SB Nation - Rob Mackowiak

2009 Mets Transaction Register, Part 2

Eric Simon — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:15:22 -0000

Oliver Perez doing his impression of a Mets fan watching Oliver Perez pitch. (AP Photo/Matt York)

And now, the dramatic conclusion of the epic, award-winning series that began last week.

January 22, 2009

Signed Freddy Garcia to a minor league contract. Garcia was competing for the fifth starter/long man role in Spring Training, but he was first terrible and then hurt (or maybe it was the other way around). Upon his return, he stunk in two starts for Buffalo before being waived and picked up by the White Sox where he posted a 2.90 tRA in 56 innings. That should be enough to get him a Major League deal in 2010, maybe even from the Mets!

January 23, 2009

Signed Rob Mackowiak to a minor league contract. Appeared in two games with Triple-A Buffalo and zero with the Mets. He was pretty solid on a fantasy team I had five or six years ago, but has never really been an above average player and could be done as a big leaguer at age 33.

February 2, 2009

Signed Oliver Perez for three years/$36 million. Analysis here. A day that will live in infamy, as the Mets offered three more years and thirty-six million more dollars than anyone else to secure the rights to one of the least dependable -- but most mature! -- pitchers in baseball. Perez's 6.94 tRA, -0.7 WAR and 1.92 WHIP would have been vindication enough, but he topped that off by spending three-fifths of the season on the disabled list. Given his negative win value, perhaps that was actually for the best. At roughly $4.5 million per win, Perez would have to be worth 8-9 wins over the next two seasons to justify his contract.

February 5, 2009

Signed Elmer Dessens to a minor league contract. Dessens should never have seen the light of day, but with injuries and ineptitude swallowing the Mets' 2009 season, Dessens managed to appear in 28 games in relief, showing decent control and a proclivity for groundballs (yet he still allowed five homeruns in 32.2 innings). He wasn't the worst pitcher the Mets had, and was probably quite a bit better than expected, but more playing time should expose him as a below-average reliever.

February 11, 2009

Signed Jose Valentin to a minor league deal. Didn't play a professional game in 2009. Maybe check the Ground Round?

February 13, 2009

Signed Ramon Martinez to a minor league deal. Hit .167/.182/.214 in 44 plate appearances with the Mets. Had a -2.6 UZR at shortstop in limited action.

February 14, 2009

Signed Livan Hernandez to a minor league deal. A longshot to make the club, Hernandez out-pitched Freddy Garcia in Spring Training and joined the Mets in the season's second week. Apart from a few good starts against the Nationals, Hernandez was mostly pretty bad, even for a fifth starter. He also loved donuts.

February 27, 2009

Signed Ron Villone to a minor league deal. Villone never pitched for the Mets and was nothing special after Washington picked him up. He's from Englewood, NJ, for whatever that's worth.

March 10, 2009

Released Duaner Sanchez. This move seemed smart at the time, looked dumb when Filthy shut down the Mets in the opening series at Citi Field, but went back to looking smart when the Padres likewise released Sanchez after running up a 9.00 ERA and 2.36 WHIP in 11 innings.

March 14, 2009

Claimed Fernando Nieve off waivers from Houston. Some Nieve analysis here. Not a bad gamble. Nieve was only 26 and throws in the mid-nineties, and managed a 2.95 ERA in seven starts with the Mets. Unfortunately, he walked too many and struck out too few to believe his low runs allowed rate is at all sustainable.

March 30, 2009

Signed Ken Takahashi to a minor league contract. Some analysis of one of his appearances here. Tak wasn't terrible, and was fairly dominant against righties in limited action. He was released yesterday, so, smell you later, Tak.

April 5, 2009

Signed Gary Sheffield as a free agent. The Mets paid Sheffield the league minimum (actually, a prorated portion of the league minimum) while the Tigers picked up the rest of his $14 million salary. Sheffield was worth 1.8 WAR offensively, though his defense in leftfield was woeful. UZR has him at -11.1, though it's not clear how much that is affected by the fact that UZR is still using Shea Stadium's dimensions. If that mark holds, Sheffield's overall value, including defensive adjustments, was barely above replacement (0.2 WAR). He could still be a useful designated hitter somewhere.

