Where They Are Now: Yusmeiro Petit
Remember Yusmeiro Petit? About 4-5 years ago, he was ranked as highly as #2 among the Mets prospects by Baseball America, who were impressed by his ability to throw 4 pitches over the plate. As a 21-year-old, Petit whipped through AA, posting a 9-3 record and 2.92 ERA for the Binghamton Mets — striking out 130 batters in 118 innings, walking only 18, and holding opposing hitters to a .209 AVG. He was a sure-fire back-end starter at worst, and some believed he’d eventually develop into a #2 or #3. Read more
Mets Sign Chip Hale for Third Base
While it’s true that third baseman David Wright had a dropoff in power production in 2009, he’s not being replaced.
However, Razor Shines, the third base coach in 2009, is being replaced — by Chip Hale.
According to Adam Rubin, the announcement will be made shortly.
Who the heck is Chip Hale you ask? He spent most of his 7-year big-league career with the Minnesota Twins as a utilityman, filling in mostly at 2B and 3B. Not blessed with immortal talent, he was something of a “grinder” who played fundamentally sound baseball, was a decent contact hitter, reliable glove, and did whatever was needed for the team. After his playing career, Hale managed in the minors for six years in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ organization before becoming their third base coach – a position he held for the past three seasons.
Before the Mets offered him the third-base coaching job, Hale had been rumored to be in the running for various managerial vacancies, and there were whispers he was a candidate for the Washington Nationals’ job as recently as mid-September.
Mets Game 114: Win Over Diamondbacks
Mets 6 Diamondbacks 4
For once, the Mets were on the right side of a poorly played baseball game.
The Diamondbacks gave the Mets several runs by way of 3 passed balls, 2 wild pitches, 2 errors, and 4 bases on balls. In addition, Arizona was unable to make the most of prime scoring opportunities, leaving over a dozen runners on base (14 to be exact).
Oliver Perez followed up his best start of the year with a more typical Ollie outing — 5 1/3 IP, 7 K, 6 BB, 6 H. Miraculously, he allowed only one run. Was that the product of good pitching, poor hitting, or dumb luck? You decide. In any case it was far from impressive, as Ollie was in constant trouble.
The Mets offense, though, made the most of every opportunity handed to them. They scored three runs on balls that escaped the catcher, and came through with three clutch hits in RBI situations — and that was the difference in the ballgame.
Pedro Feliciano, in the right place at the right time, scooped up his fourth win of the year despite allowing two hits that scored two runners inherited from Sean Green.
Frankie Fantastic was no more effective than Ollie and Feliciano, but somehow muddled his way to his second save of the second half and 25th of the season.
Notes
K-Rod was a Cory Sullivan misstep away from blowing yet another save. Stephen Drew hit a low liner in the left-center gap that Sullivan speared just before it hit the ground. Had he missed that ball it might’ve gone past him to the wall, and possibly led to more than just one run in the final frame.
David Wright was 3-for-5 with 2 runs scored, though he might have mildly injured himself during the contest. Cory Sullivan was 2-for-4 with two triples, a walk, and an RBI from the leadoff spot. Fernando Tatis went 3-for-4 with a walk, a run, and an RBI — just when you think he’s played his way out of a job, he pulls out a game like this to keep himself in the mix.
Today’s Baseball Lesson
Arizona catcher Chris Snyder had a tough time behind the plate, particularly in the 6th inning, when he committed one passed ball and allowed two wild pitches to give the Mets free bases. The passed ball was tough: Snyder was set up inside for a fastball, and pitcher Jon Garland threw the ball several inches outside. In addition to reaching across his body, David Wright swung at the pitch, which may have distracted Snyder. Fastballs are the toughest to block, because you don’t expect them to go in the dirt and they move the fastest. Snyder experienced a similar issue on one of the other wild pitches — it looked like it was a fastball in the dirt.
