While some have said the Mets to be undecided on whether or not they’ll make a qualifying offer to Daniel Murphy, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reports that following a Herculean postseason performance, the Mets are now planning on offering the one-year, $15.8MM sum to their second baseman. Murphy homered in his fifth straight postseason game last night, tying an MLB record, and he figures to have a nice shot at a four-year deal on the open market with or without the offer. The Mets, of course, will receive a compensatory draft pick if he signs elsewhere after rejecting the qualifying offer. With Dilson Herrera and Wilmer Flores both in the organization, it still seems unlikely that they’ll make a serious push to re-sign Murphy at full market value. (Mets fans may also be interested in the intro to Heyman’s column, where he breaks down the roster and examines how each member was acquired by either former GM Omar Minaya or present GM Sandy Alderson.)
A few more notes from the Big Apple…
- From that same piece, Heyman writes that the early belief is that the Yankees won’t be making a run at free-agent outfielder Yoenis Cespedes this offseason. That’s not exactly a surprise considering their full outfield — Brett Gardner, Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran are all under contracts in 2016 — though the possibility that the team could move the final year of Beltran’s contract and pursue outfield upgrades has been kicked around by pundits already. MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk recently examined the possibility of moving an outfielder in his Yankees Offseason Outlook.
- Masahiro Tanaka underwent elbow surgery to remove a bone spur yesterday, and GM Brian Cashman told reporters that the timing of the operation is ideal, as Tanaka’s total rehab process will take about three months (Twitter link via Tyler Kepner of the New York Times). That timeline should give the Yankees’ ace ample time to recover prior to Spring Training of 2016.
- Another injured New York hurler, the Mets’ Zack Wheeler, is hoping to be ready to return to the big league rotation early next June, he said in a recent appearance on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (Twitter link). A returning Wheeler would, theoretically, join Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz and/or Jon Niese in an outstanding rotation. Of course, injuries or trades could alter that outlook in the next eight to nine months. Wheeler himself was already said to be involved in trade talks for both Carlos Gomez and Jay Bruce in July.
The Mets were never not going to QO Murphy. The whole ‘they’re not going to QO him’ thing was created by Heyman talking to a ‘rival GM’. They wouldn’t suddenly about-face on Murphy after a handful of post-season games, either. Why the media needed to create this story in the middle of the post-season, when there’s plenty else to write about (particularly in re: the Mets!), is beyond me.
If Murphy accepts Mets QO it doesn’t mean they can’t trade him. With interest in Murphy high they may find a few takers. Also what might the team know about Wright’s back or their own thoughts on keeping Duda?
The Yankees were said to move the final year of Beltran’s contract. To whom? In order to move a contract, doesn’t there have to be an interested party. I can’t imagine there are too many people lining up for a nearly broken down Beltran at that salary.
Orioles, Astros, Twins, or White Sox. That is, for a little bit of mula to sweeten the deal I’d bet.
No way on the Twins. Hicks, Rosario, Buxton. And most likely a return for Hunter. Kepler steadily progressing. Outfield’s full. Mauer, Vargas, Plouffe, Sano. DH is full too.
Beltran could be an attractive player for a team looking for a bat. He’s still a good hitter and only has 1 year left on his contract
He’s 39 next year, no team will give up anything for a guy who could fall off a cliff at any moment.
If the Yankees truly are hell-bent on not playing their prospects, they could move the entire contracts of Beltran & Teixeira to Oakland, if they were willing to include one of Judge, Sanchez, Bird, Mateo, Severino, Refsnyder or Gamel as well.
Or they could, you know, just eat it on all these stupid contracts and play the youngsters for minimum wage who will probably put up the same if not better numbers. But that would be smart.
The thought of the Yankees going after anything but pitching really just screams “terrible idea”. They really have a clear need there. Not saying they can’t do both, but it’s so much more important that they go after any/all of Price, Greinke, Zimmermann or Samardzija.