Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
January 13, 2005
Somebody Says, So it Must Be True

I found this story in Newsday interesting.

If the Mets are to add Carlos Delgado to their winter renovation, they'd prefer to clear some salary.

Conveniently enough, Mike Cameron would prefer to be elsewhere.

With Carlos Beltran taking his centerfield job, Cameron has conveyed to the Mets that he'd rather play centerfield elsewhere than play rightfield for them, according to an industry source. The Mets would like to shed Cameron, who is due about $14 million over the next two seasons, off their payroll as they prepare to meet with Delgado in Puerto Rico, as early as tonight.

An industry insider? Not even a Mets insider? That's pretty flimsy sourcing to go with a story. Here's what Minaya has to say.

But yesterday, general manager Omar Minaya said the team wasn't planning on moving Cameron anywhere else but to rightfield. "Of course we want him here," Minaya said. "We love the idea of Carlos Beltran and Mike Cameron roaming the outfield at Shea Stadium."

Minaya met with Cameron earlier in the offseason and discussed the idea of moving him to right, and Cameron gave the green light to make a play for Beltran. Minaya said as late as last week that he spoke with Cameron to update him on negotiations with Beltran, but figures he now needs to make another call.

"You never know, these types of situations," Minaya said. "I'm sensitive to any feelings Mike may feel. So I will probably have a conversation with him at some point in time."

So Omar has had at least two conversations with Cameron where Mike said it was okay to move him to right. Now, someone outside the Mets organization says that Cameron's not happy with this? It doesn't make a lot of sense.

Of course, I thought it would be logical to trade Cameron. He's a good fielder, but his offense isn't up to right field. Maybe this is an attempt by the "industry insider" to stir up trouble so he can get his hand on Cameron. Or it could be that Cameron gave the go ahead wanting to look like a team player but figuring that the Mets would be out bid for Beltran's services. We'll have to wait to see how this plays out.


Posted by David Pinto at 11:29 AM | News Media | TrackBack (0)
Comments

It doesn't sound like someone outside of the organization is just trying to stir up a story when his agents refuse to comment.

From the NY Daily News:
Despite the Mets publicly professing Cameron's willingness to shift to right, Cameron hasn't returned calls from the Daily News this week and his agents have been tight-lipped when reachable - lending credence to the assertion he wants out. "I really have no comment," said Gene Casaleggio, who represents Cameron with Mike Nicotera. "Nothing at this point. I have nothing really to report on anything. I'm sorry." Asked if any trade is foreseeable, Casaleggio replied: "I don't want to comment on anything right now."

Posted by: Brian at January 13, 2005 04:04 PM

back to the Mariner's mybe?

Posted by: chris at January 13, 2005 06:28 PM

Interestingly, Cameron has actually had more fielding win shares over the past two years than Beltran.

Posted by: Ron at January 13, 2005 09:21 PM
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