And Now For Something Different: Gary Matthews Jr
Posted by trs86 on 11:00am, Wednesday October 28th 2009
During my boring night last night I noticed a story on MLBTR: Gary Matthews Jr. Wants Out . My first reaction after reading the story is well if you did not suck so bad then maybe they could find room for you. Then I drifted to the idea that Matthews is a classic steroid type guy as far as his numbers go. Then as normal my mind drifted to how could this help the Mets? Granted I accept all of those previous points as true so his value is low and it has potential to blow up in my face either way. However, Matthews is owed 23 million for the next 2 years. That is roughly the same as our favorite whipping boy, Ollie Perez. Would the Mets be interested in unloading Ollie for a bad OF? Most likely not. What about Castillo who is still owed 12 million? The Angels have Kendrick,so there is not much need. Unless they would consider moving Kendrick to 3B to take Figgins spot. Would they be interested in working out an Andruw Jones deal? Seems like this would be the most possible. The Dodgers and Jones agreed to renegotiate his contract and then release him. It allowed the Dodgers payroll room and Jones the ability to go play where he was wanted. So on this boring day when nothing important is going on, would you be willing to A) Trade Oliver Perez for GMJR B) Trade Castillo for GMJR C) Take GMJR for near league minimum? D) None of the above, why the hell are we talking about GMJR?
So, here is where Wanny comes on and tells me I have lost my mind and we go on and on all day and the rest of you pretend you don’t exist while you laugh and wonder who actually has time to have such a spirited debate over something that will never happen. But at least it takes our mind off the damn Phillies and Yankees. And PS: will everyone PLEASE stop telling me who the hell to root for?
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You can root for the Knicks tonight.
Per GMJR, I agree w/ Wanny. lol
Since Ollie has more upside that GMJR, and it’s easier to get a light hitting CFer (we have a few on the bench) I’ll pass.
ROOT FOR THE YANKEES! GO JETER!
Yes! Put on your Joba PJs, and your I Love ARod slippersocks, and maybe you can have a pillow fight before the game!
“So, here is where Wanny comes on and tells me I have lost my mind and we go on and on all day and the rest of you pretend you don’t exist while you laugh and wonder who actually has time to have such a spirited debate over something that will never happen.”
I can’t say I disagree with any of this!
Have you taken a good look at what Gary Matthews produces?
Yikes!
At least Ollie is much younger and has put up two good years.
Gary Matthews might seriously be among the very worst options we could get for LF.
No doubt, but is he worse than having to deal with Oliver Perez tying up a spot in the rotation?
I guess I am under the premise that IF we did the trade then the LF money would go into getting 2 pitchers.
Thus is Lackey, uh Piniero and Matthews better than Lackey, Perez and average LF with leftover money?
With Kazmir, Santana, Saunders and Weaver already in the fold for 2010 and beyond, I have a hard time envisioning a scenario in which the Angels would take Ollie Perez.
Hmmm, for GMJR I think they would take Tom Glavine out of retirement.
If you believe that then you should recognize just how bad GMJr is.
LOL, my first comment was: “My first reaction after reading the story is well if you did not suck so bad then maybe they could find room for you.”
Well, D is clearly the answer here, with zero debate.
And Pineiro and Matthews is not better than ANYTHING.
If we wind up with either Pineiro or Matthews it really means that Omar is incompetent and/or it means that the Wilpons really do not care about winning.
Pineiro and Matthews is a take for a team like KC.
Pinerio to fill out the back of a rotation is for sure NOT a KC move. Netting Lackey and Pineiro would make for a very good rotation.
Same thing with Castillo. They already have a logjam at 2B with Kendrick and Izturis. Izturis may wind up at 3B next season but then they also will eventually have to keep Brandon Wood (can probably play any infield position at this point) on the roster or trade him somewhere else.
Yeah, and the fact that Castillo is a year younger, much cheaper, and a better player kind of makes it silly too.
