Reese Kaplan -- How Badly Do the Mets Want to Win?

Over the years the New York Mets have employed a number of players with checkered behavior off the baseball diamond.  You don't have to dig very far to find the infamous Cleon Jones caught in flagrante delicto.  How about the Vince Coleman firecracker incident?  Then there was the super soaking bleaching by Bret Saberhagen.  What of the domestic violence incidents of Jose Reyes?  Ditto Carl Everett.  There was a locker room assault by Frankie Rodriguez...the list goes on and on.

No matter how you slice it, there have been Mets players whose conduct was not exactly the material of Boy Scouts.  We didn't even get into the list of alcohol and substance abusers nor PED violaters that cashed paychecks that read New York Mets.  No, the club has often willingly turned a blind eye for what happens off the field if it helps win games on the field.  Whether or not that approach is Macchiavellian, naive or somewhere in between, the end in the ownership's hands often justified the means.

So why bring up this less-than-flattering history now?  With a new team owner and a new President of Baseball Operations doesn't the team have a clean slate that is downright pristine?  Why would anyone think to besmirch this status and the team's reputation?

Well, if you haven't been paying attention to the current offseason, it would appear that rather than being in it to win it, the club is in it to meet the Major League regulations for the right number of players if not necessarily the right ones.  As anyone with a pulse is quick to point out, the Dodgers have obtained Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Teoscar Hernandez since the 2023 season ended.  

Just to show we're fully in the same competitive spirit we obtained Luis Severino, Harrison Bader, Sean Manaea, Joey Wendle, Zack Short, Adrian Houser, Tyrone Taylor and a plethora of relief pitchers none of whom stand to be compared favorably to David Robertson nor Adam Ottavino.  Any way you slice it, one of these things is not like the other.

So what exactly can the Mets do to right this sinking ship?  Yes, there are plenty of free agents out there who could add a potent bat like Rhys Hoskins, J.D. Martinez, Jorge Soler or Justin Turner.  Quality starting pitchers still seeking employment include Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, Marcus Stroman and others.  

Bullpen options included not just the two former Mets, but also Aroldis Chapman, Hector Neris, Matt Moore and additional reputable guys for late in the game.  

Conspicuously missing from this list of players seeking immediate long term financial security and megabucks for signing his name to a new such contract would be one time star level pitcher banished from the game to play in Japan and now seeking a return to the Major Leagues, one Trevor Bauer.  I'm not going to rehash his myriad of questionable off-the-field activities with personal partners.  

Those issues have been settled.  Nor am I going to revisit the clubhouse incidents during which he was less than loved by his owners and teammates.  That is also in the past.  Today instead we will focus on what he does on the pitching mound.

For his major league career (leaving the Japanese season out of the current evaluation) Bauer is a solid if sometimes inconsistent pitcher.  Between his days with the  Diamondbacks, the then-called Indians, Reds and the Dodgers he sports an 83-65 record with a 3.79 ERA.  Most recently since 2018 he's had seasons with 2.21, 1.73 and 2.59 ERAs.   

His strikeout numbers have also increased of late with average K's per 9IP ranging from 11.3, 11.5 and 12.3 seasons.  Those are the kinds of numbers that lead to a Cy Young Award for Bauer.  

Now in the past he's had some less than impressive seasons, but as he worked through his own exercise routines and perfecting his game which has in the past 4-5 seasons shown he is among the elite of the game.  The Dodgers sure thought so when they inked him to a pay rate of over $31 million per year.  

So what kind of reclamation contract would Bauer accept as he enters a season in which he'll turn 33?  My guess is that a one year make-good and "prove it" kind of contract with an opt out clause might be all it would take.  Given the money he's already made chances are getting Bauer as a pitcher, not as a best friend, could cost as little as $20 million.  He might very well take it and look to cash in for 2025 until the end of his career.  

The question is whether or not people in the front office and in the customer seats really care more about winning than they do about personal behavior?  Somehow I don't think the Mets are ready to cross that bridge just yet.  Besides, it would cost $20 million to do so in addition to the loss of personal integrity they have thus far worked diligently to obtain.  Then again, if winning is all that matters...