A Boy Named Seo

I'm sure he is. They got 2 of the Mets last 4 #1 picks and a young, 100MPH flame-thrower who can become Edwin Diaz if he learns the strike zone. Cool.

Hopefully Syndergaard is not their path to re-stocking the top of the farm system, but I think that may be likely.

So, um, the Mets got the best player in the trade, so we won the trade, right? Right??

[tweet:3nhbzo70] [/tweet:3nhbzo70]

Seems like all the assholes on twitter are crying in unison Cano + Diaz for Bruce + Swarzak + "prospects".

Mex17 wrote: What if Haniger is in the deal instead of Mallex Smith? I like Mallex, but I think Haniger would fit more of a need. http://www.espn.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/32771/mitch-haniger Haniger and Diaz definitely changes my opinion. But it also depends what's going the other way. Edit: I have to say none of the twitter twat stuff has Haniger's name anywhere.

I started envisioning Kelenic's Hall of Fame induction ceremony the moment his name was mentioned in all this. At this point, they had better hope that Alonso is a top ROY candidate because they really need some reliable righthanded pop from somewhere other than Frazier (overrated in my book) and Cespedes (no idea when/if he is coming back or what to expect from him once he does). Three years of Familia can be had probably for around $30 million. That is just one example that I have memorized from that fangraphs site that listed the projections for the top 50 FAs. Is four years of Diaz control (and possibly four years of Mallex Smith control) better than that if it comes with 5 years, $44 million ($120 - $50 coming from Seattle - $26 of Bruce going to Seattle) for an over-35 Cano? That's an $8.8 million AAV. BBR lists the "Earliest Arb Eligible" date for Diaz as 2020. So if he's a Met in 2019, he'll be playing for the MLB version of peanuts. This is great! If he repeats his 2018 season again (best case scenario!), he will prob earn $6-10M in arbitration anyway (still a good deal for that production). But if he's all the sudden making $6-10M or more per season every year in arbitration, then is he really so inexpensive? BTW - I got this shit here: the arbitration record for a first-time eligible relief pitcher is $6.25M, set way back in 2009 by Jonathan Papelbon. MLBTR sez it would take someone like Edwin Diaz to beat that! What a coinkydink! TL;DR - Diaz is good. If he keeps being good, he will very soon be expensive, too, like most good players are. Don't take on Cano just to get one guaranteed cheap year out of a very good closer. Dumb.

Centerfield wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: Do keep in mind that Diaz will cost the Mets less in salary for the sum of the four years they'd have him under control than will one, maybe one-plus, seasons of Kimbrel (and you'd have to commit to more than that) - so, if nothing else, that leaves munny available for other purposes. And, yes, you'd have to factor in what Cano will cost, etc. (not going to do any of that now as there are too many moving parts to this - including the part about whether or not any of this is real). But the larger point is that buying closers on the open market hasn't always proven to be a good, or cost-effective, way to go so I understand their thought process here. The details, as they always are, will be the deciding factor as to whether or not this is a good idea. Right. The prize here is Diaz. Young, controllable closer. And what we'd be willing to give up to get him. He is unquestionably linked to Cano. So any monetary advantage to Diaz is immediately offset. In fact, money is a net negative, as Cano costs more than any closer would. So Seattle has to throw in money. Whether or not this is a good deal depends on how much they eat. Another factor is how good you think Cano will be. For me, I don't think he'll be good for very long. He might not be very good even for one year. So if the deal was Cano and Diaz for nothing, I say no. Once Seattle starts asking for McNeil or Kelenic, I hang up and move on. Cano has 5 years x $24M per left ($120M total). The rumor was the M's send $10M per, let's pretend that's true. It woud drop the total to $70M the Mets would owe Cano for his age 36-40 season. For the record I don't advocate signing Kimbrel at all. But I think the Mets could sign two of Familia, David Robertson, Adam Ottovino, Joe Kelly, Andrew Miller for 3 years each and around that same $70M they would owe to Cano and have a killer bullpen. And they'd get to keep McNeil, Dunn and Kelenic. Get creative from there and trade for a bat. I'm just saying, if I'm gonna be stuck with an albatross, let it be Jay Bruce ($14M x 2 seasons) rather than ~$70M for an old, post-PED Cano.

Diaz definitely makes the bullpen better. Cano is 10 years older than McNeil and he put up a 2.9 WAR to McNeil's 2.7 in 100 more PAs. There is no reason to assume that Cano will be better than Jeff McNeil for the next 5 years. If the Mets don't trust McNeil and want a brand name closer, go sign fucking Kimbrel (BIG SPLASH!) and get Jed Lowrie or some shit. Talking about Kelenic and Dunn and McNeil is st00pid.

I think we're putting all the focus on Cano and underestimating the massive hard-on the Mets seem to have for Edwin Diaz.

