LOSE SANCHEZ AFTER OSWALT DEAL FAILS. August 1, 2006 -- There was a period Sunday night during which the Mets believed they were going to acquire Roy Oswalt, fulfilling their quest to add a power arm to pitch near the top of a playoff rotation. But in an agonizing sequence, they ended up missing out on Oswalt and, soon after, found out set-up man Duaner Sanchez might not pitch again in 2006. The Mets were involved in a three-team proposal with the Orioles and Astros for Oswalt in which they would have sent Lastings Milledge away to acquire Oswalt, last year's NLCS MVP, according to one official familiar with the talks. The Mets were euphoric before learning that Orioles owner Peter Angelos - whose team would have gotten Milledge - had squashed the possibility by deciding not to deal star shortstop Miguel Tejada to the Astros for a package that would have included Oswalt, a second baseball official briefed on the matter told The Post. The Mets then received even more disheartening information. Sanchez was involved in a car accident Sunday night while in a taxi after the team arrived in Miami for a series with the Marlins; Sanchez suffered a separated right shoulder and is questionable for the rest of this season. "If surgery is needed, he'll be out for the year," GM Omar Minaya confirmed. Minaya said Sanchez will know if he requires surgery in approximately a week. The GM insisted the right-handed reliever - who has a 2.60 ERA in a team-high 49 games - could return late in the year (Minaya mentioned September) if surgery isn't performed. He called the odds of surgery, "50-50." Sanchez is - or was - this year's eighth-inning reliever, and Roberto Hernandez was last year's. Now Hernandez is back with the Mets, acquired from the Pirates in a deal for Xavier Nady. The Mets also picked up minor league lefty starter Oliver Perez, who has been two totally different pitchers over the last few seasons. With Nady now in Pittsburgh, Minaya said Milledge, recalled from Columbus, and Endy Chavez will patrol right field. That means there are going to be key innings and at-bats going to a 41-year-old reliever (Hernandez) and a 21-year-old prospect (Milledge). Some of those innings could have been pitched by Oswalt. The Mets talked about a deal for the pitcher in which they would have parted with Milledge and prospects (not including Mike Pelfrey). They were content with moving Milledge in the trade because Oswalt could not be a free agent until after the 2007 season and because the Mets felt they would have a strong opportunity to retain Oswalt long-term. The Mets also made a push for San Francisco's Jason Schmidt late on Sunday night. According to the official, the Mets attempted to acquire Schmidt without trading Milledge or Aaron Heilman. San Francisco never agreed to any of the Mets' package offers and decided to retain its ace because, though currently struggling, the Giants are still viable contenders in the NL West. At one point in the evening, the Mets pondered the possibility of acquiring both Schmidt and Oswalt. Instead, they received neither one. Hernandez posted a 2.58 ERA last year and has a 2.93 mark this year, but the Mets seem to be a worse team now than when they last played, although Minaya, not surprisingly, wouldn't admit that. "There's no doubt Nady gave us one thing - he gave us the ability to hit home runs and power," Minaya said. "I think with Chavez and Milledge, we're a different look. We're probably going to continue to be more aggressive. "I think Roberto's going to do a good job and I really expect Aaron Heilman to step up and do a better job than he's been doing." According to Minaya, Sanchez was the only Mets player in the cab, and Billy Wagner, Sanchez's bullpen mate, said yesterday that he had "heard it was a drunk driver" who crashed into the cab. After the accident, Sanchez was examined at a local hospital; he returned to New York yesterday to check into the Hospital for Special Surgery. This is the third straight season in which a Met has been hurt in a bizarre incident. In 2004, Tom Glavine lost two teeth and lacerated his lip in a cab accident. Last year, Carlos Beltran and Mike Cameron crashed into each other while trying to catch a ball, and Cameron missed the rest of the season. mark.hale@nypost.com Click hear to view At a glance graphic
... but we didn't try to trade Oswalt according to Drayton and Timmy I still can't believe we even considered moving Oswalt ... that really concerns me because that makes me think that Tim and Drayton think they have no shot at signing him to an extension This whole thing is disturbing
Uh, as a former New Yorker, I'm about 300% more likely to believe McClane than I am the New York Post. Heck, Dick Justice is more credible than the Post, if that tells you anything.
