Dodgers Trade Juan Pierre to White Sox
The Dodgers have traded Juan Pierre to the White Sox. What does this mean to the Mets? Read more
Jones, Gonzalez, Vizquel Off the Table
The first free agents of this winter’s pool have agreed to terms with new teams: Alex Gonzalez has moved on to the Toronto Blue Jays, and both Andruw Jones and Omar Vizquel are moving from Texas to the Chicago White Sox.
How do these signings affect the Mets? Read more
Mets Claim Jack Egbert
In a surprise move to bolster their pitching staff, the Mets have claimed Jack Egbert off waivers from the Chicago White Sox and added him to their 40-man roster.
I say “surprise” because it’s rare to see a roster move this late in the season.
To make room for Egbert, the Mets moved Fernando Martinez to the 60-day disabled list, as he had his visa stolen and cannot return to the US continues to recover from surgery on his right knee.
Normally, a 26-year-old pitcher with a 5.05 ERA in AAA wouldn’t excite me, but Egbert is a Rutgers grad, Rutherford, NJ resident, and was born in Staten Island. And you know what? I generally like rooting for the local guys. Who knows, I might run into Egbert at the Colonial Diner one morning, and that would be kool (and the gang).
Egbert dominated A and AA ball but has had trouble with AAA. His stuff is ordinary — a sinking fastball that sits around 88-90 MPH and a plus change-up are his main pitches, and he also throws a decent curveball for strikes. His main attributes are durability, control, and ground balls. At best he’s a #5 starter in MLB, but his poor 2009 showing sent his stock in a downward spiral. In short, he’s another Lance Broadway.
I’m fond of this pickup — partially because he’s a local kid and mainly because the Mets are finally adding AAA-level pitchers with a possible future to their AAA squad. Egbert may never make it to MLB with the Mets but at least he has some youth. For years we’ve seen too many has-beens and never-wases stocked in Buffalo and New Orleans — guys who were on the wrong side of 30 and just hanging around (i.e., Adam Pettyjohn, Kyle Snyder, Jose Santiago, Nate Field, Brandon Knight, Brian Lawrence, etc.). This year, Buffalo had nothing more than filler material packing their roster, and it bit the Major League club in the butt when all the injuries occurred. Egbert may have been a disappointment this year but he’s still young enough to make a rebound. In contrast, the Jose Santiagos and Brandon Knights of the world have established themselves as career minor leaguers after, well, spending their career in the minors.
I’d rather not know what I have in hopes that it might be better than I think, than know what I have and be sure it’s not up to MLB snuff.
Octavio Dotel Would Like to Pitch for the Mets
MLBTradeRumors picked up this tidbit from the Chicago Sun-Times:
Octavio Dotel said he approached the club about his immediate future and a contract extension last month and was told he wasn’t in the plans. The reliever at least appreciated the Sox being upfront with him. As he turns his attention to free agency, New York is atop his wish list. The Mets are his first choice and the Yankees second.
Well, it would be a few years too late, but, heck, he’d slot right in as the top middle reliever on the Mets right now.
Though Dotel projects as a Type A free agent, that’s not a huge issue for the Mets. Since the team will finish as one of the worst 15 teams in MLB, they won’t surrender a #1 draft pick if they sign a Type A — though they will lose their #2 pick.
In 61 games this year, the 35-year-old reliever has a 3.36 ERA and 1.46 WHIP with 74 Ks in 61 IP.
Next Year’s Left Fielder
According to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times (thanks to a link via MLBTradeRumors), Jermaine Dye does not have a future with the White Sox.
Dye and the ChiSox have a mutual $12M option for 2010, and there is no way the Sox pick that up — not with the 35-year-old having the worst half-season of his career — he’s hitting .168 since the All-Star Break.
There were rumors of a White Sox – Mets trade last winter, with Dye the coveted piece from Omar Minaya’s perspective. Even with his bad second half, this smells a lot like a typical Minaya roll of the band-aid dice. Can you say “Moises Alou” ?
Before you go complaining that “the Mets need to get younger and more athletic”, remember that they have absolutely NO outfielders in their minor league system who are ready to step in and play left field on an everyday basis for a championship team. We saw that Fernando Martinez is at least two years away from being a contributor, much less a star. We’ve seen that Dan Murphy can’t play the position well enough as an everyday player. We are seeing that Angel Pagan has a tremendous physical package but a disconnect between his body and his head. We have been told that Chris Carter is just as bad as Murphy in the outfield. We are not seeing Nick Evans for reasons unknown — but if he’s not playing now, he certainly isn’t being seriously considered as an everyday player in 2010.
So left field will most likely be filled by someone currently outside the organization. It will have to be someone who can be signed cheaply and on a short-term contract, as the Mets will want to keep the position available for when F-Mart is ready. Forget about Matt Holliday / Jason Bay — it ain’t happening. Enter Jermaine Dye, whose stock has fallen drastically in the last two months and therefore could be signed to a favorable, one-year, incentive-laden deal.
