On Sunday, Mets360.com writers kicked off a new project. Writers from this site and others are acting as the General Managers of all 30 MLB teams. For the most part, the teams were chosen at random, and I was fortunate enough to get the Mets. The evolving criteria for the project as of now: up to three trades per team, up to five NRIs, and a team could sign as many free agents as they want…as long as it fits their budget. Each team was assigned a budget, but trades can be made for cash in order to increase available payroll. To make a trade, the writers emailed/called each other and negotiated deals to try and improve their teams. To sign a free agent, teams submitted a bid for players (confidentially) to the “Commissioner”, and the player goes to the highest bidder (Wednesday night is the deadline to submit bids). NRIs will be given on a first-come, first-serve basis following the conclusion of free agency.
My sense of the organization at the start of the project:
Strengths: Starting Pitching, 2B, 1B, 3B, CF
Weaknesses: Offense, SS, LF, budget
Believe it or not…the Mets are not in bad shape this offseason! With Matt Harvey coming off the DL to pitch in 2015, the Mets will have one of, if not the, strongest starting rotations in all of Major League Baseball…and their bullpen is not too bad either. That being said, there are still trades that must be made in order for the Mets to compete this upcoming season, so I made the following deals:
Mets send Matt den Dekker (OF), Jon Niese (LHP), and Bobby Parnell (CL) to the Detroit Tigers in return for Steven Moya (OF Prospect), Jose Iglesias (SS) and $5MM. The way this trade came about was as followed: Tigers’ GM Jon Springer offered me Moya and wanted Juan Lagares, Dillon Gee, and Jeurys Familia in return. However, I was not willing to give up Lagares and Familia, so I offered him Scott Rice and den Dekker in their place, but I got Iglesias and $4.8MM instead. After negotiating, we agreed on the trade mentioned above, because we felt that it helped both our teams. While the Mets got a shortstop, a prospect, and a whole lot of cash…the Tigers filled their needs by getting an outfielder, and two pitchers.
The second trade I made was with the Nationals, run by Julian McCarthy. For this trade, the Mets received Denard Span (OF) and $6MM for Dilson Herrera (2B) and Jack Leathersich (LHP prospect). Being that I still wanted an outfielder, I went to the Dodgers to try and get Matt Kemp, but he had already been traded. Therefore, I thought long and hard about another team who may be willing to give up an outfielder, and I came across the Nationals. I offered the Nationals Herrera and Rice for $6MM and Span or Harper. After a short negotiation with the Nationals’ mock GM, we settled on the previously mentioned deal, which completed my goal of getting a SS and a LF… so I decided to get creative.
The third, and final, trade I made was with the Houston Astros. In this blockbuster trade, Gee and Daniel Murphy were shipped over to Houston for All Star/perennial MVP candidate Jose Altuve (2B), Dallas Keuchel (RHP), and $2MM (from the team with the lowest payroll in the MLB). Going into the project, I was not even thinking about trading Murphy. But as time went on, I realized that if I could put him in a package deal, then I could easily persuade another GM into handing over a perennial MVP/All Star. Altuve led the MLB in hits this season, and Kauchel was undoubtedly the secret ace of the Astros. Sure, I had to give up the Mets lone 2014 All Star and a young pitcher, but in the end…the deal was completely worth it.
If you have not noticed yet…all of the trades I made involved me getting cash. To begin the project, I was given a total salary of $89MM to distribute to my team. However, after pulling a few strings, my total salary is up to $102MM, and I have just north of $46MM to spend on free agents. I will probably be spending most of my money trying to upgrade the bench and part of the bullpen, but for the most part the Mets are looking pretty good with me as their GM! I do need a few more southpaws on my pitching staff, but other than that I am happy with my roster. And some additional moves I made just for the sake of completing my coaching staff… I fired Terry Collins, replacing him with ex-Twins manager (and former Mets’ shortstop) Ron Gardenhire, and hired former Met Bobby Abreu as my hitting coach.
The trade with Houston was insane. If I was the Astros owner Id fire that GM and bring a lawsuit. You won that deal hands down.
Gee and Murphy are far below Altuve and Keuchel, except for their comparatively bloated salaries.
By the way, we all love Murph, but its time to ease the gas pedal off on the “all star” thing — sure he went to the game, but he was only chosen because the Mets had to have a representative.
With that 46 million, you need to invest in a power hitter. Span is a nice leadoff hitter and Altuve fits in nicely in the two hole, but Lagares and Iglesias, while terrific defensively, are below average hitters for their positions. You have plenty of money to get a guy like Mike Morse, who can slug homers, platoon with Duda at first, spot start in the OF and DH against AL clubs.
