Frayed Knot

Schwarber's plus is his high BB-rate (close to double lg averages) which, when combined w/the power, give him mid-300s OBPs and OPS+ rates in the 130-150 range which, in turn, makes him a bit closer to Jim Thome than to the likes of Kingman or Gallo. That said, the biggest problem with Schwarber for five years is that he's two years older than Alonso (33 in March) and even more position-less ('specially w/Harper now anchored to 1B) so I wouldn't have wanted him with that contract either.

Mason Miller is a name that would get the likes of Jonah Tong involved. A 3rd round pick in 2021 by ATH; called-up in 2023; 4th in RoY voting w/ATH in 2024; dealt to SD last trading deadline. In his split year with ATH/SDP he combined for a 2.63 ERA, 0.908 WHIP, 15.2 K/9 in 60 G/61.2 IP (is that something I can interest you in?) Career stats are 2.81 ERA/0.95 WHIP and will bring four years of team control with him and he doesn't turn 28 until August '26. That's more or less where Edwin Diaz was at the time of his deal from Seattle. So just assuming here a one-for-one swap [Miller for Tong], we'd be giving up six years of control for four and a (potential) starter for a reliever, but also more of a known quantity for an unknown at the ML level ... so this is something worth looking at. The article in the Athletic (which seems to be the source of these rumors) says only that the two teams "are engaging". The names on both sides look to be a combo of rumored names combined with speculation about what each could conceivably want from the other. Excerpts: The teams are engaging, according to people briefed on their conversations. Neither of their rumored superstars, Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor nor Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr., are part of the talks ... However, a number of Padres players who would fit the Mets’ needs are under discussion, as are a number of Mets youngsters who could help the Padres ... The Padres’ players in the talks include right-hander Nick Pivetta, outfielder Ramón Laureano and relievers Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon and Jeremiah Estrada. San Diego, in turn, is asking the Mets about their young major leaguers and all of their top prospects, both pitchers and position players. No deal appears close. None will necessarily come to pass. The Padres might prefer to trade players individually rather than package them together in any combination. Bottom line is that SDP are looking to shed some payroll for cheaper rookie/near-rookie guys with longer control while the Mets could use some ready-to-use parts so the mutual interest is logical.

The team/Cohen Can take the financial hit on an aging Alonso if things don't go well in the latter years of the deal but that doesn't mean they want to or think they should. Look, it's clear that they made the decision not to go five years on Pete so it wasn't a case where clearing Nimmo's future obligations dictated whether Pete would re-up here or not. I think Pete's likelihood of remaining disappeared out the window once the Phils went a full five on Schwarber* just one year after no one was willing to even go three years on Alonso. Clearly the market had changed (Boston was also in on Pete for what sounded like four years at a slightly lower AAV rate than he ultimately got) but that doesn't mean the Mets had any intention of following. We have a 30-page thread here approaching its 3rd birthday discussing what to do with future Pete so I don't think we need to rehash it here, but I, and others, were skeptical of five years last winter so this is hardly a new concept. As in, Ad infinitum? Really?!?!? So the moneybags owner who came in with a WS-within-five mindset has now resigned himself to never even trying to win a division title unless your past winter's moves all turn out to be the baseball equivalent of drawing an inside straight (Steve is a poker player after all)? I'm not buying it and I think you are vastly overreacting to two non-moves two months before ST gets going and before you know what other moves will be made between then and now. * And isn't Pete's deal topping Schwarber's by $1mil/per [5/$150 becomes 5/$155] the most Boras-ian thing ever?

Well, the 'sugar' is going to be whoever mgmt gets to replace these recently lost pieces. Whether or not you/me/we LIKE their choices is still TBD. We already know at least the main replacement for Diaz as they signed him ahead of time.

I don't for a minute believe the team's goal is to win 85-88 games.

Or, another way to get around having multiple, aging, expensive contracts on the books is to have fewer of them all getting old at the same time, and that's certainly what it appears Stearns is trying to do. Trading Nimmo was a way of saying: 'We wouldn't do that kind of deal now' so let's get out from under it now rather than trying to do so later. And with Pete he clearly IS saying we don't think that's a good deal in the long term. And if I didn't think that five years was a smart move last year it certainly doesn't look more enticing a year later so I'm not sure what there is to "forgive" here. Maybe. Projecting when, how many, and how good prospects are going to be is too hazy a topic to be able to count on. And, again, if the pipeline does improve down the line then that's an even bigger plus if half the lineup isn't made up of expensive and declining bodies by the time reinforcements are arriving.

