The WCW of baseball? Hardly. You can question what they paid for Pedro at this stage in his career, but landing Beltran is a big deal. This is a young guy on the rise who will now likely spend the prime of his career with the Mets. They just need to hope he avoids the Bonilla/Vaughn jinx.
So this is what Omar Minaya can do when he has money. We all heard about how he was a genius on a poor team when he was in Montreal, and now he seems to be going to the other extreme. The Mets better be hoping their new channel gets carriage on all the NY cable systems, so they can pay for all of this. YES didn't make a lot in its first one or two years, and Steinbrenner has a much looser grip on the purse strings than Wilpon does. Granted the Mets are going into business with Comcast and Time-Warner, but Cablevision was where YES encountered their problems. This team is going to be the soap opera of the 2005 season. From the things I have heard about Beltran, he is a quiet, homebody, family type of guy who happens to have had one of the best postseasons in recent history. Will he thrive in the pressure cooker that is NY...stay tuned.
Beltran is a nice signing, but who is going to play all the other postions that they have holes in? This is still a .500 team with a very strange chemistry. I feel sorry for Willie Randolph who is going to have to win right now or be a sacrificial lamb his first go around. I'd rather have last years big prize, Vlad, who looks like a pretty good deal now.
Originally posted by BigVitoMarkThe WCW of baseball? Hardly. You can question what they paid for Pedro at this stage in his career, but landing Beltran is a big deal. This is a young guy on the rise who will now likely spend the prime of his career with the Mets. They just need to hope he avoids the Bonilla/Vaughn jinx.
It only took the Mets about 25+ years to figure this ker-aaazy free agency thing out, in that you probably shouldn't overspend for guys who are either injury-prone to exessive levels or past their prime or both. So kudos to them.
Of course, that all said what are the odds that Beltran STILL gets Met Stink all over him? If he gets off to a slow start in April, may the good lord have mercy because Shea won't have any.
"If you've got a Corvette that runs into a brick wall, you know what's gonna happen."
UNless Beltran is also a middle reliever, this is the biggest waste of cash in recent memory.
Plus, didnt the Mets learn from the A-rod in Texas deal? Spend a TON on a guy (well, to be fair, two guys in this case) and you cant afford any complimentary players.
Originally posted by TigerFan55So this is what Omar Minaya can do when he has money. We all heard about how he was a genius on a poor team when he was in Montreal, and now he seems to be going to the other extreme.
They said the same things about Glen Sather when he left the Edmonton Oilers and came to the New York Rangers. Last I looked, my Rangers still hadn't made the playoffs during his obscenely free spending chemistry be damned tenure.
I like Beltran but he got paid WAY too much - now who is going to take Mike "strikeout" Cameron off our hands ?
"I bought batteries yesterday. They weren't included. So I had to buy them again." -Steven Wright
Originally posted by Blanket JacksonIt only took the Mets about 25+ years to figure this ker-aaazy free agency thing out, in that you probably shouldn't overspend for guys who are either injury-prone to exessive levels or past their prime or both. So kudos to them.
Exactly! This move is the complete opposite of the usual Mets-type move over the course of their history. Instead of going after a past-his-prime veteran like Mo Vaughn, Tom Glavine, Eddie Murray, Juan Samuel, Willie Mays, etc., they actually went out and acquired a player who is young, improving, can hit for power, has speed, and plays defense. Fitting Beltran up the middle with Jose Reyes and Kaz Matsui (and even David Wright at 3B) and the Mets have a pretty decent 1-2-3-4 in the lineup core for the next decade potentially.
Are they going to go out and finally beat the Braves (or even the Marlins)? Maybe not yet; I'd like a solid 1B and a relief pitcher or three, but at least the Mets have made a major statement that they are going to try and regain their former glory.
Heck, I'd even take them being the "WCW" of baseball for a few seasons...after all, WCW was #1 for at least a little while.
"Remember, it's not a lie if *you* believe it." - George Costanza
I agree with Pizza Pasta. I understand the concerns about the size of the deal, but this is still a very positive move for the Mets. Their offense was just utterly horrible last season, and now they've added one of the best offensive threats in baseball. If their pitching can give the same performance as last year, then I don't see why the Mets can't improve their win total by a substantial margin.
I'm interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. She's a Georgetown sophomore, speaks fluent Italian, always cleared the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be? While thinking about that, can I ask another? My Chief of Staff Leo McGarry insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself or is it okay to call the police? Here's one that's really important because we've got a lot of sports fans in this town: touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean. Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point? Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother John for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads? Think about those questions, would you? One last thing: while you may be mistaking this for your monthly meeting of the Ignorant Tight-Ass Club, in this building, when the President stands, nobody sits." --- President Jed Bartlett, The West Wing
Originally posted by TigerFan55So this is what Omar Minaya can do when he has money. We all heard about how he was a genius on a poor team when he was in Montreal, and now he seems to be going to the other extreme. The Mets better be hoping their new channel gets carriage on all the NY cable systems, so they can pay for all of this. YES didn't make a lot in its first one or two years, and Steinbrenner has a much looser grip on the purse strings than Wilpon does. Granted the Mets are going into business with Comcast and Time-Warner, but Cablevision was where YES encountered their problems. This team is going to be the soap opera of the 2005 season. From the things I have heard about Beltran, he is a quiet, homebody, family type of guy who happens to have had one of the best postseasons in recent history. Will he thrive in the pressure cooker that is NY...stay tuned.
