Picture for a moment a team with a 29-year old superstar that is considered the face of the franchise. He plays for the team he cheered for as a boy and is loyal to them beyond dollars and cents. His team is a few years removed from contention but is not considered to be in contention in the near future regardless of what the ownership or diehard fans believe. Thus the team considers moving him to another team, for whom he could be "final piece to the puzzle", in exchange for bodies to fill the roster.
No, I'm not talking about a potential David Wright deal. I'm talking about Mike Piazza. The only difference is that, in 1998, the Mets were the team on the cusp of contention that needed Piazza. And no one is going to argue that Piazza meant less to the Dodgers in 1998 than Wright means to the Mets today.
Much has been written about whether or not the Mets should trade David Wright, including by me. Joel Sherman wrote an excellent column outlining what the Mets could get back in exchange for Wright. The blog Metzilla shared its thoughts on moving Wright, as did the SNY Why Guys.
If Sherman's reporting is accurate, I wonder what kind of bidding war could take place between the Angels and Rockies (the two teams rumored to be interested in Wright) if the Angels were to include Peter Bourjos and the Rockies were to include Dexter Fowler in a potential deal. I admit, these aren't marquee names. However, they could be pieces to build upon until the potentially marquee names of Wheeler, Harvey, Familia, Flores, Nimmo, et al arrive in Flushing.
Met fans were deeply depressed when Lee Mazzilli, the homegrown Brooklyn native and lone All-Star of the 1979 Mets team, was traded for two minor league pitchers. However, one of those guys netted in that deal was Ron Darling and the other, Walt Terrell, was flipped later for Howard Johnson. Of course, it only helped the psyche of anyone still hurting from that 1982 deal that Maz was a free agent in the middle of the 1986 season and was re-signed for the stretch run for the eventual 1986 World Champions.
Met fans got over Mazzilli, Dodger fans got over Piazza, and Red Sox fans certainly got over Garciaparra. This will be a sad off-season if Reyes signs elsewhere (which he probably will) and Wright gets traded (which he likely could.) However, life will go on for Met fans and eventually the core will be re-built to establish a consistent year-in, year-out, level of superiority and respectability.
My only request: keep Wright and Reyes out of the NL East and, preferably, both of them end up in the American League on different teams. Beyond that, I can only say as a fan, best of luck and thanks for the memories. Too bad there wasn't more to the minor league talent pool beyond those two guys to create something sustainable beyond 2006.
Showing posts with label Joel Sherman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joel Sherman. Show all posts
Monday, November 7, 2011
Friday, October 21, 2011
Jose Reyes, David Wright, and that Great Wall of Flushing
This year's World Series is a brutal reminder for Met fans that the National League representative is the same team that knocked the Mets out in that magical 2006 season just five years ago. Joel Sherman acknowledges that reminder and takes it further by laying it out as a reason for letting go of both Jose Reyes and David Wright. Sherman writes:
"Losing both of their signature players this offseason might be too large a hit for an organization already in bad stead with its fan base. However, plugging the leaky ship around Wright and Reyes since that fateful 2006 NLCS has not worked. It might be time to build a new boat."
Sherman doesn't connect the two dots that, in my opinion, what happens with Reyes will determine what the Mets do with Wright. As I've said before, the current top prospects in the organization would not be ready for the MLB until Wright is past his prime and I'm begrudgingly starting to agree with the premise (as Sherman says in his column) that Wright is a great player but not the cornerstone player that Albert Pujols is.
Speaking of Wright, David Lennon of Newsday first reported/tweeted that the Mets should be making an announcement on the walls at CitiField shortly after the World Series. As reported on Metsblog.com:
"Lennon says to expect the left-field wall to be ‘shortened and pulled in,’ the right-center bullpen fences to be ‘pulled in,’ and Mo Zone ‘fenced off.’
The last day of the season, while broadcasting from Citi Field, WFAN’s Mike Francesa reported ALL fences in the outfield will be 8 feet tall next year. Also, he said both foul poles will remain exactly where they are, but the walls in center and by the Mo Zone in right field will be 390 feet."