As I said in the post, Castillo for them would make no sense and Perez for us would not make sense either.
Yankees in 4 - get it over with.
Now that I’ve got that out of the way….
I’ll pick D. He reminds me too much of Andrew Jones - which is a situation I’ll never understand unless it’s directly related to steriod use and the lack thereoff after a few years…
At least there is the premise Ollie might actually turn it around and contribute. I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility that a healthy Ollie can win 12 this year….
D
Marlon Byrd discussion over at MLBTR
Over on MLBTR there’s a snipit about D’Backs pitching prospect Jarrod Parker starting his own blog for pretty much any kind of discussion but specifically to keep all updated on his TJ surgery scheduled for today and followup rehab.
Interesting….how cool would it have been had Jose had a blog keeping us updated all season on how he was progressing. Like I can see the Mets allowing that but just saying….
He’d have to bring his iPhone to the Latin Quarter Nightclub and shoot some pictures for us to see how hard he was working!
Here’s another question for my in touch friends.
What is Luke Scott worth in a trade? Would the O’s be interested in moving him?
I think we/Omar needs to aim a little higher/better than Luke
Scott.
Can’t aim high EVERYWHERE Fongy.
My thought was Scott is cheap and plays LF and 1B, allowing the Mets to get Lackey and BP help.
Why not?
Not saying we get everything we want or need,
God knows..BUT
Omar needs to aim high and
if need be settle on something lower.
NOT pull a Tim Redding,signing
him quickly b/f
anyone else could then feeling that if the bigger fish
aren’t landed,
well atleast we
have an MLB
experienced SP.
We go big game hunting and if not all or any
work out then
theres still
will be guys out there in Feb&March.
So you are saying that the Mets should aim for Lackey, Holliday, Gonzalez, to fill all 3 spots and Drop 40M I got it. No reason to have a real plan, just do what’s easy and hope that you can get all the high priced guys before they sign somewhere else.
I am saying that you know you only have 32M to spend so why not trade for a decent cheap option in LF (cost 3M or so) and have 29M to spend on pitching, 1B and C?
im sorry…whos gonzalez?
Yeah, that one was for Wanny. Mike Gonzalez, who Wanny and I think would be a great addition for setup man.
I didnt say anything like that.
What I said is focus first on the best guys to fill the most urgent needs,LF&SP’doing the best we can to fill those spots b/f any commitment of cash and/or players are made for 3rd and 4th level guys to fill those spots.
So we should sign Lackey and Holliday for 40M give or take? And if they want more pay more and if we don’t get them then just say the hell with it?
And did I miss it ?,when did the FO say they’d only spend 32 Mil this off season?
Have they said they would raise it? We have to assume that they will only spend what they did last year which leaves 28-32M we have been here before Fong.
Didn’t say that either.
You assume alot.
Who knows what the market will be and who will be involved.
OK Fongy, you go right ahead and hold out hope that the Mets will sign the best two FA on the market this offseason.
I for one find it much more fun to try and find more realistic ideas. To me it is basically a given that it’s Holliday or Lackey or Halladay and there is no way in hell we get 2 of them.
I think that you have to have fallback solutions. If Matt Holliday stays in St. Louis then you have to consider guys like Luke Scott if they are, in fact, available.
Agreed, but my point is also you go ahead and make the trade for Scott who can also play 1B and LF and is cheap. It gives you a great bench guy or a trading chip. Also, it gives you leverage in negoiations for a guy like Holliday.
Yeah, trae Parnell for Scott and then tell Scott Boras “it’s our price or the highway buddy”.
That’ll work.
Yup, that’s what I said. But don’t you think that we can at least use the fact that we have somebody over nobody.
My friend,Scott Boras wouldn’t care if you had Ted Williams inLF. He wants to get his client the best deal he can and who we already have in LF is of no relevence to him whatsoever.
Of course he WANTS that, but IF neither NY team is willing to go there he may have to change is mind.
