Tag Archives: Address

Oct 06

Should the Mets consider dealing Jose Reyes?

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Whomever the Mets hire as general manager I will be curious to see his take on Jose Reyes.

Will he believe the team should be built around Reyes, or would the Mets be better served to deal him as an attempt to plug several holes, notably in the rotation and bullpen?

REYES: What's his value?

The path of least resistance would be to pick up Reyes’ $11 million option for 2011, then use that season as the basis to negotiate a long-term extension.

The gamble would be to pull the trigger now, thinking his value has peaked. At 27, Reyes is entering the prime of his career and should command a lot in return.

Reyes has missed a lot of time the past two seasons with health reasons and said he’ll work to strengthen his core in the offseason as to not have a recurrence of the oblique problem.

Reyes had a hot stretch this season when the Mets were playing well, but too often was not the player billed up to be, and the question was raised several times: Is this is good as it will get for Reyes or can he become that elite player?

That might be one of the toughest issues for the new general manager to address.

Reyes had his issues with Manuel, and to a lesser extent Willie Randolph, and the managerial hire might help the general manager decided if he will re-energize the shortstop.

All those variables will be evaluated should the team consider trading him, but that will happen after another important evaluation.

If the new general manager believes an overhaul is needed, and more than few pieces are required to return the Mets to contending status, then, depending on the return, I could see him exploring a Reyes trade.

However, if the assessment is this team isn’t far away, especially with the healthy returns of Jason Bay and Carlos Beltran next season, then holding onto him would be the prudent option because I can’t see obtaining player who will be more valuable to them than a healthy, productive and motivated Reyes.

Jul 04

Mets Chat Room; Need to fix a late-inning leak.

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Game #82 at Nationals

Ten walk-off losses for a season sounds high, let alone 10 for the first half. That’s the number after Frankie Rodriguez’s latest meltdown yesterday.

“The worst performance I ever had in my life,’’ he called yesterday afternoon’s ninth inning, which for all practical purposes was over before Adam Dunn’s game-tying drive off the wall.

Walking Cristian Guzman on four pitches to open the ninth was as bad a sign as there is.

Rodriguez’s implosion made Stephen Strasburg a footnote and threw away what would have been RA Dickey’s seventh win.

Ten walk-off losses out of 36 is way to high a percentage and is something the Mets must address immediately. For all the talk about the eighth inning, a band-aid needed to be put on the ninth, too.

“We have our issues,’’ manager Jerry Manuel said. “We can’t have an issue at the end of the game.’’

But, they do.

While the Mets’ bullpen is an issue heading into the break, so to is Jose Reyes’ health. Reyes, who has a strained right oblique, won’t play again today at Washington and is now questionable for the Reds series starting tomorrow at Citi Field.

Jan 03

Jan. 3.10: Getting off the Pineiro bandwagon.

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PINEIRO: Asking too much.

PINEIRO: Asking too much.

I started the Hot Stove Season believing the Mets should address pitching first and foremost. I feel the same way today.

One I touted was Joel Pineiro.

But, it was a surface infatuation. I looked at Pineiro’s 15 wins and thought they’d look good in the Mets’ rotation. They would.

But, after looking deeper, I’m off the Pineiro bandwagon. Those 15 wins marked the first time he won double-digit wins since going 16-11 in 2003 with Seattle. He’s 87-79 during his ten year career, which averages out to 9-8. He threw 214 innings last year, which was only the second time he threw at much as 200. Three times he’s thrown as many as 190.

There’s no way this should translate into Pineiro getting $10 million a year for four years. No way. But, would it surprise anybody if he did? Not me. When it comes to crazy contracts, somebody is always willing to pay. There’s always a GM waiting to take the plunge.

I’m hoping it isn’t Omar Minaya.