Herb G. - Memo to Johan: Do the Right Thing!

          

                                                                    June 1, 2013

Exactly one year since your historic no-hitter, I finally feel it is time to put pen to paper and communicate my thoughts to you. Over the past several months, as the Mets’ fortunes for a successful 2013 have faded, I have been drawn to reflect upon your time in New York, time blessed with spectacular performances, yet marred by injury and misfortune. I cannot help but recall something written by John Greenleaf Whittier. He said “For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest words are these, 'It might have been'.”

In February, 2008 the Mets traded for you and immediately signed you to a 6 year, $137.5 million contract, which included a $5.5 million buyout of a $25 million option for 2014. At the time, it was the most lucrative contract received by a major league pitcher.

In your four years as a full time starter with the Minnesota Twins, you averaged 33.5 starts and 228 innings pitched per year. During your six year stint with the Mets, you have gone two seasons where you did not throw a pitch, (2013 included) and in the four seasons where you were able to pitch, you matched your output in Minnesota only once.

Had you been healthy over the term of your Mets contract, even if you averaged only 32 starts per year, you should have made 192 starts for the Mets . . . you actually made only 109 starts, a shortfall of 83. That is almost 3 years worth of starts. Spread over the theoretical 192 starts, your $137.5 million contract was paying you approximately $716,000 per start. The 83 start shortfall has cost the Mets just a little bit shy of $60 million.

I realize the chance of you acting on what I am going to suggest is about as close to zero as you can get. Nonetheless, I believe that you owe something to the New York Mets.  The almost 3 years of starts that were lost cannot be retrieved. You were an elite pitcher during the years of your tenure with the Mets, one of the very best in baseball. I am not downplaying your accomplishments, nor am I denying your value to the Mets organization. You have, however, collected a great deal of money for extensive periods of time that you were unable to make any contribution to the team. Now you have an opportunity for some payback.

At this stage of your career, you may not be able to produce at the level of your past successes. Nonetheless, you can be a valuable asset to a team, especially a team with young talent on the cusp of once again competing for a post season berth. You can certainly still win ball games, and you can be a mentor to the young pitchers on a maturing staff. If you have any sense of fair play, I suggest that you consider giving the Mets another year of your services at minimal additional cost to them. I acknowledge that, based on what you have done in the past and what you could do in the future, you deserve to be compensated handsomely for your services. I am suggesting that you defer that level of compensation for a year, and offer to sign a minor league contract with the Mets for 2014, assuming you will be ready to play. You could be a very effective bridge to 2015, when Noah Syndergaard and Rafael Montero should be ready to join Jon Niese, Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler in the Mets’ rotation. It would be a munificent gesture on your part, and one that would be greatly appreciated by all Met fans that have supported you throughout the ups and downs of your Mets career. Think about it.