There were two things wrong with Snyder’s approach toward the balls in the dirt. First, he tried to catch them with his glove. Bad idea — it’s always best to send the glove directly to the ground, between the knees, and try to absorb the ball with the body. Second, his feet behind him were apart instead of together, so when the ball when “through the wickets”, it continued to roll to the backstop. These techniques can be learned with proper practice, just like any other defensive position.
Next Mets Game
The Mets can’t lose on Thursday as they have a day off. They return to Flushing on Friday to face the Giants. First pitch will be thrown by Bobby Parnell at 7:10 PM. Barry Zito starts for San Francisco.
Mets Game 113: Loss to Diamondbacks
Diamondbacks 6 Mets 2
So hard to come up with something clever now that the season has been phoned in.
Livan Hernandez chose a poor strategy of giving the D’backs an early lead, then giving back a run every time the Mets scored (not that it happened so often). With that, Livan left the game after only four frames, yielding to Tim Redding.
The offense collected eight hits off Arizona starter Max Scherzer, but that’s all they did — collected. Not much was actually DONE with those safeties.
Notes
This team is playing poorly enough to make me wonder if they’ll keep the Nationals in the cellar. Seriously.
Cory Sullivan led off the game with a double, and Luis Castillo — who was 4 for his last 9 — sacrificed him to third. Right there I knew the game was over … it didn’t matter that Sullivan was stranded.
Australian-born Trent Oeltjen went 4-for-4 for Arizona and was a homerun shy of the cycle. He’s hitting .500 in his first 5 big-league games, has hustled around the bases, and been spectacular in left field. Talk about a man at work! At what point is it just overkill?
With this season resembling a Rutt’s Hut Ripper, it takes some creativity to provide entertaining text. The best I could come up with: should Tim Redding’s nickname be “Mr. Rochester”? It would be for his hometown and also for the plain-faced character of Jane Eyre. The only thing is, I’m not sure he qualifies as a “Byronic Hero“.
Today’s Baseball Lesson
Ron Darling spoke about long tossing, and said that players 20-25 years old should throw around 200-225 feet, and little leaguers should stay around 60 feet — and that the key was to throw as far as you can “without your mechanics breaking down”.
This was fairly decent advice, but allow me to elaborate, as I don’t like limits and I refuse to use negative images (I’d replace “mechanics breaking down” with a positive image). First of all, no matter what your age, you can and should be throwing as far as you can without putting an arc on the throw, and just short of your max effort. Throw the ball on a straight line, or with a little bit of sink, as far as possible, without straining. Extend yourself a few feet every five throws until you get to the point where you can’t reach your partner without a bounce. Once you get there, shorten the distance 5-10 feet and throw nice and easy for another 10-15 throws. If you do this every day, you will build your distance and arm strength.
Next Mets Game
The final game of the series will be played at 3:40 PM on Wednesday afternoon. Oliver Perez faces Jon Garland.
Mets Game 112: Loss to Diamondbacks
Diamondbacks 7 Mets 4
I keep waiting for Casey Stengel to show up in the postgame interview and explain that Marv Throneberry lost a ground ball in the sun.
The Mets were awful in nearly every aspect of the game — pitching, offense, defense, and fundamentals. This particular evening they seemed to be writing a book on how NOT to play the game. We’ll chalk it up to jet lag and the dry heat.
New dad Mike Pelfrey struggled from inning one, and left the game after six innings. He allowed 5 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks, and received little help from the defense — which appeared to be made up of Barnum, Bailey, and the Ringling Brothers. Reliever Elmer Dessens wasn’t much better, and didn’t receive stellar defensive support, either.
Offensively, the Mets did little against Arizona starter Doug Davis, save for a two-run triple by Fernando Tatis in the fourth and a meaningless rally in the top of the ninth. The only reason the Mets threatened in the final frame was because Chad Qualls — pitching in a rare non-save situation — was toying with them.
