Mex17

One very minor issue created by this is that Flores, Plawecki, and/or d'Arnaud are really going to have to put some extra reps in at first base while in Florida. That need would have been alleviated had it been Raburn joining the team as opposed to Yo coming back (not that I am complaining). That one little thing aside, there are no discernible holes on this team whatsoever. Stellar rotation. Solid lineup. Improved defense. More than respectable bullpen. Deep bench. They ought to be in the top five to compete for the entire ball of wax in 2016. Let's play some baseball!

TransMonk wrote: Yes, but it's "dumb" money. I don't want Cespedes in four years at that price. He will be 33 in the fourth year, that's "over the hill" now?

http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/yoenis-cespedes-nationals-offer-five-year-deal-would-prefer-stay-with-mets-ken-rosenthal-012116 OK, so if the Mets go four years, $22 million per year, $12 million deferred, opt-out after two, would that be considered equal value to a 5 year $100 million offer? I'm not saying that the Mets are going to do that, but if they were inclined to move off the three years in order to compete with Washington, that could be a way to do it.

Random observation from the Washington perspective. . .if they had this kind on money to throw around, why not use it to keep Jordan Zimmermann instead?

Familia and Bastardo together in the back end of the same bullpen. Does anyone else find that weird based upon the last names alone? It's almost the same as Angel Pagan (two completely opposing concepts wholly contained in the name of one individual). Or if there was ever a hockey player whose first name was Jesus and somehow ended up on the same team as Miroslav Satan.

Centerfield wrote: I'm back to feeling like the Mets are not going to do a thing. The Mets WILL add one more major league caliber outfielder before Spring Training opens. It will either be Cespedes, Steve Pearce, or Ryan Raburn, mark my words. I know that there is a huge dropoff between Yo and the other two, but I believe that they will be steadfast in not allowing Eric Campbell to be on the Opening Day roster (barring injury).

batmagadanleadoff wrote: So you're saying that the Mets wouldn't have to be the highest bidder because he last played for them? Who knows? We'll see. The point I was mainly trying to make, though, is how little interest Cespedes appears to be generating. No. I'm saying that the Mets probably win out is everything is equal (or very close to being equal). ". . .if the term of years and AAV are comparable across the board. . ."

batmagadanleadoff wrote: See, this is yet another thing about this that makes no sense to me. If Cespedes is willing to sign a one-year deal, I would think that more, rather than less teams would be interested. But if the term of years and AAV are comparable across the board, I would think that the Mets then have the advantage over another unknown situation. If that is true, then "more teams" would be of little consequence (unless Oakland, Boston, or Detroit get involved).

bmfc1 wrote: The only aspect of this story that matters: Are the Orioles still in on Cespedes, or are they no longer in the picture?I positive that they are "out" which leaves very few opportunities for Yo. If that is true, does that mean that the Mets now have more leverage to persuade Cespedes into a longer term commitment as opposed to the "pillow contract" (if that is what the Mets even want to do)? Two years guaranteed, player option for a third, team options for a fourth and a fifth, $20-22 AAV. That could work.

Flexibility. "Raise the floor". And they made a book and a movie about how this worked for an Alderson protege when the protege had a stable of premium young starting pitching. I think that you can argue that we saw another version of the same theme celebrate on our field last fall. Why can't it work for us as well, especially since we (at least theoretically) should have a bigger budget than teams that play in Oakland and Kansas City? I think that the main point that is being missed in this thread is that Alderson basically revealed that he can go as high as $120 million this winter. I see that as a positive trend. . . . Fred: "Sandy, once all of this Madoff stuff is behind us I think we can get back to a $180 million payroll again." Sandy: "That's great, but my professional opinion is that you want to get back up to that level in a gradual and modular manner. We bottom out as much as we can while stockpiling young talent, then start heading back up about $15 to $20 million a year as the young talent we stockpile coagulates and matures together until we hit a point where we have enough of a budget and enough free money within it to lock up a solid core of our own guys when it is in it's prime. The best way to achieve that is to be very careful with when and who to give multi-season deals to with regard to external veteran free agents. The more money we have coming off the books each and every year as we concurrently raise the level of payroll over those same years, the better position we will be in when our own talent gets into their arbitration eligibility, when we can then buy out their remaining arbitration years as well as a solid portion of their free agent seasons so that we can retain them and pay them when they are actually in their prime and not overpay anybody who is past their prime for services rendered to other organizations." Fred: "Alright. We hired you to do a job so go do it." I am not guaranteeing that this specific conversation has ever taken place, but it is just as feasible to speculate on compared to all the doomsday theories that are also out there. In fact, I remember Alderson talking about this very approach when he was first hired, so maybe is is more feasible to speculate on compared to the doomsday theories (although there are days when the doomsday theories appear to carry weight with me also).

If Montero is out of options, shouldn't he be listed in the Major League bullpen?

