That's certainly easy to say at this point in time. I'd be interested to see how Manuel feels about that situation when Manny starts dogging it in years two and three of any potential contract. And if you thought the Boston media was all over him during his time here, wait till the NY media gets their hands on THAT situation. It would be a bloodbath.
I would venture it safe to say manny learned his lesson. Either way, Ill take my chances. When the Mets are holding up the first of what will be 2 or 3 WS titles over those 3 or 4 years the media will just have to eat their words. Reyes (SS) Beltran (CF) Manny (LF) Wright (3B) Delgado (1B) Church (RF) Schneider (C) Pitcher Slapstillo (2B) Bench: Murphy, Tatis, Alex Cora, Ramon Castro, Marlon Anderson/3rd Catcher/whoever Johan Pelfrey Ollie Maine Niese/Garcia 8th: Putz 9th: Krod **
if i were the mets id be more worried about my rotation then my lineup......id take a chance on sheets before i took at a chance on manny
It would be a tremendous pickup for the Mets. He's the best right handed hitter we might ever see (if Pujols continues to produce at his current level, he might have something to say about that, but I digress), and I know Red Sox fans (and Dodger fans, to a lesser extent) can attest to the fact that its an absolute pleasure to watch the guy hit on a daily basis. All that said, I'd be careful about thinking the guy learned his lesson. If I'm an organization giving him a multi-year deal, I'd be awfully nervous about his behavior in the 2nd and 3rd years of that contract. Remember, his issues weren't just one isolated incident in Boston. He had been causing problems in the clubhouse around the trade deadline for about three years prior to 2008. What's the old saying? A zebra can't change (or hide) his stripes..
Ideally, Id like it to be 2 plus a club option for a 3rd year or a vesting 3rd year option. That way his first year you know he will produce and his second year hes likely to behave since the club will have an option but Id do whatever it take to take the pressure off of Wright. Theres 3 positions the mets are going to get below average production from right now; LF, 2B, and C and LF is just the one with an elite hitter available who is good enough to help compensate production-wise for the shortcomings of the other 2 spots. I too would prefer Sheets over Perez as well but the Mets seem more inclined to go with the healthier player rather then the better one there. Plus Perez does do pretty well within the division, especially against Howard.
I hardly believe he'd go for a 3 year, 4th year team option because then the Dodgers would've already pounced. I know the Mets suck at fielding , but Manny's defense is declining and unfortunately, the NL doesn't have DH positions, so they're still in the same pool as the Dodgers. Which is why such a long term contract is really inadvisable. And that doesn't even include possible "incidents". He can hit but his defensive liabilities mean 2 year, 3rd team option is all he should get from an NL team. And the Dodgers can outbid anyone for that. I mean heck, we offered a contract that would've made a Yankee proud and he declined.
First of all if the Wilpons ever opened their checkbook the Mets could financially crush every teams payroll in the NL. The McCourts are not on that kind of financial playing field. The old ownership could have played in the same ballpark as the Mets who are the second highest grossing team after the NYY who distance everyone by millions. Further, the Mets have a track record of going one more year just to get the player they want. They did it with Glavine, they did it with pedro, they did it with Wagner. they should do it with manny. The attributes he brings are exactly what this team needs.
Yes, I'm sure Pedro was a great 4 year investment. That's exactly what Manny would be if they went the extra year. Good for a year then trouble the next three. Ought to learn a bit from that lesson. McCourt put up $25 mil a season (more than Santana's value) on the table and frankly, common sense would dictate that it's as high as it should be. Anything more and Wilpon might want to get his head checked as well as let someone with common sense handle the books before he goes broke. He's an offensive player who doesn't contribute to defense. I'm sure the Mets don't need more defensive liabilities especially in a deeper left field at Citi. And certainly not for a bloated and stupid 4 year contract. You might as well sign Adam Dunn or Andruw Jones for cheaper.
