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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.

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/

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.

Hopefully you read one of my last posts regarding Johan Santana as the NL MVP for 2009 (http://www.majorleagueblogging.com/baseball-news/mets-rotation-johan-santanamvp-trade-needed/). Basically it gave Johan Santana’s stats up to that point and iterated the need for a starting pitcher via trade.

In Santana’s 1 loss, he had a line of 7 innings; 3 hits; 2 runs (BOTH UNEARNED); 1 walk; and 13 strikeouts. Unfortunately, he went up against Josh Johnson/FLA. Last night he went up against Chan Ho Park/PHL (horrendous). Nauseatingly, Park went 6 innings; 1 hit; 2 walks; 1 HBP; and 5 strikeouts. Santana 1-Up’ed him (not in hits) going 7 innings; 2 hits; 3 walks; and 10 strikeouts.

Johan Santana is now 4-1 with a .91 ERA and a .91 WHIP. He’s got 54 K’s in 39.2 IP. He’s 2nd in the NL in wins; 1st in strikeouts; 2nd in WHIP; and 1st in ERA.

Prior to last night’s game he was giving up 1.1 runs a game and was only getting 2.2 runs a game from his offense. Now he’s given up only .91 runs a game (not even a run a game!) and in last night’s win, he got less than half his 2.2 runs a game support. The Mets really need to start provding him with some runs. No matter how much I stress that statement, it will still be the understatement of the world.

Johan Santana is still undefeated against the Phillies, the Mets new and beyond obvious, nemesis. He is now 3-0 lifetime against the Phillies in 7 career starts with a 2.44 ERA – phenomenal.

Johan Santana now has 31% of the Mets wins on the season. With complete concerns and inconsistency from Mike Pelfrey, Livan Hernandez, Oliver Perez, and John Maine (pitched solid other than bb’s in his past 2 starts), Johan Santana is infinitely important. I understand that the CY Young is the award to receive for a pitcher, and it epitomizes how great of a season a starter had, however, the MVP is how fantastic a player is and helps his team. There’s no doubt in my mind that Johan Santana at this point is the NL MVP and should be by season’s end. Of course the obvious competition is Albert Pujols/1b-STL. He is absolutely amazing: .364avg-28r-11hr-31rbi-4sb-.467obp-.747slg-1.215ops. According to ESPN, he’s on pace for 167r-66hr-185rbi-24sb. These stats are sensational. He’s the best hitter in the MLB. And if those stolen bases keep up he’ll be by far the best fantasy player (even with out them he will be). If you’re willing to trade him for needed roster slots, you better get a top notch player at each position you need: I’m talking Youkilis/1b; Hamels/sp; McCann/c. And then you can provide an extraneous SP & C back (just a wee-bit of fantasy talk).

Honestly, it’s up in the air, and Albert Pujols (#1 overall on ESPN Player Rater) is so utterly valuabe to the Cardinals. They have other hitters performing right now though – Ryan Ludwick/of; Chris Duncan/of; and Yadier Molina/c. They also have 3 starting pitchers performing well: Joel Pineiro; Kyle Lohse; and of course Mets’ horror Adam Wainwright. I’ve explained before in my last post. The Mets have solid offense: Reyes-Murphy-Beltran-Delgado-Wright, but they only have one great starter: Johan Santana (#5 overall on ESPN Player Rater) – http://games.espn.go.com/flb/playerrater?

Hello All,

Well the site is 1 month old! (Happy Birthday!)

We have achieved some incredible things in this first month, but whats most impressive is the awesome insight being supplied by our incredible authors. We have turned down nearly 120 applications for teams who are already filled. This brings our total application count to date up near 150.

As for visitors, 10,000 in month 1. 10,000 people have seen this site in 1 month, and its only Pre-Season! We are really getting ready for the regular season and we are about to announce some incredible news as well. (Coming soon)

Hey even Bernie Williams record label contacted us to post a review of his upcoming record! We are writing that right now and it will appear here soon! Hey, maybe Bernie will do a guest spot here on the blog too!

I will be sure to kep everyone up to date on all progress, I cannot wait for month 2!

Again, this site is here for 1 reason, to let true fans of the sport speak their minds. 1 author per team, its that simple. We do hope you have enjoyed month 1’s content, I can promise an even stronger month 2.

