In an atricle from the Associated Press, on MLB.com, David Wright talks about the Mets' need for a 'facelift' and makes his pitch for K-Rod or Brian Fuentes to come to Queens.
Clearly, everyone, including Wright, knows what this organization needs to do. Priority #1 is getting a closer. Then you sure up the rest of the relief corp with Juan Cruz RHP from Arizona who throws gas, (71k's 52 innings) and Joe Biemel LHP, from the Dodgers, and you have yourself a formidable pen. Plus, dump the remaining posion and Wright has himself that facelift he referenced and Mets Lifers can rejoice - if for no other reason - in not having to watch Blowenweis or Heilman serve up anymore victories for opposing teams.
And so Friday, free agents are open for business. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing what Omar is going to do.
4 comments:
I'm officially on the Beimel & Cruz bandwagon as well. Bring me those 2 and K-Rod and I'm satisfied.
That's quite a shopping spree. $20 mil plus on an overvalued (good, but way overvalued) closer, and two mediocre situational guys (look at their splits, the both have major platoon issues).
Beimel can't strike anyone out and Cruz gives up walks like it's going out of style. Beimel's K/9 and Cruz's BB/9 are both right around 5.5, which is horrible for both of them. Neither one of them is a guarantee, and unless they come cheap, they're not worth a multi-year deal. Hopefully Omar learned his lesson after wasting all that money on that 3 year deal
for Schoeneweis; don't panic and throw money at crappy middle relievers, they're middle relievers for a reason - they're not that good.
TM money is all relative. i hear you about paying too much, but that's just the way the market is. good point on cruz regarding his walks. nothing worse than a reliever who walks the park, but his K ratio and hits per inning are still good. as for beimel, i like what i've seen when watching him, and think he'd be a good addition. nonetheless, good points, TM. i always enjoy your feedback, but you rarely offer any suggestions. who do you think they should get to sure up the pen?
Another knock against Cruz is he's a type A. I'd hate to see them lose a draft pick over a middle reliever.
I'd like to see them give Sanchez another chance. His stuff is filthy and he was solid for most of last season. His fading down the stretch may just have been due to the long layoff while he was injured.
If Heilman was pitching hurt last year (I can't believe I'm actually going to say this) but he probably deserves a chance to rebound also. Other than 2007, he's been an excellent set-up guy. Unless they can get decent value for him in a trade, they might as well keep him.
Schoenewies sucks. He needs to go. Smith and Feliciano can stay, as long as they're used properly.
As far as newcomers go:
For closer, I'd like to see J.J. Putz, Bobby Jenks or Brian Fuentes (in that order). Of course it all depends on what they'd have to give up to get Putz or Jenks. I think Fuentes gets overlooked a little but he's put up outstanding numbers pitching at Coors. Brian Shouse would be nice. He absolutely kills leftys and would probably only need a 1-year deal. Will Ohman would be good too but he'll probably get a Schoeneweis type contract (i.e., too much money for too many years). Other guys like Chad Cordero, Scott Elerton, Kyle Farnsworth Dennys Reyes or Keith Foulke would all be good low-risk, high-reward pick ups.
What I'd really like to see them do is bring in a new closer and one solid setup guy while still maintaining some flexibility throughout the rest of the bullpen. No more 3-year deals for crappy middle relievers. Give some of the young guys a shot, bring in some guys on 1 year or minor league deals and see what they do in the spring.
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