Mets-Tigers Trade and Other News

Mets trade P Matt Ginter to the Tigers for P Steve Colyer

I remain baffled about this trade after reading it an hour ago.

While I'm not too high on Ginter, I do think that he earned a spot on the big league roster with his solid spring. He's also a valuable spot starter to have around.

So what do they do? They trade him for their third Victor Zambrano acquisition of the last 8 months: Steve Colyer (I say this because of Coyler's mind-numbing BB/9 of 5.66 in the minors). Colyer will start the season in AAA.

The Tigers picked up a guy who might slide into their rotation, and they didn't give up too much. Gotta say that they made a pretty nice deal, on their end.

This article from last night explains the bullpen pitchers that the Mets have decided to carry:

- Braden Looper
- Mike DeJean
- Manny Aybar
- Roberto Hernandez
- Mike Matthews
- Felix Heredia
- Dae-Sung Koo

Ginter was not one of the 7, so I figured that something was happening with him. I will now join the naysayers against the Met bullpen. Bartolome Fortunato (sore back) and Heath Bell, two who I thought would be in the 'pen to make it at least interesting, are not there (Moreno's not in the mix b/c shoulder surgery has him sidelined until at least June, according to Yahoo). Manny Aybar (Aybar earned it with some real solid pitching this spring) and Mike Matthews are ahead of Bell, not to mention Heredia (who had a disastrous spring). And they couldn't find a spot for Ginter.

So, yeah, Colyer strikes out a lot of guys and throws with a left arm, which seems like the only reason he is in baseball these days. I read this deal as the best they figured that they could get for a player who couldn't fit on the roster, not as much of an endorsement of Colyer as getting something for Ginter. And I guess that when Minaya saw that he could get this guy, this lefty who strikes guys out, he said, "OK."

For the curious, Colyer gave up 7 home runs in Detroit in like, 18 innings there. I don't know what to say about that....sample size? Bad luck? Or just....bad?

In the grand scheme of things, this is a fairly meaningless trade, but Minaya loses points for not finding a way to keep Ginter. And he also loses points for not keeping Bell in the 'pen, who has certainly earned a spot in the bullpen.

The ideal Met bullpen, in my eyes:

- Braden Looper
- Mike DeJean
- Manny Aybar
- Heath Bell
- Matt Ginter
- Dae-Sung Koo
- Mike Matthews / Felix Heredia, not both.

Aybar wasn't even in baseball last year, but he's looked real good this spring, so I'm OK with him in the pen.

The other news is:

- Rich Harden signed a 4 year deal with the A's and terms have not been disclosed. [edit] Terms have since been disclosed.
- Billy Beane is now a partial owner of the A's in addition to their GM until at least 2012.
- Bruce Chen is Baltimore's 5th starter.

The Harden signing is wise. I think that Harden will be superb this year. He had a very good season in the majors at the age of 22, and his control improved in the second half, too:

1st half: 4.71 BB/9
2nd half: 3.03 BB/9

That goes a long way.

The Beane thing is interesting, too....you rarely see this kind of a committment to a GM. Then again, GMs don't tend to lose their jobs that often (except in New York). How long has Allaird Baird been with the Royals? Ed Wade with the Phils? And they really haven't earned their continued employment, right? So yeah, in that sense, this isn't all that big a deal. Beane's a great GM, though, and it's very interesting to see the "personality cult" that has kind of developed around him there.

I mentioned Chen in another entry, and I definitely like that move. I was recently playing around with a spreadsheet of AAA stats, and Chen kept coming up on the top of a lot of lists from 2004. And he was OK in the majors last year. So that seems like a nice move. Maybe Chen will be able to buy a house and not have to move for a bit.....it seems like he's played everywhere.