Here in New York, we fans pride ourselves on being knowledgeable. We’re hip, we’re savvy, we know what’s goin’ on, man. We’re not like those blindly devoted followers in St. Louis or Cincinnati, who show up in droves, decked out in red, whether their team is in contention or not. No, we “know” better. We “know” a lot of stuff – our teams’ histories, current trends and definitely what they’re going to do or not do next. That’s what we New Yorkers are good at: whatever the outcome, “we knew it all along.”
Except when we don’t.
Back in July, the Mets were bumping along, barely above .500 with the trade deadline looming. We fans knew – knew it absolutely – that team ownership didn’t have the financial wherewithal to make significant improvements and that GM Sandy Alderson would let another deadline pass without making a big move. Oh sure, Kelly Johnson, Juan Uribe and Tyler Clippard were nice acquisitions, sure, but there wouldn’t be a splashy headline-grabber. We knew there wouldn’t. Then, word leaked that a blockbuster was in the works for speedy former Met Carlos Gomez, a deal that would take away Wilmer Flores and Zack Wheeler. This would be the biggest move of Alderson’s tenure! But it fell through at the end, Wheeler and Flores stayed put and once again, we knew nothing would be done. In a flash though, we heard that Jay Bruce was coming – another dashed hope, as it turned out, but the despair didn’t last too long, because a couple of hours later, it was announced that Yoenis Cespedes was coming over from Detroit and Wheeler and Flores would remain Mets after all. We did not know all that would happen. We did not know Cespedes – with some help from Flores — would propel the Mets right past the Washington Nationals. We did not know the Mets would breeze into the playoffs.
That was from July 25th to the 31st. Flash forward, now, to December 7th through the 9th. The Mets, NL Pennant in hand, headed into the winter meetings having done basically nothing since the Kansas City Royals frolicked in front of the visiting dugout at Citi Field in early November. Uribe, Johnson, Cespedes and Daniel Murphy had all departed via free agency. There was now a gaping hole in the middle of the Mets’ infield, seemingly to be plugged by Dilson Herrera. Herrera is a nice prospect, one touted as a future All Star, in fact, but for now, he’s unproven at the Major League level. The offense was in tatters. We’ve watched David Price and Zack Greinke sign mega-buck deals in Boston and Arizona, respectively, and grown both wistful and angry, because – guess what – we know Mets’ ownership isn’t going to pony up the necessary funds to follow up that Pennant. With crushing debt service looming, it’s not too difficult to connect the dots and figure out where all that upped attendance/playoff revenue was going to go. We know it’s not going into the product on the field. Oh, sure, they’d made some noise about making a big push for Ben Zobrist – a terrific fit, by the way – but were any of us really surprised when they were outbid by the Chicago Cubs for his services last night? Nope. And in the wake of that failure, we knew nothing would be done.
Not so fast.
This afternoon, the Mets traded Jon Niese to Pittsburgh for Neil Walker – a second baseman in the Murphy mold, but with slightly better defense – and later in the evening, they signed free agent shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera to a two-year contract. For the 2016 season, they’ve added about $10 million in payroll when we all knew they wouldn’t add any. Now they need to turn their sights on replacing Cespedes’s power, but that might even entail re-signing Cespedes himself, despite official rumblings to the contrary.
Who knows?
Follow me on Twitter @CharlieHangley.
Just to clarify things, Zobrist picked the Cubs not because of money as far as I know. That said, I do think the Mets have been saying all the right things about Lagares but you have to think after what they saw from him last year they’re looking to either augment or replace him with a better bat. Juan is clueless at the plate right now and who knows if his shoulder will come around.
With losing the salaries of Colon, Gee and Murphy, along with the partial salaries of Cespedes, Clippard, Johnson and Uribe — I expected the Mets to do something in free agency. I just thought it would be RP and CF.
Charlie, with all due respect, the gaping hole was mostly in the middle of the batting order; and it’s still there. To me Cabrerra replaces Uribe with his ability to play the middle infield and give options to the manager. However, if we assume Walker would be close to Murphy, who is going to be close to Cespedes? Are you winning or merely contending if your lineup is:
Granny, Walker/TDA (vs lefties), Wright, Duda, TDA/Flores (vs lefties), Conforto, Cabrerra, Lagares?
I know it’s hard to find, but they must. They must add that piece. The Mets don’t have elite speed, don’t have elite defense, don’t have elite power.
And I doubt they will have elite luck again this year Gus. The Nat’s have a no-nonsense manager now. the Met’s still need an offensive bat in the line up. I say package Duda, Montero,Herera,Wheeler for CarGo and Arenado. Wright miving to first benefits his chances of playing more games while putting less pressure on his back.
He may be no-nonsense, but if you listened to Dusty Baker’s comments on the Aroldis Chapman situation, he sounded senile.