Wasn't the entire point of starting SNY was that a team Owned and Operated TV station is a financial bonanza for said team (and such a bonanza leads to investing back in the team)? Isn't that the reason why the Dodgers and Yankees have money to burn? Then why (if I am reading the comments correctly) are we talking about "SNY revenue" as different from "Mets revenue". I understand that it technically is but in practice it does not seem to be that way for others. But steering this back to baseball for a moment, why were they so hell-bent on not blocking Lagares (and/or Nimmo if you want to logically extend it) with a two year commitment to Span yet they were completely fine in blocking Herrera with a four year, more expensive, commitment to Zobrist? And would De Aza really have been off the market if they waited until January to see Span work out? I don't think so, not with Cespedes/Upton/Parra/Gordon/Fowler still out there as dominoes that need to fall. I actually do not hate the De Aza signing but I do think that it was premature. I see the baseball logic that is being put forth (and this really could just be a baseball decision to pursue this path as opposed to financial limitations. . .even though I understand where the skepticism is coming from). We will see it it works and we will also see where they go from here prior to February (with regard to another veteran bullpen piece and another righthanded bench player ala Raburn. . .or if Cespedes somehow drops in our laps). I don't know if this column by Sherman was discussed, but at the very least it explains the logic being pursued (although it was clear that he wanted Span). http://nypost.com/2015/12/12/mets-will-use-cuddyer-dollars-to-double-down-on-2015-formula/

I know that Heyman said "platoon" but leading up to this I have been hearing the word "compliment" more often when people in the media have been talking about what the Mets have in mind in relation to Lagares for whichever lefty bat they were going to get for the outfield. In a strict lefty-righty platoon, the lefty is going to get way more playing time than the righty. I personally do not think that they are going to keep Lagares's glove on the bench that much if the drop-off to De Aza is that pronounced. De Aza will play CF against really tough rightys and when Lagares needs rest, but he can also be a lefty pinch hitter off the bench and can spell Conforto in LF too so that the kid is not so overwhelmed in his first full season in the bigs. He can even spell Granderson in RF as well so as to maximize Grandy's performance in his age-35 year. Lagares's best season (2014) had him up to the plate overall 416 times. De Aza's 2015 splits had him up against rightys 281 times. My guess is that TC has those AB numbers in mind as a goal for each player.

Centerfield wrote: More expensive than originally reported. $5.75. Incentives can take it up to $ 7 million. Is there a link for this?

I just got back from my dealer (sniff sniff). . . Rubin's original $92.2 million - $12.5 million (Cuddyer) - $9 million (Niece) + $10.7 million (Walker) + $8.25 million (Cabrera) + $4 million (Blevins) + $7.25 million (Colon) + $5.75 million (De Aza) =$106.65 million I am still holding out hope for a 20% marginal increase from last season's approximate Opening Day payroll of $100 million (I will not surrender my stance of that being totally reasonable considering it is the median of last season's average payroll for all of MLB and that this is a defending National League Champion playing out of New York). $120 million - $106.65 million still leaves room for Ryan Raburn and another veteran relief pitcher (be it Clippard, Albers, or Bastardo).

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.

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.

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.

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.

Frayed Knot wrote: Ellsbury is the correct answer. Yaqui fans (and probably mgmt) are starting to grumble more than a little bit as he's like 2 for his last 50 and has yet to have an extra-base in September. And even his downward trend has a downward trend to it [1st half 2015 OPS = 775; 2nd half = 575] But, no big deal, there's only $110 million or so left on his deal [5 x $21.14 + $5 mil buyout or a 6th year] and it's not like base-stealing/ball-hawking CFs are susceptible to losing those skills with age or anything. Oh wait! Coked-up accountant.

Bur are we even sure that he is leaving money on the table. I'm honestly asking, because the last time I checked all contracts are guaranteed. That means that you get paid if you are cut. . .I'm not really sure what that means if you walk away.

We might need this guy now: http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/28886/steve-pearce Righthanded hitter who can play first base and both corner outfield spots.

Until I hear otherwise, I am taking this as there now being $12.5 million of dead money on the books, one less quality veteran on the bench, no backup at first base, and a step closer to a AAAA player like Nieuwenhuis or Campbell on the Opening Day roster. None of that is good.

With this Cuddyer thing going down, I think that it just became a lot more likely that they are going to carry Monell as a third catcher and try to use Plawecki and maybe d'Arnaud at first base and possibly leftfield as well during the season. Catchers moving into other positions certainly is not unusual. Off the top of my head I can think of three Hall of Famers who have done it (Berra/Bench/Biggio). Brian Downing was not a Hall of Famer, but he was a solid player that I remember from childhood who made the switch from catcher to leftfield. Ironically, I was just watching "Moneyball" last night which contained the depiction of Scott Hatteberg (played by "Star Lord" himself Chris Pratt) making the move to first base. The problem is that, for some reason, when the Mets try something like this disaster usually ensues. Todd Hundley in the outfield was not pretty. Piazza moving to first was a drama queen soap opera. Even with non catchers, trying Murphy and Duda in the outfield proved to be failures. So, the question is, how likely is it that they can get two catchers to pick up two additional positions starting in early January (if they are both willing to come into Florida that early. . .and how early is feasible considering that you probably have to ask coaches to come in early as well) and have them ready for Opening Day? Do you try with both at the same time or choose one over the other? Or do you choose one additional position over the other or can you try to get one or both to get competent in two in addition to their regular Spring Training work as catchers?

If Colon wants too much money to come back, we are looking at a Montero/Verrett/Gilmartin competition in March for that last spot. Whoever wins would need to hold it down for at least two and more than likely three months until Wheeler is ready to come back. Are you comfortable with this? I am sure that you can also pick up one or two guys who are just trying to hang on in January on minor league contracts as well (just to add a few options to the competition).