Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com recently looked at the Mets‘ payroll situation, noting that without any winter changes to the roster, the payroll should come in somewhere in the low-$90MMs (specifically, he pegged it for $93MM, though that was with some rough guesses on the team’s arb-eligible players). However, Rubin also writes that he feels some changes are likely — namely bringing in a shortstop and left fielder. He feels it’s likely that in the event the team does push the payroll north of $100MM by adding a free agent outfielder, a trade of Daniel Murphy or one of the club’s starting pitchers will offset that move. An official insisted to Rubin that there’s “upward mobility” in the payroll but did say the club is not yet ready to return to its previous heights of $130MM.
More on the Mets and more from the NL East below…
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post feels that Nick Markakis should be an offseason target for the Mets. While the Mets would like a corner outfielder that projects to have more power than Markakis, those are few and far between in this year’s free agent class, and Marakakis’ strong OBP skills and ability to grind out at-bats, could solve the team’s need for a leadoff hitter. Sherman speculates that Markakis will be looking for something similar to J.J. Hardy‘s three-year, $40MM contract.
- Much has been written on the Phillies outfield situation of late, and David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News breaks it down piece by piece. Murphy notes that the decision not to trade Marlon Byrd this summer could “prove prudent,” as he now presents an alternative to an expensive contract for Melky Cabrera or Nelson Cruz. The team should be exploring Ben Revere trades if possible due to his lack of walks and power, and he feels that selling this low on Domonic Brown would be a mistake. Murphy’s colleague, Ryan Lawrence, thinks that it’s likely Brown is swapped for a change-of-scenery candidate and also looks at the complete void of outfield talent the Phillies have produced in recent years. Even Jayson Werth and Shane Victorino — two key outfielders Philadelphia showed little inclination to re-sign — were acquired from other organizations.
- ESPN’s Keith Law reports (via Twitter) that Tom Battista — the scout responsible for signing Freddie Freeman and Tommy Hanson — has returned to the Braves organization as a crosschecker. In a followup tweet, Law tells a reader that he thinks the Braves have done an very good job in making additions since GM Frank Wren was dismissed. Atlanta has brought back former scouting director Roy Clark and plucked Yankees special assistant Gordon Blakeley.
“Murphy notes that the decision not to trade Marlon Byrd this summer could “prove prudent,” as he now presents an alternative to an expensive contract for Melky Cabrera or Marlon Byrd”
fishy.
Given the year to year stats…I’ve suspicioned that two Marlon Byrds were active in the league. It’s nice to see my ridiculously unnecessary conspiracy theory revealed as truth. Now on to proving that Kent Tekulve knows the location of the hidden map of Atlantis that Dan Quisenberry hid
I don’t agree with the article. Marlon Byrd is going to get more money than either Melky Cabrera or Marlon Byrd. He may be older but he doesn’t have the PED usage of either of those guys.
Phillies should have traded Marlon Byrd last year, for either Cabrera or Byrd if they were wise.
“Marlon Byrd is going to get more money than either Melky Cabrera or Marlon Byrd.”
Are there 2 Marlon Byrd’s like there is already 2 Chris Young’s and soon will be 2 Jose Fernandez’s?
you may have missed the article was corrected from saying that Byrd “now presents an alternative to an expensive contract for Melky Cabrera or Marlon Byrd” where now the second Byrd is Nelson Cruz.
editing humor.
I thought you were talking about Markakis because in case you don’t know, Byrd was suspended in 2012 cause of PEDs.
The Phillies are such a mess, no one knows where to start. Talking about one of two players for them to get misses the point that like the Yankees, the team is old, not athletic at all, and is stuck with outrageous contracts. They should have started phasing in younger players 3 years ago. Dombrowski did the right thing this past offseason in starting to make some incremental changes, else the Tigers in another 3-4 years will be the Phillies of today.
Odds are that Ruben again asks way too much for Byrd. That was the problem before, and it probably just continues.
Markakis makes no sense for the Mets. Signing him would effectively block Brandon Nimmo who will likely be their opening day LF in 2016. Not to mention, what his already declining numbers would look like after transitioning from Camden Yards to Citi Field. Oh and the Mets don’t need another LH bat in the OF.
I prefer they give den dekker ab’s, as due to his defense, even w subpar offense he has value
I think Mike Morse on the suggested 2yr, 22 Million makes sense for the Mets while trading one of their pitchers for either SS Owings or Gregious of the D-Backs.
Forget Markakis. Either go after Tomas or put your faith in Nimmo by signing a stop-gap to a one year deal (I say the former).
