While the Mets hope it won’t come to this, they’re protected against an extended absence from David Wright, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter links). The Mets have insurance on Wright’s contract that will cover 75 percent of the money he is owed for time he misses once he is on the shelf for 60 or more days. Given Wright’s $20MM salary this season, that could mean a significant amount of money being put back into the Mets’ pockets in the unfortunate event that their star third baseman is out for two or more months due to the spinal stenosis with which he was recently diagnosed. For a budget-conscious team, that could have a significant impact on the club’s ability to add help on the trade market this summer.
More from the NL East…
- Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. apologized today for prior comments that some fans “don’t understand” the game and the process of bringing minor league talent along, writes CSNPhilly.com’s Jim Salisbury. “I’d like to apologize to the fans,” said Amaro. “I’m a fan myself. I understand the passion and knowledge that our fans have for our game and the other major sports, all the other sports in Philly. The comments weren’t meant to disparage our fans by any stretch of the imagination. I probably used my words incorrectly or poorly. I want to apologize for that.” Amaro reiterated that prospects such as Aaron Nola and Zach Eflin likely aren’t too far from the Major Leagues, but he also stressed the dangers of rushing prospects too quickly. While he acknowledged that he understands why fans want to see the organization’s best minor leaguers, given the lackluster product on the Major League field right now, Amaro said that the team is trying to develop its top talent “at the right pace so that they can be the best players they can be when they get here.”
- In a radio appearance (transcription via CSN Philly’s Jordan Hall), Amaro conceded that the Phillies likely waited too long to begin the rebuilding process. “Perhaps we waited a year or two too long to try and go into this transition,” said Amaro. “…we decided this offseason … to work from kind of the bottom up to make sure that we can get ourselves to the point where we’re building enough talent in our system to bring them at the appropriate time and to continue that process so that we can be perennial contenders.” The Phillies traded Antonio Bastardo, Marlon Byrd and Jimmy Rollins this offseason in addition, of course, to entertaining offers for Cole Hamels, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Jonathan Papelbon. Any of those names could be in play over the course of the summer, and Ben Revere‘s name has been mentioned frequently in recent trade rumors as well.
- ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick takes a look at Bryce Harper‘s historic start to his age-22 season and the polarizing personality behind the eye-popping numbers. Harper himself admitted to Crasnick that he can have trouble maintaining a level head when on the playing field, referring specifically back to a controversial ejection at the hands of home plate umpire Marvin Hudson. However, Nationals GM Mike Rizzo and manager Matt Williams spoke glowingly about Harper’s demeanor off the field, while Jayson Werth offered strong praise for the strides Harper has made as a teammate (though he is quick to specify that Harper has never been a bad teammate by any means). Harper himself took a humble tone when asked by Crasnick about Mike Trout and the frequent comparisons between the two. “I still believe Trout is the best player in the game, hands down,” said Harper. “It’s not about taking a backseat to anybody. I love seeing Stanton hit homers or Kris Bryant do the things he does. I love watching Matt Harvey or Gerrit Cole or Noah Syndergaard come up and throw 100 mph. I cheer for guys. I’ve always been that way.” Fans and detractors of Harper alike will presumably find the piece to be an interesting read.
Eflin’s SO rate is a red flag. I know he has decent velocity I guess he lacks a out pitch?
I was thinking the same exact thing…
His game will definitely be improved with a cutter/slider, and perhaps an occasional curve. Just to keep ML batters from sitting on pitches.
For the first time in his public comments history he was right.
Fans always want to see the next best thing. If a player has a small good stretch they immediately want him promoted. At the same token the Phils have sometimes been a bit slow in promoting talent. The rebuild should of started after the 12 season. Jimmy himself said he knew the run was over in his heart after the 11 season. I couldnt blame Rube for giving it one more try. After that he should of traded. He held on to Roy for too long. Held on to Lee for too long. Also coudlve of traded Chooch while he still had value. Trading of Lee and Roy could have bought us back some decent prospects. Rube did avoid getting into any major contracts other than extending Utley in the recent past. The Pence trade was horrible.
