Centerfield

Lefty Specialist wrote: I really, really want to believe they won't do something stupid. Afraid they will, though. Cano could be the next Robbie Alomar. Alomar is not the floor here. Cano is Alomar, except older, coming off a steroid suspension, and tied to a 5 year, $120 million contract with a no-trade clause.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Centerfield wrote: And if this deal goes through, are we going to do a jersey over the suit press conference for Cano? Oh, I'm sure they would. I don't object to getting Cano and Diaz, I just worry about what the Mets will give up to get them. I do fear that it will be too much. That's the thing. The Mets shouldn't give up anything. Cano is not an asset. He's a liability. A terrible liability. He's a 36 year old player on a huge 5 year deal. Even if they just gave us Cano and Diaz for free, it wouldn't be worth taking. Diaz is an asset, but not enough to outweigh Cano. It has to be Cano, plus cash, plus Diaz, plus they take Bruce off our hands. And then we make the deal. The minute they ask for prospects, or McNeil, the conversation should be over. McNeil had a higher OPS than Cano last year. He's 26 and cheap. Why are we having this discussion?

And if this deal goes through, are we going to do a jersey over the suit press conference for Cano? That might just drive me over the edge.

Diaz is a fucking relief pitcher. I wouldn't trade him 1 for 1 for Kelenic, or McNeil, or even Dunn. To take on the Cano contract in addition to giving up someone is just stupid beyond words. Atlanta is adding players. Our offseason is sitting on pins and needles hoping we don't get worse.

I'm realizing that reading about these rumors is a good way to drive myself crazy over potentially nothing. It worries me that Andy Martino, who has his checks signed by Wilpon, is trying to justify this trade. But other than that I'll just wait and see. I don't know what Brodie will end up doing, so judgment is reserved on him. But rumor Brodie is really not my favorite guy.

They're saying McNeil is being discussed. OMG. Someone shoot me.

I feel like I'm living in some alternate universe. We are not trading for Cano. Seattle is dumping his contract on us. Eating money, taking on Bruce, and sending us their closer is the consideration for this salary dump. If we are asked to give up prospects, we hang up. If we're asked to give up prospects and Lugo, and a young major leaguer, whatever the fuck that means, then we hang up in a more adamant manner.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: You said it (so did I in a different thread). Maybe we can get JJ Putz again! And the Cano contract is really not a big deal. We can spread his payments over a 100 years starting in 2031, and invest that money right now into this fund I know...

HahnSolo wrote: Jeff Passan says significant momentum to these talks, meanwhile two Mets prospects names surface via Rosenthal (at least I hadn't heard their names in this deal before--we'd really consider dealing Kelenic in this trade?). [tweet]https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/1068183711517220864[/tweet] I don't know; an aging "name" player and a closer. This move has Omar's fingerprints all over it. No no no. Are you fucking kidding me? No.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I remember Jorgensen as 16... For 22 I think of Donn Clendennon, Ray Knight, and Al Leiter. And with a little further thought, Kevin McReynolds and Kevin Plawecki. Stream of conscious: 1. Mookie. Duh. 2. Jose Oquendo 3. Vance Wilson (this one is weird) 4. Dykstra 5. Wright. For a long time it was Olerud. 6. Backman 7. Reyes. For a long time it was Hubie. 8. Carter 9. Hundley 10. Ordonez 11. Teufel 12. Darling 13. Lee Mazzili 14. No one comes to mind 15. Beltran 16. Doc 17. Keith 18. Strawberry 19. Gardenhire 20. HoJo 21. Delgado 22. Knight 23. No one 24. Rickey 25. Kaz 26. No one. 27. Zeile. 28. No one 29. No one 30. No one 31. Piazza. 32. No one 33. No one 34. Noah 35. Rick Reed 36. no one 37. No one 38. No one 39. No one 40. No one 41. Duh 42. Huskey 43. No one 44. Cone. Also Darling. This one's kinda split. 45. Franco 46. No one 47. Jesse 48. deGrom 49. Armando 50. Sid ... 99. Wendell On Edit: Forgot 13! Corrected now.

More thinking. Super Optimistic Take. Brodie is a genius. Has no intention of trading Syndergaard, but has floated his name out there to entice offers. He fully expects to be underwhelmed, but this way other teams show their hand. He figures out which teams value starting pitching and which teams are willing to give up the most. Then he goes back and tells them they haven't offered enough to justify giving up Syndergaard, but would they be interested in Matz or Wheeler? He uses his super-smart analytics people to show that Wheeler was much better than Noah last year. He has multiple bidders now, and he leverages three good months of Wheeler. At the same time, Noah, who might have felt a bit comfortable knowing his former agent is now running things, gets a reminder that he doesn't walk on water, and maybe is open to talking about an extension in exchange for security. He trades Wheeler at the height of his value, takes the money he saves and invests in elite free agents (including Corbin to offset the loss of Wheeler), and puts together a 100 win monster for 2019. Too optimistic?

