SB Nation - New York Mets

2009 SB Nation Baseball Awards: Rookie Of The Year

Eric Simon — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:00:17 -0000

(Note: the following preamble is 99% unchanged from the previously announced awards, so feel free to skip it if you've already read it.)

One of the nice things about having a whole network of baseball sites is that occasionally we get to pretend we're real writers and collaborate on projects with one another. Now that the baseball season is over, and before everyone's focus turns to the free agent and trade markets, we look to award the heroes of the this past year. And by "heroes" I mean "multi-millionaire baseball players". The BBWAA awards won't be announced until next week -- and at this point most of their opinions brush dangerously close to utter irrelevancy -- so SB Nation gets the jump on them by announcing the winners of our awards voting this week. As much as anything, it's an effort to see if our cadre of basement-dwellers can do a better job than the professionals at getting the awards correct.

We have already revealed the Manager of the Year award. Today we present the results for Rookie of the Year, an award which no Met has won since Dwight Gooden in 1984.

National League SBN bloggers could only vote for the NL awards; American League bloggers were similarly restricted to voting for their own league's awards. Here are the results of the National League Rookie of the Year voting. American League results can be found after the jump.

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Tommy Hanson	Atlanta Braves	9	9	6	78
2	J.A. Happ	Philadelphia Phillies	6	9	7	64
3	Andrew McCutchen	Pittsburgh Pirates	8	3	5	54
4	Chris Coghlan	Florida Marlins	7	5	4	54
5	Dexter Fowler	Colorado Rockies	-	3	1	10
6	Randy Wells	Chicago Cubs	-	-	6	6
7	Garrett Jones	Pittsburgh Pirates	1	-	-	5
8	Casey McGehee	Milwaukee Brewers	-	1	2	5
9	Seth Smith	Colorado Rockies	-	1	-	3

American League voting results.

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Elvis Andrus	Texas Rangers	6	9	6	63
2	Andrew Bailey	Oakland Athletics	11	1	3	61
3	Jeff Niemann	Tampa Bay Rays	3	5	3	33
4	Rick Porcello	Detroit Tigers	2	7	2	33
5	Brett Anderson	Oakland Athletics	5	1	3	31
6	Gordon Beckham	Chicago White Sox	1	2	8	19
7	Nolan Reimold	Baltimore Orioles	1	-	1	6
8	Matt Wieters	Baltimore Orioles	-	1	3	6
9	Brad Bergesen	Baltimore Orioles	-	1	-	3
10	Ricky Romero	Toronto Blue Jays	-	1	-	3
11	Travis Snider	Toronto Blue Jays	-	1	-	3

Mets have interest in Chris Snyder?

Eli Greenspan — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:39:10 -0000

More photos » by Ross D. Franklin - AP

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UPDATE (2:36 p.m. ET): The New York Post suggests that the Mets could have interest in free agent catcher Jason Varitek. Varitek still has a 3 million dollar player option for the 2010 season, but if he declines that option the Mets could make a move.

The Mets reportedly have some interest in acquiring Diamondbacks catcher Chris Snyder, according to the New York Post. The Mets dangled Luis Castillo in an attempt to swap bad contracts, but the Diamondbacks were not interested.

The Mets are looking to add a power bat behind the plate, with their eyes on Snyder, Bengie Molina, and Yorvit Torrealba. While they would love to add Matt Holliday or Jason Bay, they may have a tough time luring to the spacious Citi Field.

Adam LaRoche would be a legitimate replacement at first baseman, and they could look to swap Luis Castillo-for-Milton Bradley, which the Cubs appear to be interested in doing to some extent.

With Miguel Montero emerging for the Diamondbacks, expect the Diamondbacks to make a strong push to move Snyder.

Overbay Applesauce - Mets rumored to move Castillo, buying high with Wolf, Riggleman v. Valentine

Joe Budd — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:59:56 -0000

Let the rumor mill begin its grinding. I think for everyone's sanity, I vow to only post a maximum of one rumor per day.

Meet the Mets

As was much discussed last night, MLB Trade Rumors reported that a three way deal involving Lyle Overbay coming to the Mets for Luis Castillo was being considered. The deal is still a long shot.

At least Mark Herrmann tries to think outside the box. Besides the whole impossibility thing, my complaint about the column is the characterization that the Mets are a disaster. They're bad and the management has been sub-par, but they certainly are not on the same level as the Atlanta Braves back in the day.

