11/20/14

The Morning Report – November 20 – Vacation, Stadiums, Contracts, Curtis Granderson



Well, I see you all survived during my first “vacation” from Mack’s Mets in seven years. Oh, I was away at other times, but that was due to medical problems or site reconstruction. This time was much simpler… a growing sense of burnout and repeated mistakes that is a cancer for a writer.

It was time to put the pen down for a few days, or, as we do nowadays, fling the laptop like a Frisbee, and walk away from Mets-World. 

I didn’t even turn it on.

I want to thank both Thomas Brennan and Chris Soto for holding the fort down in my absence.

The Morning Report will once again become a seven day morning fixture at 8am. Oh sure, the content may be a little lighter during some of the off-season days, but it will remain the main post we all gather at each day to shoot the shit and discuss all things Mets.

So with that, it’s great to be back, I missed all of you and let’s get on with today’s report.

I see I have some catching up to do…


I saw that the new right field fence has been finished and the Mets had the gaggle out there to take pictures and play it down. I hope the Mets did the right thing here. I want to remind all of you about how Atlanta specifically designed the dimensions of Turner Field to accommodate their pitching staff of Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, and Greg Maddox, not the ‘bats’ of Fred McGriff, Ryan Klesko, Javy Lopez, and Chipper Jones. The Mets that you root for, and will root for during the remainder of this decade, will be pitcher dominated and again, keep your fingers crossed on these changes. Remember… both teams get to hit in the same field.

Did it work for Atlanta? Well, a quick look at the last year the Braves played in Fulton County Stadium (1996) they hit 197 home runs while hitting .270. Their pitching staff finished the season with a 3.45-ERA.

The first season (1997) in Turner Field produced only 174 home runs (same .270), but the team pitching ERA fell to 3.18.


Giancarlo StantonRussell Martin… even Billy Butler. Crazy contracts. And there will be more because the majority of baseball teams are owned by profit rich organizations that understand that this game is all about 14 keys players (eight starting position players, five starters, and a closer), half of which are under team control well before the arbitration process starts. That leaves you around seven players that a team may choose to lock up at their current market value.

The Mets are no different but it’s just at a decidedly lower level. Their core now is David Wright, Michael Cuddyer, Curtis Granderson, Jon Niese, and one more year of Bartolo Colon.


No, the Mets will not spend crazy money on anyone, but my guess is there is at least one more extended contract out there before the season starts

I do have to wonder out loud about what the reaction of Scott Boras and Matt Harvey was after they heard the details on the Stanton deal, and how this will eventually affect their negotiations with the Mets past his arbitration commitment. The 'superstar' money is unbelievable now and I can't even imagine what it will be come the 2019 season.

My guess, if healthy and as productive as he was in 2013, Harvey will be able to easily demand $30mil a season for at least five seasons, ending 2024. In my opinion, the Mets, under the ownership of the Wilpons, will always lag behind the salary curve for these kind of players, thus, the Stanton deal can only strengthen the need to consider trading Harvey after a productive 2015 season.




Kevin Long on Curtis Granderson[i]

            “The biggest factor with Curtis was when he came over [to the Yankees], he was almost turning into a platoon player because there was some struggles with left-handed pitching. I really felt during his time and the adjustments we made, he was able to kind of get past that.

I think the first time you come into an organization and sign a big contract, it might be a little more difficult. Brian McCann, as the season progressed, he got better and more comfortable, so you’ve got to factor that in as well.

You add nine homers to anybody’s stats and it’s a lot. I know Curtis as well as anybody, and he doesn’t try to hit homers. And he doesn’t consider himself a home-run hitter.

But at the end of the day when you see how many home runs he hit for us with the Yankees and see the power he has in his body, you have to consider him somewhat of a home-run hitter.”


14 comments:

Tom Brennan said...

Pros and Cons for Granderson in 2014:

Pros:

1. Shorter fences - Christmas came early for Curtis.

2. Old pitching coach from when he thrived

3. Better hitters surrounding him

4. Adjusted to his new league

Con:

1. Just one - another year older. Some hitters, like Barry Bonds, steroid-aided or not, laughed at Father Time. Others, like Robbie Alomar and further back Nate Colbert, did not.