Given the unpredictability of modern day post-season baseball, it's tough to classify failure to win a WS (particularly within a certain short period of time) as a failure. What we should want and, not coincidentally what the Mets have rarely had, is a sustained period of high-level competitiveness. That should be the goal. So allow me to make the opposite and less sentimental analysis here. Let's imagine here that they didn't trade Nimmo and also signed Pete for the same deal he's apparently getting from Baltimore. And now let's fast forward to Opening Day 2028, at which point: - Pete is starting his age 33 season and is signed thru the end of the 2030 season when he'll be on the cusp of turning 36 - Brandon will be 35 and will also under contract for three more seasons thru 2030 - Lindor will be 34 and signed thru 2031 - and Soto will still be (hopefully) in the solid part of his prime at age 29 and NYM property thru the 2040 season when he'll be 40 y/o And, of course, what's wrong with that picture is that the first three will not just be into their declining years but also still have 3, 3, and 4 years to go by OD '28. So what Stearns is trying to do, or so it seems, is to both deal away and not sign players who will wind up getting old at the same time while the superstar with (Gulp!) 13 years still to go on his deal will, at least theoretically, be right in the midst of his peak seasons. Now how he moves forward 'fixing' this whole mess, both in the short and longer term, is where he's going to make or break his reputation around here. I mean, yeah, we're pissed right off, but I want to see how this is going to wind up before declaring Stearns an enemy of the people.

Yup! First time I haven't had to re-sign in since the new place opened.

What are you suggesting about Edwin and Mrs. M? And how does the horn play into this?

Lefthand reliever Gregory Soto signed a one-year/$7.75 mil FA contract with the Pirates according to sources. The deal has yet to be officially announced. Oh, come on, I HAD to do it!!

Not that I'm happy about this or anything ... But considering that I was saying Last off-season that the Mets should let Pete walk if another team was willing to offer a 30 y/o 1B/DH a five year contract, then it's tough to be too critical of them for doing so now over a 31 y/o 1B/DH. Yeah, the market seems more aggressive so far this winter as compared to last when nobody was willing to even discuss four years for Pete. And now this year we see back-to-back 30+mil/five year contracts for over-30/bat-only sluggers in barely over a 48 hour window. Be interesting to see how all this shakes out. At least when Diaz left they had already (partially) pre-replaced him.

And he can't even fix an oven properly!!

Given the combative (to put it nicely) relationship between Kent and Bonds from their SFG days, do you suppose that Kent getting into the HoF on the same vote where Bonds failed to even come close prompted Kent to send a 'Suck it Barry!' text? Hell, it wouldn't surprise me if Kent goes on to hire a plane trailing a banner with that same message and has it flown over Bonds's house.

Among them: six years of control vs two

Both Pitt & Cincy (he's from around there) have been mentioned this winter as potential Schwarber destinations.

Dale Murphy & Don Mattingly had HoF first half of their careers but not second halves. People should stop insisting that half a HoF career is enough to get someone in.

You do understand that, if this acquisition were to happen, it would be via a trade rather than a straight signing seeing as how Ryan is still two years away from FA-gency, right? iow this is not something Stearns can simply choose to do unilaterally. It would require both the cooperation of the Twins camp and an agreed upon package going the other way.

But if Alonso and Diaz wind up signing elsewhere but there's no CPF here to report and dissect it ... did the first two ever actually happen?!?

