Merry Christmas everyone

To everyone who has read my blog, merry Christmas. Hope you have a good and safe day. Sorry for the lack of posts lately but nothing has been happening related to the Mets. As soon as stuff picks up again, you can expect to see the post rate go back to one or more per day. But, I just got home from school and with the hassle of Christmas shopping and trying to see all of my buddies from home, I haven't had much time for the blog.

Mets sign reliever

The Mets have signed RP Matt Wise to a one-year, $1.2 million deal. If he fails to make the team out of spring training, he will still be paid $750,000.

Wise is a righty who went 3-2 with a 4.19 ERA last year for the Brewers. He had a spectacular first half, posting an ERA under 2.90, but imploded in the second half after hitting a batter in the head and losing confidence in his ability to throw strikes. In both 2005 and 2006, Wise had an ERA under 4. He should definitely provide some depth to the bullpen and will probably be one of Willie's 7th inning guys.

I like this signing a lot because it provides us with another quality arm out of the bullpen and is a low-risk high-reward type signing. I would call it a Wise signing (ha! I made an awful pun).

Trying to keep up with everything

So, since the Mitchell Report bombshell was dropped on major league baseball, several major things happened.

Apparently Andy Pettitte wasn't actually taking steroids to gain a competitive advantage and was using them to come back from an injury. Whatever helps you sleep at night, Andy. Both you and your man-wife Clemens cheated, and that's the way it is. It tarnishes your legacy and it's irreversible. I hope you're happy with your rings, cheaters.

Dan Haren got traded to the Diamondbacks for half of their farm system, which I don't think was a very good trade on the part of the Diamondbacks. Haren has only had one good season, which wasn't even that good. He regressed in the second half of the season, posting a 4.15 ERA after the All-Star break. He might be great for the D-backs and all of this will be a non-issue, but the D-backs had to trade Brett Anderson to get Haren, which is a hefty price. Anderson is a young lefty (he'll turn 20 in early 2008) with good stuff and great control. His fastball has good sink on it, and he projects as a #2 type of pitcher...possibly in the Andy Pettitte mold (except without the juice).

The D-backs then turned around and traded 2007 NL saves leader Jose Valverde to Houston for Chad Qualls, Chris Burke, and a prospect. I don't see the point in this trade either, other than the "buy low, sell high" mentality. Well, at least the D-backs are making moves, unlike our Mets.

WFAN reported that there was no truth to the rumor that the Mets were close to getting Santana. Apparently, Jose Reyes has had to be part of the package from the get-go, they say. When Omar and Bill Smith (Twins GM) couldn't work something out, Omar told him, "We're not trading Reyes in any deal for Santana, call me back when you come up with a different proposal." Omar hopes the price on Santana will come down by January. I don't believe too much of this report, because the Mets definitely have the pieces to get this done without including Reyes. I also believe that since Mike and the Mad Dog were the ones that broke this story, there was significant anti-Mets bias in it. So, we'll see.

The Mets are also supposedly talking to Mark Prior about signing a short-term contract (one or two years) and he figures to sign a deal worth anywhere between 5 and 10 million per year. If the Mets can't land Santana or Bedard, Prior would be a great "fallback" option as far as I'm concerned.

Cliff Floyd signed with the Rays for 1 year, 3 million.

List of players in the Mitchell Report

Here is the complete list of the players listed in the Mitchell Report. The ones of interest are highlighted in bold, and the current and former Mets of interest are in bold and italicized.

Chad Allen, Rick Ankiel, David Bell, Mike Bell, Marvin Benard, Gary Bennett, Jr., Larry Bigbie, Barry Bonds, Kevin Brown, Paul Byrd, Jose Canseco, Mark Carreon, Jason Christiansen, Howie Clark, Roger Clemens, Jack Cust, Brendan Donnelly, Chris Donnels, Lenny Dykstra, Bobby Estalella, Matt Franco, Ryan Franklin, Eric Gagne, Jason Giambi, Jeremy Giambi, Jay Gibbons, Troy Glaus, Jason Grimsley, Jose Guillen, Jerry Hairston, Jr., Matt Herges, Phil Hiatt, Glenallen Hill, Darren Holmes, Todd Hundley, David Justice, Chuck Knoblauch, Tim Laker, Mike Lansing, Paul Lo Duca, Exavier "Nook" Logan, Josias Manzanillo, Gary Matthews, Jr., Mark McGwire, Cody McKay, Kent Mercker, Bart Miadich, Hal Morris, Daniel Naulty, Denny Neagle, Rafael Palmeiro, Jim Parque, Andy Pettitte, Adam Piatt, Todd Pratt, Adam Riggs, Brian Roberts, John Rocker, F.P. Santangelo, Benito Santiago, Scott Schoeneweis, David Segui, Gary Sheffield, Miguel Tejada, Ismael Valdez, Mo Vaughn, Randy Velarde, Ron Villone, Fernando Vina, Rondell White, Jeff Williams, Matt Williams, Todd Williams, Steve Woodard, Kevin Young, Gregg Zaun

