Friday Applesauce

by Eric Simon on Aug 1, 2008 11:15 AM EDT in Link Dump Comment 16 comments

John Peterson reveals a trade that should happen, could still happen, would improve the Mets considerably and wouldn't require giving up any of the Mets' top prospects. It doesn't even involve another team!

Alex Nelson breaks down the Astros' pitchers over at MetsGeek.

The NY Post has a short interview with Keith Hernandez.

Howard Megdal has an article up at The Observer about the Yanks' moves and the Mets' lack thereof, and how the disparity of activity has to do with the relative minor league strength of the two ballclubs.

MetsBlog is now brought to you by Geico. I'm sure there is a substantial financial windfall for Matt Cerrone by agreeing to this sponsorship, though some have already voiced their concerns that his site can't honestly be called "independent" anymore. Those concerns originally arose last year when Matt announced his partnership with SNY, the partially-team-owned sports network that also broadcasts the Mets' games. I don't have any problems with the new arrangement, and in keeping with my long-standing commitment to selling out whenever possible, you'd be reading "Amazin' Avenue Presented By Dr. Porkenheimer's Boner Juice" if only that esteemed company would pick up the phone and call me.

OMF!! LOL!! (Now with working link!)

Not baseball-related, but NFL training camp is underway and SB Nation has great coverage of the Giants at Big Blue View. We used to have a Jets blog but it has fallen into disrepair, so I'll let you know when we get that train rolling again.

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sponsorship

big sausage pizza dot com would be a solid sponsor IMHO.

by kendynamo on Aug 1, 2008 11:47 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

no no no

Procede, because then we’d have Giuseppe Franco on the front page

by JoshNY on Aug 1, 2008 11:59 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Then Eric should post his picture on the front with his hair done like Franco’s, Sticking straight up and dyed jet black.

The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me.

by sireric on Aug 1, 2008 12:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Just to be sure

The “OMF!! LOL!!” link was for the Zambrano signing, yes? Cos it came up with a lot of other, less incredibly hilarious stories as well.

'Catsmeat!' he cried. 'I see it all. It was that chump, Catsmeat.'

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Aug 1, 2008 11:59 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

BBV

BigBlueView is a good site, but be warned the guy who runs it is a huge Yankees fan.

by JoshNY on Aug 1, 2008 11:59 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Omar

This is not a harsh crtique of Omar who knows his minor league players better than I do but I have to say, if I were the Mets GM and someone offered me Jason Bay for say F-Mart, I would have been very very tempted to pull the trigger.

by Endys Game on Aug 1, 2008 12:21 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

yeah, no shit

Do you have any evidence that such a deal was even a remote possibility? Or do you just regret that it wasn’t?

by anonymous on Aug 1, 2008 12:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

uh yeah

Omar told WFAN that he turned it down!!!

by Endys Game on Aug 1, 2008 12:29 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

To be exact

He told them that he asked the Pirates about Bay but they they wanted a premium prospect. Singular. So I assume this means F-Mart. And Omar has said before that he was pretty much off limits. I don’t say that he is wrong either. I just don’t know enough about F-Mart. If he is close to the level of say a David Wright was as a prospect than I don’t know if you can blame Omar for staying pat. But yes, its a no-brainer that Bay could have helped this team now. I am just wondering if F-Mart is being overvalued. Now if the Pirates wanted Niese as well, than it gets even more dicey.

by Endys Game on Aug 1, 2008 12:36 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

FMart

I doubt he would’ve been enough. This is just one prospect list, but per Kevin Goldstein before this season, Andy LaRoche was the 14th best prospect in baseball, Fernando Martinez was 51st. A lot of folks ranked Martinez higher, but LaRoche has long been considered a great prospect. Now, the Dodgers traded LaRoche, who was arguably already better than Martinez, and another prospect, Bryan Morris, to the Red Sox for Manny Ramirez. The Sox took both of those players, added Brandon Moss and Craig Hansen, and shipped the quartet to Pittsburgh for Jason Bay.

The point of all of this is that it took a prospect who was arguably better than Fernando Martinez (LaRoche), plus three other prospects (Hansen was a first-rounder a couple of years ago), just to get Bay. Given all of that, I have a hard time believing that Martinez alone would’ve been enough to get Jason Bay.

by Eric Simon on Aug 1, 2008 12:49 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

But?

What if the Mets had acted earlier before the Manny saga blew up and these other teams got involved?

by Endys Game on Aug 1, 2008 1:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sure

Sounds great, but that’s all conjecture at this point. None of us knows if that offer was even made, when it was made, or if it were made earlier if it would’ve been accepted. We can debate it ad nauseum, but I’d just as soon move on.

by Eric Simon on Aug 1, 2008 1:26 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

That's fine

I wasn’t really trying to start a debate. I guess I just wanted to know what the chances were that Omar was overvaluing F-Mart in terms of tradesand/or the Mets future. It seems like maybe you guys aren’t quite as high on him as Omar seems to be but I guess I just wanted to confirm that.

by Endys Game on Aug 1, 2008 1:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

If the Mets had offered F-Mart earlier,

I doubt the Red Sox would have accepted him for Manny straight up. They only traded him because he became too much of a pain in the ass. Doing a 1-for-1 deal, especially if they didn’t need to trade Manny, would have been too unlikely.

by BobbyV_Incognito on Aug 1, 2008 7:06 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Manny?

I thought we were talking about trading for Bay.

by JoshNY on Aug 1, 2008 9:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

if he turned down that 1-for-1 deal, he's a bigger idiot than I thought

As Eric said, the package Pittsburgh ended up getting for Bay is so vastly superior to Fernando Martinez in value that there’s no comparison. I seriously doubt that even as poorly-run an organization as the Pirates would mistake that. So you have to think the Mets would’ve needed to offer a much bigger package to get a shot at Bay; in fact I’m not sure they could put together an equivalent package from the entire Mets farm system. Jason Bay is a very good baseball player in his prime: one toolsy kid is not his equivalent value.

by anonymous on Aug 1, 2008 1:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs