Luis Castillo will not be traded this offseason

I feel bad saying this, but he's staying in New York.

The reason: who wants an aging second baseman who is being paid 6.25 mil? There are not many teams who need a second baseman anyway. I would say that the only teams that really need are the Nationals, Dodgers, and Cubs (kind of).

The only trades that really jumped out at me were:
-Castillo and 2 mil cash to the Nats for Josh Willingham
OR
-Castillo and cash to the Dodgers or Cubs, for a low-to-mid-level prospect

The Willingham trade is most plausible because the Nationals have a plethora outfielders, and have Willie Harris as their second baseman currently (do you want Willie Harris as your second baseman? I sure don't...) If these trades don't go down (which they won't), you still have Orlando Hudson, Felipe Lopez, Ronnie Belliard, and Adam Kennedy still on the market. I doubt that any team would rather give up something for a guy who is breaking down than sign a younger guy, who can hit the ball out of the infield.

What should the Mets do? Cut Castillo and sign Hudson.

My Prediction:
-Castillo stays with the Mets FOR NOW
-Hudson to the Cubs
-Belliard to the Dodgers
-Lopez to the Nationals

One last prediction:
Castillo will not be traded this offseason, but he will be traded during the season to a team in contention. There is bound to be a second baseman who gets injured mid-season and will need a solid second baseman again. They will trade for Castillo.

Interesting Reads: Bay, Francoeur, Griffey

Mike Puma of the New York Post writes a little about Jason Bay's physical.

James Kannengieser of Amazin' Avenue asks what about a Francoeur/Pagan platoon in LF.

Joseph Pawlikowski of River Ave Blues wonders if Ryan Church will be patrolling LF at Yankee Stadium.

John Frascella of the Bleacher Report wants to know why the Mets haven't shown much interest in free agent Jon Garland.

Danny Krieger of Mets Merized takes a look at the 2010 Braves.

In this post by the Boston Herald, this might be Ken Griffey Jr.'s last year in baseball.

Ridiculous Mets merchandise

Not sure if you guys were looking to get new Mets merchandise, but if you are you should definitely check out the Mets Player/Custom T-Shirt section, which contains personalized t-shirts by Omir Santos, JJ Putz, and Gary Sheffield.

Why would anyone pay $20 for these t-shirts? A) They're "personalized" by a back-up catcher, our old set-up man (if you even want to call him that), and the one and only Gary Sheffield and B) they look ridiculous! Jeez, come on Mets. Step up.

I meandered over to the Yankees' shop and only found this awful Nick Swisher one, and its not even half as bad at the Mets ones.

I then traveled to Mordor to see what the Phillies' had for their custom tees. I saw them selling a whole bunch of Roy Halladay gear and got depressed so I just clicked out of it.

Interesting Reads: Cora, Bumgarner, Fantasy Baseball

Michael Ganci of the Daily Stache takes a look at Alex Cora.

Eric Stashin of the Bleacher Report wonders if Giants' highly praised prospect Madison Bumgarner will make a fantasy impact in 2010.

Bob Klapisch of NorthJersey.com wonders what certain baseball related people's New Years resolutions are, such as Jeff Wilpon, Johan Santana, Bud Selig, and Jason Bay.

Mike Caprio of Keeper League GM takes a look at 10 players to watch for the 2010 fantasy baseball season.

Jimmy Hascup of the Bleacher Report takes a look at A's rookie Brett Anderson and whether or not he can be a top 45 pitcher.

Lawrence Barreca of Fantasy Football Maniaxs at the best third base options for fantasy baseball in 2010.

How the Mets rank

I came across this list by RotoProfessor that is the best position players according to how the next fantasy draft will turn out. He lists players for catcher, first base, second base, short stop, third base, outfield, starting pitcher, and closer.

No Mets player made it on the catcher, first base or second base list due to obvious reasons.

C

I guess the Brian Schneider/Omir Santos platoon at catcher wasn't enough for these guys to put on their list for catcher. Who would blame them? I don't even need to indulge further into the Mets' catcher situation.

Top 5 picks: 1. Joe Mauer, 2. Brian McCann, 3. Victor Martinez, 4. Miguel Montero, 5. Matt Wieters.

1B

Daniel Murphy probably wouldn't crack the top 50 list at first, so I wasn't shocked.

