Bullpen Help

by Eric Simon on Dec 15, 2005 9:55 AM EST

With the Mets' rumored intest in Cardinals' free agent reliever Julian Tavarez, let's take a look at some of the available arms -- including Tavarez -- and see whether any of these guys are worth pursuing.

Julian Tavarez: Tavarez turns 33 in May and has really only been a full-time relief pitcher for the past three seasons, having started almost exclusively prior to that. He spent the past two seasons with the Cardinals and is an extreme groundball pitcher. He has benefitted greatly from the Cardinals' exceptional infield defense and, while the left side of the Mets' infield is strong defensively, the right side -- depending upon what they eventually do at second base -- is not as competent.

Tavarez' walk rate is very good, allowing just 2.66 and 2.60 BB/9 in each of the past two seasons. His strikeout rates are not as good (6.72 K/9 and 6.44 K/9) but his homerun rates are outstanding (0.11 HR/9, 0.14 HR/9 and 0.88 HR/9 over the past three seasons). He is reportedly looking for a four-year deal, which is ridiculous. I wouldn't even give him three years, though that may be what it takes. It should be noted that Tavarez has a bit of a history of temper tantrums, though he seemed to keep them in check last year.

Rudy Seanez: Seanez turned 37 in October, but he had a phenomenal year in 2005 with the Padres, with peripheral rates of 12.53 K/9, 3.28 BB/9 and 0.60 HR/9. His carrer walk rate is 4.60, or just over one walk every two innings. In other words, not great. It's possible that he solved some control problems last year, though it's just as likely that his 2005 season was an outlier and he will return to his crummy walk rate in 2006. I'm a sucker for big strikeout guys, so I would definitely endorse giving Seanez a one-year deal with an option for 2007.

Antonio Alfonseca: Alfonseca will turn 34 in April, and it's not really clear why anyone would be that interested in him, save the fact that he has 12 fingers and 12 toes. His homerun rates have been very good, but he doesn't strikeout enough batters and he walks too many batters. There's no reason to believe that he'll be any better than Heath Bell or Juan Padilla, so I'd take a pass.

None of these pitchers were offered arbitration by their former clubs, so the Mets could sign any or all of them and not have to forfeit any draft picks

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Dotel

I'm a big fan of Dotel, and would love to see the Mets give him an incentive-laden two-year deal. He probably won't be ready to pitch until mid-season, but I've missed him ever since he was traded before the 2000 season and would be very happy to have him back.

by Eric Simon on Dec 15, 2005 12:10 PM EST reply actions

Wilpon is going to ask Alfonseca

to cut off the extra fingers, at least...to prevent himself from becoming a distration within the saturated NY media market.

"I'm just employee #12" said Alfonseca.

by peeder on Dec 15, 2005 2:46 PM EST reply actions

Extra Fingers?

He really has two extra fingers? LOL

2QYankeehater: Diehard Mets fan, huge Yankeehater, and worshipper of David Wright.

by 2QYankeehater on Dec 15, 2005 5:34 PM EST up reply actions

Looper arbitration.

Can someone explain why we didn't offer Looper Arbitration? According to the rules of arbitration a team can offer arbitration of no less than 80% of the previous years contract- since Looper made $5.3 mill last year, 80% would have been a shade over $4.2 million. Knowing now that Looper was looking at a $13 million dollar contract, there is no way he would have accepted a 1 yr $4.2 mill arbitration offer.

And if we did offer arbitration, we would have gotten the Cardinals 1st round draft pick (we lost ours signing Wagner) and gotten an additional supplementary pick sandwiched between the first and second round.

Roberto Hernandez not getting arbitration makes no sense either since he was signed for $650k last season and was a type B free agent- meaning whoeever signed him would have to cede us their first round pick.

I'm sure I am missing some information here, but based on what I know (which is limited) it seems like no brainers to offer arbitration to these guys.

by gene on Dec 16, 2005 10:33 AM EST reply actions

you're right

I think you're right that these decisions are hard to understand, especially the Hernandez one.

My best guess is that management was concerned that one or both guys might accept the arbitration offers and push the team way over budget. This is obviously a greater concern in Looper's case -- in this market he could have asked for a large amount and won arbitration, and if I were Omar I'd be very wary of getting trapped into another year of expensive uselessness from him. And the loss of a draft pick would have made other teams that much less likely to offer him a contract better than he'd get in arbitration. This way, instead, he and the Cards bear all the risk, and the Mets were able to ensure he wasn't coming back. The Hernandez case is less comprehensible to me, because his likely arbitration award would be well within the Mets' budget, and he wouldn't be a bad guy to get "stuck" with for another year.

by anonymous on Dec 16, 2005 12:51 PM EST up reply actions

are we sure

any of these guys are any better than some guys we have in house- McGinley, royce Ring, Jason Scobie, et al? I'm not saying the guys we have are any good; actually come to think of it, I'm saying the guys available suck.

by gene on Dec 16, 2005 2:48 PM EST reply actions