Winter Meetings 2017

[Centerfield]

Kick off today. Lots of articles today about Alderson. His tone seems a lot less optimistic than years past. His goal, if you read between the lines, appears to be to temper expectations.

Sandy, expectations were pretty low to begin with.

[nymr83]

Expectations about the winter meetings, the Mets off-season, or the 2018 season?

They are all related but not the same.

[Centerfield]

Specifically, middle relievers are too expensive. Closers, it appears, are not even in the picture.

Stanton was too expensive. Starting pitching is not a priority, and whoever they get for first base won’t block Dom Smith.

Oh and our farm system sucks.

So, when is everyone willing to admit payroll matters?

[Centerfield]

Nymr83 wrote: Expectations about the winter meetings, the Mets off-season, or the 2018 season? They are all related but not the same.

I took it to mean he was tempering expectations for the Mets offseason.

But he wasn’t exactly pumped about 2018 either. Said something like “we’re going to be as good as we can possibly be”. Which is like something you say to someone who is not very good at something.

I think he also said that he hopes the Mets can be competitive. Or something like that. I was reading them felt sick.

[Ceetar]

I dunno, it's hard to follow all the garbage unsourced speculation out there, but Sandy seems to be shopping around and dipping his toes in all over the place compared to previous years.

Also literally nothing he says matters or is to be taken seriously.

[nymr83]

Ceetar wrote: Also literally nothing he says matters or is to be taken seriously.

which is as it should be. I'm glad Alderson isn't "pulling a Jeter" and telling everyone he NEEDS to trade away his best player.



I responded to this post just to take a shot at Jeter.

[Edgy MD]

If Alderson is tempering expectations, he's just doing what he's always done.

I don't particularly have any expectations. They'll probably add an infielder. I'm not sure if he'll be a starting-quality one or a platoon/reserve one. They'll probably add an outfielder. And I'm also not sure if he'll be one of their top three.

They'll probably add a reliever or two, maybe one righthander and one lefthander.

The real drama to me is whether he works primarily through the trade route or through through free agency. I'm curious to see if he wants to be dealt out on any of the players that haven't matured.

[Centerfield]

I think you guys give Alderson too much credit for being coy.

In 2015 he spent his time justifying not bringing back Yo, even going as far as to sign his replacement until Cespedes came back to them.

In 2016, when it was clear they wanted to resign him, the language was much different.

He telegraphed that he wanted to trade Jay Bruce, and also stated definitely that they later had committed to him in RF when there was no market.

So no, his words are not meaningless. Sure, maybe he always tempers expectations a bit, but his words also serve as a precursor to his actions.

You saw from Stanton. Part of the draw of a team is showing a free agent you are committed to winning and surrounding that player with talent around him. It serves absolutely no purpose to state you are out of money other than to temper fan expectations.

Does anyone really think this is just a smokescreen and the Mets will come light the world on fire this offseason?

And I don’t see any drama in seeing whether a mediocre team stays mediocre through trades or fee agency.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Centerfield wrote: Does anyone really think this is just a smokescreen and the Mets will come light the world on fire this offseason?

No, not at all. But I also think the Yanks having Stanton fall into their lap has a lot of
people irrationally worked up. Again.

Tomorrow morning I'll wake up to being called a stupid kool-aid swilling brainwashed
dork but can we see how the next few months go before we write the 2018 requiem?

[Ceetar]

d'Kong76 wrote: Centerfield wrote: Does anyone really think this is just a smokescreen and the Mets will come light the world on fire this offseason? No, not at all. But I also think the Yanks having Stanton fall into their lap has a lot of people irrationally worked up. Again. Tomorrow morning I'll wake up to being called a stupid kool-aid swilling brainwashed dork but can we see how the next few months go before we write the 2018 requiem?

Exactly.

Let's see how things look as we approach April before deciding this is a Yankee year in this town, because I'm not so sure.

I mean, I don't expect the Mets to light the world on fire because I don't think there's enough lighter fluid on the market.

