Some early (and minimal) insight into Minaya's thinking for offseason can be found here. Nothing surprising, but clearly his approach is that they've got the nucleus players, and having numbers of pitchers available for different options is what he considers most important.
If I had to guess, we will not pursue a big-name vet pitcher at this point, he will likely look to pick up several lesser known guys and hopefully improve their #s, just like what happened with maine, mota, sanchez, etc. Then maybe he'll look to replace valentin at 2nd with a veteran hitter, so soriano fits the bill. The main thing I don't like about soriano is that we sacrifice defense, and I think having a solid infield is key in the playoffs. But the other 2B options (kennedy, belliard) don't have much offense, and it's not like sori is a disaster at 2nd base.
4 comments:
If the Mets are planning to pony up for Soriano, then they can afford to have Chavez and Milledge at the OF corners, at least from a lineup standpoint.
Reyes
LoDuca
Beltran
Wright
Delgado
Soriano
Chavez
Milledge
The question now is would you rather have Burrell or Soriano? The thing about Burrell I don't like is his low BA - I'd rather have high BA than power in lineup at this point. On the other hand, Burrell has a very high OBP since he draws a lot of walks. That said, I don't see his walks doing us a lot of good if he's batting 6 and Valentin and Chavez or Green are batting behind him, so you'd almost have to move him up higher in order. But who would you bump to 6 then? I don't think you can put Wright, with his ability and salary, in the 6 hole. I guess the main advantage to having Burrell in 6 is that Wright should see a lot better pitches to hit, instead of the BS steady diet of outside corners he was being fed.
You might not want to drop Wright b/c he's the cornerstone of the franchise, but his salary is still a fraction of Burrell's.
Soriano's the better player, no question. And he's a free agent. So you've got to figure the Mets go after him first. If the cost gets too high, then Burrell's a decent fall back.
Of course, the Mets could conceivably go after both. A Green for Burrell swap might be possible. Both are overpaid, but Green's only overpaid for one more year, which might make him preferable in the Phillies eyes. How about a lineup with Soriano at 2b, Burrell in LF, and Milledge/Chavez in RF? Getting a little too HR/K prone for your liking? It would have a lot of intimidation factor:
Reyes
Duke
Wright
Beltran
Soriano
Delgado
Burrell
Milledge/Chavez
I like it.
Interesting lineup.. Certainly would be intimidating! I wonder how beltran would respond in 4 hole. he seems to like 3 slot a lot. i think getting wright's average into 3 spot could be key though - it's perfect in that lineup. It helps drive in runs when reyes/duke get on base, and it also gives beltran and delgado a better shot of having runners on base when they bat to do max damage.
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