Mets Will Make Offers to Fuentes, K-Rod
According to David Lennon of Newsday, the Mets will be making contract offers this week to Francisco Rodriguez AND Brian Fuentes.
So if they both say yes, I guess the Mets will have both a setup man and a closer. Perhaps that suggests that they don’t see Fuentes as a closer? (Keep fingers crossed!)
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Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers.
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A bullpen headed by Krod AND Fuentes would certainly be reassuring, but isn’t that overkill? At least one of them (most likely Fuentes) will be forced into an unfamiliar role of setup man, and concurrently have to deal with the excessive work load a setup man under the direction of Jerry Manuel will handle. It’s also dumping a lot of money into two guys who generally only see action from the 8th inning on. I’m guessing one of the twosome catch wind of the Mets’ plans to sign both and nix their deal. After all, the big bucks are in it for the closers, not the setup men. Someone will seriously be depreciating their market value by volunteering to become a setup man, not just for this offseason but whenever their contract is due to expire.
Well then perhaps they BOTH can be closers. The way Jerry Manuel manages like there is no tomorrow, maybe the plan will be to use a RH closer with RH hitters due up in the 9th, and a LH closer when LH hitters are due up.
If the Mets win 90-95 games, each of the men has a chance to save at least 40-45.
On the other hand, maybe this is just the Mets once again using the brilliant strategy of “race to the dotted line”, which as we know worked so well with Bengie Molina and Ramon Hernandez in the 2005-2006 offseason. So well, the Mets ended up trading prospects for Paul LoDuca.
If history is any indicator, both relievers will decline their respective contract offers, and the Mets will trade for Huston Street or Bobby Jenks.
Well, one guy the Mets definitely won’t be making an offer to is Jeremy Affeldt, who goes to the Giants today. What with Feliciano, Schoeneweis, and potentially Fuentes coming onboard, Affeldt would have just been lost in the shuffle (although I definitely see him as an upgrade over anyone currently left-handed in the bullpen).
On a side note, Albert Pujols won the NL MVP today, which I’m not in agreement with. His stats were the best in the league, yes, but he was not the MOST VALUABLE PLAYER in the league. I mean, if he were really that valuable, couldn’t he have gotten his team to the postseason? My vote would have been for Ryan Howard, who finished 2nd. David Wright was the highest placing Met, who probably had the most consistent season, but us fans know that Carlos Delgado deserved the most MVP votes out of the Met players. These writers are always so busy looking for the player with the best statistics when casting their MVP votes that they completely ignore the players that had the most impact on their teams being successful. The two are not one in the same. This is how Juimmy Rollins stole the MVP from Matt Holliday a year ago, and why Pujols got the award today over Howard.
Mic will be upset about the Affeldt signing … that’s one of his guys. Well there’s still that strand of hope that Derek Lowe wants to be a closer in NY.
I have to agree with you on the insanity of the Pujols MVP … to the point where I may be moved enough to write a post about it. But hey, ‘dude, maybe the Cardinals wouldn’t have been able to finish fourth without him. Grrrrrrrr ………