Gosh, Golly, I had my 8 AM article all teed up ready to go today.
And then I had to postpone that one, when I found out that Robinson Canó took one step further towards joining the heralded “Jenrry Mejia Lengthy Suspension Due To Drug Violation Club” with Cano's second performance enhancing drug violation, which got him suspended for all of 2021.
AS IN, ALL ONE HUNDRED SIXTY TWO GAMES.
His first three Mets seasons, then, Cano will have played just 156 out of 384 games.
Isn't it funny how performance enhancing drugs can result in a guy not playing at all, huh?
Of course, the entire salary of Cano, who now should be assigned an elongation of John Sterling's rhyming Cano description, “Robbie Cano Dontcha Know Better, Well Ya Shoulda”, won’t be paid by the Mets for 2021, which is great news for all Mets fans - except for, I guess, Mrs. Cano.
Robbie's suspension leaves behind a still-well-stocked Mets infield, not a gaping hole. And frees up a whopping $20 million more for the Mets to spend to REALLY repair more holes in the starting rotation and pen and, to a lesser extent, the outfield. And perhaps even to pursue the mighty Lindor.
In fact, having that extra $20 million, coupled with a new, rich owner willing to spend heavily anyway, should allow them to effectively fix ALL roster holes.
Which the Wilpons never did. The Wilpons were known for their Swiss Cheese rosters, comprised of some solid stuff but always with many holes, and always hoping the swiss cheese holes were small enough to not matter much. Even in their franchise's best seasons over the last 20 years, though, there were almost always several-to-many very sub par performers on each of those rosters. I sure found myself saying "oh, no" a lot when watching those marginal "hole" talents like John Mayberry and Keon Broxton fail.
Season #1 for the Cohen era with an extra $20 million should greatly reduce Mets fans’ “oh, no!” moments. We should now be truly able to have great starting pitching, great relief pitching and a top notch offense and defense when all is said and done - and REAL depth.
We were excited before, with the arrival of Steve Cohen. Now, we Mets fans have to be doubly excited. Because Steve was walking down the sidewalk yesterday and found a $20 million dollar bill just lying there and stuck it in his wallet.
For Cano, of course, $24 million in 2021 salary (the Mets' and Seattle's share) flies out the window, after also losing half his salary in 2018 following suspension # 1 and more than half of his salary in 2019 due to COVID. Man, that’s a LOT of money to cumulatively lose.
He also, no doubt, lost his shot at the Hall of Fame. How much of his performance was sheer talent, how much was due to performance enhancers? We'll never know. Voters will not give him the benefit of the doubt. And he'll have lost a full season to build his career stats further.
On the other hand, the loss of his 2021 season will make the fact that Jared Kelenic is playing for Seattle that much more disturbing to millions of Mets fanatics.
But fans get disturbed a lot less by stuff like that when their team is excelling, as the Mets should in 2021. The already bright outlook and hopes for 2021 just got supernova bright. Cano’s cash will be a huge performance enhancer for the Mets. All in all, major addition by subtraction.
A LET’S GO METS MOMENT!
P.S. While Cano loses a full season’s pay, he is still scheduled to be eventually paid by the Mets for two final, very expensive years, at the start of which he'll be 39. Ugh. I think that any multi-year contracts like his should be automatically voided on a second offense.
So, under that scenario, maybe he is not banned for life on a second offense, but he should be in a position in 2022 to
1) have had his contract voided at a club's option, and
2) have to try out for, and make, another team and negotiate a new (and undoubtedly much tinier) deal. Or just retire to save the embarrassment.
Baseball should make it really financially disastrous for a player testing positive and perhaps he’ll REALLY not do something as stupid as take performance enhancing drugs and risk the bulk of a very lucrative multi-year contract. Clubs should not have to wonder if their onerous contract will become damaged goods due to actions baseball deems worthy of full-year suspensions.