“I’ve never struggled like this before, never had a whole half that has been nothing. Over the course of a career, I think that’s pretty good. The five years I’ve been here I’ve had five pretty good years, and it just so happened that I struggled here at the end, we were fighting to get into the playoffs, and it’s just the way it is.”
The struggling Dye was out of the starting lineup on Tuesday, unable to change the .168 second half he’s had with just five homers and 19 RBI. A second half he has no explanation for.
“I have no clue,” Dye said. “I put in the work and sometimes it doesn’t work out. There’s nothing wrong with the mechanics. When you struggle, the pitches you should hit you foul off. The pitches you take normally when you feel good they’re balls, they’re strikes now. When you struggle everything goes wrong. This second half it just didn’t happen.”
Signing Dye goes against the plan of rebuilding the club with youth. But the truth is, the Mets don’t have a plan. They like to talk about plans and then change them on the fly as the circumstances around them change. Omar Minaya and the Wilpons will likely spout about youth, athleticism, etc., but we’ve heard it all before, on several occasions, for the past 15 years. In the end it’s about “the brand”, and signing Dye gives the Mets a known entity who can step right in to the season-ticket sales campaign lineup and provide hope. Another patch to keep the dream alive.
We have plenty of time to discuss whether or not signing Dye would be a good move for the Mets. But you know Minaya is already thinking about it.
Ramon Castro Traded to White Sox
As had been rumored, catcher Ramon Castro has been traded to the Chicago White Sox in return for RHP Lance Broadway.
The deal cements Omir Santos’ place on the 25-man roster as the current backup to the returning Brian Schneider. Manager Jerry Manuel, however, said that although Schneider would get the bulk of the playing time “at first”, he would more or less have to perform to remain the regular backstop.
At first glance, the trade appears to be a good one for all sides. The White Sox get a slugging righthanded-hitting catcher to platoon with A.J. Pierzynski, the Mets make room for Santos while also ridding themselves of a player in need of constant motivation, Castro gets a chance to play for a manager who will push him, the Mets get a young middle reliever to add to their AAA depth, and Broadway goes to an organization that may have more use for him than the one he’s leaving.
The White Sox have good depth in their bullpen, leaving little room and patience for the 25-year-old Broadway, who has struggled in his short stints in MLB over the past three seasons.
However, Broadway was the 15th overall pick in the 2005 draft, and as recently as last January was Chicago’s #2 prospect according to Baseball America. He is a tall Texan who can throw four pitches for strikes, but his velocity rarely gets above 90 MPH. If he can ever find consistent command of those four pitches, he would project as a Greg Maddux type of pitcher. The White Sox gave up on him as a starter, and though he remained one as a minor leaguer, he’s since been projected as an MLB middle reliever. I’m not sure how that will pan out, as it’s tough to pitch in that role as a junkballer. In any case, he’s being sent to Buffalo, and we’ll find out soon what plans the Mets have for him. My guess is they’ll plug him into the rotation at first to get a good look at him / give him innings to show what he can do.
The Mets did send cash back to Chicago, though the amount was undisclosed at press time.
As David Lennon tweeted, Broadway has a good name for New York City.
White Sox Sign Bartolo Colon
According to Ken Rosenthal, the Chicago White Sox have signed Bartolo Colon to a one-year contract.
Nice pickup by the ChiSox, who simply needed an extra guy to vie for a back-end rotation spot. They add Colon to the competition for the #5 slot and as insurance behind Jose Contreras, who is coming off an injury.
Personally, I would have liked to have seen the Mets bring in Colon, despite his physical similarity to Shamu. Despite his weight issues — which no doubt have contributed to his health issues — when he’s on the mound, he’s a tough competitor and knows how to win. In fact I would be happy if the Mets brought in four or five guys of Colon’s caliber to compete for the last two spots in the starting rotation. The more the merrier, and to me it’s better to take chances on pitchers who have succeeded in the past (Colon, Pedro Martinez, Freddy Garcia, etc.) than guys who have never been more than mediocre (i.e., Tim Redding). But hey, what do I know?
One good thing for the Mets about this signing: it likely means that Freddy Garcia is off Chicago’s radar. The question, of course, is whether the Mets will roll the dice on Garcia, or let yet another starting pitcher with postseason experience elude their grasp.
No Truth to Dye – Bailey YET
Despite a report from Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News reporting that the White Sox traded outfielder Jermaine Dye to the Cincinnati Reds for young hurler Homer Bailey, there is yet confirmation that the deal is done — or even true.
This according to the grunts on the floor in Las Vegas, who are reporting via Twitter (go to Twitter search and type in #bwm to get the frenzied reports on a minute-by-minute basis), as well as from Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune.