Top 5 picks: 1. Albert Pujols, 2. Mark Teixeira, 3. Miguel Cabrera, 4. Ryan Howard, 5. Prince Fielder.

2B

Luis Castillo did not make this list, even after his great 2009 season. I guess people see it as a fluke and I don't blame them. Who knows what's going to happen to Castillo. I hope he gets the axe, and we can sign Orlando Hudson. Not sure how likely that is, but hearing that Omar is trying to shop Castillo is a good sign.

Top 5 picks: 1. Chase Utley, 2. Ian Kinsler, 3. Brandon Philips, 4. Robinson Cano, 5. Ben Zobrist.

SS

It was obvious that Reyes made this list, even after his injury-filled season. He is an elite short stop who has tremendous talent. He landed number three on this list, beating out Jimmy Rollins and Derek Jeter. Jose Reyes is an electric player and I love watching him play. He brings great life to the lineup and a great vibe for the team.

Top 5 picks: 1. Hanley Ramirez, 2. Troy Tulowitzki, 3. Jose Reyes, 4. Jimmy Rollins, 5. Derek Jeter.

3B

David Wright is definitely a given here. He is a great all around player and is only 27. In his 6 years in the majors the last 4 named him an All-Star. I'm sure he'll get back to producing more and getting those home runs back. The lack of power from Wright has gotten some people talking, but I'm sure it was just the strange 09 season. Very excited to see David in 2010.

Top 5 picks: 1. Alex Rodriguez, 2. Evan Longoria, 3. David Wright, 4. Mark Reynolds, 5. Kevin Youkilis.

OF

The outfield picks were interesting. We have Carlos Beltran at number five beating out Grady Sizemore and Justin Upton. Jason Bay landed number eight while Matt Holliday landed number ten. They mention Beltran's knee and previous injury, but they said they wouldn't worry about it. He had over 500 at-bats every season from 2001-2008 and only twice having less than 554. They also mention he had 663 at-bats in 1999. Interesting how they projected Bay at eight and Holliday at ten, kind of makes me feel better about Bay and his signing.

Top 5 picks: 1. Ryan Braun, 2. Matt Kemp, 3. Carl Crawford, 4. Jacoby Ellsbury, 5. Carlos Beltran.

SP

For starting pitchers, they list the top 45. Santana is the only Met to make the list-- big shocker there. He was ranked number six, being beaten out by a lot of great pitchers including the newest Phillie, Roy Halladay. Hopefully we can trade for the 35th ranked pitcher projected here, Carlos "the Big Z" Zamrano. Let's hope Omar gets the memo or even reads any mets blog because they're all basically begging for it.

Top 5 picks: 1. Tim Lincecum, 2. Roy Halladay, 3. Zack Greinke, 4. Felix Hernandez, 5. CC Sabathia.

Closer

They ranked closer very interestingly, though Francisco Rodriguez landed the sixth spot. K-Rod was shaky at times during this season. His velocity was noticeably down and he couldn't find the strike zone in some instances. I believe this was a very off season for him. After coming off a record setting season with the Angels, I believe 09 could be chalked up to everything that happened during that season. He'll be back in elite form in 2010, I can assure you that. He brings this huge energy with him when he pitches-- I love it.

Top 5 picks: 1. Jonathan Broxton, 2. Mariano Rivera, 3. Joe Nathan, 4. Jonathan Papelbon, 5. Joakin Soria.

Honorable mention: 10. Andrew Bailey. He was a steal in my fantasy league. I picked him up pretty early on and never looked back. I loved him. He was lights out pretty much the entire season. He ended up winning the 2009 Rookie of the Year award and good for him. He earned it.

So, basically it comes down to our players. Based off this, we have the third best short stop in baseball, third best third baseman, fifth and eighth best outfielders, sixth best ace, and sixth best closer in all of the major leagues. I'd say that's very good.

In the positions we were excluded from (catcher, first base, second base, the rest of the rotation), we're not completely lost in. If we add a decent bat at first base that can platoon with Murphy, then that's an upgrade. Murphy held his own at first and was very good defensively. Platooning with someone who has a history at first is a major upgrade.

For second base, Castillo is not awful. He had a great season and maybe he can do it again in 2010-- who knows. He hit .302 and prospered. His defense was sub-par at times, so that has to be worked on. Other than that, he's not a horrible second baseman. It might be years ago, but he was a three time All-Star (02, 03, 05), three time gold glove winner (03, 04, 05), and led the majors in stolen bases in 2000 and 2002. He's obviously not what he used to be, but he still has a lot of gas left in his tank.

