Kenji Jojima, whom the Mets scouted extensively last season, has cancelled his trip to New York to meet with the Mets. Instead, he will be returning to Japan, much to the apparent confusion of his agent:
Jojima’s agent, Alan Nero, said, “(Going back to Japan) is a little unexpected change. I don’t know what he’s going to do, but our strategy was to narrow it down to two teams, visit both cities and go home (to Japan) to make a decision.”
Nero did leave the door open for a trip to New York in the future.
So, what’s changed since forty-eight hours ago? Well, for the Mets, about six million extra dollars:
The Mets’ interest in Jojima may have waned in the last two days, especially after they agreed to trade outfielder Mike Cameron to the San Diego Padres for outfielder/first baseman Xavier Nady. By trading Cameron, the Mets presumably would have more money to pursue the two most sought-after free agent catchers: Bengie Molina and Ramon Hernandez. The Cameron-for-Nady trade isn’t official, as both players much passes physicals.
hmm last time a japanese free agent pulled a stunt like this on the mets and his agent was that 3B nakamura. That turned out all right for us so we should probably just let this one go
Bah, sample size of 1 (Nakamura) is way too small to be of any indication. Though, maybe Mets and Japanese players just don’t mix :-P Would be interesting to see how a Japanese catcher does in the majors.
Yes, from AFAR.
Maybe the Mets’ interest waned a little, but I also think that Jojima has his heart set on the Mariners. I bet Nero’s fuming though.
He’s friends with Kaz Matsui. I’m surprised he even agreed to meet with the Mets!!! Could you imagine the conversation?
Jojima: So Kaz what is it like playing for the Mets?
Kaz: Think of eating 6 day old sushi
Jojima: But Kaz, you started off pretty bad this year, the fans are tough but you will turn it around! They will love you!
Kaz: In June I had 3 hits in my first three ABs and got thrown out at first on a close play and then I got booed!
Jojima: You are being hard on them don’t you think, we can go out and meet chicks together!
Kaz: You can meet chicks in Cleveland too. This place blows. They boo me, they even piss on my car.
Jojima: Wow, that sounds rough. Even with the hot girls of New York.
Kaz: I was talking about the girls
Jojima: “Hello, Continental, can I get a flight out tonight?”
Does “thank god” mean enough? The mets and Japanese players do not mix.
You should’ve put that THANK GOD! All Mets fans should send Jojima a thank you card. We don’t want him anyway. They should be focusing on Molina/Hernandez.
I agree, the Mets must pass on this flake. This position is way too important to entrust to sucj an unknown quantity - maybe not unknown to the Mets’ scouts, but certainly unknown to most major leaguers
I still prefer Jojima only because we don’t KNOW that he’s just a completely over-rated catcher who’s going to cost us WAY more money than he’s worth. WHICH WE KNOW ABOUT MOLINA.
“CHICAGO (AP) — Free-agent reliever Scott Eyre agreed to terms on a two-year, $11 million contract with the Chicago Cubs on Thursday.”
This is off-topic - sorry - but does anyone else think the Cubbies overpaid here? Or is the market for relievers this inflated?
I have a strong sense of lose-lose here. I don’t think I really want to be tied to either Hernandez or Molina for 3/4 years. Then again, catcher is a tough spot to fill. Funny, I think we’ve drafted like seventy-two catchers over the past 4 years, and none of them is even close to a major leaguer at this point. Might have something to do with Omar’s overhaul of the scouting dept., no?
As to Jojima, Seattle is has gotta look like Valhalla to Japanese players, but he’s not doing his agent any favors by letting the Mariners bid against no one.
I look at the Jojima situation another way. Given the language barrier and lack of any MLB experience, if you’re Billy Wagner (or Burnett or whoever else the Mets may pursue), isn’t Molina or Hernandez more appealing to throw to than Jojima?
Definitely. Dempster, their closer, is no better than Looper on a good day. It sounds like they are trying to compete with the Cards and Brewers in that division. As Lee Van Cleef says in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, “I wish them luck.”
