Last time, I looked at upgrades at second base. However, an upgrade to second might not be possible unless a place can before where the Mets can exile incumbent Luis Castillo to. I don’t buy the idea that Castillo can rebound and become more than a decent OBP option with poor defense, which in my opinion is a net negative. So here are some rehashes of rumors floated past and some ideas of my own that I think make sense.
I don’t think I don’t think the Mets should expect to receive anything better than a bench player or middling reliever for Castillo. The main thing to look out for will be getting one that brings strengths to the bench that the Mets don’t already have taken care of. I think our bench as it is has a few clear strengths: right-handed power (Ramon Castro and Fernando Tatis), and outfield defense (Endy Chavez). The Mets could use a better defensive backup than Argenis Reyes, preferably one with at least a good batting eye or a little power.
Assuming the Mets don’t try to upgrade catcher due to the lack of available free agents and perceived bigger holes, you’re looking at second base and left field as trouble spots, with the idea of a right-handed caddy for Carlos Delgado or Ryan Church also a sensible play. Tatis can play the corners, Castro at catcher, Endy in the outfield. Nominally, I guess you have Dan Murphy in left and Castillo at second, for the moment anyway. And the three remaining bench spots up for grabs, with the best in-house options probably being the Other Reyes, Nick Evans (who I don’t think is ready yet), and *shudder* Marlon Anderson.
Andruw Jones
Remaining Contract: $18 million/1 year
Chance of Dodgers asking for more than Castillo: 25%
Best-Case Scenario: On the rejuvenation machine, gets motivated and takes over left field. Belts 25-30 homers and gives the Mets plus defense in left or right.
Worst-Case Scenario: Oh gosh, where to begin with this one? He’s never played anything but center field and could pout. He was already pouting playing a bench role, and might not be much more than that if the Mets can find someone better. And when you pray for a bounce-back, you have to be willing to live with an awful performance for at least a couple months; if Andruw gets off to a Dodgers-esque start this year, I can see him getting booed out of CitiField. Oh, and there’s the possibility that he is a fat right-handed Marlon Anderson. That too.
Analysis: This makes sense from a financial standpoint, and the Dodgers could use a steady hand at second base, but in reality, I couldn’t endorse this unless the Mets completely whiffed on every other available option for the corners.
Adam Kennedy
Remaining Contract: $4 million/1 year
Chance of Cardinals asking for more than Castillo: 90%
Best-Case Scenario: A plus defender off the bench at second base who can take a walk.
Worst-Case Scenario: A plus defender who manages to find regular playing time and infect our lineup with a scrappy .700 OPS.
Analysis: I don’t think I’ve seen this one mentioned anywhere else, but this is an exchange of problems that makes sense to me if the Mets are willing to pay $6-to-$8 million of Castillo’s contract. Kennedy is a good bench player who isn’t completely lost if pushed into regular service and has a great glove.
Randy Winn/Dave Roberts
Remaining Contracts: $8.25 million/1 year, $6.5 million/1 year
Chance of Giants asking for more than Castillo: 90%, 50%
Best-Case Scenarios: Winn is a stellar corner outfielder with solid defense that can platoon with Murphy or simply a terrific corner outfielder off the bench, teaming with Endy to bring speed, defense, and solid hitting. Roberts is…uhh…a good base-stealer.
Worst-Case Scenarios: CitiField and age sap the rest of Winn’s power and he becomes just a mediocre regular. Roberts actually gets more than 100 at-bats.
Analysis: I think if the Mets took Roberts they could get Winn without giving up too much. Castillo would bring someone with a little experience to the SF infield, replacing Omar Vizquel. Then they could just dump Roberts. Individually, I think Winn would cost actual prospects.
Luis Vizcaino
Remaining Contract: $3.5 million/1 year, team option for 2010 at $4 million with a $500,000 buyout.
Chance of Rockies asking for more than Castillo: 85%
Best-Case Scenario: Rebounds to previous 2004-2007 form once freed from Coors Field and it’s grasp: a mediocre seventh/eighth inning man that keeps the ball out of play.
Worst-Case Scenario: Aaron Heilman.
Analysis: The Rockies had massive problems at second base all year, giving starts to about five separate players, the most effective of which was Clint Barmes, who is a good field/no-hit guy. Castillo gives them the other half of that, and I think they could be convinced to steady the position if the Mets kicked in some dollars.
