According to Adam Rubin of ESPN, the Mets have signed two free agent players.
The Money Ball Mets got to rolling when J.P. Riccardi made the sales pitch of opportunity to RHRP D.J. Carrasco. "He talked about the opportunity -- it's wide open there, and I'll be pitching a lot for a team that I believe is competitive," Carrasco said by telephone. "All of that together sounded really good to me."
The Deal was for 2 years and 2.5 million dollars and it looks as if Carrasco will be one of those relievers that do good seemingly out of nowhere. He will be playing in a spacious ballpark and he already doesnt give up that many HR's. Look for him to establish himself as a go-to middle reliever for the NYM in 2011. Take a look at his stats from last year...
ERA: 3.68
IP: 78.1
K: 65
BB: 34
WHIP: 1.30
K/9: 7.5
BB/9: 3.9
HR/9: 0.6
I believe that these numbers are sustainable and/or improveable at Citi Field and I look forward to watching him pitch next year.
Also according to ESPN, The Mets have signed Free-Agent Catcher, Ronny Paulino. Formerly employed with the Marlins, Paulino comes to the Mets to fill a much needed backup role to starting catcher - Josh Thole. The deal is for 1 year and 1.3 million dollars. Lets take a look at his stats from 2010...
G: 91
AVG: .259
OBP: .311
SLG: .354
OBPS: .665
HR: 4
RBI: 37
R: 31
Paulino will not throw out too many runners trying to swipe bags, but he can occasionally hit for power and he knows D.J. Carrasco from his minor league days with the Pirates. Sandy Alderson has said that we need to have capable players as backups and this seems like one of those types of moves. Look for Paulino to compete in the spring for the starting job, but ultimately lose out and backup Josh Thole in case of an injury.