So it does not work and you are stuck with a productive 3M bench guy AND an overpriced Holliday. So what? Trading for Scott does not KEEP us from getting Holliday, it protects us if we don’t.
My first instinct was that Scott is a purely platoon type player but he’s not: .269 .355 .506 v. RHP and 247 .330 .458 v. LHP.
I like him as a power guy who has played the corners and 1B (no idea if he’s got any defensive ability). I suppose he could be an inexpensive option in LF.
He’s very streaky if I recall correctly from my fantasy team!
Hmmm, he was not streaky as much as he completely tanked the 2nd half. Went from a .305 BA in 1st half to a .208 in the 2nd.
sounds like Jason Marquis.
Is there a DH in the NL now? Must have missed that change…
Hey, he played LF and 1B this season and his defensive stats for last year or previous years were not god awful. The reason he spent so much time at DH last year was due more to the fact that they had a lot of OF and had a 25 year old come out of nowhere.
he can hit, but being cheap, young and under control, why would the Os want to move him without getting something good back? How much are you willing to give up for him? Parnell? More?
He’s not young anymore. He’s 31.
And I would guess as this was his 3rd year he is due a decent arbitration raise.
Just depends on what the O’s want to do. Perhaps if we take Baez with him it would lessen the cost.
With all due respect TRS, you’re nuts!
Nice to get a little chatter goin’ here BUT Gary jr. is a TERRIBLE ballplayer…at any salary.
Except for his steroid fueled seasons,
he’s barely an MLBer. He’s not even
Sullivan or Reed at this point.
I can’t stand Ollie either BUT there
is the chancehe returns to being
an inconsistant 10 to 12 game winner
and O.K. #4 or #5. Matthews isn’t even a #4 or 5 OFer.
…..Next!….
TRS, back on your meds dude. It is going to be a long off season, and we need you to pace yourself.
Gmjr? Not even on a Sheffield deal, he is that bad. You can get better out of th eminors at minimum wage (look at pagan). Pass, please.
And cut Ollie some slack (I guess Omar too). I also am sure that many people that want him released now were OK with the signing at the time (not everyone of course), or maybe were OK with Ollie, but thought he got paid a couple mill too much.
Ollie did have some success in 2007 and 2008, and was derailed by the knee (and WBC?) in 2009. But, if he is deemed healthy after his repairs, he will have way more value then a crappy shot 35 YO OF with a terrible contract.
And as much as I want Luis gone, I would not trade them even up. Throw in Napoli though, and we can talk!
Forget the WBC Stick, there are still some Met fans who
are absolutely convinced that
there is no possible way it
had any negative affect on us
at all!…..Not even a little.
Not at all.
Got that?
Couldn’t be. Not even a bit.
Not one player.
No one.
Okay?
You love to overstate everyone else’s position on that while understating your own repeated position.
And there are some Met fans who
are absolutely convinced that
it had every negative affect on us.
Everything!
Every player.
Who dat?
idk…but it kinda look like a bird…no wait, maybe a plane….
Sorry, but if there was one guy the WBC probably had an effect on it’s Ollie. Mets said at one point they couldn’t even get in touch with him or the coaches to make sure he was staying on his routine over there. Could be, IDK, b/c they all know Ollie? Take your eyes off him one second, he wanders.
Warthen was visibly annoyed at Ollie when he returned. Said he was ‘out of shape’. From all the stories, I took that to mean he and his arm were not ready to start the season.
I have to think had he not gone, and been at the entire ST, he at least would have been on the mark and ready to go….
LOL, Stick, if you read my post I was basically against it. Just throwing the topic out there.
lol..throw in napoli…maybe you and real can share the meds lol j/k
I can only hope ollie gets some value to merrit his check…so we can unload him. I dont think this kid ‘gets it’ and im sorry but being tied in for 10 mil for some guy whos performace depends on the flip of a coin is too much. Ollie is(now) an overpriced, over valued pitcher whos agent took advantage of a desprite GM.
