After the New York Mets non-tendered Sean Green earlier this month, it was only a matter of time before a team gobbled him up for the potential ‘relief’ he could offer.
The time has come, and that team is the Milwaukee Brewers, who are looking to reload this off season to have a productive 2011.
This is fine and dandy to us Mets fans because honestly, Sean Green wasn’t all he was hyped up to be. After acquiring Green in the trade that also sent underperforming reliever J.J. Putz to the Mets, Green only appeared in 11 games in 2010, managing eight walks in 9.1 innings of work.
That’s not to say he was a total wash as a Met, striking out 54 batters in 69.2 innings in 2009, but with his strained rib muscles moving north to Milwaukee for $875,000 this year, it’s easy to agree that the Mets made an easy addition by subtraction transaction.
With an already unstable bullpen heading into the 2011 season, the Mets should have used every reliable resource available, but Green was far from reliable, and once again the Mets are on the lookout for bullpen arms.
One name said to top GM Sandy Alderson’s list of relievers is lefty Joe Beimel.
Beimel is the Mets' primary target to replace the holes left by Pedro Feliciano and Hisanori Takahashi and has been admired in the organization as the lefty-specialist the Mets need in the left-handed bat-heavy NL East.
Of course, with the Mets' financial woes this off-season, Beimel will have to come cheap. Both Feliciano and lefty Randy Choate signed deals this off-season that has them making $1 million+ over two years, and Beimel is probably looking for right around the same amount.
One could gather, as free agency continues and spring training draws nearer, that Beimel will settle for a deal somewhere around one million for one year. A pretty respectable deal for a one and done type pitcher, but that’s just my thought.
With the likes of relief pitchers J.C. Romero, Hideki Okajima, Will Ohman, Ron Mahay, Dennys Reyes, and Mark Hendrickson remaining on the open market, the Mets still have ample opportunity to bolster their bullpen for 2011.
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