Jose Guillen
Remaining Contract: $24 million/2 years
Chances of Royals asking for more than Castillo: 40%
Best-Case Scenario: Guillen takes left field and proves that last year was a fluke, hitting .290/.330/.450 with solid defense.
Worst-Case Scenario: Some form of blowup under the scrutiny of the New York media. Realizing we still have another year of this. Pedro Martinez comes back and the two have the sissiest slap-fight ever after years of buildup.
Analysis: I’ve seen it rumored a bunch. I don’t like it for either side.
Eric Byrnes
Remaining Contract: $22 million/2 years
Chances of Diamondbacks asking for more than Byrnes: 60%
Best-Case Scenario: Again, jumps back to established performance level, providing decent defense in left field. Should the Mets make it into the playoffs there will be no need for him to appear on the FOX pre-game show.
Worst-Case Scenario: A fifth-outfielder with less offensive upside than Endy Chavez.
Analysis: I think the Diamondbacks have firmly put the kibosh on this rumor despite it making sense on both sides, but it is still a pretty logical idea. I wouldn’t cry too hard about this one, but I also wouldn’t be overly fond of it either.
Or if the Angels lose out on Teixeira, the Mets could trade them Delgado for a package that would include Maicer Izturis or Sean Rodriguez (along with other stuff of course). Then just revoke Castillo´s security pass for CitiField.
I like Dave’s idea. And Murphy seems like a redundant 3rd baseman. (sigh…2nd base could have been a beautiful thing…) I say sell him high as a 3rd baseman for a position we need.
For an equally young and equally valuable guy, of course.
I like Izturis as a 350-400 at bat utility infielder. He would be a good addition to any roster. However, I’m not sure Sean Rodriguez has the projection to warrant real trade consideration. He’s actually pretty similar to Murphy in a lot of ways.
The headline of this article almost killed me. hilarious.
nicely done.
I like the idea of trading for Guillen. There’s something to be said for having a guy on your team who is 1 inside fastball away from pulling a Juan Marichal/Jose Offerman - it keeps the other teams from getting too comfortable when they play the Mets. If everyone is going to hate us anyway, why not add a guy worthy of hating?
And he actually would be a pretty good fit in the seven hole - between Church and Schneider.
mets will never go for guillen.
having a family-friendly competitive product that fills the stadium with fannies n their dollars is their main priority, not winning. winning is a priority, but its 2nd to making money.
guillen does not jive with that principle.
Again, I just don’t get all the “trade Delgado” talk.
Where/how do we make up his offense??
but dep, isn’t that true for EVERY franchise in sports?
also….winning = making even more money
(playoff games net what? about 1M per game in added profits?)
I don’t really want to see Castillo back next year either, but he is the least of my problems for next year. If we can fix our bullpen and find a quality starter, I can live with Castillo playing 60% of the games at 2nd. The chances of us finding a deal that gives us anything of value and then finding a replacement that is a significant upgrade is just too remote to me.
If we pull it off then great, but focus on the bullpen and rotation.
Jose Guillen helps with winning, how?
I totally agree with this.
I posted awhile back and I’ll say again…With the Pads chompin at the bit to send Jake Peavy out of town, I sure hope OM has made contact. I know Peavy stated he isn’t fond of coming to the Mets, but several other successful players in NY history said the same thing as well at first.
Could you actually imagine -
Johan Santana 29 y/o
Jake Peavy 27 y/o
John Maine 27 y/o
Mike Pelfrey 24 y/o
That is a dominant four.
Sign K-Rod or Fuentes, and then fill in the remaining holes with support players.
I completely agree with JamesSC. Yes, the 4-year contract to Castillo was an abomination, but it’s the least of our problems right now. Fixing the bullpen and the back end of the rotation is about a million times more important.
There is no guarantee of offense from Delgado at all.
He was awful for half of last year and is a year older on top. Resigning Delgado was a ridiculously dumb “safe” move.
You HAD to make a run at Tashayar first.
Delgado’s injury prone AND a powerhitter in his middle thirties AND even has the years on his body of coming up as a catcher.
Dumb dumb dumb.
I guess I am more concerned with the everyday lineup than I am with the rotation and bullpen. My theory is that it’s a lot easier to find a good reliever or starter than it is to find a good regular at a premium position. Which isn’t to say I’m not against improving those either, but moving into a new stadium there is clearly room for both.