Bernie Madoff's Met jacket is pretty amazing.

Some video of Met prospects in the AFL to send along. Here's Ruben Tejada's swing without the old leg kick. And here's Jeurys Familia's awkward delivery.

The Mets interest in Randy Wolf to make up for not signing him last year is not smart.

Around the NL East

Reports around the Nationals say that Washington is deciding between Jim Riggleman and Bobby Valentine for their vacant managerial position.

Cole Hamels' awesomely imploding 2009 continues.

Crashburn Alley points out that Chone Figgins plays third base and that Philadelphia now needs a third baseman.

Around MLB

The Yankees are willing to throw AJ Burnett level cash at John Lackey. But they're not quite ready to throw $25,000/year to adopt a highway.

Amazin' Avenue Offseason Plan Contest

Eric Simon — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:22:45 -0000

The season is over and the witless rumors are already afoot. As we brace ourselves to be inundated with similar baseless piffle in the coming weeks and months, the best defense against rampant speculation is, well, rampant speculation, but at least an effort can be made to be somewhat realistic in our rampancy. Having said that, we'd like to announce the 2009 Amazin' Avenue Offseason Plan contest, where you guys get the opportunity to don your general manager caps and dream up a plan to fix the Mets.

Here's how it works: we're going to set a deadline by which all entries must be submitted via FanPost. We will select the best of the bunch (three, five, it depends on how many good entries we receive), and then we'll present those finalists to the community for a vote. We will be periodically bumping some of the best plans to the front page. As for the rules and guidelines, they are as follows.

The title of your FanPost must begin with 'AAOP:' (no quotes). You can follow that with whatever title you want, but it must begin with 'AAOP:' so we can easily distinguish them from non-contest FanPosts. If you do not follow this rule your entry will be excluded from consideration. It's a very simple rule so try not to screw it up.
The deadline for FanPost submission is 5pm EST on Monday, 11/16/2009. No exceptions.
There is no mandatory length, but obviously you'll want to be as verbose as is necessary to elucidate the genius of your plan.
Total 2010 payroll can't exceed $150 million, give or take a few bucks. Same goes for 2011 and beyond, so don't try to backload your deals to skirt the 2010 payroll restriction.
Use spellcheck and proofread for grammar, punctuation, and usage errors. If you can't be bothered with making your entry readable then we can't be bothered with actually reading it.
Try to make it look good. Add some images and some tables. MS Paint something. Strong writing (and good ideas) are of paramount importance, but asthetics still count. I'm not saying that a straight essay can't win, but I am encouraging you to spice it up a bit.
Feasibility of plan execution is important. Don't suggest the Mets trade Bobby Parnell for Joe Mauer. It ain't going to happen.
Whether or not the Mets might realistically execute your plan doesn't matter as long as the plan itself can be considered realistic given the current free agent and trade markets.
If you have already written an offseason plan in the FanPosts, feel free to clean it up (or not) and repost it (Rule #1 above still applies).
ADDED: Free agent salary should be realistic. We're not going to quibble over a million dollars here or there (who would?), so if you want to call Matt Holliday $17 million or $19 million, it doesn't much matter for the purpose of this exercise.

The winner will receive, courtesy of Uncommon Goods, a small slab of rusty metal. Actually, it's a piece of steel from Shea Stadium, framed in plexiglass and suitable for display on your desk, wall, shelf, mantel, nightstand, casket, or anywhere really. You can read more about the item or buy one for yourself or someone else at Uncommon Goods.

That's it. You can start posting now. Good luck.

Arizona Fall League: Matt McBride Homers, Aaron Crow Hit Hard Again

raygu — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:00:40 -0000

The AFL was back in action on Monday following a day off on Sunday. The Rising Stars game was very exciting for those who watched as the Indian's catching prospect Matt McBride hit a two-run homer off of Nationals pitching prospect Drew Storen.