April 11, 2009

Released Marlon Anderson. Boo to the yah. Anderson was decent as a pinch hitter with the Mets in 2005, remarkable in 77 plate appearances after they claimed him from the Dodgers in 2007, but all kinds of terrible in 2008 and made four hapless pinch hitting appearances in 2009 before mercifully getting the heave-ho.

April 25, 2009

Signed Mike Lamb to a minor league contract. Played almost a full season in Triple-A and didn't hit a lick.

May 30, 2009

Traded Ramon Castro to the White Sox for Lance Broadway. Trade analysis here and discussion here; Castro's greatest hits here. I always liked Ramon; he had more pop than can usually be expected from a catcher, and he was big and huggable. He was also oft-injured and rumored to be difficult to deal with. He hit .184/.262/.382 with the White Sox (he also caught Mark Buerhle's perfect game). Broadway was terrible in Triple-A and with the Mets; his greatness may not extend beyond his naturally porn star-ish name.

June 5, 2009

Claimed Pat Misch off waivers from the Giants. His 4.12 ERA in 22 appearances -- including seven starts -- isn't supported by his peripherals, as Misch struck out just 3.5 batters per nine innings while walking 2.9 and allowing 1.4 homeruns. Could be worth an emergency start, but if he makes 22 appearances again the Mets are in trouble.

July 10, 2009

Traded Ryan Church to the Braves for Jeff Francoeur. Trade coverage here, here, here, here, and here. To his credit, Francoeur was worth around 1.6 WAR with his bat after the trade (his defense dragged that down a bit); Church was worth around half that in half the playing time with the Braves. 2010 is Francoeur's final year of arbitration eligibility, though there's always the (horrifying) possibility of the Mets signing him to a multi-year deal. I genuinely want Francoeur to succeed and he seems like a nice enough guy, I just find it hard to believe that he will ever be even an average big leaguer given his steadfast refusal to use the strike zone to his advantage.

August 6, 2009

Traded Greg Veloz to the Nationals for Anderson Hernandez. Hernandez is a replacement-level shorstop and slightly better than that as a second-baseman (the difference owing to his above-average defense at second). He can't hit and probably never will, though it's not as if Veloz is anything to write home about.

August 25, 2009

Traded Billy Wagner to the Red Sox for Chris Carter and Eddie Lora. More here. The Mets cleared around $4 million and picked up a couple of warm bodies. Carter could be useful against righties.

Community Projection Review: Second Base

Charlie — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 21:45:44 -0000

More photos » by Charles Rex Arbogast - AP

6 months ago: Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Delwyn Young hurdles Chicago Cubs' Milton Bradley while turning the double play on Cubs' Derrek Lee at first during the third inning of a baseball game at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Wednesday, May 27, 2009. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Browse more photos »

Freddy Sanchez was among a number of players we reviewed who didn't actually wind up with the team. Here's what we predicted.

Community: .300/.332/.419

ZiPS: .285/.324/.398

Actual (with both Pittsburgh and San Francisco): .293/.326/.416

Bonus: We predicted that Sanchez would have 548 plate appearances, thus failing to trigger his 2010 option. Actually, he had 489.

We were spot on here. A number of people were very close, but it looks like Chad Bahamas, who predicted that Sanchez would hit .290/.330/.415, was the closest.

Sanchez's numbers were better for the Pirates than they were with the Giants, for whom he posted a .619 OPS. I wasn't a big fan of the Sanchez trade that brought Tim Alderson, but purely based on the results so far, the Bucs look like pretty clear winners in that trade. Sanchez's injury issues have to be a big concern for the team that signs him on the free agent market. You'll recall that in 2008, he had an injury-plagued first half, posting a .556 OPS. In the second half, he was terrific, posting an .862 OPS.

This year, it was the opposite--he had an .834 OPS in the first half, and a .532 OPS in the second. Take the last half of 2008 and the first half of 2009, and you have a pretty good season in there. But if he can't stay healthy, and as he gets older he probably won't, he isn't much of an asset.