Notes
After Tatis’ triple, I timed Davis’ windup with Fernando on third base. He ranged from 4.0 – 4.6 seconds from the beginning of his motion to the time the ball reached the catcher. That’s really, really slow, and I’m sure Tatis could have stolen home easily. An MLB-average runner can easily cover 26-28 yards (90 feet minus a decent lead) in four and a half seconds.
The two men who hit well and had good at-bats in this game? Luis Castillo and Anderson Hernandez, who had two hits apiece. Hernandez was 2-for-3 with a double, walk, a run, and an RBI. He’s now 4-for-6 as a 2009 Met.
Early in the game Ron Darling commented about little leaguers and curveballs. I agree with Ron — the recent report from the “experts” at the ASMI stating that curveballs put less stress on a kid’s arm is absolute hogwash. The major flaw in the findings — and nearly everything from that organization is flawed — is that most kids throw all pitches with poor mechanics, so all pitches will put stress on the arm, but the curve doesn’t put as much stress because it’s thrown with less force and velocity. The key is mechanics. If a kid is taught the proper (and safe) way to throw any pitch, he shouldn’t have any problems. But that’s a big if — particularly when it comes to the curve. There is a safe way to throw the curveball, but no one teaches it at any level.
Also, need to help the kids again with a translation of Ron Darling’s explanation. Ron erroneously described “pronation of the elbow” as the danger in throwing a curve. In fact, it is the opposite — supination is what makes a curveball dangerous (and it’s actually the hand/wrist, not really the elbow, that supinates). I would excuse this technicality, but the truth is, PRONATION is in fact the safest way to throw a curve (or any pitch, for that matter). It’s not the traditional way to throw it (90% of MLBers supinate their hand to throw a curve), and it seems awkward, but it is fairly safe when executed properly and combined with proper weight training and other exercises to strengthen the pronator teres. The pronated curve is one of the wacky ideas of Mike Marshall, but it’s the one that makes the most sense and can actually be applied to traditional pitching mechanics.
In the eighth inning, Anderson Hernandez was charged with an error when he threw to an unoccupied first base bag. On the play — a routine grounder back to the pitcher — Dan Murphy inexplicably charged toward the ball, and was practically standing on the mound when AHern was turning the front end of a potential double play. I know one of the SNY talking points is to chat up Murphy’s “slick fielding”, but it’s as much of a ruse as it was when they talked up his left field play this time last year. You see mistakes like that in little league, maybe in a Babe Ruth or Cal Ripken league, but not beyond high school. This is the Major Leagues. People pay good money to watch the best baseball on the planet. That was embarrassing, and another case of a player hanging around a position long enough to be exposed.
Speaking of exposure, in the second inning, Angel Pagan made the terrible decision of diving for a two-out bloop hit by Doug Davis that wound up scoring two runs and putting Davis on third base. He wasn’t playing shallow enough, he misread the ball, he got a late jump, and then made an ill-advised dive. The very next inning, with two outs, Pagan got another bad jump on a long fly ball off the bat of Miguel Montero, and compunded it by missing the cutoff man on the throw into the infield, allowing Montero to advance to third base. Moments later Montero scored on a sharp single to right field, and I’d bet dollars to donuts that Montero would not have challenged Jeff Francoeur’s arm on that hard hit ball had he been on second base. So right there, Pagan was responsible for three runs. Did you see the final score? Simple fundamentals can win and lose ballgames — this was merely a more glaring example than usual.
The Mets have won 15 out of their last 18 games in Arizona. Mike Pelfrey was tagged with all three losses. The last Mets pitcher to lose a game in Arizona was Al Leiter.
Next Mets Game
The Diamondbacks host the Mets again at 9:40 PM on Tuesday night. Livan Hernandez faces Max Scherzer.
Mets Game 105: Loss to Diamondbacks
Diamondbacks 6 Mets 5
A split would’ve been so nice … but at least the hometown boys gave us a ballgame!
The game appeared over within minutes after it started, as recent callup Nelson Figueroa allowed 6 runs on 10 hits in his 1 2/3 innings. So much for taking some strain off the bullpen.