Okay, so the Brian Schneider/Omir Santos platoon didn't work out so well. If we sign any of the free agent catchers, it'll be an upgrade. We have our eyes set on Bengie Molina, and we have a good shot at acquiring him. I don't know why people are crying over this, as it is such an upgrade over the ZERO good options we have within the system right now. Sure, I wouldn't over-pay him and give him more than a year or two but it is a monster upgrade. He can hit and field great. He hit .265 with 20 homers and 8 RBIs in 2009, and .292 with 16 homers and 95 RBIs in 2008. He can add great pop to our lineup and can really teach our young pitching staff a thing or two.

As for the rotation, I don't know what's going to happen with it. If everything went our waythen Santana would be lights out, Pelfrey can step up and shut people down, Maine can get back to 06 form, Oliver Perez can finally dominate and Niese will become a great young pitcher. But not everything is what it seems and I'm sure every team has that with players. This is a huge season for Pelfrey. I'm not saying that it's not huge for Perez, Niese, or anyone else... but everyone expects Pelfrey to be the Messiah and live up to his expectations. 2010 will really show us who Mike Pelfrey is and what he's capable of. If you can't tell, I'm a huge fan of Pelfrey and love seeing Wright help him out. Wright seems to be a tremendous influence on him. In multiple interviews, Wright is positive that Pelfrey is not pitching to his greatest potential and wants him to break his shell.

I guess what I'm trying to say is... the Mets have a pretty good team with a solid core. The holes that we have either have to be filled or the people in them (i.e. the rotation) have to step up. If this happens, we are without a doubt a playoff team.

The New Year

I think we can all agree that 2009 was torture. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make sense of this past season. It was an absolute disaster.

2010 seems more promising, though. I don't know if its just that we were so awful in 09 that our team now seems good. Jason Bay joins us at Citi Field this year, I think that's great. Great and smart acquisitions by Omar also came to end 2009 that all could prove to be low risk, high reward such as Kelvim Escobar, Ryota Igarashi, Clint Everts along with a bunch of catchers and minor leaguers.

On behalf of everyone here at Chemetsry, have a happy New Year and here's to 2010! No matter how bad we suck or will be sucking in the future, we'll always be Mets fans. Cheers.

-M

A look at Jason Bay and the (current) 2010 Mets

Though not 100% official, the Mets and Jason Bay have reached an agreement of approximately 4 years, $66 mil with a 5th year option. This is all pending physical.

I like this move. He was one of two big name players for left field this off season and we got one of them. Sure you can argue that Matt Holliday is the better of the two, but Bay is a great player. Holliday also has Boras for an agent who will run you dry for your money, so I'm sure Omar felt it easier to deal with Bay. I'm sure that's not the reason, but I'm sure it helped.

Jason Bay will find success at Citi Field due to its big outfield and the ability to hit doubles and triples while Matt Holliday and his homeruns would've taken a hit. I like this move a lot.

Current line up:

Reyes

Castillo

Wright

Beltran

Bay

Murphy

Franceour

(catcher)

(pitcher)

That looks great. Pending the health of everyone, we have a pretty nice line-up.

Now for the rotation:

Santana

Pelfrey

Maine

Perez

Niese

We need extra firepower. My ideal pitcher would be Carlos Zambrano but I don't know how likely that will be. He'd be a fantastic #2 though. Another pitcher I think would fit is Ben Sheets. You can read more on the rotation in my recent post here.

For the bullpen:

Escobar

Igarashi

Stokes

Green

Parnell

Feliciano

K-Rod

I like that bullpen. Escobar and Igarashi can prove to be huge commodities. We know what to expect from Stokes, Parnell and Green and hope for them to improve. Feliciano has been great and we need for him to stay that way. K-Rod will get more save opportunities, hopefully, and get back to closing exciting games.

As for the set-up job, I assume Igarashi, Escobar, and possibly Parnell will be competing for it in spring training so who knows.

I like this team. They have a good core and a young bullpen. Though the rotation needs to be worked on, this team has good talent otherwise. The Mets are apparently off this week and away from office, so the Bay press conference and other moves will be made no earlier then next week.