Wednesday, December 26, 2007

We Didn't Start the Prior?

I was going to post on this, but Tremont already alluded to this in his last post. I'm miffed that the Mets didn't take a one year flyer on Mark Prior. It's the perfect low cost/high reward type transactions Omar was making earlier in his career. Maybe Prior thought it best for his career to throw in near perfect conditions within the pitching friendly confines of Petco Park, but as is evidenced by nearly every signing in the free agent era, a player will go to the highest bidder. The Mets couldn't/didn't offer more than a $1M? They should've doubled that offer. If he no longer had the stamina to start, he may have proven valuable out of the bullpen, which is an area the team surely needs some help in. Furthermore, he would've provided a feel good story in spring training for a franchise that desparately needed one coming off last years collapse, and at the price he signed for, if he gives a league average pitcher he is an absolute bargain. If resembles his former self, well....

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tremont is again behaving like the sterotypical Yankee fan -looking for any excuse to bash Omar.
Without knowing anything about Prior's contact with other teams regarding money, I think SD is the best place for Prior. Its his hometown, its a pitcher's park and most importantly, its a small market.
Even if the Mets were to take a flier on Prior, do you think New York is the best place for a struggling pitcher coming off a career-threatening injury to regain his confidence? NY has destroyed the psyche of many a player who has shown weakness, and on the opposite end acting like a tough guy and rushing back from or playing through an injury in an attempt to win over NY fans is not something you want Prior doing.
The Mets signing Mark Prior would acheive the same thing as the Yankees signing Carl Pavano, except our waste would cost us less money. Prior signed a 1-year deal, if he makes significant progress then Omar can re-evaluate and throw him some NY money.
Bash Omar if he doesn't land a #1 starter, not for this. Speaking of GMs who have lost their luster, what is the Cash Man doing to get the Yanks past the ALDS so they can lose to the Sox this year?

Anonymous said...

Sorry for assuming Tremont posted this thread, I just assumed Mookie was dead.
As a result, please change the tone of my post from attacking Yankee fans for bashing Omar to attacking self-loathing Jews and Met fans for bashing Omar. The rest still holds.

Tremont said...

I actually said both the yanks and mets whiffed on prior. You kind of glazed over the key difference between signing Pavano and signing Prior, but I will spell it out. Pavano cost FORTY(!) times as much. I don't see how you can argue against throwing him Miguel Cairo money on the off-chance he can be 80 percent of what he used to be. If he stinks, you've wasted less than 1 percent of your payroll and give him the Jose Lima treatment after 5 starts. There isn't much downside.