Michael Cuddyer Retired?

[Frayed Knot]

I really wish that fans' first reaction to stuff like this wouldn't be to run around like a bunch of coked-up accountants.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Well, Cuddy is big about it.

[Guest themetfairy]

Being please about being done with a bad deal is hardly dancing on the man's grave. But from the moment we saw him play in Spring Training in March it was obvious that Cuddyer was well past his productive prime. The Mets overpaid for him for the wrong reasons, and frankly it is a relief that we won't have to watch him hobbling through another season.

[Edgy MD]

I thought Mex only started threads.

Always tackling the big picture, though.

[Benjamin Grimm]

$10 million for an eighth-inning guy is a bit steep. Tony Sipp just signed for three years, $18 million.

[Edgy MD]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Well, Cuddy is big about it.

That's good stuff!

There were so many people in the Twins organization who impacted my career. Too many to mention. But a big influence was Larry Corrigan, the Twins minor league field coordinator at the time. LC was the definition of the term “attention to detail.” To me, he epitomized the spirit of the Twins organization. Our lockers had to be in order, our cleats had to be clean, and our infield needed to be errorless. Professionalism off the field translated to it on the field. I remember one time he made me get a new glove because there was a crease in the palm that shouldn’t have been there. Everything had to be perfect. One day one of the players didn’t have his locker arranged in the right order. We came in after practice and every single locker was unpacked in a pile in the middle of the room. It took us forever to sort everything out. But it never happened again.

I was trying to guess if he was a former college coach or former army sergeant. Turns out to have been the former. The Twins rehired him in recent years as Terry Ryan tries to put the organization back on track.

[Centerfield]

Is it bad form? Then I guess I am guilty as charged.

Let's remember, Cuddyer did not die. And he has not been struck ill with a serious disease. He is a person that was given the ultimate gift of playing major league baseball. He is retiring after 15 years, a long and successful career, as a very rich man. Is he sad today? Sure. We should all be so sad.

I celebrate today because I am a Mets fan, not a Michael Cuddyer fan. And as long as Cuddyer was on the team, not performing, using up limited resources, his interests were aligned against the Mets. I celebrate today because his retirement greatly helps the Mets.

I also welcome number crunching. Crunch away Mex. Some here may pretend that the payroll is less important than what it is, but in my opinion, money is the single biggest factor in achieving our ultimate goal, which is to win a championship. And by factor, I mean obstacle. We are playing against a stacked deck. We are playing teams with far more resources than us. So when resources free up, I understand celebrating and number crunching.

It's exactly what I did.

[Guest themetfairy]

Centerfield wrote: Is it bad form? Then I guess I am guilty as charged. Let's remember, Cuddyer did not die. And he has not been struck ill with a serious disease. He is a person that was given the ultimate gift of playing major league baseball. He is retiring after 15 years, a long and successful career, as a very rich man. Is he sad today? Sure. We should all be so sad. I celebrate today because I am a Mets fan, not a Michael Cuddyer fan. And as long as Cuddyer was on the team, not performing, using up limited resources, his interests were aligned against the Mets. I celebrate today because his retirement greatly helps the Mets. I also welcome number crunching. Crunch away Mex. Some here may pretend that the payroll is less important than what it is, but in my opinion, money is the single biggest factor in achieving our ultimate goal, which is to win a championship. And by factor, I mean obstacle. We are playing against a stacked deck. We are playing teams with far more resources than us. So when resources free up, I understand celebrating and number crunching. It's exactly what I did.

I love you Man!

[Guest d'Kong76]

Grave dancing is a bit of stretch.
The Mets have said they have the budget to continue to look for CF help,
a fifth starter and a reliever. I hope they add someone who can live up to
what expectations they had for Cuddy last off-season and and they don't
sit on their hands thinking they've made enough changes.
The notion posted yesterday that they are better 'today' than they were at
the end of the year still has my head spinning around.

Edited December 12, 2015 by Guest

[Mex17]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: $10 million for an eighth-inning guy is a bit steep. Tony Sipp just signed for three years, $18 million.

