Rumored Brewers/Mets/Rockies Deal

[Xanadu Dragon]

From ESPN.com:

The Mets, Rockies and Brewers are close to agreeing to a three-way, 10-player deal that would send outfielders Burnitz and Mark Sweeney, pitchers Jeff D'Amico and Craig House and utilityman Lou Collier to New York, third baseman Todd Zeile and outfielder Benny Agbayani to Colorado and outfielder Alex Ochoa, pitcher Glendon Rusch and third baseman Lenny Harris to Milwaukee. The Mets would pick up $3.5 million of Zeile's $6.25 million contract. The Mets and the Brewers reportedly have signed off on the deal, which still needs approval from Rockies management. If it goes through, Colorado would move Zeile back to third base, a position he played regularly before signing with the Mets prior to the 2000 season.

I'm still having a hard time with the one.

Mets -
Give up $3.5 million, Zeile, Rusch, Lenny Harris, & Agbayani.
Get Burnitz, Mark Sweeney, D'Amico, House and Collier

Rockies-
Give up Ochoa and House.
Get Zeile, Agbayani, and $3.5 million.

Brewers -
Give up Burnitz, D'Amico, Sweeney and Collier.
Get Rusch, Lenny Harris, and Ochoa.

Why, other than perhaps money, would the Brewers even think of making this deal?

And, is it just me, or, are the Rockies making out like bandits?

[KCBOOMER]

Maybe Bud's daughter needs the money and she can't borrow money from Carl Pohlad.

[Xanadu Dragon]

If the Brewers are that bad/stupid, they deserve to be contracted.

[BuzzBuzzard]

IF D'Amico comes back healthy, the Mets are the team getting the best end of this deal.

What's gonna kill me is Benny hitting 35 jacks a season, but I will have to remind myself of where it is he plays 81 games a year.

What does anyone know of this guy House?

[Xanadu Dragon]

Originally posted by BuzzBuzzard
What does anyone know of this guy House?

Throw in, IMHO.

Only thing D'Amico will do is give Mo Vaughn a good fight for first in line for the post game spread.

[Duque]

The rep on House was that he has one of these funky deliveries which lets him throw 100mph, but with little control. Apparently, they've been tinkering with him a little bit, so he's got better mechanics, but it's cut his speed down by 5mph or so.

Benny may hit 35 jacks, but he's going to have a heckuva time with that spacious OF in Coors. On another note - if Benny does end up joining Larry Walker, this may give the Rockies the most players who have failed to remember there are 3 outs in an inning.

[LeGrandOrange]

Isn't Craig House a guy with a funky-ass delivery?
I'd heard about it but I've never seen it.
I just know he's born in Okinawa and that he appeared in the game Brent Mayne won.
I think Colorado would easily make out like bandits. Never mind Agbayani, he can still lose his job, Zeile can go back to 3B and do well. So the Rockies do get help out of it. Agbayani will still do a good job, and he'd probably get a few hundred extra fans in the seats. The fact they ONLY have to give Alex Ochoa and House is impressive too.
I also think the Mets would be incredibly deep out of this deal if Mark Sweeney can hit like he did this year, and if Lou Collier can bust the infamous "Flop Prospect at SS for the Pirates" label (this is not a very easy thing to do, mind you...have you seen a Kevin Polcovich sighting lately?) and become a young-man's McLemore...then Steve Phillips would own a team that could compete for the NL East even more seriously. I thought they looked really good would they picked up "Specialist" Gary Matthews, Jr., and McEwing does well too. Mark Johnson fits into this somewhere. This does leave Timoniel out of a job, but I always thought Timoniel reminded me of Brian Doyle.
The bad thing about it for the Mets? Who's the fan favorite? Shinjo's already gone, and now Hawaiian Punch might be in the Rocky Mounts. Who's the lovable guy now?
Of course, this trade sucks for the Brewers. The reasons why are known.

[Fuzzy Bear]

The Mets are quitting 5 minutes before the miracle if they give up Agbayani. He's a better player than he showed last year, and may be ready for a career year.

Ditto Glendon Rusch.

The Mets did not need Roberto Alomar; they already had Alfonzo, who would have probably been better at 2B over the next 5 years. Now that they have him, they would be better served by moving Alfonzo to SS (I hate mid-career position shifts, but they're going to do it anyway.) and put Zeile back at 3B and live with the defense. I may be alone in my thinking, but I don't believe that the Mets have helped themselves as much as others think with their trades, and this proposed deal appears to be more of the same.