The Post is basically a tabloid. I wouldn't trust it. Listening to Drayton this morning, I do believe him to a point. I am sure Roy was in a proposal, but only in a proposal. Kind of just to test the waters. See what is market value is. That could help with negotiations. The Mets might have thought they had a deal, but Drayton wasn't serious. Drayton is not going to trade away the only experienced arm we have going into next season.
Here's the thing I don't get... no one can know for sure if the team did try to deal Oswalt or at least entertained the idea (at the very least another team brought his name up or they floated his name out there just to assess his value). If though, they did try to deal Oswalt to get Tejada, how would that actually improve the team? You're putting a huge dent in your starting rotation to improve your offense. Has it not been proven time again that defense and pitching wins. Oswalt should be an Astro for life. Him and Berkman are the future. Get the extensions, I'm sure they pay him he'll stay; regardless of how he feels now. Throw in a family of bulldozers as performance incentives.
McClane pretty much said this in the interview this morning. He also insinuated that the other side brought Oswalt up in the various conversations and not the Astros. (But he was very careful with his wording, leading me to believe that once Oswalt was mentioned by the other team, the Astros listened to the proposal rather than outright dismissing the inclusion of Oswalt.) He also DraytOWNED Richard Justice by saying the "trade lidge now" rumor was ridiculous. But that's a different topic.
but justice remains "right" because he said he knew they'd deny it. just like he was "right" about benching jeff kent in 2004.
It's not like Drayton just laughed off Justice's claim. He actually went into a mini-tirade about how ridiculous the rumor was. I think McClane was .
No, it hasn't. If you actually look at the offensive (runs scored) and pitching/defensive (runs allowed) league rankings of the last 10 World Series champs, you'll see that they're worth exactly the same. I think it works out that the average champ is ranked 6th in both pitching/defense and offense--meaning that some teams who were ranked 2nd in pitching/defense won it while being ranked 10th in offense, while others ranked 10th in pitching/defense won it while being ranked 2nd in offense.
Offense/Defense League Rank (runs per game), AL Champ, NL Champ 2005: 9/1, 11/1 2004: 1/4, 1/1 2003: 3/3, 8/6 2002: 4/1, 3/2 2001: 5/3, 3/2 2000: 6/5, 7/3 1999: 3/2, 6/1 1998: 1/1, 8/3 1997: 3/7, 8/4 1996: 9/2, 4/1 1995: 1/1, 9/1 I read that as: If you're in the NL, you better have some arms & gloves.
If anybody saw the TP interview, you heard TP say that when teams ask about players on the team, that John Schurholz taught him to reply, "I'll think about it." I am totally convinced there is no way that TP or Drayton brought up Oswalt in discussion neither even entertained that 3 way trade offer with the O's and Mets. BUt they didn't say "H... No!" either. They were wanting to see where those clubs went with the offers. That's just smart business.
Exactly. Of course, the D-Rays started Zorbist last night, so what do the Astros know about fielding and running a baseball team?
My take on the Oswalt, Mets kerfuffle is that he was not offered in trade. You don't trade one of the top three pitchers in the game. There is no way to get proper return. I think the Mets beat writers are working with the Mets GM to spread some discord between Roy and the Astro's. The Mets need Roy to get pissed with the Astro's and more open to the idea of signing a huge New York contract when he is allowed to. The old, Astro's don't appreciate you, they diss you trying to trade you. Also, we, the Mets have the strongest lineup in the majors. We love you and will score tons of runs for you. This scenerio is plausable.
For the millionth time, Zobrist was not going to make the Astros as a SS. They projected him to be a 2B if he were to get to the majors. He was not going to beat out Chris Burke, so they traded him. They traded a guy they were never going to use for a strong middle-of-the-order bat. Get over it.
Every media outlet in the Baltimore-Washington area has reported that it was the Astros who scuttled the "trade". If this BS Post story WERE true, it would do nothing but highlight what an ignorant jackass Angelos is; first, turning down Oswalt for Tejada?! And, then if the deal had gone through, turning around and shipping him off for LASTINGS "F'ING" MILLEDGE?!!
Yes I was. Hey, e-mail me at the Yahoo...I forgot about a friend's bday today. Hopefully you're available tomorrow.
