With Alou Out, Mets Looking At Ibañez

They apparently allow complete morons to write for newspapers. Raul Ibanez is probably a type A FA this winter, but the Mets could close the deal with a mediocre 1B prospect. That's not even close to being worth 2 draft picks.

And that's Daniel Murphy not David Murphy.

Good catch kab21, it is indeed Dan not David.

I think Ichiro, Bedard, and Putz might be a little pissed that Raul Ibanez is the best player on the team. Perhaps you meant the best player available?

I only caught it because I had to find out who this supposed centerpiece was.

Leads the team in RBI, but arguably, that doesn't constitute "best player" status. I think consistent is a better word.

"I think Ichiro, Bedard, and Putz might be a little pissed that Raul Ibanez is the best player on the team. Perhaps you meant the best player available?"

I think that Felix Hernandez would be a little pissed that Ichiro, Bedard, and Putz and their three best players.

**are their three best players

Raul Ibanez is the worst defensive outfielder in baseball. NO THANKS!

Ibanez is far from the worst outfielder in baseball... Jack Cust is far worse, you have been proven wrong... Also that's propaganda that he can't play the position... He has a strong arm, not great, but average to above average (ex-catcher), runs about average, doesn't drop many balls, gets good jumps, he's not great defensively, but he also doesn't get replaced defensively late in games, but Jose Guillen, with one of the best arms in baseball, was last year, think about that for a minute!

I'd say Jack Cust, Adam Dunn, and Pat Burrel are all worse defensively than Ibanez. I agree with That Ibanez won't be traded for one of those bad players in the Mets system. If the Mets offer a player like Niese, then there is a chance. I think the most likely senerio is that Ibanez stays put and the Mariners get the picks next year.

Bah, you guys are crazy. Carp, Murphy, and Evans are not "Bad prospects". They're "B" prospects. They're all average age to young for their level, having solid to stellar seasons, and have had success at points in the past. No one's suggesting a 1-for-1 here. But two of that group plus Bobby Parnell is still better than two draft picks, and that's assuming Ibanez is a Type A AND the M's would offer him arbitration, which is just plain unlikely.

I'm not a big Ibanez fan. This team doesn't need another aging veteran. They need someone with a desire to play the game, perhaps someone who hasn't gotten the opportunity, like Juan Rivera. Either that, or they need a star hitter, which isn't likely unless the Mets are willing to give up Pelfrey (which I would not advocate under any circumstances) or Fernando Martinez and John Niese in the same deal (again, something I would not advocate EXCEPT for maybe Matt Holiday, but indications are the Rox want a stud pitcher, and Niese doesn't qualify, so that might be mute anyway)

And they're not exclusively 1B prospects. Carp might not even be a good enough glove man to be considered a 1B prospect unless he really continues tearing it up the way he did the first half of this year. Odds are he's destined for DH. The other two, Murphy and Evans, are very good glove men, and have some decent experience at multiple positions and have fared quite well. They're more athletic types though, by no means 5-toolers, but guys who hit well and flash plenty of other abilities too.

I'd rather see Rivera than Ibanez since he'd come cheaper.

Ibanez is a lefty we need a righty to break up the lefty streak after beltran
Church
Ibanez
Delgado
Schnieder
Pitcher
That is 4 lefties in a row and Schnieder and Delgado can't hit lefties at all.

Maybe Billy Beane will finally get Heilman? he's got lots of OF'ers - maybe Murton and Casilla for heilman?

Casilla and murton for heilman? Yeah righttt! Good luck with that. Ibanez is not a good outfielder maybe not the worst but he's in the top 5 to 10. He's a dh in the al but for the mets he's one hell of an upgrade over tatis or chavez. Mariners have almost no valuable pieces. Unless they move ichiro,putz, or bedard they will get nothing but b-level prospects for the players they want to dump.

