» Daniel Murphy

I wrote on facebook: “Congratulations to the most spoiled fans in the world, however… Thank you…Becasue I hate the Phillies with a Passion” to which a Yankee friend replied, “But Dan, they’re are 3rd graders who haven’t seen this yet” to which I replied but there are 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th and 12th graders that have.

Oh and I forgot to congratulate the Phillies and their fans 2 seasons ago – for their desire to have us hate them and take them seriously… Well done. Seriously though. Well done.

The Mets have a sundry of needs that Omar Minaya or whomever else assumes GM needs to attend to: mainly c, 1b, 2b, lf, and sp. I say 2b because it seems they are attempting to trade Luis Castillo and then potentially offer a deal to Orlando Hudson, which scares me if the Mets have to provide another multi year deal to an aging 2nd baseman who was benched for Ronnie Belliard during the (p)lay-offs. I’ll stop assuming our prospects pan out and offer a scenario that lands the Mets a 1b,2b,lf,and sp. I also won’t propose trading 15 tier 3 prospects for 4 mlb all stars.

Trade 1) NYM-Jankees: Carlos Beltran(cf), Wilmer Flores/Reese Havens/Ruben Tejada (preferably the later middle infield prospect), Urbina/Moviel/Familia(sp prospect) for Robinson Cano(2b) and Phil Hughes(sp).

* I know the Yankees could have had Beltran for just cash prior to him signing with the Mets, but this provides the Yankees with an every day (when healthy) offensive centerfielder and then they can sign Chone Figgins or Orlando Hudson for 2b and use Flores/Havens/Tejada at ss or 2b when that contract or Jeter’s career is over.

Trade 2) NYM-Brewers: Ike Davis(1b prospect), Fernando Martinez (of prospect), Mike Pelfrey(sp), Brad Holt (sp prospect) for Prince Fielder(1b).Maybe Angel Pagan(of) &/or Daniel Murphy(if-of) can also be involved in the deal for Carlos Gomez (cf) otherwise the Mets CF will come by way of free agency…

Trade 3) NYM-Cubs: The already infinitely proposed deal (except straight up with cash consideration coming the Mets way), Luis Castillo(2b) for Milton Bradley(lf)

Mets 2010 Free Agent signings: Mike Cameron(cf) if Carlos Gomez isn’t involved in the Brewers deal, Randy Wolf(sp), and Erik Bedard or Ben Sheets(sp) contingent on health reports and monetary demands.

*I haven’t added monetary figures to this scenario but if you include the salary subtractions of Delgado, Wagner, Putz, Schneider, Sheffield, Tatis, and Cora the Mets would have a payroll at 10-15 million less than last year ( and that takes into account salary and arbitration raises). The Mets Lineup and Rotation (depth) would look as follows:

1-Jose Reyes/ss

2-David Wright/3b

3-Robinson Cano/2b

4-Prince Fielder/1b

5-Milton Bradley/lf

6-Jeff Franceour/rf

7-Mike Cameron/cf

8-Santos/Thole/Free Agent Catcher

1-Johan Santana

2-Randy Wolf

3-Erik Bedard/Ben Sheets/John Maine

4-Phil Hughes

5-Oliver Perez/Jon Niese

6-Misch/Stoner/Nieve/Figueroa/Mejia

That’s an AL East competitor even, but so are the Phillies. The Mets must match up to them lineup spot by lineup spot and rotation slot by rotation slot.

New Major League Baseball Blog Reader?, we highly recommend that you subscribe to our exclusive Major League Blogging RSS feed. Make sure to come back daily for fresh content.

