Matsui would be by far the worst defensive LF in the majors. He was never good anyway, and now he's older with bum knees and he runs slower than Jorge Posada and maybe even Jose Molina.

If the Mets are hoping to recreate the Moises Alou Experience, than yes, he'd be a perfect match.

Yeah, Matsui would love to go from the Yankees to a sub-.500 team in an inferior league, from a short porch in right to a pitchers' park, and from a chance to rest his knees between bats to being forced to field a position every day. Sounds like a winner, all right.

Yeah, Matsui would love to go from the Yankees to a sub-.500 team in an inferior league, from a short porch in right to a pitchers' park, and from a chance to rest his knees between bats to being forced to field a position every day.

So, is there any reason for this pointless trollery, or did you just feel like being a smarmy dick today?

The Mets want the Yankees sloppy seconds.....

If they're talking about Matsui, isn't Johnny Damon a better match?

Yeah, Matsui would love to go from the Yankees to a sub-.500 team in an inferior league, from a short porch in right to a pitchers' park, and from a chance to rest his knees between bats to being forced to field a position every day. Sounds like a winner, all right.

Being a fan of a successful baseball team doesn't mean you've accomplished anything.

the Moises Alou Experience,

Wasn't this a success? Yeah, bring an undervalued old guy who you know can still hit the crap out of the ball. Why not?

Wasn't this a success?

It was a success for the Giants. For the Mets, he made $15M in return for a total of 414 PA (admittedly at a 134 OPS+, but balanced by some terrible fielding) over two seasons. While that's not a total disaster, it hardly qualifies as a success for the Mets.

When I read the headline, I actually thought "which Matsui?"

I think you could argue that Kaz would be a better fit.

I think year 1 of the Moises Alou experiment was a success. Year 2, not so much.

One note about Matsui which Andy totally ignores in his screed: His hitting renaissance is NOT a NYS artifact.

Home: .265/.354/.462/.816, 13 HR in 291 PA
Road: .286/.383/.567/.949, 15 HR in 235 PA

If you are going to spew venom, at least try to get the easily confirmed facts straight.

I think you could argue that Kaz would be a better fit.

Even ignoring the baggage Matsui hecause of his previous stint, why would you say that? Castillo was a better player than him last season.

I've watched Hideki a lot this year. Unless there are other things about Kazuo that I don't know about, I think he's a good bet to be close to Hideki in OPS next year, and a better bet after that.

Hideki had a 217 point advantage in OPS this year. It'd take some serious cliff diving for him not to be significantly better at the plate than Kaz.

Kaz was pretty good defensively at second as a Met and as Rockie but he might have lost a step.

did you just feel like being a smarmy dick today?

*Today?*

This just screams "inferiority complex" to me. Signing Yankees castoffs is not usually a winning strategy for anybody, but especially the Mets.

I acknowledge that this isn't actually the Mets' idea.

Dial, what do you think the Mets should do with Francoeur? I don't think I've heard your opinion on this topic.

there was a time a couple years back when moving Hideki to first would've made obvious sense, given the Yanks' personnel, and they never really even talked about it--I think the consensus was he just didn't have the physical ability. I think anybody who signs him to play any non-DH position will be disappointed.

DH for the Mariners seems like the obvious, obvious next job for the man--unless the M's don't think they can contend next year.....

DH for the Mariners seems like the obvious, obvious next job for the man

Mariners' DH:

2004: 0.753 OPS (92 OPS+)
2005: 0.723 OPS (88 OPS+)
2006: 0.656 OPS (63 OPS+)
2007: 0.746 OPS (88 OPS+)
2008: 0.608 OPS (58 OPS+)
2009: 0.747 OPS (91 OPS+)

Hideki Matsui (2009): 0.876 OPS (128 OPS+)

I think it's quite obvious that he's too good in the role to be of any interest to the Mariners.

EDIT: On a less annoying note, I thought that there was some lingering dislike between Ichiro and Matsui, which might prevent the Mariners from expressing interest in signing Matsui.

Where have you gone, Edgar Martinez? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

That stadium's cavernous. Matsui doesn't really try to clock it. Almost no trigger to swing. All Matsui would do there that would in any way be exceptional would be to hit an inordinate number of fly outs.

Yeah, Matsui would love to go from the Yankees to a sub-.500 team in an inferior league, from a short porch in right to a pitchers' park, and from a chance to rest his knees between bats to being forced to field a position every day.

So, is there any reason for this pointless trollery, or did you just feel like being a smarmy dick today?

Sorry, I didn't realize that the New Etiquette frowns upon telling the truth to Mets fans.

---------------------

One note about Matsui which Andy totally ignores in his screed: His hitting renaissance is NOT a NYS artifact.

