Thursday Morning Mets Newsstand

by Eric Simon on Dec 6, 2007 12:02 AM EST in Applesauce

Hooray, bullet lists!

The Mets are reportedly back in the Johan Santana sweepstakes. The failure of the Twins to reach an agreement with either the Red Sox or the Yankees has left a window opening that is almost imperceptibly small. They remain adamant about not trading Jose Reyes (as they should), but Oliver Perez's name has been floating around the internets. I don't know how much sense Ollie makes for the Twins, as he is has just one year of arbitration left before free agency and he is represented by Scott Boras, two details that don't really jibe with Minnesota's small market sensibilities. [SI]
The Mets had the second most efficient defense in baseball last year, according to John Dewan's plus/minus system. The Mets were an aggregate +73 as a team, meaning they made 73 more plays than an average defensive team might be expected to make. [Stat of the Week]
Beginning in 2013, the BBWAA will no longer consider players with MVP, Cy Young or Rookie of the Year contract bonus clauses for those particular awards. [LoHud]
Barry Bonds intends to play in 2008, assuming some team is actually willing to pay him cash money to do so. Considering that the Nationals just traded for ne'erdowell Elijah Dukes and "bad seed" Lastings Milledge, I'm sure they could find a spot for Mr. Bonds. [MLB.com]
The Marlins and Tigers officially wrapped up the blockbuster deal that sent Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to Detroit and top prospects Cameron Maybin and Andrew Miller, among others, to Florida. [AP]
Ben Shpigel has a nice look at Jose Reyes in Thursday's New York Times, profiling the speedster in and around his home in Dominican Republic. Reyes has received assurances from Omar Minaya that he will not be traded, and for his part Reyes seems to be doing his best to put 2007 behind him. [NY Times]
Another reliever is off the market as David Riske signed a three-year, $13 million deal with the Brewers. Milwaukee had already lost Francisco Cordero and Scott Linebrink to free agency, but have made up some ground with the Riske signing and their earlier acquisition of Guillermo Mota *snickers*. [Brew Crew Ball]

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from the times piece today

Hard work is Reyes's tonic. It helps him forget about his September vanishing act and the team's disappointing finish. In the final week of last season, when the Mets lost six of seven at home against Washington, St. Louis and Florida, Reyes batted .156 (5 for 32). Here, at home, he acknowledged that he could have benefited from a few more days off in a season in which he played almost every day for the third straight year. His bat speed slowed, he said, and his legs felt the effects of stealing 78 bases -- but none after Sept. 15.

Willie has to find a couple days off for him next year.

Keep Lastings Milledge Free

by DoctorK16 on Dec 6, 2007 12:46 PM EST reply actions

Yes

I also think he needs to refine his base-stealing approach. Attempting fewer steals should help to keep him fresh into the season and should result in his stolen base efficiency improving.

by Eric Simon on Dec 6, 2007 1:24 PM EST up reply actions

Defense plus/minus

Maybe our defense made so many plays because most of our pitchers never strike anybody out.

by Josh @ Amazin' Avenue on Dec 6, 2007 1:37 PM EST reply actions

The Mets were actually 6th out of 16 NL teams in strikeouts last year, and had a better K/IP ratio than the Padres, one of the teams ahead of them. So I don't know how much that means. Also, Florida had more strikeouts but a team ERA .68 runs higher than the Mets, so K's are not everything.

Let's Go Mets!

by twassel on Dec 6, 2007 2:08 PM EST up reply actions

K's

My mistake. Actually, I think the problem was that a lot of guys' strikeouts tailed off in the second half (or at least it felt that way) and so it left me with the mistaken impression that there weren't a lot of guys striking people out.

by Josh @ Amazin' Avenue on Dec 7, 2007 1:26 AM EST up reply actions

Andruw Jones a Dodger!

Some more news for the day... Andruw Jones reaches a 2-year, $36M deal with the Dodgers.

by SeanNY on Dec 6, 2007 2:07 PM EST reply actions

Juan Pierre

So with Andruw now in CF, Juan Pierre and his gazillion-dollar contract are now in LF. The same Juan Pierre who had a .257 EqA to go along with a .293/.331/.353 line will now be playing a premier power position. Why not just move him to 1B?

It's a good time to be a Padres/Rockies/D-Backs fan considering that the two really rich teams in the NL West are run by abject incompetents.

But hey, at least Ned Colletti isn't a nerd from Harvard, right?

Let's Go Meters in New York!!!

by Greenpoint Ian on Dec 6, 2007 2:15 PM EST up reply actions

Pierre

I agree about Pierre. They need to get rid of him if that is even possible anymore.

I think Andruw will rebound, as it would be hard to believe he repeats last season's performance. But, I think $18M/year is too much! Anyway, it likely helps the Mets, as the Braves will have a hard time finding someone who plays as well as he had in previous years or like I expect him to again this year.

by SeanNY on Dec 6, 2007 3:37 PM EST up reply actions

NERDS NERDS NERDS NERDS

by kendynamo on Dec 6, 2007 11:51 PM EST up reply actions

BBWA

Shorter Baseball Writers: God forbid teams should financially reward players when we praise them... but feel free to continue trading and abandoning players when we write baseless crap about them.

I did it like this / I did it like that / I did it with a Wiffle Ball bat

by Doc Manhattan on Dec 7, 2007 7:07 PM EST reply actions