» Matt Holliday

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?

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And I’m not even talking about their trade for Nate Mclouth from the Rates,Pir. I’m talking about their call-up of Tommy Hanson who has a 1.50 era and 90 k’s in 66+ innings. He’ll be successul right away in the MLB.

Fantasy-eers should pick him up immediately. This does definitely worry me as a Mets fan. Not only can the Phillies do what the Mets can’t (sweep a team that they should sweep and rack in the runs), but now the Braves have by far the best rotation in the NL East – they probably did prior to Hanson’s call up, but now they’ll be even better. I’m sure Mclouth will help them a bit as well since their production in the OF has been extremely sub-par.

The Mets need to make a move asap. They need pitching. Livan Hernandez against good teams in big spots and Tim Redding won’t do it. Jon Niese will be better than Redding and Livan, but at this point, he wouldn’t do it as well.

We need a number 2 or 3 pitcher in addition to just Maine and Pelfrey. I don’t think Oliver Perez will get healthy and stay consistent either. Maybe Matt Holliday/lf would help offensively. We’ve already had confirmed that Omar Minaya won’t trade Fernando Martinez/of for him, and therefore probably won’t be trading him at all, which pretty much also confirms we won’t be acquiring a top notch starter. I really can’t believe the Mets are going to attempt to win this division with our number 4 and 5 starters being Livan Hernandez, Tim Redding, Oliver Perez, and or Jon Niese.

I feel as though the Mets can definitely land a top notch starter with their recent performances from ‘2nd tier’ pitching prospects (Brad Holt & Jenrry Mejia) in addition to decent ss prospects (Reese Havens, who just went on the Minor League DL, Ruben Tejada, and Wilmer Flores, who are still so young), and Jon Niese. I’m not only worried about the Phillies now, but also the Braves. I honestly think they need to shake up the team and make some moves:

http://www.majorleagueblogging.com/major-league-baseball/lets-play-gm-mets-crazy-trade-scenarios/

Well Carlos Delgado will have surgery and be out until around the All-Star break. Possible replacements that may possibly arrise via trade are Aubrey Huff/Orioles; Nick Johnson/Nationals; Victor Martinez/Indians; and maybe even Jorge Cantu/Florida if any of these guys are or become available. I can see all these teams saying they need 2 of the Mets top  prospects, and I honeslty don’t think any of them except Victor Martinez warrant them, however, I would be willing to trade both if we can also land a SP in the deal ala Cliff Lee or Fausto Carmona (even though he hasn’t been great) from Cleveland; and Jeremy Guthrie (even though he hasn’t been great) from Baltimore. I doubt the Indians are willing to trade Victor Martinez and or Cliff Lee/Fausto Carmona so soon, but if so I would be willing to trade Fernando Martinez(of), Jon Niese(sp), Reese Havens or Wilmer Flores(ss) for BOTH Victor Martinez and Fausto Carmona or Aubrey Huff and Jeremy Guthrie, potentially. I think at catcher and 1b, Victor Martinez would be a dream fit, but Huff/Johnson would be less attractive becasue then what do we do when Delgado is back? I guess Huff could play LF again which moves Murphy to RF and then Church and Sheffield become unhappy or Murphy loses playing time which I would thoroughly disagree with. I guess Nick Johnson/Washington can come quite cheap since they also have Adam Dunn and a sundry of outfielders. I just strongly want to emphasize if we trade for a 1b then we should attempt to land a SP along with them if we rid of our top prospect(s). Agreed?

Some other random suggestions/potential candidates:

Russel Branyan/1b, Jose Lopez/2b, Erik Bedard/sp – Mariners… I think something could work here

Adrian Gonzalez/1b, Jake Peavy/sp – Padres… I wish something could work here

Jermaine Dye/of – White Sox (Move Murphy to 1b)…He’s solid but we really need a SP also

Matt Holliday/of – Athletics (Move Murphy to 1b)…May require way too much for thus far subpar performance

Helton/Atkins/1b – Rockies… Hmm, maybe Helton Could come cheap other than money cost?

All these guys are probably tradable minus Adrian Gonzalez, but they have a top notch 1b prospect.

How long has it been?

2 Months?

…ya. Sorry, I have no excuse at all other then I have been swamped with school and my golf team. But now the Golf is over, I can talk A’s baseball again! That’s right!

Well, since I have been away a lot of things have happened…

• Matt Holliday has been unproductive. A .234 average, 20 RBIs, 4 HRs, and .423 SLG. Yes that RBI stat is juicy, but that is because he has a little bit of a spark. But the A’s need him to do better with a division up for grabs and a chance for a big trade.
• Ok, its not just Holliday. The whole damn offense is bad. Only one player is batting over .300 (Kurt Suzuki, .324) the next player is at .287 then .261
• The Pitching has had a roller coaster of a ride with ERAs ranging from 2.40 to 7.60. But overall it will thin out and get better
• The Bullpen has been lights out, no problems there
• Finally, the A’s need to pounce on a weak division in the West. They are only 4 games back of the leader, they need to capatialize while they can with the Angles having so many injuries

So ya, there you go. An update for the A’s. Hopefull my posts will be more frequent as the summer rolls along (no more 2 month breaks). Go A’s!

The A’s will be playing the Jays tonight in Oakland (they are playing right now)

Gallagher vs. Tallet

The One man over .300

Well, I’m here to post for the A’s in ‘09. I’m not an A’s fan, I respect the team, and follow them, but I’m not a fan. Let me get this off my chest and say: I’m a Die-Hard Giants fan. I would have been posting for the Giants but, a fellow poster has that spot taken. Kudos to you! But, I’m certainly happy to be covering the A’s.
Let me tell you a bit about myself
* I live in The Napa Valley, CA (the North Bay)
* I was born in Cupertino, but moved with my family to St. Helena when I was three
* Baseball is not the only sport I love. I’m also a huge Cal Bears, Kings, Sharks, and 49ers fan, I love them all.
* Yes, I may be a Giants fan, but the A’s are the only team I have seen live in the playoffs (’06 Division Series)

That is just a little bit about myself, no here is what I will be talking about
* I am here to bring you A’s baseball coverage, that includes:  The future of Matt Holiday, Billy Beane, daily news, My hatred of the A’s owner, and a break down of A’s prospects and players, and the need for a new Stadium.

* I’m not here to talk about Steroids

Well, that is all I have to talk about right now, but, either tonight, or tomorrow I will post what the trade for Matt Holiday means for the A’s.

P.S. My name is Harrison, Go A’s! Also, thanks Jeff for this job, it is awesome!

2006 ALDS