Big day for baseball

With today's release of the notorious Mitchell report, the reputation of baseball is in serious jeopardy. When big-time stars from the 90s and early 2000s are named (and they damned sure will be), it's going to be a real stain on major league baseball.

Who will be named? Well, I can certainly say that Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Scott Schoeneweis, and Troy Glaus will be on it. I don't think any of those names are even debatable because they've already been outed as juicers, more or less. The list figures to consist of a lot of Mets players because the Mets clubhouse attendant from the mid-90s, Kirk Radomski, contributed a lot of information to the report. So, it will not be surprising to see names like Todd Hundley or Edgardo Alfonzo on the list (sorry Fonzie). Look for big home run guys like Brady Anderson, Dante Bichette, Vinny Castilla, Phil Nevin, Tony Batista, Juan Gonzalez, Jay Buhner, Jose Canseco, Luis Gonzalez, Greg Vaughn, and Matt Williams to be on the list as well. It is tough to project which pitchers will be on the list, but I certainly wouldn't be surprised to see Roger Clemens on the list. The difference in his size from the late 80s to the late 90s certainly raises red flags.

The Mets are still talking to the Twins about Johan Santana, and they made an offer of Carlos Gomez, Mike Pelfrey, Kevin Mulvey, and Philip Humber to the Twins, which was rejected. The Twins said they wanted one more pitcher to get the deal done, and Aaron Heilman is probably the guy they want. Although I'm uncomfortable with trading our entire stock of young pitchers for Santana, I keep having to remind myself that it is Johan Santana and NOT Victor Zambrano or Kris Benson.

Yesterday was the non-tender deadline, and the Mets non-tendered Johnny Estrada (no surprise there), Ben Johnson, and Juan Padilla (which I am not happy with, but hopefully he makes the team eventually). Big names that got non-tendered are Mark Prior, Kiko Calero, Dallas McPherson, and Akinori Otsuka.

I've got a final that I have to do some studying for, so have a good one everyone. I'll try and recap the release of the Mitchell report tomorrow after it comes out.

Weekend update

So the weekend has passed us by, and as many of us are gearing up for finals and heading home for the holidays, the Mets are trying to put something together to give us all a pretty awesome Christmas present. The Mets and the Twins are still in talks to bring Johan Santana to the Mets, but the Mets are balking at giving up too much "major-league ready talent" like an Oliver Perez or a John Maine. If they don't give up one of those two, it's pretty much a certainty that Fernando Martinez or Carlos Gomez are going to have to be included in the deal. The Twins are supposedly pretty high on Gomez but it will still take more than Gomez to get a deal done, that's for sure. Santana is probably going to cost either one of Gomez and Martinez, two of the big three pitching prospects (Pelfrey, Mulvey, Humber), and then one last piece, which could be any of a number of things.

All right, time to head out for dinner. I will elaborate more either later tonight or tomorrow evening, and I'll bring everyone up to speed on other signings and trades of note from the past few days. Good luck with finals and have a safe trip home.

Mets in "holding pattern" in trade market

Omar Minaya was interviewed today on his way out of Nashville, and said that the Mets are keeping their fingers on the pulse of many different trades, and that if something were to happen, it usually happens fast. So stay tuned.

I apologize for not getting a post up quicker. I've been having problems with my laptop (it felt like taking a 6 hour break last night when I was trying to write a presentation, and I couldn't get it to start up). So, that irritated me, and I had to get this presentation written for class as soon as the computer booted up.

One of my friends is creating a better looking banner for this site. I'll put it up sometime tomorrow night hopefully...I've seen some of the stuff he's done before so it should look pretty good. If not, I'll try and find someone else.