Let's take a look at the performances from Monday's games:

Jose Tabata, OF, PIT-0-4, (.349)

Buster Posey, C, SFG-1-3, BB, K (.224)

Brandon Allen, 1B, ARI-1-4, K (.167)

Domonic Brown, OF, PHI-1-4, 2K (.256)

Thomas Neal, 1B, SFG-0-4, RBI, BB (.288)

Hector Gomez, SS, COL-2-3, RS, 2B, HR, RBI (.271)

Starlin Castro, SS, CHC-1-4, RS, SB (.414)

Bryan Peterson, OF, FLA-2-3, BB, RBI (.400)

Jay Buente, RP, FLA-2 Inn, 5 K (3.86)

Matt McBride, C, CLE-2-4, 2 RS, 3B, HR, RBI (.420)

Yonder Alonso, 1B, CIN-3-4, RS, RBI (.293)

Freddie Freeman, 1B, ATL-0-3, 2 K (.267)

Jonathan Gaston, OF, HOU-1-3, HR, 3 RBI (.226)

Ike Davis, 1B, NYM-2-4, RS, (.339)

Taylor Teagarden, C, TEX-0-3, BB, 2 K (.240)

Aaron Crow, SP, KC-4 Inn, 7 H, 4 ER, 4 K (7.94)

Free Agent Profile: Jose Valverde

davoag — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:00:27 -0000

More photos » by Pat Sullivan - AP

Valverde found out how much money he could save with Geico...

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I recently read these two posts on Sabernomics by JC Bradbury about free agency. They got me thinking about how the Astros crop of free agents fits into the market, what kinds of deals comparable players got last season and what we could expect the (former) hometown boys to get this winter. Thus, another mini-series of posts on free agency.

[Sidenote 1: It's also worth noting that our first profile, Valverde, plays a position where the number of players doesn't necessarily correspond to openings on teams. Relievers can market themselves as closers without having vacated that position, thus making for a possibly over-glutted market where some guys will have to sign for significantly less as setup men]

Just the other day, I argued that the Astros should not offer Jose Valverde arbitration. My thinking was that Houston would be on the hook for way too much money, since Valverde would most likely accept the arbitration offer to get a big payday (albeit a one-year payday).

This may or may not be a popular opinion around these parts, so I thought we could look at the 2008 offseason to see what kind of contracts closer got. I ran down the biggies, the Type A's and a few other contracts that are similar to Valverde's numbers. For reference, El Papa Grande earned 8 million in 2009 and pitched 54 1/3 innings, striking out 56 and walking 21. Valverde converted 25 of 29 save opportunities and gave up five home runs. FanGraphs puts his value at a solid 3 million.

[Sidenote 2: I am skeptical of how WAR rates relievers, but after combing through some of this data, it looks like it comes close to nailing down closers, at least. Take that for what it's worth in the rest of this article]

The Comparables

Francisco Rodriguez, RHP, New York Mets

Contract Details: 3 years, 37 million (2m bonus, 09-8.5m, 10-11.5m, 11, 11.5m, 12-17.5m option)

Notes: K-Rod was not worth his contract last season, earning a value of just 1.5 million. Though relievers are typically devalued in WAR, I found that this wasn't necessarily the case with closers. Plenty of the contemporaries on this list had good, valuable seasons in the past. For instance, K-Rod was worth 17 million from 2007 to 2008. Unfortunately, he picked the wrong year to get injured. This contract would appear to be the upper range of Valverde's money.

Kerry Wood, RHP, Cleveland Indians

Contract Details: 2 years, 20.5 million (09-10m, 10-10.5m, 11-11m option)

Notes: Wood was worth 1.9 million in 2009 after totaling 10 million in value the previous season. His contract seemed to be in line with that, though his performance didn't suggest it would continue. It should be noted that only one reliever got a three-year deal. The rest had to settle for two-year deals or one-year fliers.

Brian Fuentes, LHP, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Contract Details: 2 years, 17.5 million (09-8.5m, 10-9m, 11-9m option)

Notes: This would appear to be the kind of deal that makes sense for Valverde. Fuentes marked one of the few Type A closers that was both offered arbitration and signed with a team in the offseason. We'll get to a couple other examples in a minute, but for now, let's say Fuentes did much better n 2008 than Valverde did last season, but still couldn't land a deal longer than two years. His almost 9 million average is just above what Valverde earned in 2009, and would certainly be a starting place for any arbitration discussion.

The Other Type A's

Trevor Hoffman, RHP, Milwaukee Brewers

Contract Details: 1 year, 6 million (re-signed for 1 year, 8 million with an '11 option of 7 million)

Notes: Hoffman shows the other side of the coin for Valverde. The Padres did not offer Hoffman arbitration heading into last offseason, meaning a team would not have to give up draft picks to sign him. Despite coming off an injury-plagued season, the Brewers gave Hoffman a 6 million dollar tryout in 2009. The venerable saves champ was worth 6.7 million last season, so he performed to the contract and was rewarded with another one year deal.

