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12/5/15

Mack’s Morning News – 12-5-15 – Tendering, Ike Davis, Josh Thole, Aaron Crow, Yoenes Cespedes



Good morning.


The Mets tendered deals to all eight of their arbitration-eligible players before last Wednesday night’s non-tender deadline.  It included SS Ruben Tejada, SP Matt Harvey, 1B Lucas Duda, and RPs Addison Reed Jenrry Mejia, Jeurys Familia, Carlos Torres, and Josh Edgin.

Harvey and Familia were no-brainers here, but the six other players all represent a certain degree of a dice roll.

You know me… I really don’t care how much the Wilpons spend on this team to build a winner. I just want talent, period.

Putting aside mistakes made, drama, and just basic stupidity, the most talented of the six remaining players is Mejia. Curb his drug habit and he easily could have been the Mets closer for the entire 2015 season. I’ve relaxed my initial outrage about this guy and see the tremendous advantage he could bring to this team after the all-star break. The potential of the 7-8-9 lineup of Reed, Mejia, and Familia is, frankly a little mind blowing for lifelong Mets fan.

The tendering of Edgin must mean that the Mets feel he will be fully healed from TJS and return as the Mets LOOGY in 2016. I’ve always liked Edgin, both as a person (always paid me respect as a reporter) and as the close to unhittable (47-appearances, 1.32, 0.91) reliever in 2014.

I’m not exactly how I feel about the Torres decision. Frankly, he’s never done anything for me and I would have thought that the Mets could have come up with some more creative options here (Sean Gilmartin, Erik Goeddel, Hansel Robles, Rafael Montero)
Duda is sort of the elephant on first base. We love him, like, 23% of the time he picks up a bat. I never thought he would ever stat out with a decent batting average; however, he did impress me two years ago with his home run production. I was, and probably still am, an Ike Davis fan, though he really hasn’t panned out. My guess is this tendering is the making a statement that Duda will be the first baseman until Dominic Smith knocks on the door in 2017.

As for Tejada, this is more of a statement for the lack of depth of talent in the Mets infield right now. The loss of Daniel Murphy, Kelly Johnson, and Juan Uribe, added to the delicate condition of David Wright, puts this tendering gun to Sandy Alderson’s head right now. He hasn’t got a decent deal done for a new infielder (No Zo!) yet, so he has to spackle up the foundation with Tejada, who can play both middle infield positions. For now, no paper, Wilmer Flores will be the starting shortstop and backup third baseman, Dilson Herrera will get his shot at the starting second base position, and Tejada will back up both middle infielders.

Be ready my folks. This could be your Mets 25-man infield (add Michael Cuddyer backing up Duda at 1B) come opening day.



Metsiac asked -

Ike Davis was non-tendered today, and is a FA. I wonder if there's merit to offering him a MnL deal to see if he can recover his stroke in Wallyville. Brandon Allen is gone, and Don Smith should start off at Bingo, so there's a spot available if he shows anything.

What's your take?

          Mack – Well, Bill… sounds like a plan to me, but what do I know?

Yes, as of today, there is no first baseman on the Las Vegas roster but remember the name Matt Oberste. He’s the 24-year old righty that has played alongside Dominic Smith and could probably handle the AAA pressure.

He’s also no slouch, hitting .301 last season for A+ St. Lucie with a 789-OPS.

I will say this though… for all the reasons members of the front office do not want Wally Backman in Queens, they give him all the credit for getting many kids heats back on straight. If there is anything left in Ike’s game, Backman probably is the guy that could pull it out of him.



So we got this kid knuckler in the system named Mickey Jannis (2015 – A+/AA: 3.55) that probably could do a better job out there on the Binghamton mound if he had a ‘knuckler specialist’ catcher like R.A.Dickey had when he was a Met and won the Cy Young Award.

So Josh Thole was non-tendered this week, making him a free agent…  I’m just saying.
Do you honestly think some of the old trend setter owner/GMs wouldn’t try something like this?



There’s been a lot of press written about the surprising non-tendering of former star pitcher Henderson Alvarez. He went 12-7, 2.65 as a 24-year old in 2014 but had to be shut down in 2015 due to shoulder problems. Still, this portion of my post isn’t about him… the Marlins also non-tendered another ex-great pitcher, RP Aaron Crow. Crow, once the 12th pick overall in the 2009 draft (Kansas City) missed all of last season due to TJS. He had signed a $1.975mil contract to pitch for the Marlins in 2015, which never happened. Somebody is going to have the opportunity to sign a really good relief pitcher here (KC – 2011: 57-G, 2.76, 2012: 73-G, 3.48, 2013: 3.38). Crow will pitch 2016 as a 28-year old.




Word, per Buster Olney, is that the going price on Yoenes Cespedes is going down which, hopefully, could be good news for the Mets. It always helps that a player that you are trying to sign was once a member of your team and enjoyed playing for you. The Mets came close in 2015 to going all the way and Cespedes may feel he let the team down with his playoff performance after playing so well in the second half of the season. The Hot Stove League would turn out so much more successful if a deal could be worked out here

20 comments:

  1. Sorry I refuse to comment on Ike thing because its just quite simply ridiculous ;)

    Im really really rooting for josh edgin because I've always loved the guy. Literally from day one in his debut the Mets havw shown the confidence in him to put him in tough pressure situations on the mound and he had a career year his last year.

