213 Miles From Shea

Without really going into the numbers and quantitative explanations, I was really happy with the Mets this past week. The Mets stuck to their guns and stayed committed to set up a team that can compete but will be able to start to dominate in a few years or so, which is just what we needed. It has been so long since we have had a plan, that it felt weird to have something to stick to. Russel Martin? Nope! Too expensive, lets go cheaper. It is that type of attitude that I'm glad the Mets have.

Speaking of plans, I love this idea of not spending everything next year as well. I love this idea of scaffolding, making a system that will not fall apart as the entire team ages together. It seems like common sense, yet it hasn't be done for a while, thanks to desperation moves (ie, Ollie for 3 years 36 million).

The Mets made progress on starting pitching and were able to get a back up / starting catcher and a key addition to the bullpen, which is nice considering we just lost 4 players. The player I am most intrigued by, and will do a more thorough look at later, was Rule 5 pick up Pedro Beato. I remember watching Beato when he was young (like when he was 20) as a member of the Ironbirds. He has tremendous power in his arm, and didn't have a bad year. I am very interested to see how he performs in a major league bullpen this season.

Other than the Mets, I was fairly surprised this year. The Nationals spending caught me off guard, and so did the Red Sox. I'll hold my comments until the Lee signing unfolds.

The dust is just starting to settle over yesterday's bold move of the Nationals signing Jason Werth for 7 years at 18 million a season. I think Alderson said it best, “It makes some of our contracts look good” (Zing Omar, Zing Nationals). Anyway here are a few things to keep out for today:

According MLB Trade Rumors, the Nationals are still looking for another bat, and to move a bat. Their roster, with the exception of Werth and Zimmerman, is open to be traded and they would like to get something for Willingham before he walks next season (and those of you who read this website, you know my opinion about Willingham, as I see him as a major Mets killer, and would like him to be out of the division). Before this week is done, there is a possibility of the Nationals getting either Pavano or Pena.

Staying with the Nationals, they weren't able to get a deal worked out with Wang. If the price is right, I would pounce.

Lee will stay in Texas! If they offer him a 6th year.

Finally, Sandy says that the first day is crazy, but he is going to meet with agents, and it sounds like he expects to make moves later in the winter meetings, and they seem to be calculated moves.

There could have been some better places for Werth to land for the Mets, like outside the division, however as situations could go, this is pretty positive for the Mets. First, before some analysis, lets break down the deal. The Nationals had a pretty good offense last season, but they lost one of their key players last week when Dunn signed with the White Sox. The Nationals were able to go out and get Jason Werth for 7 years and 126 million. Jason now becomes the centerpiece for the Nationals offense. Expect to see a slight drop in his production next season as he will be playing in a bigger ball park, and he doesn't have as much protection in the lineup. The other players in the Nationals lineup will NOT see a drop in production as Werth essentially takes the focus that Dunn received.

Anyway there are a lot of implications about this contract, for example the size of it. Its huge. This is a big statement for the Nationals as they really look to be buyers for once, and they will need something for the ballpark while they wait for Strasburgh to come off of the DL. The contract also means that Crawford could possibly look to get a near historic contract, since this one was near historic. Finally, this spreads beyond the outfield position. This sets the level of pay that the best players will demand on the market.

Now why do I love this?

This is probably the worst possible scenario for the Phillies.

First, Werth stays in the division and can his new team tips about the Nationals pitching rotation. More importantly, the Phillies now don't just lose Werth's talents, they have to contend with them now.

Second, and more important, the only benefit the Phillies were going to get from losing Werth was two first round picks. However, the Nationals were so bad last season, that their first round pick is protected. Therefore the Phillies will receive a supplemental round pick and then the Nationals second round pick instead.

Like I said earlier, the best situation for the Mets would have been for Werth to go to a struggling team outside of the division, but I'll take him going to the Nationals.