Juan Cruz, RHP, Kansas City Royals

Contract Details: 2 years, 6 million (09-2.25m, 10-3.25m, 11-4m option)

Notes: Cruz was a surprise sign as a Type A free agent, since he had the heaviest cost, yet wasn't a closer. Of course, he was not good at all in 50 relief innings for the Royals this season, but this is Dayton Moore we're talking about. He'll do anything. As the quirkiest signing of last winter, Cruz fits right in. How much his situation will impact Valverde's is less clear. Cruz wasn't used the same way and didn't have the same relative value. Still, he got a contract in line with many middle relievers that will form the base of the reliever market.

The Outlier

Kyle Farnsworth, RHP, Kansas City Royals

Contract Details: 2 years, 9.5 million (09-4.25m, 10-4.5m, 11-5.25m option)

Notes: What did I say about Moore? He gave a 9.5 million dollar contract to Kyle Farnsworth, he of the ever-straight 150 MPH fastball. Of course, Trey Hillman felt obliged to use him in bizarre situations, confounding guys like Rob Neyer and Joe Posnanski. Farnsworth probably earned more money last season than he should have, but he was still worth 3 million, according to FanGraphs. That's also what Valverde was worth, as a point of reference.

Non-Free Agents of Note

Ryan Franklin, RHP, St. Louis Cardinals

Contract Details: 2 years, 6.5 million (signed Sept. 1, 2009)

Notes: Franklin saved 38 games for the Cardinals in 2009, but will be heading into his Age 37 season. The Cardinals wisely locked him up for a reasonable 6.5 million over two seasons. That significantly lowers the salary precedent for a guy like Valverde, though, as his agent will have to work off a contract like Soria's to get comparable numbers.

Heath Bell, RHP, San Diego Padres

Contract Details: 1 year, 1.25 million (2008)

Notes: Bell will be due a big raise in 2010, since he led the NL with 42 saves in 2009. Heading into another year of arbitration, the Padres may decide a closer is not a luxury they're willing to splurge on, making Bell tradeable. I'd expect him to fetch anywhere between 4-6 million in arbitration, so that's the number a team's looking at if they go and get Bell. That also means Bell would be that much cheaper than a guy like Valverde on the open market.

Forecast for Valverde

El Papa Grande is one of nine different pitchers who could market themselves as closers this offseason, including Billy Wagner, J.J. Putz, Fernando Rodney and Brandon Lyons. Now, most people would argue that Valverde is the best of the crop, but that also carries a price. We can surmise from last year's market that even Valverde will not get more than a three year deal, and that his ceiling is probably around 10 million. Coming off an injury plagued season, though, means his market will be compressed slightly. Add to that the more reasonable deals signed by Joakim Soria (3 years, 8.75 million) and Franklin, and Valverde will be lucky to get 8m per season. In arbitration, though? The Astros risk paying him anywhere from 3 million to 11 million next season if they offer arb. and he accepts. Given that Wade will have around 15-17 million to work with, is it worth eating up that much of the budget for a closer?

My assumption is the Astros will decline to offer him arbitration and he will sign a two year deal for somewhere around 18 million, with a possible third year option for 10 million. I won't guess who'd give him that contract, but looking at both the market and last year's offseason, those numbers seem right.

Farewell Carlos Delgado

James Kannengieser — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:00:27 -0000

Note: I have enjoyed making small tributes/eulogies for various Mets when they leave - Marlon Anderson, Ramon Castro and Billy Wagner are some examples. Carlos Delgado filed for free agency and it seems unlikely, but not totally out of the question, that he will return to the Mets for a variety of reasons. What better way to "eulogize" Delgado than by channeling Sergeant Jay Landsman from "The Wire" and his patented Irish wake tributes? If you aren't familiar with the show or the scene, check out the video at the bottom of this post for some context (NSFW - language) and then add Seasons 1-5 of "The Wire" to your Netflix queue.

Carlos Del-ga-do. Power hittin' first baseman, borderline Hall of Famer and all it cost was Mike Jacobs. Delgado wasn't the greatest defensive first baseman and he wasn't the worst. He had some memorable hits and he let us down in some big spots. But the son-of-a-gun had his moments, yes he did. You remember that walk-off homer against Benitez in early '07? 416 feet, he crushed it. How about the 2 bombs off Hollywood Hamels that Sunday night in '08? That was Carlos Delgado at his best. And in the playoffs in 2006? He caught fire when a lot of his mates were cooling down. Yes indeed. He won as much as he lost, much as any of them.

