Happy Monday morning, Mets fans!
OK, OK...I know Mondays are never happy, particularly after spending Sunday in the national non-holiday tradition of watching the Superbowl commercials, eating to excess, drinking irresponsible amounts, and finally stumbling to bed after the conclusion of the game. Oh yeah, there was a game, wasn’t there? That excess has got to make a Monday morning a bit more challenging than most.
After all, what could have happened over the weekend? Oh, right, to address a primary need the Mets boldly signed a released outfielder named Albert Almora, Jr. It could be worse. Juan Lagares wound up with a minor league deal to try to make the Angels to back up for some schlub named Trout.
On February 8th the Mets are just nine days from the start of Spring Training for pitchers and catchers, and just 14 days from the reporting of position players. I feel like a broken record repeating the team’s needs again and again, so I won’t venture down that path again.
Instead, let’s take a look at who is still readily available to the Mets to fill that $40 million payroll vacancy created when Trevor Bauer thumbed his nose at Steve Cohen and company. Rather than paying one guy with a career 3.90 ERA more money than any pitcher in baseball, I’m one of the few who feel the team dodged a very expensive bullet. Even if he drops his career ERA by a full run for the remainder of his career, he’s still not worth what he’s being paid. (By the way, a 2.90 ERA pitcher is very good indeed...but not quite as good as a certain infielder turned pitcher who will be the number one starter for the Mets and possesses a career ERA even lower than that at just 2.61 for significantly less money.)
While many folks are pining for the long-term pitching success in the past of guys like Jake Odorizzi, James Paxton and Mike Leake, I’m a bit more interested in younger pitchers without as much of a track record and overall the potential to be better now in the present and in the near future for the next few years. There are plenty of elder statesmen available like Jake Arrieta and Rick Porcello (urp!).
Instead, what about considering the less expensive and decidedly better arms like Julio Teheran most recently of the Angels who is coming off a horrific 2020, but at age 30 he holds a career ERA of 3.82 which is actually better than an across-town pitcher who just signed for $40 million this coming year. His control is erratic. In the years it works he’s been a very high quality pitcher. When it doesn’t, well, he’s still better than Rick Porcello. Teheran is coming off a one-year $9 million contract and given his poor performance in 2020, he could likely be had for less.
The other younger pitcher I’ve mentioned before is Taijuan Walker. This 28 year old righty is coming off a very strong 2020 short season north of the border for Toronto. He too works best when his control is on and his 3.84 career ERA is still better than Trevor Bauer. Walker is quite the opposite of Teheran, younger and coming off just a $2 million paycheck. He would expect his pay to rise, but even if it went 2.5 times higher to $5 million, that’s half of what the Mets forked out for Rick Porcello last year.
Trades are possible, too, and there are still the “my bad contract for your bad contract” type of transactions that could have Jeurys Familia, Dellin Betances or even Brandon Nimmo wearing a new uniform in order for the Mets to pick up another starting pitcher without increasing their payroll significantly.
Come on, Zack...earn that interim paycheck!
12 comments:
Shrug off the Hour of Bauer and keep moving to make this team EVEN BETTER.
So what do people really think about Tajuan Walker as a Met, if he wants say, 2 years, $10 million. Pull the trigger? Is he better than Joey Lucchesi? Is it worth it to have both?
Teheran sounds a lot like - FAMILIA. If it were one year, would he be a better gamble than Walker? What about Paxton?
Injuries have been Paxton's main issue. Look at his career and you see years with 13, 13, 20, 24, 28 and 29 starts followed by just 5 this past short season. For that the lefty has been paid most recently $12.5 million. I think he's a worthy gamble for some club but recognize you're into at least a $10 million per year contract for someone who could turn out to be Rick Porcello, the remake. Well, that's not fair. Porcello was healthy and hideous. Paxton has been mostly good and quite often unavailable. Think of him as a slightly older Steven Matz for a lot more money.
Tom "Hour of Bauer" is very good. I like the Walker add but not Teheran for me. I'm just wondering how all this plays out knowing the Dodgers have no problem going over the cap but Cohen isn't going there.....yet? Unfortunately it creates an imbalance across baseball that the cap can be broken with enough money. Surely Cohen CAN break it in a big way but I guess for now isn't ready to do that so where does that leave us exactly? Maybe, hopefully, he's just waiting for the right moment to strike. I give him a pass as we've certainly improved and I realize he's been an owner for about 15 min. but ST is right around the corner Steve please stay on point here. LGM
Paxton health is sure a factor - but he is an excellent 57-33, 3.58 in his career - that is definitely NOT Matz. If healthy, he could be a real plus in the post season. How much he'd cost, given his injury history, who knows. I'd only give him 1 year. Hopefully, he would take a low salary, incentive-laden contract, given his health issues.
Gary, I imagine they are focused on mid season salary dumps too. They can perhaps re-create the Cespedes 2015 acquisition cheaply then.
I would like to see if Lugo really is a poor man’s Charlie Morton, so I’m signing Trevor Rosenthal for my bullpen, so I can have Lugo start in the Syndergaard spot. Lugo was done in by a 9.35 away ERA in September and a .415 BABIP and hid GB% shot up to 50%. I’m not giving up on the guy after those kinds of numbers over four starts, especially with a 12.9 K/9 as a starter. Just those numbers alone are better than Paxton and Orodozzi, whom everybody wants. In two months when Thor comes back, we take stock of who sucks and who doesn’t.
Walker is the only one of the bunch who may interest me a little. The Braves have always known when to say 'good-bye' to players who are about to go over the hill. Teheran is just another one of those players. Any remember Jair Jurrgens? Was good for the Braves until they unloaded him, then he was never heard from again.
Jake Arrietta? Rich Hill? If the Mets sign them, expect to see "DFA" next to their names by Memorial Day.
I like Walker more than Teheran. I agree with Bob that the Braves are generally good at knowing when to cut a player loose.
I also like Walker best of all the pitchers that have been discussed, but I would think BOTH Paxton and Walker would be just fine.
Who knows how much depth will be needed this year after the short (and for some, like Stroman, non-existent) 2020 where nobody threw many innings.
Can anybody explain why I felt a little bummed this morning when I read that Chasen Shreve signed a minor-league deal with the Pirates?
Anybody else here that can't wait until we are discussing the games of the past week?
I'm really tired of trying to put this team together . time to see what we got!
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