I like Joey Eischen, the Nationals lefty, as he is a much better fit for the Mets. Eyre has ADD, and even with Meds, I don’t like him pitching in NY. In pressure situations, I would be afraid of him falling apart.
I just hope this isn’t a sign of things to come, as far as free-agent lefties are concerned.
Totally off subject here but what do you guys think of this trade scenario….we trade Seo, Petit and Bannister to the Reds for Adam Dunn, we could then trade Cliff Floyd for pitching…what you guys think????
whew, close one there.
Why do we have to sign any of these guys? Let’s just trot out a catch and throw guy and platoon him with Castro. Divert the salary to a true impact player. By ‘07 the catcher market might be stronger…
Jojima is definitely not teh pr0n
Wouldnt want to do that man, why give all our young pitchers up for a strike out kind we dont need another dave kingman.
TOTALLY agree with you, Mex86….Dunn reeks of the second-coming of Dave Kingman! Three players for Dunn??? NO WAY! At most, one major leaguer and one minor leaguer - both would have to be pitchers.
But again, Dunn is not the answer with all those Ks he piles up.
Ditto what Lassus said (#9), and Mark (#15) too.
AJSmith, the reason our tons of catcher prospects aren’t ready to help is because the ones who can hit get shifted to 1B. Personally, I would have held onto Huber and kept him and Jacobs at catcher. Defense can be learned, and the chance to have a really solid hitter at catcher is rare. It’s easy to find first basemen who can hit; I think we’re doing ourselves a major disservice here.
Eyre: lovely. Thanks, Cubbies. If a $2.5 mil reliever is getting $5.5 mil, how much is a $9 mil reliever like Wagner going to want?
Even if this doesn’t effect the closer market, it’ll DEFINITELY make Dotel, Farnsworth, Howry and other set-up options more expensive.
Great point, argonbunnies (#20). But given the Mets are launching what could be a very lucrative network (and thus need star-power to attract sponsors and investors), I feel the higher salaries may actually price out less cash-rich teams and thus give the Mets an advantage. I’m not suggesting we turn into the Bronx Bummers and spend foolishly on every star in the baseball galaxy, but baseball IS a business and the Mets are entering a period where more cash should be available to them - let’s just hope it’s spent wisely!
Enough with Adam Dunn being the second coming of Dave Kingman. Did Dave Kingman walk 100 times a year? No, he didn’t. Those walks Adam Dunn gets are BIG. It shows that while he doesn’t hit for average, he still gets on base alot. So the guy gets on base alot, hits for alot of power, and is very young. You wouldn’t get him because of his strikeouts? Don’t you think his 45 homers and 100 walks more then make up for his strikeouts? Are you forgetting Sammy Sosa had over 170 for a 3 year stretch, including his magical year in 1998? Or that Jim Thome also struck out more then 170 times for a 5 year stretch? That wouldn’t stop you from going after Sosa and Thome, right? I’m as big of a strikeout guy as any, especially when it comes to pitchers, but Dunn does everything else well and would bring alot of offense to our team.
As a note, Scott Eyre’s contract is actually 3/11. It only gets to 11 million if the option year is picked up.
I still think that is pricey for Scott Eyre, but its not on the absurd level of 2/11.
I agree with your comments Bryan. I deff think Dunn gets a bad rap for all his strike outs but no one mentions how he walks 100 times a year either. This guy would be the #4 hitter we crave and would cost less. The reds have a surplus of ofs so they wouldnt probably ask for Milledge. Id give them whichever pitchers they want and even throw in a second minor leaguer of a postion they wanted. id Dunn and Trade Floyd away for pitching or anything you can get cause i dont think he will be healthy for a 2nd year cause hes always getting hurt and have a Diaz, Beltran, Dunn OF.
The 11 million is if he kicks in the player otpion in year 3. So its 3/11, not 2/11.
From MLB:
Still alot, but less than 5.5.
Yeah it would actually. You want them they are there for the taking. I actually fear Omar will get Sosa before ST.
Fire Willie I think he meant when they were in there prime.
