Joel Pineiro signs with the Angels. What now for the Mets?
As I reported on Twitter, Joel Pineiro has notified the Mets that he's signing elsewhere, and a friend of Pineiro's told me that the right-hander intends to sign with the Angels, who lost ace John Lackey to Boston earlier this offseason.
I'm trying to nail down the numbers, and I don't want to hazard a guess. Let's wait on those before we decide whether this was a good move or bad move by the Mets to pass. Looking at Pineiro's numbers, it is stunning to see how few strikeouts Pineiro recorded during his breakthrough 2009 - and that was in the National League, of course.
So what now for the Mets? I believe that the team is considering Ben Sheets more seriously, based on Sheets' impressive workout yesterday. Jon Garland is still out there, but I don't think the Mets have been that hot on him lately.
Teams like the Rangers, Cubs, Cardinals and Mariners have been mentioned in the yakosphere (trademark Neil Best) as candidates for Sheets, in addition to the Mets. The Mets clearly have been conservative about pricing this starting-pitching market, as we've seen by their decisions to pass on Randy Wolf, Jason Marquis and now Wolf.
Should they go for it on Sheets, who has such a high upside? Guarantee him Rich Harden money ($7.5 million) and throw incentives on top of that? That's a really tough call, I think. From Sheets' perspective, the prospect of working in pitcher-friendly Citi Field has to be appealing. But maybe not so much playing in New York.
Other possibilities? It's the next tier down, and then some: John Smoltz. Chien-Ming Wang. Given the low price tags on those guys, it's not inconceivable the Mets could sign Sheets and someone like Smoltz and Wang.
--UPDATE, 8:36 p.m.: Jon Heyman reports that Pineiro's deal with the Angels is for two years and about $16 million. Eh. Can't crush the Angels for committing it. Although we still need to find out exactly how much the Mets bid.
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