Tom Brennan - OPT OUT CHAIN REACTION COMING?
So Yoenis Cespedes may opt out? Uggh!
That's only because when the Mets had the opportunity to play Big Boy Baseball last winter and lock him up to a long term deal after all their competitors folded, the Mets opted out of producing a long term deal for Cespedes lucrative enough to lock him up and signed him to this deal allowing him to opt out after 2016.
When he opts out now, the Mets will be but one of his suitors.
The Mets may get that "deer in the headlights" look and opt out again, figuring the rest of their guys can pick up the load.
But without him, compare the Mets' 2017 offense to their still-active 2016 competitors, the Cubs - who will have a full year of the mighty Schwarber next year. No contest, big edge to Cubs.
Lock up Cespedes as a Met, and the Met would still cede the edge to the Cubs offensively in 2017.
So...don't sign Cespedes long term, and we may find the Mets are in effect opting out of the 2017 post-season race.
Then a lot of fans may opt to stay out of Citifield in 2017, too.
If it were me, I would opt to sign him. Because I get the fan's optics. Most would be very, very disappointed without him.
I agree, sign him. But they've now left themselves open to the risk that some team gets crazy and makes him an offer he can't refuse. What if the Nats or other team offer 6 yrs, $150MM+? The Mets won't have the stomach for it. Again, they got cute and offered him the opt-out last Winter instead of locking him up. If they gave him 4yrs/$100MM+ last winter, they'd only be looking at 3 more years commitment now. Penny-wise again...
ReplyDeleteTalk about dominos, they'll have some serious re-tooling to do if he leaves. I think it means they'll have to keep Bruce in RF unless another RH power bat falls in their lap, and put Conforto in LF. That makes them slightly too left-handed power-wise, so Duda may have to go.
Always has been a major complaint of mine regarding Alderson.
ReplyDeleteToo married to his idealism. Always thinking of team players as replaceable parts. Does not take into account intangibles and what is observed. Prefers to rely too heavily on stats that back up his ideals.
It was said at the time last year that the way he played the Cespedes situation was poor.
The season played out and reinforced that belief.
Mike -
ReplyDelete1. The Mets have to handle the Yo situation before they do anything else in the outfield. That means keeping Bruce around for the 2017 season. If Yo agrees to come back at a hefty price, Sandy could always trade off Bruce if the money is needed.
2. Wanna come back and write once in awhile?
Bob -
ReplyDelete1. I truly believe that 2017 will be the last year for Sandy... and his Company.
2. Still asking you to become a once in awhile writer. I'm not giving up on you.
@Tom I think you stole my thunder on an article I had started… Slightly different but very similar… Here’s to the early bird…
ReplyDelete@Mike I like your Penny Wise comment… Seems like that’s always the case with our team…
Very true on the 4 years 100 million dollar deal last year… He would have totally taken that and not been a opt-out… So 3 years left at 75 Million would be considered a bargain…
Bottom line is that no player is more important on this team than Cespedes for the next few years… For all his issues, his biggest one is the like to play too much Golf… Oh if these were the toughest thing we had to every deal with…
From the responses, I hit a nerve. When NO OThER TEAM would give him a large multi-year contract, that puts downward pressure on his contract $. So a prudent man locks him up last winter at that point. Now, they'd have to pay more...doing so is admitting to some degree that they mmade a mistake. Will they swallow pride and get it done? Hhe is no Jason Bay or 33 year old Grandy at contract time. Admit the mistake, sign the man.
ReplyDeleteAm I the only person who would consider a return of Carlos Gomez?
ReplyDeletemack I would agree to bring back Gomez but not instead of Cespedes but instead of Bruce and Grandy...
ReplyDeleteCespedes, Gomez, and Conforto in the OF would look good to me...
Gomez as a 4th or 5th OF? He seems to have slipped a lot. On base % .298, slug .384 last year. Lagares with a little more pop.
ReplyDeleteFor the right price I could see Gomez starting in CF.
ReplyDeleteCespedes is gone. Act accordingly. And no, expecting Duda and Wright to make up for the loss is not a plan.
Thomas... I think Gomez can be similar to Reyes and he is a product of how happy he is... I think we can buy low on him
ReplyDeleteGomez and not Cespedes would be typical of this franchise. Gomez never scored 100 runs and is injury-prone. Objectively speaking. We love to buy low. It is what got us the likes of Sean Marcum.
ReplyDeleteGomez and not Cespedes would be typical of this franchise. Gomez never scored 100 runs and is injury-prone. Objectively speaking. We love to buy low. It is what got us the likes of Sean Marcum.
ReplyDeleteYou mean the "Lightning in a bottle" approach doesn't work for you? After all, look what a great find Jose Valentin was...even broken clocks are right twice a day.
ReplyDeleteCheap occasionally works - we got RA Dickey on the cheap...of course, they expected little, starting him off in Buffalo. Until things got miraculous for RAD.
ReplyDeleteHow about offering him the same deal as we offered last winter but add a year. I would give Walker a QO as well. If both sign with us we'll have a very solid lineup and a huge salary dump for 2018 (if not 3 top picks in June). This way with our (fingers crossed) best pitching staff in baseball and that lineup we should make it deep into the post season. The way the Cubs are built we need to make every effort to use the talent we have next year and then if we fall short again in 2018 we start the youth movement and should still have a solid enough pitching staff to be competitive and hope the FO adds the right pieces.
ReplyDelete