I’ll also add that Markakis wouldn’t be a huge upgrade over just throwing den Dekker out there for a full season (0.7 fWAR in 53 games). That kind of marginal improvement isn’t worth an extra ~$12MM a season. Sandy’s smarter than that.
exactly + dd was a rookie hence should improve whereas markakis already a mature player
Already a mature player and one could argue that he’s declining as well.
I would like to see the mets trade for van slyke
I second this.
Markakis just IS is right now. No need to overpay for a 30 year old average defender and a below average hitter. A dime a dozen player.
im liking the idea of picking up Michael cuddyer on a 2yr deal worth about 14-16mil. this gives them a proven outfielder with a over average power, allows nimmo to develop into a power hitter and hes a good friend of david wright. that would be my plan b if the mets cant make a trade with boston for cespedes and bogaerts.
What are you giving up to Boston to get Cespedes and Bogaerts? Not Daniel Murphy.
Don’t forget Colon.
Right. What a “large” mistake I’ve made.
Couldn’t have put it better.
The Mets fan who make those proposals fail to remember that Colon stunk up the Sox back in 08 and that Murphy has impressed precisely no one with his 3rd base skills.
My thoughts exactly. Neither would be a good fit for us.
Murphy has impressed precisely no one with his 3B skills because some multiple All-Star plays 3B for the Mets.
That doesn’t really matter. He’s played games at third and his fielding percentage is awful. Even when he was younger in the minors.
That doesn’t change the fact that even if the Mets could sell a team on his ability to play third base, they’re still not going to give up much for that chance. He has value as a second baseman and if a team wants to trade for him, the Mets will get something back. But I really haven’t seen any Mets trade proposals here that don’t involve the Red Sox and it doesn’t make a take of sense. They don’t match up very well at all.
There are other teams looking for 3Bs as well – the Giants come to mind. With respect to Murphy at 3B, he’s more than good enough to start there everyday – he’d be about mid-pack among 3Bs – somewhere around Aramis Ramírez.
Murphy is a very bad defender at second base. Why would moving him to third base suddenly make him an average defender? He ranked 12th out of 16 for qualified second baseman in defense in 2014. How is moving him to a more difficult position, which he has only played 44 games at in his career (poorly I might add), going to improve his defense?
First off, please improve your tone. Secondly, he’d be better at 3B because he’s actually a 3B. But the Mets have some guy named Wright over there so he was moved to 2B, and that’s why he’s not ideal for that position.
Then why hasn’t he been better at third base over the 44 games he has played there? And you can’t tell tone from the written word. The fact that I am making legitimate points for which you have no counterargument is not indicative of any tone on my part.
You don’t follow the Mets and clearly have no idea what Murphy looks like at 3B. 40-odd games is too small to get a good judgement of defense but Murphy is at least scratch at the position and has enough offense to be a middle-of-the road starter there. He hasn’t gotten reps there because the Mets already have David Wright.
He hasn’t played the position in 6 years, so it’s no longer his “natural position”. 6 years in the majors trumps 3 years in the minors. If you can’t play a good second base, how are you going to play a good third base? Watching him play a below average second base somehow tells you he’d be an average third baseman? 40 games is a small a sample size, but it’s a heck of a lot better than that. He’s not a good defensive player.
His defense at 2B is limited by his range, not his arm. A 2B with a strong arm and limited range is a 3B.
Aramis Ramirez is a lot better than you give him credit for.
I’m going by the numbers, not perceptions. This has to do with how much he has produced and how much he’s expected to produce based on recent performance and age. I don’t believe in feelings when it comes to player evaluation. On the contrary, I think you’re giving him far too much credit. Ramírez has had a great career but he is 36 now.
Would Sox fans trade Cespedes for Jon Niese? Low salary, solid #3 starter under control through 2018.
I can’t see Boston doing that even-up.
it would probably cost niese and plawecki to get that done which im okay with.
The Red Sox don’t have any need for catchers. They have Vazquez and Swihart is waiting in the wings at Pawtucket.
when they try and work out the trade of Stanton to the marlins plawecki is a good chip for them to have. the marlins are thin at minor league catching.
No. Just no. Everything is not about Stanton. No one even knows if he’ll be the same player next season. The Marlins could resign him this off season. You don’t make deals for pipe dreams.
with your logic no one even knows if Kershaw will be the same pitcher because he got rocked a couple times in the playoffs. this entire offseason is about Stanton until he either signs with the marlins or is traded. you can almost guarantee that he is going to get traded because I just don’t see Miami ponying up 8-10ys and $200-250mil.
