Braves closing in on Jake Peavy

As a Mets fan, I am not pleased by this news.

Scott Miller of CBSSports.com, is reporting the Atlanta Braves have offered a four-player package to the San Diego Padres, who will ask Jake Peavy to waive his no-trade clause for the deal to go through.

According to Miller:

Under terms of the deal discussed by the Braves and Padres, San Diego would receive shortstop Yunel Escobar, Class A outfielder Gorkys Hernandez, one of two starting pitchers -- Charlie Morton or Jo-Jo Reyes -- and either reliever Blaine Boyer or one of two minor-league left-handers (one of which is believed to be Jeff Locke).

The Braves want an answer by Friday, so the Padres are hard pressed to get Peavy to waive his no-trade clause.

I, obviously, really don't want to see this deal go through. The Braves have a deep enough farm system that this deal will crimp their minor leagues a little, but not put a dent in them like the Johan Santana trade for the Mets.

The Mets, in their endless pursuit to get in on every trade rumor out there, have been cited as inquiring on Peavy, according to Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports:

Others have inserted themselves as well, including the Boston Red Sox and pitching-thin New York Mets.

I can't see it happening, so don't get your hopes up. It'd be great to have a 1-2 punch of Santana and Peavy, but I think the Mets have bigger fish to fry over landing another ace starter.

Would be nice though.

I'd prefer a free agent over a trade

The latest and greatest rumor about the Mets right now is that they're looking into Bobby Jenks of the Chicago White Sox. Though Jenks is not really "available," the team thinks they might be able to pry him away from the Pale Hose with a decent package.

Why the Mets are looking to give up more players from their farm system is beyond me. There is a big enough market for free agent closers out there, I'd rather dish out the dough for one of them instead of trading away talent.

Ken Davidoff takes a look at Jenks or Francisco Rodriguez on his Baseball Insider blog:

I think I'd vote for a Jenks trade. Remember, in the Santana trade, the Mets gave up top chips for really just one year of Santana. After that, the Mets had to treat Santana like a free agent.

But Jenks is a proven commodity, and if he somehow flops, he won't drain the payroll and roster flexibility as would K-Rod (who, interestingly, is younger than Jenks, despite having three more years of service time compiled).

(This argument is made only for Jenks versus K-Rod. Brian Fuentes or Kerry Wood or even Trevor Hoffman were not figured into this article.)

I understand his point in choosing Jenks here, as last year K-Rod struggled a bit with allowing runners, but seems to be able to work out of it time and time again. Was it luck? Was it skill? Omar Minaya might not want to take the chance, especially with a fanbase of fragile, skeptical Queens faithful due to the inept bullpen over the last two seasons.

I don't mean to downplay Jenks' contribution to the White Sox. He's tallied 117 saves in three plus seasons, closing the book on 41, 40 and 30 games respectively since 2006. He's under team control until 2011, but is arbitration elegible. His price will go up, but it's still miniscule compared to what K-Rod is asking. (Jenks made $550,000 in 2008.)

Still, with a new stadium, a flourishing TV network and a half-decent team bringing in money, I'd much rather see the team sign a slightly bloated paycheck over draining the farm system anymore than it already has been. Sign over trade.

Manuel gets a few votes for Manager of the Year

Congratulations to Joe Maddon and Lou Pinella for winning Manager of the Year in their respective leagues. Mets manager Jerry Manuel garnered 10 votes, coming in sixth.

The NL list went as follows:
Lou Pinella -- 103
Charlie Manuel -- 67
Fredi Sanchez -- 48
Joe Torre -- 45
Tony La Russa -- 11
Manuel -- 10
Cecil Cooper -- 3
Dale Sveum -- 1

Sveum? Really? He managed 12 (twelve!) games after taking over for Ned Yost. He managed the team to a 7-5 record in the regular season, and a 1-3 record in the postseason.

Did he really deserve a vote, even if it was for third place?

Maybe Manuel will win it next season after guiding the 2009 Mets to a World Series title. Wouldn't that be nice?

Could Obama speed up the free agency process?

With President-Elect Barack Obama set to take office on Jan. 20th, 2009, some big baseball deals may want to hurry the process along to see as much of that money as possible.

I don't want to get political here, so just stick with me. Feel free to post your love / hate for politics in the comments.

Obama has planned to raise the federal income tax rate from it's current 35 percent up to 39.6 percent. This may not affect you and me, but for the multi-million dollar deals that go down in Major League Baseball, this is a big issue.

From the AP:

Next year's major league minimum is $400,000. Agent Scott Boras, negotiating eight- and possibly nine-figure deals for free agents Manny Ramirez and Mark Teixeira, already has thought about the possibility of asking for larger signing bonuses payable this year in some of his contracts.

"There's some consideration to be had with the impact of the election," he said.

Free agents can't start negotiating money with all teams until Nov. 14. Only a relatively small percentage of contracts are finalized before Jan. 1.

Still, for a big-money free agent earning $10 million in 2009, Obama's plan could increase his federal tax by more than $400,000.

I never really thought about how the election affects baseball and it's players, mostly because they earn enough money as it is. Still, it should be interesting to see if any players jump right in to save a chunk of change on their new contract.

Piazza putting pen to paper

Mike Piazza is currently writing a memoir on his time in the league.

It's already on my wish list for next Christmas, as the book is due out in 2010. It is currently untitled.

Topics being covered:

He will also talk about the personalities and players from his days with the Mets, including Bobby Valentine, Pedro Martinez, and Rickey Henderson and many others," according to Simon & Schuster. "In the book, Piazza will describe how he matured as a ballplayer and a man over the last decade.

Oh boy, Henderson will be in it? I cannot wait.