Anyway, Delwyn Young took most of the playing time at second after Sanchez left. It was an interesting experiment. Young tried hard and did make strides in the field, although he still wasn't close to being an average glove at second--he posted a -13.6 UZR/150 there. On top of that, his hitting collapsed completely down the stretch.

Young is a useful player, but he's probably more of a Rob Mackowiak-like super-sub than a regular player. The Pirates are considering moving Andy LaRoche to second at some point in time; while there's precedent for good defensive third basemen moving to second (or back to second) without much of a problem (Akinori Iwamura comes to mind, and so does Sanchez himself), it remains to be seen how well LaRoche can handle the position. Then there's also the issue of who will play third if that happens, since Pedro Alvarez will probably start the year in the minors and Neil Walker hasn't exactly locked down a big league job. I wouldn't be surprised if Young won the second base job out of Spring Training, but I would be surprised if he were still there at the end of the next season.

Omar Minaya Has To Go

Sam Page — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 10:00:14 -0000

In his opening press conference with the Mets, Omar Minaya immediately expressed a desire to make the team "younger and more athletic." In his ad-hoc press conference with the Mets yesterday, Minaya said (and I'm paraphrasing) "Were' investigating it with an investigation...We're going to investigate it....investigaty investigations."

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. This season, as the Mets have fallen out of contention, calls for Omar Minaya's firing have expectantly increased. In fact, the rumblings were present before the team's slide, as the Oliver Perez contract looked like a bust from the get-go. The calls for Minaya's job, however, are hardly universal, as his defenders cite the bad luck with injuries. So the debate goes:

"Fire omAr!!"
"No, it's not his fault, too many injuries."
"He should have better backups."
"No team can lose three of their best hitters and win."

And that's where it ends. The Minaya-defenders often come out of this argument looking more rational, because the fire-Omar position boils down to "we're losing." The main argument defending Minaya, "no team can lose that many players and be good," often goes unchallenged. Which is a shame, since it's wrong. The Boston Red Sox play in the A.L. East and have a lower payroll than the Mets. They have a well above-average defense, offense, and pitching staff. If the Red Sox were to lose David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Tim Wakefield, and Hideki Okajima and be thrown into the N.L. East, they'd beat the Phillies by at least five games. Their pitching staff would still be about 80 runs better than the Phillies, while their offense would only be marginally downgraded by slotting Adam LaRoche, Lars Anderson, Rocco Baldelli, and Jed Lowrie in for the injured position players. They have so much pitching depth, they could lose Dice-K, Penny, and Wakefield and have a better rotation the next morning. The Mets, for the same payroll, have one of the the worst rotations in the league. The only (non-fictional) injury to that rotation this season has been John Maine, a player who could barely throw the ball before spring training opened.

That's why the injury responsibility debate is a red-herring. Yes, the Mets would be in contention without those injuries. I do not deny that. Still, they'd only be in contention because they have enough great players to outweigh otherwise shoddy roster construction in a weak division. This season has not changed my opinion of Omar Minaya, it's validated it. The same people who once crooned for the Oliver Perez signing are printing "Fire Omar" T-Shirts because a giant spotlight has been cast on the rest of the roster. The Mets have been successful because they have four of the best players in the National League all playing premium positions, half of whom Minaya acquired. As somewhat of a side note, that's why it's always hard to compare the Mets' injury situation to other teams. No single other team has their three best position players at premium defensive positions. If the Mets didn't dump their garbage at first and in left, they would run away with this division every year.

Which is the main problem: Omar Minaya simply has not put enough talent on the field to make the Mets a championship organization. They can make the playoffs. Every year, there's a good shot. But they don't, and that's because he's wasted too much money and left too many holes in the roster every year. The Phillies never acquired a Johan Santana, they didn't have to. They just sat there and waited for the Mets to get worse on their way to the title. It's funny, because I used to think finding complementary players was Minaya's strength, because he continually struck gold (mostly in the bullpen) with every little trade he made in 2006. From that article:

It may be luck, it may be skill. It may be the result of a team with money taking good calculated risks. Whatever it is, Minaya's had it this year.

