213 Miles From Shea

The MLBPA has approved a contract deferment for the Dodgers and Jones, which could lead to a slew of moves by the Dodgers. What the agreement basically does is instead of Jones being paid these large sums of money for the next two years, he will get paid smaller sums of money for several more years and then make interest. In other words, both sides win here. Jones gets more money when the contract is over, and the Dodgers can make more room on their season to season payroll, which means they can offer Manny more money and prevent him from going to the rival Giants.

This means that Jones will more than likely be traded as well, if he is traded, there is still the possibility of him being traded to the Mets for Castillo, who now money wise, this deal would work out better. There are still a lot of problems in making this happen. First, the Dodgers have to have a use for Castillo. Second, the Mets have to have use for Jones. The Mets OF right now looks like:
    LF: Murphy/Tatis
    CF: Beltran
    RF: Church
Where is the room for Jones? As of now, he would be riding the bench as a fifth OF, unless he has an amazing Spring. Jones would open the door for Hudson, which is the big goal here. I would expect that if this deal some how happens, then the Mets will either move Jones after getting him or move Church in an attempt to get more bullpen pitching (possibly trading prospects as well). The advantage of trading Church is his price is the highest it has been in his carear, and the Mets can get a lot in a trade.

At the end of April last year, the division looked all Diamondbacks. Their pitching was amazing, the hitting was on a tear and nothing could stop them…except a gigantic slide thru the rest of the season which allowed the Dodgers to get a renaissance and get to the playoffs as the NL West champs. The Dodgers only made it there because of the hitter they acquired in the middle of the season, Manny. As the offseason has dragged on, it has seemed more and more likely that the Dodgers will get Manny again, and probably become favorites in their division because of Manny. It has also seemed that Manny will not be getting a 4 year deal, and maybe not as much money he originally wanted.

Then the Giants woke up and realized that not only do they have a good pitcher, maybe they can drop some money and make their position in a mediocre division much, much better. They already signed Randy Johnson and Edgar Renteria, which means they need to win now, otherwise those signings will be a waste. They are starting make a play at Manny and make a play at Crede. That would mean that their batting lineup will look completely different because it would be headlined by Renteria, Crede, Rowand and Manny. Their rotation has Lincecum, a veteran Randy Johnson, and Matt Cain with Lowry, who I feel both will start to come into his own soon.

I am not making the arguement though that these signings will make them into Division champions, because that is only a handful of players, and all of the batting players named were siginings by the team and didn't come up through the ranks of the Giants organization. Its a good thing for West Coast Baseball though for this competition because this offseason has been all about the East Coast getting the big names.

Well it finally happened. The event that MLB.com has been advertising endlessly for the past few weeks. At 6:00 Eastern tonight the MLB Network officially launched making history as the largest cable network launch going to over 50 million households. They have been hailing this really a big deal. Now, not taking anything away from this network launch, because it is pretty amazing, I did feel a little silly watching Selig's address at 6:00. For some reason, I felt like I was one of maybe handful of people actually watching the launch of the network. That being said, when the program started, Hot Stove, it wasn't bad. It felt like a different version of Baseball Tonight. Reynolds is on the set (thus why it feels like Baseball Tonight) and he joined by a few others including Al Leiter,

They started talking about Manny, who Reynolds feels is still a very big option for the Mets and would push them over in the division, to with Leiter argued that Manny adds pop to the lineup but can be devestating to the locker room. That was all I really watched because they then announded that they would have Jimmy Rollins in the studio, so I went back to watching the Rose Bowl. I also caught the beginning of their headlining piece tonight, Larson's perfect game, which they did start with an introduction interview with Yogi and Don. If you still want to see this game you are in luck because they will be repeating about 10 times till tommorrow as they show more of their programs as the days go by. I feel that this station will really start to pick up as Spring Training starts (and it doesn't take rocket science to predict that).

