Matt Cerrone | Metsblog- The Dodgers will hire Dave Roberts to be the team's manager. The Dodgers interviewed Mets bench coach Bob Geren during their search. They also interviewed Gabe Kapler, Darin Erstad and Bud Black. Geren, 54, managed the Athletics from 2007 to 2011, during which current Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi was an assistant to Billy Beane. Geren joined Terry Collins's bench after the 2011 season.
(Chris Soto: Too bad for Geren not to get another chance at coaching. This should quell any thoughts of the Wally Backman supporters bringing up his name as a potential candidate for the Bench Coach position as Geren will now return to the Mets to re-assume the position Terry gave him in 2012. With his advanced age, Terry Collins certainly does not have many years of coaching left so retaining Geren could have been pretty important for the future of the Mets managerial staff.)
Bill Price | NY Daily News- I don't think anyone would argue with the fact that the Mets need Cespedes back. Their lineup without him is weak, sort of like it was before he arrived. Wright is unreliable, Duda is inconsistent, Murphy is gone, d'Arnaud is always hurt and unless the Mets get Zobrist, there's not much offense from the middle infield. Conforto is going to be a star (we hope), but asking him to carry the lineup is way too much. The Mets have great starting pitching, a great closer and Curtis Granderson (which is exactly where they were on July 31). The Mets also don't have bags of disposable income lying around Citi FIeld and certainly don't have the willingness to get locked into a deal more than 5 years with anyone. And they are right on both counts: six-years, $150M for anyone these days is nuts.
(Chris Soto: Do the Mets NEED Cespedes....no in my opinion they don't. Do the Mets need a Cespedes type bat/presence on the team? Absolutely! I continue to be in the camp that thinks....Hey....if we're going to spend $25M per year on someone...I would much rather spend it on a guy that is 4 years younger, is better defensively, plays harder, and still has upside in Jason Heyward.)
HOT STOVE REPORT (courtesy of mlbtraderumor.com)
(Chris Soto: Sounds like while everyone is chasing the big Free Agent guys, the Mets are trying to stay under the radar to shore up the foundation of the team and lock in a few small valuable pieces while no one is paying attention. I'm guessing the hope is that 1 of the big name bats potential slips into late December, early January unsigned to give the Mets a small bit of cost leverage.)
(Chris Soto: Too bad for Geren not to get another chance at coaching. This should quell any thoughts of the Wally Backman supporters bringing up his name as a potential candidate for the Bench Coach position as Geren will now return to the Mets to re-assume the position Terry gave him in 2012. With his advanced age, Terry Collins certainly does not have many years of coaching left so retaining Geren could have been pretty important for the future of the Mets managerial staff.)
Bill Price | NY Daily News- I don't think anyone would argue with the fact that the Mets need Cespedes back. Their lineup without him is weak, sort of like it was before he arrived. Wright is unreliable, Duda is inconsistent, Murphy is gone, d'Arnaud is always hurt and unless the Mets get Zobrist, there's not much offense from the middle infield. Conforto is going to be a star (we hope), but asking him to carry the lineup is way too much. The Mets have great starting pitching, a great closer and Curtis Granderson (which is exactly where they were on July 31). The Mets also don't have bags of disposable income lying around Citi FIeld and certainly don't have the willingness to get locked into a deal more than 5 years with anyone. And they are right on both counts: six-years, $150M for anyone these days is nuts.
(Chris Soto: Do the Mets NEED Cespedes....no in my opinion they don't. Do the Mets need a Cespedes type bat/presence on the team? Absolutely! I continue to be in the camp that thinks....Hey....if we're going to spend $25M per year on someone...I would much rather spend it on a guy that is 4 years younger, is better defensively, plays harder, and still has upside in Jason Heyward.)
HOT STOVE REPORT (courtesy of mlbtraderumor.com)
- Per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, the Mets current area of primary focus is adding a high leverage situational left hander for the bullpen. The club is prepared to give Josh Smoker a chance at cracking the pen and the team has indicated interest in bringing back Jerry Blevins.
- In ESPN's Buster Olney's opinion, Both the Mets and the Marlins are in similar no win situations with their staff aces, Matt Harvey and Jose Fernandez. However, both clubs would be wise to not entertain potential trade offers until next season when the SP free agent market is much weaker.
- MLB.com's Dan O’Dowd, thinks that the Mets should look to offer Jacob deGrom a contract extension this off-season to lock up some cost certainty over the next few years.
(Chris Soto: Sounds like while everyone is chasing the big Free Agent guys, the Mets are trying to stay under the radar to shore up the foundation of the team and lock in a few small valuable pieces while no one is paying attention. I'm guessing the hope is that 1 of the big name bats potential slips into late December, early January unsigned to give the Mets a small bit of cost leverage.)