Why wouldn't the Mariners offer arbitration to Ibanez? Even if he acceps, they get him on a one year, 5MM dollar deal. If they don't want him they could always offer him and then if he acceps trade him. He wouldn't be any more or less valuble than he is now. I hadn't looked at those players numbers. They have been pretty solid. I guess if the Mets offer 2 of those types the Mariners might take it. You have to remember that first baseman are pretty easy to find. And the Mariners have a first baseman of the future in Jeff Clement unless they can get someone to take Johjima off their hands so they can move Clement back to catcher. I would probably rather have the draft picks rather than some blocked 1B prospect.

Well, with the news of Church's recent head problems being diagnosed as, by the Cleveland Clinic, merely being migranes and not Post-concussion syndrome, a problem hes had since his teens, i think this will cool down a bit. So i guess with that its down but certainly not out. but that comes to the pt about our lefties streak, idk if its rele nething for the mets to worry about. I know that sounds weird but go look at ibanez's splits. .305 this season vs lefties. although last three yrs its .258 overall vs lefites. its a thought and itd be interesting to c how he keeps up his recent success vs lefties. last thing is how well beltran and ibanez get along, like the article sez. if it helps him on the field and at the plate, im for it

I guess its conceivable that the M's offer Ibanez arbitration. If they wanna retool though, why bother? You really want a 37 year old LF with a weak glove and middling bat in a rebuilding year?? What if he falls off the planet and the M's can't even get this kind of package? Seems like it makes much more sense to trade him now and get some players you already know a thing or two about than gamble that for potentially nothing, or at best two late first round draft picks. The risk/reward in that gamble just doesn't favor taking the bigger risk.

The thing about the three guys mentioned is there's a good chance not a one ends up at 1B. Carp will if he stays in the NL, but he should probably be a DH. Murphy is really more of a 3B anyway, the only reason the Mets like him at 1B is because they have no need at all at 3B. He's even gotten some workouts at 2B, although there's still a long way to go before he can be considered legit there. Evans is somewhere in between, he can probably handle 3B too, and he's already shown he can handle the outfield, but he might not have the power to be a legit 1B/DH type. He is athletic though and uses the whole field very well.

BaseballGuru, you cannot be serious.

A) Dennis Raben has 23 at-bats in Short-Season A-ball. He is not "Future" anything right now, it is extremely premature to give him such a label. Talk to me when the guy is mashing in AA like Carp, Evans, and Murphy are currently doing.

B) The Mets had every chance to sign Carlos Silva last offseason and passed. It was clear that they did not feel that he was worth the money you guys paid him. There is no chance we take on your mistake now. Well, maybe if you take back that awful Castillo contract as part of it ;)

C) Mike Pelfrey over his last 8 starts has a 2.61 ERA, enough said. Unless you are offering up Felix Hernandez or possibly Eric Bedard as part of the package, keep dreaming. Same goes for Maine. And they're not going to trade Wilmer Flores at all for 20 cents on the dollar when he could be a Top 20 prospect in the game in 3 years. You're 'supposed' trade packages are laughably lopsided. Why don't you suggest the Mets throw in Fernando Martinez while you are at it :rolleyes: .

D) If it was so easy to get a Pelfrey/Tillman ticket for losing a Type A Free Agent, everyone would do it. Truth is the MLB Draft is the biggest coinflip out there with by far the highest bust rates out of any of the major drafts and you would be lucky to come away with such a package.

E) As for Raul Ibanez....you better hope he hits 20 Home Runs in the second half to match his 2006 season and maintain that Type A status, because it is far from the guarantee that you are making it out to be.

I understand why Carp isn't as appealing a trade chip as his hitting numbers suggest he might be. I think the Mets should just hold onto him and use him as a fallback if they lose out on Texiera, which is probable.

Evans and Murphy are nice, versatile little players though. They're not future stars, but guys who can fit into a few different positions and grind it out with just enough combination of athleticism and hitting ability. I think they get undersold because their hitting lines are underwhelming for a 1B/LF type, but that's not really what they are. Murphy is a natural 3B, but he's been moved since there's no clear path to the majors for him that way. Evans is a natural 1B, but he has enough speed and arm to play either corner OF position and probably 3B too.

There's a reason the article refers to these guys as "corner" guys.