However, the bullpen kicked it up a notch and allowed just one hit and no runs after the third inning, and Dan Haren was having an off night. That combination of unusual circumstances gave the Citi Field crowd their money’s worth.
Haren struggled with his command, and actually walked a batter, and allowed five runs on eight hits and that walk in seven innings. But, Jon Rauch threw a scoreless eighth and Chad Qualls a perfect ninth to earn his 20th save.
Notes
Tough night for Nelson Figueroa — so bad that one wonders if the Mets will give him another shot. Shame, since Figgy has put up some great numbers at AAA this year. Either it was an off night or the D’backs somehow knew what was coming — maybe he was tipping his pitches? The Arizona batters looked way too comfortable.
Angel Pagan went 2-for-3 with a walk, a triple, a run, and an RBI. However, he held up at second base on a Luis Castillo RBI single in the fifth when he probably should have moved on to third. As a result, only one run scored when David Wright followed with a single and the inning ended moments later on a double play.
Pagan now has 6 triples, tied for fourth place in the NL. (D’backs Stephen Drew and Gerardo Parra are tied for second behind Michael Bourn with 7 each.)
Jeff Francoeur was the only Mets starting position player without a hit.
The Mets are now 8 games behind in the Wild Card standings and 10 behind the Phillies in the NL East.
Next Mets Game
The Mets play a quick two-game series against the Cardinals that begins on Tuesday night at 7:10 PM. Two-time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana faces Joel Pineiro, who pitches like Cy Young against the Mets.
Mets Game 104: Loss to Diamondbacks
Diamondbacks 5 Mets 2
In this game, a contrast of efficiencies. And we’re not talking about housing. Read more
Mets Game 103: Win Over Diamondbacks
Mets 9 Diamondbacks 6
Mr. Beltran, take your time — we have a very capable switch-hitting centerfielder doing just fine while you’re on the mend.
Angel Pagan blasted a grand slam in the bottom of the eighth to lift the fans off their feet and the Mets over the Diamondbacks.
For the first time in a long while, the Mets engaged in a game that felt like a wound-up spring, ready to burst at any moment — and came out on the winning end.
The Snakes jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first 3 1/2 innings, but the Mets pulled off a four-run rally in the bottom of the fourth frame to go up by two. Unfortunately, the Mets had Oliver Perez on the mound, so that didn’t last long. Fortunately, Max Scherzer had nothing, and so the two teams traded scores for the next two innings, and were knotted at five-all until Pagan’s dramatic blast.
Pedro Feliciano earned his fourth victory of the season, as he was the only Met pitcher to retire more than one batter and not allow a run.
Notes
Perez took another step backward. Although he allowed “only” three runs and struck out 7 in five frames, he also walked 5 and allowed 6 hits (including one homerun). On several occasions Ollie “improvised” on the mound, playing cowboy and dropping down laredo style for reasons unknown. At least a dozen of his 112 pitches were a good six feet out of the strike zone, and had Brian Schneider scrambling. It was a minor miracle that he threw only one wild pitch and allowed only three runs (and I’m still trying to figure out how he didn’t hit at least two batters). There were several spots where a more disciplined team would have mounted a 3- or 4-run rally. For the second straight evening, we can see why the Diamondbacks are stinking up the NL West.
What a shame to see what’s happened with Max Scherzer this year. Scherzer has struggled with nagging shoulder injuries, and if I’m Arizona I might consider shutting him down at this point. This is a guy who AVERAGED 95 MPH last year, topping out at 98-99. On this particular evening, the Citi Field gun had him at around 92-93, with a couple touching 94. Now, 94 is still pretty damn fast, but a world away from 98-99. In comparison, remember how hittable Billy Wagner became when his velocity dropped from 99-100 to 93-94.
Slowly, these replaceMets are forging their way into the fan’s hearts. I’m beginning to believe that the team will be better off if Beltran, Delgado, Reyes, and the rest of the “cavalry” never return. Some of these guys are taking the bull by the horns and showing the world (and their crepe-hanging manager) that they can play this game. It’s kind of nice to see guys bust it out of the box, rather than make a decision as to whether or not they should run hard.