All in all, I think the pros outweigh the cons and Curtis will ring it up in 2015.

I think the fences will hurt Colon and Gee the most - so trade them to whittle down the surplus. All in all, the fence shortening move will pay off - their hitting and record at Citi in recent years were both abysmal. This will help considerably to remedy that.

Anonymous said...

Welcome back Mack.

Just in time for what will be a busy day.

Rule 5 protections via the 40 man roster are due today by 11:59 pm

Last year, the Mets announced their adds around 6pm.

Kevin S said...

I forgot about Klesko! Damn those Braves teams were good.

eraff said...

Wright---Grandy---Cuddyer.... give me 85% of their baseball cards and over 420 games played. Hide Cuddyer's glove with help from Lego....

....Give me at least 850-900 innings from my starting 5 pitchers.....

That's a start to being good.

Ernest Dove said...

Maybe the Mets should simply continue to do what they're doing. Stockpile and develop in-house talent. Let them shine during all their initial 'team controlled years' and now start competing for titles every year. Wait until I guess 2018-19 before worrying about Harvey and his agent...... I don't see the cardinals being worried and distraught over the those pujols type situations when they simply move on and keep winning anyway.

Mack Ade said...

Thomas -

I think Granderson is going to have a wonderful year... for him... .270, 25-HRs

Mack Ade said...

Ernest -

Sounds like a plan.

Anonymous said...

Have no idea if Cuddeyer will or will not work out, but a case can be made that the early trigger pull was wise in Sandy's part as price tags are going up in talent levels going down. With limited resources and an obvious OF hole to fill, he would have already been in the hole right now if he was still looking.
Anon Joe F

Reese Kaplan said...

The money and term of the contract for Cuddyer isn't the problem for me. It's the draft pick that is. They needed to bridge the gap for 2 years to Nimmo and Conforto, so they've done that. An average annual rate of $10.3 is reasonable for what he delivers if he stays healthy.

However, haven't we heard the whole mantra about draft picks and building for the future only to see them sacrifice their top pick each of the past two years?

Mack Ade said...

Reese -

You know that, I for one, always vote for the draft pick, but this is a soft draft and the team REALLY needed to step up with a statement.

I'm fine with the Cuddyer signing and I especially like the fact that it is for 2 years. I now know what my outfield will be for 2015 and 2016 and that's fine with me

Anonymous said...

@Reese

Last year the mets gave up a second round pick.

A) The club has done a fine job drafting throughout the entirety of the rounds. We've found some pretty good gems in the later rounds.

B) The international scouting department has done an EXCELLENT job finding a number of solid prospects like Amed Rosario, Adrian Almeida, Ali Castillo, Vicente Lupo, Jhoan Urena, and Marcos Molina (signed for only $100k!!).

Anonymous said...

I see the overall need to upgrade the major league team and not fill up the lower minors right now and anything of any value would have cost a draft pick or actual talent, so doesn't look like a zero sum game any way you look at it

Bill Metsiac said...

As Mack and others have pointed out, the lower minors are well-stocked for us. If Cuddy were not a FA, and the Mets wanted him, it'd have cost us either ML talent such as Gee or Niese (or more), or upper MnL prospects. A draft pick to me is more palatable to surrender.

As to Mack's comment about what the Wilpons will "always" do, they did not shy away from paying the Carloses, Piazza, Pedro or Johan, not to mention Wright. IF the carryover of the Madoff situation limits their finances for the next decade or so, then I agree there's a problem. But the contracts given to Colon, Grandy and even CY last year, and Cuddy now, indicate that the cloud may be lifting.

If the team does as well on-field as most of us feel they will, attendance should jump, especially with the decline of the Bronxites. And if it does, the cash will flow again.

IBfromWhitePlains said...

The starting 9 looks pretty good right now. Then bench is very weak. A team with playoff aspirations can't go into a season with Kirk, DenDekker, Campbell, Tejada and EYJ as the primary bench. It stinks, with the possible of exception (hopefully) of DD.

I'm not proposing any signings because I really don't know what's out there in the FA market.
I just see this as the area of improvement they need to address more than anything right now. There's trades out there.

Hey, you split with the Nats you're in. Gotta beat the Nats.