I’m sick of trying to find some under-producing big contract guy to get on the cheep or some injury prone player to take a chance on. I want to see some steady role players to fill out the depth and hopefully we can get a nice bat at 1st or OF or pull off Lackey. I doubt the team can get 2 out of 3 but we’ll see.
Just say no to guys like Matthews, Bradley, Harden…
like you said, you doubt they can get 2 of 3. So you have to prioritize:
1. SP - Lackey is a must
2. LF - unless we trade for Crawford or increase budget we’re not getting Holliday or Bay. All other FAs have issues. We could go in-house.
3. 1B - same as LF, except worse. But we in-house options.
4. SP - it’d have to be someone cheaper than Maine who’d be the candidate to move to the bullpen. Are the Mets gonna give money to Marquis or someone like that when they have Maine? They’ll prob go on the cheap instead.
5. C - there’s no solid options, so they’ll go in-house or get someone you don’t like.
My point is that after the big 3, there’s a bunch of question marks. So as much as you are tired of the cheap/injury-prone guys, that’s what’ll be available to fill out the holes.
You guys should forget about 1B. We already have one.Yes i’d love AGon or Big Prince but
I don’t see it.
Bay is unlikely since it would appear his
1st choice is Seattle.
Holliday is also unlikely since with LaRussa resigning and
Holliday apparently liking it there,the only way he leaves to play for us is if Omar blows everyone else out of the water which we all know ain’t gonna
happen. Lackey should be the focus and even with that our chances aren’t great. If Artie Moreno feels(as he should), he was pretty
darn close to returning to the W.S.,
you’d think they’d like to keephim so long as other offers don’t get out of hand.
Uh so with all that being said we should not be looking into other alternatives to fall back on?
yup, Lackey or bust.
I don’t like that idea at all. Sure I want Lackey but there are plenty of ways to make us competitive if for some reason we don’t get him.
Saying Lackey or bust implies if the guy wants 200M you say sure what the hell. It also implies that if he decides he wants to pitch in Texas we are screwed and should just give up on 2010.
fine,
Lackey or Bust*
*except if he wants 200M or wants to pitch in Texas
Happy?
except that we know money talks and Omar’s got it.
Lackey is the K-Rod of this year. It’s the obvious Omar move.
How does this not happen? This isn’t a Lowe situation.
How is it not a Lowe situation? How do we know that Omar won’t go for Holliday instead like multiple reports have suggested. Maybe Omar foolishly thinks Pelfrey, Perez, Maine, Niese, Nieve, and a Livan type signee is enough. I don’t but I am not saying that direction 100% can’t work. To me we would have to be more lucky than if we signed Lackey but still very possible.
lucky, why? yeah they’ll be other teams interested, but why lucky? the Mets have as much as a chance as any other team and considering we actually have money, i don’t think we’re just hoping on luck.
Omar has always preached pitching, speed and defense. never a big bat. I’ll treat those Holliday reports like I treat the cutting salary reports (baseless).
It’s not a Lowe situation because Lowe was 36 and seeking multiple years and Pelf, Ollie and Maine had a chance to be the #2. This year, they sucked for various reasons and Omar knows he needs someone to put in front of them.
So unless you think one of the 3 can pitch like a # 2 or that we’re trading for Halladay, Lackey is a must even if it means slightly over-paying.
thats how the luis castillos and oliver perez gets the deals they got…
huh? are you comparing Lackey to Castillo or Perez?
I think he is saying that you don’t have to A) Give in to silly demands
B) Panic because you did not get your guy and throw money at the next guy regardless.
lol…thats it real.
who’s the next guy. there is no next guy.
You think someone will overpay for Pettitte, Bedard, Pavano, Wolf, Harden, Pineiro, Padilla, Davis, Johnson or Marquis.
All these guys have issues, and while you may not like that Omar signed Ollie, he didn’t overpay for him. He hasn’t produced but at the time, the contract was about right considering how much other young free agents have signed for.