Why I like Jerry Manuel

The New York Times has a pretty humorous article about Jerry Manuel and his latest golf outing. You could probably say I sip the Kool Aid when it comes to Manuel, but I like the way he handles himself, and how he's able to just laugh things off in front of the media, instead of saying mum and scurrying away.

Manuel was chatting casually with Frank Robinson as they waited to tee off at a charity golf tournament Monday, when he was greeted by a middle-aged Mets fan. They had barely shaken hands when the man asked Manuel a question that was apparently foremost in the minds of Mets fans no matter on which coast they lived.

What are you going to do about the pitching?

Manuel, nodded toward a group of long-retired major leaguers that included Al Downing, Joe Moeller and Darrell Jackson, and said with a chuckle, “There might be some old guys out here who can help us.”

No many managers will crack a joke about the one area of their team that hindered them the past two seasons. Compared to the media, answering a fans question, a fan who was most likely armed with a golf club, with humor and poise shows me how cool this man is.

Sure, he may have overworked the bullpen just like Willie Randolph did by bringing in a seemingly endless stream of players to get a handful of outs. But when Manuel makes a move, it just feels like he knows what he's doing and if he fails, he'll be willing to talk about it. He's the kind of manager that will take the loss on his own back, saying he made the wrong move, not the pitcher.

I like that.

I'm confident in Manuel as he gets the reigns for the start of 2009, and hopefully he's still around at the end. I'd like to see if last year was a just a fluke or if he actually has the poise, humor and sense of the game and his team to parlay them into the playoffs.

Hoffman or Street could help the Mets

Two closers can be had, both are at very different point in their career, and both could help the Mets.

On one hand, we have a 41-year-old who has notched 554 saves in his career, all but two coming for one team. He's a six time All Star, with a career 2.78 ERA.

On the other hand, there's a 25-year-old former Rookie of the Year. He's notched 94 saves in four years, but is coming off of two sub-par years in which he's lost his closing duties. He sports a 2.88 career ERA.

Player one is Trevor Hoffman. The San Diego Padres and Hoffman have been negotiating on a contract for their old closer, but Buster Olney is reporting the Pads have pulled their offer and will not bring Hoffman back.

San Diego was offering Hoffman $4 million, plus incentives for the 2009 season. If the Mets match that, just for one year, I'd be willing to see how much he has left in the tank. I know he's not going to blow people away, but he has the mental mettle to pitch in the 9th inning. He's definitely worth at least a look.

Player two is Huston Street. As part of the Matt Holliday to Oakland trade, Huston is now the property of the Colorado Rockies. A hefty trade would be in order, but I've heard the Rockies linked to Aaron Heilman before, and maybe throwing in Nick Evans (since he had some great games against them) and another player would be enough to get it done.

He's much younger than Hoffman, but has struggled lately, with 16 and 18 saves the last two seasons. We know he can handle the pressure of closing, but something may be wrong with his mechanics. I haven't seen him throw enough to gauge what may be wrong, but with the coaching staff the Mets have in place, especially with Dan Warthen being used to teaching young players, I think the Mets should take a shot at bringing him over and locking him up for a few years.

Of all the holes the Mets need to fill in the bullpen, closer is their No. 1 priority. These are two very different players, as Hoffman would be more of a one-year stopgap, while Street, if traded for, could be a Met for years to come.

Olsen, Willingham traded to Nats

In an odd in-division trade, the Florida Marlins have traded pitcher Scott Olsen and outfielder Josh Willingham to the Washington Nationals. The Marlins will get infielder Emilio Bonifacio and a package of minor leaguers, reports Ken Rosenthal.

The Nats are make a huge push to improve this off-season, as they're of the top teams to land free agent Mark Teixeira as well.

Willingham has been somewhat of a thorn in the Mets side. He's hit .285 against the Mets, but has hit 10 home runs and driven in 34 RBI in 50 games. Olsen has struggled against when playing New York. In 13 games, he holds a 1-5 record and a 4.74 ERA.

Bonifacio has only played in six games against the Mets, and holds a .190 batting average. Ex-Met Anderson Hernandez may take over the void left by Bonifacio at second base.

Strange trade. Still have to tango with all the players in 2009.

Matt Holliday traded to Oakland

According to Jon Heyman of SI.com, the Oakland A's are set to acquire Matt Holliday from the Colorado Rockies.

That's right everyone, the prospect loving Billy Beane just traded for a big bat.

For Mets fans, this is great news, as the Phillies were rumored to be in on landing Holliday for their left field vacancy. I couldn't imagine replacing Pat Burrell with Holliday, so a big thank you goes out to Beane for pulling this one off.

Names that are heading to Colorado are still filtering in, but right now Heyman is reporting that outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, and pitchers Greg Smith and Huston Street may be in on the deal. This would also affect the Mets, as it was being said that Street could be had, possibly by the Mets for the back end of their bullpen.

Street, if he's in on the deal, would replace Brian Fuentes as closer. Fuentes, a free agent, is another name the Mets have been linked to as well.

Big trade by Beane, and a very surprising one if you follow baseball at all.

Funniest baseball trade of all time

During my insatiable journey through the internet for the weird and wild, I happened upon the article "Six of baseball's strangest trades."

The trade ranking in at No. 1 on the list involved the New York Mets, so I figured I'd pass it along.

Harry Chiti for Harry Chiti
You always see those mysterious “players to be named later” spring up in trades. There are usually restrictions on what players can be traded depending on how each team does. The best player named later, though, was Harry Chiti. At the beginning of the 1962 season, the Cleveland Indians dealt catcher Chiti to the New York Mets for cash and a player to be named later. In June, the two teams decided on the player: Harry Chiti, Essentially, Chiti was traded for himself and cash, making him the literal rent-a-player.

Could you imagine being traded...for yourself? Too funny.