Centerfield

Latest buzz has Zobrist coming out around $15 million per, for 4 years. Sounds high, but I guess that's the going rate.

We'll miss you Bob. I'll always appreciate how nice he was to my son and his buddies during the CitiField clinic. Good luck Bob. See you in October. Work on some sliding drills while you're over there.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: The biggest question, to me is, would they still be interested in Matt Harvey? I think they decided to hold on to their Mookie and let go of their moolah.

Edgy MD wrote: Centerfield wrote: In 2012 two of those All-Stars were anything but cheap. Matt Cain made $15.8 million. Lincecum made $18.25 million. They also spent $8.5 million on their closer. Sure they paid these guys as they matured and got their leverage, but he Zito deal goes back to 2007 and hurt them pretty much immediately. They survived it because they were better than it. Hopefully, the Mets pay as they go also. Exactly. They were better than it. They developed good young pitching then opened up the books to retain them. They also signed free agents to supplement this pitching instead of being limited by payroll constraints. The 2010 championship team had acquired talent like Edgar Renteria, Aaron Rowand, and Mark DeRosa. They had a top 10 payroll that allowed them to do this. The Mets? This is exactly what I want them to do. Bring in the talent to supplement their young aces. Hell, the Mets don't even have Barry Zito. It should be easier for them. Be like the Giants. Win it all every other year.

Edgy MD wrote: Centerfield wrote: Big market teams can take the chance to win it all, and absorb the downside later. I don't think it has much to do with market, in the Giants' case, so much as their ability to grow two (now three) young cheap All-Star starting pitchers while the one they bought failed to deliver. In 2012 two of those All-Stars were anything but cheap. Matt Cain made $15.8 million. Lincecum made $18.25 million. They also spent $8.5 million on their closer. Notwithstanding the bad contract to Zito ($19 million), and getting no production from Freddy Sanchez and Aaron Rowand (just under $20 million combined), they still had enough flexibility to absorb those bad deals and pay to put a winning team on the field. Such is the luxury of a team with a top 10 payroll.

I'll stop short of saying it's a bad move, although that was my gut reaction. After thinking through it some more, I guess I'll say it's a curious move. Look, everyone knows the track record of big time contracts to pitchers. And Dombrowski is no idiot, so he's aware of it too. It's just that deals like this usually come when a team is right on the verge of contention, and I don't know if Boston is there yet. If the Cubs made this move, or if Pittsburgh could afford this move, then I get it. But to me, Boston seems a few pieces away still. (Though I will admit I don't know Boston that well.) Also, I'm not sure that these huge contracts to pitchers are necessarily all bad. Everyone points to Kevin Brown and Mike Hampton as examples. But Kershaw has earned every bit of his contract. So has Felix Hernandez. Zack Greinke pitched so well he's going to earn himself a raise. And even the bad ones may have arguably been worth it. CC Sabathia's contract is bad, but CC pitched them to a World Championship in 2009. And the MFY's still made the playoffs 5 out of those 7 years. Barry Zito's contract may have been one of the worst of all, but he pitched great in the post-season of 2012, and helped win a championship. Plus, even more so than the Yankees, the Giants seem to be doing pretty ok notwithstanding. Big market teams can take the chance to win it all, and absorb the downside later. Still, $31 million per seems a lot to give for Price, who I've kind of viewed as that second-tier of "ace". So who knows. I thought that Red Sox made some pretty bad moves when they signed Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez. I guess it will depend what else they can do this winter and next before we know whether this will work out for them. But as of right now, it seems like they are missing Theo Epstein pretty badly.

Rickey would have given him a full share. I wonder how Mejia is treated as compared to say, Zach Wheeler or Josh Edgin. I imagine you'd be inclined to give Wheeler a full share, but give nothing to Mejia, who hurt the team with his selfishness and stupidity. I wonder how much Bobby Bonilla got.

Payroll isn't like the weather. No matter how much you complain, it won't change. Payroll is man made. In fact, it's one man. And that man is susceptible to fan discontent, media pressure, criticisms of his character. If the over-arching theme of this post-season was that it was time for the Wilpons to spend, I have no doubt it would have an effect on payroll. If the blogosphere, twitterverse, fan fora, and beat writers all called him out on his promise in February of 2013, I think that Wilpon could be pressured to act. But we likely will never know, because the pressure is not there. Acceptance? Come on man. Is that what Malcolm taught us?

It's the smart move. And if you decide you don't want him on the team, you can always trade him.

"No Sandy. I don't think the numbers you are floating out there will impress my client. Now, if the Mets were to start playing You Sang To Me after every win, maybe I can get him feeling a bit more receptive..."

