Barry Zito Watch for Wednesday, December 6, 2006

Still nothing new on the Lefty McDreamy front. News reports this morning have the Mets willing to offer somewhere in the ballpark (heh) of a five-year, $70-75 million deal, but no higher. Meanwhile, Amazin' Avenue reports that the Mets are working under the assumption that someone else will offer Pitchy McGorgeous some ridiculous figure that will continue to escalate ballplayer pay out of any semblance of reality, and the Mets are not about to enter into a ferocious and preposterous bidding war, no matter how durable Zito is (and did I mention that he's gorgeous?), and even with presumably at least six good years in front of him. So as a fallback position, the Mets are talking to Cardinals lefty Mark Mulder, who presumably will come much more cheaply, since he's coming off rotator cuff surgery just this past September. Mulder might not have the fun quirkiness and decorative factor that Zito offers, but if he can come back and be anything close to the pitcher he was before surgery, he'd be a perfect fit for the Mets. He's a ground ball pitcher, and having David Wright and Jose Reyes plaing behind him would certainly appeal:

Mulder underwent shoulder surgery to repair his rotator cuff in September and it's not clear whether he'll be in game shape in time for opening day. What *is* clear is that Mulder doesn't turn 30 until August and that he has consistently been an innings-eating groundball machine throughout his career. He was 4th in the National League in groundball-to-flyball ratio last season at 2.36; he was 3rd in 2005 at 2.74. He isn't a big strikeout guy, but his talents have value and the recent surgery likely means a shorter-term deal with more incentives.

Fun fact of the day: The Mets now lead the majors in players named "Ambiorix" (the other being minor league outfielder Ambiorix Concepcion), having swapped right-handed pitchers with Kansas City, sending Brian Bannister for Ambiorix Burgos. I guess Bannister, who will be coming off injury next year, was perceived as more of a crapshoot than Burgos, who had an awful 2006 and presumably the Mets are betting that he's one of those "needs a change of scene" guys. But he'll be only 23 next season, and Rick Peterson must feel he can do something with him.