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January 22, 2010 09-10 Offseason Joe Janish

Gary Matthews Jr. Returning to Flushing?

Jon Heyman says the Mets are on the verge of acquiring Gary Matthews, Jr. from the Angels, with the Angels paying the majority of the $23M left on his ridiculous contract.

No official word on who is going the other way, but Heyman mentions that the Angels have shown interest in Brian Stokes.

Let’s wait until the whole story is published before we react. Though, my initial gut reaction is that there’s no way this can turn out well for the Mets.

Some of you may recall Matthews’ two-game tenure with the Mets in 2002. That team was, in some ways, eerily similar to the 2010 version.

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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. Walnutz15 January 22, 2010 at 12:54 pm
    My brother and I had the radio on before (while we conducted our TGIF conference call….lol) – and Jon Heyman was on with Evan Roberts and Joe Benigno:

    The Angels are supposedly picking up $20MM of the $23MM owed to Gary Matthews, Jr. He stinks, anyway – but it’s not like they’re paying an absurd amount of money for him….check back with me later, provided they’re only kicking in something like $16MM. $7MM for a 5th outfielder?….uhhhh, lol

    We’ll see who the Mets throw into the deal, but it’s definitely not Castillo. They speculated it might be Stokes (who Manuel hates anyway).

    Idunno…….

    Maybe you can flip Castillo in a 3-way….which has been speculated all winter?? I’m praying to the baseball gods that there’s still some sort of interest (the Cubs are crazy like that).

    Overall, it just goes to show you that either:

    – The Mets are complete morons (targeting Matthews to begin with); or

    – That no one truly wants to play here right now unless they’re overpaid or dumped…considering Rick Ankiel just signed w/the Royals for like $3MM, Rocco Baldelli is still out there looking for a job, and a few other cheap-platoon outfield options exist on the open market.

    Not to mention that this basically sends out a message to Angel Pagan that they are not comfortable with him in CF – even for a short-period of time.

    Even with the money coming from The Angels, there’s no creativity in this at all – unless there’s more coming in the next couple of days.

    I have, have, HAAAAVE to see a follow-up trade/acquisition….otherwise, they’re really the bunch of morons we always paint them out to be.

    Your pal,
    PK

  2. Mike January 22, 2010 at 2:16 pm
    Metsblog is reporting it was Stokes for Mathews and 21 mil of the 24 mil remaining on the two years left of his contract. Meaning 1.5 mil for a 4th outfielder who will likely see a lot of playing time because Beltran is already out and Pagan is likely to get hurt as he always does. Can I really get on the Mets for getting depth when my biggest complaint is a lack of depth? No. But Gary Mathews at maybe 4 mil a season instead plus keeping Brian Stokes (hypothetically) would have been better in my opinion. Then again I’m splitting hairs here I think. I feel like Mathews can help the team out a bit.
  3. John January 22, 2010 at 4:57 pm
    I think walnutz is right: they are the bunch of morons we think they are.
    For the same amount of money they could have signed Reed or Sullivan, both considerably younger and have had some more success.
    Matthew’s skills have been deteriating rapidly and they weren’t that great to begin with. And it cost a major league arm on top of that. I am sure that if they were intent on getting rid of Stokes they could have found a taker.