SHK, that makes more sense. Although Thome is in the prime years of a huge f’n contract. I think Omar’s plan E or F will be to get Sammy. Was anyone at Merengue night or any other Shea game when the Sosa flags are waving? From a sales standpoint Sosa would be huge including the idea that Omar’s pride is wrapped up in him being the one to “discover” him and all. know what i mean?
deff hope he doesnt do anything with Sosa the couldnt even hit in the bandbox in Baltimore so he deff wont be able to hit in shea too bad they test for steroids now.
Deff dont want Sosa that would be really stupid. Omar gets all wrapped up in one player every year but we dont get them. hopefully we will go 2 for 2 on that no sosa no manny
Remember how mientkiewicz bitched about the mets after the season and said he hoped to go home to Minn? Twins said they want no part of DM part Deux (they were saying no thanks to Soriano, his name must have come up). Piazza on the other hand may go up there.
I think it’s clear that Dunn would be an asset. The question is, how much are we willing to give up for him? And the answer to that depends (or at least it should) on whether we expect him to improve or stay the same.
Cincy is an absurd hitters’ park. Dunn’s road %s:
2004 .266 .386 .539
2005 .221 .359 .446
He just turned 26 two weeks ago. So, over the next few years, is he going to be a 35 HR, .230 hitter with 90 walks? Or a 50 HR, .270 hitter with 120 walks? That’s about the range I’m imagining. The lower end isn’t a huge upgrade over what we might be able to get from Jacobs/Diaz/Nady, and isn’t worth too many players who have value to us. The higher end is worth pretty much whoever the Reds want.
Dunn has shown a good work ethic, and I agree with the Sosa/Thome point that a hitter CAN have good seasons in which he Ks 170 times. When Dunn gets ahold of one, Shea won’t hold him, so the power drop-off shouldn’t be that significant. So, honestly, 50 HRs and a .420 OBP in the next few years wouldn’t surprise me.
I guess I’d consider one out of Milledge/Petit/Heilman, plus a lesser prospect, plus Seo/Trachs/Benson/Glavine/Zambrano, plus a little cash, to be a worthwhile gamble. Parting with TWO of our young studs would make me sad, though.
Id give them Petit, Seo Zambrano and some kid in the minors we dont know about. Dunn would be tremendous here and deff would be a great guy to bat behind Wright. Let us not forget Wright is only going to get better. He could be a guy who could hit 30-35 and drive in 120-130 runs in the future.
P.S. Comparing Dunn to Delgado:
In Toronto, Delgado was pretty much a .290/.415/.590 guy at home and a .265/.390/.510 guy on the road every year from ‘98-’04. He is about to turn 33 and a half (7.5 yrs older than Dunn).
I’d feel comfortable liking Dunn better, except for Delgado’s .301/.399/.582 2005 for the Marlins.
Yeah, Rich, if Cincy went for that I’d miss Petit but consider it a good deal.
Deff hear you on that. I figure it this way we have to lose one of our top prospects which one id give up Milledge or Petit, since all the scouts bash Petit id rather give him up and keep Milledge. Trade would be so good but i doubt Cincy would take those guys.
I really need to stop listening to WFAN. Not only are the callers retarded, but so are some of the hosts.
I’m hearing Milledge, Floyd and Heilman for Manny and Foulke deals. That’s a wise move, Shirley.
Jojima had to go back to Japan for two reasons- 1-) he left the oven on. 2-) he forgot his nice suit that he wanted to wear to New Yorku.
I loved it yesterday, Francesa says no way Heilman is a starter, he is at best a setup guy, anyone who thinks he’s a starter is a moron and knows nothing about baseball. Russo says, I’d have him as a starter, he’d be a starter on any other team (except Chisox, NYY, and a few others) and that he’d love him for the SFG rotation, love him(Russo is a SFG fan)! Francesa sya, oh well maybe you’re right I never have seen him start. Thanks for the informed opinions, I couldn’t believe the admission/ignorance. I hear you EMad.
I hear ya. Someone needs to compile a list of people we shouldn’t read/listen to… It can get pretty frustrating listening to this stuff sometimes.