Earlier this week our own Peter Hyatt said that he’s hearing the
Mets are quietly shopping Yoenis Cespedes in the attempt to improve the
clubhouse. That’s an interesting story
on a number of levels, but I find it very difficult to believe this rumor.
First of all, Sandy Alderson does not admit to making
mistakes. He handed out a contract that
was second only to Miguel Cabrera is average annual value to a position player
and now a year later he’s going to not only eat crow by conceding that his
decision was wrong, but also that he’s going to kick in money to the acquiring
team to help sweeten deal? Think back to
the great salary dumps of 2017. Did he
offer to kick in money in any of those deals?
Did he hold out for ranked prospects?
No. So if he didn’t do that then,
why would he do it now?
While we're on the subject of Sandy Alderson, who else finds it ludicrous that a man who constructed this mess and now is trying to get out from under his biggest blunder has been rewarded with a two year contract extension? It's almost like you were handed a nearly .500 team to manage, had them finish worse, then worse again for the next two years and got rewarded with a contract extension...wait, they did that, too, didn't they?
Getting back to the left fielder, bear in mind that Yoenis Cespedes has a full no trade clause as part of
his deal. Obviously if you wave some
additional money at him then it’s possible to get him to agree to a deal. Let’s look at the particulars. The Mets are on the hook for $29 million in
2018, $29 million in 2019 and $29.5 million in 2020. That’s $87.5 million in total. Let’s assume for a moment that given Cespedes’
reputation for being a clubhouse problem puts him in the 50% off discount bin,
then they would be on the hook for $43.75 million plus whatever they have to
give La Potencia to make him agree to pack his bags. Let’s say for the sake of argument it’s $6.25
million, over $2 million per year, to bring the Mets buy down to a cool $50
million.
Can you honestly picture the Mets spending $50 million
simply to get rid of a guy? There is no
real precedent of that magnitude. They
did kick Jason Bay to the curb while still owing him $21 million on his
deal. Oliver Perez came at a cost of $12
million. Luis Castillo was due $6
million. Bobby Bonilla was owed a mere
$5.9 million but set up that outlandish deferred payment deal resulting in $29.8
going to the ex-Met in $1.19 million installments every year until 2035
The thought is that they’re trying to change the culture of
the dysfunctional clubhouse Alderson built and Collins let run rampant. Yet at the same time they’re discussing
cutting Cespedes, there are rumors of exercising the option on fellow
malcontent Asdrubal Cabrera and on picking up free agent Jose Reyes. They would likely be looking to peddle Matt
Harvey, but his 2017 season has made him the ultimate sell-low candidate and
they would get nothing in return for him.
While the thought of a truly new club built around Jacob
deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, a hopefully healthy Steve Matz, Jeurys Familia, A.J.
Ramos, Jerry Blevins, Amed Rosario, Dom Smith, Wilmer Flores and a surgically
repaired Michael Conforto is appealing in that for the most part this core
seems to play hard. However, from what
we’ve seen of Alderson he’s not big on change which seems only to occur when
his back is against the wall (if at all).
Furthermore, call me cynical, but even if the hypothetical
$50 million spend was done, the Mets would recoup $37.5 million of
payroll. Who among us thinks it would
be reinvested in the roster?
Furthermore, what Class A free agents would say to themselves, “Yeah, I
want to be a part of the Mets! They stop
at nothing to try to win.”
Granted, there are some pitchers who you might want to try
to lock up like deGrom and Syndergaard.
Once proven healthy, you may want to do the same with Conforto. The jury is still out on newcomers Rosario
and Smith. However, spreading the wealth
among the first three would be justifiable, unlike a roll of the dice on Juan
Lagares which for the most part has come up snake eyes.
With Cespedes gone, however, you need to replace the
offense. There’s conjecture that the
first move is a prelude to luring back Jay Bruce, but at this point that’s all
it is. Bruce is in an interesting situation.
He’s hitting free agency for the first time, but when he was shopped by
the Reds they wound up essentially giving him away. Sandy Alderson found no takers once he had
re-signed Cespedes and then when he did his deadline deals the best he could
get for a guy who finished the year with 36 HRs and 101 RBIs was Ryder Ryan, a
relief pitcher a career 4.93 ERA. You’d
think he’d have many interested in his services and it’s going to take probably
$18 million or more for multiple years to lock him up. Ditto J.D. Martinez.
Personally I think Yoenis Cespedes is a Met for the long haul, warts and all. That’s not necessarily a bad thing and perhaps you can achieve the same objective of changing the clubhouse culture by NOT picking up Cabrera’s option and NOT bringing back Jose Reyes. Without his triumvirate of bad influence maybe you can reap the benefits of why you signed him in the first place. Then again, that would require a manager with some backbone who holds people accountable. Stay tuned.
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For what it's worth, it may be worth revisiting a few articles penned in June and July when the prospect of replacing Terry Collins was but a pipe dream. Based upon the media coverage of late it appears I identified a number of the very same candidates that are now apparently on the Mets' radar. Yesterday, in fact, they hired one of the recommended options to take over for Pedro Lopez in Las Vegas, former Sandy Alderson minor league manager Tony DeFrancesco:
Minor League Managers to Consider for the Big Job
Major League Players/Experienced Managers
Reese -
ReplyDeleteI try not to get in between my writers but Peter's series of posts on Cespedes are hard to ignore.
Sources. God, I hate those words. And ask David Rubin about how I was burned by them in the past.
An 'unnamed' source means that person won't even put his own name around what he is telling the writer. What if the source has a different agenda?
I believe Peter believes what he is saying in his posts, but it may be a mix of opinion and questionable sources.
Or, I'm wrong and it's the stone cold truth.
See how much I hate the word 'source'?
(Just my opinion...)
I wouldn't sign any of them long term. If next year our pitching doesn't return to something resembling 15' or 16' it would behoove us to trade both DeGrom and Thor and completely rebuild with the big upside for the Wilponzies is they could lower the payroll even more so what's not to like right Jeff.
ReplyDeleteI’m just wondering if Alex Cora is named manager would Cespedes fall into line ? Cora has a good reputation with Latino players & maybe just maybe he can “ground” our moody malcontent of a left fielder
ReplyDeleteNew Las Vegas manager post at 9am
ReplyDeleteI am with your logic, Reece. We need La Potencia in 2018, not La Dispensia.
ReplyDeleteEd, I'd say yes - also saw the Mets are considering Alomar, Jr., which could have a similar benefit.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I'm hearing that the Yankees' failure to replay the HBP is Terry's fault. (Unnamed source)
ReplyDelete