I also had another thought when I was watching the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS this year. When they brought in the left field wall at Comerica Park, they moved the bullpens to the newly formed space between the old wall and the new wall, allowing the Tigers to add additional premium seats in right field. Considering the easy access to the current bullpen area in CitiField, it's worth investigating if the bullpens can be moved to left-center field and the current bullpen area turned into a picnic area like the one that used to be behind the left-field bleachers in Shea Stadium. I hope the team considers this, although it would be a shame if they do this and then trade Wright before he has a chance to play in smaller dimensions.
"Losing both of their signature players this offseason might be too large a hit for an organization already in bad stead with its fan base. However, plugging the leaky ship around Wright and Reyes since that fateful 2006 NLCS has not worked. It might be time to build a new boat."
Sherman doesn't connect the two dots that, in my opinion, what happens with Reyes will determine what the Mets do with Wright. As I've said before, the current top prospects in the organization would not be ready for the MLB until Wright is past his prime and I'm begrudgingly starting to agree with the premise (as Sherman says in his column) that Wright is a great player but not the cornerstone player that Albert Pujols is.
Speaking of Wright, David Lennon of Newsday first reported/tweeted that the Mets should be making an announcement on the walls at CitiField shortly after the World Series. As reported on Metsblog.com:
"Lennon says to expect the left-field wall to be ‘shortened and pulled in,’ the right-center bullpen fences to be ‘pulled in,’ and Mo Zone ‘fenced off.’
The last day of the season, while broadcasting from Citi Field, WFAN’s Mike Francesa reported ALL fences in the outfield will be 8 feet tall next year. Also, he said both foul poles will remain exactly where they are, but the walls in center and by the Mo Zone in right field will be 390 feet."
I also had another thought when I was watching the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS this year. When they brought in the left field wall at Comerica Park, they moved the bullpens to the newly formed space between the old wall and the new wall, allowing the Tigers to add additional premium seats in right field. Considering the easy access to the current bullpen area in CitiField, it's worth investigating if the bullpens can be moved to left-center field and the current bullpen area turned into a picnic area like the one that used to be behind the left-field bleachers in Shea Stadium. I hope the team considers this, although it would be a shame if they do this and then trade Wright before he has a chance to play in smaller dimensions.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Joel Sherman, NYPOST.com: Time for Reyes, Wright to show Mets why team should keep them together
Joel Sherman quotes an AL team staffer in explaining why Reyes and Wright need to step up these next few weeks:
"“There is a shallow talent pool at both positions (shortstop and third),” an AL personnel man said. “And it is not like they have a Starlin Castro-like prospect at either position ready to no doubt take over. They are both in their prime and both have shown the ability to be top five at their position, maybe even top three. You have to keep an open mind about keeping both.”"
"“There is a shallow talent pool at both positions (shortstop and third),” an AL personnel man said. “And it is not like they have a Starlin Castro-like prospect at either position ready to no doubt take over. They are both in their prime and both have shown the ability to be top five at their position, maybe even top three. You have to keep an open mind about keeping both.”"
Friday, June 3, 2011
More David and Jose thoughts...
A few more nuggets about Jose Reyes and David Wright. Joel Sherman of the New York Post wrote yesterday that the Mets unlikely to get a lot back for veteran stars. Additionally, Jeff Bradley of The Newark Star-Ledger wrote that Sandy Alderson is familiar with the Jose Reyes situation:
"The date was June 21, 1989, and Alderson, then the 41-year-old GM of the Oakland A’s, fleeced the Yankees for Rickey Henderson, sending pitchers Greg Cadaret and Eric Plunk, and outfielder Luis Polonia east for the greatest leadoff hitter in major-league history. Four months later, the Henderson-led A’s were World Series champions.
At the time of that deal, Alderson believed Henderson — in his walk year — was most likely going to be a short-term rental for the A’s. But taking Henderson was a risk he took on behalf of Oakland that translated into that team’s one and only World Series title during an era the A’s appeared ready to dominate."
I remember the Henderson trade, remember the buzz created by Caderet, Plunk, and Polonia. The buzz was especially loudest about Polonia growing up blocks away from Yankee Stadium and that the Yankees got back the fireballer Plunk, who they sent to Oakland when they traded to get Rickey Henderson a few years earlier. The only other buzz thereafter was when Luis Polonia was arrested after an incident involving a 15-year old girl in a Milwaukee hotel room.
