M's Give 4 Year Deal To Carlos Silva

From: Mets 4 Life...

According to Jim Street, The Seattle Mariners and free-agent SP Carlos Silva have agreed on terms to a 4-year $44 million dollar deal. Just last year, the Twins were skeptical to give Silva a 1-year deal for $4 million. In his career, Silva has had sucess against the AL West, posting an overall 16-8 record with a 3.48 ERA. Silva is an innings eater.. thats it. He strikes out very few and had a 'career' year in '07. I think that the Mariners will end up regretting this deal within the next few years. I'm glad Omar stayed far away from Silva. Paying $11 million per year for an 'innings eater' would not have been a smart move by Mr. Minaya. Meanwhile, there has been a few more signings today...

• According to Dejan Kovacevic of the Post-Gazelle, the Phillies have agreed on terms with former Detroit Tiger, SP Chad Durbin. Last year, Durbin went 8-7 with a 4.32 ERA. No big deal really.


• Ken Rosenthal of Foxsports, is reporting that the Royals have signed free-agent reliever, Ron Mahay. The Braves will receive a compensatory pick for the signing. Mahay turned down three-year deals from other clubs to accept a higher average salary from the Royals, sources said. He split last season with the Rangers and Braves, going a combined 3-0 with a save and 2.55 ERA in 67 innings.

Royals Offer Silva Contract

Over at Twin Cities.com they write about the Royals offering Carlos Silva a contract:

The Kansas City Royals have offered Twins free-agent starter Carlos Silva $30 million for three years.

Please No Silva

From Kyle at Mets Prospects (Network Member):

The Mets need to get better in pitching this offseason and one name that has been thrown out is free agent Carlos Silva, formerly on the Minnesota Twins. Silva is the considered by most the best young pitcher on the market and is looking at a deal like Gil Meche’s for 4 years and roughly 40 to 60 million.

The Venezuelan born Silva has yet to pitch well in the majors. In 259 games, 125 starts, Silva is 55-46 with a 4.31 era, 395 strikeouts, 171 walks, and has allowed 117 home runs. He gave up 20 homeruns in 33 starts in 2007, 38 homeruns in 31 starts in 2006, and 25 homeruns in 27 starts in 2005. Silva is also a much better pitcher at home than on the road, 3.42 at home and 5.03 on the road.

I do not want the Mets to sign Carlos Silva. He is and will continue to be and end of the rotation pitcher and will just take up the spot of a blooming Mike Pelfrey or Phillip Humber. The Mets don’t need him and it will look like the Mets got cheated when Silva is making 12 million a year and he is a number 5 pitcher or worse, a long reliever in the bullpen. If the Mets really want to be better and improve their pitching staff picking up some overpriced, end of the rotation, crappy pitcher is not the way to go.

Sporting News: Top 50 Free Agents

At the Sporting News they give their predictions on where they think the top 50 free agents will land in the Off Season:

4. Jorge Posada- Mets. This is a bit of a limb, but I think he leaves and eventually moves to 1st base. Somewhere around 4 years 70 million from the Mets.

11. Carlos Silva- Mets. They are going to spend the money, and Silva is the best young pitcher on the market. he wont be tied down for more than 4, so 4 years 65 mil. gets it done.

15. Tadahito Ighuci- Mets. They need a replacement for Castillo who is a FA and Iguchi fits in nicely with the speed at the top of the Mets line-up.

Where Castillo will land:

29. Luis Castillo- Cardinals. He provides some insurance to the middle of the IF with the loss of Eckstein. Is still a nice option on the bases. 2 years 8 million

Omar Set On Pitching

Ken Davidoff at Newsday writes about Omar Minaya and what he's up to in Orlando:

The bulk of Minaya's efforts, he indicated, will be focused on upgrading the Mets' pitching staff. The Mets have spoken numerous times with the Athletics about Joe Blanton and with the White Sox about Jose Contreras and Jon Garland, and those pitchers can be had once again. The Mets also will speak to the representatives of free-agent righthander Carlos Silva this week at the meetings.

Three Predicted Met Signings

At MLB Trade Rumors they run through the top 50 free agents and where he thinks they will sign. The Mets have thre of them:

9. Carlos Silva - Mets. Silva is going to have tons of suitors. The Mets will come up with a reliable starter one way or another, and Silva might fit. I was originally going to put Livan Hernandez in Queens. But if you're the Mets, why not tack on another year and $11MM to get the superior, younger guy?

33. Luis Castillo - Mets. I think the Mets will sign him for lack of a better option. He did a nice job for them and wants to stay.

41. Yorvit Torrealba - Mets. I don't see the Mets being crazy enough to give Posada five years. Torrealba seems sufficient, no worse than the other options. A Ramon Hernandez trade seems to be a popular alternative.