Mets Bloggers Round Table: Post Trade Deadline

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This will be the first edition of the Mets Bloggers Roundtable where we will discuss the past Saturday's MLB Trade Deadline. We were able to interview and ask 6 questions to 5 awesome Mets Blogs (and also Brandon Lee). Here's a list of the blogs:

Michael Baron – http://www.metsblog.com

Kerel Cooper – http://www.ontheblack.com

Michael Ganci – http://www.dailystache.net

Mack Ade – http://www.macksmets.blogspot.com

Frank Gray – http://www.metsgazette.com

Question #1: First impressions now that the deadline has passed?

• MB – As difficult as it is to digest, I am a firm believer that not acquiring a guy and trying to make a run was the right move. Even if other teams were willing to help offset the cost of the incoming contract, I think it would have been foolish to trade away top prospects for a playoff run that just might not be in this team. Yes, a guy like Dan Haren can help in the coming years, and if there was a move to be made, I believe Haren was the guy for that very reason, but unless the Mets were closer to either the Braves or the Wild Card lead, I think they made the right move by standing pat.
  
• KC – Not really surprised the Mets didn't make a deal. Omar Minaya is not known for making trade deadline deals. I think the current roster is good enough to make it interesting and stay in the race but I don't think they have enough starting pitching to ultimately make the playoffs (I hope I'm wrong).
• MG – I'm not surprised. I don't think anyone expected the Mets to make a splash. All the Mets did was nothing, which is becoming the mantra for the Wilpon family.
• MA – I didn’t expect the Mets to acquire one of the big guys that was out there, simply because I didn’t think the Mets had enough prospect talent in their system to pull it off. What surprised me was the reduced degree of talent needed to get the cream of the trading market.
• FG – As an observer of the Mets, I was actually not surprised. As a fan, I was very concerned for their season and saddened by their silence. I had hoped that they would make some type of move, but I expected them not to as it has been Minaya's way not to do so. I felt that it hurt the players more though, to "stand pat" as Omar has referred to it as. In their quotes and tones, you can hear a sense of distraught and defeat to an extent. They seem like they are tired. Again, that is just judging by player's reactions
• BL - My first thing I said was, "Of course the Mets didn’t make a deal." I was kind of upset by this but then I realized it really didn’t matter. For me if they didn’t add Cliff Lee, Dan Haren or Roy Oswalt, then it didn’t matter. The Mets wouldn’t be able to add anyone significant after that, that would put them over the top. I don’t think Ted Lilly or Brett Myers would have been that big of an improvement over Hisanori Takahashi. Though I think they are better pitchers, I don’t think deal for them would have made the Mets a playoff team.

   

Question #2: The Mets did nothing obviously. Does that mean they won't contend for this season?

• MB – Again I'd hate to say it, but even if the Mets correct what has gone wrong over the last month, I don't think they stack up to teams like the Braves, Phillies, Padres, and Giants, plus others, all of whom they would be competing for a playoff berth. In addition, they have fallen so far behind at this point and there are simply not enough games for the Mets against the competition to even give them a shot at a playoff spot. It pains me to say it, because I want it to happen and I want to see this team in a playoff race but a miracle would have to take place at this point. It doesn't mean it won't happen, but a lot has to change in a hurry beginning right now.
  
• KC – I think their upcoming schedule will decide their fate this season. If they can win some games against the Braves and Phillies, they'll be right back in it.
• MG – Obviously, the lack of moves has upset the fanbase, and rightfully so. When guys like Ted Lilly and Ryan Theriot are being acquired by the Dodgers for chump change, we can only shake our heads. Frankly, I think management has mailed it in for 2010, and this week might seal that inevitable fate. It looks like we are looking at a .500 team at best.
• MA – I never believed the Mets would contend this year. They had a wonderful June and their pitching has been a pleasant surprised, but I always thought this would be a third or fourth place team, at best, this season.
• FG – Not necessarily. They have to play near flawless baseball, but they are by no means out of it entirely. The majority of their games from here on out are head to head with division opponents, so they can make up ground rather quickly if they get hot.
• BL – I’ve been saying for a while that if the Mets want to be a playoff team they would need to add a starting pitcher and a relief pitcher at the deadline and they did neither. Right now I don’t think the Mets are making the playoffs with the team they have. But I guess it is still possible to add players, I just don’t think they will. However, the Mets won’t be an easy match-up for anyone heading down the stretch and they could certainly put a damper on some teams playoff hopes.

