Reese Kaplan -- Show Me The Money

As Mets fans well know, contract status i.e. "how much do we have to pay him?" dictates many roster decisions.  Let's take a look at the current 40 man roster and see what is on tap for 2017:

Player Name	2017 Estimate		Notes
Alejandro De Aza	n/a		Gone as a free agent
Jerry Blevins	$5,000,000		Resigned as a free agent
Jay Bruce	$13,000,000
Asdrubal Cabrera	$8,250,000
Eric Campbell	n/a		AAA or preferably gone
Gavin Cecchini	n/a		Trade bait
Yoenis Cespedes	$27,500,000
Bartolo Colon	$8,000,000		Re-signed as FA
Michael Conforto	$525,000
Travis d'Arnaud	$1,700,000		Arbitration eligible
Jacob deGrom	$4,500,000		Arbitration eligible
Lucas Duda	$7,000,000		Arbitration eligible
Josh Edgin	$800,000		Arbitration eligible
Jeurys Familia	$8,800,000		Arbitration eligible
Wilmer Flores	$1,900,000		Arbitration eligible
Erik Goeddel	$550,000
Curtis Granderson	$15,000,000
Robert Gsellman	$525,000
Matt Harvey	$5,200,000		Arbitration eligible
Jim Henderson	$1,400,000
Sean Gilmartin	$525,000
Kelly Johnson	$2,500,000		Resigned as a FA
Ty Kelly	$525,000
Juan Lagares	$4,500,000
James Loney	n/a		Gone as a FA
Seth Lugo	$525,000
Steven Matz	$550,000
Rafael Montero	n/a		Not in their plans
Jonathon Niese	$500,000		Buyout his option
Brandon Nimmo	$525,000
Kevin Plawecki	$550,000
Addison Reed	$10,000,000		Arbitration eligible
Jose Reyes	$525,000
Matt Reynolds	n/a		AAA
Rene Rivera	$2,200,000		Arbitration eligible
T.J. Rivera	$525,000
Hansel Robles	$525,000
Justin Ruggiano	$1,500,000		Arbitration eligible
Fernando Salas	$3,200,000		Resigned as a free agent
Josh Smoker	$525,000
Noah Syndergaard	$550,000
Logan Verrett	n/a		AAA or preferably gone
Neil Walker	n/a		Gone as a FA w/o QO
Zack Wheeler	$1,000,000
David Wright	$20,000,000
Gabriel Ynoa	n/a		AAA
	$160,900,000

Obviously the Mets are not going to jump from a $135 million opening day payroll in 2016 to a $161 million opening day payroll in 2017, so what needs to change?

As good as he's been, I have to believe Addison Reed is going the way of Tyler Clippard -- too rich for their blood as a setup guy.  There's a $10 million savings right there.  Fernando Salas may be resigned at 25% of that amount and given the 8th inning role.  I don't necessarily agree with it, but I suspect it could happen.

The Yoenis Cespedes/David Wright/Curtis Granderson/Jay Bruce salaries are the other areas where there is some flexibility.  If they re-sign Cespedes to a new deal at his 2016 salary (which is higher than what he's slated to get in 2017 and 2018 if he remained), assume it would be something along the lines of 4 years at $27.5 per year.  If he doesn't sign, then there's the other chunk of salary needing to come off the payroll.

However, if he does sign that type of extension, Bruce may be a sign/trade type of deal.  Granderson on his final year of his deal would similarly be a trade target.  Wright is, of course, the wildcard, with his health the great known.  

I'd love to see them take a run at the Chicago Cubs' Willson Contreras but with veteran Miguel Montero having had a poor 2016 and veteran David Ross at the end of his career, it's highly unlikely the Mets could entice Chicago to move a solid bat like that unless they really do intend to make Kyle Schwarber a catcher again.  

The Baltimore Orioles have a sweet swinging catching prospect by the name of Chance Sisco, but he's not major-league ready to take over from d'Arnaud.  

Many have advocated they acquire the Orioles' Matt Weiters, but he's not exactly Yadier Molina behind the plate and last year earned $15.8 million.  Even with reduced production he's going to be looking at an 8 figure AAV in a free agent contract, so I don't see him as a solution. 

Similarly, Wilson Ramos has problems staying on the field and will likely be looking to cash in on his free agency.  He currently earns $5.35 million and in a season in which he slashed 22/80/.308, he's going to be in very high demand.  At minimum I think he'll double his salary and get it over 4-5 years.  

The first shoe to drop, of course, is the Mets' exclusive negotiating period now with Yoenis Cespedes.  The other one falls 3 days after the World Series.  Should he opt out (as most predict he will), I assume he's gone because if he wanted to be here he could have negotiated that deal already.