Mets are interested in Norihiro Nakamura.

The mets need all the help they can get

Nakamura has reportedly said he wants to play for the Dodgers or Diamondbacks (he would play first base in L.A. to replace an increasingly unproductive Karros).
As for the Mets, it is true they want to try to get him, but considering how badly their infield played
this season, he is not exactly going to help that. And God help him if he doesn't hit. The NY press will eat him for breakfast.

According to Bill Madden of NY Daily News, the Atlanta Braves reportly have been watching Nakamura.

The Mets need piching not hitting.

Check the stats buddy the Mets pitching is in the top of NL. Their hitting is what sucks

Here is the article

http://www.nypost.com/sports/mets/48399.htm

Actually they need both hitting and pitching. The Mets were the joke of the league this year.

• The team with the second highest payroll finished dead last in their division
• All of their big free agent acquisitions forgot how to play
• Errors, Errors, Errors
• Star players like Piazza put up numbers below their average
• Dumb scandals: Mike Piazza - Gay?? NY Met Team - Potheads??

As a Met fan I hope there is a big shake-up, but I don't think there will be. Edgardo Alfonzo and Steve Trachsel are the club's top free agents. These are both players in decline. I'm sure their are other players they could get rid of, but they either have too many years on their contracts or are being paid way too much. If the mets perform badly next year then I think you'll see a big shake-up.

..... But I'm definitely in favor of the Mets looking at Matsui and Nakamura. I'm not too high on Alfonso and Rey Ordonez .

They plan to make a bid for Matsui and move SS prospect Jose Reyes to 2nd base.

Only if the Mets are able to move Ordonez, which even this article says will be difficult -- and that's a huge understatement. Ordonez is one of the most overpaid players in the Majors, a classic all-glove, no-hit shortstop. I doubt any GM would be foolish enough to take his $6.25 million price tag off the Mets' hands next season.

Someone was suppose to not be foolish enough to take Zeile and Ventura, too, huh?????? The thing is the Mets could move Ordonez if they pay his contract. Teams will certainly take him for 3 mill.

I saw Kaz Matsui play during a MLB/NPB All Star series a few years ago. I was truly impressed!
His stats would indicate he has improved since then.
Will we know his intentions by the next (Nov.) all star series?
I also liked Takanori Suzuki. Is he a free agent? Is he interested in crossing the Pacific?
BTW, did Taguchi make the Cardinals post season roster over slumping Kerry Robinson?

Takanori Suzuki is a free agent, but he lacks the pop most clubs want from a corner outfielder. I like the guy a lot. He would be a good fit in St. Louis, where you already have two power guys in the outfield. So you hit Suzuki second behind Vina. Maybe Oakland, too, where he would hit better than Terrence Long and be somewhat better defensively. That team would still need a centerfielder, though.

By the way, Takashi Saito wants to sign with an MLB team since he is a free agent. He has some good numbers this season (opponenents hitting around .208 against him, five homers in 45 plus innings), though if you look at his career totals, he tends to get taken deep more often than would make a lot of people comfortable. Plus, he's had elbow surgery and he had some shoulder pain recently. But MLB scouts like his low 90's fastball and good slider. He will be 33 next year, so we'll see if he can survive the longer season. Right now, Boston and Texas are the two teams among several others who are interested. Let's see, big guy, always around the plate, fastball, slider, gives up homers.... Here's to hoping he's not the Japanese Baldwin.

Terrence Long is better than Takanori Suzuki. T.Long has more power than T.Suzuki.

Terrence Long is better than Takanori Suzuki. T.Long has more power than T.Suzuki.

BA/OBP/Slg./OPS/IsoP averages over the past 3 seasons:

T. Long:    0.285/0.335/0.430/0.785/0.145
T. Suzuki: 0.313/0.377/0.466/0.843/0.153

Long is 4 years younger, and that's about it.

I took a link from this site to look at Takanori's numbers. His power has dipped over the years. When I saw him play, he seemed to be a line drive type anyway. The big concern is his drop in average, especially this year! Is he slowing up, hurt, or just having one of those inexplicable off years?

