Quick Thoughts On The Brian McCann Signing

Here's a bit of broken news for you.  This just came in from the Twitter account of the always-dependable Ken Rosenthal:

Source: McCann deal with #Yankees is 5/85 with sixth-year vesting option that could bring it to 6/100.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 23, 2013

That's right, Mets fans.  Former Braves catcher Brian McCann is getting $17 million per season in a deal that could see him getting a total of $100 million from the Yankees through 2019.  Need I remind you, McCann will be 30 before Opening Day.  He's also a catcher.  And he's also been basically a singles hitter with an occasional homer thrown in to mix things up.  Want proof?

McCann has hit 20+ homers seven times in his career.  However, he's still looking for his first 25-HR campaign.  Despite the fact that a home run guarantees a run scored and at least one run batted in, McCann's runs have gone down every year since 2008 and his RBI total has decreased each year since 2009.  McCann's extra-base hits have also decreased annually since 2008, as have his total hits.

Year	Runs Scored	Runs Batted In	Extra-Base Hits	Total Hits
2008	68	87	66	153
2009	63	94	57	137
2010	63	77	46	129
2011	51	71	43	126
2012	44	67	34	101
2013	43	57	33	91

To put that into perspective, please note that in the 2012 and 2013 campaigns, Lucas Duda scored a total of 85 runs, drove in 90, collected 61 extra-base hits and pounded out 167 total hits.  (McCann had 87, 124, 67 and 192, respectively.)  And for those of you saying "but McCann's a catcher and gets less playing time", Duda had 719 at-bats in the majors between the two seasons, while McCann had 795.  Therefore, the Yankees just paid $85 million (and perhaps up to $100 million) to a player whose current offensive production isn't that far off from what Lucas Duda does at the plate for the Mets.

But hey, at least the Yankees know that if someone styles after hitting a home run off one of their own, Brian McCann will be there to block the plate as that hitter rounds third.  I guess that part of his game is priceless.

Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images

Mets Must Drop Machete On Omar Minaya

They call him Machete. And if you have run a baseball team into the ground with poor trades and a general lack of concern for what's best for your team and your fanbase, then Machete will come after you.

Omar Minaya wants to put up an electric fence to keep quality players out, while non-productive, injury-plagued players are kept in. So basically, this is another way of saying that the Mets are closing their borders to keep good players from crossing into Flushing.

Anyone who sees this as a good way to run a baseball team should have the machete dropped on him. Even Machete himself, who will defend mostly every Mexican, would be hard-pressed to show mercy on Omar Minaya for keeping his compadre, Oliver Perez, on the team.


It's one thing to not make any trades at the trade deadline. After all, the Mets don't want another Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano deal (not that Kazmir is doing much nowadays). But when you do nothing to remove cancers like the aforementioned Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo from the team, then get rid of Jeff Francoeur and get nothing but Joaquin Arias (a man who has never hit a home run and walked only ten times over parts of four seasons in the majors) in return, then perhaps it's time for Omar Minaya to give up his day job.

In his latest video installment of "Rosenthal's Full Count", Ken Rosenthal states that the Marlins are searching for a "more dynamic, fiery manager" to lead the team in 2011. One of the candidates suggested by Rosenthal would be current Brooklyn Cyclones manager and former Met sparkplug Wally Backman.

Should Dead Manuel Walking not return in 2011, Backman was considered to be a leading candidate for the Mets job. But with Omar Minaya as the club's GM, would be it surprise you if he acted slowly and let the Marlins take away the one man who has done nothing but lead his teams to championships? Take a look at Backman's record as a manager:

• 2002: Led AA-Birmingham (White Sox affiliate) to the Southern League title.
• 2004: Led High A-Lancaster (Diamondbacks affiliate) to the California League championship series.
• 2007: Led South Georgia Peanuts (independent) to the South Coast League title.
• 2010: Led Brooklyn Cyclones (Mets) to the NY-Penn League (McNamara) division title.

Backman's teams are scrappy and do whatever it takes to win, just like Wally did as a player for the New York Mets. He has been a winner everywhere he has managed. Of course, Omar Minaya will probably only notice this once Backman is wearing another team's jersey during his introductory press conference as that team's manager.

Is it time for the Mets to contact Machete to sever their ties to Omar Minaya? If they do, no amount of prayer would be enough to save Minaya. His career as Mets ' GM would in effect be up in smoke.

For everything the fans have had to go through since over the past few seasons, the Mets must allow the axe to fall on Omar Minaya. Only then can the team cross the border back to respectability.