Pardon me if I still think Minaya's an idiot. He mortgaged the farm for rentals in MON, then spun those rentals off for nothing when it became clear he couldn't really win. (Floyd, Colon) Granted his hands were tired, but, eh... I am not impressed.
Pedro and Beltran (especially Beltran) aren't bad moves, but I'm not taking them as a sign of anything other than financial resources. What does it really take to sign the best players on the market? Money. He may yet prove himself a competent GM, but these deals aren't evidence of it.
Palpatine, I would agree with everything you just said if you weren't talking about The Mets. The Mets have always had significantly more financial resources than the majority of the rest of the teams in baseball. The problem was that no one ever wanted to play for them. "You mean that OTHER team in NY?" "I have to play in QUEENS?" "ORANGE?!" But the Pedro signing, and especially the Beltran signing, gives Mets fans hope for the future. Hopefully this means the end of the usual Mets signings like Murray, Samuel, Mays etc...
"What you don't understand, you can make mean anything." -Palahniuk
Sure the Mets spent a lot of money and probably overpaid for some players, but they did improve the team. Is Pedro breaking down? Maybe. But he's still atleast All Star caliber. And replacing Al Leiter with Pedro Martinez is an improvement and replacing Hidalgo with Beltran is a definite improvement on a team that was in it up to the All Star break.
Also getting Beltran might help them get Carlos Delgado since they are both good friends. If they get Delgado to play their empty 1B space then I definitely like a Reyes, Matsui, Wright, Beltran, Delgado, Piazza, Cameron, Flody lineup. They also signed Miguel Cairo who is a good bench player. Will Minaya's spending pay off? Who knows but right now I'd rather be a Mets fan than half the team's in the league that won't spend any money.
I think Queezy's got a good point. At least the Mets are trying. Sure, there are teams who don't know what they are doing when it comes to spending money (ie. the Rangers in hockey), but I would much rather my team spend money, try to win, and fail than not spend any money at all and still finish in last place. As long as there are teams like the Milwaukee Brewers out there, I can't criticize a team too hard for at least trying to win.
Beltran hit .267 last year, and then cashed in on a 17 mil a year contract. Think about that for a moment. I know that batting average isn't the most important stat in the world, but golly, don't you think someone should be able to hit the lague average before you give him gobs of cash?
Now, I'm not saying Beltran isn't good. He hit 38 HRs and had 104 RBIs last year. He's very good, and it's possible he'll be great. There's a chance I'll have to eat my words someday soon. I hope I do. But for now, I'd say that Beltran is a guy that had the benefit of a LOT of hype in getting his big payday.
With this move, and IMO the Pedro pickup, it seems like the MEts are just gonna be a bigtime, big dollar flop. No way they can keep up with the Braves.
Yeah it's true Beltran's .267 average was not good. But he still had 38 HR, 104 RBI and 42 SB. Imagine how much better those stats would be if he DID hit .300, which he is obviously talented enough to do.
His xBA (expected batting average*) last year was .303. He should return closer to those levels, but Shea historically supresses batting average and homers, and with him quite possibly batting lower in the order (will probably hurt SB opportunities.
Originally posted by Ron Shandler's Baseball ForecasterA hitter's batting average as calculated by multiplying the percentage of balls put in play (contact rate) by the chanc that a ball in play falls for a hit. The likelihood that a ball in play falls for a hit is a product of the speed of the ball and distance it is hit (PX), the speed of the batter (SX), and istribution of ground balls, fly balls, and most importantly, line drives.
BENCHMARKS: In general, xBA's should approximate a hitter's batting average fairly closely. However, those hitters who have large variances between the two gauges are candidates for further analysis.
Originally posted by BigSteveWith this move, and IMO the Pedro pickup, it seems like the MEts are just gonna be a bigtime, big dollar flop. No way they can keep up with the Braves.
I was listening to M&TMD on WFAN yesterday, and they brought up the fact that the Mets are still mulling a Floyd/Sosa deal, as Minaya thinks VERY highly of Sammy. They also mentioned that the team is still in contact with Carlos Delgado as well.
Pretty impressive. Not that the lineup makes the bullpen or end of the rotation better, but if they are looking to make a splash with a new network, they are poised with the cannonball...
A lot of people don't realize what's really going on. They view life as a bunch of unconnected incidents and things. They don't realize that there's this, like, lattice of coincidence that lays on top of everything. Give you an example, show you what I mean: suppose you're thinkin' about a plate o' shrimp. Suddenly someone'll say, like, plate, or shrimp, or plate o' shrimp out of the blue, no explanation. No point in lookin' for one, either. It's all part of a cosmic unconciousness.
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