The Mets are next in our arbitration eligibles series.
- First time: Manny Acosta
- Second time: Mike Pelfrey
- Third time: Ronny Paulino
- Fourth time: Angel Pagan, Taylor Buchholz
It appears likely that the Mets will tender Pelfrey a contract, perhaps for the value of providing innings and the possibility that he'll be a little better next year. We have his salary in the $5.9MM range. Pagan is another player on the bubble. He projects for $4.7MM and is an easy choice to tender if the Mets consider his 2011 UZR a fluke. Buchholz missed most of the season for a shoulder injury and depression; he projects around $1.2MM.
Acosta and Paulino will be affordable, at about $1MM and $1.5MM respectively. They figure to be tendered contracts.
The Mets have $66.83MM in 2012 commitments before accounting for minimum salary players, according to Cot's Baseball Contracts. If everyone but Buchholz remains, that puts them near $80MM plus Tim Byrdak's salary. Mets GM Sandy Alderson implied earlier this month that the team may cut payroll to the $100-110MM range. That'd leave enough money for Jose Reyes and a few other pieces, and that's assuming most arbitration eligible players are tendered and no one is traded.
Matt Swartz contributed to this post.
You’ve got Pelfrey making a 2.2 million dollar raise? I think that arbitrators tend to side with the players, but Pelfrey has been terrible since late June of 2010. I can’t imagine his salary going up nearly 40%.
He earned $3.925MM this year plus a potential $50K in incentives. $5.82MM if he didn’t get the $50K; $5.87MM if he did. So think nearly 50% raise actually. But this is an interesting one, so we will provide some more insight into it at some point.
Thanks Tim. 6 million for an innings eater isn’t a ton, but the money could be used to help elsewhere. As a fan of the Mets, it’s difficult to watch Pelfrey pitch and then hear he’s in line for a significant raise. Former top 10 pick who will be 28 on opening day, and has regressed in his last 45 starts or so.
Yeah, I have no interest in tendering Pelfrey a contract. Hes a product of his home park and he can’t get lefties out. He’s never posted a good K/BB ratio either and his groundball rate, his only real pitching skill, is getting weaker by the year. Besides being a near-lock to give you 180+ innings, hes pretty much useless, sorry to say.
According to the OP, The Mets have $66.83MM in 2012 commitments before accounting for minimum salary players. That puts them near $80MM including min salary players…Lets assume Reyes wants to stay where hes most comfortable and loved, and will consider less then Crawford money (Lets say an escalating deal like Milwaukee’s Braun)..we can structure it in such a way that we can also afford PRINCE FIELDER for Adrian Gonzalez type money or around $20-$22MM/7yr…We then could package Ike Davis and a salary dump (Pagan, Carrasco, Bay, Pelfrey, etc) for either A) a #2-#3 quality starter or B) at least an equal level pitching prospect or two. Santana is gone after 2013($25.5MM) and so is Bay ($18.1MM) and that opens up another $43.6MM to re-sign David Wright after we pick up his club option in 2013 and cover Reyes’ escalating contract. Let me re-cap. $80MM 2012 salary + $10MMish for Reyes + $20MMish for FIELDER = $110MM salary for 2012. The expiring contracts of Santana/Bay in 2013 would then put us in a position to have 3 superstars (Wright, Reyes and FIELDER) in their prime costing us about $60MM-$70MM/yr and allowing us to freely spend on whatever else we want at that point. And 2013 FA class has a good amount of talent on it also. Its a good formula to have a nasty shut your mouth kind of 1B with another complimentary superstar or 2….Look at Cardinals/Brewers/Phillies/Stanks/Detroit/etc…….by 2013 maybe new ownership, or more Mets fans in the seats = higher payroll…………….and smaller CitiField dimensions = more hitting success…not to mention they recently announced a 2012 cap of $110-120MM not $100-110MM.
2012 Lineup:
SS-Reyes (S) .300+/10hr/60rbi/100+r/40+sb
2B-Tejada (R) .280/5hr/65rbi/85r/10sb
3B-Wright (R) .290+/25+hr/99+rbi/99r+/20sb
1B-FIELDER (L) .300/35+hr/110+rbi/100+r/2sb
LF-Bay (R) .270/20+hr/85rbi/80r/15sb
RF-Duda (L) .270/20hr/80rbi/70r/10sb
CF-Pagan (S) .285/10hr/65rbi/70r/30sb
C- Thole (L) .265/5hr/55rbi/55r/5sb
P- (1)Santana .100/1hr/20rbi/20r/0sb combined
(2)???-From Ike Davis trade
(3)Dickey
(4)Gee
(5)Pelfrey
(Bench = Murphy, Evans, Turner, Paulino/Nickeas, Pridie, etc)
(Bullpen = Niese LR/6man, Byrdak MR, Beato MR, Carrasco MR, Izzy???, Acosta SU, Parnell CL + whoever we get in FA)
wanna bet?
i know how great Fielder is but he is not worth 200 milllion i would not trade Ike Davis. I would keep Capuano and trade Pelfrey. and Niece is a good starter i think our bullpen is crappy i would get rid of Carrasco.
You sir are delusional….
