213 Miles From Shea

Two weeks from now the Winter Meetings will be over.

The Mets have not been shy about wanting to move either Duda or Davis this offseason in an effort to improve offensive production at shortstop or the outfield next year. The Rays are in the market for someone to play first (Source).

The advantage the Mets have is they may have that magic combination of cheap via trade and ability once traded.  The other firstbasemen on the trade market include Moreland, Morrison and Trumb0. As long as the Rays want to do this via trade the Mets look like a winner. Davis in a trade will demand less in return than Moreland and Trumbo, may have a higher ceiling than Moreland and has more talent than Morrison (I’m biased on that one).

For the Mets, via cost and talent, they would be able demand either Escobar or Joyce in return. If the Mets trade more than Davis, maybe even a package for Jennings.

Or, another way to look at this is the Mets, who have been rumored over the last week to look for three way trades, could use the Rays in a trade that moves David Price to another team. David Price would go to that other team, whomever they may be, the Mets would move probably one of Davis/Duda and then either Montero (or someone of similar talent level) and receive either Escobar/Joyce/Jennings from the Rays and then somebody else from the other team. This is a little harder to imagine because it depends on who that other team is but the Mets matchup a need for the Rays and the Rays matchup a need for the Mets. A trade between the two makes sense and based on the larger pieces on the Rays (Price) and some of the minor league talent on the Mets, it is feasible to imagine them taking part in a three way trade.

I’m a combination of curious to see if this materializes and anxious to see the Mets do something positive.

Peralta is close to a deal with the Cardinals, and it could put the Mets into a tough spot.

The 2014 off-season was pegged with two different characteristics at the start of the season. It was going to be important for the Mets and it was going to be a players market with limited players at key positions.

The positive point for the Mets though was Peralta. Peralta is coming off a PED suspension and Drew was on the shortstop market also. Peralta would then be the cheap option. As of 9:38 tonight, there are no details on the Peralta contract if he signs with the Cardinals but the Cardinals were not the team that offered 4 years, 52 million.

Personally, 4/52 would be my maximum for Peralta, but in an extreme case (ie. the Mets in a position to win in the next three years) I could stretch that in my mind to 4/60.

For the Mets, this puts them in a bind. If a player on PED’s can get 4/52, then Drew should be able to get a lot more than that. It also doesn’t help that McCann got a 5/85 today that can go up to 6/100 and players like Lincecum and Hudson got contracts well above what was expected. Therefore, Drew is probably out at shortstop for the Mets.

The Orioles dabbled with the idea of JJ Hardy earlier this offseason and asked about Davis. Here’s hoping the Mets can get creative with a Davis/Montero/Hope And a Prayer offer to land the shortstop.

At some point though, the Mets will need to overpay on a player to let the league know they are serious and not just a place for older players to stop for a season to test their abilities and then go to other teams.

A few seasons after signing Chris Young the pitcher, the Mets have signed Chris Young the outfielder.

I feel like (and I’m sure I could find articles as sources for this) the Mets have been linked to Young so many times over the last 4 years that it was inevitable that he would eventually become a Met, or maybe that was the other Chris Young…

Anyway, Chris Young the outfielder has signed a one year deal with the Mets for 7.25 million to figure out how to bring back his career which has progressed like:

• 2006 – 30 G, 2 HR, 2 SB, .243 BA
• 2007 – 148 G, 32 HR, 27 SB, .237 BA
• 2008 – 160 G, 22 HR, 14 SB, .248 BA
• 2009 – 134 G, 15 HR, 11 SB, .212 BA
• 2010 – 156 G, 27 HR, 28 SB, .257 BA
• 2011 – 156 G, 20 HR, 22 SB, .236 BA
• 2012 – 101 G, 14 HR, 8 SB, .231 BA
• 2013 – 107 G, 12 HR, 10 SB, .200 BA

Not really much of a pattern. Most likely Chris Young projects to be in a platoon with someone in the outfield, which depends on if the Mets sign another outfielder, which is still probable, especially if they move Davis.

This is not a splashy move, but its a move in the positive direction for a player who could still have something left in the tank (low risk deal). Of course, if this ends up being the only signing, then that would be pretty disappointing.

If the Mets can get 10-15 homers from him playing more than half the season, then this will look pretty good (as long as he can keep the strikeouts down)

…. I never imagined the 3,000th article on this site would be about Chris Young the outfielder. Back when this blog first started, in 2007, that would have been exciting news…

A fairly significant trade, especially in terms of money went down last night between Texas and Detroit as the Tigers moved Prince Fielder and 30 million to the Rangers who sent off Ian Kinsler.

For the Rangers, they receive a player (and hefty contract) that they wanted a few seasons ago. They also open up the middle of their infield so Profar has a position. For Detroit, they solve their middle infield problem and now create room to sign some of their other stars to long term deals.

This may have slight effect on the Mets.

The Rangers were one of the teams that could have used Ike Davis and had a surplus a position (Middle Infield) that the Mets could have used. However, the other way to look at is the Rnagers had to give up a lot for a power bat.

Granted, Davis is not on the same planet as Fielder skill/track record wise but in addition to giving up an All-Star, the Rangers had to take on a huge amount of contract. Davis won’t cost that much money wise but maybe this sees his market value bump up a bit (or sees the value for Davis package with other players bump up a bit).

If anything, this Detroit / Texas trade breaks the ice on the trading season, and hopefully we’ll start to see other dominoes fall now.

Or really, Jay Z calls the Mets to meet Cano. (Source. Source.)

According to the article in the Post, Cano wasn’t at the meeting but Jay Z was and it took place in Manhattan to discuss, among other things, Cano’s free agency.

I have to take the pessimistic view of this situation (or optimistic if you don’t like gigantic contracts). So far everything we know about Sandy Alderson suggests that he will stay away from massive contracts that go to 100 million unless they are for players that important to team in multiple ways (ie. David Wright). I just don’t see the Mets really getting into the Cano game.

The meeting was done in secret, which makes me glad in some way that the Mets are having secret meetings, and it seems more likely that this story was released by someone close to Jay Z’s group probably to put some fire to the feet of the Yankees to get them to move.

From the story it seems like Jay Z would like to keep Cano in New York to keep up the market value of Cano, the only way to gain leverage in negotiations for that is if the other New York team seems interested in the second basemen as well.

That all being said, it is fun to think about Cano in Mets pinstripes and in the middle of the Mets lineup.