A day after losing their franchise player the Mets went on the offensive and you may or may not like the moves. The Chris Paul sweepstakes got sweeter and the Dwight Howard sweepstakes got even weirder. Then there are those pesky Marlins who are making news during baseball’s winter meetings. Plus more in today’s links links links links!
The Mets decided to be aggressive on the trade and free agent front and made a few moves a day after officially losing Jose Reyes to the Miami Marlins. According to multiple reports, the Mets traded Angel Pagan for Andres Torres and Ramon Ramirez and signed Jon Rauch to a one year deal and Frank Francisco to a two year deal.
Ok, these aren’t earth shattering deals meant to make everyone forget that one of their franchise cornerstones just left for one of their division rivals. But the thinking, I believe, is to spread the money they would’ve allocated to Reyes on several parts which they need. The Mets don’t have depth on the major league level and in a move to address that they traded and got a two for one. They got pretty much the same player in Andres Torres for Angel Pagan. Torres can hit for more power and is more patient and will take walks and is a nice prototypical leadoff man while Ramon Ramirez is a hard throwing righty who instantly upgrades their bullpen. All three players in the deal are up for arbitration but the 31 year old Torres is under team control for another year beyond this one. The Mets meanwhile addressed the closer situation somewhat by adding two candidates who will evidently compete for the job. Jon Rauch is the former Washington National so Met fans will be familiar with him. Frank Francisco is the former Texas Ranger closer who famously threw a chair into the stands and went and attacked a fan.
Pagan was regressing last year after a breakout 2010 campaign which gave Met fans hope for a future that never was. Hear that Sandy? Hope that never was. But he is a very able lead off man but he doesn’t draw walks, isn’t patient at the plate and is very wild in his approach. Sometimes he takes weird angles at the baseball and its difficult to make a case that they absolutely had to keep him. Now, could the Mets have gotten a better offer during the year? Possibly. But you don’t bet on someone like Pagan to get better. I thought the front office did a great job here by getting a power relief arm and a comparable Center field option who most scouts believe is a better defensive solution there than Pagan with a bit more pop.
Look, it is what it is. The Mets are operating under a small market philosophy and business wise I get what Sandy is saying. If the Mets win and attract gate receipts the ability to expand payroll will come but they have to get out of the negative first and that’s a legitemate concern for an ownership group that is obviously bleeding money and need to save wherever they can. Of course the Mets have no wiggle room this season if indeed they hope to compete seeing what the Marlins are doing and what the Phillies are already doing and what the Nationals have in store for the future and beyond. The Mets are in trouble and had better fix this thing going forward.
As always for more analysis, you can go to Metsblog.com and read up on all the latest Met news as it relates to the Winter meetings.
Get ready for what I’m about to tell you. The Miami Marlins have made a legit 10 year offer to Albert Pujols which is rumored to be more than $200 million which he is mulling over as we speak. Joel Sherman of the New York Post says the Marlins have hijacked the Winter Meetings with their spending spree, but Ken Davidoff of Newsday is highly doubtful that the Marlins can sustain this model. Brian Burwell of the St Louis Post Dispatch says that the Cardinals are playing a dangerous game with the face of their franchise and Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald says that this offer to Pujols needs some perspective.
Most people were pretty curious as to whether the Marlins were for real after talking about making a splash this winter and boy have they been. After getting their closer Heath Bell signed to a 3 year/$27 million deal, they went and stole former New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes for 6 years/$106 million. The news making its rounds yesterday was that the Marlins had made a 10 year offer to Albert Pujols and had even went to the Commissioner’s Office to submit their proposal and perhaps run it by them to see if it worked under the parameters of the new CBA. The buzz was that Albert would decide last night but as of 7:30 AM EST, he had not decided on either club. This obviously forced the Cards to up their former 9 year offer to 10 and over the $200 million mark that they had not budged on prior to the Marlins major sales push. Also adding to the intrigue is that the Cubs have made a mystery offer which most folks speculate is not nearly as long as either the Marlins or Cardinals offer but offers more per year than both deals while a mystery team has also put in a deal north of $200 million which seems to be the market for the best slugger not linked to steroids of this generation.
Look, in the end I think he resigns with the Cardinals because he understands that his legacy would take a hit by leaving St Louis and doing it for the money. The Marlins and Cardinals share the same spring training facility which would make things pretty dicey and interesting come February if he were to switch teams. I think the Marlins have to outbid the Cards by atleast $20-30 million for Pujols to ever realistically consider their offer which is what most think he’s doing. I think the Cardinals offer isn’t that much better and may be feeling a bit peeved that he’s even in this position. He’s helped this team win two World Series, 3 MVP trophies and had a better first ten years to his career than any player in baseball history. Are we all surprised that he even made free agency? Yes. But the fact that he was looking at Alex Rodriguez’s 10 year/$275 million contract for comparison may have scared off the Cardinals who probably could play within that framework but don’t want to. And if its a will issue then the representatives for Pujols, Dan Lazano may tell Pujols that maybe his services would be better appreciated in a warmer climate with a much bigger Latin fan base and a team that is clearly making an all out push.
