WFAN rumor: Mets interested in Hamilton

[Hollyw00d]

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/index.php?cyear=2015&team=ANA&pos=

Guess again

[Lou]

We're only going with 11 players next year?

[Lou]

Actually,  ten.

Blanton is listed

[Hollyw00d]

Ok so assuming we go to 160 million payroll again next year, Albert and Hamilton will "only" be 30%+ of the payroll.

My bad. Your argument is so much more convincing now.

[Hollyw00d]

We now have to acquire 15 players with between 40-60 million to work with.

It's not our money or something.

[Lou]

it isn't

[Hollyw00d]

Keep telling yourself that

[Stradling]

It's not my money. I do support the team by getting season tickets, but they are a good deal, oh and I watch most every game on TV but my Directv bill isn't too bad and if I ask them to they will lower my bill.

[Hollyw00d]

So you support the team, and so do millions of other fans who support the angels with money from their own pockets. The angels aren't a euro soccer team, they aren't running in a deficit or have tons of debt, luckily.

Some people here act like arte is writing checks from his retirement fund or something. He's spending the angels money which comes from the fans that support and watch the team.

[Second Base]

I'd rather wager on Hamilton reverting back to superstardom than getting the guaranteed 4.00-4.50 ERA Niese gives you, especially if it means you're still paying Hamilton.  First you have to consider that at least he's been an average LF in terms of value.  Who do you replace him with?  I can't see Collin Cowgill providing a higher value across a full season.  Second, Niese is a very short term answer.  You can never have too much pitching, but once Richards is back, who do you start Niese over?  Not Weav, Richards or Shoe.  Does he provide higher value than Santiago, Rasmus or Wilson? Probably not.  What about when Skaggs returns?  Can you move Niese to the bullpen?  Probably not because for the first time in forever, the Angels have an embarrassment of riches in terms of RP, so Niese isn't needed there. 

 

I'm all for trading Hamilton, if it saves money and we get something we could use in return.  Hamilton to NYM for Niese neither saves the Angels money or gets us something we'd need. 

[Oz27]

If we were to eat such a large amount of Hamilton's contract, someone might bite. Taking a three-year, $26mil punt on him isn't the worst thing you can do. But I think we're far more likely to swap bad contracts than eat such a large amount of money.

 

If only Tony Reagins had a job elsewhere and we could pull off a Vernon Wells trade in reverse.

[Jobu]

Nope.

I'd say there is approximately 0.2 percent chance this is real.

In case anybody missed it and doesn't want to waste any more time on this thought experiment.

[QuinlansMinion]

I dont think it really matters who's money it is.  There is a limited amount that can be spent, and most of it is going to Hamilton and Pujols.  Every fan has a right to be upset about stupid signings.

[NJHalo]

I'd rather wager on Hamilton reverting back to superstardom than getting the guaranteed 4.00-4.50 ERA Niese gives you, especially if it means you're still paying Hamilton.  First you have to consider that at least he's been an average LF in terms of value.  Who do you replace him with?  I can't see Collin Cowgill providing a higher value across a full season.  Second, Niese is a very short term answer.  You can never have too much pitching, but once Richards is back, who do you start Niese over?  Not Weav, Richards or Shoe.  Does he provide higher value than Santiago, Rasmus or Wilson? Probably not.  What about when Skaggs returns?  Can you move Niese to the bullpen?  Probably not because for the first time in forever, the Angels have an embarrassment of riches in terms of RP, so Niese isn't needed there. 

 

I'm all for trading Hamilton, if it saves money and we get something we could use in return.  Hamilton to NYM for Niese neither saves the Angels money or gets us something we'd need.

Sorry, but you never have enough pitching. Never

[Stradling]

So you support the team, and so do millions of other fans who support the angels with money from their own pockets. The angels aren't a euro soccer team, they aren't running in a deficit or have tons of debt, luckily.

Some people here act like arte is writing checks from his retirement fund or something. He's spending the angels money which comes from the fans that support and watch the team.

I would support the team regardless of payroll unless they decided to go the way of the A's and trade players just as they got expensive. Then I would just wait until that philosophy ended and they went back to being a team trying to compete using a mix of home grown players and free agent signings. I spend a ton of discretionary income on this team each year, but I will never consider it my money. It's silly to think that way.

[Stradling]

I dont think it really matters who's money it is. There is a limited amount that can be spent, and most of it is going to Hamilton and Pujols. Every fan has a right to be upset about stupid signings.

Yes but some fans act like these signings cheat them somehow. We spend way too much time caring about how much these guys get paid.

[Oz27]

I dont think it really matters who's money it is.  There is a limited amount that can be spent, and most of it is going to Hamilton and Pujols.  Every fan has a right to be upset about stupid signings.

The "not our money" crowd typically rejected that though. You are, of course, right. There's a budget and over the years what we can do has been severely constrained by bloated contracts to Wells and Hamilton types.

[Mark68]

Are the Mets in the New York market?  Like the Clippers, they only exist in their local market when they are winning.

Yeah, I think right now they are only in the Queens market. Possibly just the Flushing market.

[Mark68]

Let's do the math.

 

Hamilton is owed $90.2 million thru 2017. 70% of that is $63.14 million.

 

Niese is owed $16.1 million thru 2016, with options for '17 & '18.

 

This means that trading Hamilton for Niese and taking on 70% of Hamilton's salary still SAVES $10 million over the course of Hamilton's contract, assuming the Angels buy out Niese's 2017 at $500k.

[JAHV76]

Like paying for Ibanez 75 times over the next 3 years.

Would someone please hit me in the back of my head with a shovel?

Edited October 15, 2014 by JAHV76

[Jeff Fletcher]

I think next you guys should discuss who would win a race between Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

I know. I know. It's the offseason and nothing else is happening yet.

Carry on.

[KingJustinian]

Hamilton is high risk, high reward at this point. But, since he's owed such a large sum of money, when he doesn't do as well it seems a lot worse. I could easily see him having another .300 AVG 30HR season. It would suck to trade him while eating his contract, then he has another good year. If we can absorb the payroll I think he's worth keeping, the key is to limit his playing time depending on how he's doing. If Cowgill is doing well then start him.

[nando714]

The mets took GMJ off our hands so why not take Hamilton

[Jobu]

I think next you guys should discuss who would win a race between Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

Why, so Mike Scioscia can pinch run them for David Freese???

[Mark68]

I think next you guys should discuss who would win a race between Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

I know. I know. It's the offseason and nothing else is happening yet.

Carry on.

Clearly, the Easter Bunny would win.