The 2009 season is finally over. Now we can start to look forward to the trade talk adn free agancy signings.
So who should stay on the Mets roster for 2010 and who should go?
Who should the Mets use as trade chips?
Who is best suited to fill the holes on the team?
Hey Rob
Congratulations on 100 podcasts! It must give you a great sense of pride when you look at the itunes store and all the Mets podcasts to see yours is by far and away the most popular. While I enjoy several of the other Mets podcasts, yours really comes from a fans perspective which makes it my favorite. While I would have to mirror some other comments in that I'd like more podcasts, I appreciate you're a very busy guy and when I do see a new podcast from you in my podcast window, it always gets priority.
Keep up the great work man! Your podcast is a great way to keep up with what's happening on the other side of the Pacific from a fans perspective. Didn't get over to New York this year but hoping to go back over next year to catch the hopefully, greatly improved 2010 Mets. Hope to see you at a game.
Regards,
Jamie,
Okayama City, Japan
100 Podcasts
Hey, thanks for the kind words Jamie. Definitely let me know if you can make it out to New York next year.
#100
I was going to say roughly the same thing more or less. It's just a shame that #100 rolled around at such a nadir of Metsdom. Still, something had to be said. It'll be better in 2010; I don't know if it'll be better enough to fend off the NL East or not but thanks for all the effort.
catcher
Well, I'll tell you, the three main things I see the Mets needing are a catcher who can hit over .215 with occasional power, a first baseman and 1-2 starters. As for who's available or not, I'll have to wait to see when the lists come out (I could probably Google it but too lazy), but I'll tell you the one player who could own NYC if he came to the Mets...Joe Mauer. He's coming up on the last year of his contract so unfortunately he's not immediately available, but if you could pry him away from St. Paul (he grew up here and is very very attached to the area....if not for MLB, he probably never would've traveled out of the state), but if the Mets could pick up a catcher who can hit like that and is still in his 20s, they could have another renaissance like when Piazza came over. He's a bit fragile, has injuries that drag on and on, but he could own NYC. With his looks he could probably double his salary on endorsements alone. I say give Thole a year to sink or swim and then try to lure Mauer over--have Piazza make the pitch personally. He might even become available midseason if the Twins find themselves out of it--which doesn't seem to happen--or it becomes obvious they can't afford him. It would look bad for them to go into the new stadium and lose Mauer after 1 year but stranger things have happened.
Word has it...
that the Twins are about to offer him a big contract. They want him signed for an extended period before Opening Day in that new stadium next year making him the face of the franchise and all that. No way are they letting him go. They'll need him to lure people out. Can you imagine sitting in a ballpark with no roof in Minnesota in April?? Good luck with that!
You think April's bad?
What happens when they make a deep playoff run? Can you imagine what it would be like if the World Series was in open-air Minnesota IN NOVEMBER?????
Minnesota
I sure can imagine it. October 10th here we got something like 3" of snow...earliest I've seen in 5 years here. But the same thing can happen in Denver (look at that game played in the 20s) or how about that schizo World Series with Cleveland and Florida where the Florida games were tropical and the Cleveland games were flurries? And I've been to games at Shea when it flurried. It can happen anywhere.
I wouldn't doubt that they'll try to lock up Mauer, but let's face it. It's a small market team for a reason. Despite having the billionaire owner Pohlad, who just died in his 90s and I don't know how his successors will go, they let a lot of talent go (look at the #1 spot in our rotation or Torii Hunter, who a lot of folks still seem irked about). Maybe Mauer just assumes he'll be here forever, but when certain teams start throwing the $$$ around, you never know. I read that Mauer was going off to meet with his agent to discuss his future. Do you necessarily have to go see your agent to do that if it's going to be "just sign it, whatever?"
the free agents
I don't know if this is complete or accurate but I found this list at http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2001/05/2010-free-agents.html. Frankly there are a lot of players I only know by name and haven't seen, so I don't know who's a good match for the Mets, especially mentally.