16 comments:
I will let the braintrust of the Mets show us that we can trust their brains in terms of signing some real (spelled R..E..A..L) hitting and pen help. No half-stepping brain farts this off season.
Is it pitchers and catchers yet? I am ready.
Perhaps if the Mets were a normal BIG market team, coming off a world series appearance, they'd sign Cespedes/Heyward, oday, Blevins, Zobrist and Parra/Span. They'd win 100 games and another division title. Theyd break citi field attendance records and make fans bery happy........but.......................
I would definitely try and sign Thor and DeGrominator to extensions this offseason. But the starting pitching needs offense right from the beginning of the season, when you lose a lot of close games it gets in your head. So please SNY spend some of your profits on the team that is making your station $$$$.
I don't think the Mets need a Cespedes type bat. Look at the Royals. No huge bat but solid throughout the lineup. They can also play defense. That should be what the Mets build on.
Richard.
The only problem I see with what you mention, having the Mets follow the Royals example is that it would require replacing too many position players on the current roster.
There is no way the Mets can sign both Zobrist AND Cespedes/Heyward. Those two alone would increase opening day payroll by over $20 million. Even if they were able to trade away some assets ( Cuddyer? Niese?) it would be impossible because they still would have other needs to fill. Zobrist is less expensive, so they are probably focusing on him first. It will be interesting to see what direction they take if he isn't attainable. I'm getting used to the idea of Zobrist/Parra. It could be a pretty potent lineup, but it would make Duda critically important as THE big bat.
The mets should sign DeGrom to a Kluber like contract. 30 or so gauranteed, another 35 on options, all the way to 2022. It would give him security and the mets would take care of one core guy at a discounted rate.
They should also sign Familia to a 4 year deam with 2 options. As a closer he's just going to keep escalating up until he's at a price that is a luxury. cost certainty would certainly help.
do remember they did one of these deals with niese and while he hasnt worked out bc he's signed and has options he's neither expensive or a declining asset yet.
Herb.
and that is the crux. The debate over why it has to be that money makes building the best team possible for the next 3+ years into the "not going to happen" category.
Top 3 payroll team money is not needed.
Top 10 payroll?? should that really be so untouchable?
Robb -
I like the idea of signing up deGrom.
Signing closers to long term deals could be risky. They burn out so fast.
Next up Noah
Mack, they do. but if you look at reed. that one arbitration year as a closer changes the whole economics for him and I think Atlanta/sd/Boston are pretty happy with kimbrels deal. remember Familia is 25. he'll make 3.5 mm in arb 1, so. 3,5,7,9,10? or 4 years, 24 + 1.5 or 5 years 34 seems very fair for ages 26-30. could probably cost less too
Rob -
You're numbers work Robb, but I warn you... very few puts anything over on anyone anymore out there. Agents don't let players sign cheap contracts anymore.
The New York Mets have signed right-hander Stolmy Pimentel to a minor league contract with an invitation to major league camp for spring training.
Good closers aren't that hard to create, so I don't see any pressing need in giving Familia a long term deal. We lost Parnell and plugged in Mejia. We lost Mejia and plugged in Familia. If you've got live arms in the system, you can make one a closer. That's basically the Billy Beane philosophy and one I agree with. The trades Beane has made out best with are the ones where he's turned a non-entity into a closer for a few months and then peddles them like they're gold. Also, few closers remain effective for a long haul. The Mariano Riveras, Billy Wagners and Dennis Eckerslys are few and far between. I'm not convinced that Familia is going to be in that class.
And Danny Murphy ain't gone yet. Don't be surprised if the Mets take a run at keeping him. Danny is looking for some long term security, so if the Mets offer him 4 years at around 10 mil per, he might decide to stay.
I'd also remind everyone that, without Cespedes, when all the Mets were healthy at the beginning of the season, they were doing pretty well. It was after we lost Wright and d'Arnaud that we started to suck. Sure, you want to have better contingency plans if those guys go down again. But, if the Mets do nothing in the off-season (other than keep or replace Murphy), they still figure to be a better club than they were at the beginning of 2015. Wilmer has adjusted pretty well (he was godawful at the beginning of the season) and Conforto will be with us all year. I've said all along I'd like to keep Cespedes--I'd pay above market to keep him--but I disagree that they NEED a Cespedes type bat to compete and win. Pitching is what got us there this year. Pitching will get you there again. It was an exciting run at the end of the year but, even without Cespedes, I believe we'd have won the division.
Stubby.
Please look at Wright and D'Arnaud's injury history and average games played over the past 3 years.
Bob makes a good point. Also, we do not want to be like the high jumper who rattles the bar (playoffs) and either barely makes it, or the bar falls off. We have the pitchers, add a top 5 offense and let's re-live 1986, clearing that high jump bar by several inches.
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