Actually should of started it after the 2011 nods, and now look at them starting 4 years too late
I couldnt blame him for giving it one more try. They still had Pence, Lee, Halladay, Shane, Chooch and Jimmy. Guess not many saw Roys quick decline coming. Bullpen blew a ton of games to that year if i remember correctly. Mayberry flopped and they should of bought in someone else other than Ty Wigginton.
2011 Roy finished 2nd in the Cy Young race so I don’t think anyone could’ve imagined the implosion there. Lee finished right behind Roy soooo….yeah. Two top tier starters that of course were getting up there in age but didn’t see that big of a flop happening. Chooch had a career year in 2012 (I know because I had him on my fantasy team lol). J-Roll has always been J-Roll. The flyin Hawaiian is not an all start by any means. After winning the division for what, 4 or 5 years in a row you’re not going to sell the farm. Rube should’ve done a better job, sure, but when you’re winning it’s really hard to give away guys that are having career years and aren’t at the end of their contracts.
I saw the implosion happening after howard got hurt, because easily that was a series the phillies should of won in 4. And after that game Roy started he was out of gas.
The extra wild card spot keeps more teams competitive or otherwise thinking they are. Also, the NL East did not offer an apparent successor. So the Phils drove by the light of their tail lights.
Sometimes fans see raw #s but don’t see flaws in a players game or character that coaches, scouts and other managers see. You know the professionals. Crawford and Nola are where they belong and none should be in the majors this year ( other than maybe Sept call up). Im sure at some point they will get promoted to the proper levels. Even phenoms spend some time in the minors.
I’m kinda surprised the media isn’t calling Ruben Amaro out for one specific quote. “They don’t understand the process…There’s a plan in place and we’re sticking with the plan.” What plan, Ruben? Nobody from the organization has demonstrated or spoken publicly about what the plan for fixing the Phillies is. The majority of the 25-man roster is past their prime and the few young players that are there just aren’t that talented. What’s the plan, Ruben?
They probably can’t prudently articulate it. They don’t want to say they are tanking because it’s bad for advertising/ticket sales. They don’t want to say their vets are overpaid and on the downside of their careers, because they need to swap them for prospects. They certainly don’t want to acknowledge that the farm system is thin. So, they play this game, waiting for someone to go off to the DL for the year, and hoping to be opportunistic.
No doubt Amaro doesn’t know how to communicate with the fans. I also believe the 25 man roster will almost be completely turned over by 2018, because as you said even the young players in Philly aren’t that good. Some may stick around as backups, but of the young players on the team today only Franco is a building block that will be around if/when the Phils turn things around.
Agree…25 man gets turned over because the Phils will have prospects and cash to spend in free agency. If they play it right they can be competitive fairly quickly
Giles, maybe Galvis, maybe Herrera.
Sell high? He seems unreasonable, but if he gets near his asking price for a couple guys he’ll have the last laugh.
Amaro almost stole this quote from Dayton Moore about “The Process”. Try convincing a fan base that hadn’t seen the postseason since 1985 to believe in that. That’d be almost like the Phillies not making the postseason again after the ’83 series.
Rube is a joke. He should go take over the Marlins. They might win for a year or two and then plummet hard like the Phils have. lol
I think the plan, if there was a way to articulate it publicly, is to rid the team of as many burdensome contracts of under-performing players on the downslope. Time and maybe a deal or 2 by the deadline will take care of it.
Amaro is too complacent. As long as he sustains the illusion that his judgements have always been the reasoned, carefully considered, logic-based, and unemotional ones, he demonstrates anew why he’s not the right person for a re-build. If you look at that roster, fairly, and make the decision only this last off-season that it’s time, you haven’t demonstrated good judgement. The Phillies aren’t the only team like this (the Yankees didn’t adapt well to the writing on the wall either) but they are the most glaring.
Amaro’s been a terrible GM but he wasn’t all wrong when he said the fans don’t understand the process. However, his words yesterday proved once again that he doesn’t know how to speak to the fan base. He’s publicly disparaged his own players on multiple occasions, even players he’s trying to move, yet doesn’t see anything wrong with that. A GM doesn’t put down his players in the press…period.