Did he piss off a manager and maybe some fans in the process? No freaking doubt! I think the last manager actually got kinda used to him thank God. Did he say the wrong thing every so often? Did he bust balls and swing for the fences and boot the occasional grounder every now and then? Who doesn't!? Was he as upset about 2007 and 2008 as every other Mets player wearin' the blue and orange in that Flushing clubhouse? Ab-so-lutely. Let us not forget his off the field contributions - we're looking at the 2006 Roberto Clemente Award winner. Carlos Delgado stood with his teammates, doing his best to crush the ball as he entered his late 30's. His body let him down in 2009 but he hardly ever took a day off until then. He was called; he played; he is counted. Farewell.

2009 SB Nation Baseball Awards: Manager Of The Year

Eric Simon — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:00:54 -0000

Today we present the Manager of the Year voting, which is really just the manager of the team that most exceeded expectations. It's kind of a meaningless award but we include it to keep the awards analogous to those of the BBWAA.

National League SBN bloggers could only vote for the NL awards; American League bloggers were similarly restricted to voting for their own league's awards. Here are the results of the National League Manager of the Year voting. American League results can be found after the jump.

Rk	Manager	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Jim Tracy	Colorado Rockies	24	1	2	125
2	Tony LaRussa	St. Louis Cardinals	3	7	10	46
3	Fredi Gonzalez	Florida Marlins	2	6	5	33
4	Joe Torre	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	9	2	29
5	Charlie Manuel	Philadelphia Phillies	-	3	5	14
6	Bruce Bochy	San Francisco Giants	1	1	1	9
7	Bobby Cox	Atlanta Braves	-	1	4	7
8	Bud Black	San Diego Padres	-	1	1	4
9	John Russell	Pittsburgh Pirates	-	1	-	3

American League voting results.

Rk	Manager	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Mike Scioscia	Los Angeles Angels	9	8	3	72
2	Ron Gardenhire	Minnesota Twins	9	5	1	61
3	Don Wakamatsu	Seattle Mariners	6	3	8	47
4	Joe Girardi	New York Yankees	2	4	2	24
5	Ron Washington	Texas Rangers	1	4	4	21
6	Terry Francona	Boston Red Sox	1	1	3	11
7	Jim Leyland	Detroit Tigers	-	2	4	10
8	Joe Maddon	Tampa Bay Rays	-	1	1	4
9	Ozzie Guillen	Chicago White Sox	-	-	1	1
10	Trey Hillman	Kansas City Royals	-	-	1	1

Free Agency Begins Applesauce - AFL updates, Mets likely to be active in market, Phils cut Feliz

Joe Budd — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:01:41 -0000

Meet the Mets

Toby Hyde gives us a quick update on the status of Met prospects in the AFL. First, the hitters. Then the pitchers.

MLB Trade Rumors believes that the Mets are likely to end up with Matt Holliday, Randy Wolf, and Brad Penny in their free agent shopping cart.

Let's reminisce about 40 years of Sesame Street with a Ron Darling guest appearance.

Around the NL East

The Phillies are clearing house a little, declining Pedro Feliz's $5 million option.

Shane Victorino gives us another reason to hate him: Jon Gosselin.

Washington also got rid of some dead weight.

Whatever the Marlins got for Jeremy Hermida was pretty underwhelming.

Around MLB

Jon Stewart congratulates the Yankees appropriately.

Victor Zambrano's mother was kidnapped from his home in Venezuela. Not cool.

Yankee fans, in their overflowing excitement from having to wait 9 years for a World Series, threw confidential documents in the ticker tape parade when the confetti ran out.

Ken Griffey Jr. might be back in Seattle next season.

Joe Girardi might have to wrestle Shelley Duncan to get the #28.

Where The Mets Might Fit In The Young Trade Market

Sam Page — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:00:29 -0000

In a weak free agent class, and maybe Omar Minaya's last year with the team, one would expect the Mets to make at least one splash in the trade market. So far, four semi-major trades have gone through, before the BBWAA has even announced its yearly award winners. The Mets didn't really "lose out" on any of those four players, but the trades do provide some insight into the evolving market, and how the Mets fit in.

