Mets, D-Rays, Swap Players

by John Sickels on Apr 1, 2005 8:50 AM EST in News Comment 33 comments

Just saw this on the wire:

Tampa, Florida (AP):

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the New York Mets swapped players early Friday morning, the Devil Rays sending relief pitchers Bobby Seay and Jesus Colome to the Mets in exchange for infielder David Wright.

"The one thing we are concerned about heading into the season is bullpen depth," said Mets General Manager Omar Minaya, "and this solves that problem. Colome and Seay give us two additional power relievers to slot in behind (Braden) Looper at closer."

"This hurts our pen depth a bit," said Devil Rays manager Lou Pinella, "but Chuck (General Manager Chuck Lamar) likes this Wright kid."

Considered a top prospect, Wright will take over at third base for Tampa Bay, with Alex Gonzalez moving to the utility infielder role. The Mets also announced the signing of veteran free agent Dean Palmer, recently released by the Tigers, to play third. "We're comfortable with the veteran leadership Palmer brings to the table," said Mets manager Willie Randolph.

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Wright

Oh, that was soooo wrong. : )

by Bill on Apr 1, 2005 9:07 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Wright

I have to admit I briefly scoured the wires incredulously just to make sure it wasn't true.

Good job, it got an evil smile out of me.

by Bill on Apr 1, 2005 9:52 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

had me for that one second

it worked

by TexasHeat on Apr 1, 2005 9:10 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Man, that's totally evil

I love it!

by Megawatt on Apr 1, 2005 9:17 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

now, if you had said the Rays had signed Palmer ..

.. I wouldn't have batted an eye.

BTW, the team in the AL East is called Tampa Bay. The team in the Western Division of the Florida State League is called Tampa. Thanks.

by GusP on Apr 1, 2005 9:17 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Agree

The story would have been more believable had the Rays traded him for Wright and then blocked him by signing Dean Palmer, Jeff Cirillo, or maybe Gary Gaetti.

by cunningt on Apr 1, 2005 9:26 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

lol

by ohad on Apr 1, 2005 9:25 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Great story

This story is almost as funny as last years story about Kazmir and Zambrano.

by MarkS on Apr 1, 2005 9:46 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I have to say...

You have better timing than Joe Ptak did.

http://www.lookoutlanding.com/

by Jeff Sullivan on Apr 1, 2005 10:03 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Trade

Even the Mets aren't that "foolish".

I have to believe in something, so I believe I will have another cigar.

by kcboomer on Apr 1, 2005 10:07 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Yeah Right....

Mets fans wish that were true...

by IBCCommish on Apr 1, 2005 11:30 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Well done

But you didnt have me for a minute (despite being a Mets fan) as I came here from finishing my morning football reading at http://profootballtalk.com/rumormill.htm
they have some nice April 1 stories too

by Justis on Apr 1, 2005 10:09 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Now what would make this great

Is if Fred Wilpon saw this post and forced Omar Minaya to make the deal...you know like he does to every other GM they have.

by Marc Normandin on Apr 1, 2005 10:25 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Not cool

but very creative

by count sutton on Apr 1, 2005 10:26 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I freaked

I bought into it a first. Given the dumb Kazmir trade last year. Also, Minaya seems to be tilted toward acquiring latin-born players more often than u.s. born players ever since he begin calling the shots in montreal.

by TINSTAAPP on Apr 1, 2005 10:58 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Not funny

Even though I knew it was a joke the very the thought that the Mets might do something this stupid got me worked up. You can't imagine how anxious I was for the Mets to get Wright up to the majors. Not, mind you, to see him display his skills at the highest levels but rather, so when he did exactly that there'd be less of a chance the Mets would trade "only a prospect whose years away" for an aging middle reliever. This is what us Met fans have to live with daily.

by anarula on Apr 1, 2005 1:18 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

a couple (3?) years ago....

Baseball Prospectus had the A's pulling off another big trade with Kansas City (I think - it may have been some other prenniel loser) - I hurried out of my office to tell a co-worker - who reminded me it was April 1st. I no longer believe anything...

-peter http://padresrundown.blogspot.com

by PeterF on Apr 1, 2005 1:21 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

You got me excited

Reason I thought it could be possible is the Rays are suppose to announce a "major announcement concerning the future on-field success". Whatever that means.

by ultxmxpx on Apr 1, 2005 1:38 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Update

Turned out they signed Crawford to a 6 year, ~ 31 million dollar deal with the last two years being club options. I like it. Now he can stop trying and turn to crap. :\
http://tampabay.devilrays.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20050401&content_id=991243& ;vkey=spt2005news&fext=.jsp&c_id=tb

by ultxmxpx on Apr 1, 2005 2:53 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I like it

That solves the d-rays 3b problem for the future. I'm really excited

by Tyler on Apr 1, 2005 1:46 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

dagger

I saw this, and checked a few other sites and didn't think it was up yet. Man, I thought I had an edge in my AL-only draft tonight. "No one will know but me. I can take him in the 7th or 8th round, and he'll be a steal! muahahahahaha!"

Boooooooooooo!

by bigbats on Apr 1, 2005 1:53 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Heart Attack

That was acruel trick. You almost gave me a heart attack.

"A hot dog at the ball park is better than steak at the Ritz." ~Humphrey Bogart

by mrmetaa on Apr 1, 2005 1:56 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

mean

If someone wants to be real mean, they can post this on a Mets board somewhere...:)

by John Sickels on Apr 1, 2005 2:00 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

mean

. . .and quote you as the source

by SoCalSoxFan on Apr 1, 2005 2:20 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

EVIL!!!!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEVVVVVVVVVVVVIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLL!!!!

by The Rocc on Apr 1, 2005 2:44 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Mark Prior to undego TJ

Thats the prank pulled over and over today. Oh, and the Pope :(

by Ienpw on Apr 1, 2005 2:56 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Man

I didn't even realize what day it was. Not funny. You had me ecstatic for like an hour.

by Tyler on Apr 1, 2005 5:11 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Mets also signed FA LH reliever

Saw on the wire that the Mets picked up Sidd Finch, a hard throwing LH reliever. According to Omar Minaya, the Mets think that Finch can be effective out of the bullpen despite his age and loss of velocity. In a recent side session Finch's velocity had fallen to 135 mph, but Willie Randolph said that he still had excellent command and a "decent" change-up at 120 mph with movement.

Finch had spent the last twenty years in Tibet learning from Greg Harris how to throw a curve and how to pitch right-handed. His experience in the Independent Tibetan Summer League had shown a sigificant platoon split, with LH batters hitting .015/.025/.017 and RH batters hitting .033/.045/.047.

It's believed that Minaya wanted to bring in Finch as a LOOGY due to Finch's platoon split and belief in superior bullpen options for the Mets.