But he'll be 10 & 5 just a handful of games into the 2026 season (currently 9 yrs + 160 days) which gives him blanket N-T protection. oe: cross-posted w/Edgy

I saw Buxton's name connected to the Mets recently (purely via speculation) in a What-if? kind of way. But that 'What-if' involves him changing his mind about his no-trade protection. As of last trading deadline he was adamant about Not leaving the only organization he's ever know despite the Twins being 12 G back in the Central in late July on their way to 18 games out and a 70-92 record by season's end. Buxton turns 32 next week, is signed for three more seasons at $15+/per with performance and award bonuses which could up those numbers by plenty. He's been good when healthy but is rarely healthy. The good news is that he topped 105 games played (126) in 2025. The bad is that it's only the second time he's done in an eleven year career [2017 / 140 G]. Over the last five seasons he's averaged 93 games played/382 PAs, but also a 134 OPS+

D. W. on Instagram [to NYY fans]: “For a bunch of people that didn’t want me back on your team, [y’all] sure are mad in the [DMs],”

Toronto is taking the idea of building on their successful 2025 season seriously by aggressively -- and perhaps a bit recklessly? -- going after pitching. A week after dropping a seven year/$210 contract on 30 y/o RHP Dylan Cease despite his spotty resume and 4.55 ERA in '25 for SDP, the Jays turn their attention overseas and drop a 3-year/$30 deal on brief ML'er Cody Ponce. Ponce, a 32 y/o (in April) RHP, had two brief and unremarkable season with Pittsburgh in 2020 & '21 [20 games, 5.86 ERA] but had been attracting attention this off-season after a few mediocre years in Japan were followed by a stunning 2025 season with the Hanwha* Eagles of the KBO: 29 starts, 17-1, 1.89 ERA, 0.935 WHIP; 252 K/181 IP, league MVP! So that gives the Jays a potential rotation of: Cease, late-/post-season star Trey Yesavage, Kevin Gausman, former CY Shane Bieber, Jose Berrios, and now Ponce. Match that, Yanx! * Hanwha, located in Seoul, started as the Korea Explosives Co. in 1952 but is now a global conglomerate which includes Energy, Materials, Aerospace, Mechatronics, Finance, Retail, and Lifestyle services

Hey, we got a guy the Yanx gave up two players for, then had a (mostly) **** year for them AND was responsible for breaking their no-facial-hair policy. It's like when the Yanx signed CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett in the same off-season (2009) and had to stop pretending that no Yanqui had tattoos because both guys had their limbs covered with ink. Prior to that, tatted up guys like Jason Giambi and a few others all seemed to have long-lasting arm injuries because they wore medical sleeves during every game for the entire season. But now Williams pitches for us and hopefully puts what was essentially his lone bad season behind him. And while it would be nice if they team him with Diaz -- he's still the top guy out there plus the incumbent and all that -- it doesn't have to be only him to make this signing worthwhile. There are other relievers still available with whom Williams can form a solid one-two punch at the end of games. If Edwin winds up elsewhere we're going to want the next top closer and we might already have him, so I'm not going to want to un-do the signing if Sugar takes a hike. A few mentions above about how some of the peripheral stats indicate some bad luck making what was essentially the lone bad year of his career look even worse than it already was. He also finished strong: his final nine outings yielded 9 IP, 0 Runs, 5 Hits, 2 BBs (in fact, most of the **** show came in April: 820 OPS-against and a 2.00 WHIP) and then tacked on four scoreless post-season appearances: 4 IP, 2 H, 2 BB -- so maybe there's something in that as well.

The biggest difference in the Win Pct jump in the Harkness game is that the bases were loaded and only down two runs. So the fact that a single there likely ties the game and a double potentially wins it made the NYM win odds already up to a non-miracle-like one-in-six (16%) shot before Timmy-boy ever gets to the plate. The Mets needed all three runs that Kirk Nieuwenhuis provided in his bolt out of the blue 3R game-winner vs CHC, but there the tying runners were on 2nd & 3rd AND there was just one out when he connected which keeps his win pct jump tamped down to a mere 74% The biggest guy Harkness bails out in his game was Jim Hickman. What is he doing getting thrown out at 3rd on a single for the 1st out in an inning down by two?!?

Schwarber is, was, and will be, strictly a DH, so, yeah, that limits the likelihood of a pairing both him and an aging Pete on the same squad for the next half-decade. Bryce Harper, signed for six more years (no options, no opt-outs, no if/ands/buts) is, having recently turned 33, a full two years older than Pete, and that's likely a big reason why Schwarber is on the market in the first place rather than being coaxed into re-upping with the Phils prior to becoming a FA.