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Edgy MD wrote: I wouldn't expect the Mets to crow about their payroll. I'm gonna take that as an "agree" on the rest of what I wrote. I can't speak for Edgy, but I don't think the Mets will crow about their payroll, and I don't think that the extra $5 million or $10 million is a best case scenario. Even this past season they took on additional salary. I'd say best case scenario is $120 or $125 million. Maybe I'm dumb, but I still hold out hope that the Wilpons will come through for us.

Vic Sage wrote: Asdrubel Cabrera? No thanks. he's not bad, but he's not very good anymore either. Middling power, limited range. I'd rather have Zobrist, even at his age. But i don't want Zobe either... at least not for more than a year or 2. Actually, come to think of it, that would be fine. Ok, sign Zobe for 4 years, and even if he sucks toward the end, we're a NY franchise and can afford to carry an expensive UT guy or dump him if necessary. Zobe = 4/$60m Heyward = 7/$130m C'mon, Fred, put on your big boy pants. Sign Zobe and Heyward and we'll be good to go. It would probably put our payroll at around $120M next year (or thereabouts), which still wouldn't have been in the top 10 last year. Yup. My fear is that they will sign Zobrist as their "big acquisition" and do nothing else to improve the offense. And for some reason, lots of fans and media will let them off the hook for this.

Well I like that he recognizes that the Mets need offense. And I like that he suggests that the Mets should not shy away from adding payroll. After that, pretty much nothing. I suspect Gonzalez could be had for a lot less if one takes on the entire salary. Plus, in addition to the coors splits, he sucks against lefties, and is as streaky as Duda. I think it's worth a try if they Rocks want very little in return, but if they start asking Matz, or even Wheeler, then I say no. Maybe the Rocks could trade him to Seattle for Robinson Cano.

What a great week this was. Not as good as the week before, but still a great week.

And wants to be a Met for Life. http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/syndergaard-loves-ny-met-life-article-1.2441230 SIGN HIM TO AN EXTENSION NOW SANDY!!!!!

Holy crap that was a fun time. Fuck it man. Resign Murphy and Cespedes. And Johnson and Uribe. Even Tyler Clippard. Let's do it all again.

Edgy MD wrote: I think I agree too. I mean, they have two capable established infielders in Tejada and Flores. Neither is blowing your mind, but they serve as starters and have possible room to improve. They have two coming, possibly-exciting league-ready middle infielders pushing them in Reynolds and Herrera. And they have some meaningful prospects (Checchini, Rosario...) behind that. Heyward for the outfield and let Johnson or his like try and be our Zobrist. Secondary selections? Maybe, but market-savviness is nothing to be ashamed of.

Fuck. If Fred would actually keep his promise and bring us back to pre-Madoff payroll levels, we could sign Zobrist/Murphy AND Heyward/Upton.

This is why we should be raising hell! You know, getting up from our chair abruptly, knocking over pen holders! We should also cross our arms and tap our foot like we really mean it.

Especially since Dilson Herrera can possibly be that guy that Edgy is talking about. And if he's not yet ready, we can sign a cheap veteran like Kelly Johnson as insurance (doubles as Wright insurance too). Definitely go Heyward and Upton.

Agreed. Fuck it. Is it too early for new years resolutions? If the Mets make the World Series this year we are ALL fucking going.

You know, maybe I'm not over it yet. Last night I found myself wondering how different the series might have been if we started at home instead of on the road. Then I found myself thinking about the All-Star game and getting pissed at Bruce Bochy and Clayton Kershaw. And Francisco Rodriguez giving up runs when he shouldn't have even been there. If Familia is in the game and deGrom goes 2, maybe the NL wins. And we are still nursing champagne hangovers. Fucking Bochy. Next year, we get our Mets in that game. 2 innings a piece for deGrom, Harvey, Syndergaard and Matz. Familia closes. Win the All-Star game. Win the WS.

Harper gave a nice acknowledgement to the Mets yesterday. Plus, when the Mets clinched, he was classy and said that he hopes we win it all. Maybe he's not such a bad guy. It's funny, I feel like he says all the right things, and I can't really point to anything that he's done wrong to warrant his reputation. But he just seems like such a dick.

I think, Born-Again Turner aside, Ben Zobrist is head and shoulders better than the other guys you mention in your post. But your point is well-taken. I think our version of Zobrist is Murphy. And he's younger and less expensive. I think the question we have to ask is who will be better over these next few years. Early 30's Murphy or late 30's Zobrist.

I agree. Even knowing what we know now, that Cespedes is likely gone, you still have to make the deal. It's just that when the deal was made I was all like "Great! We didn't trade Syndergaard, Matz and Conforto! Who the fuck is Michael Fullmer? I don't care!" And now it just hurts a little more. Here's to hoping he's Kevin Mulvey. Also, Dilson Herrera dropped off the list this year as well. That's quite a haul for one year: Syndergaard, Matz, Conforto, Herrera.