Reese Kaplan -- Accept That the Wilpon Era is Finally Over

In year one of the Steve Cohen regime, there were a lot of moving parts and a few things that didn't change that should have (including the manager).  In year two more organizational changes were made from the General Manager position to the now NL Manager of the Year, to the addition of key free agents like Max Scherzer, Starling Marte, Adam Ottavino and even September's Player of the Month, Eduardo Escobar.  The 101 wins was a 24-game improvement over Luis Rojas' stewardship in 2021, so you kind of have to sit back and offer up some admiration for what has been done even if it meant one and done in the postseason.  

Many of us have had to suffer through Wilponia, a series of afflictions that systematically lowered expectations and had people buying into the often for-the-media stories that excused behavior and decisions made by the management team.  How often did the Mets not go after the best-of-the-best in available free agents or trade candidates?  How often did the team trade away all of its best chips from the minors to land some aged pro on the tail end of his career who wasn't worth the price paid?  How seldom did the Mets pursue anyone looking for a Major League deal who was playing pro ball in another country?  Call it xenophobia or simple prejudice, it simply did not happen much in the past couple of decades.

This year everyone is aware that the Mets have an almost unfathomable task of assembling a competitive roster after the risk of losing a full 50% of its 2023 squad to free agency.  Not every one of them will be re-inked to a Mets contract which means that there are a lot of job openings to fill (including a 40-man roster with only 32 occupants).  Searching for players is going to involve more than just looking at the free agent list of MLB players who are available to the highest bidder.  Trades require willing participants who want whatever it is you're offering not named Baty or Alvarez to entice them to part with the players you desire.

Here is where we face a Wilponian wobble...the Mets may indeed have to start looking for players off the American shores to fill out the rest of their roster.  Yes, in the past the Mets made some lip service gestures hoping for hidden gems like Masato Yoshii, Hisanori Takahashi, Kazuo Matsui and Tsuyoshi Shinjo.  They brought in some end-of-their-baseball-life veterans like Hideo Nomo, Daisuke Matsuzaka (Dice-K) and Nori Aoki.  Notice that they were totally absent on players like Ichiro Suzuki, Shoehi Ohtani and other in-their-prime foreign free agents who were there for the taking at relatively bargain prices.

Now everyone who follows the Mets is well aware that the Angels who employed Billy Eppler in the front office were successful in their quest not only of Ohtani, but also many other frontline players.  This offseason there are a few conspicuous Japanese free agents on the market and it may be time to shake off the Wilponia once and for all to accept and embrace the fact that the Mets could indeed be players in the foreign market.  

Right now with the myriad of pitching woes the team is facing, Billy Eppler and the Mets should be front and center courting and evaluating a highly effective skinny righthander named Koudai Senga.  He's under 30 (which right away makes him more appealing than the last gasp in the over-35 group that has gotten most of the attention.  His career record in Japan is a highly impressive 104-51 with a career ERA of 2.42.  He strikes out better than a batter per inning and walks about 3 per game.  He routinely throws in the upper 90s, occasionally crossing the 100 mph rate and he wants to come to the USA to continue his progression as a ballplayer.

Now he is not without risks.  He's missed a lot of time during his career due to arm and shoulder issues, but has not yet had TJS and appears he could work as a mid-range starter or stellar setup man in the bullpen to support Edwin Diaz.  As a point of record, when Eppler was with the Angels he orchestrated the deal that paid the two-way star to a $545K salary in 2018, a $650K salary in 2019 and a $700K salary for 2020.  In 2021 and 2022 he was on a two-year deal paying a rate of $4.25 million per year.  So if my math is correct, he earned just over $10 million for five full years of pitching and hitting.  For a frame of reference, Carlos Carrasco earned more than that for just one year.  Even now for 2023 Ohtani is on a one-year deal for a modest (by today's standards) $30 million.  And the Mets are wondering if Jacob deGrom with his long injury history is worth $45 million per season for multiple years.

It's about time for the Mets to realize that baseball is indeed a global game.  There are fans and players all over the world and by limiting yourself to just North and South America for new talent is shortsighted and too constrictive.  Whether or not Senga becomes a Met, it's high time for the team under Cohen's ownership and Eppler's experience to embrace potential solutions wherever they exist (and particularly if they can be had for smarter value pricing than what American ballplayers expect to receive).