Mets After Juan Pierre?
Ken Rosenthal’s latest column suggests that the Mets are interested in Juan Pierre.
Per Rosenthal:
Imagine Jose Reyes and Juan Pierre combining for 140 stolen bases at the top of the Mets’ batting order.
The Mets may have interest in dealing for Juan Pierre.
The idea is a longshot, but the Mets have shown interest in trading for Pierre, the Dodgers’ forgotten outfielder.
To move Pierre, the Dodgers would need to assume a large chunk of his remaining salary — $10 million in 2009, $10 million in 2010 and $8.5 million in ’11.
We sort of threw this idea around back in October, as part of a “megadeal” (which looks sillier and sillier as time goes on).
To me, I don’t see the Mets going after Pierre unless it’s as part of an exchange of bad contracts — i.e., for Luis Castillo. But since the Dodgers have signed Mark Loretta, why would they want the broken-down Castillo?
Further, as Rosenthal points out in his column, the Dodgers aren’t sure whether they’ll re-sign Manny Ramirez for left field, and don’t know what they’ll get out of Andruw Jones — so Pierre is a guy who is insurance for both spots. Further, there have been rumors brewing that Matt Kemp is being dangled at the winter meetings — possibly in return for Robinson Cano.
Finally, if the Mets do in fact acquire Pierre — even with LA footing part of the bill — will they also keep Castillo? How many punch-n-judy hitters can they afford to have in their lineup?
Those of you around my age and older might remember the Cardinals of the early 1980s, who routinely featured lineups with various combinations of Lonnie Smith, Ozzie Smith, Willie McGee, and Vince Coleman. It was a run and gun strategy that worked well back then, when parks were larger and half used astroturf, but I’m not sure how it would perform in today’s game. As an old school guy, though, I’d love to see it — but I don’t believe the Mets have the chutzpah to try it. They’ll let someone else do it first, then copy them.
I’m still intrigued by the idea of taking on LA’s other bad contract — that of Andruw Jones. If you’re going to gamble, gamble big, no? Throw your chips on a guy who could be a monster, rather than one whose best-case scenario is an OPS in the .600s.
The only way I see Juan Pierre wearing a Mets uniform in 2009 is if the Dodgers sign Manny, the Mets move Castillo AND Ryan Church, and the Dodgers agree to pay a significant portion of Pierre’s salary — which will be difficult for them to do if they’re paying Manny a king’s ransom.
I’ll just chalk this one up, and put it in the “Stupid Files”.
Let’s get rid of Castillo and replace him with Juan Pierre as a corner-outfielder.
*crickets*………..Bueller………….Bueller…………?!?
For their position( LF vs. 2B), Pierre is an even bigger negative, production wise, than Castillo is at this point.
Basically, Pierre is LA’s very own version of Luis Castillo — only with Pierre making $10M more over the same span, making his situation actually worse.
This will never happen, anyway — The Mets are going to bat Castillo leadoff in 2009 and Reyes 2nd (laughs nervously) — hopefully, we’re honestly laughing (heartily) over this, come Spring Training.
“As we speak here, December 9th, he’s the second baseman,” Manuel said. “And as a staff, we’ve got to do everything we can to help him get off to a good start. There’s a possibility that we could have him in the leadoff spot, drop Jose down, do some different things to help him. To put him in the best possible situation to get off to a good start.”
I’ll just chalk this one up, and put it in the “Stupid Files”.
Let’s get rid of Castillo and replace him with Juan Pierre as a corner-outfielder.
*crickets*………..Bueller………….Bueller…………?!?
For their position( LF vs. 2B), Pierre is an even bigger negative, production wise, than Castillo is at this point.
Basically, Pierre is LA’s very own version of Luis Castillo — only with Pierre making $10M more over the same span, making his situation actually worse.
This will never happen, anyway — The Mets are going to bat Castillo leadoff in 2009 and Reyes 2nd (laughs nervously) — hopefully, we’re honestly laughing (heartily) over this, come Spring Training.
“As we speak here, December 9th, he’s the second baseman,” Manuel said. “And as a staff, we’ve got to do everything we can to help him get off to a good start. There’s a possibility that we could have him in the leadoff spot, drop Jose down, do some different things to help him. To put him in the best possible situation to get off to a good start.”
This story does procreate some feelings of deja vu. See: http://www.metstoday.com/hot-stove/2008/hot-stove-preseason-predictions/
Whereas at one time I was fancy for the idea of trading Castillo for Pierre, a number of things have developed to make me stand down. First and foremost is that, with the signing of Lorreta, the Dodgers probably want no business with Castillo anymore, if they even had an interest to begin with. Perhaps a Loretta/Castillo 2B-platoon would be adequately productive, but the Dodgers likely have other plans and cheaper options. And if the Mets acquire Pierre for someone other than Castillo but equally as unimportant (Caleb Stewart, Schoeneweis, Tony Bernazard ZING!), it would mean batting either Castillo or Pierre out of the lead-off or #2 spot in the order, which does nothing but weaken the lineup. And I don’t see Jose Reyes dropping to below the #2 spot either, which makes the deal a no go for me. Secondly, with Manny not assured of returning, Kemp being mentioned in trades, and Andruw aging in dog years, it may be wise for LA to hold on to Pierre as insurance, even at his extravagant premium. Thridly, it was brought to my attention that Castillo and Pierre are virtually the same player, except Pierre is more costly, hits exclusively left-handed, and gets on base much less than Castillo. Pretty much everything else is similar. And finally, even if the Dodgers agreed to do Castillo for Pierre, the Mets would just be opening up a hole at 2B then. Murphy might be able to handle the job, but no one knows, and 2B is too important a position defensively to just be sticking any ol’ body there. You could make the case then to go after Orlando Hudson hard, who I am personally infatuated over, but again that gives the Mets 3 players who should be batting lead-off or second, leaving someone on the outs – most likely Pierre. And a lineup with Juan Pierre hitting 7th or 8th is a lineup that is destined for disaster. What the Mets need is a power-hitting stopgap in LF until FMart is ready to roll. Juan Pierre would only impede his progress. The Murphy/Tatis platoon will have to do in the interim unless Omar finds a way to deal for a LF signed short-term (the names of which we’ve already dragged through the mud several times), or can sign someone willing to take a short contract but still able to produce at a high level (Ibanez? Bradley?)
I guess to be less long-winded, I don’t see the Mets as a fit for Pierre.
Though, in my defense, I thought he was going to stick to his 5-year demand, and did not take into consideration the Johan Phone Call Effect. 🙂
Anyway …. agreed … why bring in another Luis Castillo who plays left field — the easiest position on the diamond — when you can just keep Castillo and have him play a skill position?
As for those old Cardinals teams, don’t you remember Willie McGee, whose OBP was perennially tied directly to his batting average? The only time his OBP was acceptable was in 1985, when he hit .353 (yet still couldn’t get his OBP above .400 !)