My bad, I thought that O"Day set the market at $9 million per. If you think you can shave a few mil of the set-up man, that might make some sense, but not too much $$$ shaved off.

Edited December 12, 2015 by Guest

[Guest d'Kong76]

You're right about Clippard, 8.3 million... god, I wouldn't have guessed that.
(ooops, you edited it out... but I looked at bbrdotcom)

[Mex17]

d'Kong76 wrote: You're right about Clippard, 8.3 million... god, I wouldn't have guessed that. (ooops, you edited it out... but I looked at bbrdotcom)

I edited my post because different places are reporting his 2015 salary as various amounts. Some say around $8 million, others around $5 million. Regardless, the going rate for set-up men is right around $8 to $9 mil annually over three years.

Edited December 12, 2015 by Guest

[Frayed Knot]

Erasing wise-ass comments doesn't mean they didn't happen or weren't seen.

[Mex17]

Frayed Knot wrote: Erasing wise-ass comments doesn't mean they didn't happen or weren't seen.

But the difference between me and you is that I don't go on the attack initially (while also being the guy who has 35,000+ posts on the site that was set up to be the "more refined" option to another site that I will not mention by name).

So stay classy, pencil-sketch.

Edited December 12, 2015 by Guest

[Centerfield]

That being said, very classy move by Cuddyer all around. Both to walk away and to write that statement.

I would never expect an athlete to act so altruistically. The move there is to show up in Spring Training, talk about being in the best shape of your life, then collect checks while sitting on the 60 day DL.

[Guest themetfairy]

True.

[Centerfield]

themetfairy wrote: Centerfield wrote: Is it bad form? Then I guess I am guilty as charged. Let's remember, Cuddyer did not die. And he has not been struck ill with a serious disease. He is a person that was given the ultimate gift of playing major league baseball. He is retiring after 15 years, a long and successful career, as a very rich man. Is he sad today? Sure. We should all be so sad. I celebrate today because I am a Mets fan, not a Michael Cuddyer fan. And as long as Cuddyer was on the team, not performing, using up limited resources, his interests were aligned against the Mets. I celebrate today because his retirement greatly helps the Mets. I also welcome number crunching. Crunch away Mex. Some here may pretend that the payroll is less important than what it is, but in my opinion, money is the single biggest factor in achieving our ultimate goal, which is to win a championship. And by factor, I mean obstacle. We are playing against a stacked deck. We are playing teams with far more resources than us. So when resources free up, I understand celebrating and number crunching. It's exactly what I did. I love you Man!

And I have a fond regard for you as well.

[Centerfield]

Mex17 wrote: Based upon that $92.2 million number that Rubin put out there as the payroll commitment going into the winter, things roughly break down like this. . . $92.2 million - $9 million for Niece - $12.5 million for Cuddyer + $10.7 million for Walker + $8.5 million for Cabrera = $89.65 million Assuming that they have a $120 million budget to spend (not unreasonable given that this was the around the median for MLB last season and this is a New York-based defending NL Champion), that gives them around $30 million to play with. So. . . $10 million for Span or Parra $10 million for an 8th inning guy $5 million for Colon $2 million for Blevins $3 million for Steve Pearce And there you go.

If there really is $30 million, I would go $20 million for Cespedes/Upton, then spend the remaining $10 million on bullpen help. Blevins is a great start. I think Cishek could be had for less than $5 million. I'd also look into bringing back Kelly Johnson, as I think he can still be a very useful piece.

[Frayed Knot]

Mex17 wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: Erasing wise-ass comments doesn't mean they didn't happen or weren't seen. But the difference between me and you is that I don't go on the attack initially (while also being the guy who has 35,000+ posts on the site that was set up to be the "more refined" option to another site that I will not mention by name). So stay classy, pencil-sketch.

Attack? Please!

And I have no idea what post totals or other boards have to do with this.
Nor do I know what a "pencil sketch" is. Nor do I think I want to.

