6 YR Minor League FA: One Man’s Junk…
Posted by trs86 on 10:35am, Tuesday November 17th 2009
As the hot-stove takes what seems like a break until December, take a look at these names and see if any pique your interest:
2009 Minor League Six-Year Free Agents
I am compiling my list of junk players and I will add them as the day goes on.
Orlando Mercado: Catcher with no power but high OBP.
Mariano Gomez: LHRP with very good ERA and low hits and BB, problem low K’s as well.
Brad Snyder: 27 year old OF with very good OPS in AAA.
Henry Owens: That one is for you Grave
Reggie Abercrombie: Former top OF prospect who put up good MLB numbers in 2008 (
.309
.339
.509
.848 in 60 plate appearances) and was sent back to AAA for 2009. Had a less than great year in AAA. Has good speed and can play all 3 OF positions.
Sphere: Related Content
Whasn’t there a dude over on Matt’s blog that had a giant one for Abecrombie? It got so bad, I started to think it was his agent (or hell, reggie himself).
anyway, this group migt not be a bad way to find some bench guys, pen filler or just general spare parts.
Wonder if they are going to get hurt with the expected flood of non-tenders this year? Really going to be a glut of FAs this off season it seems, so for sure, some useful guys are going to be available for very little $$.
finally, you can put together quite a nice team just out of 6 year FA and rule 5 guys (and still not sure what the difference is..)
Heck, Johan and Victorino are both former rule 5 guys.
interesting fact, and why sometimes you can’t write off a guy as a “bust” at age 20 with 90 ABs-
Vicky was a rule 5 guy not once, but twice. So a team took him, then let him go a 2nd time (think it was the Dodgers). Then, the Phillies actually offered him back for the 25K, and the Dodgers (or padres, think they were the 2 teams) refused.
so sometimes, you just can’t tell.
fangraphs liked Ruben Gotay from the Minor FA
Well that makes one of us.
The guy could not field even 2nd base and was not even used by the Braves who were desperate for hitting. Besides, where would we put him? We would still have to bring in someone who could play SS.
3B
Who’s on first?
Again what advantage does he give us? He is not a good fielder and not a good enough hitter to carry as JUST a PH. We would still have to have Ahern or Cora.
easy tiger. I didn’t say I wanted Gotay. Just passing along the info that fangraphs is doing what you are doing and they listed Gotay as an interesting option for 3B or even 2B w/ not much range.
Me, I’d be down for Vizquel or Cora, w/ Tatis, Pagan and Carter/Evans.
I know but the love for Gotay in Mets universe is so strong it makes me sick. The guy was never that good.
“The Mets can send Fernando Martinez and Wilmer Flores to Toronto, and — just as critically — they can take Vernon Wells’ contract off the Jays’ hands (wings?). That’s a hefty cost for the Mets, but for their troubles they’ll trot out one of the best one-two punches ever.”
Thanks Dayn Perry. Man I should get paid to write if this garbage is actually getting paid for.
So the Mets are going to take on Halladay and his extension AND bring in the worst contract in the MLB while the Jays are only going to get an injured OF and a guy that even the Mets don’t know much about.
All I got to say is this:
12.5M, 11:$23M, 12:$21M, 13:$21M, 14:$21M
.260 .311 .400 .711
Maybe if they took back Perez, Castillo, Omar, One Wilpon, Bobby Bo and Big Mo. MAYBE.
depends which wilpon. if it is Paris, do the deal.
my god, I want Brian Peters as my agent. What a contract.
there was a piece about Wells on MLBTR yesterday, with quotes from the time the deal was signed (2006?)
anyway, while there was recognition that the deal might be a dog toward the end (2013-14 say) due to age, it was seen as market correct, since they were locking up one of the prime talents in the league at the time, and the early year salaries were reasonable enough to let them get other players.
heck, he was considered like Beltran at the time, so think how CBs deal could have been the same to the Mets if he cratered like Vernon (was this peds?)
also, a lot of people use the same rational to justify giving Hallady 5/120 or some such deal. They are only looking at the 1st couple of years, and ignoring the very real possibility that you are paying 25mill for a couple of years of little to no production.
Wells contract makes Beltran’s look cheap.
05:$10M, 06:$12M, 07:$12M, 08:$18.5M, 09:$18.5M, 10:$18.5M, 11:$18.5M
Henry Owens!!
Yes!!
Yeah, has been injury prone and had little success, but man he threw hard when we had him.
Injury prone? Take out the prone.
He IS injury.
Well, the Mets do need some catcher depth. Maybe Henry’s willing to return to his former position.
Thanks for the shout out!
Jonathan Coutlangus - for us drunk pervs, and he’s a LHRP, you never have too many of them.
Trent Oeltjen - I recommended the lefty OF last week, he KILLS the Mets!
Lew Ford - gotta be at least as viable as some of the OF we ran through the revolving door at Buffalo last year.
Smelin Perez - perhaps people would be less likely to boo Oliver Perez if they were smellin’ Smelin instead
Scott Strickland - the right reliever can finish what he started with the Mets a few years back, has struck out over 10 batters/9 innings the last 3 years in AAA.
Jesse Orosco Jr. - ’nuff said.
Dallas McPherson - I don’t know what his health situation is but a guy who twice hit 40 HR in the upper minors could be useful in Buffalo.
Robby Hammock - I believe he caught a Randy Johnson no-hitter, perhaps he could bring that magic to the Mets.
Josh Barfield - Jesse’s son could at least give us someone other than Wilson Valdez or Anderson Hernandez to trot out there in an emergency.
Humberto Sanchez - the righty pitcher was the key cog in a Gary Sheffield trade a few years back and the Mets need a Sanchez.
