Several cuban defectors to have a private workout with the Mets

Hechevarria is supposedly a VERY good prospect. I also found it interesting (by following the twitter link) that Yuniesky Maya has been working out at the Mets complex in the DR while he's waiting to be unblocked to sign.

almost 2 years ago Stephen Schmidt 22 comments 0 recs |

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Shh!!! Nobody tell Torii Hunter.

I lobby for job.

by Brian. on Mar 12, 2010 1:44 PM EST reply actions

I hope that gives us a little advantage regarding signing them.

Probably not, though- I remember Sheets was working out and rehabbing with the Rangers in 2008-2009, but he didn’t end up with them.

Maya sure would look good in a Mets uniform, though. If Hechevarria is as good as supposedly he can be (Ichiro-like), he would too. That’d be a nice change for Pelfrey- Reyes at short, and a converted Hechevarria (who pans out) at second.

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.

by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Mar 12, 2010 2:03 PM EST reply actions

Hechevarria has supposedly played some center field as well

Pinella: Where th f*ck was that pitch at?
Ump: Lou, don't you know that you're not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition?
Pinella: Where the f*ck was that pitch at, a$$h*le?

by Stephen Schmidt on Mar 12, 2010 2:08 PM EST up reply actions

Sheets was supposed to sign with the Rangers

But the Rangers backed out at the last minute when they found out he needed surgery

Gas prices today are a lot like a pitcher's ERA. Anything under 3 is amazing, under 4 is pretty good and anything 5 and up is something you want to avoid.

by Bobby Baseball on Mar 12, 2010 3:26 PM EST up reply actions

I'm pretty sure they had actually agreed on a contract before his physical showed how serious the damage was.

Pinella: Where th f*ck was that pitch at?
Ump: Lou, don't you know that you're not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition?
Pinella: Where the f*ck was that pitch at, a$$h*le?

by Stephen Schmidt on Mar 12, 2010 3:31 PM EST up reply actions

If I remember correctly, he signed with Texas in July but the contract was voided after he failed his physical.

I lobby for job.

by Brian. on Mar 12, 2010 5:59 PM EST up reply actions

I'd love to get both of em

The Mets could really use some athletic outfield depth. Their CF line after Pridie is pretty much Fernando and Nieuwenhuis, neither of whom are projected to stay at CF. Maya would be awesome too, Sam and I were talking quite a bit about him when we were working on the book.

"All energy flows according to the whims of the great magnet

What a fool I was to defy him"

-HST

by Mark Himmelstein on Mar 12, 2010 5:06 PM EST reply actions

What about Carlos Guzman?

I don’t know much of anything about him but I remember him getting some interest as a possible break out candidate last year, basically people thinking he might have the season Carrera ended up having.

"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'

it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.

by Gina on Mar 12, 2010 5:49 PM EST up reply actions

I don't think defensively he's considered a candidate for CF

He’s not considered much better than average defensively. His TotalZone numbers aren’t pretty either, -10 in RF, and though you have to apply some of the same problems with applying TotalZone to Nieuwenhuis here, unlike Nieuwenhuis, most of those runs were from his road splits (-7), so its less likely this is a problem of batted ball interpretation. His bat makes him a prospect though, he wasn’t on the Top 20 in the book but he’s not too much further down.

"All energy flows according to the whims of the great magnet

What a fool I was to defy him"

-HST

by Mark Himmelstein on Mar 12, 2010 7:40 PM EST up reply actions

Damn

maybe we can retroactively switch him out for carrerra.

"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'

it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.

by Gina on Mar 12, 2010 8:05 PM EST up reply actions

i'd been wondering about maya

after reports this winter first piqued my interest about him. if we can sign any of these guys it sounds like a creative and effective way to give the system an instant boost.

these are the moves that omar HAS to make in order to (attempt to) justify the organization’s infuriating mindset regarding the june draft.

by Rob Castellano on Mar 12, 2010 5:30 PM EST reply actions

Agreed.

If we “passed” on players in the draft because we’re spending our money drafting international players, we’re not really losing out all that much- it becomes six of one thing, and a half dozen of another. But, when we start slacking on both…

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.

by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Mar 12, 2010 5:58 PM EST up reply actions

Well we are losing out on much

if other teams are spending on both.

"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'

it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.

by Gina on Mar 12, 2010 6:01 PM EST up reply actions

From the PoV of "replenishing" and "restocking" the farm system,

if they come from international signings, or domestic drafts, the concepts are don’t really differ. They’re both ways to get us young talent. If we focus on one over the other, we’re not hurting ourselves, per se, in that we’re still signing people. That that kind of attitude doesn’t keep up with other teams who approach both at an equal measure, yeah.

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.

by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Mar 12, 2010 6:04 PM EST up reply actions

I guess

but I see it more as we could have 12 but instead we’re choosing six, rather than half a dozen vs six.

"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'

it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.

by Gina on Mar 14, 2010 12:36 AM EST up reply actions

Cubans on the Mets makes me happy.

What, with me being Cuban and all….

you know what I'm sayin' ?

by fxcarden on Mar 12, 2010 7:20 PM EST reply actions

We've had a general good history of Cuban players.

Rey Ordonez, of course. El Duque did good by us, for the most part. Livan wasn’t terrible, for what we were expecting of him. Eli Marerro…Meh. He replaced Kaz Matsui, so…Cookie Rojas pushed an umpire, which is always amusing. Alay Soler had a stretch of about four games where he was pretty good, in 2006 (and I think I saw three of them, damn it!). I think that’s everyone…

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.

by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Mar 12, 2010 11:53 PM EST up reply actions

I saw ALay Solver v the Red Sox

and he was awful.

"We're investigating the investigative procedure of the investigation of Tony Bernazard"---Omar Minaya (he really didn't say it but he would"

by firejerrynow on Mar 13, 2010 6:25 AM EST up reply actions

Outside of those four games where he was good,

yeah, he sucked.

I remember, at the time, I had a kinda friend who was a cardinals fan, and they just lost Carpenter, and had a crappy rotation, and he was pining over Soler.

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.

by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Mar 13, 2010 2:44 PM EST up reply actions