I never said baseball was like bball, marty. If you read more into posts than there is that's your lookout. Bottom line is that the Mets were, or mostly still are, in a situation like NY and a lot of people said that they'd never get out of it because they have too many overpaid, underproducing vets (kinda like a certain bball team!), yet Duquette is making leeway. Teams trade away 'untradeable' players even in bball (i know ya surprised), yet LayDUMB cannot cuz he's asking for quality players in return for mediocre ones.

There is no guarantee that any of the players the Mets got will ever be in the majors, let alone be succesful. But the big thing for the Mets was to dump Alomar, Burnitz (sp?) or Benitez (if this Yankees thing is true. I HOPE NOT!)

Scotty should be in the same lookout, dumping his high-priced 'talent' for youth, even if they are projects. That bull**** about the Garden prices preventing that from happening is a bunch of crock, since the Garden hasn't been selling out for awhile now. That would only make sense if people were still dishing out their hard-earned cash for the trash LayDUMB is serving.

exactly pike: nec, these are two totally different scenarios. In baseball you can eat contracts like candy. for instance the brave got Mike Hampton for little or nothing, the Rockies are still going to pay a large portion of his contract, you just can't do the same in basketball... Period!!!

Posted by Pike:

Please, Necrom. Apples and oranges.. CAP/NO CAP... and don't give Duquette props either... he's just unloading contracts to save Wilpon a little cash... the Mets got little to nothing for Burnitz and from what I understand, the prospects from the Yankees are ho hum, in the propsed Benitez deal.

Pike, I understand that. But it shows the willingness to do whatever it takes to get those guys outta there. The cap is a non-issue in the sense that NY is stuck over the cap regardless of who's taking up the slots. If we are to assume that LayDUMB is keeping them to wipe them off the books when their contracts expire, that would be OK, though it'll take to the 2006-2007 before they're gone (and I think Housless' goes beyond that?). But when I read quotes from "an eastern conference GM" stating that LayDUMB is asking for too much for his players, it makes me believe that a trade CAN happen, if LayDUMB wasn't asking for Kobe when trying to trade Spree.

I also heard Duquette on the FAN yesterday and yes, the Mets did eat PART of the contracts, but not the whole thing which seems to be the implication on this thread. Please note, I'm not a Mets fan (matter of fact, I wish they'd move to some other state. Or country.) but how can you not give Duquette props for cleaning up Phillips' mess?

you know, I can only think of Howard and his expiring contract being traded. Who else?

Deke, and on the flip side, KVH
I THINK Penny
DC

Don't forget, it's not SOLELY a monetary issue. Teams would risk taking certain players off our hands if it filled an immediate need on their roster. Spree, while declining, can still help in the correct situation. KT can be traded since his contract is not overly large and could also help the right team.

There are more, but honestly I don't know them all off the top of my head. We read about them all the time, and threads here and on the old DN forum usually reflect surprise that someone would do this trade or that.

interesting