It's time for the WInter Meetings, the time of the year when baseball execs get together and try to see what they can work out. There are all sorts of teams that go to the meetings. There are sellers (Padres this year, more on this later), buyers, rebuilders, and inactive. It looks like the Mets, from Sandy Alderson via Metsblog, will be looking to get some players this year, but cautiously, trying to make sure that the moves are smart, not long ranging, and allowing the Mets to be buyers in 2012. Here are some of the headlines for the Mets going into this winter meetings:

The Mets are looking to get some light starting pitching, a rebuilding project, for cheap to fill in some gaps. The hope of these projects is the same as anytime this happens, that the Mets will get a player in a low swing, and the player will be become a big deal.. Targets right now include Jeff Francis and Chris Young. Both are good choices and if the price is low and for one year, lets bring them both on.

The Relief pitching could be interesting for the Mets. They may try to get a closer in trade to not activate Krods 17.5 million dollar option, which would be a huge chunk of the change for 2012. Also the Mets have essentially lost Valdes, Takahashi, Feliciano and Nieve. The latter players will probably be replaced by cheaper options in January.

Finally the Mets could be making moves as well. Will there be a blockbuster trade for Grienke? Doubt it but its possible. Will Reyes be traded? Doubt it, its possible though. Will Castillo and Perez be traded? I wish. It should be an interesting week.

I think what is adding to the excitement of next week is it is still a mystery to what the Mets will look like next year and beyond. I'm curious to finally get an insight to Sandy's master plan.

The Mets haven't made many moves yet, but the 2011 Mets are already looking a little different. One of the marks of a good team are the peripheral players, the players on the bench or in the pen that have golden seasons and provide that X factor a team. The Mets, as we know, have been plagued for a while certain players they keep hanging on to (many of which were let go of last year), or keep relying on players that don't pan out. On the other side, they also have some quality players, but when their contracts are up, these players demand too much money.

Thats essentially what is happening with the Mets. There are four players who will either definitely not be with the team next season, or will most likely not be on the team next season.

Raul Valdes

Fernandeo Nieve

Takahashi

Pedro Feliciano

With Valdes and Nieve, its a shame they didn't pan out, especially Nieve. When we first got him in 2009 it felt like we had something, something that Houston overlooked but last year it just wasn't work. Both of these players have signed minor league contracts with other teams.

Takahashi and the Mets weren't able to reach agreement, and thats alright. While he was effective, there are ways to save money and I'm glad this front office understands the importance of getting similar talent for a lower price.

Feliciano is a tough one to (most likely) say good bye to. Over the last several years he has been so consistent and such a key part of the bullpen, considering the way management has completely misused and overused him. I'll welcome him back to the team, but only for the right price (the concerns about his use have to start to become a reality at some point). At least the front office took a gamble and offered him arbitration, so we can at least get a pick out of it.

It's been pretty busy in Mets world recently. Last week we had the introduction of our new skipper and then that was followed by the Thanksgiving Holiday, so its normal to miss news that was very important to the Mets. In the Mets world, of course, the major news was the Mets offering Pedro Feliciano arbitration (which I'll admit even surprised me), and that Sandy is open to trading Jose Reyes if he is offered a boatload (which is always a good idea to keep your options open). There were several moves that happened last week, or were finalized in the last week, that really impact both the free agent market and the trade market going into the winter meetings, which are right around the corner (sources are from combing through MLB Trade Rumors):

The major player to drop off the market this week was Victor Martinez who received a 4 year 50 million dollar contract from the Tigers. Martinez was previously with the Red Sox.

Jon Garland is off the free agent market. He's wearing Dodger blue now.

Javier Vazquez is off the free agent market after signing a one year contract (7 million) with the Marlins. This is an effort for Javier to raise his value next season, assuming he has a bounce back year with the Marlins.

No more Raul Valdes. He signed a minor league contract with the Cards.

Dontrelle Willis also signed a minor league deal. He's now with the Reds.

Zach Duke is now on the Diamondbacks, well sort of. He was traded for a player to be name later, although he has to have his deal renegotiated for the 2011 season. The Diamondbacks are saying if they can't get a deal near what he was paid in 2011, then they will non-tender him.

All of the above was with a shortened week with Thanksgiving, so I expect this week to be more interesting.

Hello fellow Mets fans. In the celebration of the holiday spirit, I decided to jot down a quick list of things I am thankful for as a Mets Fan:

1. I'm Thankful the Mets have someone leading the front office who has a clear plan in mind. This isn't a swipe at Omar, I think he had a plan too when he came here, but his plan over the last few years became to resurrect his previous plan. So I'm thankful for a fresh plan and a fresh direction.