Without Pedro there was no Beltran, no Wagner so it was a great investment. Beltran has openly said this. As far as 25m a season...If A Fraud gets 30, Manny could get 30 cause manny >>>> Arod in clutch spots. And Dunn and Jones are trash. Dont half-*** it. We go all the way in NY when it comes to spending money on payrolls lol.
lol, $30 mil a season for more than 2 seasons for Manny is about as financially wise as buying Freddie Mac stock or investing with Madoff (oops, too late for Wilbon ). Even Dodger fans are questioning $25 million a year long-term and we want him just as much as Met fans. Shhh...you don't wanna get the "But Dunn has a high OBP" supporters on ya. Gotta agree on that though, NY spends a lot on payrolls for better or worse (these days worse if you consider Jerome James, Eddy Curry, and Luis Castillo). Of course, if Manny ends up a Met (which is hopefully unlikely), I'm sure I'd hope he'd add to that list.
I dont care what it takes. Just get Manny. By the way, this is pretty funny: Manny rally outside SNY tomorrow during Mets Hot Stove http://www.metsblog.com/2009/01/28/read-manny-to-the-mets-thoeries/ Damn I hope it happens!
Oh it happened; per Metsblog... "Outstanding. I’m watching SNY’s Mets Hot Stove Show, and there is indeed a crowd outside the windows, behind the desk, visible on air, with people holding signs, wearing jerseys and calling for Manny Ramirez." They go on to speculate how theyre not in the bidding for manny, how signing manny and Ollie Perez puts them over the luxury tax threshold something wilpon has been adamant about not going over, blah blah blah. I like to call this artificial skepticism. Just my humble opinion, but they dont want the fans backlash if they dont get manny for whatever reason so they create a smokescreen or a reason to not get Manny. They did the same thing with Vlad and his "back issues". Purely idiotic but thats what happens when you have PR paranoid ownership....
lol, actually I meant Mets getting Manny. Wouldn't want them to get him over us just because the fans have a rally. An ownership with ties to Madoff certainly should be paranoid right now.
Alright, this whole ordeal has officially reached circus status. Varitek just needs to go away and the FO needs to make a deal for a young catcher. I know everyone won't necessarily agree, but the guy sucks. http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2009/01/30/sox_varitek_at_odds/
Found this interesting...I heard about such a rule, but never really new the details.... http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090129&content_id=3784888&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy No Manny to Yanks...woohoo. The list of unsigned Type A players includes Manny Ramirez, Oliver Perez, Jason Varitek, Orlando Cabrera, Juan Cruz, Orlando Hudson and Ben Sheets. The Type B list includes Paul Byrd, Dennys Reyes and Brian Shouse.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090129&content_id=3784858&vkey=hotstove2008&fext=.jsp Marquee names still looking for a home Economy, large number of free agents leaving many unsigned http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/news/hot_sto...astatus=unsigned&subscope=pos&teamPosCode=all with Pitchers and Catchers getting set to report Feb 14th...lots of talent still available.
ESPN reports Sox and Varitek reach 1 yr deal.... MLB says nearing: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090130&content_id=3785356&vkey=hotstove2008&fext=.jsp
Adam Dunn is going to be a big catch for someone IMO. hes very underrated with what he brings with his bat. and if someone can get him for $7-8 Million to play DH he would be a steal.
so mariners are rumored to be talking to minnesota about delmon young(http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/baseball/archives/161027.asp?source=rss). the talks were washburn+clement for delmon young. not sure why minnesota would want clement they already have mauer. i don't know without trading morrow and still getting delmon young i would be pretty happy. something like washburn, clement, and yuni betancourt for young? i dont know but if we got young, add shipped off washburns contract, we could sign abreu who has been having talks with seattle. it wouldnt be a bad lineup Ichiro RF Gutierrez CF Abreu DH Beltre 3B Young LF Lopez 2B Branyan, Sweeney or someone else hopefully lol 1B Johjima(Unless Clement isn't traded) C Cedeno SS felix bedard(if healthy) silva morrow ryan roland smith thats not bad, i like it for year 1 of rebuilding. hopefully something happens for young.