Not too much has changed with the Mets in the past day. The Rule V draft was today, and the Mets selected a 24-year-old right-hander named Steven Register, who was drafted by the Rockies in the third round in 2004. Here's a report on Register:

"He's a strike-thrower; he has good command. He's got an average fastball with above-average life that sinks and bores. He can be up to 93 (mph), but he doesn't get a good hip turn or get balanced over the rubber and in turn, he's never quite consistent with his release point and sometimes loses the life on his fastball."

If you check out his stats through the link provided, he sounds like a potential reliever--but that's about it.

The Mets are looking for a new play-by-play guy for their radio broadcasts, and are looking at Tampa Bay broadcaster Andy Freed.

I haven't heard Freed do games before, but I wasn't a big fan of Tom McCarthy, so he can't be any worse than McCarthy.

Jon Heyman says the Mets seem oddly confident in their pursuit of Johan Santana and he can't figure out a reason why. Maybe, Jon boy, it's because the Mets available prospects don't completely suck like many say they do. Who knows?

The Mets tried to trade Aaron Heilman to the Rockies for lefty reliever Brian Fuentes, but talks disintegrated when the Rockies asked for Scott Schoeneweis as well.

I know the rest of the members of "Mets Nation" (the phrase "(Sports team) Nation" should be banned from the English language because it has been ruined by Red Sox fans and "Red Sox Nation"...do you guys own that phrase? Hell no. Don't act like you do) are really sick of these non-stop rumors. I wish I could provide something more substantial, but at this stage of the game it's out of my control.

Mets in talks for Santana, Willis

How things change in 24 hours.

As recently as yesterday, the Mets were in serious talks for the services of Erik Bedard. If they were to acquire an ace, Bedard was the best bet. Now, with the Yankees out of the running for Johan Santana and the Red Sox having only a lukewarm interest in trading for the Twins ace, the Mets have re-entered the race for Santana.

Let me say that again for emphasis.

The Mets are back in the race for Santana.

SI's Jon Heyman reported on WFAN that the Mets are in relatively serious talks with the Twins, and are putting together a package for to acquire Santana. Oliver Perez and Carlos Gomez are rumored to be a part of the package, and Philip Humber is probably in there as well. As much as I absolutely love Oliver Perez and his upside, flipping him to the Twins for a year (he's a free agent after the 2008 season) for Johan Santana would make me do backflips, particularly if we can sign Santana to a long-term deal. I am excited just thinking about it.

Dontrelle Willis is also worthy of mentioning here. Apparently, the Tigers are uncomfortable with keeping a payroll in the mid-$120 millon and are looking to cut some salary. According to WFAN's Sweeney Murti, the Tigers approached the Mets earlier in the day about trading for both Willis and Ivan Rodriguez. Willis is due about $6 million next year, and Rodriguez is under contract for $13 million. That package would not cost nearly as much as Johan Santana, but would still improve the Mets rotation greatly.

I can't provide links to either of those stories because they were on the radio, so you'll just have to trust me. There's a link to a Minnesota Star-Tribune blog about the Santana deal, and I think that's the best I can do.

Paul LoDuca and the Blue Jays are close to agreeing on a 1 year, $2.5 million contract (bottom of the page).

The Mets are interested in Florida utilityman Alfredo Amezaga, who I really like. He's a good defensive outfielder with impressive speed.

A possible Toronto/San Francisco trade involving Alex Rios and Tim Lincecum is on hold, at least temporarily.

The three-way trade rumor between the Mets, Twins, and A's involving Jose Reyes, Dan Haren, and Johan Santana was a complete hoax.

More to come later...

Update: End of Day 2 of winter meetings

I promised that I would update everyone on the goings on of the winter meetings, so before I head to bed, that's what I'm going to do.

I posted a detailed analysis of the clear-cut "deal of the day" and possibly "deal of the meetings" which sent Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis packing and bound for the Motor City. Other than that, the day was largely filled with rumors (some substantial, and some not). I will recap all of the less-than-headline-worthy deals before I discuss the rumors.

The biggest signing of the day was the Royals signing troubled outfielder Jose Guillen to a ridiculous contract (3 years and 36 million dollars? Are they insane?). Guillen has one season with more than 30 HR, one season with more than 100 RBI, and one season where he hit over .300. I realize that the Royals are trying to get back into contention, but it does not make much sense to sign someone like Guillen for that much money. Throw that contract at Fukudome or someone who hasn't proven himself to be a total headcase.

The Braves made a minor trade, sending Jose Ascanio to the Cubs for pitcher Will Ohman and infielder Omar Infante. Yawn.