I don’t see the Reds making a deal, since their pitching is a little iffy and would appear to be in something of a rebuilding mode. This time last year, Bailey’s stock was higher than that of Mike Pelfrey. Though he seemed to take a step backward in 2008, Bailey is still only 22 years old and has a world of talent. Those of us (myself included) were impatient with Pelfrey, but he certainly turned it around — Bailey has the same capability.
By the way the same story by Gonzales claims that the Mets-White Sox talks for Bobby Jenks never went anywhere, because the Mets didn’t want to part with Bobby Parnell. C’mon now, are you kidding me? That’s sillier than the Heilman / Feliciano / Huston Street rumor. If Parnell was the holdup in the deal then I fully expect the Mets to stop looking for a closer and give the job to Parnell. There had to be more to that story.
Sherman: Putz Yes Bradford No
In his most recent column, Joel Sherman is reporting on several rumors. We’ll go over them one by one.
Jenks / Dye / F-Mart
Sherman claims there is nothing to the rumor that the Mets will trade Fernando Martinez to the White Sox as part of a package for Bobby Jenks and Jermaine Dye:
“Talked to a few Met officials who called it nonsense. The Mets have made Martinez all but untouchable.”
J.J. Putz
However, Sherman does report that the Mariners are making J.J. Putz available:
What falls under the category of real, the Post has learned, is that the Mariners have made J.J. Putz available.
Gee, thanks for scoop! However the rest of the planet above that rock the Post has been under, heard this about a month ago.
Sherman goes on to state:
“The Mets like Putz as much – or possibly more – than any of the available free-agent closers.”
Not sure why they’re so high on Putz, though I like him better than Fuentes. Do they know he’ll be 32 years old in February? That his walk rate increased dramatically in 2008? (From 13 in 72 IP in 2007 to 28 BB in 46 IP in ‘08.) Do they know he had a balky elbow last season, one that put him on the DL for a month? I’m not sure I’d be so quick to trade young healthy prospects for this guy.
and
“I do keep hearing from both inside and outside the Met organization that they really are dead set against giving either Rodriguez or Fuentes more than three guaranteed years. They certainly are not going to give more than three years unless an agent for Fuentes or K-Rod can show an offer from somewhere else for more than three years. It is hard to unearth a team that is ready to go to four years for one of them. The Mets are scared about Kerry Wood’s injury history, but if he were willing to do a two-year contract and come to New York he would become as appealing to the Mets as either K-Rod or Fuentes.”
Have to agree with Sherman here — it makes no sense for the Mets to go more than three years for either K-Rod or Fuentes, when it’s unlikely anyone else is willing to give them a longer deal. I bet Kerry Wood is willing to take a two-year deal — the only issue is whether he wants to pitch in New York. Why give three years plus your #1 pick for the other guys when you can get someone nearly as good for two years and no pick? Of course, an MRI of his shoulder is a prerequisite, but Rodriguez and Fuentes do not come without risk — either may be on the brink of a breakdown, for all we know.
Chad Bradford
Sherman says the Rays offered ChadBrad to the Mets, but there was no interest:
“The Rays offered Chad Bradford to the Mets because $3.5 million is too much in Tampa’s world for a set-up man, and Ray officials were shocked when the Mets told them it is too much for them, as well.”
If this is true, I’m equally shocked — beyond belief. After seeing Bradford pitch better for one season than any other 6th-7th inning guy in Mets history, and seeing him continue to be effective after leaving New York, and knowing that his underhanded style allows him to pitch, literally, every day, and seeing how cheap he is relative to other middle relievers, there simply is no logical explanation for the Mets to balk at such an offer. Now, if the Rays were asking for Daniel Murphy, I understand. But if it was a salary dump, and the Rays were looking to open a conversation, this makes no sense.
The only reasoning that makes sense — again, if the rumor is true — is that by bringing back ChadBrad, the Mets think it will make them look like the bungling idiots for allowing him to walk away in the first place. Because if you remember, they thought Bradford wasn’t worth a 3-year deal (but somehow, Scott Schoeneweis was).
C’mon now …. swallow your pride, admit your mistake, and trade a bag of balls for Chad Bradford. He can pitch in ANY relief situation (including closer, if necessary), he’s cheap, he has one year left, and he’s better than anyone currently listed as a reliever on the 40-man roster.
F-Mart for Jenks?
John Perrotto of Baseball Prospectus suggests that the White Sox and Mets are talking about a blockbuster trade that would send Fernando Martinez to Chicago in return for Bobby Jenks and Jermaine Dye.
Strange, as Jermaine Dye — who has a no-trade clause — has repeatedly stated that he is not interested in going to a New York team. Maybe he can be persuaded after all.
If the rumor is true, the only problem I have is that Ken Williams — like Billy Beane — seems to have a brilliant knack for trading away pitchers at just the right time and acquiring pitchers at just the right time. My guess is that Aaron Heilman would also be part of the deal.
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