I live just outside Philly and read the local sports sports sites. Lately the comments section have been filled with people who want Nola, Eflin, Crawford, Quinn, Lively and others called up now. They propose to let these guys grow at the major league level, not in the minors. They also accuse the Phils of holding these players back so their service clocks don’t start. The Phils have been slow to move some prospects up in the past, but we’re talking about players that have only reached AA this year. Some of these kids do have talent, but there’s certainly no can’t miss prospects among them.
Nola could probably make the jump but I believe he’s better served pitching another 2-3 more months in the minors. This is a throw away season for the Phils. Why rush kids who aren’t ready? It’s only setting them up to fail. I keep writing a couple of good months at AA doesn’t mean a player’s ready for the show, but I get shouted down by people who want these kids up now. It’s not all the fans, as there are many good, knowledgeable fans in and around the city. The one’s who want to call up AA players who’ve enjoyed a couple months of success at that level really don’t understand the process.
I agree that none of the prospects the people are chomping at the bit for are ready to jump. However, I’ll also point out that it’s very unlikely the Phillies farm system knows how to prepare them. They raved about Domonic Brown and his game has holes that should have been dealt with long before jumping to Philly. Asche hit the snot out of the ball at every MiLB level yet the team has yet to find a place for him and didn’t consider training him for OF until a couple of weeks ago. He should have been playing OF the last couple of seasons because there’s nobody on the distant horizon who’s going to help this club.
Pretty solid statement…but being level headed won’t win you any friends most places in our feast or famine baseball fandom. I think August and September will be interesting times for the Phillies.
If you check Eastern (AA) League stats, you see there asre 4-5 guys on other teams with stat lines comparable to Nola’s. but if you believe some people, the Phils are the outliers when it comes to promoting talent. Amaro had a point; he just couldn’t find a way to express it without antagonizing a fan base ready to charge a red flag.
Howard extension was always a bad deal, even more so being 2 years before FA. Should have moved Utley in 2012 or 13 when LA needed a 2B and the market was thin. Trading Cliff Lee in 2010 was silly and not starting the rebuild sooner by trading him in 2012 or 2013 was worse. Waiting until the next J2 signing period to go over the spending limits looks foolish. The sooner you get prospects into the system the better you can evaluate them. The sooner the losing starts the higher the draft picks you have coming up. He could have saved tens of millions to devote to younger players but instead kept his demands high in trade talks, likely from thin skin due to criticisms of previous trades. Amaro’s major flaw has of course been the draft and development system. Maybe in some alternate universe RAJ let Howard walk after tearing his Achilles, unloaded Cliff Lee to LA for salary relief and Joc Pederson in 2012, traded Utley in 2012 to the Nats, Cards or LA, traded Jimmy Rollins plus $7M a year for a package of low level arms from the Mets and then signed Jose Abreu, Tanaka, and Alex Guerrero to fill their spots.
Once Howard was hurt, letting him “walk” was not an option in any universe where the MLPA applies. And Rollins with 10/5 turned down the Mets, who presumably wouldn’t want him since Met fans have hated him for years. So at least some of your solutions weren’t in the cards.
You would have to of course not sign Howard to the horrible deal to let him walk. Which would have been a no brainer after the injury in 2011, before Howard started putting up negative WAR like it’s his job.
From Jerry Crasnick in March quoting Jimmy Rollins “This was my No. 1 landing spot,” Rollins said from Los Angeles’ spring training camp, “and I considered the Mets to be No. 2. They have some arms over there — oh my gosh.”.
That’s after the reports he blocked a trade to NY.
When are the Mets going to make a deal for Tulo, He come cheap , a couple of Young A plus Arms on Mets ML Staff !
The idea of Tulo on the left side of the infield with Wright is scary. I have my doubts that Tulo can ever play a full season, or even maintain where he’s been. Wright with spinal stenosis isn’t good…that’s chronic.
I don’t think they will trade for tulo because they like their young pitching prospects in syndergard and matz. But maybe they trade one of them to the cubs for castro or baez.
I’m not sure a team can have enough pitching depth. One twinge from Matt Harvey and they will need their depth. Not sure they’d want Baez.