Mack Ade – Q and A – Relief, Harvey, Mejia, Granderson, Bruce

Good morning.

From Tom –

If you know as a GM that you'll need a relief pitcher or two, why do you HAVE to clear salary first? You'll clear it soon enough if you are determined enough, but by then your best BP choices may be off the board.

            Mack – I don’t know, Tom.

            The whole baseball world knows you are looking for relief help so what is the incentive cut a deal for an outfielder you don’t even want on your team?

I don’t happen to think any relief help for the Mets will be found via a trade. Alderson is going to have to swallow hard and sign a guy like Salas or Blevens separate to any deal to shed salary.

As for either Granderson or Bruce, I think the 2017 Mets are stuck with these contracts.

One new wrinkle to consider... the fact that Wilmer Flores has taken the Mets to task over his salary demands for the 2017 season could create a new trade scenario where Flores could be dealt one-for-one for a relief pitcher.

Anonymous asked –

           Let’s assume that Harvey has a great 2017 where he re-establishes his value. 

Who do the Mets trade him to and what can't they get from the following teams if they were willing to trade for Harvey. Yankees, Astros, Pirates, Red Sox.

Mack - First of all, a pitcher of this much talent, if healthy and producing numbers that he has proven in the past, can easily bring two top level players, either at the major league level or blue chip prospects. 

Let’s remember that even through his ups and downs, he has a combined MLB ERA of 2.94.

I have always believed that the way to go under these circumstances would be for a team to trade for two or three of the other team’s top prospects. Trust me… if you trade for a top star of the game, you are also trading for a top contract that still exists.

I vote for prospects and I would target two of –

            Yankees:       OF Clint Frazier, IF/OF/UT Jorge Mateo, LHSP Justus Sheffield

            Astros:          OF Kyle Tucker, RHP Franklin Perez, OF Daz Cameron

            Pirates:         OF Austin Meadows, RHP Mitch Keller, LHP Taylor Hearn

            Red Sox:       OF Andrew Benintendi, 3B Rafael Devers (or 3B Bobby Dalbec), LHP Jason Groome

Tony asked - 

    Mack, do you have an update on what's going on with Jenrry Mejia?

        Mack - Funny you should ask...

        Both The Daily News and Fangraphs published an update this week. Try to follow me here...

        The Mets and Jenrry Mejia areed to a 1-year contract worth $1.96mil; however, Mejia will not see one red cent from this deal because of his lifetime ban for his 786th positive test for every drug known to man.

        This represents a 20% cut from his previous year's contract of $2.47mil which he also never was paid a cent.

         Mejia will be eligible for free agency in 2019, which will definitely be another year he isn't paid anything by the Mets. 

        The only thing up to debate here is what the Mets will do with him in 2018.


Bob asked –

           In your opinion, who is more likely to have a better 1st half of the season? Bruce or Granderson?

                       Mack – I didn’t do any research on this one, but I don’t remember Granderson ever having a decent start of a season as a Met.

           My money would be on Bruce because I think his head would be on straight this time and he would be playing his arse off to help secure a long term offer after the 2017 season. I expect him to come out smoking with the intent of shutting out the media critics.

           I also don’t think there is much left in the tank for Grandy. No proof. Just speculation.

           Either way, I expect both of them to be in the starting lineup along with Cespedes. They are the guys being paid to play and they will get their turn before Conforto gets his. This is simply the way the Alderson-Collins brain (sic) trust works.