1) No way that Alderson trades Ike Davis after getting a glimpse of what he’s capable of (He hits bombs in Citi Field- imagaine when the fences are brought in). If he re-signs Reyes, that’ll be the only big move of the winter. 2) Why on earth would you put Niese in the bullpen?? He’s the top lefty on the staff (assuming Santana is at maybe 80% of his former self)
3) You are smoking some good stuff if you think Reyes signs for less then $17.5M/year.
You have Niese in the bullpen? Not going to happen. He has to most upside in that entire rotation
No way does Pelfrey deserve a raise. He shouldn’t even be brought back. Instead of progressing he’s gotten worse. Pagan is a fourth outfielder and Paulino is exactly what he is a backup. I say bring in Edwin Jackson to replace Pelfrey. Leave Nickeas as the backup catcher and trade for a respectable CF.
Even though Jackson had a decent year, he isn’t a very good replacement. The problem with signing him is that you’d be getting a very similar pitcher and have to pay him more. He’s just as inconsistent as Pelf and their stats are very similar. Both are .500 pitchers for their career with ERA’s around 4.50 and WHIP’s around 1.46. Their BB/9 and SO/9 are close too. Jackson made $8.35M last year and he’s probably going to look for a 3+ year deal at $10-12M per. I say pass.
They need to sign Reyes first. How about they trade Pagan, Parnell, Martinez and cash to Oakland for Jemie Weeks and Coco Crisp or David DeJeuses. They need a second baseman and a better centerfielder or rightfielder.
So… did you just make this trade on a video game or were you just hoping Beane turns into Brad Pitt’s character from Burn After Reading?
Weeks is a young potential star who was one of the very few bright spots as a hitter for Oakland this year. What you’re offering amounts to one word, “Meh.” And that’s being polite.
nope don’t play them and didn’t see the movie yet. but you seem to know so much about baseball what would your proposed trade be?
If you want Weeks, the A’s will take Matt Harvey. How about it???
I would do it.
Your both nuts… Matt Harvey is 1 more year away from slotting in the middle of the rotation that needs a top line potential guy, so no way i would trade him. And All three of the proposed players in the trade have little value. F-Mart is widely considered a bust, Parnell throws hard but puts it right down the middle, and Pagan just had a sub-par season.
How Can the A’s trade Crisp and Dejesus when they are free agents at the end of the season? Weeks was a pleasant surprise because some scouts weren’t sure if he could stay healthy. He has and he could very well be a star, at the very least he’s an up and comer. Also, why would the A’s want Parnell? A’s bullpen is pretty good, I don’t think they need Parnell. What they need is more power and less finesse in their line-up
So dumb, tdw. So dumb. This is what gives Mets fans a bad name.
Yes. As we all know, stupid trade proposals are exclusive to Mets fans.
and you all know so much about baseball how come you aren’t running your own teams.
My comment was sarcastic so I’m not sure if you replied to me by accident or did not realize that.
yes I did it was towards the other guys
question is, what center fielder would be an upgrade over pagan, and is available?
Coco if he stays healthy
Not even close…..there is no upgrade at the position available at the moment but there is a view guys with similar abilities that are “Smarter” players (McLouth)
I would non-tender Pelfrey at this point. He really has not been effective when he pitches and his poor morale isn’t worth the money. He reminds me too much of John Maine, just in goon form. As far as a CF, I would look outside the organization for a guy that has shown a glimpse of success with potential still present. If the stock is low I would be willing to give a shot to Bernadina, Coghlan, or Borbon. It’s a rebuilding team, might as well give one of them a shot in spring and it isn’t like the Mets are in financial standing where they can sign a big bat.
I’d stick with Pagan for next year and then go all-in for Kemp in 2013.
Let go of Pagan, sign McLouth, put the saved money towards the pen (closer), give Kirk Nieuwenheis a shot to win the job in ST. If he wins McLouth is the 4th OF, Pridie is DFA’d. If he loses McLouth starts, Pridie is 4th, and Kirk starts in AAA to get better.
From the outside looking in, Pagan is a good piece on a really good club. He isn’t an All-Star, but he isn’t quite in “Jonny Gomes” territory. Good defender, swipes bags. Seems like someone the Cards would pick up on the cheap and he’d turn in an awesome season.
no way do you get rid of ike. He was putting up all-star numbers early
in the season before he got hurt. Give the guy a full season, he is
young and has tremendous upside. Very smooth at 1b too.
Hate to
say it but I think you got to get rid of Reyes and build up those
starting pitchers. That rotation is looking a little shaky. And there is
no way Pelfrey will be the #5 starter. IF he is with the mets, making 6
mil, the mets will not treat him as a number 5
I really hate how this “innings eater” thing has been given so much value over the last few years. I’d rather have someone who is an injury risk and who will give quality innings. If he gets hurt, you can always bring up a minor leaguer that will put up the same or better numbers than Pelfrey.
The so-called “upside” on Pelfrey has been overstated as well. His 4-seamer has has been mediocre, his sinker doesn’t sink, and his splitter is almost always an easy pitch to lay off because of the huge difference in arm speed and the fact that he doesn’t throw it for a strike because it’ll get crushed. It’s no longer just a matter of mental toughness or command. The stuff just doesn’t seem to be there. It’s time to move on.