I’ve been slightly unprofessional offering a sundry of random trade offers the Mets should at least attend to (all of them being interesting but completely unrealistic). Some could realistically happen if it were proposed by the actual GM’s, such as Beltran + SP prospect for Matt Cain or the Farm for Nick Markakis or Prince Fielder, however I don’t think any big trades will occur this season, because as you’ve already been hearing, many of the Mets prospects are seasons away from the majors (Jenrry Mejia/sp; Brad Holt/sp; Wilmer Flores/if; Reese Havens/Ruben Tejada/mi; Jefry Marte/3b). I think all 6 are MLB talent, but all 6 are under or well under 23 years of age. The most interesting unrealistic trade I’ve recently thought about is: Matt Cain & Pablo Sandoval for Carlos Beltran, Fernando Martinez, Daniel Murphy, Tejada/Havens/Flores-mi or Marte/Lutz-3b, and Niese/Mejia/Holt-sp. The Mets would have to use Angel Pagan every day at CF so this is somewhat unrealistic, but maybe we could trade back for Carlos Gomez to man CF at CITI Field along with Pagan. He shouldn’t cost too much (maybe a MI/3b prospect not in the Cain & Sandoval deal). Again, this is highly unlikely because both Cain and Sandoval are fantastic and cheap.

A possible trade that does make some sense: Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors (http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/09/discussion-milton-bradley-for-oliver-perez.html) discusses a Cubs-Mets swap of Milton Bradley and Oliver Perez – both disappointing and costly. As per Tim Dierkes post, Joel Sherman of the New York Post (http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/hardball/up_yanks_postseason_al_mvp_bradley_OGXQ3Gwj8DrsvfRTrOZGXN) also wonders if Carlos Zambrano & Luis Castillo could switch sides. It’s an interesting idea. The Mets could get their #2 starter they need in Zambrano and an OF in Bradley if they don’t think Angel Pagan & Prospect Ike Davis (who has mainly played 1b) could play every day. If the Mets are willing to take on all the money, I don’t see why the Cubs wouldn’t trade Zambrano & Bradley straight up for Perez & Castillo, but maybe the Mets would have to offer up a 2nd/3rd tier prospect in addition. Zambrano’s a good quality SP, but if we take on Bradley’s entire salary that’s 28ish million per year coming the Mets way and only 18 million per year going the Cubs way. This gives the Cubs lee-way to resign Rich Harden/sp & Reed Johnson/of.  If the Mets were to pull the trigger on this, they would then need a 2b (Chone Figgins preferably – I’d rather sign him to 3-4 years at 11-12mm per than Orlando Hudson for 8-9mm per year for 2 years I think). The Mets would use Anderson Hernandez at MI to back up Reyes and Castillo/Figgins/Hudson then. Our rotation after this would look like Santana; Zambrano; Pelfrey; Maine/Parnell; Niese/Figueroa/Nieve. I still think we need one more consistent starter for the rotation. According to Rotoworld (http://www.rotoworld.com/Content/playerpages/player_main.aspx?sport=MLB&id=3044), Jeff Francoeur says Jason Marquis would love to pitch for the Mets. To me, he does epitomize a consistent #3 starter.

So if the Mets pulled the Cubs trade, signed Figgins, and Marquis that’s about 30-34mm in additions to the team. Carlos Delgado, Billy Wanger, JJ Putz, Gary Sheffield, Fernando Tatis, Alex Cora, and Brian Schneider ‘leaving’ for free agency takes about 33mm off the books, so I think it’s only fair with a new stadium, that the Mets allow for such additions.

This provides a 2010 lineup of:

1-      Chone Figgins; Anderson Hernandez/mi

2-      Jose Reyes; Anderson Hernandez/mi

3-      David Wright/3b

4-      Carlos Beltran; Angel Pagan/cf

5-      Jeff Francoeur; Milton Bradley; Pagan/rf

6-      Milton Bradley; Angel Pagan; Murphy/Davis/lf

7-      Daniel Murphy; Ike Davis/1b

8-      Josh Thole; Omir Santos/c

& a 2010 Rotation of:

1-      Johan Santana

2-      Carlos Zambrano

3-      Jason Marquis

4-      Mike Pelfrey

5-      John Maine; Bobby Parnell; Jon Niese

6-      Fernando Nieve; Nelson Figueroa

A Decent 2010 Bench of:

c- Omir Santos; Josh Thole

1b/of- Nick Evans; Ike Davis; Daniel Murphy

mi- Anderson Hernandez

of – Angel Pagan; Milton Bradley

of – Jeremy Reed; Cory Sullivan

& a 2010 Bullpen of:

K-rod

Bobby Parnell; John Maine

Pedro Feliciano

Brian Stokes

Carlos Muniz

Sean Green

Takahashi/RP Prospect/FA LHP

*Roster Notes: Figgins-Reyes-Wright is pretty good infield obp and speed for Beltran-Francoeur-Bradley to drive in, and I think Daniel Murphy & Ike Davis can man 1b while Josh Thole and Omir Santos can man C well enough for the 2010 Mets to more than compete with a deeper 5 man rotation with Zambrano & Marquis while a hopefully healthier John Maine and a hopefully better Mike Pelfrey depict a better number 4&5 starter than a 2&3 starter.

Well Omar Minaya supposedly rejected 2 major trades (potentially losing Jenrry Mejia & Brad Holt for Victor Martinez/c fom the Indians and Fernando Martinez, Ruben Tejada, Jon Niese, & Bobby Parnell for Roy Halladay/sp from the Blue Jays). Obviously/Naturally/Inevitably neither was ever 100% confirmed. Mets Blog author Matt Cerrone thought the Indians potentially wanted Jon Niese and one of Brad Holt or Jenrry Mejia as well as a minor league bat (”…from what i can gather, the Indians would have requested Jon Niese and one of Brad Holt or Jennry Mejia from the Mets, in a deal for martinez, plus maybe a minor-league hitter, but i don’t believe an official offer was ever on the table…” – http://www.metsblog.com/page/3/), and as per Jon Heyman (http://www.fannation.com/si_blogs/mlb_trade_talk/posts/70781-jays-asking-price-for-halladay-too-steep-for-mets), the Mets supposedly rejected the Halladay offer.

Honestly either deal would have significantly depleted our system. Personally, I would have pulled the Halladay deal to have two gorgeous anchors for the 2010 Mets rotation, and they wouldn’t have had to give up their top 2 sp prospects in Holt and Mejia.

I do have another proposal for Halladay contingent on whether the above offer was true:

Jon Niese; Bobby Parnell; Fernando Martinez; Ruben Tejada, Ike Davis (preferably not adding Davis if possible) for Roy Halladay/sp and Alex Rios/of (consuming their salaries).

This would then allow the Mets to trade Alex Rios or Carlos Beltran + Daniel Murphy or Ike Davis if not traded above + Brad Holt for Matt Cain/sp and Pablo Sandoval/ci from the Giants. Matt Cain has been unhittable and probably will be harder to attain then ever before, but I think such a deal could work for the Giants with their offensive needs.

This provides the Mets with a 2010 rotation of Halladay;Santana;Cain;Pelfrey;Maine/Perez and a 2010 lineup of Castillo/Reyes/Wright/Sandoval/Rios/Francoeur/Pagan or FA LF/Schneider-Santos/c. Again, preferably I’d love for the Mets to sign Orlando Hudson for 2b and keep Castillo on the bench or trade him as much as his salary and 2009 performance is, but I think at this point, that won’t happen considering his performance and salary.

I read the Mets Rejection of a Roy Halladay trade first via MetsBlog.com: According to Matthew Cerrone, ‘Jon Heyman of SI.com believes the Mets rejected a deal from the Jays for RHP Roy Halladay, in return for OF Fernando Martinez, Bobby Parnell, Jon Niese and 17–year-old SS Ruben Tejada.’

Honestly, that’s a lot. Then, a poll asked if you would do this trade or not and at the time I voted (no), 75% of the people said yes they would do it and only 25% said no (on the dot). I’m surprised. This is a lot to give up. I think most of the same people said not to give up the farm in any trade in an earlier poll on the site. And like Cerrone goes on to say, the Mets would keep Brad Holt and Jenrry Mejia, which are probably the Mets top two pitching prospects now so that is attractive, but again, I personally think this is way too much.

