Mets still pursuing Blanton...
by kitoko on Jan 5, 2008 12:50 PM PST
Email
Print Again the NY Mets have reared their unsightly head in pursuit of Widebody #55. For one, I hope we do deal Blanton, although not necessarily to the Mets. All the names that have been thrown around in the rumor threads (Humber, Pelfrey, Heilman, Gomez, etc.) seem like AAAA players--marginal roster filler without the kind of upside that BB has targeted in the Haren and Swisher trades. Perhaps Gomez or their other OF prospect (Martinez?) have decent ML careers ahead of them, but aren't we pretty solid in the OF at this point? I don't know, I'm just not really sold on these names. I would much prefer if Beane raided the NYM system of players that are a little further out time-wise (B+ prospects who played A or AA ball last year) with big potential (a la Anderson or De Los Santos) than low-ceiling guys that might wear Green and Gold in '08 or '09. Perhaps Minaya would bite at a trade including the kind of package we got for Swish, because in the NY market he is under pressure to WIN--AND WIN NOW. He is apt to be less concerned about 19-year-old kids in A ball and more perhaps more likely to give them up...
I'm sure lots of AN'ers who are more informed and computer-savvy than I am have done some digging to unearth some names that Beane may be targeting in negotiations with Minaya. So cough 'em up, AN--who are the potential '10-'11 A's that are currently in the NYM system? Do they have any left-side-of-the-infield prospects that are being blocked in the organization by Wright & Reyes and thus may be available? What about RH starters (we seem to have covered lefties in the 1st two trades)? Who has major upside and would look great in a Fremont A's uni?
Let's go, Fremont.....(drums pounding in the background...)
33 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
I dont get
Blanton is our best trading chip right now, and if Gomez is the centerpiece of that trade, I'll be very disappointed.
by nothinlikethetown on Jan 5, 2008 1:23 PM PST reply actions
Neifiriffic
I love the look, sound and the meaning of this word. Look at all the I's and F's! Wonderful.
by Philip Christy on Jan 5, 2008 1:55 PM PST up reply actions
thats what Im afraid of
The hype is all because of his speed, Jose Reyes said that Gomez is even faster than he is.
by pickinmachine on Jan 5, 2008 3:23 PM PST up reply actions
you're all (well, all but grover) overlooking ...
... the value of speed.
Didn't anyone see the first Chris Reeve Superman movie?
If we get Gomez, he can run around the Earth and reverse time so as to go back and avoid poor outcomes.
Jeremy slides!
Byrnes touches home!
Miggy keeps his head down and keeps running!
T-Long breaks the right way!
Sandra D-- uh, whoops. too far.
Agree...Gomez is a hit waiting to happen.
I watched the Mets quite a few times last year...You gotta see him go from home to first and if he would slow down a little, you would. He's quicker down the line than Jose R although he's not the polished base-stealer that Jose is. He covers as much room in the outfield as is humanly possible but right now he has no discipline at the plate. Strikes out a lot. But when he gets it....watch out. Almost any ball he doesn't hit squarely (and right now there are plenty of them) he has a good chance to beat out. I would love to see him on the team. I am tired of the Beane philosophy on base stealing.
I smell a Blanton trade...
Mets just traded for Angel Pagan of the Cubbies. Met fans are now complaining there is no room for Gomez. Is this Minaya's opening salvo to make the Blanton trade, or the Santana trade!
Personally, I'd prefer a trade with the Rays for an outfielder!
by AAAAAces on Jan 5, 2008 1:47 PM PST reply actions
Street to Rays makes sense
No, it doesn't
They still have Al Reyes who closed for them last year and they signed Troy Percival with the promise that he'd be their closer in 2008.
re
Nope
They made a handshake agreement with Percival. He wanted to go somewhere he could close. If he bombs then Tampa can bump him out of the role but to trade for Street now... integrity matters.
re
We've got what they need, they have what we want.
shrug
We need a CF
I think that conversion is a fantasy
Besides, from what I've read Bavasi doesn't like the idea of facing Adam Jones 20 times a year. I think he'd much rather go after Bedard.
wouldn't it be cool....?
If we could trade for Adam Jones, then have ol' Vic Conte down at BALCO clone him 12 times? Then we could have one play SS, one in CF, and one we could call ADAM-12 like the old cop show...(anyone else a fan of that show?)
Interesting Mets
In previous discussions, Beane has asked about OFers Fernanado Martinez and Carlos Gomez. The top upper level SP are Kevin Mulvey and Philip Humber. Humber seems to suffered the burnout common to Rice trained pitchers, his fastball has dropped from mid-90's to 87-91. Basically, we want to the A's to avoid Humber. Mike Pelfrey could be in play, he's never seemed to overcome the rush job the Mets put in him to get him to the Show.
The Met's best pitching prospect, acording to both BA and John Sickels, is Deolis Guerra. He spent last year in the FSL as a 18 year old. He didn't post great numbers in High-A and if he came to Oakland they'd probably send him to Stockton. The Cal League is much less pitcher friendly then the FSL.