Wrigley Field, one of the most iconic images of baseball, was the home today of the NHL Winter Classic, when hockey leaves and goes outside to play the game. This has been done for a  few years now and it has been very successful. Last year they filled up Buffalo for the game, which was why I was initially surprised when I heard it was being played in Wrigley, where there are not nearly as many seats as most baseball stadiums and for that matter, most football stadiums where it makes sense to play this game at. Anyway, I though I would be upset watching Hockey being played on the Wrigely infield and shallow outfield, but I actually wasn't. Now, I didn't really watch the game, I watch the introduction and a few minutes of the first period, which is about as much as Hockey as I can usually stand in one sitting (although going to a game is a different experience). But here is a description of what the field looked like:

The players came out of the dugouts and walked basically around the wall to the backstop behind home plate, at that point they walked on two separate paths to their seats next to the rink. The walkways were very close at the start, being separated by the length of home plate, which was left exposed. A bit farther up from the plate, the paths split to lead the different boxes, with the pitching mound in the middle of the paths. The Rink basically started with a line from first base straight to third base and then outward. In the Outfield they had giant logos for each team (Detroit and Chicago) and space for giant flags for America and Canada.

I guess the reason that I was not upset, and actually intrigued, by Hockey being played on Wrigley is because they did not try to hide the fact that it was a baseball field, that there was a baseball mound, that there was a very famous home plate. All of that stuff was still there which meant that it was like a compromise, they recognized that they were visitors of hollowed ground in Baseball. And then of course I realized how ready I am for Spring Training and the regular season to start.

The Mets took a shot at finishing off their rotation last night by offering Lowe a 3 year 36 million dollar contract (a far, far cry from the 5 years 80 to 90 million which was Lowe's original asking price). The Mets play the game the way it is supposed to be played. They offer low, the agent offers high, and then they meet somewhere in the middle (or in the case of Krod, the low worked out). In this case, I think the low is going to work as well because there has been very little activity made by other teams regarding Lowe. The whole low and high conversation I just stated was a jab at the Yankees. The Yankees literally just go straight to the top with their offer so they can't be outbid.

If this goes through, then the Mets have spent 37 million on Krod, 36 on Lowe, and 12 on Delgado, plus players for Putz vs the Yankees 420+ million on CC, AJ, Tex. While those are huge, impact players, the Mets did very well for only spending, potential 85 million on three players plus another impact player via trade. (The Mets also signed Tatis this offseason for a miminal price). The only other piece it feels that the Mets might try to acquire is Orlando Hudson).

With Hudson, it is not just a question of spending money to aquire him, its also dumping Luis, and his big contract, to another team. After the potenial Lowe or Perez or Wolf signing, it will be more clear what the Mets will do about second base. Hudson is important not just for playing second base, but his bat would fit really nice in the Mets lineup, and he would be an all around good fit in New York.

Its been a while since we have looked at the Winter Leagues on this site, so its time to look at a few players. Today, lets look at Anderson Hernandez, Fernando Tatis, and Fernando Martinez. I know that Hernandez is no longer with the Mets, but I like looking at his winter stats because year after year he puts up great, fantastic winter numbers and then when the real season starts, he can't hit anything. This year, he has had 211 AB, 41 R, 77 H, 20 2B, HR, 29 RBI and a .365 batting average. This means he probably will hit .195 in 2009 and maybe get 5 RBI's (so thats probably not true, but you get the point).

Tatis is having a great winter following a great year with the Mets. He is staying strong with 148 AB, 22 R, 50 H, 15 2B, 2 HR, 18 RBI, and a .338 BA. It is very possible that Murphy and Tatis could be battling for a starting spot with the Mets this spring, or more than likely, that they willplatoon. The advantage that Tatis has is that he is not only older, but he is more consistent than Murphy. So if Murphy starts to decline this season like he did at the end of last season, then Tatis can step in full time.

The player I am most excited about right is Fmart because he is having a great winter and doing the things we expect out of him. His struggles in the minors have been from injuries and now we can start to see how balanced he actually is. This winter he has had 153 AB, 26 R, 48 H, 7 2B, 5 3B, 6 HR, 26 RBI, and a .314 BA. Look at those extra base numbers. First off, 18 of his 48 hits are for extra bases and they average out to 6 in each category. This is hopefully a sign of things to come from him and lets see if this will translate into Spring, the minors this year and possibly Citi 2009.

Chipper Jones has always been a Mets killer. He also had his buddy Andruw Jones who could put up the numbers against the Mets. The trade winds have been whirling and there are now rumors that Andruw could be coming to New York as a Met to play right field. Now if one was to place trades on a scale from not happening to packing the bags and heading over to a new city, this trade is unlikely and closer to the not happening side. According to Olney, the Dodgers and the Mets have kept the “porch light on” for trade discussions (he gives the Mets moving Castillo a 50/50 chance).