[sweaver]

For the Brewers, it amounts to Burnitz for Rusch. The rest of the guys are flotsam. They are desperate for a pitcher, but that's a good hitter to give up.

[Fuzzy Bear]

I think Rusch's best days are just ahead of him. Conversely, I view Burnitz as a "young player with old player's skills" per Bill James (only he ain't that young anymore). Burnitz may have the lowest BA of any regular hitting 20 or more HRs if he plays in Shea. I think Rusch will have a breakout season next year and win 15 games. The Mets need pitching more than they know!

[LeGrandOrange]

ESPN.com says the deal is official now. And that Ross Gload, the former Cub farmhand turned Rockies farmhand, joined Craig House in the deal.
Welp, Milwaukee is officially eliminated from playoff contention again...

[gyb13]

Originally posted by LeGrandOrange
...have you seen a Kevin Polcovich sighting lately?

NRI for Yankee spring training

[gyb13]

Originally posted by LeGrandOrange
ESPN.com says the deal is official now. And that Ross Gload, the former Cub farmhand turned Rockies farmhand, joined Craig House in the deal.
Welp, Milwaukee is officially eliminated from playoff contention again...

http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2002/0121/1315217.html

Burnitz, Rusch and Zeile among 11 players moved
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Associated Press

NEW YORK -- The New York Mets pulled off a three-team, 11-player trade Monday night, acquiring Jeromy Burnitz from Milwaukee and sending Glendon Rusch to the Brewers and Todd Zeile to Colorado.

The Mets completed an offseason overhaul of their offense, getting the slugging outfielder they had been seeking after being spurned by free agent Juan Gonzalez. Burnitz will fit into a lineup with newcomers Roberto Alomar, Mo Vaughn and Roger Cedeno.

"This has been a rather complicated process, which seems to go with everything else this winter that we've done," Mets general manager Steve Phillips said.

New York also received pitcher Jeff D'Amico, infielder Lou Collier, outfielder Mark Sweeney and cash from Milwaukee. The Mets got two minor leaguers from Colorado: infielder/outfielder Ross Gload and pitcher Craig House.

The Brewers, who saved money by dealing Burnitz back to his original team, added a left-handed starter in Rusch. They also obtained outfielder Alex Ochoa from Colorado and infielder Lenny Harris from New York.

The Rockies filled their third base hole with Zeile and added outfielder Benny Agbayani. The Mets will pay about half of Zeile's $6 million contract.

"We got to the point where the players had been outlined for a while and it was a matter of making the financial end work," Phillips said.

GMs Dan O'Dowd of Colorado and Dean Taylor of Milwaukee have a history of making big deals. They took part in a four-team, nine-player swap on Dec. 13, 1999.

This is the biggest deal since December 1994, when Houston and San Diego pulled off a 12-player trade -- the most players dealt in the past 44 years. The Padres got outfielder Steve Finley and third baseman Ken Caminiti and Houston got outfielder Derek Bell.

After going to the World Series in 2000, the Mets went 82-80 last year, finishing with the fewest runs in the majors. They were second-to-last in average and homers in the NL.

Burnitz adds another big bat to a lineup that returns Mike Piazza and Edgardo Alfonzo.

"I think it's pretty exciting," Burnitz said. "You mention all the names and it just speaks for itself. It will be nice to be a part of."

Burnitz, who played two seasons with the Mets, hit .251 with 34 homers and 100 RBIs last season, although he struck out 150 times. The Mets only had 40 home runs from all of their outfielders in 2001.

D'Amico was 2-4 with a 6.08 ERA in 10 starts for Milwaukee last season. He missed four months because of an arm injury and had surgery July 2 to decompress a nerve in his right arm. D'Amico was one of the top NL pitchers in 2000, going 12-7 with a 2.66 ERA.

"When he was healthy in 2000, he absolutely dominated," Phillips said. "He was always a highly touted pitcher. He was just besieged by injuries."

With the latest deal, the Mets project their 2001 payroll to be a little more than $100 million -- about $5 million more than their original budget.

"We're spending an awful lot of money," Phillips said. "We didn't set out with approval to spend it, but as things started to fall into place, and we felt we had improved, the team ownership and fans rallied behind it. That gave ownership the comfort level to expand it."

