The news may not turn the baseball world on its ear, but Mets fans may be slightly interested to find out that Chip Ambres has signed a minor-league contract with the San Diego Padres and has been invited to spring training.

Chip spent nearly all of 2007 in New Orleans and played well, both in the field and at bat. While numerous Met outfielders injured themselves between April and July, Ambres was passed over again and again, despite swinging a good stick. The last straw came after Carlos Gomez went down with a wrist injury in at the same time Chip was in the midst of wreaking havoc on PCL pitching, batting .586 over a 7-game span and earning “Batter of the Week” honors. At that point, it would appear that the stars had lined up for the journeyman, but the Mets instead brought up his teammate Ricky Ledee.

Ambres was finally promoted at the end of July, and appeared in games on the 20th, 21st, and 22nd. That last appearance was, fittingly, the most memorable: his seeing-eye single in the top of the tenth scored Lastings Milledge to put the Mets over the Dodgers in a dramatic fashion. However, he didn’t have much time to celebrate, as he was sent back down to New Orleans — for good — two days later.

Ambres became a free agent after the season, and didn’t see a fit with the Mets in ’08. In San Diego, he could be a “last option” in the event Mike Cameron doesn’t re-sign and the Padres don’t find another centerfielder. He should at least get a crack at being a fourth or fifth outfielder, as their depth in that department is sparse.

Good luck, Chip, and thanks for the memory!

At this point, it doesn’t make much sense to criticize Omar Minaya on the signing of Yorvit Torrealba. The deal is done, and Yorvit is more or less guaranteed to be the starting backstop come April. And, he’ll likely be around for at least another year or two beyond 2008. So, we may as well get used to Yorvit — the sooner the better.

Several pundits and bloggers have explained away the seeming insanity of handing a three-year, $15M contract to a career backup catcher with Rey Ordonez-like punch and a barky shoulder. As I mentioned earlier this week, this deal makes me think about strapping on the old shin guards and walking into the offices of MLB GMs — even as a washed-up, 37-year-old, semipro wannabe with two herniated disks. Heck, I’d be OK with the “paltry” two-year, $6M contract they’d likely offer. (Did I mention how wonderful I am at calling a game and working with pitchers? Or my over-the-top enthusiasm and energy? Or my knowledge of 30 very common Spanish phrases?)

Anyway … as much as it appears to be insanity to know-nothing bloggers such as myself, I suppose we have to give Omar Minaya the benefit of the doubt and believe that he knows something that we don’t. My guess is that he’ll extol the intangible, non-statistical strengths of Torrealba — the high-strung enthusiasm and energy, the remarkable ability to handle pitchers, his propensity for throwing down the correct fingers in calling pitches, yadda yadda yadda. In other words, Minaya will completely skirt the fact that Torrealba’s .255 average in a hitter’s park last year was a career high, and that for the next three years we can expect the backstop position to resemble the days of Jerry Grote as far as offense is concerned. (Matt Himelfarb, please feel free to enter the conversation here and let us all know just how statistically awful Yorvit projects to be.)

But — and this is a huge but — Minaya could somehow be right on with this signing. I am not too proud nor embarrassed to admit that I thought that Omar was completely off his rocker when he signed Jose Valentin, Chad Bradford, and Endy Chavez to contracts during the winter of 2005-2006. The Valentin signing in particular got my goat — it seemed to me to be the stupidest, most nonsensical deal imaginable. Yet, I ate crow when Valentin proved to be an outstanding all-around second baseman in ’06, and got used to crow after watching Bradford become a bullpen stopper and Chavez evolve into a fan favorite and role player of legendary proportions. By the end of 2006, I came to understand that Omar knew much more than me, which explained why he was GM of the Mets and I was toiling as a nondescript blogger.

So before I go ape crazy yammering about how awful a move this Yorvit Torrealba signing is, I’ll keep quiet and wait to see what happens. As fans, we were beside ourselves witnessing the lack of drive, energy, and motivation during most of 2007, so perhaps the high-energy Torrealba is exactly the antidote we’ve been craving. Maybe his enthusiasm alone will make up for his rag arm and lack of offense. Who knows, maybe his arm will magically heal and his offensive skills will suddenly advance. For all we know, this time next year we will be thinking, “how did we ever doubt the importance of Yorvit Torrealba?”

If we believe the buzz, Omar Minaya and Billy Beane will be continuing their two-year conversation concerning Lastings Milledge and various young Athletics arms.

Supposedly, Beane is in love with Milledge and might possibly be interested in Aaron Heilman as well. In response, speculation has been that Joe Blanton, Danny Haren, or Rich Harden would be requested in exchange.

