The Mets made one pick in the Major League phase of the Rule 5 Draft, and flipped him to the Dodgers for “cash considerations”.

The complete draft can be found here.

The Mets have been desperately seeking a LOOGY for over a year, and could have taken a shot at one of the lefty pitchers available, but they didn’t. Zach Kroenke was a nice idea but was taken by Arizona one pick before the Mets. Still, LHP Chuck Lofgren was there for the taking — as were other promising lefties — and the Mets instead chose to pick someone for the Dodgers. Why? And for what?

Like most teams, the Mets passed on the second round of the draft. However, several decent prospects were still available — a few as good or better than some of the youngsters who were on the Mets 25-man roster last year. The very brief list here provided several examples of players who were worth at least a ST look.

Predictably, the Mets were busy in the minor league phase of the draft, stocking up AAA Buffalo with filler material — nothing of interest nor anyone that you’re likely to see in MLB in 2010 or thereafter.

Yes, the Rule 5 draft rarely produces a big leaguer, and can be somewhat risky. But the Mets went in with two open spots on the 40-man roster (one clogged with the likes of Chris Coste and Arturo Lopez), and have a glaring need for young talent, yet chose to completely toss away the opportunity to add a potentially useful part — or at least, provide some competition in spring training.

What’s most interesting is that the World Champion Yankees, the NL Champion Phillies, and the NL West Champion Dodgers all found worthwhile picks in the Rule 5 Draft. You’d think those teams wouldn’t be looking to other teams’ rejects for help, yet they are — maybe that resourcefulness, attention to detail, and hard-core desire to exploit any and all means necessary to improve is what makes them winning organizations?

Nah. The key to success, obviously, is signing offensively challenged catchers over the age of 35.

As usual, more buzz and rumors than action, but there were some deals accomplished on the last day of the winter meetings. Here is a quick recap of the news. Continue reading →

First up, the Mets did actually sign a free agent: minor league pitcher Clint Everts (according to a tweet by Bob Nightengale).

Everts is NOT related to Chris Evert, and doesn’t even play tennis as far as we know. He was, however, a high school teammate of Scott Kazmir, and at one time was the #1 prospect of the Montreal Expos (they used to be a team in Canada). However, he never quite lived up to the billing that made him the fifth overall pick of the 2002 draft. He was plagued by elbow injuries (yes, he had TJ surgery) and control problems. Supposedly, he has “electric” stuff, but has yet to really put it together. He pitched very well in the minors last year, but most of it was spent in A ball, where he was a bit old for his competition. Still, he’s worth a shot — the Mets need all the young arms they can find.

In other news, the Mets announced that they have restructured Henry Blanco’s contract, which originally was guaranteed for one year and $1.5M. Ken Davidoff breaks down the details at his column, and the gist of it is that Blanco will get a base of $750K, with nearly impossible incentives that could increase that number to $2.25M. According to Davidoff, this decrease in guaranteed money came after a shoulder injury was revealed during his physical — and many of the incentives are designed to protect the team in case that shoulder lands him on the DL.

Just a reminder: Blanco was signed as the backup catcher because of his reputation as a defensive specialist. Arm strength tends to be an important factor in catching defense.

Finally, the Mets tendered formal contract offers to Bengie Molina and Jason Bay.

Bay has already formally rejected the Mets’ offer of 4 years, $65M. He was classy enough not to giggle or make a snarky comment in the process. Steve Popper posted the Mets’ thinking behind the decision to make an offer for Bay at this time rather than, say, John Lackey or Matt Holliday.

OK I was kidding about Bay rejecting the offer — that’s not official (yet). This offer, though, brings back (not so) fond memories of winters past, when the Mets made similar “offers” to Alex Rodriguez and Vladimir Guerrero.

At this moment I can’t find details on the Molina offer — only that one was made.

In other news, super agent Scott Boras says the Mets are loaded. Thanks Scott.

More news coming soon.