Per Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, The New York Mets and OF Alejandro De Aza have agreed to a 1 year MLB contract worth $5,750,000. De Aza is decent platoon option as he has a lifetime .274/.338/.418 line against right handed pitchers. Defensively though, at age 32, he is more of a corner OF now than he is a CF. He hasn't played CF since 2013 when he posted a Defensive Runs Saved metric of -18 runs.
Since the Mets currently have a full 40 man roster, the team will have to Designate someone for Assignment in order to make room once the deal is officially announced. Per Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, the Mets do plan to use De Aza as part of a platoon with Lagares in CF.
Since the Mets currently have a full 40 man roster, the team will have to Designate someone for Assignment in order to make room once the deal is officially announced. Per Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, the Mets do plan to use De Aza as part of a platoon with Lagares in CF.
24 comments:
I find this so disappointing.
I guess the attraction here was the fact that the deal was for one year. Maybe the Mets are praying that Nimmo catches on fire and becomes ready for opening day 2017.
But, of course, then Granderson goes away.
The Mets outfield just continues to be a disapointment to me.
These guys have to be playing a cruel joke on the fans they gave up 5 pitching prospects last year in order to make a run at the World Series. It looks like they will wind up with nothing in return for those guys. Michael Fulmer is a number one or number two in the making. So in addition to not having a true number four hitter, they will have nothing for any of those prospects that went in the deals. Very good way to ruin your farm system and future success. Cespedes is not the perfect guy for centerfield but he is the only one available. Go to five years and a hundred. If you turn to down at least you tried. I'm glad I had some restraint and I was not one of those 8000 new season or partial season ticket holders. I decided to wait to see with the team would look like. I think I'll keep my money. If the fans show up we will increased the payroll. That's as big as a lie as the check is in the mail, I love you and I promise I won't Xyx in your mouth.
Mack
Remember urging me to be patient with the whole process when I have stressed the need for the Mets to acquire the 3rd and/or 4th place hitter for this team?
I've been patient. Not jumping to the conclusion the front office would fail.
I've been hopeful the winter would result in Cespedes-like offensive upgrading to support and strengthen the pitching & defense.
This De Aza news is testing that patience considerably.
This seems to strongly suggest, if not confirm, that my patience and trust in the front office this off season has been unwarranted.
De Aza is an insane signing.
He can't play CF, but he's the Mets new CF.
Once again, Alderson turns his nose up at defense.
He can't hit LHP, rendering him useless as a sub for LF or RF or 1B (which he doesn't play).
This guy doesn't check off one box the Mets needed to address except for one: The Mayberry Box. One year, cheap.
I've joked elsewhere that the new slogan for the 2016 Mets should be: "LET'S PRETEND LAST YEAR NEVER HAPPENED."
It's a shame. They are setting themselves up for a repeat of the first half of 2015. Maybe that works again. Let's hope the Nationals comply.
To be clear, this is the new CF against RHP. We'll see him a lot. And he can't go and get the ball.
Once again, Sandy Alderson does not value defense. They've just signed a SS who is rated as the worst SS in baseball according to range. Now they do this in CF. We have a 3B who can't throw overhand anymore. A catcher who is below-average defensively. And we're built around pitching.
It's the damnedest thing I've seen in a while.
About a month ago I asked you folks what you thought of the FA De Aza.
He wasn't even on the radar screen at the time. Whammy. Lo and behold he's a Met now and obviously Mack's Mets isn't happy about it.
Way I see it - He brings speed and a professional OF left handed bat off the bench instead of the god awful Capt K. I'm fine with that limited role. But, if this is it as far as the OF signings it's disappointing, for sure.
I've heard it said before, and days like this really drive this thought home:
Being a Met fan, makes you feel like you are in an emotionally abusive relationship.
IB, you have always been an informed & wise soul.
My take is that he's the new platoon in CF -- amazingly -- but he didn't even play CF at all last season. And hardly at all the season before that. So that's pretty clever.
If I was looking to spell LF or RF, I'd want a guy who hits LHP. That's not De Aza.
