One of the outfielders the Mets have had their eye on is Denard Span a good fielding left handed hitter with fine lead off skills. When healthy he can be an above average igniter.
The problem is that he has an injury history and 2015, a year in which he just managed 246 at bats, was a tough one for him.
Scott Boras, his agent, has arranged for him to do a workout for interested teams “some time in January”. The Mets figure to be one of a number of teams that will attend to try to gauge how healthy the player is.
One thing we have learned in the post-Madoff era of Mets baseball is that they are not a club that wins competitive auctions for players. The most recent example was L’Affair Zobrist. In fairness they lost Ben Zobrist not to a superior monetary bid but rather that the player had a desire to play once again for Joe Maddon. But with the Mets as described by Roseanne Roseannadanna “it’s always something.”
It strikes me as unlikely that the Mets, if impressed by next month’s workout, will be the high bidder in dollars and years for Span. We all know that Boras pushes his clients to sign with whomever is offering the longest highest paying deal. Does this figure to be the Mets?
Meanwhile in the weeks before the Span workout there are other options out there to be considered. Geraldo Parra might be the best fit for the Mets short of Span. Dexter Fowler is a fine player but may not hit righties well enough and would be more likely to take the whole center field job from Juan Lagares.
Max Venable is next down the ladder and some writers have suggested Alejandro deAza. deAza is a competent left handed bat but what can be questioned is his defensive skill in center field.
It seems altogether possible that while the Mets wait on Span some or all of these alternatives will come off the board. If we find Lagares’ platoonmate to be Kirk Nieuwenheis or Darrel Celliani because the team waited on a Denard Span pipedream that will be a shame.
Doh. I didn’t mean Max Venable. I meant Will Venable.
Sorry.
Max’s son Will Venable is probably a better option. 🙂 you do make an excellent point though. I’m starting to think the trade market may be a better way to go here.
I made the same type of mistake recently though at least yours are related. Mine was the Encarnacions – juan and Edwin.
I fear the Venable option, which amounts to cutting corners. He’s not very good.
This has been a very difficult winter for Sandy. None of this is easy. Colon was possibly a brilliant signing or a huge mistake; so much hinges on it. If Sandy is thinking that a July trade might get the best return — say, after Wheeler demonstrates full health — then having a steady presence like Bartolo might be the key that enables him to move an arm. OTOH, if Bartolo under-performs, that’s a lot of money squandered. If CF and the Bullpen don’t get satisfactorily addressed, that’s another chance to question the allocation of resources.
Just saying that I don’t think the path has ever been clear this winter, though I did want Sipp. Not sure how much is would have cost. As this post says, and it’s been noted elsewhere, Sandy simply refuses to compete for any player, just about ever. It’s as if he believes it will always lead to bad deals, inflated costs. He’s very different from Omar in that way — for better, and for worse — because Sandy almost never says, “This is the guy I want, damn it, and I’m going to get him.”
Trading Lagares might be the play here, though that’s a tough deal to make. I wonder if he should just get the operation, get healthy, and sit out a year. That doesn’t seem to be in the cards.
The longer it takes to sign a platoon CF and the longer Cespedes stays on the market, the better chance to bring him in and either trade Lagares for some financial relief or have an expensive 4th OF. If Cespedes is there in late Jan/early Feb, make the short term/big money investment…i.e. 3 for 67 with a mutual option to make it 4/100.
Hmmmm, very good point. Me likes that idea…
Being an injury risk plus being a Boras client tells me to steer clear of Span…
Parra is the guy we want. Gold glove platoon in center. The pitchers would appreciate that under the tree.
I agree that Parra would be a great pickup. I do disagree about the Gold Glove stuff. Defensively if used mostly in CF Parra would give the team about the same defense it got from Cespedes in center. Parra is almost a Gold Glover used in the corners but is just a bit range shy in center.
Still, would love to have him if he’s not asking for too many dollars or too many years.
Problem with that is that we need offense not defense! If you look at our opening day lineup from last year and look at this years, they are almost the same! Only big difference is LF whereas I expect Conforto to put up better numbers than Cuddy. Walker and murph / Cabrera and Flores are washes as they put up similar numbers. We need a difference maker BAT. If we don’t get one then this front office will have majorly failed and I can’t believe they expect to make a splash at the trade deadline and catch lightning in a bottle again.
Wondering if the whole market isn’t stalled waiting on that workout because whoever signs one of the other guys is out on Span. Hence, either the other guys take a lesser amount to sign right now or suitors will wait to see Span.
In my mind, you wait for Span because he is the best option. Parra is second, Venable third, De Aza and last Fowler because he is is an undesciplined hacker.
Fowler is a high OBP guy. Not my choice, but he’s far from an undisciplined hacker.
Cespedes would be the better option while keeping lagares as a fourth outfielder, late game defensive replacement, he’ll find plenty of at bats throughout the season.
Re-brian
Out of curiosity I wonder what lagares would net in trades talks, he is a young defensive wiz with a modest contract. You would think at least an equally young setup man maybe?
If Span is the goal then the Mets should not wait. Make him an offer, look at his medicals and sign him if he passes. He does not cost a compensation pick. The compensation pick is what separates him from Fowler. Fowler is younger, has a better OBP, has an above average ISO and hits with more power. Fowler will also cost more but he is the better player. Parra is a nice player but not an offensive weapon like Span or Fowler. Signing Span or Fowler will relegate Lagares and his $2.5m salary to the 4th outfielder position where he can spell the three starters equally when a LHP starts.
Melvin upton…
Make an offer to Cespedes and let Lagares serve as the 4th outfielder. He may have faded at the end of the season but he had a great overall season combining his two league experience and he can carry the team for stretches all by himself. Start with 4 for $90M. Not a bad pay day for a player who has been shuffled around to so many teams and who liked playing here.
If we don’t pick up an impact bat we will be ten games behind the Nats at the break. It will be disastrous for the fan base to slip back and that will happen even with a great pitching staff. Need to support them and not be losing 2-1 and 3-2 games.
So they get deAza instead…
Mets got deaza not the worst option considering his splits were comparable to some of the other bats out there,
I think unless they got cespedes back, which I was hoping for, all the other options were comparable to deaza, while some are complaining about his ability to split time in cf he did handle the position regularly for chicago a few seasons ago.
If wright can stay healthy and produce it limits the need for another bat, if not similar to last season I’m sure they have the ability to make a trade again. Wright not being in the lineup was the main reason they struggled before the trading deadline.