Meet the NEW Mets
Well, that was quick. In the span of an hour on Tuesday evening, the Mets filled up their bullpen with quality relievers, while swapping their incumbent center fielder out for another one. On Tuesday afternoon, we heard that the team had interest in Mark Buehrle (which was debunked by Sandy Alderson) and then that they were close to signing a couple of relief pitchers. Those signings soon came to fruition. First, the team inked gigantic right hander Jon Rauch to a one year, $3.5 million contract. Then, it was announced that they had swapped CF Angel Pagan to the Giants in exchange for slightly older CF Andres Torres and righty reliever Ramon Ramirez. Just minutes later, the Mets capped off a whirlwind hour by confirming the signing of righthander Frank Francisco. There was plenty of reaction to the moves, which quickly and quite effectively saw the Mets revamp their once awful bullpen. It's starting to look like the place where they may not upgrade is at backup catcher. All aboard the Mike Nickeas Express!
Are you still crying about the loss of Jose Reyes to the Marlins? If that's the case, Toby Hyde put together a list of required Jose Reyes reading. If you'd like some more, here are a few things that came out on Tuesday. Want to read another anti-Wilpon piece? Here you go! Are you wondering what to do with your Reyes t-shirt/jersey? Foley's NY Pub can help you out.
Sandy Alderson is still interested in bringing Chris Young back. Apparently, Sandy is looking to assemble a basketball team starting with Rauch, Young and Mike Pelfrey.
Around the Winter Meetings
Albert Pujols Albert Pujols ALBERT PUJOLS! He's the talk of the winter meetings and he's currently got three offers on the table: one from the Cardinals, one from the Marlins and one from a mystery team, which is reportedly the Angels. For what it's worth, the Marlins are pushing for a decision to be made soon. Well, it worked for their pursuit of Reyes. Speaking of Jose, he'll be introduced in Miami rainbow colors later today. Grant Brisbee would like to welcome you to the new National League East.
The Mariners are rumored to be leading the chase for Prince Fielder but GM Jack Zduriencik is downplaying #6org's interest in the hefty first baseman, while the Rangers have stepped up their pursuit of CJ Wilson.
The White Sox made an interesting trade, dealing closer Sergio Santos to the Blue Jays in exchange for starting pitching prospect Nestor Molina. Meanwhile, the Twins dealt starter and potential non-tender candidate Kevin Slowey to the Rockies for a PTBNL.
Finally, if you'd like to get more up to date on the winter meetings (because let's face it: there's lot of rumors flying around and things change quickly), you can check out either Yahoo's Big League Stew's Winter Meetings Tracker or MLB.com's Hot Stove MLBlog.