2. I'm Thankful for Alderson announcing next season there will be a wide open competition for second base.

3. I'm thankful that it isn't September 2007 anymore.

4. I'm thankful ownership finally decided to retire 31 and 17…..Oh wait that hasn't happened yet. Maybe next year?

5. I'm thankful for being part of a passionate fan base.

6. I'm thankful that Oliver Perez has one year left on his contract.

7. I'm thankful that the Mets drafted Ike Davis.

8. I'm thankful that people read this website.

9. I'm thankful for the Mets finally giving Angel Pagan a chance.

10. Finally, I'm thankful that the Mets will be playing baseball (or something resembling baseball) next season.

Have a great Thanksgiving Everyone!

Willie Randolph gets a reunion of sorts as he has rounded out the Baltimore Coaching Staff as the Orioles bench coach, according to the Baltimore Sun. The Sun is quick to point out that Showalter (the Orioles Manager) was the first person to give Randolph a coaching job in 1994 and was looking for a bench coach with a lot of experience.

From what I know about Showalter, living in the Baltimore/DC area, I think this was a good move for the Orioles, if you like coaching staffs with little disagreement among the ranks. Willie Is a no bull type, but can also be passive during games. This is fine for him because Showalter is also a no bull manager, but as a manager, Buck has some fire. So the two not only balance each other out but fill the roles quite nicely.

If you noticed I slipped that “with little disagreement” phrase in my above analysis. The weakness I see here is that Randolph and Buck are pretty similar so while this makes a uniform managerial staff, the drawback could be a stale slate of ideas when it comes to what to do for a given situation. Given Buck's record though, he really doesn't need that much help with ideas.

All in all, congrats Randolph and I hope you enjoy Baltimore. It's a nice city.

Well, as thought earlier this month by just about every Mets pundit out there, the Mets Manager job was Terry Collin's to lose, and he didn't lose it. So presenting your new manager, Terry Collins.

From summarizing a lot of different sources at once (ie, these are not my original ideas, but the ideas of so many Mets people across the land that they have been socially constructed to be the blanket, uniform, Mets opinion of Collins) Terry essentially has some quality that every candidate for the job had. In other words, if you ranked the qualities the other managers would have brought (like passion, intelligence, etc) Collins would not have listed #1 on any of them, but probably #2 on all of them.

It's like when you build a player in a video game, an instead of making that character really good in one category (like hitting for power from the right side) and making other areas really weak (agility in the field), the Mets chose a Manager who is good in every area they are looking for, but not great in anyone particular area.

Once the details on his contract are released, and the information on the coaching staff is known, I'll have a full opinion on the hiring. It would be irresponsible for me right now to commit fully to an opinion without all the information.

Congrats Terry! Here's hoping for some rings.

The majority of the coverage for the better part of a month on this blog has been about the future of the Mets Manager, since that really has been the news for the Mets over that period of time. For a change of pace, lets look at some of the winter progress of Amazin's who went abroad for the winter in order to practice and get ready for the 2010 campaign.

Let's start with Olver Perez. Good News! He has won a game! Better news! He hasn't lost! Yeah! He's 1-0.

What I just did was a total misrepresentation of his stats. His first outing, which was an inning, really has been his only clean outing. So far he has pitched 5.0 innings and has allowed 5 ER. In addition he has allowed 7 hits, 3 BB and 6 K's over that period of time. So the only thing he is doing well is striking batters out, but he is still having some tremendous problems as a pitcher, and I really hope he pulls it around soon because I just don't think I can handle another season of him.

Murphy is having a pretty good winter so far, and could make things complicated again, among Mets fans and Management, as his numbers suggest that he should be playing somewhere on the team next year. He is batting .312 over 90+ AB so far with 6 2B, 3B, and 3 HR. He also adds to that about 9 BB so he has a OBP of .365. He is currently leading his team with 18 RBI's.

In case you wondering, Jesus Feliciano also plays winter ball. He's hitting .278 right now, continuing his life of just getting hits.

Also, fun fact, Julio Franco manages a winter team.