However if it does happens, a lot of dominoes would fall: The trade would only happen from a Mets perspective if Castillo was shipped off to LA. That means now there is an opening for second base on the Mets. The Mets have wanted Hudson for a while, and its not a secret, and he is still on the market. He would make a great addition to this new, intense lockeroom with Krod and Putz. So by trading for Jones we are effectivily recieving Hudson as well, and his above average bat in the lineup. Hudson is also a more ideal number two hitter behind Reyes because ever since Castillo's decline and LoDuca's Decline, the Mets have been hard pressed to find a consistent number two hitter in the lineup.

The other side is that at this point the careers of Jones and Castillo, Jones has more upside. While it wouldn't be the world's most ideal outfielder fix, its better than nothing. There is then the question of pressure. Jones has been facing pressure since going to the Dodgers to be their source of pop in the lineup. That pressure would be gone in New York because he would be in the back of the lineup. However, there is then the pressure of New York, which is generally unpredictable.

As the clock ticks down on 2008, we are about to reach January which is always an interesting month because most teams are already set. The situation this month in particular is that there are several big names, Manny, Lowe, Perez, that were expecting to be signed a while ago, and have suitors lined up, however that hasn't happen.

The Mets are looking for another starting pitcher, they still have three pitchers left on their short list, the same three they have had all season on that list: Lowe, Perez, Wolf. The Mets benefit is that the other teams have their rotations ready to go and that means the Mets can have their pick at a bargain off of that list. Yesterday, that goal became much easier because the main suitor for Lowe not named the Mets was the Red Sox who picked up Brad Penny. That means their rotation is pretty much full. I wouldn't put it passed the Red Sox to still go hard after Lowe, but for the Mets, they are in a good position. The word on the street is that the Mets are going to give out offers to Lowe, Perez and Wolf later this week. This week mentally feels the same as the Winter meetings because it feels like rotation resolution is going to come soon.

With the outfield situation, things are going to get hairy for Manny. The Dodgers are starting to look at Dunn and that always seemed like a location where Manny could fall back on. A few ESPN personalities feel the Nationals could be a situation, I still have a piece of me that feels the Orioles could be interested if Manny's price really drops. I think the O's might be looking at Dunn as well. If the Dodgers do sign Dunn, its anyone's guess where Manny goes.

Earlier
today it seemed that the Mets and Lowe was going to happen, and happen
very soon. The Boston Globe, New York Daily News and New York Posts
were all reporting that the deal was almost done and was going to be
finalized between Christmas and New Years. The deal was going to be
somewhere between 14 to 16 million a year for 3 or 4 years.

So there are a few things going on. The
first might be that Buster and the News/Post/Globe have different
definitions of “serious discussions”. But in reality its just the
market that we live in today for Free Agent news. My gut feeling is
that the Mets are somewhere in betwene the Buster report and the
News/Post/Globe reports. That they have had serious talks about Lowe
and have talked to Lowe but that have not offered a contract yet.
Buster says that the Mets are still seriously considering Perez and
Wolf. I hope we are as close to Lowe as the newspapers suggest, but in
this day and age you never know.

The Red Sox announced a while ago that they are changing their away uniforms, and I guess I was in denial or something because I didn't report it, and uniform changes I am usually on top of. Anyway, the Sox are changing their away uniforms their gray that say Boston in red with the red stripes on sleeves to two different away jersies.

The first one looks fine. Its just a plain gray jersiey with the Navy Blue Boston written on the front, so it looks like the days of ol with the Sox. If I was in charge of deciding their uniforms, I would have made this their alternate away jersey and kept the current away jersey as their primary. This new gray one is now their primay, which I hope they wear a lot because their new alternate away is really just bad.

Its not the away jersey thats really bad though, its the new hat. The new alternate away is all Navy blue with Red lettering. Its not so bad, but if I was a Red Sox fan, I would be upset about it. The new hat though is just bad. When they wear their alternate away jersies, their hat is all navy blue, like normal, but instead of the famous Boston B on the front, it is the two hanging socks, or their alternative logo. It just doesn't look right and it feels like they are messing around with Baseball history.