These meetings are going to be fairly productive though, as now that Stanton and Ohtani are signing things will start falling into place.

[bmfc1]

Jeter isn't going to the Winter Meetings. Does he think that he's above such matters?
[tweet:aeocs9z2]

[/tweet:aeocs9z2]

[Benjamin Grimm]

Jeter won't get nearly as much slack in Miami as he got in the Bronx. While Mets fans certainly have a right to be disgruntled at the moment, I can only imagine how Marlins fans must feel.

[Ceetar]

Owners don't have as much regular face time with the press, particularly more national guys, that the media has to pull punches to maintain a relationship.

relatedly, I wonder if Boras is talking to the Marlins now? I know previously he wouldn't talk to Samson, the president. There's probably no point if the Marlins don't want players that want money.

[Vic Sage]

Jeter is not just an owner; he's the CEO and appears to be making the baseball decisions. And winter meetings aren't just about signing FAs; its about meeting with other GMs and laying the groundwork for trades. And clearly Jeter has been very interested in that. So there's really no reason for him NOT to be there, except to avoid unpleasant questions and thus maintain his arrogant aloofness. IOW, whether in a uniform or a suit, he's still a dick.

[nymr83]

Cut Jeter some slack, how far are the winter meetings from Miami? He probably didn't have the range to get there in time.

[Vic Sage]

[Centerfield]

Nymr83 wrote: Cut Jeter some slack, how far are the winter meetings from Miami? He probably didn't have the range to get there in time.

Nice. Lol.

[bmfc1]

Nymr83 wrote: Cut Jeter some slack, how far are the winter meetings from Miami? He probably didn't have the range to get there in time.

Bravo!

[Ceetar]

Nymr83 wrote: Cut Jeter some slack, how far are the winter meetings from Miami? He probably didn't have the range to get there in time.

In terms of US geography, Orlando probably falls roughly into the "makes the plays hit at him" category though no? ;-)

[MFS62]

Bravo.

Later

[Ceetar]

Jeter did make it to the Dolphins game though.

[Edgy MD]

I hear Jeter was offering to include the memory of José Fernandez if the Yanks would send back a few more $$.

[seawolf17]

The Great Purge continues. Marcell Ozuna to the Cardinals, apparently.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Marlins fans must be just loving Derek Jeter and the new ownership so much.

[Edgy MD]

Holy smokes.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Feck it, why don't we call get both Yelich and Castro.

I propose Juan Lagares, $10M bucks to pay 2/3rd's of his salary, Nimmo (they're gonna need outfielders), Gavin Cecchini, and some marginal A-ball guy. They'll do it. Watch.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

It's like baseball Black Friday down there. Rainbow Fish Friday?

[A Boy Named Seo]

Immediately my phone notifies me that "Yelich is next".

[Centerfield]

Love Yelich.

Send them Harv!

[Frayed Knot]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Marlins fans must be just loving Derek Jeter and the new ownership so much.

If you listen to the new ownership -- just St. Jeets really since he's the closest thing they have to a spokesman for the group -- the purge is necessary considering the financial seaworthiness of the the S.S. Marlins (slightly better than the S.S. Minnow, perhaps, but not by much). Loria essentially used the pump and dump method, first to get his new stadium and then to get out. Similar to how Hyzinga (sp?) did years ago after his '97 WS win although at least he stuck around for the tear-down part of it before selling. The back to back Cubs & Astros wins have made the tear-down in order to build up model popular these days but it easy to say that that's the way to go after it works.

Now one might wonder why the group would want to buy into something so precarious, particularly seeing as how the asking & selling prices were a lot higher than the pre-sale Forbes value had it, but that question has been posed for years and no one seems to go broke running top level sports franchises whether they wind up winning the whole enchilada or not.



32 y/o; 6' 4" / 215; originally a 2nd round draft pick by the Twins out of Nova HS in Ft. Lauderdale (there's a Nova University around that area too)

Edited December 13, 2017 by Guest