With Brodie Van Wagenen’s rookie season not going quite so
well as that of ballplayer Pete Alonso, one might conclude that his free agent
purchases were indeed the worst in club history. Granted, no one is going to nominate the man
for Executive of the Year after the way things have unfolded. After all, none of Jeurys Familia, Jed
Lowrie, Justin Wilson nor Luis Avilan have worked out as expected. That’s a sad state, for sure, but how does it
rank among the club’s checkered history of participating in the free agent
marketplace? Once again BVW is proving
to be a rank amateur compared to other decision makers of the past.
Bobby Bonilla
It is with great embarrassment each July 1st we celebrate
the anniversary celebration that’s come to be known as Bobby Bonilla Day as a result
of the very poor deal negotiated to get out from under $5.9 million final year
obligation in 2000. With an 8% interest
rate attached to it, the $5.9 turned into nearly $30 million when factoring in
the longevity and exorbitant interest. At
the time the cash flow issue was predominant but Bernie Madoff was returning
12-15% per year, so 8% probably seemed palatable. Still, the extra $24 million or so the Mets wound
up owing Bonilla is chump change compared to…
Jason Bay
At the time the Mets were trying to become relevant once
again they had the choice to go after Matt Holliday and Jason Bay to fill the
need for a big bat in the outfield. Although
they had similar run production numbers, Holliday was the far greater hitter
with a career .318 average up until that point during his days spent primarily
in Colorado. Perhaps they feared the
Coors Field effect or more likely they feared his price tag (eventually signing
with the Cardinals for 7 years and $120 million dollars). Omar Minaya and the Mets cheaped out once
again, inking Jason Bay to 4 year/$66 million deal. Now, to be fair there were concussions that
curtailed Bay’s career, but he wasn’t doing anything prior to his mishandled
injuries either. Holliday had eight more
productive seasons in the big leagues, though his power did dip a bit when he
missed some time due to injuries. Although
that contract was long held up as the standard against which all others are
judged, the loss of $60 million is not the greatest magnitude. Back then insurance on long term deals isn’t
as common as it is now, but for gross dollars, it doesn’t hold a candle to
others.
Yoenis Cespedes
The latest contract was a situation of bidding against himself
when Sandy Alderson doled out $110 million over 4 years to the prodigious and
oft-injured slugger. For a three-year
period encompassing 2017, 2018 and 2019 Cespedes has provided 26 HRs, 71 RBIs
and a .282 AVG. Those numbers over 478
RBIs wouldn’t be bad on the way towards a 30 HR+ season but that’s over the
course of THREE YEARS. At an average
annual value of $27.5 million, that’s a mighty price to pay.
Pedro Martinez
While he added instant credibility to a mediocre team after
fleeing Boston, the fact is that what the Mets got from Martinez was not what
they’d expected. He made fewer than 20
starts per season on average and he delivered a 3.88 ERA, not exactly the
future Hall of Famer type of performance.
He was paid $53 million over the course of those 4 years.
Other Dishonorable Mentions
Omar Minaya’s dynamic duo of Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez
were certainly ill-conceived contracts for which the Mets got almost no
value. Both turned out to be poor,
relatively short term deals that the club ended prematurely by dumping them
rather than continuing down the road of allowing sunk costs to occupy unproductive
roster spots. Too bad they do not any
longer believe in moving on from talent misjudgments.
Two oft-cited contracts were really in the forms of
extensions rather than straight free agency – Johan Santana and David
Wright. Both turned into disasters due
to unfortunate health situations.
Santana had been the Mets’ record holder with a $137.5 million contract
extension until eclipsed by Wright’s $138 million.
Of course, there’s another conspicuous one front and center. The Mets need to pay Robinson Cano about $64
million. For that they also gave up Jay
Bruce, Anthony Swarzak, Jared Kelenic, Justin Dunn and Gerson Bautista. They did pick up Edwin Diaz and received salary
relief from the first two contracts, but the lackluster production Cano has
provided (when healthy) suggests they will regret this deal for a long, long
time.
Have I missed any other contenders for this dubious title?
10 comments:
A team with a history of doozies.
A history of decision disasters.
It would be interesting to rank all teams in terms of decision making success or failure the past 25 years.
I am SO disappointed with Cespedes. What a trip (him, Pete, Conforto) that could have been. This latest injury is unforgivable, and hopefully we find out his contract is voided.
The post game disaster yesterday after another BP meltdown could force a change now and it was very interesting that Brodie left the clubhouse early so I guess Mickey's expiration date has moved up.
Also does anyone know how much the insurance premiums are for Wright and Cespedes I was just curious?
How about Frank Francisco?
TexasGus, we need an official list of doozies. So we can google Mets Doozies and it comes right up.
Yesterday's clubhouse fiasco was a different kind of doozy.
Here is some bullpen info:
The Mets lead the ML with 17 blown saves. Middle of the pack bullpen has 10 blown saves. A decent one has about 7. With a decent bullpen the Mets are in first place by a game or 2. An average bullpen the Mets are only a game or 2 behind first place. LIterally the difference of the Mets making the playoffs or not has hinged on the bullpen. This also doesn't reflect the blow up games that were not save situations.
Frank Francisco was a disaster for sure, but in the tidal wave of idiocy, it was merely a ripple. As I recall he was paid about $12 million over two years. If you're going to go down that road, Anthony Swarzak ranks right up (down) there, too. :)
@Gary -- I don't know about the premiums, but I saw an interesting tidbit on the comprehensive list of articles about Mets' meddling. It showed that although the payroll was "published" as $155 million during a recent year, insurance payments to them actually brought it down to $125 million.
Cano was acquired with 5 years and $120 million on his deal. Seattle is kicking in $20 million total. So, the Mets are on the hook for about $90 million. This is a complete train wreck, authored by the GM by his man crush. Worst of all, Cano clogs the lineup and blocks McNeil from his best position. If they had any balls they’d cut Cano right now.
You are right TP. I dont know if this is the worst Mets deal but its the worst since I started following them 21 years ago. It just hurt them on so many fronts. There are worst deals out there by other teams. The biggest concern I have with this deal is the sunk cost aspect of it. How long are they going to play and bat Cano 3rd before they figure it out. Even if Cano gets the bat turned around to some degree is that going to fix his declining defense? Its going to get worse fast as he gets older (based on his current level of play I guess it cant go down that much).
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