Sometime during a stroll through Melbourne, Australia I saw
a headline pop up about the Mets signing Michael Cuddyer. Cuddyer?
I opined that once Colorado surprisingly made him a qualifying offer the
Mets would be out of the running. After
all, they were not ones to blatantly sacrifice first round draft picks as they
tried to ascend once again to relevancy.
That story had to be wrong!
I had to wait a few more days to get more news as the ship
was charging 79 cents per minute (that’s over $47 per hour) for Internet
access. While I wanted to know more, I
didn’t want to know that badly. However,
once we docked in Port Lincoln I took my trusty tablet over to the public
library which was surprisingly open on a Sunday and got back among the digital
living.
Not only had they signed Cuddyer, but gave him two years for
about $21 million. A lot of thoughts
immediately flooded my head regarding this decision. First of all, the $15.3 QO from Colorado was
parlayed into an addition $6 million for that second year. Did Cuddyer sell himself short?
The second thought was it seemed like a fair price – about $10.5
million per year to get a guy who would serve as a bridge to the only couple of
offensive outfielder prospects in the system – Michael Conforto and Brandon
Nimmo. That’s only slightly more than
you’re paying Daniel Murphy for his services this year and slightly less than
you’re paying Bartolo Colon.
The third thought was how he solved the right handed power
problem and right handed backup to Lucas Duda at first base when a tough lefty
was on the mound. Then there was the
much ballyhooed friendship with David Wright which could be a factor in trying
to get the Captain into the right mindset to produce like he once did with his
pal there in the lineup with him. All of
these things seemed positive.
Unfortunately, cynicism and pessimism are part of my
DNA. The more I thought about it, the
more I wondered about whether or not this decision was a good one.
Flash back to 2013.
The Mets had given a chance to a seemingly washed up Marlon Byrd who was
pretty much out of baseball after declining performance and a PED suspension
derailed his career. He had signed a
minor league deal in spring training, made the club and against all odds became
the primary offensive force in the lineup.
At age 35 he was flipped to the Pirates for Vic Black and Dilson Herrera
where his offensive comeback didn’t miss a beat, though he didn’t catapult the
Bucs to the post season success they had envisioned.
When the season ended you had a player who would turn 36
during the 2014 season and he was available on the free agent market. He’d already proven he was capable of
handling the pressures of New York and responded with a 2013 season hitting .285/21/71
for the Mets and .295/24/88 overall. He
was healthy all year long, having played in 147 games. All it would take to sign him was money – no sacrifice
of a draft pick. He eventually went to
the Phillies as part of a 2-year deal for a grand total of $16 million with a
vesting option of another $8 million if he got 550 ABs in 2015 or 1100 ABs
combined in 2014/2015. If not, then it
was a team option.
How did he do? He
finished 2014 with a .264/25/85 slash line.
The batting average was down a little but the steady performance across
154 games suggested health was never an issue.
Now back to Mr. Cuddyer.
The Mets gave up a 1st round draft pick and paid nearly as
much for 2 years of service from him as they would have for 3 years from Byrd
had the option vested. More importantly,
Cuddyer is coming off a 49 game season following a 130 game campaign, and a 101
game debut for the Rockies in 2012. Although
he’s the same age, his ability to stay on the field is definitely a valid
question. Unlike Byrd who seemingly is
becoming better and more durable as he ages, Cuddyer has been terrific but only
when he’s occasionally been available to play.
I’m not thinking Cuddyer was necessarily a bad signing. I would call it sub-optimal. Furthermore, making this deal so early in the
process before clearing payroll will make it doubly difficult later to obtain
an equitable return for Bartolo Colon, Daniel Murphy, Jon NIese or Dillon Gee
now that the entire baseball world knows the Mets have shot their financial wad
prematurely.
As the team is current constructed there will be some
adventurous days up the middle with Wilmer Flores and Daniel Murphy trying to
turn the double play, but if they get the rebound seasons from David Wright and
Curtis Granderson along with the continued maturation of Travis d’Arnaud, Lucas
Duda, Wilmer Flores and Juan Lagares as well as the returns of Matt Harvey and
Bobby Parnell makes me think the team is good enough to contend. After all, the KC Royals made it all the way
to the World Series last year on a team whose best hitter – Alex Gordon –
posted just a .266/19/74 season.
7 comments:
Kaplan is sounding optimistic... (things are getting scary)
I think the lineup and pitching are good enough to contend right now. Unfortunately they have one of the worst leaders in baseball who has proven to be a loser ever since his arrival. I can't see how they ascend to the post season as long as Terry Collins is still bumbling his way to mediocrity.
Dump Collins in May. Let Hernandez manage
Hernandez??? KEITH Hernandez?
He couldn't managa to stay awake for a full season, let alone manage a ML team. Half is commentary during games on SNY centers on his plans for his next vacation week.
Mack--saying Reese is (relatively) optimistic is like the weatherman in Buffalo saying there'll be "only" 3 more feet of snow tomorrow.
Bill, i Was not serious, but sometimes it is good to throw a name out there to se the reaction. Mets dont want to pay 2 managers at once, so l doubt Terry goes. Unless they really falter
Funny, I thought Tom had a brain cramp and meant Pedro Lopez from AA
I'm glad you clarified that, Tom. You had me worrying about you. ;)
But Terry's going nowhere. After we win 95 and sweep the P-S better than KC did, Terry is MOTY and gets a 5-year deal.
And I'm only HALF-kidding.
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