Ruben Tejada may be ahead of Wilmer Flores as our top middle infield/ss prospect, however that said, we do have another very young, very talented ss prospect in Flores. We do have 2 better sp prospects than Jon Niese. I think this was the Blue Jays thinking too. The Mets are giving up their top OF prospect in Fernando Martinez and top RP prospect in Bobby Parnell, but not even their top sp or ss prospect, however, with both Billy Wagner and JJ Putz gone via free agency next year (obviously assuming the inevitable), I think Bobby Parnell is too important – maybe the most important immediate provider in the deal.

So should Omar Minaya be fired (I mean counter)? I think we can attempt to counter with Fernando Martinez/of, Jon Niese/sp, Brad Holt/sp and Jefry Marte/3b for Roy Halladay/sp + Alex Rios/of. I think Marte is more expendable at 3b behind David Wright than Ruben Tejada or Wilmer Flores at ss behind Jose Reyes. And if we lose Fernando Martinez we’d need Rios plus we would take his salary off the Jays’ back.

*In my crazy idealland, I thought maybe Jon Niese, Brad Holt, John Maine, and Jefry Marte/Ruben Tejada/Wilmer Flores could land Halladay & Rios, and the Mets can then trade Fernando Martinez & Mike Pelfrey/Brad Holt/Jenrry Mejia & Santos/Thole/Pena/c for Victor Martinez yielding:

a 2010 rotation of: Roy Halladay; Johan Santana; Oliver Perez; 2 of Pelfrey/Holt/Mejia/League-worse-than-averages like Livan/Redding/&Nieve this year.

and a 2010 lineup of: Jose Reyes/ss; David Wright/3b; Victor Martinez/c; Carlos Beltran/cf; Alex Rios/lf; Jeff Francoeur/rf; Daniel Murphy/1b; Castillo/Cora/Flores/Tejada/Havens/2b.

and then in lala land, I thought maybe (a healthy) Jose Reyes/ss (maybe in the off season) can go to the Red Sox for Michael Bowden/sp and (Clay Buchholz/sp or Justin Masterson/sp & Daniel Bard/rp). If they want Oliver Perez/sp and 1/2 his salary, that would be fantastic. The Mets could than use Tejada/Flores/Havens/Cora at SS and sign Orlando Hudson for 2b allowing a 2010 lineup of: Hudson-Wright-VMartinez-Beltran-Rios-Francoeur-Murphy-Tejada/Flores/Havens/Cora and a 2010 Rotation of Halladay-Santana-Buchholz-Bowden-Nieve/Mejia/Holt/Pelfrey. And fire-bucket!

In my prior post (http://www.majorleagueblogging.com/major-league-baseball/trade-david-wright-to-the-red-sox/), I referenced a potential trade from Joseph Delgrippo of Bleacher Report where David Wright and Fernando Martinez would go to the Red Sox for Jacoby Ellsbury, Clay Buchholz, Lars Anderson, and 2 of Michael Bowden, Daniel Bard, or Justin Masterson. This is a lot, and I’d be surprised to see that much going the Mets way. The Mets obviously and blatantly need to be shaken up from the core-on-down – and then some. If this bullpen went with the team last year, maybe we’d have won the penant. Maybe we’d be 10 games up this year, but neither is the case, and although eventually the Mets will have John Maine, Oliver Perez, Billy Wagner, JJ Putz, Jose Reyes, and Carlos Beltran coming off the DL at random, unknown times, and although my David Wright Passion Bucket has always been full, that trade scenario from Delgrippo of Bleacher Report (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/213365-new-york-mets-need-to-make-a-trade-for-the-future) sounds very intriguing. To assure such a trade and a top-down shake-up why not send both Wright & Reyes to the Sawx?

So, here – naturally, are more crazy trade scenarios. Let’s play Mets GM:

1) David Wright/3b; Jose Reyes/ss; Oliver Perez/sp (& his salary) for Jacoby Ellsbury/of; Clay Buchholz/sp; Michael Bowden/sp; Daniel Bard/sp; and Lars Anderson/1b. The Mets could send a 3rd tier pitching prospect  (Scott Shaw/Mike Antonini/Scott Moviel) or young cf prospect their way in addition. This provides the Red Sox with their future ss & 3b and one dominant lineup.