Potential Free Agents for 2010
* - current contract includes 2010 option
(A) - projected as Type A free agent
(B) - projected as Type B free agent
Player Club
First Basemen
Hank Blalock TEX
Russell Branyan SEA
Carlos Delgado NYM (B)
Nomar Garciaparra OAK
Jason Giambi COL
Ross Gload * FLA
Aubrey Huff DET (B)
Nick Johnson WAS (B)
Adam LaRoche ATL (B)
Kevin Millar TOR
Robb Quinlan LAA
Matt Stairs PHI
Mike Sweeney SEA
Jim Thome LAD
Chad Tracy ARZ
Second Basemen
Marlon Anderson NYM
Ron Belliard LAD (B)
Jamey Carroll CLE
David Eckstein SD
Orlando Hudson LAD (A)
Akinori Iwamura * TB
Omar Infante ATL
Felipe Lopez MIL (A)
Mark Loretta LAD
Placido Polanco DET (A)
Freddy Sanchez * SF (A)
Shortstops
Orlando Cabrera MIN (A)
Juan Castro LAD
Alex Cora NYM
Bobby Crosby OAK
Adam Everett DET
Alex Gonzalez * BOS
Khalil Greene STL
Ramon Martinez LAD
John McDonald TOR
Marco Scutaro TOR (A)
Miguel Tejada HOU
Jack Wilson * SEA
Third Basemen
Adrian Beltre SEA (B)
Geoff Blum HOU
Craig Counsell MIL
Joe Crede MIN
Mark DeRosa STL (B)
Pedro Feliz * PHI
Chone Figgins LAA (B)
Troy Glaus STL (A)
Jerry Hairston NYY (B)
Mike Lamb MIL
Melvin Mora * BAL (B)
Juan Uribe SF
Catchers
Rod Barajas TOR (B)
Josh Bard BOS
Michael Barrett TOR
Henry Blanco SD
Ramon Castro CWS
Ramon Hernandez * CIN (B)
Jason Kendall MIL (B)
Jason LaRue STL
Victor Martinez * BOS (A)
Chad Moeller BAL
Benji Molina SF (A)
Jose Molina NYY
Miguel Olivo * KC (B)
Mike Redmond MIN
Ivan Rodriguez TEX (B)
Brian Schneider NYM
Yorvit Torrealba * COL (B)
Jason Varitek * BOS (B)
Gregg Zaun * TB
Outfielders
Bobby Abreu LAA (A)
Garret Anderson ATL (B)
Rick Ankiel STL
Rocco Baldelli BOS
Jason Bay BOS (A)
Marlon Byrd TEX (B)
Mike Cameron MIL (B)
Frank Catalanotto TEX
Endy Chavez SEA
Coco Crisp * KC
Carl Crawford * TB (B)
Johnny Damon NYY (A)
David Dellucci CLE
Jermaine Dye * CWS (A)
Darin Erstad HOU
Cliff Floyd SD
Ryan Freel TEX
Brian Giles SD (B)
Ken Griffey Jr. SEA
Vladimir Guerrero LAA (A)
Eric Hinske NYY
Matt Holliday STL (A)
Geoff Jenkins * PHI
Reed Johnson CHC
Andruw Jones TEX
Gabe Kapler TB
Austin Kearns * WAS
Mark Kotsay CHW
Hideki Matusi NYY (B)
Jason Michaels CLE
Xavier Nady NYY (B)
Magglio Ordonez * DET
Scott Podsednik CHW
Manny Ramirez * LAD (A)
Dave Roberts SF
Gary Sheffield NYM
Fernando Tatis NYM (B)
Randy Winn SF (B)
Starting Pitchers
Brandon Backe HOU
Josh Beckett * BOS
Erik Bedard SEA (B)
Daniel Cabrera ARZ
Bartolo Colon CWS
Jose Contreras COL
Doug Davis ARZ (B)
Justin Duchscherer OAK (B)
Adam Eaton COL
Kelvim Escobar LAA
Jon Garland * LAD (B)
Tom Glavine ATL
Mike Hampton HOU
Rich Harden CHC (B)
Livan Hernandez WAS
Tim Hudson * ATL
Randy Johnson SF (B)
John Lackey LAA (A)
Cliff Lee * PHI (A)
Braden Looper * MIL (B)
Jason Marquis COL (B)
Kevin Millwood * TEX
Brett Myers PHI
Vicente Padilla * LAD (B)
Carl Pavano MIN (B)
Brad Penny SF
Odalis Perez WAS
Andy Pettitte NYY (B)
Joel Pineiro STL (B)
Sidney Ponson KC
Jason Schmidt LAD
John Smoltz STL
Tim Wakefield * BOS (B)
Jarrod Washburn DET
Brandon Webb * ARZ (B)
Todd Wellemeyer STL
Randy Wolf (A)
Relief Pitchers
Luis Ayala FLA
Danys Baez BAL
Miguel Batista SEA
Joe Beimel COL (B)
Joaquin Benoit TEX
Rafael Betancourt * COL (A)
Chad Bradford BAL
Doug Brocail * HOU (B)
Kiko Calero FLA (B)
Elmer Dessens NYM
Brendan Donnelly FLA
Octavio Dotel CWS (A)
Alan Embree COL
Scott Eyre PHI (B)
Josh Fogg COL
Chad Fox CHC
Ryan Franklin * STL
Gary Glover WAS
Mike Gonzalez ATL (A)
Tom Gordon ARZ
John Grabow CHC (A)
Kevin Gregg CHC (A)
Eddie Guardado TEX
LaTroy Hawkins HOU (A)
Mark Hendrickson BAL
Matt Herges COL
Trevor Hoffman MIL (A)
Bobby Howry SF (B)
Jason Isringhausen TB
Masahide Kobayashi * CLE
Brandon Lyon DET (B)
Ron Mahay MIN
Gary Majewski WAS
Guillermo Mota LAD (B)
Will Ohman * LAD (B)
Darren Oliver LAA (A)
Chan Ho Park PHI (B)
Troy Percival TB
J.J. Putz * NYM
Juan Rincon COL
Fernando Rodney DET (B)
Duaner Sanchez NYM
Scott Schoeneweis ARZ
Brian Shouse * TB (B)
Rafael Soriano ATL (A)
Russ Springer TB (B)
Brett Tomko OAK
Jose Valverde HOU (A)
Claudio Vargas MIL
Ron Villone WAS
Luis Vizcaino * COL
Billy Wagner BOS (A)
Jamie Walker BAL
Jeff Weaver LAD
Kip Wells CIN
Jamey Wright KC
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