With last night/today’s news that Carlos Beltran will miss at least 12 weeks due to knee surgery, the Mets are seemingly left without an outfielder. The notion ran through my head at the time that maybe Johnny Damon could wind up on the Mets. The same thought, apparently ran through Buster Olney’s and J.P. Riccardi’s heads.
They mentioned Queens as a possible landing spot for Damon during today’s afternoon version of Baseball Tonight, but, as I did, they quickly dismissed it. Let’s run down the reasons why it’s not going to happen:
1. Omar Minaya may not be the best GM in the world, but he’s definitely not bad enough to sign Johnny Damon and totally shoot his team’s defense in the foot.
2. The fact that Damon can no longer play CF makes it totally illogical for the Mets to even be close to interested. Jeff Francoeur’s only played two games in CF in his career, so he can’t do it. Jason Bay…yeah no.
3. Because of the lack of position flexibility, there’s just a logjam. They could conceivably move Bay to right, play Damon in left, and find someone else to play CF, but I really don’t think that’s gonna work because they’d have to move Franco to the bench (granted, that’s not a bad thing because he’s not particularly good at playing baseball) and the Mets seem to like him a lot so it’s unlikely they do that.
In the end, it seems as if it’s going to be either the Yankees or the Braves for Damon. While Scott Boras and Johnny Damon may try to use the Mets’ injury situation as leverage against the Yankees and/or Braves, but I think both Brian Cashman and John Frank Wren are way too smart to fall for that trick. I’d put the chances of Johnny ending up in Queens at 5% or less.
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11 Responses to Does Beltran Mean Anything for Damon?
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TIQ IQ
I agree with you Matt. Reed Johnson makes a lot more sense IMO. Also, 12 weeks doesn’t merritt the cost of Damon. Now, if it’s more then 12… nah, still doesn’t.
And isn’t it Frank Wren?
I realized that just now. I typed “John” because I used to play baseball with a kid by the same name. I’ll change it.
Oh I didn’t care. I just was curious if you were adding Scherhultz name with Wren.
No worries; thanks for the catch!
It would be great if he went to the wrong side BB in NY…he would see on an every day basis the right side of a MLB team.. LIke moving next door to an old girl friend you took for granted, now you have to see her dressed up having parties and being a success , he will have his face on the window looking out at what he lost, go mets sign another guy with a limp.. how many HRs do you think he will hit in that park? I’ll say 15 tops and hit about .270.
Never put a horrendously stupid idea past the Mets. They’re a horribly run organization, and the Beltran incident is just a sign that the players have no more faith in the front office than the fans do.
People keep bitching about “The Mets Doctors”, but the Mets use the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan, which is one of the most highly reputable orthopedic hospitals in the country. Also, the Giants use the very same hospital and have almost none of the same problems, which leads me to believe the trouble isn’t with their Doctors, it’s with the Mets front office and how they utilize that information.
They don’t believe in modern statistical analysis, when every well run team has a department devoted to it. They had a VP who thought the way to deal with minor league teams losing (which well run teams don’t even care about) was to take his shirt off and challenge them to a fistfight, the GM is borderline illiterate, two straight collapses, one caused by a simple failure to rest regulars, the Ryan Church concussion, the Jose Reyes hamstring that took all year to heal, etc etc.
The reason why Beltran thumbed his nose at the Mets brass is he blames them for making his initial injury (which wasn’t all that serious) WORSE by rushing him back and injuring him further. Jeff Franceour had a minor thumb injury last year, they let him continue playing and he wound up needing to have surgery that required them to do a ligament replacement in his hand.
The Mets are one of the worst run franchises in all of professional sports. They just have a high enough payroll to make it look a little better.
Steve S. that was a great rant!! full of facts and bitter truth..you can throw phillips in their also..are they still paying mo vaughn and bobby bo bo?? AHH they never needed ryan, kent, cone, kazmir et al. boy did we make a great move not signing beltran.. great talent but lazy..prone to brain lock..damon would die a death of a thousand cuts in queens..he must stop drinking boras’s cool ade.
Actually the Mets will be payi g Bonilla until like 2029. I had to recheck the year again when I first read it. It’s insane.
I wouldn’t even care, there are other horribly run teams like the Royals and Pirates I couldn’t care less about. But my Mom’s a big Mets fan, so I have to deal with their stupidity.
It really comes down to their ownership. Jeff Wilpon is an imbecile, and his father wasn’t much better.
2029? nostradamus said thats the next time the mets will win their division..
You mean you people are starting to realize the Mets are run by dumb-s**ts. Also the Nets, Knicks, Rangers and Islanders. Seems like the more money they have, the more they like to waste it.