2) After the Mets acquire 3 top-notch pitching prospects, their others (Jon Niese/Brad Holt/Jenrry Mejia) become a little more expendable. Jenrry Mejia is catching eyes finally. So the Mets could then trade Jon Niese/sp; Brad Holt/sp; Wilmer Flores/Robinson Tejada/or Reese Havens/ss for Roy Halladay. If not Flores/Tejada/Havens then Maybe Ryan Church/of + John Maine/sp, but it seems the Blue Jays will want a ss prospect along with sp prospects for Doc Halladay. The Mets could potentially offer Church + Maine in addition to the deal for Alex Rios/of, if the Jays would like not to pay his contract.

3) Finally, contingent on the above deal, the Mets could offer Fernando Martinez and Ryan Church/of or Daniel Murphy and Nick Evans/of-1b in addition to Mike Pelfrey or John Maine for Victor Martinez/c from the Cleveland Indians.

So for an easy view:

1-Wright, Reyes, Oliver & Salary for Ellsbury, Lars, Buchholz, Bowden, Bard

2-Niese, Holt, Tejada/Flores/Havens or Maine & Church for Halladay

3-F.Martinez & Church or Dan Murphy & Evans + Pelfrey or Maine for V.Martinez

There are some potential 2010 Free Agents the Mets could look at for their infield as rentals before the other 2 ss that don’t get traded (Tejada/Flores/Havens) and Jefry Marte/3b are ready for the infield (Adrian Beltre and Orlando Hudson included). So the 2010-2012 Mets Lineup could look as follows: Jacoby Ellsbury/cf-Robinson Tejada/2b-Victor Martinez/c-Carlos Beltran/rf-Lars Anderson/1b-Fernando Martinez or Daniel Murphy/lf-Jefry Marte/3b-Reese Havens/2b

Even better, the 2010-2012 Mets Rotation could look as follows: Roy Halladay-Johan Santana-Mike Pelfrey/John Maine-Clay Buchholz-Michael Bowden/Daniel Bard/Jenrry Mejia/Fernando Nieve(why not).

Not only is this team quite talented but very young – it does create a nice payroll with only 5 players with expensive contracts (Beltran,VMartinez,Santana,Halladay,Krod).

Guys like Halladay and Vmart can more than keep the team in contention right now with such a rotation, while the young Sawx pitching prospects can dominate with Santana and a resigned Halladay there-after.

Scold away.

After the first loss to the Phillies this past series, MetsBlog.com writer, Regis Courtemanche wrote, “Win or lose, I love the way the Mets are playing right now.  They seem completely focused on the task at hand, and Citi Field seems to have finally come alive. Still disappointing to let this one get away though.” FYI, MetsBlog is one of the best (Mets) Blogs out there. To be honest, I disagree with the statement, however the Mets are without their starting SS, 1b, 2 SP’s and both our set-up men. That’s right – “both.” Eventually this season, the Mets will have Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, JJ Putz, Billy Wagner, Oliver Perez (and John Maine now) all coming off the DL. The Phillies are only 4 games ahead, but with a bullpen of K-rod, and potentially healthy and effective relievers, such as Wagner and Putz, the Mets rotation will only have to pitch 6 effective innings each night (for the most part). And that’s great because it seems Redding , Maine , and Oliver (and often times Santana and Pelfrey) can never pass that plateau. The offense will have to come out romping, however – something they couldn’t do last year and something they haven’t been able to do this season even prior to Reyes and Delgado going down. With that said, I’m still very willing to “wait and see” how the Mets perform after Reyes, Delgado, Maine, Oliver, Putz, and Wagner come back, however, the question is and will be – is it too late?