The Tigers and Rockies also made a little trade today too. The Rockies acquired Jose Capellan from the Tigers for pitcher Denny Bautista. Bigger yawn.

Time for the rumor mill...

The Red Sox and Twins deal for Johan Santana is moving slower than I thought it was going to, and that's probably so the Twins can see if they can squeeze anymore out of the Red Sox or have a team like the Dodgers or Angels jump in and throw the farm at them. I'm thinking it should be done by late tomorrow but definitely by the end of the week if it's going to happen at all.

The Mets made another offer to the Orioles for Bedard, but it was the same offer as the first time (Gomez, Heilman, Humber). I guess the Mets were hoping the O's would have second thoughts on the deal. Now apparently the Mets are talking about subbing Pelfrey into the deal instead of Humber. That might get the deal done, and seems fair on both sides of the coin. Anything more than that and the Mets would be overpaying for Bedard, especially with how high some scouts are on Gomez.

In more recent news (within the last six hours of posting this or so) the Mets are reportedly inquiring about the availability of A.J. Burnett of the Blue Jays. He would be much less costly than Bedard but would be a big-time injury risk. We'll see how that boils down. The Mets are also talking to Livan Hernandez, who will probably be their fall-back plan if the Bedard deal falls through.

Around the league: The Scott Rolen to the Brewers rumors are cooling off...Shawn Green might retire if he can't find a good fit this winter, but might end up with the Rays (I still want to call them the Devil Rays, much better name)...Kris Benson is drawing interest from teams...Brandon Inge is pretty much a lock to get dealt...Toronto is looking to trade Alex Rios for pitching and are in talks with the Giants for Matt Cain or Tim Lincecum (I wish the Mets had some pitching to give up, I would love Alex Rios)...Baltimore is unlikely to trade Bedard within the division, so the Mets might not have to worry about competing with the Blue Jays for his services...one of my friends (thanks Barri) heard the Yankees were not only out of the Santana sweepstakes but out of the Danny Haren sweepstakes too, after hearing what Billy Beane wanted (both Hughes and Kennedy)--I've got no source for that rumor other than my friend, but I would believe it with how obnoxious Billy Beane is in trade discussions...

See you tomorrow...

Cabrera and Willis traded to Tigers

First reported on ESPN's Winter Meetings blog, the Tigers and Marlins have completed a blockbuster trade.

6:20 p.m., from Peter Gammons
• The Tigers have won the Miguel Cabrera sweepstakes. Detroit will get Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis from Florida for six players -- Cameron Maybin, Andrew Miller, catcher Mike Rabelo and three minor league prospects.


I like this trade for both teams. The Tigers, who quite clearly had the talent to compete in the AL even before the trade, are now probably the third best team in the league behind the Red Sox and the Yankees, with the Angels and Indians right behind the Tigers. The Tigers acquired probably the best young hitter to hit the market in several years who generates big numbers from a prime position at third base. Cabrera's fielding is nothing short of embarrassing, but it doesn't make that much of a difference when he makes up for it so easily with his bat. It also improves the starting staff quite a bit. Willis should slide into the number two spot into that rotation, behind Verlander.

For the Marlins, it gives them two young studs to build around in Maybin and Miller and a catcher for the future in Rabelo. Maybin projects as a good hitter with great speed, and was touted as the best outfielder in the 2005 draft. Miller (who I've always been a really big fan of) might have been the biggest piece of this deal. A hard throwing lefty with a good mental makeup, Miller is going to be a fixture in the Marlins rotation for a long time (at least until they actually have to pay him). His fastball sits in the mid-90s, but he dials it up into the high 90s with ease. His slider is an out pitch as well. Rabelo had a little bit of time with the Tigers this year in the majors but hasn't gotten much of a shot yet. I assume he will be the backup catcher for the Marlins behind Miguel Olivo, and will probably take over by 2009.

This is going to have a resounding impact on the market for all three big-name pitchers available, and will probably drive their prices through the roof. The Twins and the Red Sox are still very close on a deal that would bring Johan Santana to Boston, and that could happen at any minute.

The Mets are apparently having trouble finding a trading partner to acquire a pitcher, which is bad news for us.

There were several other inconsequential deals that happened today as well. I'll do a giant wrap-up at the end of the day and recap everything else. If you're really dying to know what happened, the ESPN blog is a good spot to check for rumors.