Sherman's Plan

Joel Sherman has his master plan of what moves the Mets should make in the off season. Jason at Always Amazin covered it this weekend as well.

Sherman's Plan:

Mike Piazza to the Dodgers for Shawn Green
I'm not against this, but I do not see why the Dodgers would pull the trigger on this one.

Cliff Floyd and Kaz Matsui to the Mariners for Bret Boone and Eddie Guardado
Look, I like Everyday Eddie, but Matsui is going to be a solid player and much better than Boone will be in 2005. Yeah, Boone is gone after a year, but this makes the team much older and worse in my book. Eddie and the Mariners have a mutual option on his contract anyway, s0 he may become available.

Tom Glavine to his home-state Red Sox for Doug Mientkiewicz and Trot Nixon
No way the Sox even entertain this idea. The only way Tommy gets traded is at the deadline. With a very palatable $6,000,000 option for 2006, he becomes attractive to a contender since they have him for another year and do not have to take on too much salary.

Victor Diaz, Aaron Heilman and Vance Wilson to the Pirates for Jason Kendall and $13 million
They'd give Kendall away for a bag of balls just to rid themselves of his contract. This is too much.

Sign free agents Tino Martinez and Magglio Ordonez
Magglio would sign a $5,000,000 dollar contract for one year? What the hell is Sherman smoking. In the same article that he says Delgado is worth a three year ten million dollar contract, Mr. Consistency is only worth a one year five million dollar contract with incentives. This has as much chance of happening as Giambi actually getting a start for the Yankees at first base in the playoffs. Magglio will still command big money, but I agree, he should be signed. As for Martinez, I'm not against the idea at all if it is for one year.

Joel Sherman's
2005 Mets Lineup
1. Jose Reyes, SS
2. Jason Kendall, C
3. Shawn Green, RF
4. Magglio Ordonez, LF
5. Bret Boone, 2B
6. Tino Martinez, 1B
7. David Wright, 3B
8. Mike Cameron, CF

All in all, one of his less crazy articles. And he miraculously says that Soriano at Shea would be a bad idea. However, the fact that the Mets would only have two guys under 30 in the starting lineup is cause for concern. This team 100% needs to get younger and he is suggesting for the Mets to actually get older and bring in more over the hill, past their prime veterans. All these moves are Steve Phillips specials and makes the Mets older, slower, and less athetic.


* * *

Newsday has a Keep 'em or Dump 'em link. Go ahead and vote. These are the results to far:

Mike Piazza
43.8% KEEP 'EM (1612 responses)
56.2% DUMP 'EM (2066 responses)
3678 total responses

Cliff Floyd
18.8% KEEP 'EM (691 responses)
81.2% DUMP 'EM (2978 responses)
3669 total responses

Kaz Matsui
72.1% KEEP 'EM (2635 responses)
27.9% DUMP 'EM (1021 responses)
3656 total responses

Mike Cameron
86.2% KEEP 'EM (3132 responses)
13.8% DUMP 'EM (503 responses)
3635 total responses

Al Leiter
55.4% KEEP 'EM (2020 responses)
44.6% DUMP 'EM (1628 responses)
3648 total responses

Tom Glavine
58.9% KEEP 'EM (2150 responses)
41.1% DUMP 'EM (1500 responses)
3650 total responses

Richard Hidalgo
50.6% KEEP 'EM (1841 responses)
49.4% DUMP 'EM (1798 responses)
3639 total responses

Steve Trachsel
79.3% KEEP 'EM (2881 responses)
20.7% DUMP 'EM (754 responses)
3635 total responses

Kris Benson
86.7% KEEP 'EM (3142 responses)
13.3% DUMP 'EM (481 responses)
3623 total responses

Victor Zambrano
79.9% KEEP 'EM (2901 responses)
20.1% DUMP 'EM (731 responses)
3632 total responses

Braden Looper
88.8% KEEP 'EM (3204 responses)
11.2% DUMP 'EM (406 responses)
3610 total responses

Mike Stanton
24.8% KEEP 'EM (896 responses)
75.2% DUMP 'EM (2721 responses)
3617 total responses

Ricky Bottalico
53.1% KEEP 'EM (1912 responses)
46.9% DUMP 'EM (1691 responses)
3603 total responses

John Franco
8.3% KEEP 'EM (304 responses)
91.7% DUMP 'EM (3342 responses)
3646 total responses

Jason Phillips
41.8% KEEP 'EM (1507 responses)
58.2% DUMP 'EM (2097 responses)
3604 total responses

Rick Peterson
81.5% KEEP 'EM (2941 responses)
18.5% DUMP 'EM (666 responses)
3607 total responses

Matt Galante
33.0% KEEP 'EM (1193 responses)
67.0% DUMP 'EM (2418 responses)
3611 total responses

I was a bit surprised that more people were in favor of keeping Leiter than Piazza. I'm not surprised that the 'Human Windmill' Matt Galante has worn out his welcome and that no one but John Franco's relatives want him back. Also, why is Hidalgo warranting more votes to get kept rather than dumped?

Pavano extends the finger to Steinbrenner according to the NY Post:

The Yankees and Mets can scratch Carl Pavano off their free agent lists. Pavano, who fired his previous agents at IMG and is said to be shifting to Ron Simon, has privately told friends he has no interest in pitching in New York. He is said to favor staying in Florida (if the Marlins get a stadium deal approved) or, failing that, staying east (as in the Orioles or Red Sox). Pavano is perhaps the best free agent pitcher out there.

In Baseball America's What Makes a Closer article, they take a quick look at some minor league closer prospects. At one point they list some players to watch and one is rather interesting.

Others To Watch: Jeremy Harts, lhp, Pirates; Danny Reuckel, rhp, Expos; Jose Diaz, rhp, Devil Rays; Jeremy Accardo, rhp, Giants.

Baseball Prospectus tells us what we know already. The free agent market is operating inefficiently.