Let’s be fair to the Mets too. They did lose Wright and TdA for three months (although that could very easily happen again) and they have improved over the Cuddyer, Tejada positions of last year. Besides, the Nationals lost Jordan Zimmerman.
The big difference maker is what the Nationals do from here on out. Not expecting them to sit on their hands as they outbid the Mets on Zobrist and were after several starting pitchers. Still see Murphy wearing a white and red uniform, either Nationals or Angels. Hopefully, Angels.
You smoking something Pete? That trade is a total pipe dream. Why would they trade Arenado? Unless the Mets can move Lagares, it looks like a platoon in CF most likely with Parra, Wright will hopefully play 120 games with Uribe backing up.
I don’t smoke Eric. I’m asthmatic. Just looking at different ways to move Wright away from playing third base. Duda is just too streaky at 8 million? I know he’s under team control but the Met’s need to start looking at Wright’s health and the wear and tear on his back playing third base. At least at first he should have a better chance at staying healthy and playing 130 -140 games. And if Wright goes down with another back injury who are the Met’s going to bring in?
It seems like a lot of folks propose trades for CarGo but those trades never include Conforto or Granderson. CarGo likely can not play an acceptable CF so even if trades like this were possible then you have three left hand hitting corner OFers. Just doesn’t work.
Larry couldn’t you split them at Granderson leading off, CarGo batting third and Comfoto 5th when the three are playing together? (Could have Grandy play CF) Batting Wright second with Arenado clean up? You could finish the line up with TDA 6th, Walker 7th, and Cabrera 8th. Or maybe utilize Comforto as your 4th outfielder and putting CarGo at DH when the Met’s play AL teams. I know it’s 3 corner outfielders but the team needs to address Wright playing third base eventually. is it realistic? Probably not.
That would be a steal for the Mets. No way they could get both Cargo and Arenado. But I like your fantasy.
CarGo and Arenado.
On our side that’s gonna be one of MH JgG or NS, then It’s gonna be a top prospect, say Matz and some other pitching prospect and we are gonna eat CarGos salary.
How about Wheeler instead of Matz. Adding Montero and another top prospect. Included in the deal is Duda so Wright moves over to first base. Colorado has an enormous hill to climb just to be able to be included in wildcard conversation. They are need of SP’s. Offense has never been an issue.
It is unrealistic to think that the Mets will be able to afford keeping their starting rotation together after 3 or 4 more years. The Mets should embrace the next four years by spending the money now. Heyward (MLTRB estimate of 10/200) or Cespedes (MLBTR 6/140) are two middle of the order players that will make the Mets a dominant team for the next four years. The Mets could sell out the stadium, increase revenues and bring in lots of money by signing one of them. The Mets were a dominant team the second half of 2015 using this formula so they should continue to do what worked. Based on their trade deadline actions it seems that they are again playing it close to the vest and will surprise us.
That’s my whole point.
I agree Neil Walker is slightly better than Murphy defensively. Reason: Walker is a natural 2nd baseman. Play him out of position like the Mets did Murphy and I assure Walker won’t perform nearly as well. Murphy is a much better all round hitter (.288 lifetime w/ .271 against LHP) with slightly less HR power than Walker. Bottom Line is Murphy’s loss will leave a huge void despite what Met fanatics and harsh press say. Wherever Murphy goes as a natural good 3rd basemen or above average 1st baseman he will excel and be appreciated. He won’t be subjected to NY totally deplorable berating. Mets won’t be able to replace #3 and #4 hitters Murphy and Cepesdes. It’s just not going to happen. A recent Wright’s decline in health, defense and offensive are all of major concern. As much as Murphy has been unfairly accused, he made exactly the same number of WS fielding errors as Wright and Duda. Furthermore, both David and Lucas made additional mental errors that Daniel didn’t. If all the Mets fabulous pitching staff were complete 9 inning pitchers they would have a chance to win their division in 2016. However, being realistic I will be pleased if the team wins 82 games.
Not me. I think the Mets are really close to getting the WS done this time. To me a big nuts bat for the middle of the lineup is key. All the better if that could be Cespedes.
Are you Daniel’s agent by any chance? I’ll miss him too but the Mets are more than one player so hang in there and don’t be so negative.
We will miss Murphy, a pure hitter and a good second baseman. He made a lot of super plays last year and finished batting 3rd in the lineup. And I am not his agent either. BTW, I like the addition of Asdrubal Cabrera; I had him on my radar. CF and a setup reliever are the big holes now. Need to find a way to pry AJ Pollock from Arizona – assuming we will not get Cespedes, who would provide the power we need. I bet we wind up with Parra in CF.
Frank – You make excellent points. Hard (not subjective) numbers don’t lie.
All one has to do is go to http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/nym/history/all_time_leaders.jsp to review important all time states like average, hits, doubles, home runs, etc….. Sure beats all these most recent subjective WAR and similar stats.
