Yankees extend "final offer" to Twins

Jayson Stark of ESPN reports that the Yankees have told the Twins that their offer of Philip Hughes, Melky Cabrera, and a "respectable" third prospect is their final offer for Johan Santana. The Yankees have also given the Twins until Monday night to accept this offer, at which point they will pull it off the table.

"I'm not going to be played against the Red Sox. That's not something I'll do. That's not something the Yankees should ever do, and that's I think what they're trying to do now," Yankees senior vice president Hank Steinbrenner said Sunday. "So if they want the best offer that has been offered to them, then they need to make up their minds."

The Red Sox offer, believed to be some combination of Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, Coco Crisp, and other prospects, would likely be the best offer on the table if the Yankees were to pull out of the negotiations. However, considering how they handled the Alex Rodriguez negotiations, we can never count the Yankees out of the running.

In Mets-related news, Erik Bedard has supposedly told Baltimore officials that he will not be resigning with the Orioles. This new development exponentially increases the likelihood of him getting traded and will also probably drive his price down, if only slightly. Look for the Dodgers and the Mets to be the front-runners in this trade. ESPN 1050 said that the Mets and the Orioles had the framework for a deal put together last week, only to have it fall through--that report may have been based on the Gomez, Heilman, and Humber offer that I talked about a few posts ago.

Apparently, one of the complaints the Orioles had with the Mets offer was that it didn't offer enough major league-ready talent. Humber hasn't fully bounced back from his Tommy John surgery, and Gomez is still very young and raw, so I can understand where the Orioles are coming from. I can't help but wonder if the Mets started putting together a deal centered around Mike Pelfrey/Kevin Mulvey, Ryan Church, and Aaron Heilman, would the Orioles like that better? The Mets would probably have to add another piece to the deal, but a deal built like that could be more favorable to the Orioles in the short run. The Mets could then swoop in and pick up someone like Jose Guillen (who they have been talking to) or Kosuke Fukudome to play right field for them until Fernando Martinez is ready to take over in a few years. Andruw Jones would also be an interesting option to explore, but would probably command way too much money.

Ownership involved in Milledge deal?

A friend of mine over at MetsRefugees.com just posted an interesting tidbit about the Milledge trade. He said that he called one of his friends in the Mets organization who has been very reliable in the past, and was told that the Wilpons forced Omar to take whatever he could get for Milledge. Apparently, since the infamous "high-fiving" incident, the Wilpons have been after Omar to get rid of Milledge. After several run-ins with the players, coupled with the fact that Milledge had recently recorded a rap album much to the dismay of ownership, the Wilpons had enough and forced Omar to make the deal.

I've never been a staunch Milledge supporter, particularly after learning how he wasn't getting along with the other players. However, I don't think trading Milledge for twenty cents on the dollar was a good idea. Fred and Jeff Wilpon need to truly grant Omar Minaya "full autonomy" of this team because it's apparent they have the baseball sense of a half-eaten grapefruit.

My friend's source also said that Omar has been "feverishly" working the phones to try and come up with a pitcher. Considering how active Omar stays in the trade market, I have to believe this is true. If the Mets were to go into the season today, their rotation would look like this:

Pedro
Maine
Perez
El Duque
Pelfrey

Iffy, at best.

It's time for the first session of "Ben as Mets GM". If I'm Omar, I would be calling Mike Flanagan (GM of the Orioles) every hour, on the hour, and asking about Erik Bedard. I would not be calling Billy Beane at any point because he has proven himself to be unreasonable to deal with (think Jim Bowden, except with good players to trade with). And, the Mets can't match any offer the Yankees throw at the Twins for Johan Santana if it includes both Robinson Cano and Phillip Hughes (which, ultimately, I believe it will), so that effectively knocks the Mets out of the running for Santana. That leaves Bedard.

Bedard has a devastating fastball-curveball combination that leaves hitters baffled. His ERA has dropped every year (3.16 last year) since he's been in the league, and his strikeout to walk ratio was an astonishing 3.87 : 1 last year. His fastball sits in the low 90s and occasionally touches 94 or 95. The most important aspect of his fastball, though, is how quickly it gets on the hitters. Combine that with an above-average curveball/slurve, and we've got ourselves a probable ace.

The Mets did submit an offer to the Orioles for Bedard recently (apparently within the last 72 hours) but it was rejected. The offer was believed to be Carlos Gomez, Aaron Heilman, and Philip Humber. I think it's going to cost more than that to land Bedard, but not much more. Substitute Mike Pelfrey in for Humber and it might work, but it will probably need some tinkering at that point (maybe including the prototypical throw-in player, first baseman Mike Carp, or a so-so young pitcher, like Carlos Muniz). As some reporters have said, Humber is probably worth more to the Mets right now than he would be worth in a trade, so trying to unload him right now would be strikingly reminiscent of the Milledge trade (other than the fact that Humber is not a rapper...at least I think he's not).