Do the Mets need to do something to shake the team up? In a prior post (http://www.majorleagueblogging.com/major-league-baseball/lets-play-gm-mets-crazy-trade-scenarios/), I talked about the potential need to shake up the team, and I threw out some crazy trade scenarios. The reality is, people, reporters, and teams are catching on that the Red Sox have 9 at least effective or ready major league starters. It’s also fairly clear they could use an effective shortstop, which is where, to me, the Mets should come in to play. I love Reyes, but could he land us both Clay Buchholz and Michael Bowden? I think he could. I think that’s worth it – for both teams. We could potentially add a catching prospect to the deal (Francisco Pena or Josh Thole) – they’re young, but the Red Sox have and may have a need for a catcher in the future if they don’t trade for/sign Joe Mauer/Twins (after or during) next year. Another potential aspect I would add to to the deal (if I were Omar Minaya) is Oliver Perez. This is only to free up salaray to trade for and sign another need (Matt Holliday)? That’s not essential, but if the Red Sox were willing to take on Perez’s salary in addition to losing their top 2 pitching prospects in the deal, then I would do that. I’d then, however, ask for a more than effective reliever: Manny Delcarmen/Takashi Saito. So i’d potentially like to see:

Mets Receive: Clay Buchholz/sp; Michael Bowden/sp; Takashi Saito/rp; Jed Lowrie/ss

Red Sox Receive: Jose Reyes/ss; Oliver Perez/sp; Josh Thole or Francisco Pena/c

I guess there’s a contingency – Jose Reyes’ health. Would this prevent such a trade? The Sox do still have Nick Green and Julio Lugo to hold down the ss job while Reyes is out. Again this would then allow us to potentially go for Matt Holliday, Mark Derosa, or other outfielders via trade this season or free agency after, so Daniel Murphy could stay at first next year with the assumption that Carlos Delgado will be gone. Our lineup would obviously hurt without Reyes for the rest of the year, but if we trade for another bat for the lineup, the Rotation with Buchholz and or Bowden would be much more effective than Tim Redding.

Agreed?

The Baltimore Orioles. A good offensive fantasy baseball team. But that’s about it, unfortunately. They’re a Pitching Staff and a Bullpen away from a playoff spot – and 3 top MLB teams as well (Red Sox, Yankees, Rays -probably respectively). You have to absolutely love their lineup (i’ll include Matt Wieters of course over Gregg Zaun):

1-Brian Roberts/2b: According to ESPN Player Rater (http://games.espn.go.com/flb/playerrater?) he’s the 3rd best 2b as of now. Probably more like the 5th or 6th best, but still top notch in r;sb;295+avg

2-Adam Jones/cf: ranked 10th overall by ESPN Player Rater. Enough said. HR/SB + R/RBI + 315+Avg?!

3-Nick Markakis/rf: top 45, but Avg should raise and make him top 25

4-Aubrey Huff/1b: i’ll take him and his rbi on the O’s for one more year

5-Melvin Mora/3b: should put up acceptable #5 hitter stats in this lineup

6-Matt Wieters/c: I’m sure you already heard the Evan Longoria at 3b comparisons

7-Luke Scott/dh: 3 hr and 7 rbi in his last 2 games back from shoulder injury

8-Nolan Reimold/lf: top 6 prospect for the O’s (3 hr the past 3 games; 5hr in 53 ab’s)

9-Cesar Izturis/ss: Bleh. Sorry.

Their rotation consists of (for the most part): Jeremy Guthrie; Koji Uehera; Rich Hill; and then a sundry of guys. Their pitching prospects (that rate from B to B-) are David Hernandez; Troy Patton; Chris Tilman; Brian Matusz; Jake Arrieta; Brandon Erbe; and Zach Britton.

So the question is, what should/can they do? Honestly the Red Sox, Yankees, and Rays should be great for years to come with their payroll availability, players, and rotations (minus payroll for the Rays of course). This year (although only 6 games outs), they probably don’t have a chance. Not without a solid rotation or bullpen. They have the third worst ERA in all of baseball.

I think they have some pieces other teams should be interested in that are more than expendable: Felix Pie/of, Ty Wigginton/if, and Gregg Zaun/c. This first tier probably won’t yield many good players in return. The next tier consists of Aubrey Huff/1b, Jeremy Guthrie/sp and maybe Melvin Mora/3b. They have 7 pitching prospects that are generally rated b- or better.