Question #3: Do you think the Mets could still make a deal through waivers?

• MB – The Mets might make a deal through waivers, but only if they feel they are within a realistic striking distance. They do have opportunities to catch the Braves and the Phillies in the coming weeks, but I believe this group needs to prove they are worthy of that acquisition. If they can get a little closer, say within 3 or 4 games, Id be willing to bet the Mets are willing to add payroll to give them that extra edge.
  
• KC – I think they can make a deal through waivers but the question is will that deal be of any significance that will help give this team a boost? I say probably not.
• MG – The Mets could make a deal, but it won't be of huge magnitude. A guy who might garner some interest is Seattle Mariners' Chone Figgins, because the Mets might be able to get rid of a couple of their bad contracts. Figgins has one of his own though. I expect the whole roster to be put through waivers, and if a guy like Alex Cora is claimed, the Mets would be best off to let him go and let Ruben Tejada play.
• MA – No, but I do think there is a chance they could get some players off their roster, if they agreed to pay the lion share of what remains on that player’s contract. There are teams out there that see a value in players like Jeff Francouer and Luis Castillo, but not at the salary levels the Mets have created.
• FG – Absolutely. I expect them to try. That is one way that Minaya deals in the market. I wouldn't be surprised if the name Fausto Carmona reemerged in a few weeks. Maybe a few others too.
• BL - Could they? Absolutely. Should they? Probably not. There is no one really out there that would be good enough to put this team over the top. I think the Mets front office will sit back and see what this team can do. Anything is possible and this team could get red-hot at the end of the year and make a run. I just don’t believe that they will.

   

Question #4: What does Saturday say about the Mets financial situation? We essentially watched the Yankees buy 3 players. I know the Mets wanted to hold on to their prospects, but why couldn't they just buy someone like that? Even the cash-strapped Rangers, Padres, and Dodgers found ways to make a myriad of deals.

• MB – I don't think anyone but the Wilpons truly know what their financial status is. Given they haven't filed for bankruptcy, and their businesses haven't filed for bankruptcy, and they aren't struggling to meet payroll, I don't think their financial status is as bad as people say it is.
  I do think the Wilpons have been a little misleading over the past year with regards to spending money, as Jeff Wilpon said on WFAN last October they have had and will have as much financial flexibility as Omar Minaya needs to field a championship team, and all we have come to find out is the Mets have been unwilling to spend money in certain areas. Now, I don't necessarily blame them for not writing big checks for guys like Joel Pineiro, Ben Sheets, and more recently Ted Lilly, because I don't think either of those guys get them anything more than what they already have, which to me is a sound financial decision. It's not what fans want to hear because many people want the Mets to trade and spend frivolously, but I think the Mets have proven with guys like Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo that spending on mediocre talent leads to a mediocre, at best record. It's never how much a team spends – it's where that money is being spent and I think the Mets need to do a better job of spending efficiently.
  There are differences between the Mets and the Yankees, Dodgers and Rangers as far as why those teams were willing to deal last week. For starters, ALL of those teams have a more realistic shot at playing in October, with the Yankees and Rangers having big leads in their races. The Yankees have a wealth of minor league talent – at least, they have touted their minor league system to the point they have made everyone they want to deal attractive for other teams, and they have an unlimited supply of money, and so they have great ability to throw money at their problems whereas no other team can to that degree. The Rangers were willing to deal their top prospect, Justin Smoak, for a guy like Cliff Lee, who they know will likely sign elsewhere in 2011, because the Rangers obviously feel they are one pitcher away from being a serious October threat, which they now are. The Mets were simply unwilling to do that probably because they didn't feel they were close enough to warrant such a move, and they value their minor league prospects and believe they can get an abundance of production out them for years to come at a reasonable cost. ANY move they could have made last week should have been to benefit the organization not just this year, but in the years to come, and outside of Dan Haren, those deals clearly weren't out there. Perhaps if the Mets were closer in their races, they might have been willing to shore up in their rotation and/or bullpen and make themselves ready for October. Right now, they are in fourth place, sinking fast, and so maybe it was the right move not to spend at this time.
  