The same Arizona that just spent 34M$ a year forever to pay Grienke, and emptied the farm for Miller…that Arizona? They’re gonna give up one of the best CF in the game for who on the Mets? I suppose it’ll be MH or JdG or NS. Maybe we can get Goldy as well, for Duda and Campbell and Ceciliani
MJ – I wish I were Murphy’s agent. However, I am a realist. I really like average fielding Neil Walker. To hear some fans, now that he is a Met, you would think foolishly he is a gold glove candidate. I do like his bat, but he is no Daniel Murphy who has always been a doubles machine among top leaders; plus being the NL best putting the ball in play. In 2015 Daniel spent approx 40 days on the DL and still ended up in the top ten. Now we have some fans thrilled saying the Mets can win it all with mixing and matching infielders? Platoon by definition implies inferiority, thus can’t perform well enough to be everyday players. Set lineups win a WS. Conforto and Gandy are daily fixtures in the outfield corners, but both are left handed hitters without a regular center fielder. Wright concerns me most of all. If he plays 100 games I’ll be pleased. When healthy he strikes out too frequently in the clutch and the same can be said about Duda. Some fans can bash Murphy to rationalize their ‘hope and change. That said, let’s hope he doesn’t end up a DC National to become a clutch Met thorn in the side. Both Murphy and Cepedes (#3, #4) together are voids that are almost impossible to replace. With the exception of Conforto where have they improved 5, 6, 7 and 8 in the lineup?
Gil Hodges platooned the hell out of the 1969 World Champs.
Casey Stengel managed a dynasty doing that on a regular basis.
The Mets are not going to spend too much money on a complimentary outfielder to help Lagares share CF duties. So throw Span and Parra out of the mix. The Mets are only interested in signing 2nd tier level players so that means an OFer like Daniel Nava or Alejandro De Aza. Nava is a switch hitter who the Red Sox were very high on before he got hurt. Taking a chance on Nava would not be expensive for the team, and if he does not work out they will DFA him. Loosing a couple of million dollars might be worth it to see if the guy can help the Mets, and become the hitter the Red Sox expected him to be. Nava has only played a few games at CF but it appears he can handle it as he has enough speed, a good arm and positions himself well. and can catch the ball. The Sox thought he was going to be the next Dustin Pedroia hitting wise. Injuries derailed him but the Mets need to look at this guy as he may be a potential diamond in the rough. He is not a HR hitter but he has hit for a good AVG, has decent speed and switch hits. Give the guy a chance.
I wouldn’t exactly say that the Mets added $10 million in salary with the deals. Don’t forget, Murphy made $8 million last season. At the end of the day, they’ve just maintained last year’s payroll..
Just busting your chops. I agree about Parra by the way. Also, they’ll miss Cespedes’ production way more than Daniel’s I think.
My gut tells me they are not going to compete to sign Parra at 3/4 years.
For Span, he should be looking for a one-year deal to re-establish his value. However, that’s not going to happen in a platoon situation. If I were him, I’d be looking for a full-time job. I only think the Mets can sign him is if they move Lagares.
Hate Tejada on the bench at $2.5 million or whatever.
There’s still a lot of work to be done. It’s interesting, because I’m pretty baffled right now. Which, again, was Charley’s point, I think.
So far we’re replacing gloves, not bats. We have a proven player at every position – 2 in some cases. But the lineup is weak. The only way to add a power bat to the middle of the lineup without trading a golden arm or coughing up a monster contract is to get Span or Fowler and drop Grandy in the lineup. Problem then is who hits between grandy and duda?
These were two upgrades done by the Mets that were financially not a big deal and gave our pitchers a much stronger fielding pair up the middle. This also frees up including Tajada or Flores in a possible deal for a bat. Why not just sign Cespedes, pick up a Lefty relief specialist and head to spring training? We move none of the big four pitchers for two more years until we really can’t afford them all. I’d lock up Jake and Thor as soon as possible on 3-4 year deals and then have the conversation with Boras on Harvey. If we keep upping attendance then the extra payroll will be covered.
Pushing aside any reasonable doubts one might have about the wisdom of investing huge money in Cespedes . . .
It is nearly impossible to make this guy your plan moving forward. Nobody knows where that contract might end up, and obviously there has to be a limit where all GMs except for one push away from the table.
Even if I wanted him — and I kind of do, sort of — I think the best tactic would be the stealth mode of monitoring the situation, staying in the loop, and maybe making a late offer if the stars are somehow aligned. So in that sense I can imagine a scenario where Jeff is like, “Let’s make an offer.” But in the end, I think this guy is going to get paid too much by somebody. He’s still an enigma to me, and I watched him play 70-some-odd games for the Mets. Do I want him at any price? No, I do not. Carlos Beltran, yes I did; Mike Piazza, yes, had to have him back. Cespedes is not that guy for me.
let’s go mets