Speaking of hard-nosed players, my new favorite non-Met is Mark Reynolds. He may set world records for strikeouts and errors, but you have to love a guy on a last-place team diving over the tarp and nearly into the stands to catch a foul ball.
Oh, and how about Clay Zavada channeling his inner Rollie Fingers with that waxed handlebar mustache? When he came into the game I thought I fell into a time warp. And his middle name is “Pflibson”. I smell a fan club sprouting soon. Baseball needs more guys like this in the game. I’d pay to see a battery of him and Sal Fasano.
Next Mets Game
The Mets and Diamondbacks play the third game of the series at 1:10 PM on Sunday afternoon. Mike Pelfrey goes to the mound against Jon Garland.
Mets Game 102: Loss to Diamondbacks
Rockies 3 Mets 2
At the start it was a skirmish between soft-tossers, but in the end, a battle of the bullpens.
Livan Hernandez and Doug Davis matched each other slow curve for slow curve through six innings and each exited the game with the score tied and no chance for a decision. The soft-tossers hurled nearly identical outings, with both going 6 innings and allowing 4 hits and 2 runs — with all runs scoring on solo homers.
But in the end, it was the Arizona bullpen that prevailed, as they held the Mets hitless over the final three frames while Sean Green imploded, allowing a runner inherited from Pedro Feliciano to score the winning run.
Notes
Ironically, the loss was tagged on Feliciano, even though it was Green who shat the bed. Sometimes there is no justice in baseball scoring. Note: Feliciano was charged with the loss on the MLB official boxscore posted 10 minutes after the game; it has since been amended.
The 8th inning was a prime example of why the Diamondbacks are in second-to-last place and going nowhere this year. After Sean Green hit Justin Upton, walked Mark Reynolds on four pitches to load the bases, and was clearly struggling to keep the ball within six feet of home plate (seriously, not an exaggeration), genius Miguel Montero swung at a 1-0 pitch to bounce into a tailor-made DP started by Dan Murphy. Minutes later Green bounced a ball to the backstop to allow a run anyway, but it could’ve been much worse. If I’m manager A.J. Hinch (meh), I have the take sign on until Green shows he can throw two balls near the plate. If it were Miguel Cabrera at the plate instead of Miguel Montero, I might think differently … though it would be tough. After Green bounced in the run, Ryan Roberts swung at the very next pitch and eventually grounded out to end the inning. Again, you see a pitcher struggling mightily, don’t help him! Green was darn lucky to get out of there with only one run — any decent-hitting team would have scored 3-4 runs at minimum.
And while we’re on the subject of fundamentals, Ron Darling mentioned during the ninth that a hitter in a sacrifice situation should start the bat at the top of the strike zone — this way, if the pitch is above the bat, you know to let it go. I personally do not like this approach, because when the bat is up high, it means you have to move it down for strikes — and when you move a bat down to the ball, the ball tends to go up. Obviously, bunts should go down, toward the ground, which is why I’ve always preferred to start the bat low, at the bottom of the strike zone, and move it UP to the ball — which tends to impart an overspin on the ball, and sends the ball downward. Simple physics.
Frankie Rodriguez has not been in a save situation since the All-Star break. Wow.
The first two runs of the game came on homeruns hit on hanging curveballs. Mark Reynolds blasted a Livan curve a good 430 feet over the centerfield fence, while Dan Murphy jumped on a Davis deuce and bounced it off the rightfield foul pole, exactly 330 feet from home plate.
The two teams COMBINED for nine hits in the game. Miraculously, the Mets walked seven times — and not one of those baserunners scored. Davis issued six of those walks, and nearly all of them were of the “unintentional intentional” variety — he clearly picks and chooses who he wants to pitch to.