All the best,

- Jeff – Mets Co-Author and Site Admin

The twins RP Boof Bonser is out for the season with a torn rotor cuff and Right Labrum. He is likely to be out for the whole 2009 season, after doctors found the tears this Wednesday. Bonser began experiencing pain late last season. When Bonser attempted to throw again in January he still felt discomfort. The MRI’s continued to be negative. The latest MRI showed he did have structural damaged, and went into surgery immediately.

Twins Bullpen: With Bonser out of the Pen The young phillip humber is the favorite to win the final spot in the pen. The twins deal with the Diamondbacks for Juan Cruz is seeming more likely as the Twins continue to take blows to the bullpen.
Thanks

Bonser is out for the season with arm injurys...

According to Mike DiGiovanni of the L.A. Times, the Angels front office plans to contact John Lackey’s agent on a possible long-term extension before the start of the regular season. He is open to re-signing with the Angels, but also stated that free agency is intruiging.

John Lackey should be expecting a contract extension soon.

“There are a lot of guys who worked hard for us to have that right,” said Lackey, who has a 91-63 career record and 3.81 ERA in 6 1/2 big-league seasons. “A lot of guys would like to check it out at least once.”

Personally, I don’t think the Angels can afford to let Lackey sign with another team during the offseason. I’m expecting the Angels to confront Lackey on a deal somewhere between 4-5 years and around $10-$12 MM per (5 yrs, $60 MM) season.

I’m no fantasy baseball expert, but, let’s take a look at what I project for the 2009 Los Angeles Angels for you fantasy junkies.

Let’s start with the starting pitching. One of the most underrated pitchers in the game is SP John Lackey. He doesn’t get much recognition anywhere. He led the league in ERA in 2007, and pitched 224 innings that year. He’s averaging over 7 strikeouts per 9 innings in his career. Because he only started 24 games last year, he may be lower in some draft projections. Look for him, he’ll be a sleeper.

Ervin Santana, who spent time in the minor leagues during the 2007 season, had an All-Star 2008. The guy has so much upside. His blazing fastball and tight slider along with 214 k’s over 219 innings had him finishing with a 16-7 record. In 2006, his .241 BAA was second best in the AL to, yes, you guessed it, Johan Santana.

So, here’s what I think the pitchers statistics will look like for 2009.

John Lackey: 18 W – 7 L, 3.15 ERA, 200+ IP, 200+ K’s

Ervin Santana: 17 W – 8 L, 3.30 ERA, 200+ IP, 220+ K’s

Joe Saunders: 15 W – 10 L, 3.75 ERA, 180+ IP, 125+ K’s

Jered Weaver: 15 W – 11 L, 4.00+ ERA, 180+ IP, 200+ K’s

Dustin Moseley/Nick Adenhardt (combined): 13 W – 10 L, 4.50 ERA, 125+ IP, 100+ K’s

Vlad is looking healthier than ever as he enters the 2009 season.

As for hitters…..

3B Chone Figgins - .280 AVG, 5 HR, 50 RBI, 100+ R, 50+ SB

DH/OF Bobby Abreu – .300 AVG, 20 HR, 100 RBI, 100 R, 20 SB

DH/OF Vladimir Guerrero – .300 AVG, 25-30 HR, 125 RBI, 80 R, 5 SB

CF Torii Hunter – .275 AVG, 25 HR, 80 RBI, 90 R, 20 SB

DH/OF Juan Rivera – .280 AVG, 20 HR, 80 RBI, 70 R, 10 SB

1B Kendry Morales – .275 AVG, 15 HR, 70 RBI, 70 R, 10 SB

C Mike Napoli – .255 AVG, 35 HR, 80 RBI, 60 R, 15 SB

2B Howie Kendrick – .325 AVG, 10 HR, 60 RBI, 70 R, 25 SB

SS Erick Aybar – .270 AVG, 10 HR, 50 RBI, 60 R, 30 SB

To some, these may be biased. But, as a true Angels fan, I if anyone, know what these players are capable of. And it’s not too far fetched to see these guys achieve these numbers.

      What more can I say? It’s actually here the 2009 workouts are actually upon us, no more waiting for pitchers, and catchers to report, no more wondering what next young stud will be invited to Spring training it’s here. All 63 players showed up with the aspirations of making the Kansas City Royals 25 player squad com April. Great things that happened is that the top brass showed up with George Brett in tow, but honestly how could they not? The Royals this year are celebrating their 40th anniversary as being a part of Major League baseball, with 39 of those years having George Brett as a part.

