Zito not even close to making decision BY KEN DAVIDOFF Newsday Staff Writer December 22, 2006 There's little doubt now that the Barry Zito sweepstakes will carry into 2007. The competing teams believe it to be so, and the lefthander strongly implied as much in an interview published yesterday. "It's wide open," Zito told the San Francisco Chronicle. "It's still early, very early; it's not even time for the decision-making process. I'm not just jumping in. I'm waiting for my instincts to kick in." Of course, a skeptic would theorize that Zito also is waiting for the offers to increase. The Mets, Rangers, Giants and Mariners have expressed strong interest in the lefthander, by far the best remaining free agent on the market, but it's believed that no offers have approached the $100-million mark. Jeff Suppan, whom the Mets personally visited in Southern California on Wednesday (the day after they met with Zito), has received a four-year offer from the Milwaukee Brewers. A person familiar with the situation confirmed foxsports.com's report that the offer was between $36 million and $40 million. It seems likely that Suppan will wait for Zito to make his choice; the losers for Zito's services - at least, those in the National League - will view Suppan as a fallback option. Zito told the Chronicle that his Tuesday night meeting with the Mets was nice but that it lacked deep meaning. Said the pitcher: "It's just like, 'Hey, how are you?' I think all those kinds of meetings go well. Everyone just smiles, says hi." At the same time, though, it apparently carried weight that COO Jeff Wilpon attended, as Wilpon represented Mets ownership. "They're all good teams and they're all good locations, but what I'm looking for is an owner who sees eye-to-eye with me in my goal to lead a team to multiple World Series championships," Zito said. "... I'm trying to lead a team like Sandy Koufax did, and I need an owner who shares that desire." The Mets have been privately resolute that they won't go beyond the five-year, $73-million contract that Houston gave Roy Oswalt, and there have been doubts, industry-wide, about whether Zito merits a $100-million contract. Zito is attuned to that. "Everyone wants to talk about how I'm not a number one starter, or how I'm getting worse, just so they can save some money," Zito said. "I'd expect all that. I wouldn't be surprised if teams are putting this out to their media to create a collective consciousness, saying, 'Why should he get this or that?' Everyone wants to buy low and sell high. But all we want is market value, and that's been set the past six to eight weeks. "When you look at value, what's more valuable - keeping another $20 million in the bank when you already have hundreds of millions of dollars, or getting a player of value? But let people panic, let them talk about me, say I --. We'll see where the chips land." Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc.
Did he really just compare himself to Sandy Koufax in the article? He seems to be buying into his own (Boras-generated) hype.
Zito is right, but we've seen this song and dance from Wilpon before where he's been afraid to pony up and shell out a few mil more then he'd like to pay. If the Mets really aren't going any higher then 5/73 there's no way he'll be a Met. Give him his money and get the pitcher in here that the Mets need, but sadly it looks like Wilpon is going the Carl Pavano route in trying to acquire Suppan.
I really think that it is premature to say that. Omar has shown little tendency to underbid, and saying something like 5/73 over and over (which, as you note, cannot possibly be enough to land him) could at least prevent them from bidding against themselves (as they had to with Beltran, for example). I figured it would take a 6 year deal to sign him - if they can get it done for 5/80 (or even 5/85) I think they should do it in a heartbeat.
Omar isn't who I'm worried about, Wilpon has picked some awful strange times in the past to decide to close the checkbook, I'm just hoping this isn't one of them.
Today, the New York Mets have released all their ticket prices for the 2007 season. They also made ticket plans for 2007 available to order. The New York Mets are raising the price of their box seats closest to the field by up to $12 next season and are increasing the best tickets available for individual games by as much as $7. The Metro Club Gold seats, the ones nearest the dugouts, will range from $108-$72, the Mets said today, up from $96-60 last season. Inner loge boxes range from $82-$52 (up from $75-$45), inner field boxes from $77-$47 ($70-40), outfield field and loge boxes and all mezzanine boxes from $54-$36 ($32-50), loge reserved from $48-$30 ($45-$27), mezzanine reserved and upper box from $35-$21 ($33-$19) and upper reserved and loge and mezzanine back rows from $25-$5 ($22-$5). For 36 of their 81 home games, 20,000 seats per game will be available in $9 or $5 value packs. The Mets also have a holiday promotion ongoing in which tickets for five games can be bought for a total of $37.
I got my ticket package yesterday, 13 game Saturday Pack. I also got my annual Christmas Card from the Mets today. Zito will be my New Year gift...
Brewers sign Suppan for 4 years, $42 M. http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/9890205 So much for him being the fall-back plan for Zito.
thank god he signed with the brewers.I did not want him here. also I think Boras is bluffing with Hicks and his $100 million.
I hate Zito stringing the Mets along. If I was Wilpon, I will tell OMAR to get the message to Boras and Zito that if he has not accepted their offer by Wednesday, January 3rd, the offer is OFF THE TABLE and announce to the baseball community that they are exploring trade options for a new starting pitcher.
its called strategy.it could either work for or against zito.his price could fall and we could be there to swoop him up.
Why paint yourself into a corner? It's not like there's anybody else out there at this point... we've just got to be patient.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2710389 looks like its actually happening... i hope his career is ruined in that fruitcake town.