• KC – Well we still don't really know all the details of the Mets financial situation but their actions have shown that they are not willing to add payroll at this point. With that said, they still have one of the highest payrolls in baseball but some of the money has not been spent wisely (example, Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo, Alex Cora).
• MG – The Mets are in trouble with money. A good idea that was being talked about between a friend and myself was that the Mets should do what the New York Giants do with their ownership. The Wilpons should get a baseball man with a boatload of cash, and bring him in to run the baseball operations, while they should focus on the business. Fred and Jeff Wilpon are just clueless when it comes to the baseball moves, and they don't think this team was only one piece away, so the adding of payroll was deemed unnecessary.
• MA – In one sense, there is no financial problem. The Mets current salaries are $126,498,096, which should be enough to create a pennant contender. The Madoff loss is not a line item. The problem lies in the results of their spending and, any additional spending would create an immediate hit to the profit and loss statement. The problem with the Mets is the output from the players chosen by the ownership.
• FG – I think it does speak volumes about their finances. The Mets have to be more fiscally responsible in the wake of their Madoff loses. In past years, they would have considered adding more payroll with a marque player. These days, however, they are trying to unload the payroll, rather than inherit it. Their mentality is completely different now. They are far more timid than they need to be. That timidity will cause more weaknesses to avoid being filled. They revere their picks more than their current roster.
  There is a problem with this logic. Not a single Mets prospect cracked the top 50 midseason list in Baseball America. That is not good. They are holding on to mid-level prospects rather than trying to help the current team. They felt that a healthy Beltran and Castillo would be just as much of an upgrade as anything they could have done on the market. While that view is commendable to a degree, it is also unrealistic.
• BL - Well it doesn’t look good for Omar Minaya. Wanting to hold onto your prospects is understandable. But if they had a chance to buy a player from a smaller market team, they should have gone for it. Especially if at the end of the season they’ll be a type A or B free agent, because they could get a draft pick for them.But it’s not all Minaya’s fault. Any trade a GM wants to do, no matter what team, the owners have to approve first. So he could have had deals lined-up in which the Mets spent some money, and the owners could have voted it down.Right now the Wilpon’s are having an assortment of financial problems. Personally, I don’t think they are in any position to be running a major league baseball team, and especially the Mets. They should think about selling the team or handing the ownership over to a different person for a little bit while they try to collect themselves.

Question #5: How do the acquisitions of their divisional opponents affect the Mets? Guys like Oswalt, Ankiel, Alex Gonzalez, etc.

• MB – Over the short term, the Mets are clearly not at the same level as the Braves and Phillies right now, although I think they can beat them head to head if they could simply play better fundamental baseball, because the Mets are a VERY talented group on paper. But at the end, those two teams have played better overall than the Mets this year, as the standings would indicate, and these new guys certainly make them better today.
  As far as the future is concerned for the Phillies, I don't know that things are looking up for them as an organization in the years ahead. They have emptied their farm system to get Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, and now  Roy Oswalt. They managed to retain Domonic Brown in all of this but beyond Brown, they don't have much on the horizon to replace either Halladay or Oswalt in the future, not to mention the other guys who will begin to show signs of wear and tear in the not so distant future. Players don't develop overnight, as the Mets have learned, but I think the Mets still have good direction for the future simply because Omar Minaya has managed to retain each of his top prospects and it looks like many of them are ready to make an impact.
  
• KC – Other teams in the division have improved or at least trying to improve through trades and the Mets have done nothing. This sends a bad message to the fan base and even players on the current team.
• MG – I'm not shocked by the acquisitions. When I think of Ankiel, I think of him not being able to pitch against the Mets. While he and Ankiel make the Braves better, I think the Phillies are still the team to beat.
• MA – I’ve talked with many agents over this and I’m surprised I don’t see it written more often. Simply put, most of the players that come available, through either trades or free agency, need to sign off on the deal. Plus, they range in the age bracket of 28-34. Lastly, most of them have never won a world series. Their goals are simply to get the best “last” contract they can on a team that can get them to the World Series. Currently, neither the players available nor their agents believe the Mets currently qualify in this area.
• FG – It effects them dramatically. The teams around them are growing stronger and renewing their energies, while the Mets are remaining stagnant. New blood versus old blood. With new blood comes a new confidence and a new optimism. The Mets are still holding on to the same hopes from April, but they are battle weary rather than battle ready.

