Festivus features the "Airing of Grievances," and what better way for the Mets to stay in the "Seinfeld" holiday spirit than by pursuing a player with a pending grievance against them?
Now that Benjie Molina has signed with the Giants, some reports have the Mets turning their attention to free agent catcher Yorvit Torrealba. Two years ago, Torrealba signed a three-year deal with the Mets, but after he took his physical, the team backed out of the agreement.
Torrealba then filed his grievance, claiming that the Mets hurt his value by creating the impression that he was an injury risk, which Torrealba says is untrue. A hearing on the grievance was scheduled to be held last month.
It is understandable that Torrealba is upset - since when have the Mets been concerned about whether or not someone is an injury risk? (No, I haven't gotten over J.J. Putz, Victor Zambrano and Mo Vaughn, just to name three.)
The Mets filed their own grievance of a sort last week when they sent a letter to Scott Boras complaining that they did not have a chance to get a third opinion before Carlos Beltran underwent knee surgery.
So signing Torrealba would mean that 25% of the Mets' starting eight position players would be involved in the recent airing of grievances. Happy belated Festivus!
But the Wilpons would probably put a stop to a Mets midwinter Festivus before it reached the final tradition - the Feats of Strength - in which the head of the household must be pinned in a wrestling match. Then again, SNY does have a lot of hours to fill in the offseason.
13 comments:
Even though Bengie Molina could pin Omir Santos during the "feats of strength" portion of Festivus, I felt the Mets dodged another Castillo-esque signing by sticking to their guns regarding the aging, recently re-signed SF catcher.
On another note, why so many Yankee blogs in the blog reel. I get it. They won the WS. But, come on, it's a two-team town. I'm just saying. SOS, need more Mets blogs in the blog reel.
Jon, I have a Festivus pole if you need one.
Cheers!
If the New York Met-A-Ricans don't start getting some Americans on their team soon they will forever be in last place.
It's not that Omar obviously tries to sign only Hispanic players that is outrageous. It is that he insists that the Mets clubhouse be the equivalent of a an assisted-living facility in Santo Domingo.
Um. Brian Stokes for Gary Matthews Jr.? WTF?
I actually liked Stokes and I think Pagan could have held the fort until Beltran returned. So why Gary Matthews Jr.? He's been awful and he was unhappy about not starting in Anaheim, which led to him playing even poorer. He's not going to start for the Mets so how is this going to work out for the Mets?!?
WTF indeed. The Angels are so desperate to get rid of this guy that they are willing to eat $21M. The only reason to take on a Matthews is to get rid of someone like Castillo, not a needed piece of the bullpen. Terrible move.
Why is everyone so down on Castillo? With Beltran, Reyes and Delgado out last year, he provided most of the offense? Hudson is not an upgrade to Castillo.
Castillo was a pleasant surprise on offense last year, but I liked the idea of trading him when he might have more value. But nobody seems to want him, which is not a good sign.
I agree that Hudson may not be a big upgrade, but he is supposed to be a good character guy. Not that Castillo isn't, but Hudson could have helped the Mets' efforts to improve the clubhouse.
Instead, the Mets trade for a guy who is likely to make the clubhouse worse.
And they gave up pitching when pitching is what we needed the most...
Jon: Angels owner Arte Moreno was willing to pay Gary Matthews Jr. $21 million to go away? Hey, Arte: Pay me $21 million, and I'll never set foot in Anaheim Stadium (or whatever you're calling it these days) for the rest of my life! (Pretty safe: I've never been to California.)
Still, if a good team like the Angels was that willing to get rid of a guy who used to be very good, something is very wrong. And if the Mets are that willing to get a guy that a team was that willing to get rid of, well, we are talking about the Mets here.
AC Wayne: If New York is a two-team town, it's because some people count the Staten Island Yankees.
"Anonymous": Puerto Ricans ARE Americans. Vaya con Luis Arroyo, Bernie Williams y Jorge Posada.
Guinness: I think the reason people are down on Castillo is because of one play. You know which one. Personally, I don't think a man's entire playing career should be judged by one play. Right, Mr. Buckner?
Now what happens if Gary Matthews actually plays well? With Beltran back, where would Matthews play?
Let's see, if I know the Mets as well as I think I do, then if Matthews plays well, this will be offset by a season-wrecking (for the player, and possibly also for the team) injury to another starter.
This isn't funny. As big of a Yankee Fan as I am, I know that this stuff stopped being funny a long time ago. You'd have to be a pretty demented Met fan -- one who thinks the Yankees "buy their titles" and a league with the DH is "illegitimate" and that the '86 Mets could have beaten the '98 Yankees in a 4-of-7 series -- for me to think you deserve what's happened to the Mets since Aaron Heilman served up that meatball to Yadier Molina.
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