As has been mentioned previously, Omar Minaya deals are rarely leaked. In fact, is has seemed that the more “buzz” there is around a deal, the less likely it is to happen. The reality of the past two years has been trades and signings coming “out of nowhere”. Think about it, who was “buzzing” about Scott Schoeneweis or Damion Easley before they were signed last year? Did anyone last November ever mention that the Mets and Marlins would be trading AAA pitchers? Was there even a whiff of the Brian Bannister – Ambiorix Burgos exchange? Or the Heath Bell and Royce Ring exile? Even the Moises Alou signing was somewhat surprising, for its swiftness — in fact it was similar to the Billy Wagner signing the previous November. This year’s Luis Castillo deal was another one that had little foreplay. Going back to 2006, prime examples were the Jae Seo – Duaner Sanchez trade and the Xavier Nady deal. When Omar has a real deal in the works, he moves quietly and quickly.

So to try and predict the “real” Mets trades and signings takes creativity. You have to try to think like Omar — which is often “out of the box”, for better or worse.

While everyone is buzzing about Yorvit Torrealba and now Ramon Hernandez, the silence of the annual A’s rumors is deafening. But we’ve been hearing Blanton – Harden – Haren – Heilman – Milledge for so long it can’t be true. At the same time, we know Omar and Billy are talking, and eventually they’ll strike a deal.

Here’s a crazy idea: the A’s send LHP Danny Meyer and RHP Kiko Calero to the Mets in return for Ben Johnson and Jason Vargas. Everyone goes ho-hum. But at some point in 2008, all four players help their new teams.

Meyer was once a tremendous prospect — he was the key to the trade that sent Tim Hudson to the Braves. From Baseball America in 2005:

“It looks like the A’s are expecting Meyer to make their Opening Day rotation. Despite a 2.79 ERA, he didn’t exactly dominate Triple-A last season, so it’s possible that he’ll need more time at that level. With a 91-93 mph fastball, a tight slider and an improving changeup, he has a ceiling as a No. 2 starter and the realistic possibility of becoming a No. 3. No question, he’s one of the best lefty prospects in the game.”

Unfortunately for Meyer, he did not mature as quickly as the A’s would have liked, and went backward in 2005 and 2006, posting ERAs over 5 in the heavy-hitting PCL. Turns out he was plagued with shoulder issues those two years, and spent another year in AAA last year trying to re-establish himself. His shoulder apparently healthy, he made 21 starts, going 8-2 with a 3.38 ERA and 105 Ks in 110 IP.

Now let me pose a question: if Mike Pelfrey or Philip Humber had produced those kinds of numbers in the PCL last year, wouldn’t you think they’d be penciled into the ’08 rotation and the Mets wouldn’t be starving for starting pitching?

Calero also had a shoulder issue — one which occurred this year, forcing the A’s to shut him down at the end of the season. His 2007 numbers are horrendous, but he was a lights-out setup man previously. Oakland is likely to non-tender him in December, but would prefer to trade him for something of value before then. If he can come back healthy, he could be a steal and step right in to the Mets’ bullpen.

Now, why would Billy Beane make this deal? First, he’s looking to dump Calero anyway. Meyer has lost the luster of his previous praise, and is considered damaged goods. He may consider it a good idea to flip the 25-year-old lefty for 24-year-old lefty — and also damaged — Jason Vargas. Vargas fits the Beane mold: an undersized, non-athletic looking, gritty competitor and overachiever. Plus, the A’s need some outfield depth, and Ben Johnson still projects as a serviceable fourth outfielder. Though Johnson doesn’t draw the massive walk totals Beane likes, he does have homerun potential, and he’s a tremendous hustler. If not for his broken ankle last spring, he very well might have had a chance to prove himself while Moises Alou was on the DL.

Mind you, I have absolutely no “sources close to the organization”, nor any “National League officials familiar with the situation”. It’s pure conjecture, and almost certainly will not happen. So I guess you can call it “buzz”, right?

Hat tip to MetsBlog for showing us the way to Mike Pagliarulo’s scouting report on Carlos Silva. As we have been discussing here for a while, Silva is, as Mike says:

“His best quality is his durability. He has the ability to go deep into a game and take the ball every fifth day.

Carlos Silva belongs in the National League.”

He goes on further to say,

“We recommend that a team invest $12M over three years for Silva. Obviously, we’re realists when it comes to the operation of the market and the certain irrational behavior of some teams, so expect Silva to get something along the lines of $32M over four years.”

Obviously there is a stark difference between a scout’s valuation and the market’s. How quickly would YOU sign Silva to a 3-year/$12M deal?

Pagliarulo also suggests that the Diamondbacks and Rockies appear to be good matches for Silva’s style. Whether either of those teams will get involved in the free agent market remains to be seen — they generally stay on the fringe and target low-level FAs. But, the D’Backs will likely be losing Livan Hernandez, and Silva would slip right in to eat up those innings left behind.

Let’s hope that AZ stays out of the bidding as expected, and that the Mets can pick up Silva — at the scout’s price.

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