Which I as a Royals fan look at as being a blessing and a curse, if you look through the Royals 40 year history as an outsider can you honestly name another great? Obviously many will say what about Bo? Bo knows Kansas City, not really Bo had the potential to be one of the greatest athletes any of us had ever seen but it was cut a little short of me calling him a Royal immortal, or even a baseball great. Right now I’m going to spit out some names that to the casual fan you may not know (YET!!!) but someday I believe they all have a chance of making a great name for themselves. Billy Butler, this kid has limitless potential at the plate, the downside is he reminds me a little of Edgar Martinez. Great hitter, Great pop, NO defense if anyone remembers playing video games as a kid like I did, they always had Edgar listed as a 3rd baseman. However I can count on 1 hand how many times I actually saw him playing there in an actual game. Butler will be one of those players who will hit between .285 and .315, he’ll have a ton of doubles, he’ll begin to hit between 25 and 40 homers, having 120 RBI a season great numbers, but if he wants to be remembered for more than 10 years after his retirement speech he’d better find a place to play during the defensive parts of the innings. Luke Hochevar, former no. 1 pick. This ball player has stardom written all over him. I think the sky’s the limit big pitcher who can bring it in the mid to upper nineties with absolutely disgusting off speed pitches. If within 5 -6 years this kid is not in the running (if not winning) the CY Young award I for one will be completely shocked, but let’s not forget this is K.C. we’re talking about the team that has a history of having our pitchers do great things (Just with other teams). I.e. David Cone, you all remember what he did for the Mets and Yankees don’t you, or even how Brett Saberhagen really flourished in the Big Apple also. Another star in the making is Centerfielder Derrick Robinson, this kid has been officially clocked as running the fastest 60 time in high school history, a 6.19 60 that’s faster than even Deion (Primetime) Sanders. If this kid were to make it on the Opening Day roster (he won’t) he’d be the fastest man in all of the MLB. He is however lacking in the offensive department, no real power to speak of but he has speed for days, months, heck even years. If his bat ever comes around he’ll be the prototypical lead off man and compete with the likes of Jose Reyes, and Carl Crawford for leader in stolen bases. I could go on and on about the talent that this team actually possesses, and their potential, but potential doesn’t mean anything. Especially to a fan like myself, we’ve had potential plenty of times before that didn’t pan out, or when it did pan out they were wearing a different uniform.

The one difference that I can see about today’s Royals that we have seen in the past is that we are growing our talent from within our farm system. Which is something that proves to be a valuable asset when it comes to assessing your front office and their eye for talent? Yeah, I admit it, I’d love to be the fan of a team with deep pockets, such as those teams from NY, or LA and cherry pick everyone’s talent, but does that really pay off in the end? It hasn’t fared to well for the Yankees the past 5 season’s the Mets have been a total disaster since adopting this theory of how to build a ball club. What I believe all fans of K.C. would like to see is just a competitive team day in and out, let’s try to get everyone’s cleat marks off our back and begin to fight back, I believe that this year is that year. Once again I’ll yell it from the mountain tops, IT’S HERE, IT’S HERE, SPRING TRAINING 2009 IS FINALLY HERE!!!!!!!!!

Codes!!!!!

This is just a very quick introduction, I’m very much looking forward to blogging for majorleagueblogging.com. When i first saw this site i thought it had a lot of potential, and when i saw that i could be apart of it’s growth, i wasted no time getting in touch with Jeff Gross. He was kind enough to give me this opportunity, and i hope that you enjoy my posts over the coming season, and hopefully more.

Now just a little about myself, I am a History student, I’m 20 years old, and i love the Cubs. Over time other details will be revealed about me through my posts, but i don’t want to bore you with them right now.

Here are just a few things that you can expect to read from me over the coming months:

* All the latest spring training news from Mesa, Arizona. Which players are impressing and which players need to get in the batting cage for extra work.

* A non biased opinion on the state of the Cubs and the state of the NL Central

* A view to the past, a look at past Cubs, there influences on the team. A look at old owners and how this franchise has been shaped with there help.

* Coverage of all the games/injuried/trades and tantrums of the new season

Please feel free to  leave any comments with any questions, praise and or criticism