Home: .265/.354/.462/.816, 13 HR in 291 PA
Road: .286/.383/.567/.949, 15 HR in 235 PA

Now that's a reasonable counter-argument, Srul, but unless there's shit going on behind the scenes that we don't know about, the only real question is whether the Yankees are going to offer Matsui a contract that reflects all the salient factors, including Matsui's ability to turn a large part of Japan into a Yankee marketing bonanza. Unless they find a pronounced upgrade, I can't see that they won't at least offer him another year or two at a decent rate, and no, I can't see him turning that down to play for a dysfunctional team like the Mets.

And sorry if "dysfunctional" is a naughty word, but how would you all describe that team in any other way?

Seriously.

Matsui's ability to turn a large part of Japan into a Yankee marketing bonanza.

How does he do that? International broadcast rights are split among all the teams. I know national revenue from things like jerseys and caps are also equally split, and I assume that's the same for international. The Yankees sell most if not all of their tickets, so I doubt many if any additional fans who see them in New York would not see them if Matsui played elsewhere. They probably sell a few additional jerseys in their team store (which they do keep the retail profit from that) but the actual profit from that is unlikely to be enough to pay a league minimum player, so not exactly a bonanza.

Lemme get this straight, Matsui's played 36, 112, 23, 0, games in the outfield over the last four years. His place in left was taken by this year by the thrill ride that is Johnny Damon.

He's a good idea for outfield in a park that plays larger why?

Is outfield defense really that overrated?

Unless they find a pronounced upgrade, I can't see that they won't at least offer him another year or two at a decent rate

The real issue is that, since Matsui cannot play the field at all, holding the DH spot for him impacts on their flexibility. IF they want to upgrade at outfielder, a la Holliday or Bay, then they can probably also re-sign Damon for a reasonable amount, and then use the DH spot in a rotation, and to rest their regulars. If they have their eye on a catcher somewhere, that would also have an impact, since, Posada would make a fine DH.

On the whole, I can't see more than a one year contract, max.

And sorry if "dysfunctional" is a naughty word, but how would you all describe that team in any other way?

Doomed?
Cursed?
Damned?
Hexed?
Jinxed?
Wilponed?
Omared?

Well, since the Mets finished last year with Daniel Murphy, he might not be a terrible option for first base, but Matsui in left field in Citi would be a disaster. I don't know if he'd be any better a bet than Delgado though, and he'd probably cost more while being more difficult for Mets fans to stomach.

So I expect the Mets to give him a 4 year contract.

WILP0WNZ3D!

smarmy dick

that's one of those British "puddings", right?

Matsui's best (and most likely IMHO) places to end up are Seattle, Oakland, Texas, White Sox, Tigers (not listed in any order). OK, the Yankees (on a 1-year) is perhaps the single most-likely destination but I think the odds are low they're interested. I guess the wild card is how good everybody thinks AROD's hip will be. Based on what I know (zilch!), I'd want to keep DH open for AROD at least 40 games next year and for Posada around 50-60. If the Yanks resign Damon, I'd keep another 20-40 open for him. That all means no Matsui.

But if they think AROD will be fine in the field and not need lots of extra rest and they sign Holliday and let Damon go, then Matsui on a 1-year makes sense and you give Posada more straight days off and his DH starts mainly against lefties.

The future of Rodriguez may be the only long-term question about the Yankees that interests me. He's got the hip issue. He's hitting the age when lots of 3Bs (and players in general) fall off a cliff. UZR had him at 7 runs below average this year. The Yanks have a huge, long-term investment in him and need to slow his deterioration as much as possible.

Normally aging 3B who can still hit get shifted to 1B, and presumably AROD could handle it, but that's not happening here. Depending on hip and mobility, LF is a possibility. But the safe thing would be to treat him like Molitor and Edgar and make him the full-time DH. From 34 on, Molitor was primarily a DH and never played anything else but 1B. Edgar made the move at 32 but of course he was never anything with the glove. Now AROD's still doing well on SBs which would suggest he's still got plenty of mobility but Molitor stole far more than AROD. You don't have to wait for guys to get bad knees and/or fat before moving them to DH.

In short, I suspect that AROD is mostly a DH no later than 2011. If they're bold (or stupid, I can't decide which), they'll sign Beltre or Figgins this offseason. Mabye even Pedro Feliz. Or see if they can pry Hardy loose from the Brewers. At the very least, they should have a good backup 3B. (The 2011 FA 3B look even less promising.)

Ha-ha: I clicked on Cots' "FA position players" and was shocked at the crap available at 3B -- Ensberg, Lamb ... Then I saw the link for "2010 FA class".

I'm surprised not to hear any Vladdy Daddy buzz for the Mets. Injuries, sure, but he can probably be had cheap.

Despite this being a stupid idea, would anyone put it past the Mets to make this move?