Also, with Bobby Valentine gone will that hurt the Mets' attempts to land Japanese talent? Valentine and former Asst. GM Omar Minaya seemed to be the big proponents of going to Asia to find talent.

In spite of the numbers which 1908-san presented,I believe that T.Long is better than T.Suzuki,Since T.Long is playing higher level(MLB) than Suzuki(Japan).

Peggy, are you honestly comparing Ordonez to Zeile and Ventura? Unlike Rey, both Todd and Robin can hit. Let's look at career OPS, shall we?

Ordonez: .590
Ventura: .811
Zeile: .778

But you're right; the Mets might find a taker if they pay a substantial portion of his contact, although I don't think Rey's glove is worth even $3 million -- not with that bat.

I just don't see the Mets paying $3.5 million or more to Ordonez, outbidding LA, Boston and the rest for Matsui, and then signing Kazuo long term. Time will tell.

Can anyone answer my question from couple of days ago?

I like T. Suzuki. He clearly is Major League caliber, bench or starter, but what's up with the drop in production?

Part of the falloff in production is that his team hasn't hit at all this year, meaning that he has had fewer men to drive in. Also, he injured his shoulder making a diving catch earlier in the season and has spent time out with it. An injured shoulder is going to slow down your power output.

I'd been avoiding a "I like Suzuki-kun but..." story, but...

Besides shoulder problems this season, I just don't think that he responded to Mori-yakyu very well. T. Ishii either. The only player who I think liked the change was Kinjyoh, but his production dropped like a rock.

Nonetheless, Suzuki's production problems probably suffered greatest due to the loss of Rose batting behind him. Without Rose, Mori declared Suzuki-kun to be the BayStars' #4 batter for 2001. Even though Rose wasn't considered a home run hitter, Suzuki felt that that's what he had to become. (Actually, he felt that way since winning his back to back Batting Titles in 1997-8.) So, how did he respond to the pressure of batting fourth? He went from 20 home runs in 2000 to 6 in 2001 and currently has hit 9 so far in 2002. RBIs dropped form 89 to 57 (to 42 so far this season). While his batting average did rise in 2001, it seeme to me that it wasn't while runners were in scoring position. (Sorry, that's just an impression from watching games, I don't have any data to back that up.) The same this season. Of course, under Mori-yakyu, the number of runners to knock in had been greatly reduced.

I strongly feel that both Suzuki and Ishii have both been "working" baseball the past couple of seasons instead of "playing" it. While Ishii strikes me as more outgoing and able to deal with any problem that may come up, I fear that Suzuki hasn't adjusted as well. I also think that that might carry over should he attempt to go to the Majors. Some people simply are better at adapting than others, as can be exemplified by many of the foreign players who come to Japan for very short stays. While his skills as a ball player may be enough to make it in the right climate, I fear that Suzuki might be one of those who can't adjust to the food, language barrier, and lifestyle in North America.

All I really have to go on is his conduct and personality as seen through a camera lense on the field, in interviews, and the occasional TV guest appearance after winning the Nihon Series in 1998. Having never met him personally, I may have him all wrong. Maybe he speaks English well, likes to pull pranks, and would rather eat at McDonnalds than a kaiten sushi place.

They sure are. With Alfonzo not offered arbitration, the Mets are looking to either trade for Joe Randa of Kansas City or sign ex-Met Todd Zeile to fill in the void. A wiser choice would be to bring in the power-hitting Norihiro Nakamura. Nakamura would make more sense than Joe Randa, Todd Zeile or any other free agent or available players at this time.

The Mets have met with Japanese slugger Nakamura. [Full Article (ESPN)]

Does anyone know how Nakamura is defensively? Alfonzo was solid and yet the defense was lousy last year and will probably continue to be that way - i.e Mo won't get any better - anybody who replaces Rey won't be as good as he is.

- According to NY newspapers the Mets sent assistant GM Gary LaRocque to Japan to scout Nakamura and Kaz Matsui. They plan to make a bid for Matsui and move SS prospect Jose Reyes to 2nd base. And if they are not able to re-sign Alfonzo they are going to make a run at Nakamura. They seem more interested in Nakamura.

And Roberto? He goes to .........?