By Gus Livaditis December 4. 2020
The December 2, 2020 deadline for teams to offer arbitration has come and gone and several interesting names were not offered arbitration and are now free agents. Although most are not popular names, some should have an interest to the Mets Front Office. Besides the big names that were released – Kyle Schwarber, Archie Bradley, Eddie Rosario, Adam Duvall, David Dahl – there were many interesting names that will serve a purpose in the Mets organization. I say ‘the organization’ because other than Bradley, there really isn’t an open spot for most of these players in Flushing at first but they will be useful to have in Syracuse.
We will look through the new free agents and see which one would interest the Mets and what they bring to the table to make them interesting. Note, all must have at least one option remaining which is important to stashing and allowing them to work on things that need improvement without the pressure on immediate success in MLB. Any player that does not have an option will need to be reassigned if they do not make the team.
This is Bradley’s line since 2017:
234.2 INN, 28 Svs, 201 H, 259 K, 80 BB, 1.197 WHIP, 2.95 ERA 3.19 FIP
Why did the Reds cut this player? Weren’t other teams interested in him in a trade? Probably for the same reason Hand wasn’t picked up: the reliever market is expected to be loaded. In a Zoom meeting the G.M. of the Reds, Nick Krall, explained that the decision was to keep one or the other, Raisel Inglesias or Bradley, because they couldn’t keep both. The Reds made a decision to keep Inglesias, who has been a bit better than Bradley.
Inglesias since 2017:
238.0 INN, 100 Svs, 186 H, 292 K, 78 BB, 1.109 WHIP, 2.95 ERA, 3.42 FIP
Their stats are close, but Inglesias is a bit better in the Reds’ opinion.
To provide some context on Bradley’s numbers the last four years, I will show you Seth Lugo’s numbers for 2016-2019, his four successful years before last year’s mid-year switch to the rotation:
346.2 INN, 9 Svs, 300 H, 337 K, 90 BB, 1.125 WHIP, 3.27 ERA, 3.50 FIP
As a Mets fan, I want Bradley on my team. Bradley would become one of the top three or four relievers on the team and a definite asset to navigating the season and preserving leads.
The other non-tender names we will spotlight may not make a on next year’s roster unless injuries decimate the roster. However, seeing how teams like the Dodgers and Yankees seem to always find success no matter their injuries, it would be great to sign as many of these players as possible. Too, the Mets may be able to unlock something that can make one of these players the next Chris Taylor, Luke Voit, Gio Urshela or Max Munci; players that were given up on by other teams but found success on their present teams. These players had the talent, but it had not developed yet and smart organizations saw this. We will use FanGraphs scouting grades as well as a blend of their major and minor league stats to see what players we’d like to get and try our luck with. Remember, these aren’t perfect players, we just want something to work with.
2 comments:
Bradley was panned by former teammate Recker last night, thought he would struggle in NY glare. He could be wrong, but he wasn't hesitant to share that opinion.
Brebbia and the former Yankee Holder look interesting
Tom, even if it’s true, I don’t like hearing Recker undermine a player that way. You may say, ‘I don’t know if he would want to come to NY’, but to definitively say that he would struggle in the glare of New York, takes away two suitors and gives pause to whoever was considering putting him in the pressure cooker of Closer. Who struggled more than Diaz? But he adapted.
Thanks for the comment Tom.
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