Brian Devine | Metsmerized Online- Ken Davidoff of the New York Post reports that the Mets have received several trade inquiries on CF Juan Lagares recently. Lagares is still owed $22.5 million over the next three years and took a major step backwards this year as he hit .259/.289/.358 with a 80 wRC+ in 465 plate appearances. He eventually lost his starting job in centerfield after the team acquired Yoenis Cespedes over the summer.
(Chris Soto: It is very unlikely that the Mets will trade Lagares, however, they absolutely should entertain offers. As good as Lagares is defensively, his bat lags way behind his defensive abilities. If he had not lost his job and qualified for batting titles....Lagares would have ranked 22nd out of 24 qualified centerfielders in OPS only ahead of Washington's Michael Taylor and San Francisco's Angel Pagan.)
Danny Abriano | Rising Apple- The non-tender deadline is Wednesday and the Mets are planning to tender a contract to RH reliever Jenrry Mejia. Mejia was suspended for 162 games this past July after his second positive test for illegal performance enhancing drugs. At the time of his suspension, Mejia had recently returned from his first suspension for illegal PED’s that he received in March. The Mets are monitoring Mejia’s performance for the Tigres del Licey in the Dominican Winter Leaguein order to make a decision regarding whether to tender him a contract.
(Chris Soto: I've been saying it all winter long.....Since the Mets still own cost control of Mejia, there is ZERO downside to keeping him. He not going to get a raise from his 2015 salary of $2.59M; in fact, it is more likely that the Mets offer the maximum reduction allowed via arbitration and sign him for $2.076M for 2016. On top of that, since Mejia is suspended, the Mets don't even need to pay him until his suspension is complete on July 26th so he would truly only cost the Mets $692k in 2016. There is plenty of upside in him being a potential late inning addition to the bullpen that outweighs the moral desires of the fanbase to release him.)
HOT STOVE REPORT (courtesy of mlbtraderumor.com)
(Chris Soto: It is very unlikely that the Mets will trade Lagares, however, they absolutely should entertain offers. As good as Lagares is defensively, his bat lags way behind his defensive abilities. If he had not lost his job and qualified for batting titles....Lagares would have ranked 22nd out of 24 qualified centerfielders in OPS only ahead of Washington's Michael Taylor and San Francisco's Angel Pagan.)
Danny Abriano | Rising Apple- The non-tender deadline is Wednesday and the Mets are planning to tender a contract to RH reliever Jenrry Mejia. Mejia was suspended for 162 games this past July after his second positive test for illegal performance enhancing drugs. At the time of his suspension, Mejia had recently returned from his first suspension for illegal PED’s that he received in March. The Mets are monitoring Mejia’s performance for the Tigres del Licey in the Dominican Winter Leaguein order to make a decision regarding whether to tender him a contract.
(Chris Soto: I've been saying it all winter long.....Since the Mets still own cost control of Mejia, there is ZERO downside to keeping him. He not going to get a raise from his 2015 salary of $2.59M; in fact, it is more likely that the Mets offer the maximum reduction allowed via arbitration and sign him for $2.076M for 2016. On top of that, since Mejia is suspended, the Mets don't even need to pay him until his suspension is complete on July 26th so he would truly only cost the Mets $692k in 2016. There is plenty of upside in him being a potential late inning addition to the bullpen that outweighs the moral desires of the fanbase to release him.)
HOT STOVE REPORT (courtesy of mlbtraderumor.com)
- In addition to C Anthony Recker signing with the Cleveland Indians yesterday, two additional Mets minor leaguers signed contracts with new teams. According to Baseball America's Matt Eddy, 1B Brandon Allen signed a minor league deal with the Cinncinnati Reds. The 29 yr old hit .273 AVG last season with 16 HR and 68 RBI for the Mets AAA Las Vegas team.
- Mr. Eddy also updated the Baseball America MiLB free agent tracker. His update shows that 3B Josh Rodriguez has also signed a minor league contract with the Oakland Athletics. The 30 yr old Rodriguez played most of 2015 with the AA Binghamton Mets hitting .282 with 19 HR and 76 RBI.
18 comments:
I'd trade Lagares, sign Cespedes.
Mejia is banned for life if he screws up again. Doubt he is that dumb. So sign him, forgive and forget. Use him a lot when his suspension ends. Trade him if right deal comes along, once his value is re-established.
Thomas.
Better yet...
Sign Cespedes and keep Lagares (unless receiving healthy trade value)
I agree that trading Lagares only makes sense if mets can sign an 'all star' quality CF........
