Tom Seaver Fan Club

Third time is the charm, at least it looks that way as far as the Mets starting catcher goes.  First it looked like Yorvit Torrealba would get the job but his injuries still haven’t been unveiled.  Then it looked like Johnny Estrada when they traded for him with the Brewers but then it looked like he wouldn’t be the guy and he’d be traded sooner or later.  Now, it looks like the Mets finally got their guy and it’ll be interesting to see if the price is right.  In a trade with the Nationals, the Mets received catcher Brian Schneider and a solid left handed hitting outfielderin Ryan Church.  Church was very solid against right handed pitching (.866 OPS) but he might as well not be put in there against lefties so he’ll make for a nice platoon partner for one of the corner outfield spots.

Schneider had an abysmal season at the plate last year but the Mets have plenty of offense to go around.  He’s a veteran and you’d hope he’ll be able to handle the young pitching the Mets have coming up through the system.  Also, Scheider is a very solid backstop and he led the National League last year in caught stealing percentage and he had the third best stolen base against/game rate.

Of course to get those two pieces, the Mets gave up top prospect Lastings Milledge.  Milledge has spent parts of the past two seasons with the big league club and he was effective when he was in there, it was the offseason troubles that always surrounded him.  If the Mets win a World Series in the next couple of years and both Schneider and Church are pieces of the team, I’ll call the trade a success. Of course if Milledge becomes a perennial All Star, we could view the trade in the same light as the Scott Kazmir deal.

The Mets sent relief pitcher Guillermo Mota to the Brewers in exchange for catcher Johnny Estrada.  It’ll be the fourth team for Estrada in four years and I’d sort of view him as a lighter version of Paul Lo Duca.  He’s got some troubles behind the plate but he can hit for a decent average with some pop.  He’s hit as many as 11 homers and driven in as many as 76 in a season and he’s a career .280 hitter.

Mets fans didn’t treat Mota well in his tough 2007 season so the thinking is that this trade could benefit the veteran relief pitcher.  He not only pitcher poorly, but he had to serve a 50 drug suspension.  Still, having Mota gone means the Mets now have to find a new relief pitcher.

I don’t know whether to believe any of this stuff anymore but just days after reading about how the Mets were going after David Eckstein to play second base, they sign Luis Castillo to a big four year, $25 million deal.  Castillo provides the Mets with a nice table setter and while you won’t get a lot of power from the second baseman, you can rely on him to get some walks, score some runs and provide you with some top notch defense.

I like the move and prefer it over the Eckstein rumor.  The Mets still need to do some work on the pitching side of things but their offense should be top notch when you throw in a full season of Castillo at the top of the lineup.

Well, this is one of those times where all you can do is a 180 degree turn.  It seemed almost certain that Yorvit Torrealba was coming to the Mets but now the team is saying the deal is off.  The deal was contingent on a physical and the Mets aren’t saying what if anything that had to do with it but it seems pretty much a certainty that Torrealba will not be a Met.  Of course just a few days ago we thought it was pretty much a certainty that he was coming to New York.  Anyway, it looked like a sore shoulder scared the Mets off.

It looks like now, the Mets are after David Eckstein with the hopes he’d become the team’s regular second baseman.  Eckstein is one of those guys who somehow manages to get it done.  He doesn’t have a lot of pop but he’s one of those gritty players you like to have.  Second base has been a black hole for quite some time and while I wouldn’t mind Luis Castillo back in the fold, Eckstein could provide a lower cost alternative.

The Mets locked up their catchers for the 2008 season and you have to be happy with the Yorvit Torrealba signing.  Three years, $14.4 million could turn out to be a huge bargain if we get what the Rockies got out of Torrelba in 2007.  Anytime you sign a Rockie there’s some concern because of the ballpark factor and Torrealba did struggle on the road (.212/.292/.326) so you have to hope he can get it done at Shea (and then Citifield).

You do get the defense though and Torrealba finished with 27 fielding runs above replacement.  He didn’t allow many passed balls but his throwout rate wasn’t all that great.  Still, he didn’t make a single fielding error all season and he seemed like he did a good job with the pitching staff.

In addition, Torrealba was probably the best option out there.  Jorge Posada would have been nice but the Yankees took care of things there.  The Mets also signed their back up catcher with Ramon Castro coming back into the fold.