The Yankees are done. The Red Sox appear done. The cubs have traded for Aaron Heilman today and barring a Jake Peavy trade are done. The Angels appear done except for maybe Manny. The Dodgers are focused on spending and bidding against themselves on Manny. Where does that leave us? It leaves us with the Mets in a great position to grab some bargains now that all the big markets appear set to open spring training. Manny is not coming to New York. We know that. However, there are several players available only three weeks from pitchers and catchers reporting that could significantly help the roster. Let's take a look at the top names available that would help the Mets:
- Oliver Perez- odds are he ends up back with the Mets. No one seems to be in on him except for the Mets. Young, healthy, and sometimes spectacular, Perez needs to mature &and add consistency to join the top tier of pitchers in the league.
- Ben Sheets- When healthy, he is simply an ace. Coming off a strong year, with an injury at the wrong time, the end of the season. Sheets has had his share of injuries, however none seem chronic as he has had a variety. Also worth noting, Sheets has had more 30 start years that AJ Burnett (just got an $80 million contract).
- Bobby Abreu- the veteran is nothing special on defense, but pencil him in for 100 RBI, 100 runs, 60-80 extra base hits, and a strong obp (.405 career).
- Adam Dunn- think of Dunn as a younger, more powerful version of Abreu. Solid for 40 homers, 100 RBI, 100 Runs, 100ish BB's, and he is only 29 years old.
- Chad Cordero- coming back from arm injury, this former elite closer was a former prodigy of Omar Minaya's in Montreal. On the cheap, he could end up a valuable setup guy if healthy.
There are a number of others available as well that could help any team. Randy Wolf and Orlando Hudson are two of those possibilities, however, I do not like them for their fit with the Mets right now. Hudson is likely to command a decent salary and we have no place to put him. Wolf has never showed me much and I am not impressed. We already have Tim Redding and Freddy Garcia thanks.
With the exception of Perez, any of those guys can be had for less than $10 million and should not require even a second year let alone a third (Sheets is the exception and I don't mind a second year with a third year option for him). I say sign Perez for three and and option, total contract worth around $40 million for the four years. Give Sheets a two year deal as I suggested in an earlier post for $18-20 million and a third year option if healthy with a good bump in salary. If he does well, do you think the Mets have a problem with that? Sign Abreu or Dunn if, and only if, you can get one of them for $6-8 million for next year to bridge to Fernando Martinez. Finally, Minaya should sweet talk Cordero into a minor league deal or a one year deal with incentives to join the bullpen when healthy.
I know this is all hypotheical, but as we get closer to spring training and less teams are shopping, a couple strong moves could net you some solid bargains. The key, sign Perez sooner than later because a lot of the guys are probably waiting to see what the Mets do after that. Let's go Omar, step up to the plate.
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