Aubrey Huff + Jeremy Guthrie to maybe the Mets could work out. The Mets should be looking for a 1b/of replacement for Carlos Delgado and an additional SP that can be more consistent than Oliver Perez, Livan Hernandez, Tim Redding, and Jon Niese. I think Huff + Guthrie can net the Orioles a group of Tim Redding (a MLB starter); Jon Niese(sp) or Brad Holt (sp); Reese Havens or Wilmer Flores (ss); Joe Kunz(rp); and Jefrey Marte(3b) or Ike Davis(1b). This deal provides them a young sp for Guthrie plus a needed relief arm along with someone who can at least pitch for them now (Redding). In addition, it provides the Orioles with a 3b and ss for when Mora and Izturis are done/not worth it. As a Mets fan, I think it’s a bit much, but I’m attempting to be realistic. I’d rather the Mets go for Nick Johnson/Nationals for cheap and keep Daniel Murphy in LF. Honestly, I just want the Mets to get another Ace and forget about everything else – especially if the Phillies end up landing another SP.

Unless the Orioles want to trade Wieters+ to Boston, since they would love the Catcher, for Clay Buchholz + Michael Bowden – if the Red Sox or Orioles would even do that, obviously, Wieters should be untouchable. A deal like this, however, may make them a contender this year or next. The Red Sox rotation is probably deep enough: Beckett; Lester; Dicek; Penny; Smoltz; Wakefield; Masterson to maintain pace. A rotation of Guthrie; Ueherea; Buchholz; Bowden; Hill + Prospects looks pretty good.

So in my fantasy land, if I was the Orioles GM, I would perform the following trades:

In about 2-3 years, the team could then potentially compete for the AL East or at least the Wild Card. Else, at least the Orioles should enjoy watching their only 4 current bright spots for years to come (Roberts; Jones; Markakis; Wieters) with hopeful pitching prospects.

Some Cross Referencing here – According to Ed Price of AOL Fanhouse via MLB Trade Rumors (http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/), the Mets are talking trade with the Cleveland Indians. The talk surrounds Mark Derosa/infield-outfield. I think he can be valuable at ss/2b/1b/of. However, he’s batting only .255 with a .322 obp. Like MLB Trade rumors says, and it’s as obvious as it gets, the Indians will want the entire 4+ million off the books. I don’t have a problem with that, I just don’t want to give up any top notch talent or even a 2nd tier prospect…Unless of course we can also land a SP, such as Cliff Lee or more probable, Fausto Carmona in the deal. Then i’d give up 2 or 3 2nd teir prospects – Brad Holt or Jon Niese (sp) + Reese Havens or Wilmer Flores (ss) + maybe a Carlos Guzman (of). MLB Trade Rumors previously said that the Indians may be tired of waiting for Fausto Carmona to regain his dominance (http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/05/is-cleveland-losing-patience-with-fausto-carmona.html). I think we have a few more sp that will be considered a little bit more talented than Niese in another year or two, and in my opinion, Fausto Carmona + Mark Derosa will help us this year a lot more than Jon Niese. Derosa can plug in at ss until Reyes is back, 1b along with Daniel Murphy until Delgado is back, and OF in place of Church/Sheffield/Murphy. He can even plug in at 3b when Wright needs a break. And oh yeah, he can plug in at 2b when Castillo needs a break/get hurt – especially now that Alex Cora is also hurt. I think Derosa is a no brainer if he comes cheap enough – I just hope we can get Cliff Lee/Fausto Carmona as well (obviously we’d have to add Fernando Martinez/of + another SP prospect for Lee if the Indians don’t think they’ll be in the race). Ideally, we can somehow land Victor Martinez/c-1b, but I won’t get out of hand.

I love it when this happens. A friend of mine texted me an offer he received.