Why would the Mets trade two of their most important pitchers for salary dump? Doesn't make sense. Heilman had a miserable start, but he's completely turned it around in the last month and a half. How do the Mets get more wins? With Ibanez, Silva, and Lowe or with Pelfrey, Heilman, and Tatis starting in LF? Pretty clearly the latter to me.

Alou has been a Met for two years and in those two years has had a total of 13HRs and 58RBIs. Clearly not worth the $8.5 million they agreed to in the off-season.

Now Raul Ibanez is making $5.5 million this season and is batting .273 with 11HR and 55RBI. I say this wouldn't be a bad idea to go for Ibanez if I were Omar Minaya. I mean at the end of the year the guy is going to lose his job anyways so might as well try to make this team a bit better.

Guru - Silva's last 5 games :
28 2/3 IP
16 ER (5.02 ERA )
1.43 WHIP
maybe he should loosen up his grip on the ball to the point where it matches your grip on reality.
Ibanez on course for 45 2b? really? odd he's never cracked 40 before and only cracked 25 HR's once. But this is where you tell me he is historically a 2nd half player and you've looked at every pitching matchup coming up and he should easily pass those numbers ( although shouldn't he always have been a 2nd half player and thus hit 45 2bs already?)
14 more losses by your sad M's and no more Guru mini novel posts. Go KC

A) Carp is not mashing? He's hitting .311/.390/.455. The slugging is a little low, but nobody questions Carp's power potential. He was hitting 20 Home Runs at 19 years old. Now he's 22 years old in AA, that's not old for his level at all. Your statline that you yourself projected him out to be would make him, well, Raul Ibanez because that's EXACTLY what he is doing this season....and that line is probably on the low end. So how is that not a fair centerpiece for an offer? As for Raben, it's fairly common for high draft picks to start in Low A Short-Season ball. That's not uncommon at all, so don't try and use it as some indicator that Raben is especially awesome.

B) Ibanez is not a 10 million a year player, not even close. Mike Cameron signed for 6.2 million this past offseason and is outproducing him significantly, especially on the Defensive side of the ball. Ibanez is priced right in line with the type of player that he is.

Maine is making league minimum, so I'm not sure where you got where he was expensive from.....and Maine hasn't missed a start in over 2 years so I'm not all that concerned about his "Injuries". Perez is making 6.5 million for the season and is a FA after this year. So he's been much cheaper then Silva as well.

C) You just don't quit with the stupidity. That was a different regime that did the Kazmir trade.

D) You just proved my point with those drafts. A couple great picks (Clement, Morrow, Tillman, Aumont), some lottery tickets like Raben who could be great or could fizzle out in AA, and alot of system fillers in about 5 years worth of drafts...and thanks for the laugh comparing Denny Almonte to Fernando Martinez.

E) I doubt Ibanez gets type A comp, he's losing a 30 Home Run and 120 RBI season and replacing it with a year in 2008 that is mediocre in comparison. He should be a Type B, which yes would net you a sandwich pick. But again, there is a fairly high chance that the pick would be a bust whereas someone like Carp is much more established, having had success in the higher levels of the minor leagues. I think you ask any general manager and they would sooner take their chances with a Carp level prospect then a Sandwich Pick because of the risks involved.

Every timebaseballGuru comes on here he talks of trading the Mariner crap for John Maine. John Maine is a cheap young pitcher who will just get better. Carp Evans and Murphy all are raking at AA and two of them and a low level pitcher like Scott moviel should get this done.

The mets will also eat some of the Ibanez's salary to lower the price.

why would the mets bother trading away top prospects for a 36 year old player who has probably 3-4 yrs left in the bigs when these guys who the mets are willing to trade have their whole careers ahead of them? really, if i was omar, i would trade fernando, carp, parnell, and holt for a fantastic, YOUNG hitter. matt holliday. why should the mets be worried about a guy whose career is almost over and we dont even kno if hes gonna hit or not. hollday is a great hitter. yeah he plays at coors field, but even without playing there he hits pver .300 for his career. if omar is as smart as people think he is, hell make a move for holliday, then sign him for a long term deal.