They still need a guy who can do that.
In last few days, Mets have paid $15.25 million for De Aza, Colon, and Blevins.
It's a funny thing about Sandy, he really doesn't seem to care about selling tickets, generating fan excitement. Maybe that's his strength? He's the honey badger of GMs.
Not the word I was thinking of to describe The Mets GM in charge of this poor decision at this time.
Thanks, James. Coming from you that really means a lot to me.
I agree. "They still need a guy who can do that."
Fingers crossed SA gets it done.
James - Bob:
de Aja can't possibly be the platoon CF. He hasn't played CF in 3 years!
He is; however, a wonderful 5th OF replacement for Nieuwenhuis.
There has to be more coming...
signed for $4.5 mil
that's not 5th OF money. This has to be Lagares platoon partner.
very disappointing.
I think the team probably didn't see Venable or Parra as options and wanted to make an immediate signing to protect themselves in the event they don't like what they see from Span next month or someone crazy, like the White Sox, offers Cespedes $130M.
Seems like some people were comfortable with a Kirk/Juan platoon in CF. I'm not. I'm still not comfortable with a de Aza / Juan platoon. That is not a championship caliber CF.
Maybe another signing is on the horizon. For the same money they paid Blevins to pitch 40 innings, I'm sure de Aza can accumulate more than 40 innings of 5th OF work.
Side note: Sandy seems to have a thing for lowercase d's:
d'Arnaud
deGrom
de Aza
maybe they'll try to reacquire den Dekker next
You've got to hope they're still going to make a run at Cespedes, and this is the backup plan.
Otherwise, it's just hard to believe.
Is there more financial pressure than we are aware of?
Alexander....
I believe I read an article today pointing out just how much more money the Mets team made last year because of the winning that occured after the trading deadline.
It also pointed out the increase in ticket sales during this off-season and how the Mets sales were actually closing the gap with what a Money Juggernaut like the NY Yankees made last year.
All of this a result of just 1/2 of a season's on field improvement and increase in payroll.
Why do the fans have to continue to find excuses of why this team hamstrings its potential due simply to keeping its payroll below $120 million.
This organization entered this off season with the potential of making a dominant team that would be considered a Juggernaut for the next 3-5 years.
Instead of capitalizing on that potential, it certainly appears the organization leaders have decided to settle for being a possible contender.
Disappointment can not express enough what seems to be occuring.
Granted... the off season is not over... but all signs of action and inaction seems to point strongly to the Met organization failing its fans.
Understanding..... Hoping..... Being Patient.....Trusting the organization leaders at this point appears to be a fools choice.
I thought Obama said, "if you like your star outfielder, you can keep your star outfielder."
A ridiculous pun by me in response to a ridiculous move by them if there is not a Cespedes type still coming.
@Alexander.....you hit the nail on the head.....Howard Megdal published a report today on the club's financial situation....it will be in tomorrow's morning report
Amazing. Club makes lots of $ in playoffs and still has money woes?
They are lucky in my case. If they lacked good players, stunk as a team, and had money woes, I might just lose interest. I have been a Nets fan since Doctor J days, but have hardly paid any attention to their lousy team this year. If you can't afford the Mets, sell them.
True
If Sandy does not do better this off season, his grade is a small D.
Well guys.............we all bitched and moaned all the way through what ended up being a world series playing team.
Im hoping the Mets have not become the Tampa Bay Rays (my friend Scot opinion).
At some point the Mets need to lockdown stud players on contracts more than 1-2 years.
Maybe the plan, like my two cent uninformed previous opinion, is for Mets to start backing up the truck and sign stud arms and conforto to 5+ yr contracts towards end of this decade........
Although I also right now don't feel like their signing 'world series winning' players this winter soooooooooooo.
Whooohooooo!
That would mean we would only have to wait until 2020?
Whats another 4 years?
Trust us.. (says the Mets organization)
We'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today............ (homage to all those Popeye fans out there)
Our team is ridiculous
De Aza is a 5th outfielder fill in, I would rather have capt Kirk subbing with lagares
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