[Guest d'Kong76]

I think he's referring to your dashing avatar, Mr. Pencil Sketch. hahaha

[Vic Sage]

S'long, Cuddy, and thanks for all the fish you didn't catch. And don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
Oh, and please take Ceetar with you.

Mex17 wrote: Based upon that $92.2 million number that Rubin put out there as the payroll commitment going into the winter, things roughly break down like this. . . $92.2 million - $9 million for Niece - $12.5 million for Cuddyer + $10.7 million for Walker + $8.5 million for Cabrera = $89.65 million Assuming that they have a $120 million budget to spend (not unreasonable given that this was the around the median for MLB last season and this is a New York-based defending NL Champion), that gives them around $30 million to play with. So. . . $10 million for Span or Parra $10 million for an 8th inning guy $5 million for Colon $2 million for Blevins $3 million for Steve Pearce And there you go.

Yeah, just replace Span or Parra with Cespedes, and we've got something. But god forbid we have a $130-$135m payroll, that might actually put us at the bottom rung of the top 1/3 of payrolls next year.

[Edgy MD]

Centerfield wrote: Some here may pretend that the payroll is less important than what it is, but in my opinion, money is the single biggest factor in achieving our ultimate goal, which is to win a championship.

Enough with the "some here" stuff. Talk about bad form.

[Centerfield]

Edgy MD wrote: Centerfield wrote: Some here may pretend that the payroll is less important than what it is, but in my opinion, money is the single biggest factor in achieving our ultimate goal, which is to win a championship. Enough with the "some here" stuff. Talk about bad form.

Are you implying that this is not true? Ceetar and MGIM are outspoken about this. Ashie falls into this camp too.

As for your standpoint, I don't know where you fall. I know you refute a lot of my points. You were not sold on Heyward. You don't advocate for Cespedes. Upton, you say, is not a good fit. But I don't know that I've seen you speak openly on your thoughts about the payroll.

[Edgy MD]

I'm saying all here can speak speak for themselves. I'm-not-naming-names straw man shots like that is part of what Saladoc used to make this place as miserable as hell.

[Edgy MD]

I've kind of supported going big on Cespedes, depending on how big. I just think — and I'm dangerously close to entertaining broad, sweeping generalizations with regard to Cubanos — he's kind of crazy, living in his own orbit, and possibly juiced to the eyebrows.

I just don't like — have never liked — spending the offseason coveting other people's stuff (and former stuff). That's just not what I root for. I become interested in Mets when they become Mets.

[ashie62]

Put the money to good use. Thank you Jason Cuddy!

Now get Cespedes!!!!

[bmfc1]

Sherman opines today that the Mets are better off with Span because Yo takes away AB's from Conforto.

[Centerfield]

Edgy MD wrote: I'm saying all here can speak speak for themselves. I'm-not-naming-names straw man shots like that is part of what Saladoc used to make this place as miserable as hell.

I didn't think it was really contested that some disagree with me on the payroll issue. Anyone that has been reading the past few weeks can see that and know who that is. I know I have not been arguing against myself.

I'm happy to name names, as you saw above. I didn't think, and still don't think, this is necessary.

[Centerfield]

Edgy MD wrote: I've kind of supported going big on Cespedes, depending on how big. I just think — and I'm dangerously close to entertaining broad, sweeping generalizations with regard to Cubanos — he's kind of crazy, living in his own orbit, and possibly juiced to the eyebrows. I just don't like — have never liked — spending the offseason coveting other people's stuff (and former stuff). That's just not what I root for. I become interested in Mets when they become Mets.

I understand this. And you've been consistent on this throughout the years. You and I both advocated re-upping Piazza at the end, and frankly, we both whiffed on that.

Which makes your failure to endorse Cespedes strange. It's out of character for you. You started a Murphy thread.

I hear you on the Cespedes reservations. I have them too. I far preferred Heyward (I have no such hangups about coveting others' stuff). But I think he and Upton, imperfect as they are, are the best options left.

[Edgy MD]

Edgy endorses Cespedes.