Ryan Freel - in case Fernando Tatis goes elsewhere, Freel is Mr. Versatile.
Jesse, Jr. was drafted in 2008. How can he be a free agent already?
Hard to believe Josh Barfield is already going to be 28 next season. He had a promising rookie campaign (280 .318 .423) and has been awful in both the minors and the majors ever since.
Dallas McPherson may be the classic 4A player. He did not play in 2009. In 2008 he raked again in AAA (275 .379 .618) and I think is worth a shot at catching lightning in a bottle for the Bisons.
Oeltjen is probably also a 4A player (291 .356 .409 minor league line probably translates to 260/325/375ish in the majors). But he’s Australian. And Australians are cool.
Perhaps Jesse Jr. is a clerical error. He, along with the immortal Val Pascucci appears on San Diego’s list of cuts.
http://thegameofbaseball.myblog.it/
I agree re: Australians. New Zealanders even more so.
He’s on the mlb.com list too. I guess when making a list that long you’re bound to make a mistake or two.
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/minorleagues/y2009/free_agents.jsp
Interesting. There must be more to the story. He’s only 22 and has pitched reasonably well in his two pro seasons. He only pitched 10 games in 2009 so perhaps there was an injury. Either way, I wonder how he qualifies as a “6 year” anything.
Certainly seems worth a shot, if not for merely PR reasons.
Devern Hansack is also worth looking at. Looks like he’s coming off an injury but pitched reasonably well in 24 big league innings with the Rox from 2006-2008. 8ks to 2.7 BBs for his minor league career and 1.234 WHIP.
Once upon a time John Ford Griffin was a left handed power hitting prospect. He mashed baseballs in his 27 at bat MLB sample. Might be worth a shot in AAA. Career minor league line of 267 .347 .457 but hit 310 .386 .527 in AAA in 2008 and .288 .366 .448 in half a minor league season last year.
Ryan Harvey was a big draft prospect but seems to be a slow mover. He’s 25 now and hit 246 .309 .519 at AA. You can’t teach power.
That’s it for now. The list too long to go through.
well, you might not be able to teach strength (that comes in a needle!), but you sure can teach power. Or more accurately, change a swing.
Some of those guys are interesting on minor league invites. Shame though. I liked Barfield but his numbers are worse than Ahern. Same with Ford, had 2 good years and now Jesus Feliciano has better numbers.
No argument with your or Wanny’s assessments from me.
I just looked for names that were familiar and riffed on them. I barely looked at any numbers, and even if I had I really don’t know what numbers I would be looking for.
For pitchers I suppose it would be GB/FB, BB/9 and K/BB?
For hitters maybe K/BB, OBP?
I have no idea what to focus on in evaluating minor leaguers, especially such marginal ones as these.
Folks, Cerrone has an opinion piece on Beltran which is one of the better things I have seen on there…check it out…
it was good. Thoughtful well reasoned, and articulate. Must have worked on it for a while. It’s the breaking news type posts that sometimes don’t make sense!
My thoughts on that post:
- what took him so long? He’s been ‘around’ the Mets for several years. He’s just realizing this about Beltran now? I don’t get it - but glad to hear he’s coming around to the same thinking most of us have known for quite some time now.
- ‘From what I can gather’ (and I know it’s probably just me but he has to know that’s annoying)….Cerrone doesn’t seem to have much love for Delgado. That’s not the first time I’ve read something he’s posted with some thinly veiled criticisms of the guy…
Matt used the phrase “from what I can gather” on EACH of his four latest posts. Yes, he used it four times in four posts. In addition, he used a “from what I can tell.”
matt must gather alotta nuts
lots of discussion over on MLBTR in a thread about the Mets being “intrigued” by Piniero. Not sure what to think.
Either he had a career year, and you should focus more on his recent trend of injuries (even back issues last year), so stay far away.
or, he finally figured it all out, and got his sinker working, and is primed to have a late-career blossoming and might be very good for a couple of year.
So, a bust to be, or the next Jamie Moyer?
IMO, not the “big” pitcher they could use, but if he is the 2nd guy in, and no more than say a 2/18 contract, worth a shot. He is in that same pool with Wolf, Marquis. Garland. Not great, but serviceable SPs that couls surprise with an above-expectations year if you are lucky.
My current flavor of the day is harang and his contract for a non-entity prospect (one of the stoner type guys). 1 year, and hope he has a rebound (aka career) year, but no LT commitment.
Harang adn Wolf could really shore up the rotation. Although a flyer on Sheets is quite tantalizing.
Sheets + wolf/piniero, and have money left for offense?
trade Luis (take my luis, please!) (is anyone other than 4D old enough to get that one?). Sign lopez.
sign sheets, wolf, holliday, barajas and some (cheapish) arm for the pen. At least w/o factoring in incentives for sheets, should actually fit in the theoretical budget.
johan/sheets/wolf/pelf/maine/perez/neise - can get a rotation out of that. Of course Sheets is a wild card, but hence the concept of risk/reward. You really just need 2 of 4 “risk” guys (injury or inconsistancy, but all with the talent) to have good years, and you end up with a very good to excellent rotation.
reyes
lopez
wright
beltran
holliday
murphy
frenchy
barajas
A lineup with pop up and down, a ton of OBP 1-5, good speed 1-5.
K rod/pedro/neive/maine (if not in rotation)/parnell/new guy/?
add a coupole more power arms in the pen, and good to go.
I am old enough to get the joke!!
lol i got it to well lord fatcessa doesnt believe pinero will be their first option - merely last resort and remember - when the fat man speaks - little puppies die !