He would receive: Chipper Jones/3b & Daniel Murphy/of

for: Josh Hamilton/of & Melvin Mora/3b

On ESPN, preseason, Josh Hamilton was ranked 18th, and he was #10 on Mock Draft Central’s ADP (average draft position, which I thoroughly enjoy attending to). Chipper Jones was ranked 49th on ESPN, and had a ADP of 49 as well – pretty consistent. As per my own (new) rankings (http://www.majorleagueblogging.com/major-league-baseball/new-fb-rankings/), I have Chipper currently at #74 because of injury concerns and Josh Hamilton at #14.

Daniel Murphy vs. Melvin Mora is an argument as well. I like Daniel Murphy a lot this year batting 2nd for the Mets, but Melvin Mora at 3b will still but up decent rbi numbers with a batting avg that won’t hurt. I don’t think people realize he went 77r-23hr-104rbi-3b-.285avg last year. Melvin Mora also has Brian Roberts, Adam Jones, Nick Markakis batting in front of him, which is very nice, when he gets back from the DL early-mid May.

Up to this point, Chipper has gone: 8r-1hr-4rbi-0sb-.316avg. I’ve already seen Chipper Jones miss 5 games since April 15th (9 days ago).

Josh Hamilton has gone: 7r-2hr-10rbi-2sb-.246avg. Even if Hamilton misses a few games, and isn’t as good as last year, he should still go 90r-29hr-110rbi-9sb-.295/.300avg, while Chipper performs to about 85r-22hr-85rbi-3sb-.325/.333avg. I’ll take 5-10 more Runs; 7-10 more Homeruns; 20-25 more RBI’s; and 5 more Stolen Bases from Josh Hamilton, plus I’d rather have Melvin Mora than Daniel Murphy, once he’s back from the DL.

Now I’m not sure what 3b/Corner Infielder there are on waivers for my friend, but chances are i’ll pick up someone while Mora is out.

Feel free to use this post as a trade thread. I’d love to answer your questions/give you suggestions for or against your trade offers out there. Give me some background though – who’s on waivers/what your team needs are – keeper league, etc.

At this point the Mets Rotation breaks down as follows:

I would just like to point out that our RP, Sean Green who has pitched 7.1 innings, has 10 K, which is only 1 less than John Maine in 8.1 less innings, and only 5 less K’s than Oliver Perez in 7.2 less innings. I think it’s very safe to say that are rotation as a whole is extremely inconsistent. If the Mets somehow make the playoffs with this team/rotation, I truly believe Johan Santana (if he stays healthy of course) needs to be considered as a MVP candidate. I can’t think of any team needing one player more. If the Cards make it, Pujols is fantastic, but so is Ludwick; Carpenter when healthy is great as is Wainwright. If the Cubs make it, they have a great rotation (Harden, Lilly, Zambrano, Dempster, Heilman haha just kidding) and multiple good hitters (Soriano, DLee, Aramis). If the Phillies make it they have Hamels with at least Myers and Moyer and Utely, Howard, Rollins +. If the Dodgers make it, they have Manny, Ethier, Kemp, Billingsley, but also Kershaw and Kuroda. I know if the Marlins make it they’ll, have Hanley to thank, but they also have Josh Johnson and Ricky Nolasco +. Same with the Braves (Lowe, Vazquez, Chipper, McCann). I know the Mets have multiple good offensive hitters in Wright, Reyes, Delgado, Beltran, maybe Murphy, but they obviously have only one consistent SP in Johan Santana. I’ll tell you right now, if the Mets make it somehow into the playoffs with this exact team, Johan Santana will or at least should be the 2009 NL MVP. With that said, I think the Mets 100% need to pull of a All-Star Break/Deadline Starting Pitching Trade. We need to look at Jake Peavy/Erik Bedard/Roy Halladay or which ever other SP will be available. Now that we have Daniel Murphy for LF, we can trade Fernando Martinez(of). We can also trade our top ss prospect (Wilmer Flores/Reese Havens), our top 3b prospect (Jeff Marte), since we have Wright/3b and Reyes/ss locked in, and obviously we’ll need to give up our top P prospect (Jon Niese/Brad Holt) in order to land one of these starters. Feel free to comment/suggest or alleive my worries, but honestly, no way can the Mets prosper with this current rotation.