Here’s the thing that will ultimately hurt the Marlins. They did not offer Pujols a no-trade and as per company policy will NOT do so for any player. Even Albert Pujols. Which given their history should be troubling to any free agent. There is no certainty that they will be able to draw in that market and so the possibility that they will have to sell off parts is very high considering that this is a franchise known for doing so. They did it in 1997 after winning a World Series and did it in 2003 after using those parts received in 1997 to win. But again, they wound up winning the World Series so there is SOME good news if you are a Marlins fan. You can expect a World Series, pending all these acquisitions, in about two years max. But I think Pujols won’t go, and I think he stays in St Louis but begrudgingly.
The Cubs are there to drive the price up obviously as I believe their main focus is Prince Fielder who has a history with their new manager Dave Sveum and is atleast four years younger than Albert Pujols and is very sturdy. Sources however indicate that the Mariners may be in the lead to acquire Prince. Their GM Jack Zrudineck drafted Prince originally in the Milwaukee system. The mystery team in the Pujols sweepstakes is rumored to be the Angels who have denied that they are despite reports indicating the opposite. Meanwhile within Joel Sherman’s news and notes he indicates that the Yankees are unlikely to move one of their major prospect pieces for either John Danks (whom officials close to trade negotiations with the White Sox believe are asking for a Ubaldo Jiminez like package) or Gio Gonzalez who suddenly have new suitors in the…you ready for this? The Phillies.
Day two of coverage of the Winter Meetings can be followed on the usual websites or MLBTradeRumors.com
The NBA schedule for all 30 franchises was released and obviously the Knicks are a front burner team who will appear nationally 27 times. Chris Sheridan of Sheridanhoops.com lays out the entire schedule while Howard Beck of the New York Times dissects the schedule for the Knicks.
The Knicks will open the season of course on Christmas as part of the NBA’s national opener with the Celtics at noon. They go out west and play teams with losing records from last year 7 out of the next 8 including Los Angeles after Boston. The Knicks one back to back to back features a meet with the Chicago Bulls on February 2nd, a trip to Boston on the 3rd, and back home against the Nets (who may have Dwight Howard alongside Deron Williams at that point). The Knicks play four games in five nights four times and appear nationally a healthy 27 out of 66 times which should feed the consensus that the league is very top heavy and friendly towards the big markets.
There are ways to go about this free agent process if you are the Hornets or Magic. One way is to explore all trade options and according to Adrian Woj of Yahoo Sports the CP3 trade talks are heating up with Stephan Curry’s name, Eric Gordon’s name and Rajon Rondo’s name being thrown as possible chips being dangled. Another is to have your now former CEO drunk dial your superstar center in the hopes of convincing him to stay.
Rights Reserved Orlando Sentinel
Ok what? As deals are pretty much finalizing before making them official on Friday, teams with superstars are holding on to them for dear life. The rumor mill is buzzing that the Lakers make a play at both CP3 and Dwight Howard. My thinking is that they get Dwight Howard after offering Odom and Bynum and a number one pick which I think the Magic would take. The CP3 sweepstakes is a bit tougher to understand because now stories are coming up that he will think about signing an extension if a team that acquires him signs Tyson Chandler. That would take a long term commitment which I’m not sure any team would be willing to do. Don’t get me wrong Chandler is a great defensive presence to have and obviously he and CP3 are close from their New Orleans days but how can any team go in blindly on Chandler without securing the services off CP3 who is destined to explore the free agent market and sign with a team of his choice. No matter what, I don’t believe his lust to go to New York has died down, but if its true that Eric Gordon is off the table for the Clips and the Warriors are not willing to trade Stephan Curry those teams don’t stand a chance and it may come down to taking an offer from New York which would be considerably worse than an offer from Los Angeles who could give them Pau Gasol. Here’s why I believe the Lakers have a small chance at landing both. The Lakers are motivated to make a move and I think if Magic GM is realistic, he will see that he has less than a 5% chance to keep his star center so he had better get another one now. Don’t let them lose Dwight for nothing like they did with Shaq a generation ago.
Didn’t get time to put up all the links so get ready for part two later on today.
acebook
witter
The Lazy Eye of Sports 