Mets Re-Sign Tatis; Smoltz Next?
The Mets have reportedly re-signed Fernando Tatis to be half of a platoon with Daniel Murphy at first base. If this sounds familiar, it should — last year the duo started the season sharing left field. How did that work out?
Tatis actually finished 2009 with respectable numbers: .282, 8 homers and 48 RBIs in 340 at bats. But he grounded into 473 ground plays — all in key spots — in those at bats, and got off to a horrible start when the Mets really needed him.
The New York Post reports the deal will pay Tatis less than the $1.7 million he made last season, but with incentives, he could approach that level. The deal means the Mets career of Carlos Delgado is over. That is probably for the best.
I had to laugh Wednesday when reports said the Mets and Tatis were in “deep negotiations” on a new deal. How “deep” could those negotiations have been? I imagine they went something like this:
Omar Minaya: Hey Fernando, you want to play for us this season?
Tatis: Sure.
Minaya: Okay. Here’s some money.
Tatis: Thanks, amigo.
Is this really the best the Mets could do? A 35-year-old who is clearly on the downside of a career notable only for hitting two grand slams in the same inning, and winning Comeback Player of the Year for the Mets in 2008? Sadly, that answer appears to be yes.
Speaking of sad, Newsday is reporting “increased momentum” on a deal that would bring John Smoltz to Queens. I ask again — is this the best the Mets can do? Having to root for Tom Glavine was bad enough, but at least he had something left. Do we have to watch another former Brave who may well be washed-up?
If Smoltz signs, that’s nearly 80 years worth of living (Smoltz turns 43 in May) on the Mets roster in just two players. I guess Minaya didn’t learn anything from the previous senior signings of Julio Franco, Moises Alou, Aaron Sele, and Orlando Hernandez.
By the way, I am withholding comment on Minaya’s performance this winter until spring training starts because more deals could happen. Please, please, let more deals happen.
You forgot mr. slow motion dinosaur Livan Hernandez.
Despite the fact that Omar is a complete tool and I believe more than ever by the way this off season has gone, He is trying to get Mets fans to take Citi field down and destroy this team before he gets canned. If anyone has watched or watches Omar in the past or present, he tap dances around all the tough questions and has people set questions up that are easy for him to answer.
I mean just look at his pattern, one season he tried to turn the team into the expos/nationals, now with the additon of Matthews he’s having flash backs of when he was in texas. I’ve been a long time baseball and Mets fan, but this has to end. Omar has made maybe 5 good moves since he’s been a gm of the mets.
Omar signed Reyes and Wright to long term contracts, traded to get Johan Santana and signed Carlos Beltran to a long term deal. That is it. Make that 4 things. Unfortunately I do not have enough room to write about the bad ones, plus I like my computer enough to not watch it fly towards the wall. Now, He’s going to sign Smoltz, why should Mets fans get punished for his actions. Look at any way you want, he put this team together. Then he’s going to go on Regional television last night and talk about how he has totally anomony and that he does the best job to his ability. That is total crap.
trade reyes for a quality pitcher. he’s a baby and we need pitching.
danny wrote,
“trade reyes for a quality pitcher. he’s a baby and we need pitching.”
Danny, coming off the non-season Reyes had last year, I’m not sure the Mets will receive equal value for him. Maybe if he shows signs of 2008 during ST or the regular season he could be traded.
Generally, I read the news first…blech. I read the sports last so I can start the day on a reasonably good footing. To that end, I do NOT read any articles about the Mets anymore. The winter became colder each time the Mets signed another player. Whether the problem is ownership, management (field and otherwise) or both, the Mets off season is driving me out of my mind. If this were a basketball team where the addition of one player can make the difference in a team’s performance, in some parallel universe it could within the realm of possiblities that the Mets were gearing up for a Nets-like season, and a very high first round pick. This team is soooo crazy, I don’t know if what I just wrote makes sense.
I’ve been a Mets fan for more than four decades, and I can’t remember a span of time as frustrating and confounding as the last three years. I wanted Omar as the GM; but, for the life of me, I can’t figure out why. Maybe I thought the situation could only get better once his predecessor was out the door. Maybe it was a sort of getting Rich Kotite out the door mentality: How much worse can things get? I’m hoping the Mets can replace Omar with a baseball version of someone with the talent Bill Parcells brought to nearly every team he was with. He may not be a nice guy, but he sure as he** changed those teams for the better.
One more rant. I’ve read and heard sports pundits compare Murphy to Gregg Jefferies. They both had great work habits and a world of talent. But, IMO, that’s where comparison should end. The key difference between the two players is that Jefferies was not wrapped to tight. Murphy is playing with a full deck as exhibited by his willingness to play the position du jor the Mets had in mind….And put his heart and soul into his game. Even if he didn’t perform as well as the team hoped, he put everything he had into the next Mets experiment. I like kid, his talent and confidence. I hope he remains a Met. I don’t feel the same about Omar, Jerry, Dan Warthen or Razor Shines. Bring up Ken Oberkfell, Wally Backman, someone with heart and fire.
Where have you gone Mookie Wilson? Bobby Valentine?
first of all reyes is what makes the team go dont even think about trading him… my only question for omar minaya this entire summer is LOGICALLY– what could possibly be the legitimate reason for not signing orlando hudson?!!! thats all i want to know. if this game ismeant for the fans then he would already be on our team bc i have not met one met fan who wnats castillo over hudson. not to mention our starting rotation which no logical thinking person could think will be successful. simply doesn’t make sense!!!! GET O-DOG!!!
ric-i agree mostly with you but k-rod was also a good signing and the team in 06 was amazing until sanchez got in that car accident. danny-uh no. reyes is perhaps the best leadoff hitter the mets will be able to find for a while. and no one seems to look at the postives of this team. forget most of the signings because francoeur and bay are a lot of offense, and other than one error at yankee stadium last year, castillo had a good year. if the mets got rid of perez finally they could go with santana, pelfrey maine, and then some combo of misch, niese, and nieve, and i really wouldn’t have a problem with that. is it a perfect rotation? no but its decent. and in that case they have an extra starter if someone gets injured. and other than hoping that murphy and santos can produce, the mets have a good lineup, with reyes wright bay francoeur and hopefully castillo comes close to last year offensively