Mack’s Morning Report – Off Season, Part Three – Outfield - WOWY (with or without Yo)

Good morning.

My outfield has 5 ball players.

3 of them are my basic starters and 2 are my backups.

I have two separate approaches. The first will include Yoenes Cespedes and the second will not.

Let’s talk about Yo first –

CF – Yoenes Cespedes – Cespedes is currently under contract with the Mets, in 2017, for $23.7mil… but, as we all know, he has the option to opt out. There simply is no way in hell that he will accept this kind of money in 2017. Yo is a $30mil player and deserves to be paid this kind of money. I have to find $6.3mil somewhere to pay for this increase and I already saved $9.5mil by opting out Jon Niese and not paying once again the $5.75 mil I paid to Alejandro De Aza. The money is here to make Cespedes happy. Now I just have to make him a happy Met.

RF – Jay Bruce – $12.542mil – I can’t let this kind of talent go away even if he strikes out as much as he does and CitiField isn’t located in Colorado. Like many players that get traded, Bruce let the negative side of this game get into his head when he arrived as a Mets. Don’t quote me, but wasn’t he leading the NL in RBIs on that day? How could anyone not want someone with this kind of 30+ HR/120+ RBI  talent on your team for less than $13mil? He and Cespedes alone have the potential of 80+ HRs next season.

LF – Michael Conforto - $600K – Conforto becomes my starter in left for a couple of reasons, both of which are listed above. There will be little pressure for Conforto to produce 30+ HRs in 2017. I want to see what I have here and I have to let this guy play full time at least through the all-star break. I also would work with him during the off-season to become more of a hitter that can spray in all directions of the outfield, hit for power to the opposite field, and hit both left and right handed pitching. Potentially, I believe Conforto is a better major league option than Brandon Nimmo and Conforto would get my vote here (before any injuries set in).

UT – Curtis Granderson – $15mil – A lot of you want to trade Grandy. I did too the day after we signed him. But I, and most Mets fans have come to realize that he has become the clubhouse leader, especially since David Wright sent away with rehab duties. Many of you can dream that some deaf, dumb, and blind General Manager is going to come along and pick up this fifteen mil, but it just isn’t going to happen. There’s one year left hear and let’s use him where he can be utilized best by the team. I’m going to have him back up Bruce, spend some time giving pointers to Conforto and riding Cespedes’ horses.

UT – Juan Lagares – One of the best contracts Alderson and Company ever contracted was the long-term deal with Lagares. The past Golden Glove centerfielder is scheduled to be paid only $4.5mil in 2017, which is a steal if he can stay healthy. I will return him the role he had before he went thumbs up last season… late inning centerfield defense.

Now… what if we don’t sign Yo?

CF – Carlos Gomez – One simple subtraction, one simple addition, and $15-20mil back in the till. Gomez would be my Wild Card #2, but the unspent Yo money could be used in contracting a long term deal with someone like Noah Syndergaard… and… finally… spending some decent money in the International draft before it goes away. I think Gomez is past the low point in his career and I can build in various performance clauses in his contract to give him the incentive to stay on point.