Angel Berroa pinch-hit for Livan Hernandez with two out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth. Have to say, if Berroa is the best you can do in that situation, I prefer to take my chances with Livan.
For the record, Jerry Manuel — the guy who admittedly “doesn’t put much into stats” — explained the decision by stating “Berroa’s had some success in the past against Arizona”. Um … hmmm … not sure how that’s a factor — does Berroa respond to the uniform rather than an individual’s stuff? In his career, Berroa has a .218 average vs. Arizona. Yes, last year Berroa hit .308 vs. the D’Backs, and against Doug Davis he was hitting .500 — but it was 1-for-2. Again, I may take my chances with Livan right there.
Angel Pagan and Luis Castillo are a combined 1-for-15 in the last two games heading the top of the lineup.
So with the Giants leading in the Wild Card standings, we have to root for the Phillies this weekend. Awesome.
Next Mets Game
The Mets and Rockies do it again at 7:10 PM at Citi Field. Oliver Perez faces Max Scherzer in an intriguing contest of talented enigmas. Both pitchers have the stuff to throw a no-hitter on the right night, and either could also disappear from the game before the fourth inning. No matter what, the crowd surely will be refreshed by cool breezes from the swings and misses siphoned from both lineups by these fireballers.
Window Shopping with Empty Pockets
Finally, a team has been identified as a seller — the Arizona Diamondbacks sold off middle reliever Tony Pena to the White Sox for AAA first baseman Brandon Allen. Presumably, the D’Backs will look to move several other contracts in the next few weeks, such as Felipe Lopez, Jon Garland, Tony Clark, Chad Tracy, Jon Rauch, Scott Schoeneweis, and others (Doug Davis? Chad Qualls?). Had Tom Gordon and Eric Byrnes not hit the DL, they also would be on the trade block. Any of those names incite interest from the Mets?
Garland was a hurler we discussed at length here in the offseason for his ability to eat innings. He has been a very expensive version of Livan Hernandez so far — usually gives 6-7 innings, but has had a handful of absolutely terrible starts. With the return of Ollie Perez — however unimpressive — the chance of the Mets trading for a starter is next to nil. Lopez would be a nice fill-in at shortstop while Jose Reyes is on the mend, but at what cost? If a middle reliever having a down year is worth a prospect at the level of Nick Evans or Dan Murphy (or maybe better), what will a starting shortstop fetch? Likely more than the Mets are willing to part with.
Which brings us back to the same tired story we drudge through every year at this time — the Mets do not have the chips to offer in a trade that would sufficiently fill their needs. What makes this year more difficult than years past is that the Mets do not have the advantage of money. For example, in 2006 the Mets did not have the chips, but had the ability to take on a bad contract — i.e., Shawn Green and Guillermo Mota. Thanks in part to Bernie Madoff, the Mets are unlikely to pick up an overpaid veteran in return for a nondescript minor leaguer at the deadline this year.
But, we’ll do some window shopping anyway. Just because we can’t afford to buy a new 50″ LCD TV, doesn’t mean we can’t check them out at the store.
In addition to the Diamondbacks, we can safely assume that the Blue Jays, Orioles, Nationals, and Padres are also sellers. It’s hard to identify the Athletics as a seller, since they just acquired veteran outfielder Scott Hairston, but you never know what’s going on in the mind of Billy Beane. Similarly, though the Indians are a dozen games out of first, they’re still clinging to the idea of finishing strong and having a bounceback year in 2010, so I’m not sure they can be called “sellers” just yet.
Over the next few days, we’ll go over the identified “sellers”, in no particular order. First up, Toronto.
Toronto Blue Jays
The Jays just released B.J. Ryan and have made Roy Halladay available for a bounty similar to “what the Rangers obtained for Mark Teixeira”. Would the Mets be so bold as to make such a deal? A package would almost certainly have to start with Mike Pelfrey, and/or Jose Reyes. This is the best pitcher in MLB — hands down — and under contract through 2010. A deal might also include Alex Rios, who is a nice young talent but could turn out to be overpaid.