Im ok with keeping Mejia. .......heck one of the fans most favorite mets of 2015 had a PED history......in the end nobody cares if you produce. Welcome to the world of professional sports.
I would entertain trading Lagares and especially signing Cespedes.
As I yell from the hilltop "Please spend some money on the offense"!!!!!
Also I heard a trade offer yesterday from a fan on MLB radio it was for Oaklands young stud pitcher and they would get back 3 Cubs, so i tweaked it a bit and would you guys send Harvey for Addison Russell (they had Baez), jorge Soler and a top 5 prospect. I think I would do this trade. I believe the reasoning behind them doing this is because they might not have the $$$ to sign Price and aren't looking to spend too much more on salary. I wouldn't do it for Baez, Russell would have to be in the offer.
Hopefully the Dodgers and Red Sox get shutout on Price, Grienke this winter and come calling us desperate with one of their young shortstops for Harvey?
Let me also add The Cubs getting shutout with Price, Grienke and also add Cueto to that list.
Keep in mind, acquiring Soler commits the Mets to a couple more moves.
Since Soler doesn't play CF, Granderson should be moved as a sell high opportunity since he and Soler would not get enough at bats together.
Moving Granderson, means a leadoff hitter is needed.
Now, have to find a leadoff hitter at a middle infield position.
trading Harvey right now just does not make sense.....there is too much good pitching on the Free Agent market that teams would be "ok" not meeting a high asking price the Mets would demand for Harvey.
Wait till next year when the only top tier free agent SP is scheduled to be Stephen Strasburg.
Even more reason not to trade Harvey:
By just spending $$ the Mets could have a top pitching staff and offense.
And, better yet, they could accomplish this without being one of the top payroll teams in the MLB.
Probably not even in the top 10 payrolls.
Yeah that would be the more practical and more high leverage way to do it, but I don't want to waste this year with our pitching and come close because we don't have the hitting to help them. We all know they won't spend any money, even though ticket sales are way up from last year. That's why I always put trade scenarios out there.
We should be a top ten in payroll team, but us Fans would be happy if payroll was at $140 million for this year. All these other teams are coming out of the woodworks with these new TV contracts and are willing to spend like Cardinals, Padres, Arizona, etc..... We had more money to spend when MSG owned the rights than when we own our own station. How is that possible? They have to reinvest some of that money or all this pitching will go to waste.
Here's a scenario, if Madoff still happened but we didn't own SNY would the Wilpons be more obligated to put a better offense out there for MSG TV contract obligations? I bet you they would have to spend some more money because they would be getting at least $100 million a year directly from them.
Are we actually still talking about Madoff???
Met fans will "deal with Madoff" for as long as the Mets seem to be stuck in the past. ..so, Yeah... We're still hearing talk about Madoff.
I do think that it's early to be impatient---there are a good number of very expensive pieces to work through baseball's food chain.... this will probably be a longer Market than most.
I also want to note my Opinion that this management has always been bad...pre Madoff and forward. The Lousiest People in the World Own the Mets!
Eraff
I guess No Wilpons are on your Christmas card list then.
Eraff -
+1
I agree in signing Mejia - bottom line is that he is still an asset and could be intriguing in the 2nd half. He does need to repent, behave himself, and re-prove his skills in the minors. Also, from assembling the 2016 pen, he should not be considered. They need to add a legit 8th inning arm that can reliably close if something should happen to Familia.
Regarding Lagares, I would entertain a trade for anyone on the club, but unlikely trade him. As Chris pointed out, his 2015 offense was not good, but he is still young and just entering his peak seasons. He may have felt some pressure from the contract he signed. I would certainly add a LHOF bat that can play a good CF, but I think if Lagares focuses more on contact and OBP, and perhaps even gets a little leaner to get back that step he lost in 2015, he is an asset that will be worth his paycheck.
TP -
One thing about Lagares...
I got to know him a little when he spent parts of 3 seasons in Savannah.
He REALLY has thin skin and wears his heart on his sleeve. Losing a great portion of his job to Cespedes last year might have bummed him out stat wise also.
If he is fully healed... especially his throwing arm... he's a potential .280 hitter that can easily win you 5+ games defensively in the field.
Health concerns for:
Lagares, Wright, & D'Arnaud?
Hoping Duda becomes more consistent than ever before?
Relying upon Granderson to continue to out race Father Time?
That is 5 big question marks in a National League lineup of 8 batters plus a pitcher.
Seriously a 162 game MLB season is just too long for this to not be a major concern.
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