  Players like Oswalt come from teams that were out of the playoff race in May, so being moved to a contender fills him with a renewed hope and a revitalized dream. That is infectious in a clubhouse. That is what the Mets may be lacking now compared to the other divisional teams after the deadline.

• BL - It just makes things that much harder. The Braves and Phillies both got better at the trade deadline, while the Mets did nothing. I don’t think they locked anything up by making these deals, but it makes them a tougher team to face.

  Oswalt gives the Phillies a very nice one-two punch and asolid four man rotation if they were to reach the playoffs.Gonzalez gives the Braves some pop in their line-up and better defense at short stop. They also get to dump Yunel Escobar, who Bobby Cox was not a fan of.The Marlins and Nationals both sold at the deadline, so the next time the Mets face them they should be easier teams to beat. 

   

Question #6: Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo apparently were being shopped around. Did you really expect anyone to take them? Even for Carlos Zambrano? Would the Mets even do that?

• MB – Put it this way – the Mets were the only suitor for Oliver Perez when he was a free agent, as was the case with Luis Castillo. The Mets have tried for two winters now to deal Castillo, and nobody will take him. Given that, why would any team want to trade prospects, or even a bad contract for either of them? Carlos Zambrano at least has an upside because he hasn't lost velocity on the fastball – Perez has average velocity at best now and Castillo has no range and is becoming barely a singles hitter, so there is no reason for any team to land lock themselves with these guys.
  
• KC – I did not expect anyone to take Perez or Castillo and I think this week the Mets found out the hard way that no one wants their bad contracts.
• MG – I never expected either to be moved, especially when news of Gil Meche's injury broke. Between you and me, I'd take an injured Meche over Perez, because we can stash him on the DL and let someone else play. If the Cubs considered any type of Perez/Castillo for Zambrano deal, I think Omar would have walked arm and arm with Zambrano all the way from Chicago to New York. It was never happening.
• MA – In my opinion, no. Even the Mets ownership know this would just create more negative press.
• FG – No, I don't expect them to be moved, not even for Zambrano. They attempted two separate times, that we know of, to unload Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez on another team. With no success. The reason they had little success, is because no team will take those players at face value. The Mets have to sweeten the pot with young talent to make it worth some consideration.

  They failed to do that, and so, Luis and Ollie are still in Queens today. They hold their prospects in such a high regard, it is debatable though if it is realistic. If they decide to part ways with a few of the lesser tier prospects, it may be a possibility. If not, than the Mets will be stuck with them and their payroll for the next few remaining years. Which is what I am anticipating.

• BL - I would expect there to be some team out there willing to take one of them. It might be hard to believe, but I think Oliver Perez has a higher trade value than Luis Castillo. Perez is still young and he is left handed. That would attract some teams, but the Mets would most likely have to eat most of his salary.

  Luis Castillo is old and his level of play seems to be dropping every day. He is striking out more and he is far removed from his Gold Glove days at second base and might even be considered a liability there.

  I said it once this whole episode with Carlos Zambrano went down that the Mets and Cubs might be able to work out a deal. More specially I said the Mets should approach the Cubs with an offer of Perez and Castillo. That's just what the Mets did at the deadline. The Cubs ended up turning the down, but I don’t think that’s the last we’ll hear of it as it looks like Zambrano will be dealt in the offseason.

  Together, Perez and Castillo make about the same as Zambrano. Difference is Perez and Castillo are free agents after 2011, and Zambrano is not. The Cubs would have to kick the Mets a lot of money and the Mets might even have to add a prospect to the deal because the Cubs really don’t like Castillo that much, and who could blame them.

  It does seem like a deal could be worked out between the two teams and I would be for it. I don’t think Zambrano would cause problems in the dugout and he could benefit this team. He brings a lot of fire to the clubhouse, something that this team is missing. Problem is that he might bring too much fire and some players might get pissed off at him. But you never know until the player gets here. I do think that a change in scenery will do him well, so they Mets should go after him if the Cubs are willing to take Perez and Castillo.