Turns out it was luck. The strength of the 2006 Mets, their bullpen, was made of good, not great, relievers who had career years. Such is the nature of the bullpen; in such small sample sizes, it's basically a coin flip between Mota-2006 and Mota-2007. That's why smart teams fill their bullpen with players with skills, namely high strikeout rates, that avoid the luck element of balls in play. David Aardsma isn't some lucky fluke that has become a shutdown closer out of the blue. He's got great skills, and is a guy USSMariner identified as a potentially good reliever for the M's last year. The last two pitchers with such skills in the Mets organization? Heath Bell and Billy Wagner. One got a big contract, the other was given away. Instead of investing in pitchers like Bell, who miss bats, the Mets threw a bunch of money at the now-infamous Mota and Scott Schoeneweis, who's only skill is being left-handed. The Mets didn't realize how lucky they were on many counts that year, with Beltran's career year, LoDuca's fluky BABIP-inflated average, and Jose Valentin's existence. None of those things, including the performance of their entire bullpen, could be expected to return the next year, but they sat there like next season started with a re-do of Game 7.

This inability to construct a good bullpen and bench has led to another conclusion I was previously averse to: it's nearly impossible for a General Manager that shuns sabremetrics to be successful in today's game. The emphasis on smart money management, coupled with the rise of young, underpaid superstars, has left extremely well-managed small-market teams like the Rays in too good a position. This point is NOT some trite stats vs. scouts argument, because obviously the Rays would be much worse off without the guys who take a radar gun down to Vanderbilt to watch David Price. Simply put, people who consider themselves scouts, and oppose sabremetrics, should not be put in charge of the asset management elements of a team (i.e. the position of General Manager). Besides Minaya, I would say Bill Smith of the Twins is a great example of this principle. The Twins are successful because they drafted a slew of good pitchers and Joe Mauer. Still, Bill Smith's tenure as GM has been mixed because he hasn't properly gotten maximum value for his money, trading Johan Santana, extending Jason Kubel, trading for Delmon Young, among other questionable moves.

I think Omar Minaya is a good scout, who knows how to get "his guy". That's proven by the acquisitions of Francisco Rodriguez, Carlos Beltran, and Johan Santana. Still, no one with a reasonable grip on advanced fielding metrics would throw $4 million this offseason at Alex Cora, Cory Sullivan, and Rob Mackowiak. That's Dayton Moore, "I can see who can field," territory of roster mismanagement. That's why people are right the Mets shouldn't be this bad with this amount of money, why the Buffalo Bisons are so freaking awful. The Mets build depth, useless, counterproductive depth. Ramon Martinez and Angel Berroa will only make your team worse, there are better players out there making league minimum. Good GMs simply don't employ these types of players, at the risk they somehow have to use them.

That being said, I don't blame Omar Minaya for not having enough prospects to fill in for this season's injuries. Few teams can just call up top prospects for a bunch of positions they actually had blocked anyway. The two players the Mets could have most used this season, Carlos Gomez and Mike Carp, were traded with the intention of making the big league roster better. I think Minaya's doing a good job with the farm, despite his foolish reluctance to bust slot in the draft. When he does get a first-round pick, he hits, and when he hands out a big bonus to an international free-agent, they more often than not work out. That's why I think it's ludicrous the Mets are looking to make the scouting department a scapegoat this season (really, no medical staff?). Sorry John Harper, you missed the whole point, Mejia and Holt are great.

Instead, I think the larger problem, and my second big criticism of Minaya, is that he lacks a coherent plan. I don't mean Minaya's plan is just to sign big free agents and trade the farm, despite what that one anonymous scout assigned to Buffalo has been telling all the Mets beat writers. No, Minaya lacks coherent plans to build a complete team, which relates to the idea of complementary players discussed above. If I could condense this entire critique down to one word it would be "myopic." In 2008, Minaya focused on starting pitching and got Santana, leaving the bullpen an open wound. This offseason, it was all-bullpen all-the time and the Mets fielded their worst starting rotation in recent memory. Tim Redding and Livan Hernandez are the Ramon Martinez and Angel Berroa of the starting rotation. They don't eat innings, they cancel out Johan's contributions. The Mets rotation, despite featuring Johan Santana, are 23.8 runs below the average staff, somehow worse than a team that has Joe Blanton, Chan Ho Park, and Jamie Moyer.