After acquiring lefty Shawn Estes from San Francisco last month, the Mets had an excess of left-handed starters. They also signed free agent Pedro Astacio, a right-hander, last week. Bruce Chen probably will move to the bullpen to make room for D'Amico in the rotation.

Rusch went 8-12 with a 4.63 ERA last season and joins a Milwaukee rotation that probably will include Ben Sheets, Jamey Wright and Ruben Quevedo.

"He has quality stuff, and we feel as though he's going to be a tremendous acquisition for us," Brewers manager Davey Lopes said.

Ochoa hit .276 with eight homers, 52 RBIs and 17 steals last season for Cincinnati and Colorado. Harris has the most pinch hits in baseball history, breaking Manny Mota's record with his 151st on the last weekend of the season.

The Brewers wanted to shed the free-swinging Burnitz, who will make $6.5 million this season and $11.5 million in 2003. The Brewers became the first team to finish a season with more strikeouts -- an all-time record 1,399 -- than hits -- 1,378.

"Obviously we've lost some home runs in this deal," Taylor said. "But if you looked at this ballclub last year, home runs were not an issue. What we lacked was speed and contact hitters."

Zeile fills the hole at third created when the Rockies dealt Jeff Cirillo to Seattle. Zeile played first base in his two seasons for the Mets, but Colorado has All-Star Todd Helton there.

"He's looking forward to moving back to third base," O'Dowd said. "He has no qualms, no reservations about it."

Zeile hit .266 with 10 homers and 62 RBIs last season. He had arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow in November, but is expected to be ready for spring training.

I like the deal for the Mets. If Burnitz was really unhappy, I guess Milwaukee did the best they could. I could see them making out on the deal, because Rusch could be a solid pitcher for the next 5-7 years.

The Mets are obviously pushing hard for a pennant this year, and Burnitz gives them what they have desperately needed for years: a solid RBI guy in the outfield.

Quite an impressive lineup:

Cedeno
Alomar
Piazza
Vaughn
Burnitz
Alfonzo
Payton
Ordonez

I'd rather have Rusch then D'Amico, but D'Amico has more upside...he's just a lot riskier. The Mets probably felt they had too many lefties, with Leiter, Estes, Chen....Probably figure Chen and Rusch are roughly the guy.

As for the Rockies...they don't give up much, but they ain't really getting much, either. I like Benny, but he's clearly a bit player, a fourth-outfielder type, not an impact player. Zeile never was an impact player, and his best days are long gone.

[cubfan33]

The Brewers get Rusch, which I get. He'll help, especially if Nick Negeubauer isnt quite ready (post-season surgery). Rusch immediately becomes the Brewers ace, which I like since I'm a Cubs fan. (Don't give me the Ben Sheets is the ace talk.)

The Mets answer the Braves (in their mind) and get Burnitz. Sure, he's pretty good, but he doesn't make the Mets appreciably better. I don't get why (and there's some reports that move this around) the Brewers paid the Mets cash. If the Mets paid the Rockies (essentially taking on some of Zeile's contract) I could grasp that. D'Amico is a nice risk for the Mets - he could be really good and if not, they have enough pitching depth to not worry. The steal (maybe) for the Mets is Craig House.

Let me go off here for a moment. If you haven't seen Craig House pitch, you just have to. He has the weirdest delivery I have *EVER* seen, weirder even than Kyle "Drooping Marionette" Peterson. Words can't explain it and I've looked for video on the web without luck. Maybe he'll be shown on Sportscenter tonight. His head throws back like an old Rock'em Sock'em Robot, he literally jumps off the rubber and his arm position is worse than Tony Saunders. House throws the ball HARD - 97 or 98 hard - but everyone always wants to mess with his delivery and he ends up getting hurt adjusting. If the Mets leave him alone, it will be interesting to see. He's made to be a closer.

The Rockies get an interesting experiment in Agbayani. I havent seen him much, but I'm unimpressed. He has an exceptionally large head, hustles, but I don't see anything in him that screams "break out star." Zeile fills a hole at third, but I can't say much more for him at this stage. The Rockies still need to deal Hampton to the Rangers for Teixeira or Blalock.

The Brewers help their rotation but their offense gets worse - and its bad already.
The Mets don't really do much for themselves, but they didn't give up much. Rusch is good, but their depth makes him expendable.
The Rockies get two warm bodies and rid themselves of Alex Ochoa.

To sum up, who cares?