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  2. What Zozo said.

    As for Thole, he was re-signed by the Jays yesterday to be their backup.

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  3. The FO is going to get some real heat if Yo signs for lets say 5/$100-125 figuring Heyward probably gets 8-10 yrs $175 to $200 which makes Yo a bargin. So ok boys stay tuned and lets get this done. We were told they'd pay for a winner and you don't get much closer than we did and yet we still have 2 huge holes to fill. Why do I see the FO saying a few small moves and we'll reassess in July but we all know Sandy got VERY lucky at the deadline and lighting doesn't strike twice.

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  4. If they signed Ike to a minor league contract, and Duda got injured, he'd be perhaps the best option they'd have. But that is the only way I would want to see Ik e back at all.

    The great thing about Mejia is, do it again and it is a lifetime ban, a mighty antidote and preventative when it comes to sheer stupidity. Keep him for the Reed/ Mejia/Familla mix. Lethal.

    Torres at $800K will be on a very short leash.

    And...SIGN CESPEDES. Let his price fall a little more...and throw in a box of cigars.

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  5. If they do Zobrist, and Yo, and keep Duda, line up would be sufficiently potent for my liking.

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  6. Torres has been a great and cheap bullpen widget--I'm concerned that his arm is shot. If healthy, he's a multi use guy.

    Tejada.... c'mon...you guys need to realize that he's a Major League Middle Infielder---Fringe Starter... anf THOSE Guys get paid a few Million Dollars. Stop Hating!!! He IS what he IS.

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  7. I agree with eraff -

    Tejada offers the Mets sufficient defensive middle infield defense in reserve for a minimal amount of money considering what kind of money is spent in this game (i.e. Drew)

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  8. Ernest -

    They must know more about the health status of Edgin than we do. Otherwise, they never would have brought him back.

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  9. I agree Mack.
    Plus I assume the simple fact that he would be a LOOGY is a huge factor as well. I don't see it as a Parnell comeback situation because edgin would only face a guy at a time. I guess Alvarez could be the emergency back up/plan B if edgin struggles too badly.

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  10. Here's what I don't understand when people talk about the Mets and Ling term contracts:

    A player like Cespedes at 30 yrs old is too big of a risk on a 6 year contract when he will be 36yrs old at the end.

    And
    Heyward at 26 yrs old is too much of a risk on an 8 yr contract when he will be 34 yrs old at the end.

    BUT
    Zobrist is ok on a 3 or 4 yr contract when he will be 38 or 39 yrs old at the end.

    Mind boggling

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  11. Bob -

    All the lengths of contract demands of top free agent players are controlled by their agents and aided by the agreement of at least one of the 30 teams out there.

    None of the players you mentioned would ever get a contract like that unless some team cooperated with an agent that has structured a deal that benefits his aging contract.

    Teams are now forced to make deals for extended years knowing that they really aren't going to get a proper return except in the first half of the deal.

    That's the art of the deal these days.

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  12. Mack
    I'm referring to what I read and hear from tv, radio, bloggers, & commenters when they refer to the Mets and what the Mets could/should/would do.

    They write off players like Heyward and Cespedes as being possible for the Mets because of contract length.
    BUT
    Zobrist is ok on a 3 or 4 yr contract.

    Yes it's true a Zobrist 3 or 4 yr contract is shorter

    But, it takes the player into higher declining years of age than the Cespedes or Heyward contracts would.

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  13. Bob -

    I wouldn't be surprised if, in the future, the benches of most teams are littered with aging failed signees at the end of their contracts (like Cuddyer)

    It just may be the price of doing business if you build a team through free agency

    The option... put Rosario on 2B, Flores on SS, and Lagares in CF... then most will complain the team isn't spending enough money to support the success of the team

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  14. My point is.
    Cespedes and Heyward should not be dismissed as demanding contracts that are too long for the Mets to be interested in.

    Especially if the Mets have interest in a Zobrist contract.

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  15. Well anyway Zobrist in 2016 is a good addition to the organization. After that whats done is done. Its not my money and so I don't mind Mets paying him $15mil in a couple years even if he's basically the back up utility guy.

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  16. I still don't understand the downgrading of "Rodney" Tejada. This season, he had a .338 OBP in 400PA, which was the BEST of all NL SSs with 400+ PA. He hit a very respectable .261 overall, and had 22 2Bs. By contrast, Wilmer had the same 22 2Bs in over a hundred more AB. He, outhit Rodney by all of 2 points, but his OBP was 40 points LOWER (.296). And Rodney's K/BB ratio was about 2:1 vs Wilmer's 3:1. Other than HRs, Wilmer was better in no stat.

    In the field, Rodney committed FIVE Es all year at SS, while Wilmer had FOURTEEN.

    And no one seems to care.

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  17. Rodney gets more free passes to get to pitcher, as he almost always batted 8th? Wilmer will have a big 2016.

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  18. Metsiac

    I can't back this up with stats...
    But just from my memory (faulty though it may be)

    Tejada's production diminished when he played regularly.

    As a back up or in shorter portions , he seemed to produce more.

    I could be wrong.
    Just what I seem to remember.

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