Mike Silva's New York Baseball Digest » Blog Archive » Is Figgins on Mets Radar?

Is Figgins on Mets Radar?


By Mike Silva ~ August 7th, 2010. Filed under: Mike Silva, New York Mets.

The mysterious scratches of Fernando Martinez and Ruben Tejada has the rumor mill buzzing about a possible Mets deal. The one team that seems to be in the fray are the Mariners and our old friend Jack Zduriencik.

I can’t see the Mets giving up two kids like Martinez and Tejada for an expensive veteran. At least in theory that doesn’t make sense. Much of the speculation right now is dealing the Oliver Perez/Luis Castillo bad money for a bad Seattle contract. Possibilities include Jose Lopez, Milton Bradley, and Chone Figgins.

Figgins makes sense since he is on a down year (OPS+ of 80), signed long term (through 2013), and expensive (owed as much as $26 million). If you remember there were rumblings the Mets had interest in Figgins this past offseason.

If you are able to dump the remaining Perez/Castillo money ($18 million in 2011) for Figgins that might make sense. Remember, Figgins can play second base and the Mets really don’t have a starting option for next season outside of Castillo.

Offensively Figgins, if healthy, gives the Mets a high OBP top of the order hitter. On the flip side his defense at second base isn’t great (career UZR/150 of -7.9), although his versatility gives you options across the field. The big concern is you could have another declining player in the mold of Castillo.

Normally I wouldn’t be a proponent of bringing in a “speed player” in his late prime, but if this involves dumping Perez and/or Castillo I am all for it. Of course, this assume that neither Martinez or Tejada would be in such a deal.

Hopefully this is an example of the Mets cleaning up mistakes and taking good risks instead of showing activity in order to appease an angry fan base. Regardless, all of this is just speculation as there is no hard information indicating the Mets are close to any deal.

Mike Silva is a freelance writer and radio host since March of 2007. This website is his own personal "digest" of New York Baseball He's also hosts NYBD Radio on Blog Talk Radio and 1240 AM WGBB. Check out his sports media commentary at www.sportsmediawatchdog.com. Check out his official website, www.mikesilvamedia.com
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3 Responses to Is Figgins on Mets Radar?

  1. 86mets
    August 7th, 2010 at 11:08 am

    Figgins, I’d be ok w/ but NOT Bradley! The problem w/ Figgins, however, is that he still has 3 yrs left and there is a chance those 3 yrs turns into another Castillo/Perez headache. This would be a deal for 2011 as Figgins is having a poor season in Seattle, but then again, outside of Ichiro, who isnt’. Overall acquiring Figgins is fraught w/ risk. If he doesn’t rebound next season and the following 2 years, this is a bad, bad deal. Whereas now you could play out the year w/ Castillo and let him leave as a FA and either find a 2B via trade or FA, or give the job to Tejeda. This probably isn’t a good deal for us, esp if it’s Martinez for Figgins. Now if it were Martinez & Perez for Jose Lopez, I might be willing to talk.

  2. piranhamax
    August 7th, 2010 at 11:48 am

    Done Deal. Have your GM make it happen NOW… ASAP , yesterday.

  3. Stu B
    August 7th, 2010 at 8:42 pm

    In retrospect, this was nothing but silly speculation; no way Tejada and Martinez clear waivers, which they would have had to in order to be traded…

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