Ben Sheets considering surgery that will keep him out most of, possibly all of 2009 season. No wonder he isnt signed yet. Link
Football is a much different sport than baseball. Bad teams can get lucky and make the playoffs due to the strength of their schedule and what division they're in etc. We'll just leave it at that. I'm be very surprised if Baltimore didn't finish in last place, simply because the Blue Jays, Rays, Yankees and Red Sox are all better and more talented. The O's just aren't a very good baseball team.
The Rays do, and a lot of people still said that about us before last year... but id agree with 162 game schedule in baseball, its usually the best teams at the end
People have to be realistic sometimes. The difference between the Rays is they have talent with both the big league club and in the minors. The O's don't have either right now aside from a few people. They're a long way away from being good again.
Dunn signs a 2 year deal with the Nats. Makes perfect sense: Bowden, no pressure, losing team WASHINGTON -- The Nationals finally got their left-handed slugging first baseman, signing free agent Adam Dunn to a two-year contract Wednesday, according to a baseball source. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The Nationals are expected to hold a news conference at Nationals Park on Thursday. General manager Jim Bowden was not immediately available for comment. Abreu to Anaheim, per rotoworld: According to the Los Angeles Times, the Angels are expected to sign Bobby Abreu to a one-year contract "by the start of spring training Saturday." The newspaper reports that Abreu is scheduled to undergo a physical exam Wednesday and the Angels are expected to waive Nick Green to make room on the 40-man roster. Abreu has played right field for virtually his entire career, but would likely replace Garret Anderson in left field while also seeing time at designated hitter. SI.com reports that the deal is worth around $5 million plus incentives, which is a major bargain. Feb. 11 - 9:12 am et Source: Los Angeles Times
I know a few members on this board will be happen if Griffey Jr. signs w/ the Mariners. M's and Griffey talking
I know I would, he will never hit 40 homers ever again or crash into the wall for a great catch, but I feel he can get some quality AB's for us. Trust me we need all the offensive help we can get.... Whatever happened to that fat rookie we had a while back dont remember his name but he could hit some bombs(when he made contact), call him and Jay Buhner and lets start scoring some runs.
meh..not a big fan of it to be honest. we need to let our guys develop and move on from him. we have to many young guys who need at bats, for him to take away from them.
Just think dude, if Omar hadnt messed up so bad an signed Slapstillo last offseason the Mets would have had Abreu and Hudson for slightly more then it cost us for Cora and Slapstillo. I think its safe to say this would steam any fanbase.
It pisses me off that Orlando's contract was really cheap. It is reported that he signed a 1 year deal for $3.4 mil... to me, this is peanuts in regard to upgrading over Castillo. As for Mr. Hudson, he kinda got burnt because I know he was looking for something in the $8+mil a year range... I guess he has to have a good season to catch a bigger contract next time around.
For another 1.4 million over Cora we could have had Hudson. I like Omar but he really burnt himself with the Castillo and Cora signings. Cora bring some leadership but man he cant identify a 2B to save his butt.
I love that it was so cheap. Great bargain to shore up our infield defensively. Hudson will definitely be motivated when he plays for us and that's a bonus to the 1 year deal. Gives us a year to further groom DeWitt (who I can hope will learn some batting lessons from Hudson) and lets us compete better in the present.
Just sucks for you guys that you had to give up the 17th pick to get him when MLB was discussing a rule change to allow the D-backs to do a sign and trade with him and Juan Cruz, both Type A Fa's who no one seemed to want to give that 1st round compensation for. EDIT: Twins FINALLY signed Crede. They needed a 3B desperately; I cant believe this took so long. Good move by them; have to think theyre the favorites in the AL Central.
