State of the Mets Rotation (Part VI)

As I’ve said before, the Mets need pitching depth. Seems like Omar Minaya thinks so too. On Saturday, Christian Red of the New York Daily News, reported that the Mets had signed Livan Hernandez to a $1 million minor-league deal with $1 million in performance bonuses. When asked about Pedro Martinez, Minaya responded that they are set with the pitchers they have. However, “as long as Martinez has yet to sign with a team” David Lennon of Newsday won’t count the Mets out.

This news is very exciting. Last year, I and many others were hoping the Mets would sign Livan for the #5 spot. Turns out they could’ve used him with all the injuries to the rotation. This year, Livan will be competing with Freddy Garcia, Tim Redding and Jonathan Niese for the last spot on the rotation.

The downside to the minor-league deals given to Garcia and Livan is that Garcia has said he expects to be in the rotation or will pitch somewhere else. So we’ll have to wait for Opening Day to see whether the Mets will have strong pitching depth.

The best case scenario for the team would be to have Garcia make the rotation, with Redding in the bullpen and Livan in the Minors as the 6th man. Since Niese is still a rookie, it’s pretty much guaranteed that he’ll be starting in AAA.

As for Pedro, like David Lennon, until he signs somewhere else, I still see Pedro returning to the Mets. However, I think he’ll sit out the cold months (maybe in St. Lucie) and possibly get a call in June.

Teixeira Rumors: Day Three of Winter Meetings

Here’s MLBTradeRumors.com’s, Mark Teixeira rumors for today.

1. Mike DiGiovanni of the L.A. Times discusses the current market for Mark Teixeira, saying “The Boston Red Sox have emerged as front-runners, and the Washington Nationals, who appear willing to offer eight years and $160 million, could make the most lucrative bid.”
2. Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post says, “there doesn’t appear to be much chance of Mark Teixeira signing a contract on the premises of the Bellagio Hotel.”
3. Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated believes Mark Teixeira will get his 10 year $200 million contract.
4. Jose Mota of Yahoo! Sports reports that the Nationals have offered Mark Teixeira a 7 year $150 million contract.
5. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reports, “Teixeira, according to two major-league sources, would prefer to be on the east coast for family reasons.”

Things seem to be heating up, especially after the Yankees reported signing of C.C. Sabathia. That the Angels are pursuing Teixeira hard is not surprising, however it has not been reported that they have made an offer. It makes sense that Scott Boras would be trying to push Teixeira to Boston so that the other Big Market teams can pursue Manny Ramirez. As I’ve said, since the Mets are an East Coast winning team it makes sense that Teixeira and the Mets could be working on something. It hasn’t been reported, but I do believe that Omar Minaya is working behind the scenes to trade Carlos Delgado and sign Teixeira.

Teixeira Rumors: Day Two of Winter Meetings

Tim Dierkes of MLBTradeRumors.com has posted today’s Mark Teixeira rumors.

1. Gordon Edes, of Yahoo! Sports, spoke with several club execs who believe Mark Teixeira will sign with the Red Sox, because, “they want him. They have a good relationship with [agent Scott] Boras, and in the end, they have the dollars to make it happen.”
2. Jon Heyman, of Sports Illustrated, reports that “word is gathering that the Red Sox are one of the most aggressive pursuers of Mark Teixeira, with several executives predicting he may wind up there.”
3. Tim Brown, of Yahoo! Sports, says the Angels would be willing to go up to a seven year contract for Mark Teixeira to keep him in L.A.
4. Ken Rosenthal, of Fox Sports, has learned that the Angels may not be the high bidder on Mark Teixeira and that some insiders believe the Nationals will offer him a deal close to his 10 year $200 million asking price.

The optomist in me is remembering the reports circulating the Johan Santana trade at last year’s winter meetings. The Red Sox and Yankees were the front runners back then, but Omar Minaya played the waiting game and got the prize for the right price.

However, not hearing the Mets as a possibility is a little worrisome. In the end though, there are many reasons why Mark Teixeira does not fit with the Red Sox, Yankees, Nationals, Angels or Orioles and would fit perfectly with the Mets. So until I hear otherwise, I’ll remain optimistic that the Mets will sign Mark Teixeira.