Tuesday, November 27, 2007
steve J
By re-signing Moises Alou, Luio and Ramon Castro and trading for Johnny Estrada, Minaya filled his club's only vacant positions on the field. At least that's the prevailing wisdom.
But Minaya already has explored other options at catcher, inquiring about the Rangers' Gerald Laird, the Orioles' Ramon Hernandez and the Nationals' Brian Schneider. Even the Giants' Bengie Molina reportedly could be available.
If he finds a better alternative, Minaya could simply non-tender Estrada, who then would become a free agent; the net gain from the trade with the Brewers would become the $3.2 million the Mets save on Guillermo Mota.
In that sense, Estrada can be like insurance against the rising cost of the available catchers, perhaps driving the cost down in terms of talent. But it seems more likely that Minaya will need to hold on to his trading cake a run at an ace starting pitcher such as Oakland's Dan Haren - or even chase the dream of Johan Santana.
If Minaya truly wanted to make one of those deals for a catcher, he could have done so by now. Instead, he first targeted free agent Yorvit Torrealba, whose three-year, $14.4-million agreement satisfied with Paul Lo Duca - they didn't bother to make him an offer - and wanted someone who, along with Castro, would do a better job of handling the pitching staff. Based on his previous three stops with the Braves, Diamondbacks and Brewers, Estrada appears up to the task.
Starting with the Braves in 2004, each of those teams' ERAs improved after Estrada arrived. With Javy Lopez in 2003, AtlanRA, which ranked 12th in baseball. That dropped to 3.75 with Estrada the following season, tops in baseball.
Steve Jannace
But Minaya already has explored other options at catcher, inquiring about the Rangers' Gerald Laird, the Orioles' Ramon Hernandez and the Nationals' Brian Schneider. Even the Giants' Bengie Molina reportedly could be available.
If he finds a better alternative, Minaya could simply non-tender Estrada, who then would become a free agent; the net gain from the trade with the Brewers would become the $3.2 million the Mets save on Guillermo Mota.
In that sense, Estrada can be like insurance against the rising cost of the available catchers, perhaps driving the cost down in terms of talent. But it seems more likely that Minaya will need to hold on to his trading cake a run at an ace starting pitcher such as Oakland's Dan Haren - or even chase the dream of Johan Santana.
If Minaya truly wanted to make one of those deals for a catcher, he could have done so by now. Instead, he first targeted free agent Yorvit Torrealba, whose three-year, $14.4-million agreement satisfied with Paul Lo Duca - they didn't bother to make him an offer - and wanted someone who, along with Castro, would do a better job of handling the pitching staff. Based on his previous three stops with the Braves, Diamondbacks and Brewers, Estrada appears up to the task.
Starting with the Braves in 2004, each of those teams' ERAs improved after Estrada arrived. With Javy Lopez in 2003, AtlanRA, which ranked 12th in baseball. That dropped to 3.75 with Estrada the following season, tops in baseball.
