Mack Ade – Morning Report – 11-9-13 – Shin-Soo Choo, Norichika Aoki, Josh Johnson, Noah Syndergaard, GM/Owners Meetings

 

Richard Justice

The Mets are going to get better this offseason. Significantly better. More interesting, too. That's the bottom line in all of this. As for how we get from here to there, well, that's the tricky part.

I've got Jhonny Peralta, Shin-Soo Choo, Nate McLouth, Phil Hughes and Scott Kazmir penciled onto the roster as new Mets. - http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/mlb/richard-justice-financial-flexibility-cornerstones-have-the-mets-headed-in-the-right-direction?ymd=20131108&content_id=63775390&vkey=news_mlb

 

There seems to be some additional chatter on the Internet regarding the New York Mets and outfielder Sin-Soo Choo. Mike Puma reported that Scott Boras, Choo’s agent, wants at least $90mil for his client, while others wrote that the Mets have reached out to Boras and let him know that they are interested in his client.

I want to remind you of a few things before everyone thinks that Boras and Sandy Alderson are on the same page here.

It is well known in baseball circles that Boras doesn’t like Alderson, especially after what he called the ‘bizarre’ tactics used during last year’s attempts to sign Michael Bourn. Alderson likes to be represented in these matters almost like royalty. He lets his minions do the initial and secondary negotiations and then comes in at the end to dot the ‘I’s’ and cross the ‘T’s’. Boras is a direct kind of guy that likes to go one on one with the decision maker of each team and work  out a deal. Not everyone in baseball likes Alderson’s ‘cute’ approach to a direct negotiation, evidence of which were the blown Bourn and Upton deals last year.

I’m just saying…  don’t expect Boras to spend any time with the Mets if he can get the same money for his client from another team. He has always only been in this business for the money and could care what team his client plays for. It would take a direct appeal for Choo to instruct Boras to deal him to the Mets and these things just don’t happen with clients of Boras.

 

Joel Sherman –

                The offseason has barely begun, but it is time to introduce you to the 2014 Mets lineup:

1. 1.       Norichika Aoki, LF. 2. Daniel Murphy, 2B. 3. David Wright, 3B. 4. Andre Ethier, RF. 5. Jhonny Peralta, SS. 6. Lucas Duda, 1B. 7. Travis d’Arnaud, C. 8. Juan Lagares, CF. http://nypost.com/2013/11/07/how-an-improved-mets-lineup-could-look-in-2014/  

Mack – This is a fun article simply for the amount of different players moved in the off-season. He even covers depth, with players like Jose Molina, Nick Punto, Rick Porcello, and Bud Norris. 

The other thing that stands out to me is the fact that Sherman, who is the real deal, honestly has the contacts to confirm that the Mets will be this active. Wouldn’t that be nice? 

Read this one.

 

Peter Gammons –

The concern about Josh Johnson is that he’s going to shatter at the drop of a resin bag, but his market is clearly depressed enough that the financial risk is minimal and the potential payoff is huge. Johnson could be a strong number two for a contender or a trade chip for a team looking to restock. The worst case scenario is obvious, but even very conservative projections expect him to be worth several million dollars next season.

Since Moneyball came out more than a decade ago the fad among baseball analysts has been to try and uncover the next big market inefficiency. Signing broken down starters who are still reasonably young is one of those inefficiencies. Johnson’s probably never going to be an ace again, but one bad year and a few big injuries have led to a serious undervaluation. Josh Johnson doesn’t deserve to get the Zack Greinke contract, but he’s also much better than the contract he’s about to sign. http://www.gammonsdaily.com/betting-on-josh-johnson/

Mack – I remember games that the Mets couldn’t hit this guy with a tree trunk. As Gammons points out, his current value is a one-year contract in the $7mil range. No one questions his talent. It’s all about his health.

I would strongly consider adding him as the 2014 SP5.

 

Andy Martino  -

But if both are Mets next year, as seems likely, Syndergaard will follow the path blazed over the past two seasons by Matt Harvey and Wheeler, team insiders say, and arrive in the major leagues in June or July, if he has earned a promotion by that time. The process is familiar by now: Mets pitching prospect spends nearly all of spring training in big league camp, but is told he will not break camp with the team.  Fans, and maybe even some teammates and coaches, beg for him sooner, but concerns over player development (and business-side stuff like arbitration status and free agency clock), trump those arguments, and the prospect goes to Triple-A, where is every start is scrutinized. If the prospect pitches reasonably well, the fan base begs for him NOW.  Sandy Alderson says: Soon, but not just yet.  We in the media begin to bicker over the exact date of prospect’s debut.  Then, in June or July, prospect becomes rookie.  In September, he hits his innings limit. That plan has already been drawn up for Syndergaard, sources say.  Can Matt Harvey’s injury, which created a need in the rotation, accelerate the process? It’s not impossible, but it remains far more likely that the Mets will replicate that process that worked for Harvey and Wheeler. http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/baseballinsider/2013/11/the-plan-for-ny-mets-noah-syndergaard-andre-ethier-as-a-possible-trade-targe

Mack – I don’t see the process being sped up. The future of this franchise seems to fall on the pitching arms of ‘The Big 3’ and we’ve already had one too many setbacks, thank you. No the rest of you target yourself to the Mets making the playoff in 2014. I’ve already moved on to 2015.

 

GM/Owners Meetings –

Mack – We may already be in the Hot Stove season, but nothing is really going to get going until November 11^th when the GM/Owners meetings begin in Orlando, Florida.

I’ve never participated in this, but I have in many, many broadcast conventions/meetings over my career. Like baseball, these were the meetings where the lion share of buyer/seller arrangements were even begun or finalized.

Scott Boras, as well as the other agents, are setting up meetings to take place throughout the day and night of these three days in Florida. Most are set in private suites throughout the hotel, but some have been known to close a deal even at the breakfast table in the lobby.

An agent would have to be a fool to sign away one of his major free agents before first spending three day at these meetings and seeing if someone either calls his room or knocks on his door.

I remember my radio days and how all of us would speculate what station Mel Karmazin would buy for Infinity Broadcasting. He always stole the show.

Relax.

Things will start to heat up on Monday.