Each time I open this thread I feel like throwing up.

I like this a lot. This plus the consultant guy they hired earlier this week. Committing to surrounding himself with smart people is a great philosophy by Brodie.

For perspective, some thought taking a flyer on 32 year old Josh Donaldson on a 1 year deal was too much risk.

After consideration again last night, I decided I'm against this deal. When it comes down to it, I don't have much faith that Cano will continue to be productive. I keep reading that he's still a good hitter, etc. Well, he was a good hitter in 2018. We don't know what he will be in 2019, except that we know he's already 36, and he'll either be off the 'roids, or suspended. I don't think that this bodes well for him next year, and certainly not in the ensuing years. It kinda reminds me of the Bobby Bonilla or Mo Vaughn situation, where we unload a bad contract by taking on a worse one, partially because we feel like the player still has something left. I don't want to rely on this. Diaz is certainly intriguing, but if they ask for prospects in addition to taking on Cano, then I tell them to forget it. More than anything else, I feel like if BVW makes this trade, he will feel justified that he's upgraded the offense, and not do anything else. That's not the move I'm looking for. Get me a power bat in his prime. Not an expensive 36 year old on his downside.

All these trade proposals are basically smokescreens for the fact that the Mets won’t pursue elite free agents and significantly increase payroll. They’re floating them out there until they find one that isn’t met with vicious opposition. They’ll land a somewhat recognizable name and describe their offseason as “creative” and “out of the box”. While still not spending enough to justify playing in the largest market in the nation. True? Or too cynical?

Edgy MD wrote: following the....David Hasselhoff career track of Americans who make it big in Germany. Sir. I would submit that Mr. Hasselhoff made it pretty big here as well.

I hate the idea of trading Noah. So yeah, this is better. If Seattle kicks in 10 million per year, you are basically signing Cano to a 5 year, $70 contract. To take this on would be foolish. So they agree to take Bruce. Now it's like signing Cano to a 5 year, $44 million contract. (or a 3 year, or a 4 year, deal, whatever. Either way you owe him $44 million). Unless we think we can unload Jay Bruce somewhere else. Not sure if this is true or not, but anyway, let's assume that no one else wants Bruce. The answer is still no. At best, you get maybe one or two productive years from Cano. And position-wise, and left-handedwise, he's not a great fit. But then they throw in Edwin Diaz. A guy who I never heard of, but I guess would slot in as our closer. This means we save 3 years, $33 million on our closer (best guess at what that might cost us in the open market). So now, this deal starts to make sense. But then you also give them Gimenez, Smith and Dunn? No way. Am I missing something?

If they take Bruce, then it kinda becomes a 3 year deal for 15 mil each. Right? Or is my math off?

Doug Melvin not getting the love he deserves.

Neither of them have a statue at Citi. They’ve signed the same number of free agents this offseason. Chaim Bloom. Smarter than both of them. Foxhole guys. Will share a podium when BVW announces his plan to replace Syndergaard. At least one baseball writer felt neither belonged in the Hall of Fame. Both could use soap. One has a dirty knee. One has unclean hands.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Picture a healthy Donaldson added to Acuna and FFF at the top of that lineup. 1 year, potentially-VERY-helpful veteran signings, done early to get ahead of market pressures... ... it's almost like other teams are better at this win-now thing than we are! It's depressing. And Philadelphia is linked to every major free agent. Granted they haven't actually signed anyone yet, but you know, it's not looking great.

Done deal. Really disappointing. I think we all know Machado ain't happening. I thought maybe Donaldson was a possibility, if he would take a 1 or 2 year deal. I don't know where we go from here.

1 year. $23 million. No idea if we made any attempt to get into the picture. I'm sure there will be excuses.

Edgy MD wrote: Centerfield wrote: And he’s well liked by all teammates not named Papelbon and everyone pretty much agreed afterward that it was Papelbon’s fault. I'm calling NO HUH-Way on the first part, though it's probably less worthy of being a deciding factor than your team's own assessment of him. As for the second part, true enough, though I tend to think it was also Matt Williams' fault. Have you heard of an instance where it was documented that he was not well liked? There isn’t a lot out there, but the general sense I got was that he comes across as a dick but he’s a good teammate and the guys that play with him think he’s misunderstood. There was an article a few years ago about how he and Scherzer were BFFs and that their handshake even includes a mock of the Papelbon choke. I would guess that if his teammates were on Papelbons side, this would not play well.