Matt Cerrone noted in metsblog's coverage of the J.J. Hardy trade the other day that three of the four trades featured arbitration eligible players (Teahen, Hardy, Hermida) and cited a Buster Olney piece that claimed teams were eager to avoid the "broken" arbitration system. While I'll accept avoiding arbitration as a partial explanation, it ignores some of the other interesting angles of these deals. The idea that the team dealing the arbitration-eligible player decides between only two options: prospects or non-tendering, implies that they are desperate to deal the player and would accept any trade return. These three deals didn't bear that out.

Firstly, the Hermida deal most clearly fits the Olney-mold--the Marlins didn't want to pay arbitration money for a replacement level outfielder without a bunch of unrealized potential. Such a trade is standard procedure for the Marlins, however, and hardly--if at all--suggests an overarching market shift. From the perspective of the Red Sox, Hermida represented a high-upside reserve outfielder that cost minimal talent and money. If more arbitration-eligible players like Hermida are easily available, big-market teams like the Mets would obviously benefit in taking a flier on a few of them.

Mark Teahen, similar to Hermida in his recent replacement-level performance and past value, fetched Chris Getz and Josh Fields. While Getz lost his starting job to Gordon Beckham and Josh Fields just lost his starting job, both players having a starting job in the first place reflects track records of minor league success and some major league competency. Both players could be decent placeholders on an uncertain Royals infield, with the potential to be more. Dave Cameron went as far as calling this trade "fantastic" for the Royals, which may seem hyperbolic, but his analysis is pretty spot-on.

With both Hermida and Teahen, their respective teams were trying to avoid arbitration. The arbitration system is set to award those players salaries equal to or slightly more than they would be worth, but that seemingly has more to do with Hermida and Teahen being broken, than it does the arbitration system. Both player had performed well below expectation and past levels of performance, particularly defensively, which the arbitration process inherently undervalues, so they inevitably were going to get salaries bigger than they deserved, based on service time alone. Getting back to the original Olney/Cerrone point, I think the cause is correct, but the effect may be wrong. Yes, the arbitration system is broken, in that it will errantly award Teahen and Hermida above-market contracts, but that doesn't mean there will necessarily be a bunch of free, young, and talented arbitration-eligible players available, as Matt seems to suggest. It just means that some crappy arbitration-eligible players will be available, and not necessarily for nothing, as the Teahen trade indicated.

J.J. Hardy is actually a good counter-example. Tommy Bennett used the Hardy trade as a springboard to explain why, in economic terms, players of his caliber would not be part of Olney's "avalanche of non-tenders," but we have the benefit of already knowing the Brewers weren't operating under this prospect or non-tender paradigm. They were trading Hardy just as much because it saved money, as they had a potentially equal replacement in Alcides Escobar in waiting. And while some may have found Carlos Gomez an underwhelming return, in terms of strict value, the trade was completely fair. Gomez is under team control for 4 more years and is, because of his elite defense, at least a 1.5 WAR centerfielder. Hardy, who is ~4 WAR at SS, is the superior player now, but is more costly and a free agent in two years. The Kalkman trade calculator method, which subsumes these factors, judged Gomez a more valuable asset, and given his offensive upside (outfield Jimmy Rollins?), he seems like a more than fair return.

What this trade indicates, if anything, is that teams are willing to make perceptually unfair trades for less-stable assets of approximately equal value. It also perhaps shows a preference to fill one hole on the roster, as opposed to acquire a few more players that may be more valuable in theory, but redundant on the roster. Whereas proven-star for young player trades typically required a large package of elite prospects to get done, the Hardy trade, and even the Cliff Lee trade before it, seemingly suggest a move toward proper evaluation of young players, in which either a good-not-great package suffices or one stud younger player gets traded (Sanchez/Alderson?).

Maybe I'm reading too much into one trade, but this development would seemingly benefit the Mets more than a slew of crappy arbitration-eligible players hitting free agency. While the Mets don't have a set of young players with major-league success like Gomez (yay 2009 in-season development failure!), they do have a set of interesting tweener types with starter potential (Murphy, Evans, Parnell, Pagan) and a set of near-ready top prospects (Mejia, Davis, Niese, Martinez), whose value could be boosted in this market. While it would probably be selling low on many of those players, with the windows closing on the Mets "core," the Mets could be set up to make several win-now trades that are long-term losses of value. A Halladay trade centered around Mike Pelfrey? Or maybe shopping Daniel Murphy to a team with a thirdbase vacancy? We'll see.