The most annoying part of this offseason, indeed, was Minaya's insistence that they couldn't pursue outfielders because "they were working on their pitching." Coming from a team that "brainstormed" Francoeur-for-Church, that excuse just rings pathetic. Hey Mr. Wilpon, there are 100,000 Mets fans on the internet everyday who fix your bullpen AND lineup during their lunchbreak, and they do it for free (albeit with varying levels of success).

Before this season, I thought the Mets could win, but only in spite of what Minaya had done. The most positive move he had made was signing Gary Sheffield, a guy who even Gary Sheffield thought would be a pinch-hitter. Alas, Sheffield became the one player holding the Mets together, not because he is really that good, but because the "plan" in left was one Daniel Murphy, who had modest success in AA and a fluky BABIP in the majors the year before. Just to prove hindsight isn't 20-20, I humbly submit that I had these same qualms before the season, including Oliver Perez possibly exploding, the core getting injured, Maine's arm falling off, and Murphy being bad. The difference between my optimism then and my apathy now is all that bad stuff happened, and everyone gets to watch those holes in the roster magnified times 100.

The in-season management has only exacerbated the problem. The Santos-trade, the Francoeur-trade, and the release of Darren O'Day (has a better tRA in the American League than K-Rod has on the Mets right now), have been plain stupid. If Minaya's saving grace is identifying talent, I'm worried.

Amidst all this Bernazard craziness, Peter Gammons said something interesting yesterday about Tony B. undermining Minaya by both having a stronger relationship with Wilpon and by being the architect of the laughable minor-league depth. I'm not sure whether that reflects better or worse on Omar, but either way it suggests he's losing control of the team. I'm starting a campaign. It's not "FIRE OMAR." It's "Fire Bernazard, demote Minaya." The biggest defense of Minaya is that he brought the team out of obscurity, which is partially true. But if this season has taught us anything, it's that Steve Phillips' baseball intellect can make anyone look good. The Mets need a Chris Antonini or a Neal Huntington, a young dynamic leader who understands the finer points of player value to finish off the job Minaya started.

Omar Minaya is the scout who discovered Jose Reyes, not the General Manager who is going to put a ring on his finger.

Washington Nationals: Spring Training 2009: The First Week of Spring...

Ed Chigliak — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 07:01:18 -0000

Should The Washington Nationals Trade Nick "A-Swing" Johnson?

There's no "according to an anonymous source" or any "team official who asked not to be identified", no unidentified "baseball source", no, Yahoo! Sports' writer Tim Brown just comes out and says it, in his organizational analysis entitled, "Nationals have to find some direction", where Mr. Brown writes, (after talking about the Zimmerman arbitration standoff, the Odalis Perez holdout and Esmailyn Gonzalez's-David Lynch's-Lost-Highway-like shift of identity, etc.):

"Amid that paperwork, The Nats are -- or shortly will resume -- shopping first baseman Nick Johnson, because they added Adam Dunn to a roster already thick with outfielders and first baseman."

Washington Nationals' Manager Manny Acta? Your thoughts on the situation? As Mr. Acta told an AP writer for an article this weekend entitled, "Nats' Johnson retools swing in latest comeback", "It makes a lot of guys salivate, including myself, to have two guys like that in the lineup." The two guys Mr. Acta is referring to? Nick Johnson and Adam Dunn, of course...

So, if the Manager prefers having both guys in the lineup...Who wants Nick Johnson sent out of town? Why is a recovering Nick Johnson, at $5.5M, more valuable a trade asset than the recovering $8.0M dollar Austin Kearns (who also has another year at $10M or a $1.0M buyout)? Or Josh Willingham at 1-year/$2.95M? (Though trading the "Hammer" would be Yankees/Swisher/Nady-ish...) Who do the Nationals think they're going to get for Nick Johnson?

Maybe You Should Just Talk To Elijah Dukes About Baseball?

