Friday, October 17, 2003
The San Francisco Chronicle reports today that the Mets and A's are discussing possible compensation for Rick Peterson. According to the article, the Mets have NOT yet received permission to negotiate with Peterson, but have had talks of the "informal" variety. The A's appear adament about shipping Terrence Long out of town, and the article suggests that the Mets would part with a low-level prospect for Long and Peterson. Long currently has about $5 mill remaining on a four-year, $11.6 million deal, and is a marginal major leaguer at best. Billy Beane must have been drinking some of Mr. Wilpon's Kool-Aid when he signed Long to that deal.
Long's only half-decent offensive season came in 2000 when he posted a 788 OPS with 56 XBH. It's been a precipitous drop-off since then. To borrow from Avkash's statistical prose (which I am rather fond of):
2000 age 24 288/336/452 with 43/77 and 56xbh (18) in 584ab
2001 age 25 283/335/412 with 52/103 and 53 xbh (12) in 629ab
2002 age 26 240/298/390 with 48/96 and 52 xbh (16) in 587ab
2003 age 27 245/293/385 with 31/67 and 38 xbh (14) in 486ab
While he's only 27 and is just hitting his prime, he shows no indication that he's about to turn into a productive hitter anytime soon. He has apparently clashed with A's manager Ken Macha (according to T.Long himself, 20 of the A's 25 players don't want to play for Macha either), though his numbers under Art Howe weren't exactly world-beating (they were admittedly several steps up from his current production). He looks to me like an expensive version of Timo Perez, though Timo's three-year splits against righties are actually better than Long's.
Barry Zito gives Rick Peterson a lot of the credit for helping him, as well as Jason Isringhausen, Billy Koch, and Keith Foulke. I'm not a proponent of burning large piles of money, but if Peterson is all he's cracked up to be, throwing a few bucks away on T-Long would be one of the best off-season moves the Mets can make.
Long's only half-decent offensive season came in 2000 when he posted a 788 OPS with 56 XBH. It's been a precipitous drop-off since then. To borrow from Avkash's statistical prose (which I am rather fond of):
2000 age 24 288/336/452 with 43/77 and 56xbh (18) in 584ab
2001 age 25 283/335/412 with 52/103 and 53 xbh (12) in 629ab
2002 age 26 240/298/390 with 48/96 and 52 xbh (16) in 587ab
2003 age 27 245/293/385 with 31/67 and 38 xbh (14) in 486ab
While he's only 27 and is just hitting his prime, he shows no indication that he's about to turn into a productive hitter anytime soon. He has apparently clashed with A's manager Ken Macha (according to T.Long himself, 20 of the A's 25 players don't want to play for Macha either), though his numbers under Art Howe weren't exactly world-beating (they were admittedly several steps up from his current production). He looks to me like an expensive version of Timo Perez, though Timo's three-year splits against righties are actually better than Long's.
Barry Zito gives Rick Peterson a lot of the credit for helping him, as well as Jason Isringhausen, Billy Koch, and Keith Foulke. I'm not a proponent of burning large piles of money, but if Peterson is all he's cracked up to be, throwing a few bucks away on T-Long would be one of the best off-season moves the Mets can make.
Thursday, October 16, 2003
Sorry for the lack of recent blogs (thanks for reminding me every day, Mike). I was on vacation last week in California, and have been busy this week watching the BoSox cowboy up.
The Star Ledger reported three bits of information the other day.
1) The Mets will not seek permission from The Boss to interview Brian Cashman for their vacant GM position.
2) The Mets are still interviewing candidates for a top executive position (read: not necessarily GM). The Ledge indicates that The Duke will likely be named full-time GM.
3) The Mets have requested and have been granted permission by the A's to speak with pitching guru Rick Peterson.
The Mets would have to wait until after the Yankees postseason is over before talking to Cashman anyway, so this probably isn't very interesting. If the Yankees find a way to lose tonight's game 7, Cashman will almost certainly be gone, and anyone/everyone will be subject to King George's turbulent flights of fancy.
The second bit of info leads one to believe that the Mets may have already chosen their next GM in Jim Duquette. The current interview process may be to surround him with intelligent baseball men. It's still beyond me why P.DePo hasn't been mentioned anywhere outside of the blog community, but that's out of our control.
The third piece of news is probably the most intersting, and certainly the most promising. The Post reported today that the Mets interviewed Rick Peterson yesterday, though it's not believed that an offer was made....yet. Bud Selig doesn't like things like this to be announced in the middle of the postseason, so any big news will likely wait until the conclusion of the World Series.
I hope to have the Mets best pitching staff the past six years had to offer up soon, to go along with the lineup posted last week.
Also, to recap some news from last week, Marco Scutaro (aka Marcos Scutaro) and Matt Watson were claimed by the A's. While neither of these players will likely ever be major contributors at the big league level, both showed to be proficient at the plate in the minors, and are certainly better suited to "playing baseball" than the Mets current roster-fodder Joe McEwing and Timo Perez.
The Star Ledger reported three bits of information the other day.
1) The Mets will not seek permission from The Boss to interview Brian Cashman for their vacant GM position.
2) The Mets are still interviewing candidates for a top executive position (read: not necessarily GM). The Ledge indicates that The Duke will likely be named full-time GM.
3) The Mets have requested and have been granted permission by the A's to speak with pitching guru Rick Peterson.
The Mets would have to wait until after the Yankees postseason is over before talking to Cashman anyway, so this probably isn't very interesting. If the Yankees find a way to lose tonight's game 7, Cashman will almost certainly be gone, and anyone/everyone will be subject to King George's turbulent flights of fancy.
The second bit of info leads one to believe that the Mets may have already chosen their next GM in Jim Duquette. The current interview process may be to surround him with intelligent baseball men. It's still beyond me why P.DePo hasn't been mentioned anywhere outside of the blog community, but that's out of our control.
The third piece of news is probably the most intersting, and certainly the most promising. The Post reported today that the Mets interviewed Rick Peterson yesterday, though it's not believed that an offer was made....yet. Bud Selig doesn't like things like this to be announced in the middle of the postseason, so any big news will likely wait until the conclusion of the World Series.
I hope to have the Mets best pitching staff the past six years had to offer up soon, to go along with the lineup posted last week.
Also, to recap some news from last week, Marco Scutaro (aka Marcos Scutaro) and Matt Watson were claimed by the A's. While neither of these players will likely ever be major contributors at the big league level, both showed to be proficient at the plate in the minors, and are certainly better suited to "playing baseball" than the Mets current roster-fodder Joe McEwing and Timo Perez.