Over at Mattsblog:
Horseman says:
October 28, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Let’s worry about LF, not 1B. Holliday is the best man available, he has to be top priority. Sign Holliday, Lackey, Harden, and the mets should be solid next year. Easier said then done, I know, but those fill the wholes most in need. Plus, the mets draft pick is secure, therefore, this is the season to load up on the Typa A free agents. As for the bullpen, Yates was released by the Pirates, I say bring him back to the mets. Done.
Wow. Yates? Really? The same Tyler Yates that averaged over 5 BBs/9IP for the Pirates the past 2 years? Yikes, that’s just what our pitching staff needs: more walks. I suppose Parnell would take his 1.6 WHIP to the setup role, then. Sounds great!
LOL, the only thing you got out of that was Yates? The guy wants to spend 50M dollars and you are concerned with a backend guy?
some of you are really hard on Murphy
AND Parnell. Murphy should con’t to get better,he was miscast,first in LF than spending way too much time in the 3 or 4 spots in the line-up.
No reason to think he can’t be a
.280/.290-15-80 guy w/40-45 doubles.
That looks pretty good to me especially considering his age and contract status,both of which you
must take into account.
And with Parnell,his stuff seems very suited to be dominant in short spurts,
i.e. relief. He had plenty of fine moments early in the season and
again,his age and contract status
is a positive.
Now he may not be ready for the KRod
,8th inning set-up role BUT no reason to believe he can’t be a 7th inning
Righty across from Feliciano.
Agreed fong. I too felt people were hard on murph but i think alot of it had to do with the Mets current situation and lack of power. Granted Murphy finished with the most HR’s but they are in SERIOUS need of some pop and usually 1b is a good place to find it. Given this was his FIRST full year of pro baseball, I think he did ok. He now knows how to pace himself. Same with parnell. Parnell was untouchable early on, and then got lit up toward the end. I think both these guys learned a ton about themselves and will be better for it next year. The reality I think is we will see both of them as starters next year.
I mentioned this on the other thread, but after reading about Carter and Davis, I still think it would be very interesting to see a ST competition between Pagan, Carter, Fmart and Davis for LF. Does not answer the need for a bopper but it would be fun.
Actually it would be if we were in rebuilding mode.
But they should just let
Davis have a full yr @ AAA.
They’d be alot happier up in Buffalo w/The Mets FO than they
are now,thats for sure.
Same w/FMart.Just let the kid play a full season @AAA and see
how he develops.
No reason to think Pagan can’t be a good 4th/5th OF AND
well,…we’ll see about Carter.
this is going to scare me, but I agree with Fongy here.
Davis would be a major rush. Let’s give him more than a 1/2 season at AA. Fine to start him at Buff, and if he is crushing the ball thru June and they have a need, then consider bringing him up.
Let F Mart start back there too to prove he is recovered from the injury, and to get his groove back on. I am even fine with them getting a stop-gap catcher cheapish (Barajas, someone like that) to give Thole a start at AAA.
The Buffalo franchise probably won’t complain that much if Davis, Thole, F Mart, Tejada, and maybe a few other could-be0legit prospects are all starting there.
I still like the LF competition idea if they don’t land a top end guy. Carter and Pagan, heck, maybe even Evans, and possibly a reclaimation project type brought in for ST can all compete for that.
Carter and Evans at least can play 1B too, which can come in handy.
Who knows, maybe Carter can become a Luke Scott type of late bloomer, for way less money an dno prospects.
If the core guys are healthy, it is quite possible that an OF rotation of Frenchy, Carter, Pagan, sullivan (surrounding Beltran of course) will be plenty to get the job done. And damned cheap too!
So add a C (barajas? one like that), your MI BU, and 1 more bench guy that can play 3B, maybe MI in a pinch (the Tatis role), and you have a roster.
and then, of course, you blow the off season wad on pitching. Plenty of money for lackey/harden/(gonzolez or lyon).
My question is assuming they were not ready, how would they win the job out of ST?