So, for the sake of the argument, we'll say that the offer ends up being Gomez, Pelfrey, Heilman, and Muniz and the Orioles take it. That leaves us with a rotation of:

Bedard
Pedro
Maine
Perez
El Duque (until he gets injured in May, at which point Humber would be here)

I think that's a much, much better rotation, and every pitcher in it would give us a chance to win. Of course, that seriously jeopardizes an already shaky bullpen with the loss of Heilman. But that's a whole different issue, which I will try and cover next time in "Ben as Mets GM".

Happy holidays everyone, and let's hope Omar gives us Erik Bedard for Christmas.

Omar on WFAN

Omar Minaya, during an interview with Mike and the Mad Dog on WFAN, said that the newly acquired Ryan Church will be the starting right fielder going into 2008.

Minaya on the trade- "Church is a plus outfielder who will run more with us and has more opportunities to drive in runs...Schneider is one of the better defensive catchers in baseball...Milledge was not crucial to any trade for a big pitcher so we felt like we could make this trade. I think it was a good baseball trade for both sides."

On the Mota deal - "Mota wasn't working out for us, and was going to be getting paid 3.5 million next year...it was time to move on. His numbers weren't that bad but his performance in big spots was pretty poor."

On the Torrealba deal - "We weren't able to come to an agreement and we agreed to not comment on why, so I'm going to stick to the agreement."

On Lo Duca vs. Schneider - "Schneider is a better defensive catcher and I'm big on defense. I'm a big believer in being strong up the middle, and Schneider gives us great defense behind the plate."

On elite pitchers - "We are in contact with these clubs who are shopping their pitchers...they have definitely shown interest in our players..."

On the team - "I'm happy with the team right now, but there will probably be new pieces with the team by Spring Training..."

On Jose Reyes - "I don't see anyone in the marketplace who has been shopped around who would be worth trading Jose Reyes."

So this was a typical Omar interview, where he didn't commit one way or another on many issues. I like the guys we got back in the trade, for sure, but I certainly don't think that they should have come at the price of Lastings Milledge.

Schneider is certainly a great defensive catcher who will be fun to watch behind the plate, and has always been a favorite of mine (especially because he signed a baseball for me at Olympic Stadium many years ago). He is good at throwing out runners and great at calling a game. He blocks the plate well, too.

The acquisition of Church doesn't excite me as much as the acquisition of Schneider, and hear me out on that. Church doesn't really do anything extraordinary. He's good defensively (but not great) and he's a solid third outfielder, but not a stud. He reminds me of Xavier Nady, which I'm fine with, but has work ethic issues and has only one year of being a full-time starter. We'll see.

Lastings Milledge traded

According to ESPN.com, Lastings Milledge has been traded from the Mets to the Nationals in exchange for Brian Schneider and Ryan Church.

WASHINGTON -- Catcher Brian Schneider and outfielder Ryan Church were traded to the New York Mets by the Washington Nationals on Friday for outfielder Lastings Milledge.

In Schneider, the Mets add yet another catcher, following their trade for Johnny Estrada last week. In Milledge, the Nationals pick up a talented young player they hope can avoid the sorts of missteps that marked his Mets career and be a key component of their rebuilding project.

Schneider was given a lot of credit last season for holding together a ragtag Nationals starting rotation, but he struggled at the plate, batting .235 with six homers and 54 RBIs.

Church hit .272 with 15 homers and 70 RBIs, while tying for the team lead with 43 doubles.

I'm not sure what Omar is thinking here. Milledge has been touted as one the best, if not the best, prospect in the Mets system. He was dangled in deals for Barry Zito, Roy Oswalt, Manny Ramirez, Tim Hudson, and the like, but Omar was too high on him to pull the trigger. Now he trades Milledge for a mediocre catcher and a third outfielder. As far as I'm concerned, while not as bad as the Scott Kazmir trade, this may go down as the worst trade Omar will make as GM of the Mets.

According to SportsTalk 980 in Washington, DC, Milledge may have been traded due to insubordination issues with the Mets.

There's a rumor going around that as little as two weeks ago, Milledge was in the front office for a meeting with Jeff Wilpon and Omar Minaya. At the meeting they criticized his lack of focus on baseball, caused by what they believe to be numerous outside business ventures that he was undertaking with his friends and family. Fearing the possibility of another public relations fiasco, they demanded that he shut down his record label, and the other aspects of his music operation in its ENTIRETY, he refused, and this is where we're at in the present.

While I'm not sure of the credibility of this source, this would weaken the terribly bitter taste in the mouths of Mets fans. Milledge has always been a topic of controversy for the Mets and their front office, so this would certainly make sense.

The bottom line here is that I think Omar got ripped off on this trade. Just one man's opinion.