioles could just as easily keep their aces and try again before next year's trade deadline. The A's look like they're standing pat with Dan Haren and Joe Blanton, too.
Comments (9)
What's up with this story on mlb.com (http://macsmets.com/mlb/)? Is there any truth to it? It says the Mets and D-Rays agreed to a deal that sends Kazmir and Baldelli to the Mets for Pelfrey, Joe Smith, Ryan Church and two minor leaguers (most likely Fernando Martinez). Anyone?
I'll commend you on your forgery skills.
Matt: it's called copyright and trademark theft. In other words an illegal website, one that nobody should be going to unless those who do want to risk picking up some dangerous hacker installed scripts just by going there. If I were you, I'd stay clear from there, and tell everyone you, the same.
Well said. You want real news, turn on WFAN or ESPN. None of these sites can be trusted.
This team is TOAST....Every reporter agrees with me. Told you all it was FACT, not opinion.
NO STARTING PITCHING, NO ACE, NO RELIEF, NO FIRE, NO CATCHER
FIRE OMAR.....Do not let him on the coporate Jet home. He has made this team weaker offensively and Defensively....Oh and he traded a 22 yr. old for an agin catcher that cannot hit! IN OUR DIVISION !!!
FIRE OMAR will be the first cahnt at Shea this year !!! The guy is a JOKE !!!!
the knicks have their dolan and isiah, and the mets have omar and willy. doesn't get any better does it!
Mets are fine, really.
The inferiority complex of Met fans, as well as faulty assumptions of the know-nothing media, contribute to this false feeling of panic and impending doom. Meanwhile, back in reality, the Mets' rotation posted the 5th lowest ERA in the NL last year despite having only 1 month of Pedro and plenty of starts from a rushed Mike Pelfrey and a scrap-heap pickup in Jorge Sosa. Only the Cubs rotation struck out more batters.
Do the Mets need to replace Glavine's innings with another starter ? Yeah, probably. But that starter does not need to be Johan Santana.
The smart move for the Mets would be to add two starters and a reliever like Dotel. Go for quantity, as it was pitching depth which did the Mets in last season. They received plenty of big-time starts (Maine, Perez, Pedro) in September, but they just didn't have the pitching depth to withstand the injuries to Orlando Hernandez and (to a lesser extent) Billy Wagner. They also did not have the pitching depth needed to get by with giving Pedro the extra day of rest. (hence the starts of Pelfrey, Lawrence and Humber in September)
Trading away a number of the team's best prospects for a pitcher at this stage is just silly. Look at all the complaining about how mediocre the Mets farm system is - and people want to strip it of its remaining talent ? Makes no sense.
A couple more steady pitchers who can eat up more innings than Glavine or El Duque did. Livan is a perfect candidate. He is well over 200 every year. Carlos Silva would add a control component to the mix. He walks very few, but both give up a lot of hits. Colon is too much of an unknown at this point and so is Freddy Garcia. The problem is, all those guys will be $10 million pitchers.
Maybe the starting help will help fix the bullpen, but one more solid arm out of the pen would help. Still too many ifs with Duaner Sanchez, Burgos, and Smith. But, Wagner, Feliciano and Heilman are fine. Sosa is OK, too. I sure hope Schoenweis will improve. Seems we have no choice with that one.
Jon from NJ,
Finally, somebody speaking out of logic rather than anger and ignorance. That's what I've been saying all along. Yeah, it would be real nice to know Santana, Bedard or Haren would take the mound every 5th day but it's not a must. The 29 other GM's in MLB obviously do not like the Mets prospects. If they did, a deal would have been made. So you're right. With the little talent they do have, it wouldn't make any sense to trade them away. I think they'll be just fine with the starting 5 they have. Maybe they can add a guy like Livan Hernandez who can eat innings and give them 11-15 wins out of the #5 spot. Even though people have been bashing me all week for suggesting that, I still think it's a good move. They can move El Duque to the 'pen and that will hopefully keep him healthy for a playoff push. The more arms they have, the better off they will be. Especially when Pedro and Duque go down. And we all know one or both of them will at some point.
Mets fans are so quick to give up just because they didn't make a blockbuster trade. Those are the same people that would be jumping all over Omar if he did make a trade and it didn't work out. Omar is in a bad situation right now. If he makes a deal, people will be upset that he traded away their prospects. If he doesn't make a deal, people will kill him for not trying to improve the team. What is this guy supposed to do? Did anybody really think he'd trade Reyes for Santana? If so, that's just foolish.
I've been asking all week if anybody has any creative suggestions to improve the team and of course, nobody had anything constructive to say. All they did is say Omar and Willie should be fired. They have brought this team back from the dead since they took over. This team got worse every year since their WS appearance in '00 and since they took over they've won 83, 97 and 88 games. I'd say that's a pretty good job. The team is competitive once again and this year will be no different...even without an ace.
Let's look at the other teams in the division:
Philly - After Hamels, who else do they even have?
Atlanta - Probably the best top 3 in the division but how much will Glavine really help them?
Florida & Washington - I can't even name one decent starter on either team.
METS - Pedro - if healthy and makes 25 - 30 starts can easily win 15 games.
Maine - won 15 last year and will only get better.
Perez - also won 15 games and could win 20 some day if he can control his emotions. He has great stuff.
El Duque - we know what he's capable of IF HE IS HEALTHY
and finally Pelfrey/Humber - sure, they were a disappointment in '07 but they were never really given a fair chance and Pelfrey did have several really good starts in September.
I know it's a long-shot but they actually could end up with THE BEST staff in the division. Let's wait and see what happens before we all start to jump ship.
The Mets will win this division in '08.