The Deed is done, Johan Signs with Mets

According to Mets.com, Johan Santana agreed to a deal with the Mets. The contract is worth approx $137 million over 6 years. Annual Salary= $22,916,667. This contract makes Santana by far the highest paid pitcher in baseball history.

The salary of Johan Santana didn't even matter to me, all I wanted was him to be wearing a uniform with orange and blue on opening day... I got what I wanted. Johan Santana now anchors the best pitching rotation in the National League. Santana has an .800 winning percentage in 24 starts against National League teams. Lets take a look at the Mets 2008 Rotation:

1. Johan Santana
2. Pedro Martinez
3. Oliver Perez
4. John Maine
5. Orlando Hernandez or Mike Pelfrey

Our rotation is only rivaled by that of the Atlanta Braves... and I think ours is still better than theirs. By the way, Harold Reynolds predicted in the video on Mets.com that Johan Santana will pitch the first no-hitter in Mets history. Man I'm excited for the season to get rolling.

Braves, Athletics reach agreement

According to Buster Onley, the Braves and Athletics have reached an agreement. The deal isJoey Devine and $5.325 milion for CF Mark Kotsay. Billy Beane essentially bought Joey Devine. Devine, a 24-year-old right-hander, was a first round pick in 2005, and has pitched 19.2 innings in the majors, compiling a 6.86 ERA. Last year, Kotsay played in 56 games in 2007 after having back surgery, hitting .214 with 15 extra-bases hits in 206 at-bats. In 2005, before Kotsay began having serious back trouble, he batted .280, with 51 extra-base hits and a .325 on-base percentage.



Yesterday, the Brewers and Mike Cameron reached an agreement that would pay the ex-Met $1.25MM via the signing bonus and will pay him about $4.22MM in base salary. Cameron missed out on $780K due to his 25 game suspension. This looks like a good signing for the Brew Crew, and good luck to Cameron, who I sorely miss.


...Added by DJ...

In other news, Bartolo Colon, who remains unsigned. Was on the verge of signing with the Mets last week, but the Mets backed off after taking a closer look at the condition of his right arm.

Wilpon gives in, Wants Santana

According to Joe Christensen at his blog for the Star-Tribune, the Mets have made an offer for Johan Santana.. The offer isf:

Carlos Gomez
Kevin Mulvey
Deolis Guerra
Phillip Humber

Christensen writes that the Twins really want Fernando Martinez and the deal could get done if the Mets decide to include him. Dont go for it. Santana isn't a guarantee they'll win anything. That is way too much talent to give up when the Red Sox and Yankees arent even being asked to give up anything close to this. Guerra and Martinez are way to high end to be giving up and its very highly unlikely the Mets will draft anyone with their kind of potential anytime soon. Omar is said to be too high on both of them to have included either in the package. Trading all of our Latin prospects will definitely hurt Omar Minaya's credibility because Latin players will not want to come to the Mets if Omar trades them all once they turn out to be decent prospects. I still think the best route is to wait it out until the Twins lessen their demands. I say this because I believe Johan Santana said that he would not exercise his No-Trade-Clause during the season. So if the Twins really do want to trade him and get something in return, we should wait until they lessen their demands. I say a fair deal is four prospects not named Deolis Guerra, Fernando Martinez, and Mike Pelfrey.

Oh yeah, I thought we weren't going to trade all 3 of our great OF prospects? Oh how times have changed.

Heres a quick look at the projection and potential of the mentioned prospects...

SP Kevin Mulvey- has the potential to be a #3-#4 starter on a good staff. Average stuff, great command. Was the first choice in the 06 draft for the Mets. Very close to being a MLB player.

OF Fernando Martinez- Very young, was the youngest player in AA last year. Scouts have projected him to have 35-40 HR power. Might have to move positions due to average defensive skills. Potential future All-Star.

CF Carlos Gomez- He is as fast as Jose Reyes and is above average defensively. Some scouts say he has the build to be a 30 HR threat. Potential future All-Star.

SP Phillip Humber- #3 pick in the 2004 draft, under went Tommy John Surgery in his first pro season. Came back last year and looked ok in AAA. Will need another year in the minors but should be ready in 2009. Humber once had the potential to be a #1 starter in the Majors, but he is projected to be a #2-#3 starter at best, maybe even less.

SP Deolis Guerra- Another young super-prospect with #1 starter potential. Has a dominant change-up, and a fastball that keeps gaining velocity as he grows. Had an adequate season last year, but showed dominance at times. He was also one of the youngest players in his league last year. Could be a future #1 and Cy Young Candidate.

SP Mike Pelfrey- Another former 1st round draft pick that has not produced on a consistent basis. Has an above average fastball, but not much after that. His control can be shaky at times. Needs consistency to excel. Projects to be a #2-#3 SP in the Majors if he can develop his secondary pitches, if not he will be moved to the bullpen.

There we go.. What do you think about the deal?

Mets gave to much for Angel Pagan

I'm a day late on this one but the Mets re-acquired OF Angel Pagan in exchange for OF Corey Coles and RP Ryan Meyers. Over at MetsMerized, Joe D examines the trade for Pagan, and from his findings, I think the Mets may have made a mistake. Joe D took the time to take an in-depth look at both of the player that we traded...

