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.
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ESPN.com analysis
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Would the Mets have made this trade if the Braves hadn't acquired Gary Sheffield last week? Probably, because GM Steve Phillips knew he had to add some power to the majors' weakest-hitting outfield. Mets outfielders hit just 40 home runs in 2001, last in the majors. Here is the breakdown by position:
LF: 11 HR, 68 RBI, .270, .740 OPS (22nd in majors)
CF: 14 HR, 67 RBI, .267, .693 OPS (23rd)
RF: 15 HR, 71 RBI, .240, .677 OPS (28th)
So, with Roger Cedeno and Jeromy Burnitz, the Mets' outfield should be much improved. Mo Vaughn, even though he was in decline phase even before missing all of last season, should be an improvement over Todd Zeile. And if Edgardo Alfonzo plays close to his 2000 level, the Mets' offense will be championship caliber. Burnitz has hit 30+ homers four straight years and is good value at the $6.5 million he'll get in 2002, but will be hugely overpaid at $11.5 million in 2003. But the Mets will worry about that next year.
Trading Burnitz will be seen as a salary dump by Milwaukee (interesting, considering the Brewers had the highest profit in baseball in 2001, according to MLB), but Glendon Rusch does have potential. He had an excellent 156/43 strikeout/walk ratio. However, he's made 114 big-league starts and his career ERA is still 5.00, so it would seem his chances of moving beyond a No. 4 starter are slim. Jeff D'Amico has had one reasonably healthy season in four, and so is a bad risk to repeat his excellent 2000 season. If he does, the Mets will look even smarter.
As for the Rockies, Benny Agbayani is a decent fourth outfielder who lacks Alex Ochoa's defensive skills but makes less money. They plan on playing Zeile at third base, which is apparently better than having Zeile play first base. Zeile, meanwhile, heads to his ninth team in the past eight seasons. Talk about a guy who needs a no-trade clause.
-- David Schoenfield
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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.
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Mets vs. Braves
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The 2002 projected lineups (with each player's 2001 OPS) and starting rotations (with each pitcher's 2001 ERA) for the Mets and Braves:
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Mets, OPS
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Braves, OPS
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LF Cedeno, .733
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SS Furcal, .691
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2B Alomar, .956
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1B Franco, .821
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C Piazza, .957
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LF C. Jones, 1.032
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1B Vaughn, .920*
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RF Sheffield, 1.000
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2B Alfonzo, .725
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CF A. Jones, .772
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RF Burnitz, .851
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C Lopez, .747
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CF Payton, .669
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3B Castilla, .775
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SS Ordonez, .635
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2B Giles, .769
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Mets, ERA
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Braves, ERA
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Leiter, 3.31
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Maddux, 3.05
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Estes, 4.02
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Glavine, 3.57
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Trachsel, 4.46
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Millwood, 4.31
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Astacio, 5.09
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Marquis, 3.48
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Chen, 4.68
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Lopez, 4.81
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* Vaughn missed the entire 2001 season. Listed is his career OPS.
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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.
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