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December 12, 2008 Rumors Joe Janish

Mets After Alex Cora

According to Rob Bradford of WEEI, the Mets are interested in Alex Cora.

Why is this news? Why am I posting it?

Further, someone tell me why there are actually some fans “disappointed” that the Mets didn’t sign Nick Punto?

Has the world gone mad?????

In all seriousness, I like Alex Cora. But not so much to lose sleep wondering if he’ll pick Flushing as his home in 2009. And I’m not quite sure why the Mets would spend about $1-2M for an older and more expensive version of Argenis Reyes. Ohhhhh that’s right — Cora is the brother of Joey Cora, and the Coras are best buddies with Tony Bernazard. Now it all makes sense!

Interestingly, Cora is coming off his best season since 2005. Although, I wouldn’t put a whole lot of stock in his eye-popping .378 OBP — he had only 168 plate appearances. He’s more likely to regress to his mean of .245 AVG / .313 OBP / .348 SLG — particularly since he’s now venturing toward his mid-30s. His main value is as a glove man. So again, why spend seven figures when you can pay Argenis Reyes the league minimum? Further, if the Mets want to spend money on a veteran infielder, why not bring back Damion Easley, or take a flyer on someone else with some punch, like Jose Vidro?

Why waste precious blog space on such a seemingly minuscule issue? Why quibble over a 25th roster spot and/or a few million bucks of the Mets’ money? Because this is the same team that supposedly thinks $3.5M is too much to pay Chad Bradford. It’s the little things that add up and can make a difference between winning a division or losing it by ONE game.

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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. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
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  1. isuzudude December 12, 2008 at 3:56 pm
    How did I know Chad Bradford’s name would get mentioned in this post?

    While on the topic of 25th roster spots, what about bringing Ramon Martinez back on a minor league deal? He can play a bunch of positions and has been around the block enough to provide some veteran leadership.

  2. joe December 12, 2008 at 4:38 pm
    I liked what Ramon Martinez showed us in the handful of games he played. I’d much rather have him come back on a cheap deal than go after a guy like Cora.

    This Cora talk — and the Punto stuff — suggests that the Mets want to have a backup plan / competition for Luis Castillo. But to me it ‘s asinine to overpay a guy like then when you’ll get the same production out of someone younger and/or cheaper.

    Funny how 2009 would finally have been the “right” time for Anderson Hernandez …. but hey that’s the Mets, who have a knack for trading and obtaining people at just the right time.

  3. isuzudude January 14, 2009 at 8:53 am
    Cora gets a one year, $2-mil deal. I figure he’ll provide a little extra versatility that Easley, but much less power. Hopefully, he gets no more than 120 or so at bats, which means either Castillo needs to revert to old form and stay healthy, or a new 2B is brought in to Queens.
  4. joe January 14, 2009 at 9:30 am
    I’m not understanding the Cora deal, at all. This is a pure sign that Tony Bernazard has too much power in the organization.

    Let’s see, what does Cora bring to the table, that is valuable to the current Mets roster? Oh, that’s right — nothing.

    If you want a no-hit, good-field, infielder with some versatility, why not just keep Argenis Reyes at a quarter of the price? Mind boggling.