Joe D on Corey Coles...

"Last season the 25-year old Corey Coles had a solid season in Triple-A batting .286 in 388 at-bats, with 11 stolen bases for New Orleans. In 2006, he led the Florida State League in batting with a .341 average and swiped 21 bases. He is a top of the order hitter with a solid batting eye, great speed and gap power. He is one of those rare kids who actually walks as much as he strikes out, and his career on-base percentage is .367. The left-handed hitter put together a 13-game hitting streak from Aug. 5-18, and also hit safely in 12 straight games from April 19-30, while recording 47 multi-hit games. Although he zipped through three levels from Port St. Lucie to New Orleans in 12 months, and made two All Star teams in the process, the Mets said he was not ready to contribute any time soon."

Joe D on Ryan Meyers...

"The other minor leaguer was 22-year old starter turned reliever Ryan Meyers. Meyers is a tall lanky right hander who turned in a spectacular season after being converted to a reliever. Last season he pitched in 33 games for Class-A Savannah and saved 13 games while posting an ERA of 2.14. He was absolutely dominating after allowing only 28 hits in 42 innings while striking out an impressive 48 batters. He only dished out 14 walks all season and batters hit only .185 against him. Prior to last season, Meyers had been very unimpressive as a starter for three years."

From looking at his post, I got very nervous that we gave up an above average outfielder with patience and speed and a young developing pitching prospect for a player who will most likely not be on the Mets after this next season. I also question why we needed Pagan. We have many backup outfielders and if we were in dire need we could have just as easily called up the now traded Corey Coles. Some of Omar's trades just dont makes sense to me. So far this off-season, i approve of 0/2 of the trades that the Mets have made.

Possible Moves for Omar

We have reached the slowest part of the off-season and well, there is simply nothing to write about unless the signing of Matt Clement and Josh Towers.. but that has no effect on the Mets... but I've been thinking, what smart moves could Omar make? Well, here is a few suggestions from me...

Trade for Johan Santana...

I love our prospects but we need to get an edge. I would perfer that Omar waits until he becomes a free-agent next off-season but if we can pull a trade off that doesn't include Fernando Martinez, then I'm fine with it. Although most fans would haunt Omar Minaya for years if one of those prospects backfired in our faces, just like Scott Kazmir.


Sign Freddy Garcia to an incentive-laden contract with an option for 09'...

Freddy Garcia won't be ready until near the All-Star break but we need options. Gracia seems interested and there just simply aren't any better options. Unless you count Bartolo Colon, but he isn't even touching 90 MPH in the winter leagues. If Garcia would come back to form, the fans would love Omar Minaya again.



Sign Octavio Dotel to a 1-year contract with a vesting option for 09'...

Dotel is a very good reliable reliever out of the pen, when he is healthy. The thing is, he can't stay healthy.. but when he is, he can be a Duaner Sanchez type of pitcher. We need depth in our bullpen and that is what we lacked last season. Adding Octavio to the mix would definitely help solve that problem.



Sign Kevin Mench to a 1-year deal...

The recently acquired RF Ryan Church, is a very light hitting outfielder against left-handed pitchers.. so we need a platoon partner that can absolutely mash left-handers. Kevin Mench is our man. Last season, in 156 at-bats against Left-handers, Mench hit .314 with 8 homers and 26 RBI's. Combine that with Ryan Church vs right-handers, and we have a two headed monster in RF for 2008.

Sign Jason Jennings to a 1-2 year deal...

I know most of you are totally against him but in 2006 he was very good for the Rockies... and in the first half of 2007 he was decent with a 1-4 record and 4.07 ERA in 10 games started. The reason his record is so bad is because the Houston Astros offense was anemic all of last season... but he did blow up in the second half of the season, but thats the risk that your going to have to take.


Trade for Huston Street, and Joe Blanton...

Bullpen help? Check. Starting Pitcher? Check. Lets kill two birds with one stone. I would be more than willing to give 4-5 good prospects for a very good young closer and an innings eating SP. All I ask is that we do everything in our power to keep Fernando Martinez in a Mets uniform. Any prospect beyond him is as good as gone if we can get a package of both Huston Street and Joe Blanton.

I think all of these moves would be smart, but some would be risky. Either way I still believe that Mike Pelfrey should start for a full season in Flushing. If one of these starters were to be signed, we would just simply put Orlando Hernandez in the bullpen and keep Pelfrey as our #5. In my opinion, Kevin Mench would be a very smart signing for the Mets, and we should wait for Santana to be a free-agent at the end of the season... but if Omar pulls the trigger, I'll be fine with that too, just as long as we still have Fernando Martinez.

Nick Swisher.. the newest White Sox

It's cold outside but the hot stove is still burning. It's not as hot as it once was back in December but there were some deals deals being made..

The A’s have traded OF Nick Swisher to the White Sox for LHP Gio Gonzalez, RHP Fautino De Los Santos and OF Ryan Sweeney. Gio Conzalez and Fautino De Los Santos were the top two prospects in the Sox organization.

Before I knew that the White Sox traded their top two prospects, I automatically questioned why the Mets were not active in trade talks with the Athletics. It looks like a pretty even deal as of right.. but we'll see how it works out when the prospects mature into major leaguers.