And Mallex Smith sounds to me like he's maybe prime Dee Gordon with less steals. Mallex has a career . 346 OBP and .384 SLG, and both numbers are trending upward. Gordon has only topped either number twice in his career. On this matter, your hearing is flawed. Also, re: PED weirdness... you have more to fear from aging. Braun, Marte, Cruz-- most good PED-suspended hitters have remained good hitters, post-PED suspension. Cano. As OUR 90s-Yankees Darryl. IMAGINE THE FLOSSIBILITIES I stand corrected. Still want nothing to do with any of the rumored iterations of this turd of a trade.

Yeah, I'm pretty solidly against the idea of this proposed trade. I think the M's willingness to include Diaz shows how desperate they are to get out from underneath Cano and also how eminently replaceable a high-strikeout, hard-throwing, right-handed closer can be in 2018, talented as he may be. And Mallex Smith sounds to me like he's maybe prime Dee Gordon with less steals. No thanks, man. Main point is that I have little faith that post-PED, 36-year old Cano will continue to be highly productive this year, let alone for 5.

The Mets have only 2 guaranteed contracts (Bruce and Yoenis) on the books for 2019 and zero for 2020. This is kind of amazing and can give them a ton of flexibility going forward. I don't know why they'd want to take on that Cano albatross just to get rid of Bruce and get an (elite) closer. Just spend that money on 2 second tier type guys (Familia, Andrew Miller?) and try to dump Bruce. Mets R Dumb.

Even if the M's sent $10M per year, would anyone here want Cano around for essentially a 5-year deal for ~$14M per season for his age 36-40 seasons? I sure as hell don't. They'd have to start with Haniger and Diaz to make me not hang up on em.

I've got a smart and committed fantasy player (Met fan, as well), who said he would be happy to take an open slot.

Yeah I don't remember that Darling story either. I gave a vote for Tearful Goodbye. Not clever, not punny, but gut-punchy, yes.

My responses are gonna be kinda lame, but I'm ok either way. I thought last year's boat race format was fine and didn't really miss the playoffs. If it's the will of the group, then playoffs are cool by me, too. Same with the moolah. If we're already pumping $20, then a few extra buck$ to make it worthwhile might be cool.

seawolf17 wrote: You're right, it's not. Click on the "Arbitration" link on the left side of the top nav, and then there's an "overview" drop down just under that. Click through each team in the drop down one by one, allocating $1-3 per team. Thanks, Wolfie.

I'm not clear how to actually throw around the money? This site is sadly not super intuitive.

That Fangraphs article posted before had good insights into the legal messiness of the BVW hiring. This Ringer article is a good read, too (the Fangraphs piece is linked in there, as well). https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2018/10/31/18047740/new-york-mets-brodie-van-wagenen-gm Think about all the things in your personal life that you don’t talk about to your boss. Medical information, including mental health information, issues in your home life, legal problems, your emotional state, petty personal grievances against managers and coworkers. Modern player agencies don’t just negotiate contracts—they provide services to help players with day-to-day living, even set them up with doctors. Because an agent is a player’s advocate, a player might feel safe confiding information or sentiments in his agent that could be damaging if it reached his employers or the public. Teams already collect personal and medical information about players far beyond what any normal American employer knows about its workers—perhaps beyond what’s necessary or appropriate. But that information was gathered with the consent of the athletes. Van Wagenen has the opportunity to hand over his former clients’ private information to the Mets without those clients’ consent. Whether he intends to reveal or act on those confidences isn’t as important as the fact that he could if he wanted or needed to; if workers could rely on the rectitude and ethics of management, we wouldn’t have needed agents or labor unions in the first place.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I would think that "similar" means his former clients. Syndergaard, Nimmo, Vargas, etc. Cool. So the new GM might need to recuse himself from negotiations with some (hopefully small) number of players. The Mets would definitely seem to be hamstringing themselves on this particular facet of hiring VanHandsomeMan. So the shit where he outpaced the other candidates must be really impressive. Right?

Like, this is an odd thing for the Mets to knowingly walk into, isn't it? And what is "similar"? Anyone from his former agency? Current Mets? Dudes only BVW has represented? [tweet:379mplf7] [/tweet:379mplf7]

I really wanna know more about the contractual provisions Jeff was talking about with regards to player negotiations. If his skill dealing with player contract negotiations is one of his best assets, then what are those provisions and how to they work?

Brody was asked by Wally Matthews about contract negotiation but Jeff steps in and answers for him. Jeffy says there are provisions in BVW's contract regarding conflicts of interest and said he's spoken with the commissioner and Tony Clark on these. Jeff speaking for him was odd.

In the first 2 minutes, Jeff has said "winning", "collaborative" "sustainable" and "leadership" about 84 times. Brody Van WhiteTeeth at the podium now.