19 comments:
Yes kind of like that other idiot YC. It's really hard to imagine just how stupid this whole thing is as in how do risk everything when you don't have to? Even if his production tailed off it would be only natural anyway and he would still be paid his full contract and probably get 3000 hits and possible HOF induction but now...just crazy but it really benefits us as we just got another 20 mil. to spend and McNeil finally should get 2nd base all to himself. Can this winter get any better...I didn't think it was possible to be more excited but here we are. LGM
Gary, I so agree. It is not as if Cano was hoping to boost his performance to get a big contract - he already had a huge last 3 years on his contract, when if he was a new free agent and had to get a new 3 year contract before this news, he would have perhaps gotten $25 million for 3 years based on his 2020 performance. He will be 38-40 during those last 3 years. Who pays a lot for those years multi-year? He was due 3 times that much.
How any player can be this stupid is beyond me. It only makes the Kelenic trade so much worse by the Agent from Hell. The Mets should try to negotiate a release with Cano where they pay him half of the money and he can go on his merry way out of Queens.
Cano wasn't great his first year with the Mets and you really can't count on an abbreviated season of 2020. Just think how bad he can potentially be in 2022 not having played for a year.
So now McNeil is at 2B. Can Rosario be converted to 3B with Gimenez taking over at ss?.
So we traded for a 2B - that had to be played when we already a 2B in McNeil. Would a trade for Lindor be a similar mistake - with the exception is that Lindor is still in his prime. However, Lindor will want a 8-10 year deal, so on the back end it will be similar while current SS options will be displaced.
John, big teams think big on talent, and the Mets could still go after Lindor for that reason and given that he is still young and super talented. We'll see.
Viper, it sure was dumb of Cano. I wonder if he can play international ball instead and accept a buy out. Unless something strange happens under a Cohen-led franchise, I cannot see Cano ever playing for the Mets again. Remove the lesion, and move on.
A couple comments to John and Tom's points re: trading for Lindor
Yes, that is what good teams do. Last week I was concerned about Cano's salary and standing - he seemed to be the second baseman. Nobody with a $20M+ salary is going to be the starting bench player, and no team can have that kind of salary at every position - they still need a catcher, centerfielder, some starting pitching and possibly a solid reliever or two, and also possibly a third baseman. Without Cano, they still need all those things, but installing McNeil or Gimenez at second, now they can pay for one year of Lindor and still have the same money they would have had for everything else.
To John's point - he is going to want a 8 or 10 year deal. Maybe so, but also remember that the shortstop is the buyer's market this year and next. The market is flooded and they won't have as much leverage over their contracts as they might otherwise have. I don't see anyone getting an 8 or 10 year deal with the current conditions out there. In contrast, both Realmuto and Springer are head and shoulders above anyone else at their respective positions on both this year and next year's free agent lists.
I think a lot of players use some form of PEDS. Especially after battling injuries. Pride, ego, whatever.
But to the larger point: Yes, this works out for the Mets in 2021. I had previously expressed a wish that the Mets could somehow move Cano (who I like, btw) in a trade, even if it meant eating a good portion of his salary.
Right now, the Mets have an opportunity to improve defensively in every position up-to-middle: C, SS, 2B, CF. That's huge and it will help our pitchers enormously -- and be more entertaining to watch.
When you consider the infield defense they put out last season, McNeil/Davis, Rosario, Cano, Alonso, Ramos, well, that's just an abomination. Add Nimmo in CF and, really, it shouldn't have surprised us they couldn't win consistently. Defense matters.
This will be fascinating to see to what happens this winter.
Jimmy
The big question for me is where McNeil can play.
Despite an article here recently, I feel that McNeil pretty conclusively demonstrated that he's a poor 3B. I suspect that he's a bad 2B, too, and probably at greater risk of injury in that spot.
I love Jeff's attitude and his bat. I don't know that he's an everyday ML infielder. I don't mind him in LF.
I think he's just another one of those guys. The bat plays, the glove isn't league-average.
OTOH, I have friends who think he can play 3B. I just shake my head and say, "Not me." Can he be okay-enough at 2B? I don't know the answer to that. I'd prefer a plus-defender up the middle if possible.
Jimmy
Jimmy, it will be fascinating indeed, the most fascinating off season in Mets' history.
And yes, Cano's departure is also a real opportunity to improve the defense.
Remember 1969, as always, good points.
I would think what Cleveland would want for Lindor is good, young, CHEAP TALENT, being a small market team. I would imagine there will be real competition for him by a few teams.
I do think Jeff McNeil can be adequate at 2B. I'd give him a real shot there, He can fill in out in LF, which would reduce any defense deficit he might bring to 2B.