[On a side note, any Met fan over the Reyes era can tell you that Jose's mindset as a leadoff hitter or focus as a basestealer didn't really solidfy until the Mets hired Rickey Henderson as a baserunning coach. I don't think it's a coincidence that is when Reyes' game really picked up.]
Which is why Ken Rosenthal's column at FoxSports.com today is so appealing. I mentioned in my blog post yesterday that replacing Reyes would be much more difficult than replacing Wright and I even made some comparison to Nomar Garciaparra. However, Rosenthal makes some great points that I hadn't considered that replacing Wright isn't so simple either:
"Let’s see if I can build a market for this ne’er-do-well third baseman, whose OPS-plus from 2008 to ’10 — as pointed out by Andy McCullough of the Newark Star-Ledger — was comparable to Mark Teixeira’s from ’06 to ’08 at a similar age.
Wright would fit for both Los Angeles teams, both Chicago teams, the Rockies, Orioles, Twins, Tigers and Mariners. He could replace Scott Rolen in Cincinnati, Chipper Jones in Atlanta and Aramis Ramirez with the Cubs.
That enough?
No, the Mets probably wouldn’t trade Wright to the Braves or Phillies. But I’d bet that the Phillies’ uber-aggressive GM, Ruben Amaro Jr., would move heaven, earth and a killer prospect package to get Wright’s right-handed bat at Citizens Bank Park.
I’ll say it again: The entire discussion is ridiculous. If so many teams could use Wright, then maybe, just maybe, the Mets could use him, too."
"The date was June 21, 1989, and Alderson, then the 41-year-old GM of the Oakland A’s, fleeced the Yankees for Rickey Henderson, sending pitchers Greg Cadaret and Eric Plunk, and outfielder Luis Polonia east for the greatest leadoff hitter in major-league history. Four months later, the Henderson-led A’s were World Series champions.
At the time of that deal, Alderson believed Henderson — in his walk year — was most likely going to be a short-term rental for the A’s. But taking Henderson was a risk he took on behalf of Oakland that translated into that team’s one and only World Series title during an era the A’s appeared ready to dominate."
I remember the Henderson trade, remember the buzz created by Caderet, Plunk, and Polonia. The buzz was especially loudest about Polonia growing up blocks away from Yankee Stadium and that the Yankees got back the fireballer Plunk, who they sent to Oakland when they traded to get Rickey Henderson a few years earlier. The only other buzz thereafter was when Luis Polonia was arrested after an incident involving a 15-year old girl in a Milwaukee hotel room.
[On a side note, any Met fan over the Reyes era can tell you that Jose's mindset as a leadoff hitter or focus as a basestealer didn't really solidfy until the Mets hired Rickey Henderson as a baserunning coach. I don't think it's a coincidence that is when Reyes' game really picked up.]
Which is why Ken Rosenthal's column at FoxSports.com today is so appealing. I mentioned in my blog post yesterday that replacing Reyes would be much more difficult than replacing Wright and I even made some comparison to Nomar Garciaparra. However, Rosenthal makes some great points that I hadn't considered that replacing Wright isn't so simple either:
"Let’s see if I can build a market for this ne’er-do-well third baseman, whose OPS-plus from 2008 to ’10 — as pointed out by Andy McCullough of the Newark Star-Ledger — was comparable to Mark Teixeira’s from ’06 to ’08 at a similar age.
Wright would fit for both Los Angeles teams, both Chicago teams, the Rockies, Orioles, Twins, Tigers and Mariners. He could replace Scott Rolen in Cincinnati, Chipper Jones in Atlanta and Aramis Ramirez with the Cubs.
That enough?
No, the Mets probably wouldn’t trade Wright to the Braves or Phillies. But I’d bet that the Phillies’ uber-aggressive GM, Ruben Amaro Jr., would move heaven, earth and a killer prospect package to get Wright’s right-handed bat at Citizens Bank Park.
I’ll say it again: The entire discussion is ridiculous. If so many teams could use Wright, then maybe, just maybe, the Mets could use him, too."
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