After Mulvey, Humber and Guerra come LHP Jon Niese who's probably headed to AA next year.
Eddie Kunz could be an interesting ...
piece too ... though he'd have to be a PTBNL ...
Gomez and Mulvey or Guerra would be a pretty worthwhile bulk of the package.
Three players seems likely
If the top pitcher is Mulvey I'd expect a C grade arm as the 3rd piece. If it's Guerra, maybe a higher grade prospect to wrap it up.
January fantasy.
Pls don't tell me his speed would be wasted -- moneyball is about devotion to odds, not base-running conservatism, and I understand that his odds of stealing success are pretty good.
Um
Jose Reyes?
I don't think there's any player or combination of players left in the Oakland system that could cause the Mets to trade Jose Reyes.
Um. See post title.
by The Dogfather on Jan 6, 2008 7:11 AM PST up reply actions
You're partially right
Heilman does have a AAAA look. What I mean by that is not that he can't have success in the majors, in fact he already has as a reliever, but that his potential has pretty much filled out, which, coincidentally, is also one of the main reasons Mets fans have complained about Blanton. They say Beane could try Heilman in the rotation. I don't buy that. If Heilman could fit in the rotation the Mets would have no need for SP. They would have, at least, tried Heilman already and they have not. And for those reasons I am as tired of Heilman rumors as MLBTR Mets fans are of Blanton rumors.
However, I think you're wrong about some of the other names. Humber I don't know much about and grover has pointed to a velocity dropoff, so I don't know about him. However, Gomez is still a very intriguing name. He has all the tools in his favor and he could perhaps be our CF answer. Pelfrey also is a very interesting name. He's another lefty pitcher but he still has a lot of upside and would be nice to see get the experience of a year in a no pressure situation (i.e. our rotation next year). Mulvey also is a solid pickup but one I don't think has Pelfrey's upside. Mulvey would be our replacement for Blanton in the rotation, a very nice number 3 SP.
A Pelfrey, Mulvey, Gomez package to me would be very very hard to turn down even though we'd lose a primary trade chip and still get no sure fire SS or CF (though Gomez would immediately turn into our best hope there). If there is any conceivable way we could get Jones from SEA for Blanton I would like it a lot more even if no one else was involved in that Seattle deal. Wood from LAA would also be just as nice though it would have to be a three-way (Konerko, Ellis to LAA; Figgins, Street, to CWS; Kendrick, Wood to us? Put that in the January dreams category).
That would be awesome
but I can't see LAA wanting to go anywhere near that deal.
I would really prefer
that the A's did not trade Blanton to the Mets.
Gomez is garbage. He could one day become Coco Crisp. Or he could become Corey Patterson. The latter is much more likely. And even the former isn't very good.
Martinez is another corner outfielder, and the A's seem well stocked with those.
None of the pitchers has the upside that Oakland is looking for at this point. And the farm system is already running the risk of overloading at the A+ level, forcing the A's to either curtail guys' innings or artificially rush and/or hold back guys. Pelfrey and Humber wouldn't run that risk, but they run the risk of sucking.
The only way I was in favor of a Mets deal is if it involved Maine coming back as part of a Haren package. That's now a non-issue.
Guerra should be ready for AA ...
And then there's Mulvey.
I know you don't like Gomez ... but put that aside for a second ...
Just take Gomez at his "experts" value. A B/B+ caliber center fielder ... and, by the way, Crisp, when he hit like he did in Cleveland, was a ++ player.
How would him plus one of Mulvey/Guerra plus a bit more not be a very fair/worthwhile package?
It might be "fair"
in the sense of "meeting the generally accepted market price."
Nonetheless it would be a trade which I believe, based on my dislike of Gomez, to be a bad one for Oakland. I suppose they could turn around and deal Gomez to someone else... I'd be more than happy with a 3-way deal as follows:
Mets
Blanton
Braves
Gomez
A's
Lillibridge
Guerra
minor Mets prospect
minor Braves prospect
(I'm assuming here that Brandon Jones is not a center fielder for Atlanta. If he is, obviously this isn't going to happen.
Agreed
I thought I was the only one who hadn't bought into all the man-love for Gomez. I think this would be a mistake, given that the market seems to be undervaluing Blanton right now and everyone and their mother is overrating the hell out of Gomez. If were going to deal Blanton for prospects we need to look for middle infielders.
by Sigur Ros on Jan 6, 2008 8:59 AM PST up reply actions
Atlanta
I still think the best deal for Blanton comes with the Braves. They have infield prospects and probably need an innings-eater as much as the Mets do.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
Baseball Nation Recent Stories
In Association With
Big League Stew - MLB - Yahoo! Sports
- Five tips for Showtime’s second season of ‘The Franchise,’ featuring the Miami Marlins
- The 10 best things about being a Detroit Tigers fan
- Surprise! A’s finally end the Yoenis Cespedes derby with $36 million deal for Cuban star
- The time Whitney Houston sang to Jim Bowden
- Pitchers and catchers! Mariners get early start in Arizona
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