From the Mets’ perspective, it’s a deal that could make sense, even if it involves Pelfrey and/or Reyes, but they’d have to get Rios and they’d have to believe he is about to blossom (I’m not sure that’s the case). It would be hard to lose with Johan Santana and Halladay heading a rotation, and some scouts believe Rios is the next Carlos Beltran — who is not getting any younger and whose contract is up after 2011. In contrast, Rios is locked up through 2015, at a relatively inexpensive $12-13M per season. I say “relatively inexpensive” because you have to buy into the idea that the 28-year-old Rios is on the verge of stardom.
Interestingly, Rios’ career path thus far is somewhat similar to Beltran’s early years — look at their basic offensive numbers at the same ages. Both players had seasons in their mid-20s where they hit .300+, struck out 100+ times, and hit 40+ doubles. The biggest contrast is in the homeruns and RBI — Beltran was clubbing 20-25 HRs and driving in 100 a year from age 22, whereas Rios has had only one 20+ homer season thus far and not yet collected 100 RBI. But, it could be argued that Rios’ doubles power and speed is a better fit for spacious Citi Field, and at $6M less per year, could be a similar value — a “poor man’s Beltran”, so to speak.
Likely, the Mets aren’t making that deal anyway. Even more likely, they won’t make a play for veteran 1B / OF Kevin Millar, no matter how cheap he’ll be to acauire and no matter how fitting his righthanded bat and positive clubhouse personality. Tony Bernazard calls the shots in the Mets’ front office, and he still holds a grudge against Millar from Bernazard’s days with the MLBPA (Millar was a scab who crossed the picket line in 1994). Yes, Millar’s best days are behind him, and you don’t want Nick Evans losing at-bats to him, but his value is in his clubhouse presence. It wouldn’t hurt to have a few more strong personalities — with winning backgrounds — mingling with Wrights, Evanses Murphys, F-Marts, and other young players.
The Blue Jays will probably dangle 1B Lyle Overbay in front of teams, and though the Mets might be interested in a first baseman, the 32-year-old, underachieving Overbay — an older, lighter-hitting version of Nick Johnson — shouldn’t be on their radar. Similarly, David Dellucci should be available, but is he an upgrade over, say, Angel Pagan?
Either Marco Scutaro or John McDonald would be ideal plug-ins to help out Alex Cora up the middle, but again there’s the question — what would it take to pry one of them away, and would it be worth the cost? If it’s only Argenis Reyes, go for it, but if it’s going to take a legitimate prospect, it’s probably a “no” — it would smell too much like the Melvin Mora for Mike Bordick debacle of yesteryear.
Other than Halladay, the Jays don’t have any presumably available pitchers that jump out at you. Brian Tallet? Scott Downs? I don’t think so. And looking again at Halladay, there is something that “jumps out” — his age, which is 32. He’s showing no signs of slowing down, but if you acquire him, you are essentially saying that your team is going for broke in 2009 and 2010 and then letting him walk, because at age 34 he won’t be worth the multi-year, $20M+ per year contract he’ll command on the open market.
Bottom line? Assuming the Mets have to send the type of talent I think they have to, a Halladay deal isn’t worth it, because he alone won’t deliver a postseason appearance. Though, I’m intrigued by Rios, and would consider sending a top prospect away for him (yes, I mean F-Mart / Niese / Flores). I like F-Mart, but believe he’s at least 3-4 years away from where Rios is right now, and Rios *should* be at this level for at least another 3-4 years. It’s kind of like the A.J. Burnett for Al Leiter deal — would you do it again, knowing it would take Burnett several years to evolve into an Al Leiter-level pitcher? But don’t worry — the Mets would never, ever trade the very cheap and very young F-Mart for the very expensive Rios.
Picking up Scutaro for nothing would be nice, but unlikely. And if JP Ricciaridi is interested in an “out of the box” deal, I’d float the idea of trading Tony Bernazard for Kevin Millar.
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