Was Kershaw hit in the face with a baseball? Not really the same thing at all. The Red Sox need top of the rotation arms and a left handed or switch hitting third baseman. Unless the Mets have those things to offer, then there is no match for a trade.
Red Sox will throw the most money at Sandoval.
They probably will. But I don’t know if they’ll throw the most years at him. It depends on what he wants.
You try for it, though, even if the chance at getting him is nearly zero.
Not if he’s not the same player as he was before he was hit in the face. The earliest this deal happens for anyone is the All-Star break or next off season. Until then it’s pointless to discuss.
Last I checked, guys don’t swing with their faces so I’m not too concerned. In any case, nobody is expected Stanton to get traded this off-season.
Micky Cochrane, Kirby Puckett, Tony Conigliaro, and Dickie Thon didn’t swing the bat with their faces either. Their careers ended nonetheless.
Puckett, Conigliario, and Thon all suffered from vision problems and Cochrane didn’t have a helmet. Stanton got hit in the jaw, not the eye – this is more comparable to Jason Heyward who was just fine coming back from his injury.
Stanton was hit under his eye, not in the jaw. There is no way to know how he will be until he comes back.
Well under the eye – his jaw.
Where did the multiple FACIAL fractures come from then? A baseball is big enough to do damage to most of your face at once. He didn’t get hit in the eye, but there is no guarantee right now that it won’t affect his play.
That’s greatly overvaluing 1 year of Céspedes, especially considering he can’t get a QO.
dont see how 1 year of an above average outfielder = cost controlled pitcher + top catching prospect. would be huge overpay for mets. i wouldnt even trade plawecki for 1 yr of cespedes straight up
Straight up, maybe but I don’t really see why the Mets would do that.
I know that im going to get killed in here for this but id build a package around syndergaard, murphy and a b prospect or two like leathersitch and someone else. the mets have enough pitching to get by without syndergaard and hes going to net the most in return. it still leaves the mets with a rotation next year of harvey, degrom, colon, wheeler, niese with Montero, matz having time to develop a little more.
Well then that package would be rejected. Murphy is not going to be the third baseman for the Sox.
The problem with this scenario in terms of Mets’ pitching depth is that not one of those guys is a sure thing. I love Harvey, Wheeler, and deGrom, but they all have question marks attached to them. Colon, Gee, and Niese are league-average. Montero and Matz have no MLB success under their belts. Better to keep another guy like Syndergaard around. The more prospects you have, the better chance you have of some of them working out.
they have too much pitching and they could end up at a point where other gms know that they have to move pitching and wont get return that they could get now. they absolutely have to trade away some pitching this offseason for a bat. their lineup is way to weak to compete with the nationals.
Disagree. Offensive prospects are no less unpredictable than pitching prospects. Two, you are discounting that most of the Mets hitters are very young, hence with additional playing time their numbers should improve (Den Dekker, Newenheis). Personally I see Jacoby Ellsbury 2 when I look at Den Dekker
Den Dekker underperformed yet projected out to a full season he was still a 2-3 WAR player. That and the fact that he can slot in at CF in case of Lagares injury…no the guy has real value and if he doesnt work out theres always Nimmo
Sorry, but Boston isn’t trading Bogaerts unless they get a susperstar in return. Think Stanton, Sale, Donaldson, ect.
more teams should have the balls to plug in a aaa outfielder and save millions
No one is going to pay Markakis that much money.
Maybe the Orioles… but even that is doubtful.
If Markakis gets $40m over 3 years ill eat my pet spider (and hes a big lad).
40 over 4 would still be pushing it for me.
Solid player, but as my friend, that well known bobbleheadguru says, dime a dozen.
I don’t like him in a vacuum as much as I like him as a part for a team that needs his exact skill set. If your team needs an obp boost and a solid defender in RF he’s solid. That’s all relative to contract though
Agree wholeheartedly.
So, lets put your summation into contract terms…i say it makes him worth 2/24 or 3/33.
What say you?
I believe he’ll want three years and a team will give it to him. The money is hard to predict, because it’s market driven and that hasn’t formed yet.
I believe there’s a likelihood he re-signs with Baltimore, but I know he will fit for other teams…White Sox being one of those.
Markakis is not a fit
we have Den Dekker and Kirk
along with Granderson we need a right handed power bat
Cuddyer is a perfect fit
All the front stuff is fine but the Braves need a new manager
I highly doubt that the Phillies will be able to create any trade interest in Ben Revere. They definitely won’t get anything close to what they gave up to get him {Vance Worley and Trevor May}