Good morning.
Max Frankel of Off The Beach
gives his thoughts on Yoenes Cespedes coming back to the Mets –
The Mets
know that their window of competitiveness is right now. 2016 was a bit of a
mess thanks to injury but New York expects to have its full compliment of top
notch starting pitchers back next season and they’ll be going for it. Doing it
without Cespedes will be a whole lot harder.
All
reports are that the Mets and Yo got along swimmingly. Cespedes was a fan
favorite and played well. It is
doubtless that the Mets will make some kind of a play for Yoenis this winter,
but the question is whether it will be enough.
The Mets’
current plan of replacing Cespedes with Jay Bruce is
an ill-advised one. Bruce is not nearly the player Cespedes is defensively nor
is he the middle of the order bat that the Mets sorely need. If there was one
team that should over pay in both years and dollars for Cespedes, this is it.
Let’s see if it actually happens.
Mack – True. The Mets do know their ‘window of
competitiveness’ is ‘right now’, but so does Cespedes’ agent. This process will
go through the proper amount of time needed for the Cespedes people to weigh
all the offers and then turn to Sandy and Company for their counter offer. That
is, I think it will work this way.
Mets 101
speculates that the Mets are interested in signing LHP Boone
Logan –
Logan, who has
spent the past three years with the Colorado Rockies, held lefties to a .142
batting average in 106 at bats. That outstanding ratio has pushed Logan towards
the top of a talented crop of lefty specialists in free agency. Another
positive for the Mets is that Logan has shown he can handle the New York stage
after spending four years with the Yankees. The Yankees have interest in bringing
back Logan after seeing a slew of lefties exit their bullpen in the past few
years, so he could get a nice contract with all of the teams interested in him.
It remains to be seen if that deal will come from the Mets.
Mack – I know very little about
Logan… another product of my myopic Mets following… and I will have to rely on
your thoguhts regarding this choice to join the Mets pen.
NJ.com
speculates that the Mets might trade OF Jay Bruce to
the Phillies –
Bruce, owed
$13M on a one-year deal in 2017, could be a good fit for the Phillies. If he
plays well, he's young enough (29) to enter Philadelphia's long-term plans. If
he's great and looks poised for a huge deal next winter, Philadelphia could
flip him at the trade deadline. With Citizens Bank Park's friendly dimensions,
a 35-plus home run season from Bruce wouldn't be hard to imagine.
In 2016,
Bruce hit 33 HR and posted an .815 OPS with the Reds and Mets. Since debuting
in 2008, Bruce has hit 241 homers. That's good for 11th most in baseball and
fifth most among all outfielders.
Mack – I can’t see the Mets trading Bruce… or any other
outfielder… until the whole Cespedes issue has been resolved.
9 comments:
I, like you, have myopia, and will pass on rendering an opinion on Boone.
I have, however, seen Cespedes and Bruce. Cespedes is pure gold, relying on Bruce without Cespedes is fool's gold.
I feel like the Mets are slight, but not overwhelming favorites to sign Cespedes. If they do, I expect to see either Bruce or Grandy (probably Bruce) traded. If so, it'll be interesting to see what they get. I wouldn't be surprised if the package back includes a high-ceiling minor league third baseman.
Tom and Adam -
I still think that the Bruce funk was all in his head and 2017 is going to be agreat year for him.
.@JimBowden_ESPN: "#BlueJays are in on Josh Reddick & have discussed a trade with #Mets for Jay Bruce. Working on LH platoon for Upton"
One player who might be interesting to inquire about from the Blue Jays is speedy outfielder Harold Ramirez. THe 22 year old has hit .306 for his minor league career and has over 70 SBs in just over 2 full seasons' worth of ABs. He's 22 and played last year in A/AA combined.
Mack, my big concern about Bruce is that in 2014 and 2015, combined, he barely hit above .220. You see a great year for him in 2017, I on the other hand just hope, if he stays, we get 30 homers and .240.
I just don't think we need two all or nothing LHH corner OF's, unless we lose Ces, in which case it's still a bad, but maybe necessary fallback. I'd definitely look to trade one of them.
I agree, Adam.
Look Cespedes is target #1 and they need to move quickly or our other option's will start disappearing and yet their agents are in no hurry so we sit and wait....and wait ....dam this gets frustrating and yet another winter of what will our FO do ?.....stay tuned
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