In a Washington Times' article last Thursday entitled, "A multi-faceted battle" the unnamed writer quoted Elijah Dukes, who is, at first, willing to talk about competing for a job in the Nationals' overcrowded outfield, but is unwilling to discuss any of the well-documented (elsewhere) personal issues he's had to deal with this offseason, and when the subject is broached, Dukes' prompt exit from the interview draws this response from the anonymous reporter:

"Those kinds of interactions with media members are just one reason some members of the Nationals organization question whether Dukes has grown enough in his year-plus with the club."

Is the fact that a twenty-four-year-old baseball player doesn't want to discuss the details of his personal life with a group of reporters really a sign of immaturity? Did any of the reporters ask any of the other players in the room about their personal or legal affairs? Why not just talk to Elijah Dukes about baseball?

But No One Will Leave The Past Alone...

Not even Nelson Figueroa, or, more accurately, New York Post writer Mike Vaccaro, who brings up the infamous Dukes/Figueroa/"softball girls incident' again, in his article entitled, "Figueroa has passport to MLB success".

(ed. note - "Great title...the only one worse than that is the New York Daily News' article by Peter Botte from immediately after the 'softball girls incident' with Mr. Botte somehow getting the title, 'Girls can cheer as Figgy gets cut' by an editor...").

Mr. Vaccaro writes that he understands why Figueroa might be upset by the antics of "the silly chorus line" led by Dukes, since the veteran pitcher has fought for a job for years now, while the game, "comes as naturally as breathing" to players like Dukes. What "kind" of player is Dukes? According to Mr. Vaccaro, "Players overloaded with talent and perks [who] never really appreciate the game until they have to or until it's too late." (ed. note - "Alright, that's probably a valid assessment.")

(ed. note - "Did I mention that the uncredited Washington Times' article from the last section said that, ' ...after two days of workouts (Dukes) has already flashed glimpses of his natural talent, enough that it seems like he could be Washington's starting right fielder on Opening Day.' I know, I know, the "softball girls incident" is much more interesting...")

Don't remember the "softball girls incident"? Nelson Figueroa. Shea Stadium. May 12, 2008. After a 3-run fifth for the Nationals off Figueroa on a single by Nick Johnson, a two-out walk by "The Mack" Rob Mackowiak and back to back RBI hits by Jesus Flores and DC pitcher Odalis Perez, Figuero leaves the mound screaming at the Nationals' dugout, where Elijah Dukes and several other players had been innocently conducting some organized cheers on behalf of their teammates, or as Mr. FIgueroa described it in The NY Daily News' Peter Botte's article,...the Nationals sounded, "like 'a bunch of softball girls,'" but, as Mr. Botte somewhat cruely points out in the opening paragraph of his article, "The Nationals may have acted like a bunch of softball girls," but Figueroa, who was demoted after the poor outing, "...is the one who is one step closer to the beer leagues." Ouch.

THE HOLDOUT...

As Washington Post writer Chico Harlan noted in a post at the Nationals Journal entitled, "Bright Lights, Lighter Players", Odalis Perez either arrives at camp on Sunday, or he's officially tardy. Perez, who wants more respect from the Nationals and more guaranteed money, not necessarily in that order, has had no contact with the team, "...so this should come to a head soon," as Mr. Harlan puts it.

...Back where we started in Yahoo! Sports' writer Tim Brown's article entitled, "Nationals have to find some direction", Mr. Brown, (after quoting Nationals' Team President Stan Kasten, who can't make sense of Perez's decision), offers the Nationals this advice, when it comes to their left-handed holdout:

"Well, management could sit around and try to figure that out. Or, it could release Perez and tend to the pitchers in camp, the ones who showed up on time and went to work. There’s still value in that, right?"

Will "Opening Night" Odalis Perez hop on a plane and arrive in Viera, Florida tomorrow? As of 1:31 am EST, there are no reports of his having done so...

(ed. note - "And while we're on the subject of Nationals' pitching...I still can't believe that the majority of you, the voting members of the federalbaseball.com readership, really want Pedro Martinez to join the Nationals. Let's see if we can get some sensible voting before this POLL closes, shall we? Or someone at least make a good argument for Pedro in the Comments..b.")

Poll

Who Wants Pedro Martinez As The Nationals' Fifth Starter?

Bring Pedro Martinez To DC! He's A Future Hall Of Fame Role Model For DC's Kids!!