I agree with Chris, the Altuve trade is great. The Detroit trade is nice also as Moya could be the power hitter we need by mid season (although I still advocate for signing that type of hitter).
I’m not a fan of the Nats trade. Span is a nice leadoff hitter, as I said above, but the team needs pop. Not sure who you could’ve gotten in that deal, but Span wasn’t a need.
I liked your moves a lot. Denard Span was something I never thought I’d see, but that was a solid acquisition. He’d be a nice stop gap until the younger guys were ready to come up, for instance Moya, Nimmo or Conforto. Nicely done Dan.
Stop drinking the juice, the Mets need a right-handed consistent hitter who can bat fourth jack out 15-20 homers and a steady ss who can bat lead-off and steal occasionally a base.
Love the span trade, nothing better than having two defensively gifted center fielders in your OF, I assume he’d play RF… Good move though, he’s an ideal leadoff hitter… Iglesias is a great fit at short and with Altuve at second that’s one hell of a face lift for this team. Not sure how gee and Murphy got it done but I’ll take it. I believe moya is not too far away and has tons of power. Excellent job, and just for fun maybe you could post the entries from the other writers
Best thing you did was firing Terry Collins.Unfortunately our real GM loves him apparently.
I like those trades but herrara nd leathersich for span is giving up way to much herrara is going to be an allstar nd leathersich could be the next billy wagner span is already 30 yrs old nd his game is his speed nd that’s first to go as u get older honest u gave up to much in that trade but al, the other moves are great
Kudos on the first trade, although a little sad to see Niese go. I like Denard Span, but I agree with Scott that he wasn’t a need, and we gave up a ton to get him. The Houston trade is pretty ridiculous, but sometimes GMs make dumb moves, and you absolutely got the better end of that deal. Kuechel can slide in to replace Gee, but Altuve is a huge upgrade, and somehow they are paying you for that? I think this trade suffered a little bit from a Mets fan running the Astros.
An extremely strong-fielding infield, and a very nice amount of money coming in.
As the Tigers’ GM I compliment Dan on his willingness to negotiate, we went back and forth with different offers and counteroffers.
So you understand my motivations I needed a starter to replace Scherzer (whom I can no longer afford), a center fielder (if not an everyday guy, a LH hitter to platoon with RH hitting Rajai Davis) and bullpen help (since I’m the Tigers). Though I asked for Lagares and Familia I was able to upgrade to Niese and wouldn’t accept any bullpenners less than Parnell.
I needed Dan to buy into the notion of Moya as a potential star — I don’t know if irl the Mets would see him that way; although he has big-time power (35 HRs in Class AA) his on-base skills need work and he may still need time in the minors. Iglesias is coming off a lengthy injury although reports say he’s expected to be OK. Getting Niese gave me confidence to swap Price to Atlanta (I got back Justin Upton & Evan Gattis, allowing me to set Torii Hunter and Alex Avila free, respectively.)
From my POV, Dan’s real coup was taking $5 million bucks out of my pocket, in the end I budgeted poorly and as a result am scrounging for FA leftovers.
I don’t really understand why Washington or Houston would make the deals they did. Will those GMs chime in?
I’m posting today on moves made as the Athletics GM. It will be in two parts as moves are still being made. Part 1 should be up shortly.
Just received the following news:
I have won the FA bidding for Hanley Ramirez, Dana Eveland, and Joe Beimel. Still more moves to come (hopefully)!
I would like to point out another player. One that the Mets can get for Dillon Gee only. One that has about a 10% BB rate, hits in the .280 range with a lot of doubles and around 15-20 HR in a tough ballpark, plays ok defense, has consistently been better than 2 WAR, and is 32 years old. He has been the right fielder for his team for many years and now they are just dying to move him and would probably eat half his salary. Andre Ethier. Not fancy, but healthy and effective. You could get him for Gee alone, or maybe even Montero. He has always been consistent although never flashy.
Also, with TDA, Lagares, Flores, and Wright in the lineup, why do they need another RH bat?
How do you feel about this, Dan? Would you do this deal?
I have considered the idea, but I don’t think I will be acting on the idea. I just reviewed news that I signed Aoki (for cheep), so I now have a crowded OF with Lagares, Span, Aoki, and Granderson. Also, Gee was a part of the Astros deal, so I cannot trade him anymore. But if anybody else has any ideas let me know and I will see what I can do. I have one trade left to make, and if I make it I will let you guys all know!