Jimmy . . a kindred spirit on McNeil and his defensive positioning. I posted this comment the other day on the Mike's Mets site:
As far as McNeil goes, for some reason I can't get past the gnawing feeling that while he is a good hitter, he is really a square peg in the round hole of positions.
I am advocating signing Springer for centerfield, a Nimmo/Smith combo in left, and now Lindor/Gimenez in the middle infield.
McNeil is not a good third baseman, and I'm not really sure what his best hitting skill is (the average went down when he switched to power in late 2019, and his hit tool does not provide true power with his high batting average skill) or where he is best placed.
I think right field is his best position and barring injury, that is taken. It is nice to have the depth, but in my mind the lefty troika of Nimmo/Smith/McNeil is too many parts. I certainly keep Smith as the best defensive first baseman and I like Nimmo's leadoff skills.
I would most certainly swap McNeil for Lindor at this point. This plus Springer would give them the best defense they have had in a long time.
Love McNeil but on board with trading him to get Lindor.
Remember69,
That all sounds reasonable. In that, I agree with your player evaluations. Still badly need pitching, the pen and the starters; it's going to be hard to address everything. Mets really need defense to improve. I'd rather not have more than 1 below-average defender in the infield. For many games last season, Mets had 5. You can't do that and win.
I love McNeil and would hate to lose him, since I could see him winning batting titles in the future. And he's spunky. I wish I had a clearer idea of how he'd play 2B. My gut says poorly.
I honestly just don't know, kind of glad I don't have to make these decisions. I do think Jeff's positional flexibility is an asset. There's still no help in AAA; if we start sending away too many useful Major Leaguers, it could get thin.
I would also hate to lose Nimmo; I think he's very under-rated. A .400 OBP is a great thing (I think Lindor's was .337 last year, if I recall correctly). Every lineup needs guys who get on base and guys who can drive 'em in.
The player on Mets I'm least enamored with right now is Pete Alonso, but I think it's premature to get too down on him. He was brutally bad in 2020, he threw away so many ABS, but it was a Covid Year and I don't want to overreact to anything that happened last season. Pete needs to play DH mostly, even though he will hate it.
Like you, I start with Springer. I address catcher. I acquire pitchers, relievers. If that's all that happens, I could live with it.
If Lindor happens, my guess is it happens late; if Indians want income relief, that's fine, but I wouldn't give up too much quality in that exchange.
Mets desperately need to get the Front Office squared away, asap.
Btw, I remember 69 WS, too. Was actually at Game 5, only 8 years old, but a huge fan. Koosman is my favorite all-time Met.
Jimmy
Koosman was great - and had he pitched for a strong offensive team, like the Reds, he'd be in the Hall of Fame. Partly because he could have pitched to all those weak hitting 1970s Mets teams.
Disturbing how this group if commentators is willing to write off McNeil and Alonso. Give Jeff a position 2nd or 3rd and he will excell. You do not improve the team by including him in a trade. He's a vital cog to the success of this team . We do not need Lindor - we have lots of options at ss. Sign Realmuto, sign Springer, find someone to playay third and obtain solid 4 and 5 SP and we'll complete with anybody.
Perhaps you are taking this the wrong way. I am in no way writing off McNeil or Alonso. I just feel that if Lindor is available, I would absolutely trade McNeil for Lindor even up. Lindor is proven, he plays premium defense at a premium position and is a switch hitter. McNeil has had about 2 full seasons of good hitting, does not play premium defense anywhere I think and is part of the left handed hitting contingent that the Mets have in spades.
Unfortunately, you have to give up something to get something. I would rather trade McNeil than either Nimmo or Smith. While i agree he has some hit tools, I cannot agree that he will excel anywhere. He showed last year that he is not a third baseman. He would probably be OK at second, but I'd rather see a defense first guy like Gimenez there first. There are certainly a lot worse scenarios however if the offseason ends and McNeil is the second baseman in 2021.
Alonso is here to stay. I really hope they do not trade him.
I can't imagine trading Alonso. He deserves a chance in 2021 to rebound.
McNeil for Lindor should almost be a straight up trade. Lindor may be better overall, but McNeil is still cheap and under control for a long time. That counts.
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