67 votes

No Way, I'll Never Forgive Pedro Martinez For Repeatedly Beaning Jose Guillen!!

10 votes

Is Pedro Martinez Still Pitching?

57 votes

I'd Rather Have Carl Pavano And Tony Armas Back!!!

18 votes

152 votes | Poll has closed

Grading The 2009 Offseason

Sam Page — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:00:11 -0000

If you haven't seen a report card for the Mets' offseason yet, expect a few hundred in the coming weeks. Unfortunately, many writers determine these grades subjectively, much like "power rankings." The number of times the phrase "biggest need" or the number 62 will appear in said pieces figures to be astronomical, so that's the the last time you'll see either in this article. Instead, I've tried to inject some objectivity into the process. Next to each name will be a his projected WAR (what's this?) with the Mets, giving us an idea how many wins were gained or lost. The transactions are grouped for some context.

The Francisco Rodriguez Signing: B+

IN: RHP Francisco Rodriguez (2.7)

Minaya's first move turned out to be a pretty good one. The market for relief pitchers had completely collapsed by the time Rodriguez signed and the Mets got something of a bargain. Although some people would never advocate paying a closer double digits, that 2.7 projected WAR equates to roughly a 13 million dollar market value. Just beware when his 17.5 million dollar option for 2012 vests. Yikes.

The J.J. Putz Trade: B-

IN: RHP J.J. Putz (1.9), OF Jeremy Reed (-0.1), RHP Sean Green (0.5)

OUT: RHP Joe Smith (0.3), RHP Aaron Heilman (0.1), OF Endy Chavez (0.9), Jason Vargas (0.0)*, Mike Carp (0.0)*, Mikael Cleto (0.0)*, Ezequiel Carrera (0.0)*

NET WAR: 1.0

After the last two season, I won't trivialize the importance of one win, but that's a hell of a way to get one. The real kicker in this deal is Endy Chavez who actually did project be one win better as a Met than Jeremy Reed does. If the Mets had held onto Endy, this deal probably would have been the big win many think it is. As it stands, however, it's another great addition to the bullpen and lesson learned about the value of defense.

The Oliver Perez Signing: D

IN: Oliver Perez (1.3)

The money and the context make this one so bad. To be worth his 12MM per, Oliver must be a 2.5 win player each season, which, while possible, is unlikely. This grade also accounts somewhat for the move not made. The Mets signing Derek Lowe (3.6) seemed like a virtual certainty, shortly before he signed with the Braves for 4/60. The Derek Lowe v. Perez debate is tired now, and we've talked ad naseam about why Perez is overrated. Simply put: you don't lose out on 2.3 wins for 3 million dollars. Hopefully, Oliver proves us wrong.

The Schoeneweis Trade: B

IN: Connor Robertson (0.0)

OUT: Scott Schoeneweis (-0.4)

NET WAR: 0.5

That's no math error, that's the beauty of this trade. Since someone who isn't Connor Robertson will likely take Show's spot in the bullpen, the Mets can be assumed to gain at least half a win from this trade. There's no downside to a move like this, but it can only be a "B", because it was so painfully obvious.

The Redding and Garcia Signings: B+

IN: Tim Redding (0.9), Freddy Garcia (0.7)

OUT: Pedro Martinez (0.2)

NET WAR: 1.4

Those WAR projections assume Redding does long-relief and starting work, while Garcia does about 100 innings of starting before his arm falls off. That's the best part of these signings too, the depth. This year the Mets, stacked 3 deep at 5th starter, should be able to avoid the Brian Lawrences of the world. Both Garcia and Redding are signed reasonably and both have some upside.

The Alex Cora Signing: C-

IN: Alex Cora (0.2)

OUT: Damion Easley (0.2)

Swapping Easley for Cora is just swapping two over-the-hill backups with opposite skill sets. The Mets could have just kept Argenis Reyes on the bench for minimum wage and gotten the same results. Not a big deal.

The Rob Mackowiak and Cory Sullivan Signings: F

What a waste of money. These two are a combined -30 UZR in center and neither can hit. I don't even want to calculate their projected WAR, because if either makes the team the grade becomes a double-F-triple-minus.

Overal Grade: B

Total WAR gained: 5.8

This offseason gets the job done. For the third season in a row, the Mets are the best team in the NL East on paper. Depth in Left is always concern, but maybe this year F-Mart finally grows up. Ultimately, it was an offseason of necessary moves and missed opportunities.

Monday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 15:17:22 -0000

So there's a real possibility that Trevor Hoffman eats worms (h/t Rattler Radio). That's something to ponder for those of you who got your picture taken with him over the weekend.

I didn't get to see it, but it sounds like there was a good crowd out for this weekend's Winter Warm-Up Festivities. Back here at home, we had less fun discussing recent reports involving Alcides Escobar. Al took Bleacher Report (and me, I guess) to task for publishing the report, calling it "one-sided." I agree that the report was one-sided, but I'm hoping that, by mentioning it, the story can get out to a wide enough audience that it will have to be addressed and we can hear from all sides. I'm hoping this will be the last conversation we have about it until more facts are known.

Rickie Weeks and Corey Hart would like to settle on contracts without going to arbitration. The team reportedly has not reached out to them with offers at this point, but Mark Attanasio said the team is "open to multi-year proposals from Jeff Berry and Lon Babby, the agents for Hart and Weeks, respectively."

There's Ben Sheets news all over the place today:

The Rangers are still concerned about the elbow injury that ended Sheets' 08 season.
The Yankees reportedly might give up on Andy Pettitte and shift their attention to Sheets.
Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated says Sheets has new medical reports that may calm the concerns over his health.

I've also got a couple of notes on Brewer bullpen arms:

USA Today (via DRaysBay) reports that the Brewers are hoping Eduardo Morlan can fit into the middle of their bullpen.
R.J. Swindle has decided not to pitch for Canada in the WBC.

With the Hoffman signing, the addition of Jorge Julio, the returns of David Riske, Todd Coffey and Carlos Villanueva, there could be a lot of pitchers in Brewer camp (Morlan, Dillard, DeFelice, Stetter, Swindle and Bateman, most notably) fighting for the last two or three spots in the bullpen.

Two minor league notes today: FakeTeams noted Alcides Escobar's appearance on a top 10 list of NL prospects. Keith Law listed Caleb Gindl and Lorenzo Cain as two Brewers who could be on next year's top prospect lists.

This is relatively old news, but Craig Counsell will be back as a Brewer in 2009 after signing a one-year deal. Before he signed, Beyond the Box Score profiled him as an undervalued free agent.

There's a possibility that five Brewers could hit 30 HR in 2009. Craig Counsell will not be one of them. Ryan Braun likely will: Be sure to stop by the BCB Community Projections for left field and offer your opinion on his 2009 performance.

If you want to compare Jeff Suppan to Braden Looper, here's a little more ammunition: Both rank in the bottom thirty in strikeouts per 100 pitches. (h/t Baseball Musings) Peter Gammons (via MLB Trade Rumors) reports that Looper, Jon Garland and Randy Wolf are all receiving similar offers of about $5 million per season.

On the hot stove:

A's: There's reason to believe the team may be interested in free agent Garret Anderson, who is spending the offseason working out with new A Matt Holliday. They may also be close to signing Russ Springer.
Blue Jays: Fired assistant GM Bart Given over the weekend. The team is filling his responsibilities from within.
Mets: Signed Rob Mackowiak to a minor league deal.
Orioles: Have reportedly offered a three-year deal worth $30 million to Brian Roberts, who is due to become a free agent after the season, but he wants a fourth year.
Phillies: Are reportedly interested in signing Ty Wigginton to serve as a backup at second and third base.
Red Sox: Have reportedly made a formal offer to Jason Varitek.
Tigers: Agreed to a one-year deal with Brandon Lyon.

Also, Sean Casey has decided to retire and take a job with the MLB Network. It's starting to sound like a fair number of free agents would make more money working in TV than playing baseball.

In Friday's Mug, I mentioned that Elijah Dukes was due to be arrested if he didn't pay over $40,000 in owed child support that day. Dukes paid up and avoided jail.

That's all for today. Drink up.